Continued)
And you may have read about our visit to Preline’s closed containment farm in Hardangerfjord10. Chief Bob Chamberlin of the Kwicksutaineuk Ah-kwa-mish First Nation, who delivered letters to you in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and visited Norway again this year, said:
“It is difficult to put to words how I felt standing on an operating closed containment fish farm, watching Atlantic salmon swimming inside. It was an amazing circumstance for me to speak with the owner of Preline who has developed the closed containment system, and both of us needing something to give hope for our individual yet intertwined dreams”11.
Bergens Tidende also featured the Preline closed containment system in an article published in June12. Representatives from Preline – together with other closed containment companies – will be in Trondheim for the AquaNor trade show and we encourage you to explore these technologies which can protect wild fish from the spread of sea lice and escapes from salmon farms.
During his visit to Norway in May, Chief Robert Joseph of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council said:
“The demise of wild salmon is tantamount to genocide because it reflects the demise of our culture, way of life and spirituality. Since the advent of salmon farming in our territories we have seen an apocalyptic decline in the state of our wild salmon stocks in the Broughton Archipelago. And because Norway is the world leader in salmon farming and the Norwegian Government is the leading shareholder in Cermaq we are asking for their moral leadership to bring about best practices and to mitigate environmental degradation”13.
Public opposition to Norwegian-owned salmon farming companies operating in British Columbia is building with negative press coverage of ‘rapacious Norwegians’ in the international media14 as well as at home in Norway15. You may be aware that this issue was raised in the Norwegian Parliament in May this year via a Parliamentary Question tabled by Heikki Holmås MP with a reply from Helga Pedersen, Norway’s Fisheries Minister16. Public comments were also made in the Norwegian media by several MPs including Peter Gitmark from Hoyre17, Ola Borten Moe from Senterpartiet18 and Heikki Holmås from Sosialistisk Venstreparti19.
Cermaq – whose largest shareholder is the Norwegian Government – is now the subject of a complaint filed with the OECD in May by Norges Naturvernforbund and ForUM20. In the same month, Norway was criticized by First Nations groups for failing to adhere to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with respect to Cermaq’s operations in Canada21. In October 2008, Cermaq’s operations in Canada were criticized for blatantly violating their licences after years of over-production22. And NRK reported only yesterday that Cermaq was encountering local opposition in Norway with a petition signed by 6,000 people objecting to expansion in Ofotfjorden23.
Marine Harvest’s operations in Canada have also been subject of growing controversy and legal action in the B.C. Supreme Court24. Grieg’s plans to expand in the Georgia Strait in British Columbia have angered local residents, fishermen and tourist operators alike25. And in June, the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform called for the emergency closure of five farms operated by Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg to protect migrating wild salmon26. The issue will only continue to heat up at the expense of Norway’s reputation.
Nor is Canada the only region where Norwegian-owned companies are experiencing local opposition. In Ireland, where Marine Harvest control over 50% of production, Salmon Watch recently filed a complaint with the European Commission contending that salmon farms are responsible for the generation of high levels of sea lice infestation in juvenile salmon migrating from rivers to their feeding grounds in the sea27. And in the UK where Norwegian-owned companies control in excess of 80% of salmon farming production, the Salmon and Trout Association (whose patron is Prince Charles) have organized a petition calling on the Scottish Government to move salmon farms away from the estuaries of major rivers28.
We hope that you agree with John Fredriksen, owner of Marine Harvest, who in July 2007 when he was fishing on the River Alta called for salmon farms to be moved out of the path of wild salmon29. In September 2007, over 30 fishing and environmental groups including Norsk Lakseelver, the Norwegian Salmon Association, Granvin Fiskarlag and Nausta Vernegruppa, wrote to Marine Harvest urging them to follow Mr Fredriksen’s wise advice30.
As both the King of Norway and a wild salmon angler on the River Alta yourself31, Your Royal Highness surely has an interest in protecting wild salmon both in Norway and internationally as well as preserving Norway’s international reputation. The 2010 Winter Olympics will be held along the shores of the Fraser River where the wild sockeye salmon that run past Norwegian-owned fish farms have been closed to fishing again this year. Yesterday’s Globe & Mail newspaper in Canada reports that “the Fraser River is experiencing one of the biggest salmon disasters in recent history with more than nine million sockeye vanishing”32 with The Straight newspaper reporting that “fish farms could be a contributing factor”33. Today’s Globe & Mail also featured the issue34.
When you meet with Marine Harvest, Cermaq, Grieg, the Norwegian Minister of Fisheries, Helga Pedersen, the Canadian Fisheries Minister, Gail Shea, and Scotland’s Minister for the Environment, Roseanna Cunningham, during Aqua Nor we therefore encourage you to ask why Norwegian companies are still being allowed to kill wild fish not just in Norway but also in Canada, Scotland and Ireland. And if you have time to view the new film “Dear Norway – Help Save Canada’s Wild Salmon” please come and visit the Pure Salmon Campaign at booth # B-111C at Aqua Nor to arrange a private viewing.
Yours sincerely,
Bob Chamberlin, Chief of the Kwicksutaineuk Ah-kwa-mish First Nation and Chairman of the Musgamagw-Tsawataineuk Tribal Council, Canada
Alexandra Morton, Director of the Salmon Coast Field Station, Canada
David Suzuki, Executive Director of David Suzuki Foundation, Canada
Brian Gunn, President of the Wilderness Tourism Association of British Columbia, Canada
David Lane, Executive Director of the T Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation, Canada
Damien Gillis, Save Our Rivers Society, Canada
Darren Blaney, Homalco First Nation, Canada
Geoff Meggs, Councillor, City of Vancouver, Canada
Valerie Langer, Friends of Clayoquot Sound, Canada
Rafe Mair, Official spokesperson for Save Our Rivers Society, Canada
Shannon Ellis, Bella Coola Grizzly Tours, Canada
Steve Lawson, National Coordinator, First Nations Environmental Network, Canada
Des Nobels, Chair of Friends of Wild Salmon, Canada
Blake Covernton, President, Wild BC Salmon, Canada
Michael Price, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Canada
Evan Loveless, Executive Director of the Wilderness Tourism Association of British Columbia, Canada
Terry Anderson, Canadian Wild Salmon Alliance Society, Canada
Luanne Roth, Marine Director of the Prince Rupert Environmental Society, Canada
Geoff Senichenko, Research Director of the Wilderness Committee, Canada
Craig Orr, Executive Director of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Canada
Stan Proboszcz, Fish Biologist, Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Canada
Ruby Berry, Salmon Aquaculture Program Coordinator, Georgia Strait Alliance, Canada
Michelle Young, Salmon Aquaculture Campaigner, Georgia Strait Alliance, Canada
John Volpe, Professor, University of Victoria, Canada
Corey Peet, David Suzuki Foundation, Canada
Lawrence Dill, Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Catherine Stewart, Salmon Farming Campaign Manager, Living Oceans, Canada
Kim Petersen, co-editor of Dissident Voice, Canada
Tiffany Hilman, Markets Campaigner, Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform, Canada
Susanne Hare, Tofino citizen, Canada
Mat Lawson, B.C. citizen, Canada
Misty Lawson, B.C. citizen, Canada
Quoashinis Lawson, B.C. citizen, Canada
Oren Lawson, B.C. citizen, Canada
Peter Dimitrov, lawyer and concerned citizen, Canada
Kevin Bruce, Friends of Clayoquot Sound, Canada
Tom Rivest, Great Bear Nature Tours, Canada
Leonard Ellis, Bella Coola Grizzly Tours, Canada
Vegard Heggem, wild salmon conservationist, Norway
Geir Kjensmo, Chairman of the Norwegian Salmon Association, Norway
Sondre Båtstrand, Spokesperson for the Norwegian Green Party, Norway
Frode Strønen, Marine Spokesperson for the Norwegian Green Party, Norway
Lawson Devery, Scottish Field Officer, the Salmon and Trout Association, Scotland
Bruce Sandison, Scottish Sporting Services, Scotland
Colin Kirkpatrick, Environment Committee Chairman, Orkney Trout Fishing Association, Scotland
Brian Fraser, ghillie from Wester Ross, Scotland
Fiona Cameron, Sea Trout Group, Scotland
Frank Buckley, Society for the Protection of Salmon and Sea Trout, Scotland
Andrew Graham-Stewart, Writer on wild salmon conservation issues, Scotland
Jenny Scobie, Rhidorroch Estate, Scotland
Niall Greene, Chair, Salmon Watch Ireland, Ireland
John Mulcahy, Save The Swilly, Ireland
Noel Carr, Secretary, Conaidhm na Slat Iascairi Bradan & Breac Geal (Federation of Irish Salmon & Sea Trout Anglers), Ireland
Bill Bakke, Executive Director, Native Fish Society, United States of America
Anne Mosness, Go Wild Campaign, United States of America
Neil Frazer, Professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa, United States of America
Bartlett Naylor, Capital Strategies Consulting Inc., United States of America
Don Staniford, Global Coordinator, The Pure Salmon Campaign, United States of America
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Topic: Millions of missing fish signal crisis on the Fraser River (Read 14442 times)