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[alwaysfishn]

September 20, 2012

Sue Farlinger
Regional Director General, Pacific Region
Suite 200-401 Burrard St.
Vancouver, BC V6C 3S4

Dear Ms. Farlinger:

As a participant of the Cohn Commission, I read hundreds of internal DFO emails. I saw that DFO expends enormous time and resources to create documents, such as your recent response to a salmon farm near the mouth of the Fraser River infected with IHN. The template of these letters is always: There is no problem, it is not DFO’s fault, don’t worry we are on it.

Your August 15, 2012 letter, which I note you did not sign personally, is a classic example. You are ignoring your own science and a technical report commission by Justice Cohen. This is how the once abundant cod stocks were stolen from future generations. DFO should have been gutted and reassembled for destroying one of humanity’s greatest food resources. But nothing was done and so the people who depend on wild salmon are being hurt in the same manner today.

You must be aware of the points I am going to raise, so this letter is not so much for you, but to all the people who are forwarding me the letters you sent to them about IHN:

Farlinger: “... [IHN] virus can be rendered non-infectious within minutes by sunlight...”

AQUACULTURE UPDATE 11/23/1992 (DFO) “...99% of the viral [IHN] particles are inactivated within 3 weeks”
Download IHN Aquaculture Update 1991.pdf (390.6K)
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Farlinger: “...susceptibility of sockeye salmon to IHNV disease decreases with age...”

Technical Report #1 to the Cohen Commission on the threat of disease to Fraser sockeye "I designate the following pathogens as potential "HIGH RISK...IHNV”
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Farlinger: “... sockeye fry that survive freshwater exposure...may represent a source of virus to... farmed salmonids...”

Dr. Kyle Garver (DFO) testimony at the Cohen Commission: “... If you have a farm that has approximately a million fish...experiencing 30 percent infection... you do get 650 billion viral particles shed per hour.” Testimony 08/25/11 page 14, line 25
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Farlinger: “... the CFIA ... is currently working to confirm the presence and strain of IHN from this farm.” (August 15)

Grieg Seafood ASA: IHN confirmed at the Culloden Point site in BC, Canada: “Reference is made to the stock exchange notification on 3 August 2012. Renewed tests confirm the presence of the IHN virus at Grieg Seafood... Canadian authorities that have conducted the renewed testing, has not yet issued any depopulation order... The final financial impact of the likely depopulation order will depend on the potential compensation from Grieg Seafood’s insurance and/or Canadian authorities...”

Ms. Farlinger, in the wild predators remove sick, slow fish and you don’t easily get this kind of massive viral release. But salmon feedlots violate the natural laws, hold salmon stationary, prevent the predators from removing the sick and thus allow unnatural viral release.

Scientists report the virus is of high risk to the Fraser sockeye, can live up to three weeks in saltwater and a single infected farm produces hundreds of billions of IHN viral particles an hour. The farm in question is near the mouth of the Fraser River, meaning adult salmon passed through a IHN viral cloud just before entering the nursery areas of Adams Lake, Scotch Creek, Takla Landing, Chilko, Shuswap, Horsefly, Gates Creek, Birkenhead, Nicola, Weaver.... There is nothing natural about a school of 300,000 Atlantic salmon shedding IHN virus into the Fraser sockeye migration exposing the young salmon fry rearing in the river.

Until DFO recognizes that salmon farms amplify pathogens to dangerous levels, I will maintain my opinion that DFO has no intention of protecting wild salmon from salmon farms. I suspect you have been pressured to make it easier for the salmon farmers to collect insurance and apply for compensation.

I have asked Grieg repeatedly and now I ask you, what strain of IHN was detected in Grieg Seafood’s Culloden Point salmon farm so we, the public, can assess for ourselves which way this virus is moving.

I suspect you do not feel free to speak your mind on this, but there is always a way to step up and protect a public resource as generous and essential as wild salmon. In closing I offer a link to a blog that details questioning of your Director General of Science, Dr. Laura Richards concerning DFO research on viruses affecting the Fraser sockeye and ask; what hope can we possibly have, in the face of this kind of testimony, that wild salmon are safe with DFO?

Wishing you the guts to step up and set this on the right course,


Alexandra Morton

[chris gadsden]

Thanks for posting this important message.

[Dave]

Important message?  LOL

Still beating the dead horse af.  Please post Ms. Farlinger's response to this latest stuff from the lady Alex...

[shuswapsteve]

Yet another form open letter from Ms Morton providing more misinformation, exaggeration and ignorance about IHN.  She should take her own advice and do a review of the Cohen testimony and technical reports.

[alwaysfishn]

Important message?  LOL

Still beating the dead horse af.  Please post Ms. Farlinger's response to this latest stuff from the lady Alex...

I like to think of it as beating the people that are killing the wild salmon.......

I doubt that Farlinger will post a response to this letter unless the public becomes aware of it.

[alwaysfishn]

Yet another form open letter from Ms Morton providing more misinformation, exaggeration and ignorance about IHN.  

Why don't you substantiate your statements with a few of those facts Steve? At least Morton uses Farlinger's own quotes to substantiate the lying and deceit that is going on in DFO and the industry.

[shuswapsteve]

Why don't you substantiate your statements with a few of those facts Steve? At least Morton uses Farlinger's own quotes to substantiate the lying and deceit that is going on in DFO and the industry.

You seem to forget already that we have already discussed this on 2 threads recently.  In those threads I substantiated every statement I made on the issue of IHN with references; on the other hand, you kept making claims you could not and would not substantiate.  Keep spinning your tires on this one again, AF.

[alwaysfishn]

You seem to forget already that we have already discussed this on 2 threads recently.  In those threads I substantiated every statement I made on the issue of IHN with references; on the other hand, you kept making claims you could not and would not substantiate.  Keep spinning your tires on this one again, AF.

At the risk of hurting your feelings, I'm going to say that just isn't an answer Steve.....  Why don't you just admit that Farlinger and the DFO are hiding the truth, and eventually it will come out. Hopefully it's not too late for the wild salmon.

[Dave]

Why don't you just admit that Farlinger and the DFO are hiding the truth, and eventually it will come out. Hopefully it's not too late for the wild salmon.

Good stuff af - now we're back to a conspiracy theory

Just wondering ... are you growing your hair to match hers cuz you sure seem to be acting and sounding like our favourite salmon saver

[absolon]

Why don't you substantiate your statements with a few of those facts Steve? At least Morton uses Farlinger's own quotes to substantiate the lying and deceit that is going on in DFO and the industry.

Facts?

Farlinger said sunlight quickly inactivates the viral particles. That is a fact. That 99% are inactivated within three weeks is entirely irrelevant to that fact. It is the rate of inactivation that is the critical factor, not the duration of the process.

Farlinger said older sockeye are less susceptible to the virus. That is a fact. That the disease has been designated as high risk by a report to the Cohen Commision is entirely irrelevant to that fact.

Farlinger said sockeye fry that survive exposure to the virus can be a threat to farm stocks. That is a fact. Witness the infection passed to the several well separated farms by the wild stock this year.

Farlinger said the CFIA was working to confirm the infection and the strain of the virus on August 16. That is a fact. It is also a fact that they had already issued the order to cull the farm and that cull was complete by August 17. Unlike Morton, the CFIA uses good scientific method to confirm their initial results before announcing those results though it doesn't stop them from taking the preventative measures required to be safe. Further, the viral particle production of 300,000 fully infected fish is entirely irrelevant to the viral production of a farm with 100,000 fish total within which the virus was isolated by routine and ongoing screening and within which there were no indications of any clinical outbreak of the disease.


As Morton herself says, this letter really isn't intended for the minister so no doubt a response isn't expected. Perhaps that is why she addressed nothing of substance in a factual manner. She specified she wrote it as a reward for all the loyal followers who had sent her letters....................... make of that what you will.

[absolon]

.

[shuswapsteve]

At the risk of hurting your feelings, I'm going to say that just isn't an answer Steve.....  Why don't you just admit that Farlinger and the DFO are hiding the truth, and eventually it will come out. Hopefully it's not too late for the wild salmon.

No risk of hurting my feelings because the whole topic was discussed in those threads to the nth degree.  Ms Morton is just rehashing the same rethoric that you did before.  Different mung pile, but the smell is still the same.  The issue was that you couldn't handle the truth and couldn't back up your "logic" and conspirarcy theories.  The only thing I will admit is that you don't know what you are talking about....but you knew that already.

[dnibbles]

Why don't you substantiate your statements with a few of those facts Steve? At least Morton uses Farlinger's own quotes to substantiate the lying and deceit that is going on in DFO and the industry.

Used her quotes? She liberally spruced the quotes up with "......" to make it sound the way she wanted them to sound.

Farlinger: “... sockeye fry that survive freshwater exposure...may represent a source of virus to... farmed salmonids...”

Kind of reminds me of this interview. Alex should go work for Rock Bottom as an editor, she'd fit right in lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAe3FpLGvBY

[shuswapsteve]

Used her quotes? She liberally spruced the quotes up with "......" to make it sound the way she wanted them to sound.

Farlinger: “... sockeye fry that survive freshwater exposure...may represent a source of virus to... farmed salmonids...”

Kind of reminds me of this interview. Alex should go work for Rock Bottom as an editor, she'd fit right in lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAe3FpLGvBY

Dramatization: May not have happened  lol

Ms Morton loves to quote specific items from people like Ms Farlinger, but she will always leave out the remaining text before and after the quote which provide context to the topic.  This was done with Dr. Miller’s, Dr. Marty’s, Dr. Kent’s and Dr. Gaver's testimony (basically anyone which stood in her way of her agenda).  For an unedited version of events people should be going directly to the Cohen Commission website and read the actual transcripts.  This even goes for websites that oppose Ms Morton’s views if people feel like they are biased also.  The Cohen Commission transcripts were produced for the general public to keep them informed about what was said.  It is unfortunate that for all that effort that was put into those Cohen transcripts that some people who claim to love wild salmon are turning to more filtered sources to satisfy their craving for “Rock Bottom” theatrics – unable to put even a modest effort to read all the information for themselves.

[clarki]

Yep, always productive to end a letter with "wishing you had the guts..."