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alexandra morten, BC, Cohen commission, cohen inquiry, fish, harper, Plug Out Tune In, salmon, sockeye, sustainability
As British Columbians were becoming increasingly aware of declining sockeye salmon stocks, 2010 ended the trend with the inundation of the Fraser River in what Mark Hume of The Globe and Mail described as “the biggest sockeye salmon run in nearly 100 years.”
The salmon issue, while having become highly political over the past few years, is essentially about fish farms and their relation to sockeye and the overall health and vitality of these Fraser River resources. Salmon farming and sea lice, in addition to climate change, are possible causes of the previously declining stocks. Prime Minister Harper last year described it as “a serious matter.”
After three consecutive years of closed fisheries in British Columbia, a federal inquiry into sockeye salmon stock declines was commissioned by the federal government in November of 2009. Under BC Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen, the Cohen Inquiry is meant to identify the reasons for the decline, make long term projections and determine the necessary policy direction to ensure salmon sustainability.
Then, approximately 34.5 million sockeye returned to their spawning ground for this year’s run. A significant advantage though this may be, there is frustration amongst a wide cross section of the fishery community, concerned with DFO’s (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) lack of capacity to accurately predict salmon returns. Pending the final report, a movement to protect natural resources in BC has begun. Alexandra Morton, a known voice on salmon issues, led the “Get Out Migration” from the Ahta River to Victoria in April, calling for Norwegian salmon farming companies to ‘get out’ of the region, or move to closed containment.
“Government is allowing Norwegian salmon farmers to continue denying even the most basic issues, like sea lice and ISA virus introduction,” said Morton. “If we let this play out, our wild fish simply will not survive.”
While a federal inquiry has been indentified as long overdue and essential to BC’s salmon sustainability, thorough support for the process is distinctly sparse. In this battle over BC salmon, the very nature of the Cohen Inquiry is being challenged by the broader community. Rafe Mair, BC minister of environment from 1978-79, has suggested that the inquiries are politically motivated.
“….while the Commissioner Bruce Cohen may not be political, his boss, Stephen Harper—a man whose only demonstrated interest in the environment has been to let corporate friends destroy it—sure as hell is,” said Mair in a column last month.
READ THE REST ON THE UBYSSEY: HERE
