TAKE ACTION to protect wild salmon

A study published in the December 14 edition of the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Science concludes that sea lice from salmon farms have been driving a rapid decline in pink salmon populations in British Columbia’s Broughton Archipelago. Research by the team of six biologists, fisheries scientists, and mathematicians predicts that 99 per cent of the wild pink salmon will be gone in four years from today, or two salmon generations, if sea-lice infestations continue.

Please join us in urging the B.C. and federal governments to take immediate action to prevent the local extinction of wild pink salmon from British Columbia’s Broughton Archipelago. The wild juvenile fish need a route from the rivers where they are born to the ocean that is clear of farmed fish in open net cages, now. Ultimately, if salmon farming is to coexist with wild salmon, it needs to be done in closed systems that separate the farmed fish from the wild.

Canada’s Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is responsible for protecting wild salmon, and the government of British Columbia is responsible for regulating the activities that occur in local coastal waters.

Please write to the federal Fisheries Minister, and to B.C.’s Premier, Minister of Agriculture, and Minister of Finance. Together they can make two crucial decisions:

1) to clear wild salmon migration routes of open net salmon farms that amplify sea lice; and,
2) to support a $10-million Closed System Aquaculture Innovation and Development Fund that will assist the industry in a transition to farming methods that don’t threaten local wild salmon populations.

Anyone can write in support of wild salmon. If you live in B.C., please also send a note to your MLA. All B.C. legislators can be contacted directly from www.leg.bc.ca/mla/3-4.asp.

A sample letter is below. Feel free to use it, modify it, or create your own.

For more information on the study published in Science or on the issues of sea lice, salmon farms, and wild salmon, please see the David Suzuki Foundation press release, research backgrounder, and sea lice web page.

Thank you,
The David Suzuki Foundation

SAMPLE LETTER

Attention:
Hon. Loyola Hearn, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada,  hearn.l@parl.gc.ca
Hon. Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia, gordon.campbell.mla@leg.bc.ca
Hon. Stan Hagen, B.C. Minister of Agriculture and Lands, stan.hagen.mla@leg.bc.ca  
Hon. Carole Taylor, B.C. Minister of Finance, carole.taylor.mla@leg.bc.ca

Re: Salmon farm sea lice immediate threat to wild salmon – empty farms and fund closed systems in 2008

The latest research published in the top journal Science adds to the significant body of peer-reviewed evidence that shows open net-cage salmon farms are detrimental to the wild pink salmon in B.C.’s Broughton Archipelago. The study published on December 14, 2007, indicates that these wild salmon have no time to wait – sea lice from salmon farms are driving them to extinction.

I urge you to immediately empty salmon farms on key migration routes in the Broughton to ensure a route for wild pink salmon that is free of sea lice. I also urge the government of British Columbia to allocate $10 million to a Closed System Aquaculture Innovation and Development Fund in the 2008 Provincial Budget. Federal support for this program would help ensure its success.

Wild salmon are enormously important to the ecosystem, economy, and culture of B.C. Action must be taken to protect the Broughton wild salmon immediately and all of B.C.’s salmon in the long term.

The Science paper – supported by an international academic community – leaves no doubt that open net-cage salmon farming is devastating wild salmon populations, putting coastal ecosystems and economies at risk.

Please act now to prevent a tragedy. Clear farms from key migration routes before the pink salmon emerge from the rivers, and fund a transition to closed systems that will allow salmon farming and wild salmon to coexist.

Yours sincerely,