ACT1 WAKE UP CANADA

UPDATE: 20100512: I gave this a lot of thought, and it just keeps happening that the more I read the more I am dismayed we let this get so out of hand. And I'm reading both sides. The Salmon sellers say no probs, the companies say no probs, but the young salmon (smolts) are dying or disappearing so their silent voice says it all to me. Did you know they DYE the farmed salmon PINK so you'll think it's tasty??? Did you know they ship smaller fish from Chili to feed their fish here (besides the wild ones here that seem to end up somehow in their net cages)? That's 1000 miles away to truck fish here from there. Does Chili get paid enough to have their resources shipped off I wonder?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The GET OUT OF OUR WATERS march led by Alexandra Morton and accompanied by many First Nations reached Victoria on March 8 as planned.

Heres where you're going to sign the petition: http://www.salmonaresacred.org/

Here's where you write your email saying in your words that open-net fish farms must get out of our waters or else I'm not going to vote for you. premier@gov.bc.ca Honourable Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia

Here's why you're going to want to write those letters in my opinion:

While Alexandra was a long way back from the front line of the march, she was our leader, our inspiration, our hope. She is a Hero's Hero who never gave up fighting for what she believes in and finally, after 20 years of beating her head against the governments door, she isn't alone anymore.

You may wonder what the big deal is about a bunch of fish but it's much more that what meets the eye going on in our waters. It's not just about the salmon, it's about the life they support that will be gone when the salmon are gone, it's about the ocean being tainted by drugs and barren ocean floors, it's the increasing lice, and the mixing of species by thousands of escaped Atlantic salmon brought in to grow here mixing with Pacific salmon. Brought to you by a Norwegian company.

If I'm to understand what I've read and heard at the protest, it's about our government making rules as they go along, only to break them, blatantly giving all Canadians the third finger by designating restricted red zones in migration routes then allowing Norwegian open-net fish farms to propagate and prosper, nicely out of sight where we can't see it, tucked way up north out of sight out of mind. What else is out of sight I ask myself.

It's about Norway spoiling their waters then taking over the water in other countries includng ours. Not improving their process, not making it better, just simply moving to another country and giving the fish more drugs.

This must be what it feels like to be a third world country where foreign countries raid the kitchen of another. Canadians wake up!

Our government tried to slide in a Norwegian fish farm expansion in our waters that would make it the biggest in Canada, because they did an Environmental A****sment that said no impact to our environment. On closer look, seems government studied the site for 10 MONTHS and didn't take into account the expansion data. That's like adding a top floor of an apartment building and not knowing the weight. Who are these people we elected?

There was a complete failure of salmon run in the Fraser River area last year so government shut down fish farms in their migration round and put a hold on any more fish farm licenses until they could study it. Good, let's hope they get their facts right this time. It could be a coincidence the next year when the fish farms started back up, the smolts came back. BUT, now here's where I start to wonder... the Norwegian farm expansion was granted the license to proceed 2 DAYS before the hold, with, as the environmentalists said all along, insufficient data used as proof to proceed. Something is very very fishy about that one! Are you getting the picture I got when I started reading and learning more about why Alexandra was walking down Vancouver Island?

It gets worse. When an environmental group protested the a****sment citing the data was wrong, the government tried to blow them off, the company quite smug about going ahead with expanding. It was only when the environmental group got lawyers involved and threatened a lawsuit that government backed off, and withdrew the approval.... for now. They do normally back out so gracefully. Read that again. If there hadn't been a concerned group of citizens who took action Canada would have allowed a major expansion and not understood what the environmental impact is. Or perhaps they did know but money talks? You just imagine the push to get that expansion through before the hold on licenses was announced. What backdoor promises were made on that one I wonder?

Is this what our country has come to? We have to rely on people who care enough about a bunch of fish to do something to save our pristine waters and our environment? All this and British Columbia/Canada doesn't even get paid their share given the majority of the profit goes to the foreign shareholders of a foreign country and not in taxes or wages. Yes, their company does employ people but there are more jobs going to be lost when we lose our fish, that's not even talking about the health issue.

Would you want to eat a fish that's been pumped full of drugs from the day it was born to get rid of lice, and there's a chance it's not working? Does that mean they just up the dose? What do they even feed those fish anyways I think I read that fish food isn't regulated. And where does their fish food come from?

Someone at the march told the Norwegians are turning on bright lights on the waters by their farms, which attracts other fish that the salmon eat. Using lights to fish is illegal here but who is every going to know way up north in the wilds. And, to top it all off, a lot (50% was mentioned by one of the speakers today) of these farmed fish are sold in the USA. Do they know what they're eating I wonder?

So, you getting the same picture I did? A foreign country ruins my country to grow food to feed a different foreign country. Tell me again why we should allow the Norwegian fish farms to continue? At the very least can't we ask them to leave the Red Zones and get out of the migration routes? What if that's all it was that could help, at least until they can put them on land.

Our government didn't listen to the First Nations who for eons have been telling government there's a problem, they didn't listen to Alexandra, and they haven't listened to the environmental scientists and experts for 20 years when they tried to do something about the open-net fish farms. This isn't just about fish.

Our government work for us, we are the boss here. We elected them on the good faith they would bring prosperity and honour to our country. That's not happening in this case, we my friends IMHO are being taken for a ride and most of us didn't even know it.

I saw the hope in Alexandra's eyes yesterday when she said seeing the support today she believes we are going to save the salmon. I think she's right. We may be polite but we're are not the fools. You're not a fool are you.

We're not talking about Global Warming here, too big for even our country to solve alone, we're talking about something that can be done. Norway kindly take your fish farms out of our waters. Get out of our waters. Get out of the way of our migrating fish.

What can you do?

Vote on the petition at http://www.salmonaresacred.org Write your politician. Pretty simple, and way more easier than walking down Vancouver Island. Imagine the great Canadian and British Columbia governments brought down but a little bunch of lousy lice they thought nobody would see. Imagine the generations to come who will suffer for your indifference if you at least don't educate yourself on the wh*** picture. Read both sides for sure, fish farming was a great idea at the time but it's time for the industry to change.

Imagine your own health when you take a bite out of that farmed salmon knowing it spent it's life on drugs. Only buy wild salmon, that is if there's any left to sell in the next few years. The lice pick on the young salmon migrating right by the fish farms and kill them, the salmon that grow up are fine..for now.

A list of politicians address are being put together but I say we just go to the top and write our Premier. In fact, I'm sure our Prime Minister would like to know what's going on too. pm@pm.gc.ca premier@gov.bc.ca Two little emails and you can save a bunch of fish... and ourselves.

I imagine the politicians are just hoping this will all go away. Something is going on and I don't even fish.