Here's what I got in my inbox yesterday from the Watershed Watch Salmon Society.
A little on the late side, since today is the last day to voice your opinion. Quote:
Dear XXXXXXX,
As you may have heard, B.C.’s Wild Salmon Advisory Council has been conducting some very limited public engagement sessions to hear citizen views on their proposed “Options for a Made In BC Wild Salmon Strategy" and tomorrow is the last day to comment.
We have serious concerns with this council, their recommendations, and the entire process, which is excluding conservation groups, academic scientists, interior B.C. communities, and ignoring important threats like salmon farms, over-fishing and climate change, while proposing disastrous ideas like industrial scale artificial hatcheries.
Please add your voice by commenting online now or by emailing wildsalmonsecretariat@gov.bc.ca.
You can read Options for a Made In BC Wild Salmon Strategy here.
Here’s what we think the council needs to hear:
Include conservationists, scientists, and more interior B.C. voices on the Wild Salmon Advisory Council.
Hold public meetings in communities throughout the BC interior (all but one of their 7 meetings were in coastal communities).
Take strong action to further implement B.C.’s new Water Sustainability Act, including protecting stream flows for salmon, charging a fair price for water to industrial users, and allowing more local control of watershed planning.
Stop ignoring the threat that salmon farms pose to wild salmon and remove salmon farms from all wild salmon migrations routes
Focus on restoration and protection of WILD salmon and their natural habitats and forget about artificial hatcheries, which harm wild salmon and mask the real problems.
Support the federal government in restricting fisheries that impact endangered salmon runs, and transitioning to “known-stock” salmon fisheries that can harvest abundant salmon runs with minimal impact on endangered runs.
Develop and implement recovery plans for endangered steelhead and support federal efforts to recover and rebuild the many at-risk salmon populations that are under federal jurisdiction.
Global warming is wreaking havoc on our salmon and B.C. must meet or exceed our greenhouse gas reduction targets.
Thank you for taking the time to show Premier Horgan and the BC Wild Salmon Advisory Council that British Columbians expect a comprehensive and effective strategy for our wild salmon, before it is too late.
| Below is the link to the government's feedback form. https://feedback.engage.gov.bc.ca/253769?lang=en
I joined the society because they look after our salmon. As far as I know, they are not a radical group. I don't go to their meetings or do anything else except donate some money to their cause. I am totally against fish farming and that is the main reason for me getting involved. Atlantic Salmon has no business being in our waters in open pens. They need to be on land in tanks where they cannot spread any diseases or invade our waters - they are an invasive species. Open water fish farming has been banned in Europe for years now, because it has been proven to be damaging to wild stock. Yet, we continue to allow greedy companies with no cares about the welfare of our environment to continue operating in our waters. I am not a tree hugger, but when it comes to preserving this beautiful province of ours for our children's and their children's children, damn right I'm going to do my part. /rant.
EDIT: I realized the link that was imbedded in the text from the e-mail did not show up in the post, so here it is....... https://engage.gov.bc.ca/app/uploads...eid=f391d3c7d9 | 