Written By: John Mc Manus
On Date: 27/4/2010
For the next two weeks, the Pure Salmon Campaign will join wild salmon activist Alexandra Morton and hundreds of other individuals as they journey 250 miles from one end of Vancouver Island to another. The walk is part of an ongoing effort to save wild salmon from Norwegian-owned salmon farms. The "Get Out Migration," is an effort to eliminate the impact of salmon farms on wild fish and ecosystems by removing salmon farms from British Columbia's waters and relocating them to land, the group said.
The "migration" began Thursday, Earth Day, with a kickoff in Sointula and is scheduled to end with a ceremony in Victoria on May 9, Mother's Day.
"In an act of solidarity, we're asking consumers to 'migrate' away from farmed salmon raised in British Columbia and eat something else," said Don Staniford, global coordinator of the Pure Salmon Campaign.
"Open-net cage salmon farms in British Columbia waters jeopardize the future of wild salmon populations. These industrial-scale feed lots should be transferred to land. And the five farms in the wild salmon narrows should be some of the first facilities relocated."
As juvenile wild salmon begin their own migration out to sea, they must swim by salmon farms that threaten their survival with the risk of contracting diseases and parasites, including sea lice, the group says.
Additionally, escapes of farmed salmon -- which interbreed and compete with wild salmon -- and discharges of wastes and chemicals into the ocean threaten wild fish, grizzly bears, bald eagles and other key predators that rely upon wild salmon for their survival, it said.
During the migration, supporters will walk alongside Morton and will join flotillas in local waterways. Organizations will host events leading up to the final rally at the British Columbia Legislature on May 8 in Victoria.
At that time, participants will meet with members of Parliament and the Legislative Assembly to encourage them to oppose open-net cage salmon farms in British Columbia's waters.
The migration is a call to action to make the British Columbian government aware its citizens want a higher priority placed on wild salmon than on the profits earned by Norwegian-owned salmon farms, the NGO said.
"We will take the passion from the migration to Oslo, Norway in May, when we continue to press for salmon aquaculture reform at the annual general meetings of Marine Harvest and Cermaq," said Bart Naylor of the Pure Salmon Campaign.
"It's time for the world's two largest producers of farmed salmon to get their farms out of the Wild Salmon Narrows and move all their operations into closed containment."
For more information on the migration, go to http://www.salmonaresacred.org/.
Wild salmon migration begins