Please direct all media inquiries to Allison Murray, Communications Associate, at allison [at] murraycommunications.org | 604-442-1846.

54 local, provincial and national organizations call for salmon farm closures along wild salmon migration route

Evidence emerging at Cohen Inquiry reaffirms urgent need to protect wild salmon from salmon farm diseases and sea lice

September 6, 2011 VANCOUVER, BC – The Wild Salmon Narrows Declaration, signed by 54 local, provincial and national organizations is calling for the removal of open net-cage salmon farms from the Wild Salmon Narrows (WSN) in the northern Georgia Strait. Today, the Georgia Strait Alliance (GSA), a member of the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR), is delivering the signed declaration to…

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New salmon farm proposed in Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve

CAAR calls for moratorium on net-cage tenures   May 18, 2011 VANCOUVER, BC – Mainstream Canada has submitted a tenure application to the Provincial Government for a new open net-cage salmon farm located in Fortune Channel on the east side of Meares Island. If approved, and then licenced by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the site would add about…

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Salmon farm restocking threatens wild salmon migration route

April 28, 2011                                                      VANCOUVER -Mainstream Canada is restocking their Venture Point salmon farm in Okisollo Channel. With the recent reactivation of the Conville Bay farm in HoskynChannel (sublet by Grieg Seafood from Marine Harvest), the…

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Federal Court awards costs on orca protection case

Fisheries on the hook for $80,000 in legal costs

by Mark Hume The Federal Court of Canada has stuck the Department of Fisheries and Oceans with an $80,000 legal bill because, in a court battle over orca habitat, the government “displayed reprehensible, scandalous or improper conduct that is deserving of reproof or rebuke.” DevonPage, executive director of Ecojustice, a not-for-profit legal foundation, said the decision “is exceptional” and its…

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From sea to poisoned sea, federal government proposes new regulation that would facilitate toxic pesticide use on salmon farms

February 16, 2011 FREDERICTON, HALIFAX, VANCOUVER – Despite mounting public concern over the impact of aquaculture pesticides on the marine environment, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is in the process of developing regulations that will facilitate and enable the ongoing use of eco-toxic pesticides in the open water by the salmon aquaculture industry. DFOʼs proposed "Pathogen and Pest Treatment" regulation…

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CAAR celebrates AgriMarine’s first commercial-scale closed containment tank installation

January 17, 2011VANCOUVER – Commercial-scale closed containment salmon farming in BC just took one huge step forward with the installation of a marine-based salmon farming tank in Campbell River.Local closed containment technology leader AgriMarine Inc. has installed the first of four solid-wall floating tanks that will be used to farm Chinook and coho salmon at Middle Bay. The Coastal Alliance for…

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DFO seeks to undo important precedent for at-risk species

January 17, 2010 Environmental groups headed back to court to uphold killer whale victory   VANCOUVER – Environmental groups vowed today to fight the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ (DFO) appeal of a decisive and precedent-setting Federal Court ruling that declared that  DFO must protect critical habitat of killer whales and other aquatic species. DFO seeks to overturn the decision…

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New Pacific Aquaculture Regulations pose major concerns, only marginal improvements

December 10, 2010VANCOUVER, BC – The new Pacific Aquaculture Regulations, unveiled today in Vancouver by Fisheries Minister Gail Shea bring some areas of improvement over the previous Provincial regime. But the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) has major concerns around the transparency of industry reporting and lack of clarity concerning possible exemption from habitat destruction provisions of the Fisheries…

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Cohen inquiry orders release of salmon farm data

December 8, 2010 VANCOUVER – The Conservation Coalition – a participant group in the federal sockeye inquiry – applauds Justice Bruce Cohen’s order instructing the salmon farming industry and the federal and provincial governments to release farming data from 120 farms, dating back 10 years. The information requested includes disease, sea lice and stocking data that must be supplied to…

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