Press

Media Release For Immediate Release: June 26, 2001 Fish farms are likely the cause of a devastating outbreak of sea lice that threatens millions of juvenile wild salmon around northern Vancouver Island, according to local experts. Principal spokesperson Chief Bill Cranmer, with Billy Proctor. First Nation chiefs and fisheries experts held a news conference in Victoria today to declare their…

February 1, 2002 For immediate release Environmental representatives appointed two years ago to the provincial Salmon Aquaculture Implementation Advisory Committee (SAIAC) have quit today in protest after a government decision yesterday to lift the moratorium on new salmon farm sites. Groups are outraged that the letter informing SAIAC members of the lifting of the moratorium was dated January 10, 2002,…

NEWS RELEASE For immediate release April 29, 2002 VANCOUVER – The provincial government is ignoring new science and the effects of disease outbreaks at salmon farms by lifting the seven-year ban on establishing new farms off the BC coast, say groups representing First Nations, sports and commercial fishermen and conservationists. The government cites the 1997 Salmon Aquaculture Review (SAR) as…

NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 12, 2002 NANAIMO – Minister John Van Dongen’s announcement today concerning the government’s decision to lift the moratorium of salmon farming is based on ideology not science, said Laurie MacBride, Executive Director of the Georgia Strait Alliance. “The Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ own scientists concluded in a recently published peer-reviewed paper that…

August 21, 2003 – For immediate release Victoria, BC — It is outrageous that the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has failed to lay charges for damaging the habitat of a threatened species against a company that illegally stocked a salmon farm north of Port Hardy, the Georgia Strait Alliance said today. “Well over a year ago, the…

October 21, 2003 For Immediate Release VICTORIA, B.C.– It is outrageous that the provincial government has passed Bill 48, which allows cabinet ministers to override local government decisions that restrict fish farming in their communities, the Georgia Strait Alliance said today. “Over 600 of our members sent letters to the BC government opposing this move, and we know many other…

MEDIA RELEASE For Immediate Release February 5, 2004 Sierra Legal Defence Fund demands investigation of suspicious dealings regarding fines against aquaculture companies VANCOUVER, BC – Sierra Legal Defence Fund, on behalf of the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR), made a formal submission to the Auditor General of British Columbia yesterday demanding an investigation into the B.C. government’s decision to…

March 30, 2004 The BC Government receives a failing grade (‘F’) for its regulation of the salmon farming industry in a Report Card released today. Regulating Salmon Aquaculture in BC – A Report Card finds the government has failed to live up to most of the recommendations tabled by its own Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) in 1997. The report card…

April 29, 2004 – MEDIA RELEASE CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C – The Xwémalhkwu First Nation and the Georgia Strait Alliance today announced the signing of a protocol agreement outlining how the two groups will work together on marine restoration and protection initiatives in Bute Inlet and its surrounding waters. “Wild salmon are integral to our culture and to the well being…

For Immediate Release: May 19, 2004 VICTORIA – The development of a unique and sensitive ecosystem and the disinterring of First Nations ancestral remains are at the centre of a challenge mounted against an aquaculture facility at Walker Hook on Saltspring Island. An eleven-day hearing into the matter by an Environmental Appeal Board panel concluded today in Victoria. Local residents,…