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

Government Ignores Science in Decision to Expand Salmon Farming

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…

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DFO Fails To Prosecute Illegal Fish Farm

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…

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BC Government Passes Bill 48 Despite Strong Opposition

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…

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Fishy business exposed in BC aquaculture

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…

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Regulating Salmon Aquaculture in BC A Report Card

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…

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Xwémalhkwu (Homalco) First Nation and Georgia Strait Alliance Form Partnership

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…

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Sablefish Aquaculture Operation “Obscene”

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,…

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Salmon Farm Denied

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 3, 2004 POWELL RIVER – Today, an environmental group congratulated the federal government for turning down a proposed salmon farm at Raven Bay, Texada Island along the Sunshine Coast. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and Transport Canada have completed their review of this site and have denied approval saying that the navigational concerns around the site…

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Heritage Withdraws Fish Farm Application For Bute Inlet

December 20, 2004 – MEDIA RELEASE CAMPBELL RIVER – Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has discontinued its environmental review of a proposed salmon farm in Bute Inlet, saying that the proponent, Heritage Aquaculture, has withdrawn its application. In 2001, the Bute Inlet Downie Range site was proposed as an alternate location for environmentally problematic salmon farms in Alberni Inlet and…

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First Nation Stops Atlantic Salmon Transfers

December 28, 2004 – MEDIA RELEASE A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ordered Marine Harvest, the fish-farming arm of the Dutch multi-national Nutreco, to stop putting Atlantic salmon smolts into its pens at the mouth of Bute Inlet. Peter Grant, legal counsel for the Homalco First Nation, based the application for the injunction before Mr. Justice Ian Pitfield of the…

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