Press

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,…

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…

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its environmental review of a proposed salmon farm in Bute Inlet, saying that the proponent, Heritage Aquaculture, has withdrawn its application.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…

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…

January 17, 2005 – MEDIA RELEASE – For Immediate Release Victoria, BC – A provincial government plan to reduce sea lice on salmon farms by treating the fish with a toxic chemical will still expose young salmon to fatal levels of sea lice, says the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR). “This plan is essentially the same as the 2004…

January 24, 2005 – BACKGROUNDER The Judicial Review of the process that, in the fall of 2002, led to the approval of the Church House fish farm site commences today in B.C. Supreme Court. The site, which is located directly in front of the traditional village and reserve of the Homalco First Nation, known as Church House, is at the…

March 3, 2005 – MEDIA RELEASE VANCOUVER, B.C. – Justice Powers, a BC Supreme Court Judge, has ruled that the provincial Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (MAFF) erred in failing to properly consult with the Xwemalhkwu (Homalco) First Nation regarding the approval of a species amendment to allow Marine Harvest, the fish-farming arm of Dutch trans-national Nutreco, to introduce…

DFO Failing to Protect Wild Stocks from Disease at Fish Farms Media Release: June 9, 2005 VANCOUVER – Sierra Legal Defence Fund has filed a formal complaint today with the Auditor General of Canada against the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Representing the Georgia Strait Alliance, United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union (UFAWU-CAW) and David Suzuki Foundation, Sierra Legal claims…