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FADMAIL
Corporate Control Of Our Coast - Big Three in B.C
In 1989 there were
more than 100 small family-owned salmon farming companies operating in
B.C. Today there are only 12 left with three factory farming corporations
dominating the industry. The multinationals Marine Harvest (75% owned by
the Dutch multinational and 25% by the Norwegian multinational Stolt),
Pan Fish (Norwegianowned) and Cermaq (80% owned by the Norwegian
Government) now controlover 80% of B.C.'s sea cage sites (104 of 129
sites).
The 'Big Three' multinational companies, farming predominantly alien
Atlantic salmon, want to encroach yet further into wild Pacific salmon
habitat. In July, Cermaq took over George Weston's subsidiary Heritage
intent on expanding into the Broughton Archipelago. Pan Fish already has
two farms approved at the mouth of the Skeena River with a
further 15 proposed.
Catherine
Stewart of the Living Oceans Society had this to say about the expansion
of Cermaq into the Broughton:
"Cermaq's operational track record in the
Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve is appalling, said Catherine
Stewart, Living Oceans Aquaculture Campaign Coordinator. The company, and
its' subsidiaries EWOS and Mainstream Canada, have amassed a shoddy record
of Fisheries Act violations, escapes, disease outbreaks and mass
mortalities in their Clayoquot operations"
The salmon farming industry is expanding north into one
of B.C.'s most productive salmon rivers, the Skeena. Help us prevent
another Broughton sea lice epidemic and stop the salmon farming industry
from spoiling this wild salmon ecosystem.
Act now to save wild salmon on the Skeena River
please sign Friends of Wild
Salmon's Declaration.
Heiltsuk First Nation Say
Zero Tolerance
The Heiltsuk First
Nation of B.C.'s central mainland coast has along-standing policy of
zero-tolerance towards open net-cage fishfarms in their traditional
territory. In early July, Heiltsuk Hereditary Chief Harvey Humchitt took
that message directly to theBoard and CEO of Pan Fish, the Norwegian
salmon farming multinational. Humchitt traveled to Stavanger,
Norway to attend an extraordinary meeting of Pan Fish (Omega)
shareholders and directors. The corporation operates a farmed salmon
hatchery in Heiltsuk territory despite protest flotillas, written
objections and court challenges by the Heiltsuk Nation. Presenting before
the Board in traditional regalia, Humchitt invited PanFish's CEO to visit
coastal B.C. and hear first-hand the Nation's concerns about the impact
of fish farms on wild salmon and ocean ecosystems and the failure of the
company to address Heiltsuk interests. Pan Fish (Omega) has yet to accept
the invitation.
Visit www.farmedanddangerous.org
to find out more reasons why you should think twice about eating farmed
salmon!
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