Connecting the dots: Alex Morton goes to Eastern Canada

October 11, 2012 by idoumenc

The maxim “Divide and Conquer” has served the salmon farm industry well. Even as it spreads across the globe, this industry has promoted the story that the ecological and economic devastation brought by salmon feedlots – whether in Norway, Chile, Scotland, Atlantic Canada or British Columbia – are “local” phenomena unrelated to one another.
 
Alexandra Morton has responded to the industry’s propaganda machine with her feet, by relentlessly visiting communities impacted by salmon feedlots in person. “I realized, travelling through salmon land, that there is a wealth of knowledge there, and we want to bring those people together”, Morton explained at a recent talk in Vancouver, B.C.


 
Alex Morton and fellow campaigner Anissa Reed are back on the road. They are travelling to Eastern Canada from October 11 to 21. There, they will meet local folks who are trying to protect their own communities from the destruction of industrial salmon farming.
 
Alex and Anissa will tell people about the science, about what’s happening with B.C.’s feedlots, about the stunning and truly damning testimonies heard at the Cohen Commission in Vancouver last year, about the tremendously successful salmon testing campaign conducted by the citizens of that province in spite of the hostility of industry and government.
 
They will help people of Atlantic Canada construct a larger picture of the situation, see that there are indeed clear patterns of destruction in the wake of salmon feedlots from community to community. They will show them that salmon farming is indeed a global not a “local” plague.
 
Alex and Anissa will be at Dalhousie University on Friday, October 19 at 7PM, where Alex will be giving a presentation for 5th Annual Ransom A. Myers Lecture. This talk is open to the public. Check Alex’s blog for updates on what we learn about salmon farms in Eastern Canada.
 
Back in Vancouver, on October 24, Dr Alexandra Morton (an honour bestowed upon her by SFU for her scientific work with sea lice) will be presented with of the SFU Sterling Award along with co-winner Dr. Richard Routledge of SFU. This award is in support of controversial science! They will be giving lecture together  entitled "Salmon Farms and Disease: The importance of Both Academic Freedom and Community-Engaged Research.


 
Also in salmon news, at the end of October, after much delay, the Cohen Commission will present its recommendations regarding the decline of the Fraser River sockeye. After reviewing the half million documents provided to the Commission, Alexandra Morton submitted a report which was entered as evidence.  
 
Regardless of the Cohen recommendations, citizens of British Columbia are continuing their own investigation into the presence of three European salmon viruses, using top labs in the world.

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