August 27, 2011 by Anissa

Wild Salmon Warrior Rally

Vancouver Art Gallery, Tuesday August 30, 2011

750 Hornby St. (W Georgia side)
10am to 4pm
 
First Nations and other Wild Salmon People will be gathering this Tuesday to stand up yet again for BC’s Pacific Wild Salmon and demand that Fish Farms Get Out of the Ocean. The Cohen Commission Federal Inquiry into the 2009 missing Fraser River Sockeye is underway and for those that are paying attention the reality of the situation shows a clear and present threat to the very existence of B.C.’s  wild South Coast Salmon.

We have learned since 1996 hundreds of millions of sockeye  have died of an unidentified virus that may be associated with salmon farms but a cutting edge scientist  Kristi Miller, has not been allowed to test farmed Atlantic Salmon. She can not talk to media, was flanked by very large security guards and her lab and research is no longer funded and may even be shut down. Her specialty is genomic  profiling and she found a clear signature in the Fraser sockeye salmon that shows they are fighting a virus and face an untimely death when stressed. 

Unfortunately just swimming up their natal streams and rivers to spawn is extremely stressful and in some areas more fish  than not are found dead before they have released their eggs and spawned a legacy to the next generation.

 
We also learned from Kyle Garver, a DFO expert in virology, that a salmon farm with one million fish can shed 60 BILLION viral particles per hour during a disease outbreak.

In a narrow area such as Discovery Pass where Fraser Sockeye and other salmon must pass through to access open ocean they have no choice but to pass disease over their gills as they breath. This clearly shows the salmon farms have become gate keepers.
 

Dr. Stewart  Johnson Head of DFO Fish Health admitted to the court that removing fish farms  would reduce the pathogens wild salmon are exposed to.  Thank you Dr. Johnson, this is what the wild salmon people have been advocating for a very long time.
 
Justice Cohen has yet to make public the provincial database of fish farm disease that a hundred people paddled down the Fraser River for days to highlight the importance of making public.
 
If you have sat inside the courtroom you may also conclude that this is not going to be an easy process and not everyone seems keen to find the truth.
 
The people of B.C. want wild salmon over farmed Atlantic salmon and the message is clear and simple. The Norwegian Salmon Feedlots have to go now and we have to put full effort into protecting our wild salmon.
 
Come to the Rally this Tuesday and send the message loud and clear.

We are still raising money for Dr. Kristi Miller's research on the sockeye as we learned there is no government funding available for this. Find out more information http://salmonaresacred.org/blog/dr-kristi-millers-testing-fund-s-flooding-farmed-salmon-sampling  We are now about one third of the way there to $18,750. We will be informing the public about this situation at the rally and we welcome donations.