To all of you who want to help and don't know how to get started or how to continue:

Here are some suggestions...

We are a small and determined group of sacred salmon lovers who want to continue the incredible journey for the salmon. There are so many ways to gather support, to educate one another across Canada and beyond about the travesties that are occurring to our wild salmon and to our other natural resources.

While we are all thrilled with the news of large numbers of sockeye salmon returning on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, we must stay focused on effecting change to save salmon from the open-pen fish farms along the migratory routes.

The Cohen Commission, federally appointed to determine the causes of the decline of Fraser river sockeye salmon, is presiding in Vancouver, commencing June, 2010. They are accepting submissions from the general public, wanting to hear our viewpoints. This is another opportunity to individually and collectively make our voices heard, to effect change, to tell our stories, to speak out for democracy, for ourselves and for the finned, the rooted, the four-legged ones. All of us our negatively impacted by the effects of open-pen fish farms, whether we realize it or not.

Please join us. Here are some concrete ideas:

1. GO TO THE COHEN COMMISSION WEBSITE, (www.commissioncohen.ca) click on "public submissions" and go for it, tell your story, your concerns, your experiences, such as what does WILD salmon mean to you, personal or professional stories, cultural stories, etc.

If you just want to say "It has been proven that open-pen fish farms on migratory routes of the wild salmon play a large part in the decline of the salmon return, so please remove these farms" that is fine.

We have crafted simple, more detailed statements, you may want to use:

"Wild salmon are iconic to the west coast, as the atlantic cod is to the east coast. The historically abundant atlantic cod is nearing extinction and west coast wild salmon are going in the same drastic direction. As a citizen of Canada, I want my voice heard, I want this direction of wiping out our wild salmon, reversed."

"It is imperative that your commission unravel "the perfect storm" of factors such as climate change, over-fishing, habitat degradation, open-pen fish farming, and mismanagement by the BC Government that contribute to this decline."

"There is no doubt in the non-governmental scientific research that open-pen fish farming on the migratory routes of wild salmon plays is responsible for the dramatic decrease of salmon returns. We need to move open-pen fish farms to land, if they are here to stay."

2. GATHER THE PEOPLE:

We all have friends, family, acquaintances, far and wide, who care about our natural resources, our food security, and many of them are simply uninformed or don't know how to get engaged in effecting change, don't know that their one voice matters greatly.
Tell others your story, tell others about the sacred salmon decline, direct them to websites so they may make their own informed decisions. Direct them to the Cohen commission website as well.

3. SEND A LETTER TO YOUR MP, telling him/her you want sacred salmon saved from the open-pen fish farms. It is postage free. Send a copy to NDP, MP Fin Donnelly at Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario

4. SIGN THE PETITION ON WWW.SALMONARESACRED.ORG

5. FORM YOUR OWN COMMUNITY GROUP TO EDUCATE OTHERS ABOUT THE WILD SALMON. Purchase a copy of " Alexandra's Echo" ( from alexandramorton.ca) and have a movie night in your community, sharing the message aout salmon feedlots.

WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU, SHARE WHAT WE ARE UP TO, WHAT ACTIONS AND ACTIVITIES WE ARE PLANNING IN OUR COMMUNITY.