Fisheries Minister Gail Shea thinks everything is A-ok with DFO (Chris Wattie/Reuters) I registered the first Environmental Petition (a protocol, not list of names) on the Cohen Report with the federal Auditor General late last fall, and have received the first reply from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). My request
Continue readingTag: Oceans
350 or bust: Send Water Some Love On World Water Day
Tomorrow is World Water Day; the waters that nurture and sustain life on earth need our protection more than ever. * * World Water Day: Global Synchronized Water Ceremony
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Fish farm sewage: DFO expansions cost you money
Yardstick standing upright in waste layer below a Nova Scotia fish farm – up to 32 inch mark. (Photo:Kathy and Dave Brush – Friends of Port Mouton Bay) The response to the Cohen Report in DFO’s Ottawa is zero, but in BC it is huge. The petition against allowing
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Missing fish farms offer clue to anticipated 70 million sockeye return
Expect big salmon numbers this summer. The Fraser sockeye run may be as high as 70 million. Yes, 70. And the most important sport angling species, chinook and coho, seem to be on the same meteoric route in 2014. Fraser sockeye numbers peaked in the early 1970s and then declined,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: DFO predicts monster Fraser River sockeye return this summer
2010 was a record year for Fraser River sockeye. DFO is predicting an even bigger return this summer. Read this Globe and Mail story from Mark Hume on the record run of Fraser River sockeye being forecasted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for this summer. And see The Common Sense Canadian’s
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: European Commission wades into war over Galway salmon farm
Anti-salmon farming activist Don Staniford presents to the European Commission last week (courtesy of Don Staniford) Read this Feb. 26 story from the Irish Examiner on the battle over open net pen salmon farms that has now reached the European Commission, with allegations of a buried report highlighting serious risks to wild fish
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Group calls on Harper govt to implement Salmon Inquiry’s recommendations
Watch this video produced by Watershed Watch Conservation Society on the largest investigation into missing salmon in Canadian history – the $26 million Cohen Commission – and the groups and individuals battling to hold the Harper government to account on addressing the Judicial Inquiry’s findings. Watershed Watch, along with SOS Marine
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Cullen calls out Harper govt over climate change, dead scallops
NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen challenges the Harper government in question period over its failure to act on climate change and 10 million scallops that died in BC recently from ocean acidification. The post Cullen calls out Harper govt over climate change, dead scallops appeared first on The Common Sense
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Cut adrift by Harper govt, Ocean pollution expert joins aquarium
Dr. Peter Ross (photo: Tanya Brown/aquablog.ca) World-renowned ocean pollution scientist Dr. Peter Ross will continue his work through the Vancouver Aquarium, after the federal program he oversaw was shut down by the Harper Government. The Common Sense Canadian published this farewell letter by Ross in 2012, after he learned that Canada’s only ocean pollution monitoring
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Salmon farms net more tax dollars from Harper Govt to grow exports
CAMPBELL RIVER, Canada – The federal government is giving $21,000 to British Columbia salmon farmers to research best practices around the world, more than a year after a $26-million public inquiry made a litany of recommendations. Conservative MP John Duncan says the funds will allow the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Salmon farms get tax dollars for dead fish, provide few jobs
I now have reliable figures on slaughtered fish payments of your taxpayer dollars to billion dollar Norwegian derivative fish farms in BC, and others across Canada. Cermaq Mainstream, Marine Harvest and Grieg Seafood may be happy to hear I will eat some crow, as the BC figures are much lower
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Morton: Marine Harvest lists on NYSE as Harper govt plans salmon farm expansion
In a blog posting today, independent salmon biologist Alexandra Morton calls attention to the recent listing of Norway-based Marine Harvest – the world’s largest salmon farming company – on the New York Stock Exchange. The move comes on the heels of the revelation that the Harper Government is planning a major expansion of open
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Chief sees major salmon farm expansion on horizon – issues urgent plea to “lock arms”
The chief of a coastal First Nation issued an urgent plea via youtube yesterday for public support in blocking plans for a major expansion of open-net pen salmon farms in his territory. “We’re all aware of the oil and gas pipelinesand the potential this has to lay waste to the environment,”
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Fisheries minister responds to salmon farm concerns…sort of
A month ago, I suggested my Times-Colonist readers send notes to Minster Gail Shea regarding DFO’s lack of response to the $26 M, 1,200 page, 75 recommendation Cohen Commission Report. Many of us received stock letters. Let me walk you through it. Shea: Thank you for your correspondence of October 30,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Canada taken to court over approval of GMO farmed salmon
Comparison between fast-growing Aquabounty farmed salmon and regular farmed salmon (Aquabounty) Read this Jan 20 story from sustainablepulse.com on a legal challenge led by law firm Ecojustice and several Canadian environmental groups over the federal government’s approval of controversial GMO farmed salmon. Environmental groups want a court to decide if
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Legal errors could send Enbridge review back to drawing board
The 3-member Joint Review Panel for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline Not even a month has pass since the federally-appointed Joint Review Panel (JRP) released its official report recommending approval of the Northern Gateway Pipeline, pending the fulfillment of 209 conditions. Yet already two separate suits have been filed against
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Fisheries Critic questions habitat protection handover for pipelines
An oil pipeline crossing the Tanana River in Alaska The federal NDP’s BC-based deputy fisheries critic is questioning a quiet deal signed just before Christmas that saw the Department of Fisheries and Oceans hand over the protection of fish habitat and species at risk along energy pipelines to the National
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: First Nation blockades water intake construction over salmon impacts
Cayoose Creek, where construction of a municipal water intake may be harming salmon habitat (Jim Upton) LILLOOET, B.C. – Members of a First Nation in Lillooet, B.C., have set up a blockade near that Fraser River district to protest work they believe is destroying fish habitat on disputed land. Sekw’el’was Chief Michelle
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Harper Government quietly mulls BC salmon farm expansion
An open-net pen salmon farm in BC’s Broughton Archipelago (Damien Gillis) Read this Jan. 15 Vancouver Sun story by Peter O’Neil on a series of new fish farm applications for BC’s coast being quietly reviewed by the Harper Government. OTTAWA — The Harper government has quietly opened the door to a major
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Toronto sushi shop is first Ocean Wise 100% sustainable restaurant
Some of Just Sushi’s Ocean Wise creations (photo: Just Sushi) Read this Jan. 10 Toronto Star story by Michele Henry on the world’s first restaurant to be 100% certified by leading sustainable seafood label Ocean Wise. Just Sushi looks like any other Japanese take out counter — spare, zen décor,
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