News
March 9, 2012. Yesterday a large group of people met the Norwegian delegates, that includes one of the most powerful men in Norway, as they entered a meeting with the operators of their BC fish feedlot corporations. While our meeting in the parking lot went well, the head of Mainstream's "Environmental Department and Communications" got into a scuffle with one of the Norwegian political leaders and stuck her tongue out at us. Clearly the Norwegian salmon feedlot corporations are running out of lines of defense.
Today they will meet with the David Suzuki Foundation which has signed an agreement with Marine Harvest, funded at times by the Moore Foundation, that includes support for "production amendments." I walked away from this deal years ago, because these amendments would make the salmon feedlots bigger. They violate the biology and First Nations of the waters of the Kingcome and Knight Inlet, known as Broughton. The concept is to allow the industry to put more fish in each feedlot so they can fallow one migration route every other year. However, wild salmon need to go to sea unharmed by this industry every year and when these corporations get what they want, they may not want to play ball anymore and just stock all the feedlots with more "fish." Every time the industry ends up in front of a judge they talk about the productive relationships with environmentalists and indeed, making their feedlots bigger would be "productive."
If you are a member of DSF of please consider writing to Suzuki to ask for details of this deal called BAP/BAMP. One of the components of the deal was that Marine Harvest got to review all communications from the David Suzuki Foundation, Georgia Strait Alliance, the T. Buck Suzuki Foundation and Living Oceans. This may be why we never hear from these groups anymore about salmon feedlots. Now they meet on our behalf behind closed doors.
Big enviros are not the only ones seduced into relationships with these companies by promises of good behaviour. Many of the small salmon enhancement groups are now dependent on Norwegian salmon feedlot money. Marine Harvest paid the fine they got for possession of Broughton herring to one of these societies who have Marine Harvest posted on their "wall of fame" ! They should have given this money to the communities that lost the fish, but the enhancement group in Broughton refuse collaboration with Marine Harvest, and the First Nations want them to leave. Enhancement societies are now too scared to test salmon for ISA virus. Why wouldn't they want to know? What good is taking money to protect wild salmon if you can't check for the most deadly salmon virus known, a virus following this Norwegian industry around the world?
The book "Merchants of Doubt" describes something very similar to this, when Big Tobacco drew the Cancer Institute and the American Heart Association close. This is no coincidence as the BC Salmon Farmers Association and Big Tobacco hired the same PR strategy firm Hill and Knowlton.
Salmon Are Sacred is now financially broke. Industry repeats we are funded by large American groups which is not true. We will have to limit what we can do to our personal funds, which are also virtually non-existent, because many of the people in the photos in my blog, including myself have given too much to this movement to make ends meet.
Showing up in a parking lot is one of the options left to us and you can see how this went in my blog alexandramorton.typepad.com
Onward! alexandra morton