News
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Fun with Food and Valentines!
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- Written by Beverly Saunders Beverly Saunders
- Category: Latest Latest
- Published: 31 January 2012 31 January 2012
Hi all, Thanks to those of you who came out to our One Straw AGM on the weekend ... we had great participation! We aim to have the minutes up on the website by this weekend for those of you who were unable to attend: AGM 2012.
Gibsons Recycle Depot Finalist for Best Green Business
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- Written by Beverly Saunders Beverly Saunders
- Category: News News
- Published: 31 January 2012 31 January 2012
Gibsons Recycle Depot has been named as one of the Top Five Finalists as the Best Green Business in the Successful You Awards from Small Business BC. The top five finalists from each of the six categories will now present a ten minute business pitch to a panel of industry experts and successful entrepreneurs in Vancouver on February 15.
Forest Ethics - On Recent Threats to Canadian Civil Society
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- Written by Beverly Saunders Beverly Saunders
- Category: News News
- Published: 27 January 2012 27 January 2012
See you at the AGM! - Thurs Market - Seedy Saturday
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- Written by Beverly Saunders Beverly Saunders
- Category: Latest Latest
- Published: 25 January 2012 25 January 2012
Happy mid-week to you all,
I hope to see many of you out at our One Straw Annual General Meeting this Sunday from 2:30 - 6 pm at the Davis Bay Hall. I have a feeling this will be a special one, with a lot of new and interesting changes in the works. See attached poster for more details, and check out our website to view the proposed charter revision.
www.onestraw.ca.
Tomorrow (Thursday) is our regular Winter Market - featuring delicious sorbet by Traci, Alain's Promised Land Farm goodies, Maria's Dragonfly seeds and preserves, and Ananda's Suncreek Farm produce & preserves.
As always, 3 - 6 pm at the Roberts Creek Hall, alongside Rashmi's Curry in the Creek (curryinthecreek.com).
And Seedy Saturday is just around the corner now ... which means it's nearly time to start planning your gardens! YAY! Remember to take some time to haul out those old seed baskets and see what you can share and what you'll need to look for in preparation for the March 3rd festivities. I think our coordinator, Ann, may still be looking for some helping hands, so give her a shout if you'd like to contribute: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 604.883.3678.
Thanks to all of you for your ongoing interest, support and involvement.
See you Sunday!
Marine Harvest Pleads Guilty
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- Written by Beverly Saunders Beverly Saunders
- Category: News News
- Published: 19 January 2012 19 January 2012
As people from the Broughton Archipelago, where the crimes occurred, Alert Bay, Sointula, and Port Hardy looked on Marine Harvest pleaded guilty to charges related to illegal possession of wild fish. Marine Harvest made the unprecedented move to avert the 4 - day trail that had been scheduled.
At issue were juvenile pink salmon, almost certainly from Glendale River that ended up falling out of a huge bucket moving Atlantic salmon broodstock into a truck and 3cm herring that ended up in the farm salmon dump in Beaver Cove.
While flawed in many ways, this case made history twice over. It was the first time a private prosecution has ever been taken over and run by the Department of Justice to its conclusion and it is the first time the Norwegian salmon farming industry has been charged for taking wild fish.
With no obvious way out, Marine Harvest, represented by the BC Salmon Farmer lawyer in the Cohen Inquiry Alan Blair, pleaded guilty to a portion of the charge... the part about releasing the herring in the wrong place - that the fish were picked up at Arrow Pass and released at Midsummer. We heard the little herring all went back into the sea and a few of the larger herring were accidentally tossed into the pen with the Atlantic salmon.
This is not the way I heard it from Marine Harvest back in October 2009. Standing on a dock in Beaver Cove, Robert Mountain and I heard a Marine Harvest employee tell us that the smaller herring fell through a sorting grid and were put in totes and dumped in the farm salmon dump in Beaver Cove. We heard this when, tipped by a fish farmer disgusted by the situation contacted me, we went looking for them in the dump. We were met only by steaming piles of freshly turned bark and rotten fish.
At 3cm the herring were almost certainly from Kingcome Inlet - a herring stock still in trouble that has not been fished for 20 years.
However..... now that Marine Harvest has received a warning - for having the pinks in June 2009, and have been found guilty of having the herring in October 2009, if they are caught with illegal wild fish again the offence rises. DFO asks that we "observe, record, report" so please do so if you see wild fish dying in industrial salmon farming operations. No one in BC is allowed to take fish without a licence.
The fine is $5,000 which is big compared to similar crimes.
I would like to thank Todd Gerhart of the Department of Justice for taking this all the way.
Chief Bob "O'wadi" Chamberlin of one of the Broughton Tribes had this to say today:
Marine Harvest convicted and fined for "incidental catch" of Wild Salmon smolts & Herring. DFO "missed" this in their monitoring of this Industry. I am not a statitician... But I believe it highly improbable, if not impossible, that this was the 1st & only time incidental catch occurred. Which points to monitoring gaps within the regulations, license conditions and operational policies.
Sea Lice impacts on Wild Salmon, Disease impacts on Wild Salmon, Incidental catch of Wild Salmon smolts, Herring "tonnage" as incidental catch..... Low Wild Salmon & Herring stock numbers! We need to establish our own Monitoring and Wild species protection measures.
In all seriousness, Whomever isn't for us...is against us. Take stock of those who particpate as FN's in this industry in "our territory." I fail to see how this is respectful of us as Musgamagw-Tsawataineuk peoples choices for "our territory"
Strong words for a peaceful leader.
Alexandra Morton
Landfill Closure Options
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- Written by Beverly Saunders Beverly Saunders
- Category: News News
- Published: 18 January 2012 18 January 2012
10 January 2012 --Attended my first SCRD Special Infrastructure Services Committee meeting and got to see the players first hand. On the meetingʼs agenda was a presentation by D. Whyte, the SCRD Technician responsible for waste management. The topic was a "Financial Analysis of the Impact of Proposed Zero Waste Initiatives on Sechelt Landfill". It was your typical powerpoint presentation, repetition of information and endless spreadsheets, Mr. Whyte had done his work, not knowing his mandate one cannot criticize.
Obama Rejects Keystone XL Permit, Gitxsan Rejects Northern Gateway
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- Written by News desk News desk
- Category: News News
- Published: 18 January 2012 18 January 2012
President Obama announced today that he will deny the application for the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. In a statement, President Obama said, "I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision, but it does not change my Administration’s commitment to American-made energy that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on oil. In the months ahead, we will continue to look for new ways to partner with the oil and gas industry to increase our energy security, even as we set higher efficiency standards for cars and trucks and invest in alternatives like biofuels and natural gas. And we will do so in a way that benefits American workers and businesses without risking the health and safety of the American people and the environment."
Obama Rejects Keystone XL Permit, Gitxsan Rejects Northern Gateway
- Details
- Written by News desk News desk
- Category: News News
- Published: 18 January 2012 18 January 2012
President Obama announced today that he will deny the application for the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. In a statement, President Obama said, "I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision, but it does not change my Administration’s commitment to American-made energy that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on oil. In the months ahead, we will continue to look for new ways to partner with the oil and gas industry to increase our energy security, even as we set higher efficiency standards for cars and trucks and invest in alternatives like biofuels and natural gas. And we will do so in a way that benefits American workers and businesses without risking the health and safety of the American people and the environment."
Green Film Series Announces Spring Films
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- Written by Beverly Saunders Beverly Saunders
- Category: News News
- Published: 17 January 2012 17 January 2012