Tag Archives: Broughton process

Indigenous Nations, Politics, Rivers & Oceans

Land and water in B.C. have a new ministry. We spoke with its leader

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Josie Osborne seems careful with her words as she talks about her new job. The former mayor of Tofino, turned MLA,  is heading up the new B.C. Ministry of Land, Water and Resource  Stewardship and is the minister responsible for fisheries. But through  her political composure are glimpses of a lifestyle associated with the  little west coast community on Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation territory —  she lives on ten acres with her husband, dog, three goats and chickens  and works out of a brightly coloured tiny house office. 

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Rivers & Oceans

MOWI: Closing down a processing plant and removing another fish farm 

MOWI Canada West is closing down its processing plant in Surrey and another fish farm has left the Broughton Archipelago.

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Forests

SRD protests BC’s ‘reactive’ and ‘emotionally driven’ forestry policies

How our local government works

The Strathcona Regional District Board is writing Premier Horgan, to protest the government’s new ‘reactive,’ and ‘emotionally driven’ forestry policies. 

This letter appears to have largely been composed by Campbell River Director Charlie Cornfield, with some additions by SRD Chair Brad Unger. 

If the authors had stuck to the idea that local government should be involved in the process, or taken a less confrontational approach, their letter would have received more support. 

Instead, the decision to send it carried by a 7 to 6 vote.

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Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Fish farms underreport sea lice when not being audited, study says

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“Our results suggest that sea-louse counts reported by the salmon farming industry are lower than the true abundance of parasites on their fish. When the federal government audited a sea-louse count, the industry’s mean counts for that month increased by a factor of 1.18 for L. salmonis and by 1.95 for C. clemensi.” – Sean Godwin et al, Bias in self-reported parasite data from the salmon farming industry.

Dr Sean Godwin is the lead author of eight of the fifteen scientific papers listed on his website. The bulk of these explore interactions between wild and farmed salmon. One of the most troubling, published in the journal Ecological Application, is a survey that showed fish farms underreport sea lice when they are not audited by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

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Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Horgan’s criticism of federal decision ironic, says Chief Chris Roberts

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Campbell River Mirror, Local Journalism Reporter

B.C. Premier John Horgan’s criticism of the federal government’s handling the Discovery Islands fish farm consultation is ironic, says Chris Roberts, chief of the Wei Wai Kum First Nation.

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