Alexandra Morton followed a pod of resident Orcas up the coast of Vancouver Island in 1984. She found the ideal base for further studies at Echo Bay. When the first fish farms moved into the area three years later, she thought they were a good idea. Since then, she has becomes the foremost opponent of British Columbia’s fish farms. I recently interviewed Alexandrea Morton on fish farms.
Continue reading Alexandra Morton on Salmon FarmsBy Roy L Hales
Alexandra Morton’s long awaited suit against the Department of Fisheries and Oceans opened in Vancouver today. Morton’s lawyer, Margot Venton, filed the suit after learning that fish allegedly infected with the piscine reovirus (PRV) had been transferred into an open-pen fish farm operated by Marine Harvest along the Fraser River sockeye migration. BC salmon farms face Multiple Legal Threats .
As many as 70 million sockeye salmon may return to the Fraser this year. These numbers have not been seen for decades and are quite a stark contrast to 1.6 million catch that sparked the Cohen commission a few years ago. That was when Dr Kristi Miller, head of Molecular Genetics at the Department of Fisheries and Ocean’s (DFO) Pacific Biological Station, testified that a ‘viral signature’ of a disease was contributing to as high as 90% pre-spawn mortality in returning Fraser sockeye. One of the reasons there is so much hope for this year, is the returning 2010 run were not infected. But, according to biologist Alexandra Morton, the real key to fighting for the future of BC’s fisheries is Dr Kristi Miller’s lab in Nanaimo.
Anyone simply looking for evidence that salmon farms could be infecting wild salmon will find enough five minutes into Twyla Roscovich’s documentary “Salmon Confidential Documentary.” The evidence is laid so convincingly that one is tempted to turn the video off. That would be a mistake. Salmon Confidential Documentary follows biologist Alexandra Morton, as she seeks the cause of the massive salmon die-offs before they can spawn. As she gets closer to the answer, the question becomes why is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans not doing something about it?
By Roy L Hales
Princess Cruises have been voted “Best Cruise Line in Alaska” for the seventh year in a row, by the annual Travel Weekly Readers’ Choice Awards. The cruise line also won awards for “Best Itinerary Design” and “Best Travel Agent Educational Program.” These are all industry awards. Every year Marcie Keever of Friends of the Earth (FoE) grades the industry’s environmental records in her Cruise Line Report. The “B ” she gave the Princess Line was good, but not exceptional. Keever gave most Alaskan Cruise Lines high marks.
