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New fish farm application in Clayoquot Sound
Your input is needed!
| The deadline has been extended (for a
third time) to Friday, Aug. 12, 2011,
"to accommodate the public request for more detailed information on this
application and allow the opportunity to comment." More info now
available at
this ILMB site. |
 Farm applications have been denied before. Your letter will make a difference! Thank you!
22 fish farm sites in the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve is enough!
The Norwegian-owned corporation Mainstream is applying for a new open net-cage
salmon farm site in Clayoquot Sound. This application is for a new
55-hectare feedlot site near Plover Point on the east side of Meares Island
(click map to enlarge).
The Plover Point area, rich with marine life, is frequented by sea lions,
porpoises, sea birds, and orcas. There are seal haul-outs at the point. Stream
assessments found streams with cutthroat trout and salmon nearby. There are also
productive clam beds along the shores of the Meares Island Tribal Park, as well
as eelgrass and kelp beds and herring spawning areas.
The Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve contains most of the remaining
large intact rainforest river valleys on Vancouver Island, which are critical
habitat for wild salmon. Peer-reviewed science shows that wild salmon are harmed
by open net-cage salmon farms that spread disease and parasites to wild fish.
What gives a Norwegian-owned corporation the right to pollute BC waters and put
whole ecosystems at risk?
With the Cohen Commission still under way, while we wait for the disease data
from Mainstream’s farms to be released to the public is not the time to expand
fish farms in the Biosphere Reserve.
Friends of Clayoquot Sound is calling on the provincial government to deny this
tenure application, to place a permanent moratorium on expansion of
open net-cage
tenures in BC, and to move existing farms to closed containment.
If you are a recreational or commercial fisher, eco-tourism operator, or simply
concerned about the risks posed by open net-cage fish farms, please take the time to
submit your comments to:
AuthorizingAgency.Nanaimo@gov.bc.ca, reference Land File # 1413555
Be sure to cc:
Premier Christy Clark <premier@gov.bc.ca>
Alberni-Clayoquot MLA Scott Fraser <Scott.Fraser.MLA@leg.bc.ca>
Friends of Clayoquot Sound <info@focs.ca>
2-page CAAR backgrounder (PDF, 111k)
Thanks for acting to preserve Clayoquot's rare and irreplaceable
ecosystems!
Our small organization depends
on funding mostly from you — the people who care about Clayoquot Sound. Please
make a donation to FOCS to enable our work. Donate on-line at
www.focs.ca/support, or for a donation form (PDF) to print and mail
click here. Thank you!
PO Box 489, 331 Neill St., Tofino BC V0R 2Z0
Tel: 250-725-4218 info@focs.ca
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