BC First Nations Travel to Norway To Deliver Anti Fish Farm Proclamation at World’s Largest Fish F
For Immediate Release
Prince Rupert, BC, May 30, 2006 – First Nations from Northern British Columbia today delivered an official proclamation at Pan Fish’s Annual General Meeting in Stavanger, Norway announcing the Skeena River Watershed, which includes the second major salmon run in the province, a fish farm free zone. The proclamation came from First Nations all along the Skeena Watershed.
Pan Fish, the world’s largest fish farm operator, is awaiting final approval to open a cluster of salmon net cages at the mouth of the Skeena River.
“We’ve seen the devastation done to wild salmon stocks in the Broughton Archipelago and other by escapes and sea lice from the salmon farms,” said Stan Dennis, who speaks for the Allied Tsimshian Tribes of Lax Kw’Alaams. “We won’t let the destruction continue north.”
Chief Bob Chamberlin of the Kwicksutaineuk Ah-kwa-mish and Chair of the five bands of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council in the Broughton Archipelago and Eugene Bryant from Lax Kw’ Alaams attended the annual general meeting and will present tomorrow the official declaration to King Harald V of Norway, Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg and to Jillian Stirk, Canada’s Ambassador to Norway.
“Pan Fish’s operations are putting our traditional food sources in jeopardy, such that the effluent from the fish farms is starting to poison out clam beds” said Chief Chamberlin from Norway. “My people rely on salmon for survival. Our governments aren’t listening to our concerns, so it is our duty to take these issues directly to the salmon farmers themselves.”
The First Nations attended the annual general meeting along with the Pure Salmon Campaign, a global project of the National Environmental Trust.
At Pan Fish’s AGM, the Pure Salmon Campaign introduced a shareholder resolution asking the company to “undertake the necessary steps to adopt salmon production techniques so that disease transfer, waste pollution, and escapes are eliminated, and to make sure that fish feed is sources solely from sustainable fisheries.”
For more information, please contact:
Chief Bob Chamberlin - 250.974.7511 (cell) or 001 202 285 9107 / Stan Dennis, who speaks for the Allied Tsimshian Tribes of Lax Kw’Alaams– 250.625-3293 / Pure Salmon Campaign - Lynn Hunter – 250.479.0937, or 250.888.1700 (cell) and for photos