Urgent Action: BC Wild Salmon

I urge you to close the active open net-cage farms in the Wild Salmon Narrows, a critical wild salmon migration route in British Columbia's northern Georgia Strait. The global body of independent peer-reviewed science is clear: open net-cage salmon farms put wild salmon at risk of disease and parasite infection and jeopardize the health of ocean ecosystems.

In BC, not only are the Broughton Archipelago's juvenile pink and chum salmon being affected by sea lice, but recent science indicates that net-cage farms in the northern Georgia Strait are putting our iconic Fraser River sockeye at risk of sea lice infection as well.

Both levels of government have a responsibility to protect wild salmon, and the jobs and communities that depend on them. I implore you to remove all five active fish farms in the channel north and east of Quadra Island, and revoke the four inactive fish farm tenures to the south in Hoskyn Channel.

There have been repeated calls for closed containment research and development funding from regional governments, government-funded committees, community groups, concerned citizens, and even support within the salmon farming industry itself.  Please take this opportunity to make BC a leader in sustainable aquaculture by clearing the Wild Salmon Narrows of fish farms and making a substantial investment in closed containment.

I look forward to your immediate action on this matter.

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Urgent Action: Emergency Migration Route Required to Protect Wild Salmon!