Dear Editor,
Laurie Jensen assures us in her letter to the editor last week that salmon are not extinct in Norway or Ireland. The number of salmon returning to the rivers in Norway declined by 90 per cent last year and the stocks in Ireland and Scotland are suffering the same fate, decimation from the same reasons our salmon stocks decline here. Thank you for this quibble.
Personally I think Atlantic salmon do not belong in the Pacific Ocean, nor do they belong in pens attracting billions of sea lice which in turn attach themselves to the healthy salmon smolt returning to the ocean from the salmon rivers. Also unnatural to our waters is the salmon fecal matter deposited beneath these penned, over fed, growth hormone induced, anti-biotic riddled, Atlantic salmon farms. This untreated waste is laden with antibiotics, pesticides and heavy metals from the toxic copper coating used as an antifoulant on the nets.
Recently a friend of mine, who works for the public works in Squamish, told me that there must be some salmon return this year as he has seen a lot less eagles in the dump. Nice indicator.
Ultimately salmon farm interests really lie in money. Personally I feel the salmon stocks here are so vital to the wellbeing of every aspect of life in B.C. that anything that could possibly jeopardize there survival should be put on hold or banned.
Lets not waste time said the Atlantic cod to the fisheries ministers — too much is at stake here and for the interest of profits. The Atlantic cod are not extinct yet either, but baring some miracle it is too late for their survival. Which take us next, to the Enbridge pipeline propaganda.
Geoff Swan
Whistler
