Editor:
CBC national news reported this July 31 that British Columbia First Nations communities have taken the Justin Trudeau Liberal government to court regarding a 2019 Trudeau Liberal government promise not to extend licenses to net salmon fish farms existing on B.C.’s coastal waters beyond 2025. The newly reported relicensing is to extend to 2029.
These net salmon fish farms have been found to produce a parasite and numerous other problems within fish populations due to the enclosed habitat the salmon are raised. Accredited Canadian biologists have proved these findings over the last 30 years, but the message seems to have fallen on deaf ears where Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Federal government are concerned.
First Nations people who rely on salmon fishing as a food product are affected by the numerous problems caused by net salmon farming due to the fact that the farms are located in many of the migration routes that wild salmon use. The sea parasites and other biological issues caused by contained net salmon farming affect the wild salmon stock when they swim past the existing salmon farms and infect the wild stock.
This is another example of promises broken by Trudeau and his liberal government.
It is time for a change in our federal government.
Don Maveal,
Canmore