An open invitation to party leaders to address the whopping increase in Greenhouse gas Emissions and other environmental challenges that will come from moving ocean-based aquaculture in BC to land-based operations.
By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews
In this federal election that nobody wants, every political party leader is pledging to do something to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GhG) emissions to combat climate change.
Like the rest of the country, polling data from the Angus Reid Institute shows the environment and climate change are a key issue for British Columbian voters, with 45 per cent of those surveyed indicating it’s a priority.
But no party leader is willing to address the elephant in the room when it comes to salmon farming in BC.
Anti-aquaculture activists are spending tens of thousands of dollars in this election campaign to oust salmon farmers from BC waters, insisting with their science-deficit propaganda, that growing fish in their natural environment must be replaced with growing fish in land-based tanks.
They claim, without any credible scientific evidence, that BC’s salmon farmers are endangering wild fish populations and are threatening candidates with a brainwashed voting bloc.
The fact is that there is no credible evidence of salmon aquaculture impacting wild stocks anywhere in the world, let alone BC.
Attesting to this fact are numerous peer reviewed scientific studies that show BC’s sustainable salmon farming operations – which is the provinces’ top seafood export with a total economic output of $1.6 billion supporting nearly 6,500 full time jobs – have less than a minimal impact on wild fish.
Leading the apocalyptic anti-salmon farming rant, is wealthy urbanite Tony Allard, who wrote in a recent election related op-ed that there is strong support in BC for a rapid transition of ocean-based Atlantic salmon fish farms to land-based, closed containment farms.
That part is true because the support comes from years of spreading falsehoods about salmon farming via well-funded campaigns by the likes of Allard, to destroy BC’s most valuable seafood export.
Here are some facts to consider about salmon farming in BC come polling day;
The anti-salmon farming activists claim they have the support of many election candidates in their myopic quest to immediately transition growing fish in their natural environment to growing fish in land-based tanks.
The central pillar of the anti-salmon farm activists in BC is that any science or reporting that runs counter to their observations, should not be believed because it is bought and paid for by the aquaculture industry.
This claim, like several others made by the same people, have been investigated and found to be false by independent authorities, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In this election campaign, which is grounded in climate-change issues, here is an open invitation to party leaders and candidates from the salmon farming community.
“Tell us how you plan to address the substantial increase in Greenhouse gas Emissions and other environmental challenges that will come from moving ocean-based salmon farms in BC to land-based operations.”
Image L to R Justin Trudeau (Liberal Party of Canada), Erin O’Toole (Conservative Party of Canada), Yves-François Blanchet (Bloc Québécois), Jagmeet Singh (New Democratic Party) and Annamie Paul (Green Party of Canada)
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