102 BC First Nations call for fish farms to be transitioned onto land

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -Chief Bob Chamberlain, of the Kwi kwa sutin ow Howinus (one of the ‘Broughton Nations’) and Chair of the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance.

Representatives of 102 First Nations, from across British Columbia, voiced their support for the transition of open-net pen fish farms out of BC waters yesterday.

The First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance hosted a press conference in Vancouver. Many of the attendees were on ZOOM.

“We have to be mindful that migratory nature of salmon, and so given that reality, the DFO and the crown must consider all first nations who salmon pass these farms consultation site specific in one traditional territory is not well enough.The impacts are known from fish farms have far reaching infringement on Aboriginal rights, up and down, all the major water and river systems of British Columbia,” explained Chief Bob Chamberlain, of the Kwikwasutinuxw Haxwa’mis (one of the ‘Broughton Nations’) and Chair of the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance. at a virtual/in-person press conference in Vancouver.

“We want to ensure that the minister is clear of the first nations food security needs, constitutionally protected Aboriginal rights, Supreme court of Canada law, which gives, the minister direction in terms of allocation and we also want to be clearthat the impacts that are occurring to wild salmon is one of the, in our opinion, the major contributor to the historical low returns we've seen across British Columbia for the past number of years, the lowest returns in all of history. Given that reality, it is time that every measure is taken to protect wild salmon.”

Chief Don Svanvik of the ‘Namgis First Nation (another of the ‘Broughton Nations’) said, “We just lost the chief in this past week and one of the things he said was, we need to speak for the salmon. That's what we're doing here today. Our salmon are on the verge of extinction. It's hard to believe that there are systems now in our coast that once flourished with salmon that have no salmon and other systems are down to single digit percentages of what they once were.”

“Salmon, wild salmon. (are) intrinsic to our way of life over the millennia. The Namgis creation story speaks of the very backbone of our being is our river and that for the rest of the time, you would have salmon.”

“We talk about what we have to do. There are many impacts on the wild salmon. The impact that we can affect the quickest and efficiently and effectively is open net fish farms. We need to transition these to land. It's that simple. It's time to act.”

Tyrone McNeil, President of the Sto:lo Tribal Council, added, “I started fishing just over 50 years ago. The first twenty-five years, anybody in industry got everything they wanted first nations commercial recreational, cause there's an abundance of salmon. Then about 25 years ago, with the introduction of the first fish farms, we started seeing the numbers going down.”

He said the Stalo people haven't caught a sockeye for three years and they only caught a handful of chinook.

“I'm compelled to send out a warning to Premier Horgan, to send out a warning to Minister Murray, not to pick a handful of first nations on the coast against a hundred plus first stations that are so reliant on the salmon stocks that go by that marine space,” said McNeil.

He encouraged the federal and provincial governments to work with the First Nations that are currently partnering with the open net fish farm industry ‘because they need an economy, they need jobs.”

McNeil added, “I encourage you premier to take into account that the declaration of rights indigenous peoples act applies to all of us, not just the small handful of first nations that are partnering with the fishing industry on the coast. We all need to be engaged.

Those last statements referred to the First Nations for Finfish Stewardship's proclamation in support of the fish farm industry two weeks ago.