Tuesday, December 21, 2004

A Christmas Wish List for Wild Atlantic Salmon

December 21, 2004

St. Andrews – The Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) is hoping that the Canadian Government will act more like Santa and less like Scrooge when planning conservation programs for wild Atlantic salmon in 2005.

President Bill Taylor said, “In the bigger scheme of government obligations, we are not asking for a lot and it’s all achievable, especially when coupled with the hard work of many volunteers who restore wild Atlantic salmon to their native rivers. A conservation program that expends $10,000,000 annually for the next five years would go a long way to conserve wild Atlantic salmon. When Canada empowers Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) with funding, we will be positioned to save a cultural and historic species and a multi-million dollar recreational fishery that depends on healthy populations of salmon and healthy rivers.”

ASF’s wish list implores the Canadian Government to:

• Heed the recent recommendations by the federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development and the Auditors General of Canada, British Columbia, and New Brunswick for swift action to address threats to and improve the fragile state of Canada’s wild Atlantic salmon.

• Observe the precautionary approach and seek sound scientific advice before making any decisions that will affect any population of wild Atlantic salmon.

• Stop the food fishery for salmon in Labrador that was allotted in 2004 despite scientific predictions of salmon decline in Labrador for years to come. Recognize that the decision was made without sound consideration of its environmental impact.

• Do Canada’s part for the ASF-supported Greenland Conservation Agreement. At the very least, protect from poachers the increasing number of salmon that are returning to Canadian rivers as a result of the agreement’s moratorium on the Greenland commercial fishery that killed Canadian salmon.

• Protect wild Atlantic salmon from acid rain impacts. Take a leadership role in mitigation programs in Nova Scotia and help convince the U.S. government to upgrade its coal-fired power plants to reduce acid rain production that falls on Nova Scotia’s rivers and fish.

• Meet international obligations to protect wild Atlantic salmon from the impacts of salmon aquaculture. Halt the licensing of genetically-modified salmon in Canada until research informs decision-making by identifying potential dangers.

• Lead the program that DFO acknowledges as the most important research to wild Atlantic salmon survival today and find out when, where and why salmon are dying at sea. Then develop management and conservation plans to counteract the causes of high ocean mortality. To start, match the $2,000,000 that ASF has spent on this research.

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