<\/p>\n From Raising Opportunity: How BC Salmon could lead BC\u2019s Post COVID Recovery<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n \u201cYou can make these tough decisions smart. You actually find out how to do it in a way where time and preparation help reduce the temperature. Help create a plan to move forward, and maybe also help invigorate local discussion. There is no question that this is also a good thing,\u201d he began.<\/p>\n As regards the\u00a0Minister of Fisheries decision to phase out the Discovery Island\u2019s fish farms by June 30th, 2022<\/a>, Fraser said, \u201cEighteen months \u2026 is a completely untenable and unworkable time frame to exercise any kind of transition, or whatever you may call it.\u201d<\/p>\n He described the process as \u201creally about termination.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think the part that really upsets a lot of people \u2026 is that this government made absolutely no effort.\u201d<\/p>\n Fraser compared this current process to the much more professional manner that provincial government handled a\u00a0similar situation in the Broughton Archipeligo<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is really unfortunate for the broader community that this government didn\u2019t figure out a way \u2026 for everyone to come together. Reconciliation is about everyone coming together to reconcile grievances and maybe move forward together. It is arduous and difficult, but maybe not impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n From Raising Opportunity: How BC Salmon could lead BC\u2019s Post COVID Recovery<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n In yesterday\u2019s Cortes Radio news report,\u00a0one of the biologists opposing fish farms<\/a>\u00a0questioned an industry statement that 1,500 people would lose their jobs.<\/p>\n Someone in the BC Salmon Farmer\u2019s Association explained that the actual number is 1,498 direct and indirect jobs.<\/p>\n According to the report \u2018Raising Opportunity: How BC Salmon could lead BC\u2019s Post COVID Recovery<\/a>,\u201d there are 572 from Campbell River, Sayward and the Discovery Islands directly employed in this sector.<\/p>\n John Paul Fraser used much more personal terms, \u201cThe industry is full of people.\u00a0 People are what make this, like all industries, special. When you talk about phasing out farms, what does that really mean? Farms are obviously a place governed by a lot of very rigorous regulation, with people who live there as part of their work.\u201d<\/p>\n He stressed the fact that people on salmon farms are in the midst of nature.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the farm, you are almost like a family because you are in close proximity for 5 to 6 days at a time. You live there \u2026 You\u2019re always looking at the salmon \u2026 at the environment and you are always feeding and caring. That\u2019s a farm.\u201d<\/p>\n Fraser stressed the idea that losing their \u2018jobs\u2019 represented something very important to these workers.<\/p>\n \u201cVery real, very raw and now it is something incredibly bitter, but that is just the farm. There is so much going into that \u2013 from off the farm\u201d<\/p>\n Salmon farms employ contractors, technology providers, divers who check and clean nets, the people who bring fish in and transport them to market.<\/p>\n Fraser added, \u201cThen all the induced and indirect jobs, in and around the community. Like the car dealership, the restaurant and then ultimately people\u2019s families. So when you are talking about closing a farm, you are talking about closing a lot of things down for a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 This is not a decision that can be executed without a tremendous amount of pain and hardship. It starts with people who care a lot about what they do and the environment in which they do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Locations of the Discovery Island fish farms \u2013 screenshot from the BC Salmon Farmers Association<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThis area was covered by that $25 million dollar, three and a half year\u00a0Cohen Commission<\/a>\u00a0 process, which yielded a recommendation that the farms in the Discovery Islands ought to be removed unless independent science could verify that they pose no more than minimal risk to migrated Fraser River sockeye.\u00a0In nine risk assessments, nine years later, that was actually the conclusion<\/a>. And by the way this isn\u2019t our science, it is all government science and it is all reviewed by scientists,\u201d said Fraser.<\/p>\n Locations of the Discovery Island fish farms \u2013 screenshot from the BC Salmon Farmers Association<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n What about\u00a0sea lice<\/a>, which wasn\u2019t included in the assessments?<\/p>\n \u201cYou \u2018ll have to go back to DFO and ask why that wasn\u2019t a risk assessment \u2026\u201d said Fraser.<\/p>\n (Cortes Currents did ask, and here is the DFO\u2019s reply<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Fraser continued, \u201c \u2026 I think their answer has been \u2018We assess that all the time.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n He gives several details in the podcast before stressing, \u201cWhat people don\u2019t understand is that typically, when you are fighting lice \u2026 you are fighting to keep it from coming in. The problem is that when it comes in it can amplify and then how do you get on that problem so that it doesn\u2019t become a bigger problem.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201dOne of the companies has just spent $25 million on new lice mitigation technology, in the form of a vessel which is already being deployed by all the companies across the province to effectively \u2013 with no pollutants or chemicals. Just simply coming on board, washing them off and sending them back in \u2026 That was going to be for the Discovery Islands, but that may have to go elsewhere now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know the companies are very proud of how hard they work and how much they have invested in lice management.\u201d<\/p>\n From Raising Opportunity: How BC Salmon could lead BC\u2019s Post COVID Recovery<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n Fraser described the idea of transitioning to land \u201cvery interesting\u201d but probably not even in the realm of possible when you are talking about 87 metric tonnes.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople talk about the land based system down in Miami, which is a fine example of massive factory production, except for the fact there are almost no environmental laws in Florida and they dump all of their waste water in to the aquifer. They searched the world to find that site. So to say we can transition onto land in our communities, when we don\u2019t understand the land use, is going to be significant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have members in our association who are land farmers and they can tell you how hard it is. The problem is that here in British Columbia people who are espousing land based aquaculture have never really done it. The people who are doing it will tell you the people espousing it are out of their minds.\u201d<\/p>\n If the province insists that salmon must be grown on land, the industry will move elsewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cThey like to espouse this as a solution.. but they don\u2019t really know what they are talking about, and what they are really saying is they want salmon farms to be gone\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a reason salmon farms are where they are; we have an ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n The Ministry of fisheries said<\/a>\u00a0that seven First Nations in the Discovery Islands (the\u00a0Holmalco<\/a>,\u00a0Klahoose<\/a>,\u00a0K\u2019omoks<\/a>,\u00a0Tla\u2019amin<\/a>,\u00a0We Wai Kai<\/a>,\u00a0Wei Wai Kum<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Kwiakah<\/a>) heavily informed the decision to phase out fish farms.\u2019<\/p>\n Q\/ Were they all against fish farms?<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know. We\u2019ve been very careful in the process, and out of the process, to try to not play interpretive theatre about what may or may not have happened. It would be disrespectful to the nations and their leadership,\u201d said\u00a0 Fraser.<\/p>\n He added, \u201cIndustry has been supremely supportive of UNDRIP, was there in the Legislature\u00a0when the provincial legislation was passed<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the first of its kind in Canada. Working in partnership with indigenous communities is fundamental . In some cases the nations own the sites and license. We support them through operating agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/cortescurrents.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-15-at-8.22.21-AM.png\")
Make tough decisions smart<\/h2>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/cortescurrents.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-15-at-8.24.06-AM.png\")
1,500 jobs<\/h2>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/cortescurrents.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-14-at-5.03.18-PM-800x580.png\")
The Cohen Commission<\/h2>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/cortescurrents.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-15-at-8.25.59-AM.png\")
What about Sea Lice?<\/h2>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/cortescurrents.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-15-at-8.29.34-AM.png\")
Transitioning to Land<\/h2>\n
First Nations<\/h2>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/cortescurrents.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-15-at-8.31.20-AM.png\")
![\"John](\"https:\/\/cortescurrents.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-14-at-8.47.08-AM-601x600.png\")