No time to be silent

It’s an unfortunate fact that when you are an advocate for improved environmental health and literacy, being in disagreement with government leaders frequently comes with the territory. As challenging as that can feel, the focus of disagreement generally tends to be about the issue at hand—and not about our right to hold certain views, or represent others who do.

So I found it more than a bit shocking when this year began with a visible and intense outpouring, in just about every media outlet in the country, of vitriol, anger and outright lies about environmental groups. Although the context for the attacks was the review process on the proposed Enbridge pipeline in northern BC, the tremors were felt throughout Canada’s environmental movement and in much of our broader civil society.

These inflammatory attacks have been disturbing on many levels. Some of them revealed that all you need is a conspiracy theory and a website in order to undermine the civil engagement that is at the root of our democratic process—ironically, at the same time as most of the world, including Canada, has been expressing justifiable outrage about the trampling of democratic rights in Syria. More worrisome attacks, coming from our Prime Minister and some of his Cabinet, took aim at the financial support that makes advocacy work possible and even hinted at possibly stripping environmental groups of their charitable status.

But in all the misguided conspiracy theories and hyperbolic diatribes, what disturbed me the most was this: that we were told that the opinion of you, Mr. or Ms. Average Canadian, does not matter when it comes to what our shared future looks like—and that the person who said this was one of our federal government’s highest officials.

In his Open Letter, the Honorable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, clearly discounted the opinions of the approximately 4500 individuals who wished to speak at the Enbridge hearings—while overvaluing the opinions of oil industry representatives.

Regardless of how or why each person signed up to speak, each of them clearly cares enough about the issue to take the time to attend and address the hearings. That many of the speakers may have a similar message is not a reason to discount that message—in fact, it’s a reason to pay closer attention. These passionate voices share a common vision for what they want our future to look like: a world free of fossil fuels and the risks that come with them, where renewable energy lights our way.

It’s also worth reminding Mr. Oliver and our other leaders that each of these speakers represents thousands more who, for whatever reason, will not be at the hearings, so their message needs to be taken into consideration by the panel and the government that appointed them.

These are frightening times when it comes to the protection of our most important resources: clean air, clean water and healthy ecosystems on land and water. Over the last many decades, big industry has increasingly had the ear of our elected representatives, while ordinary citizens are only valued at election time.

Today, as we await the release of the federal budget which may include dramatic deregulation of environmental protection laws, the ability to protect our natural environment could become even more difficult. We are at risk of seeing the weakening of the very pillars that Canadians have relied on for generations to ensure that the natural environment we value so dearly is protected, including the Fisheries Act, Species at Risk Act, Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the Migratory Birds Convention Act and Canadian Environmental Protection Act -

Ironically the result of the targeted attacks on our environmental protection laws and on the very groups who work every day to ensure Canadian values are not lost in a rush for short term economic profit, has been a renewed commitment among environmental groups to work even harder on behalf of the communities we represent. We have also seen a renewed commitment of individuals to provide the needed financial support so groups like ours can continue this vital work.

If we have learned anything so far this year, it is that those citizens who might disagree with our federal leaders’ views on the environment need the help of advocates now more than ever. Georgia Strait Alliance will continue to speak out and work on behalf of our many members and supporters, advocating for our region’s future to be one with healthy communities, rich salmon runs, growing orca populations and sustainable economies. That is our promise to you.

Crossing The Strait of Georgia - A Very Personal Journey

Just over 2 months ago I suffered a very severe cardiac arrest while teaching a Karate class on Gabriola Island on the west side of Georgia Strait. It was pretty instantaneous as I felt strange for just a few seconds before I collapsed and I was essentially dead before I hit the floor. There was no way of knowing this could happen to me and in fact I'd had check-ups fairly recently and in retrospect the medical folk can't pinpoint any definitive factors that would have contributed to it happening.

Thankfully, our local vet, who also trains the volunteer firefighters in CPR, was right beside me when I dropped and his quick assessment and action, and along with my wife/ fellow instructor, kept my blood and oxygen flowing until help arrived. The rest of the class was amazing too. After 10 minutes of very aggressive CPR I was zapped back to life when the first responders arrived. One of the island doctors was also there within minutes.

With blood coming out of my lungs and a skin colour that I understand was less than attractive, it was pretty obvious that I needed to be airlifted ASAP and calls were made. Our local ambulance service raced me to the island's sports field where we were met by a cardiac team from Nanaimo. When the helicopter arrived a decision was made to fly me straight to Vancouver rather than Victoria, where cardiac patients normally go, because of a big storm closing in on Southern Vancouver Island.

Despite having crossed the Strait of Georgia hundreds of times before, that journey in the middle of the night with a winter storm bearing down on us was the most significant of my life. I had a very clear choice that, despite all the medical help I was receiving, was one that only I could make. The easiest choice by far was to die. All I had to do was let my will go. It was not at all scary and not actually that challenging to contemplate. In fact it was quite a desirable choice.

When we landed in Vancouver yet another team of dedicated caring people took amazing care of me. I was in hospital for 6 days as I recovered enough to go home.

I may never know all the reasons why I chose to live that night as we flew in the dark across an amazing body of water that I have spent more than 10 years trying to protect but that was the conscious choice I made. It is without a doubt the hardest thing I have ever done, physically, mentally and/or spiritually. A fraction of a second loss of focus and I would have died.

It has been a long and challenging road since that night and although I knew that when I made the choice, I sometimes briefly wonder what possessed me to fight to live. Every medical person I have seen since shakes their head and says how lucky I am to have survived. Despite that I have essentially remained very positive most of the time even when things were bad enough to send me back to hospital. What has helped my recovery a lot is the amount of support I have had (and am still getting) from my family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and all the communities of which I am a part.

As my healing continues my thoughts are returning to my work with Georgia Strait Alliance and the magnificent body of water we are trying to keep healthy. As I've be convalescing I have spent a good amount of time looking out on the Strait of Georgia and trying to harness it's healing energy. I am very thankful that we can connect to this special place.

I've also pondered on the parallels of my experience to the state of the world and in particular how people (me included) often take the easy route and accept the status quo especially where making money or keeping egos safe is concerned. No doubt if we all chose the easy path and stayed with selfish thought there would be no-one to left to keep watch over our waters, lands, and skies and everyone would be out there trying to make a profit without wanting or able to give anything to the planet in return.

Thank-you to all of you who choose to undertake and survive the hard journeys of this world! You make the world a kinder and healthier place and you inspire me to make more of those hard choices.

Government agencies failing to protect wild salmon

Recent reports of the presence of the deadly ISA virus in B.C. wild salmon seem to have alarmed everyone except those meant to be taking care of the wild salmon.

Rather than taking immediate measures to determine the extent of this threat, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency leaped to discredit the findings and assure international markets that all is well in Canadian waters. Unfortunately, their claim rests on inconclusive evidence and degraded samples.

Instead of launching an emergency investigation into this potential disaster, the federal government has announced a million dollar grant to the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance for international advertising. It appears that the health of B.C. waters, and the wild salmon is not the priority of the federal government after all.

Reflections on the Cohen Inquiry into Decline of Fraser River Sockeye

Fraser River Sockeye - photo by Michelle Young

Hearings for the Cohen Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River have come to an end after a year – and what a year it was.  This Inquiry was struck by the federal government following the 2009 collapse of Fraser River Sockeye. The Inquiry’s Terms of Reference are broad, with Justice Cohen being asked to investigate a host of possible threats which may have contributed to the collapse, including but not limited to “environmental changes along the Fraser River, marine environmental conditions, aquaculture, predators, diseases, water temperature and other factors that may have affected the ability of sockeye salmon to reach traditional spawning grounds or reach the ocean”.

For more than 20 years, Georgia Strait Alliance has tackled a wide range of issues affecting wild salmon and their habitat, but I must admit that I was both relieved and surprised to see aquaculture listed by the federal government in the Inquiry’s terms of reference. I was surprised given the frequent denial by industry and government of any possible impacts of sea lice from net-cage salmon farming on Fraser River sockeye. This denial seems to be based solely on the fact that Fraser River sockeye are much larger than juvenile pink and chum salmon (the weight of scientific evidence clearly demonstrates negative impact of sea lice from salmon farms on juvenile pink and chum) by the time they reach the Wild Salmon Narrows. This argument ignores that sea lice can weaken the immune system, leave juvenile salmon more susceptible to predation, and act as a vector for disease.

We are going to have to wait until mid 2012 for Justice Cohen’s recommendations. Whether his recommendations will be strong enough to protect wild salmon, or if they will be implemented is yet to be seen. However, the real value of the Cohen Inquiry is the information that has come to light during the hearings, including the lack of research being done on the impacts of fish farms on wild salmon as well as the very cozy relationship between the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the BC aquaculture industry.  Here are some interesting pieces of information I’ve taken away from the Inquiry:

• Dr. Josh Korman revealed that salmon farms suffer, on average, 30 high-risk fish heath incidences per year among the approximately 60 to 80 farms active at any given time. That is an alarmingly high incidence of diseases diagnosed on salmon farms every year, despite assurances by the industry that their farming practices are sound.
• Marine anemia was found on salmon farms in BC as early as 1988 (referenced in a DFO document from Dr. Michael Kent who was researching Plasmecytoid Leukemia or marine anemia), just before Fraser River sockeye went into sharp decline.
• The Conville Bay site located along the Wild Salmon Narrows migration route had an outbreak of marine anemia in 2006 and those farmed fish were left in their net-cages until after the 2007 sockeye migration reached the farm; these are the same juvenile sockeye that failed to return to the Fraser River to spawn in 2009.
• The “Discovery Island Modeling Progress Report” prepared for Justice Cohen shows that a disease outbreak at the Brent Island salmon farm at the west end of Okisollo Channel in the Wild Salmon Narrows would disperse throughout the channel within a week, potentially spreading the disease to several other farms and to wild salmon.
• The province only audited 5 dead fish per farm, a sample size ridiculously low enough that even if a disease was present on a farm, it could easily go undetected. A scientifically defensible sample size would be 60 or more fish.
• Sixty percent of diagnosis made on dead farmed fish audited by the provincial government (which they were responsible for prior to December 2010) were not definitively diagnosed but rather classified as “open”. As such, they were not included in the provincial fish health audit reports, so the average of 30 high-risk fish health incidences per year could be much, much higher if we actually knew what these fish were dying of. 

Discovery Island Virus Modeling

So many questions!  What are these mysterious diseases on salmon farms that were not being diagnosed? Symptoms in the disease databases include those of Infectious Salmon Anemia virus and marine anemia. Are these undiagnosed disease symptoms on farmed salmon related to the research Dr. Kristi Miller is doing into pre-spawn mortality of Fraser River sockeye? Dr. Miller has until recently been denied access to test farmed salmon for her as yet unidentified pre-spawn mortality virus which has similar symptoms to marine anemia. Interestingly enough, just one week before Dr. Miller took the stand, the BC Salmon Farmers’ Association offered to provide samples of their fish. If the sample fish are eventually provided, will these tests come soon enough to inform the Inquiry? Or will they happen at all as funding to Dr. Miller’s lab has been cut by DFO?

It is clear that there is significant risk to wild salmon from diseases and sea lice from salmon farms. We must find the answers to these many outstanding questions, however the risk to wild salmon is too great to just keep waiting. Under the precautionary principle, net-cage salmon farms should be removed.  We can’t allow the denial tactic of continually planting seeds of doubt to be a reason to do nothing when so much is at stake.

GSA has had standing in the Cohen Inquiry as part of the Conservation Coalition examining the impacts on wild salmon from a number of threats. Right now we are in the process of drafting recommendations to Justice Cohen with our coalition partners, and these recommendations will be available on our website soon (learn how to make your submission here). You can bet they will include that DFO no longer be responsible for both the promotion of salmon aquaculture and the protection of wild salmon, a conflicting mandate. We will also ask that Justice Cohen recommend to Prime Minister Harper that net-cage salmon farms be removed from our oceans. If this industry wants to continue to operate in BC, their only option is closed containment.

Reflections from Kelly & Heather, GSA's Summer Outreach Team

A Reflection on Summer Outreach 2011
by Community Outreach Team - Heather & Kelly

Heather

This summer the Georgia Strait Alliance (GSA) had a late start to its outreach program, but Kelly and I still managed to attend over fifteen events! We had an extremely busy July, attending events in Victoria, Salt Spring, Nanaimo, Courtenay and even made it to the mainland(Vancouver and Delta). The position, Community Outreach Coordinator at GSA meant more than just a Co-op placement. This summer I saw myself as a Steward of the Strait and a member of the GSA family. I have developed a better sense of local issues happening along the Georgia Strait, within our communities and an environmental awareness. I grew up along the Georgia Strait and this summer provided me the time and resources to make an effort to protect the body of water I have grown to love and appreciate.

Attending events was definitely the highlight for me this summer. I met amazing people who live and play along the Georgia Strait and listened their stories and concerns. At events I connected with people in my community that care about the same environmental issues and the Georgia Strait. When I first entered into the position of Community Outreach Coordinator in early June, I thought of it as a job position and a role I was supposed to play within an organization. I was surprised and delighted to discover that my outlook changed quickly because I found a position that I really feel passionate about. GSA is a close-knit family, all very supportive and encouraging of each other. I have made friendships this summer that I hope will last a lifetime. GSA is an outstanding organization that looks after the Georgia Strait, its employees and the communities we live in along the Georgia Strait.


I am a fourth year Business student at the University of Victoria and throughout this work term I have discovered things about myself that have become extremely important to me in continuing my education and career. Working at GSA has been a good example of effective organizational structure and I have discovered that a career in business doesn’t just mean reaping profits and wasting resources. It is crucial that a business incorporates environmental standards and environmental precautions when appropriate. I have always thought that as a business person, you have to make choices and take precautions to protect the environment. After this summer I wish to work in a career finding sustainable solutions and helping others. I hope to have an organization of my own one day that is structured similar to GSA and that I can be as welcoming, supportive and inspiring as the employees at GSA.

Kelly

Over the past couple of months I have had the privilege of meeting people all over the Georgia Strait that are passionate about the future of the marine environment and the communities along it. As a student studying planning, many people ask how my education transcends to my job as a summer Community Outreach Coordinator. First, there is the simple answer that planners plan for the future and GSA’s mission is to advocate and preserve the marine environment for future generations. However, this is not the only area where my experience with GSA has broadened understanding of what it means to be a planner. Planners are responsible for incorporating the wants and needs of the public in an effort to develop priorities which are used to help guide a community in how it develops and changes over time.

My role this summer was to ask people about their issues, concerns, and places that they love around the Georgia Strait, as well as educate the public on specific concerns and programs that GSA advocates for. With this job I was continuously challenged with particular questions where I lacked the specific knowledge to answer, but was given the opportunity to help and advise people with information they could use. In this process, I found people were truly surprised that a non-profit organization actually hired two students to engage the public and ask them what their priorities and concerns were with regard to the marine environment.


Typically planners are required to inform the public about any changes which may occur to the built environment or to a town’s official community plan. What my experience with GSA has taught me is that the standard mediums planners use to inform the public, usually a single local newspaper, is no longer sufficient with regard to informing the public about changes which may impact their community and the environment around them. Municipal offices and government bodies need to take greater initiative and learn from organizations like GSA, who not only invest in classic forms of public engagement, but also harness new mediums for public consultation, such as social networking i.e. Twitter, Facebook, and Blogging.

My job with GSA this summer has taught me many things that cannot be summed up in a simple reflection blog. My time with GSA has given me is a new found appreciation for the importance of public engagement and responsibility, that individuals have to stay informed about the public’s concerns and vision of the future.


All photos by Heather Coupland.