Submitter: Pat McGuire

Community: Victoria

Date Submitted: September 24, 2023

Summary:

The commission should listen to the will of the public, including First Nations, and recommend the permanent removal of fish farms on Fraser salmon migration routes in order to protect wild salmon.

Submission:

I am adamantly opposed to salmon fish farming in BC waters. There should be no more fish farm licenses issued by the federal gov’t/DFO. The Norwegians are now ruing the day they embraced fish farm production in their own waters and have seen the end of their wild fish. THIS MUST NOT HAPPEN IN BC with OUR WILD SALMON. Just because we had a banner year for the Sockeye, doesn’t mean we can sit back and declare all is well with the salmon. WE must think AHEAD. Land fish farms can be acceptable and certainly would provide the same number of jobs for those already employed in the fish farm industry. The commission should recommend the permanent removal of fish farms on Fraser salmon migration routes in order to protect wild salmon.

I visited the Broughton Archipelago five years ago. One bay that we sailed into required us to go past a fish farm. The smell was awful and invasive. The clams we harvested from the small bay were DEAD. I suspected then that this situation was caused by the adjacent fish farm operation. You also must listen to the First Nations who are intimately linked to the wild salmon, and who oppose open net fish farms in their territories. Please listen to the people!