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Submission:
Justice Cohen,
I respectfully submit that I was a Commercial Fisherman from 1976 to 1981. For 3 years I worked on a 55 foot freezer troller. At the time I fished there were about 3200 fish boats fishing the West Coast of Vancouver Island and the inside straits as well as the Prince Rupert waters. Now there MAY be 800 boats, and hardly any fish plants are operating in comparison. If you had asked any fisherman in those days if BC needed fish farms for salmon to augment the supply for consumption, they would have laughed you out of the building. It is inconceivable that in the short time salmon farms have been operating the decline in fish stocks is so remarkable. Worldwide evidence seems to clearly indicate this is not an unusual occurrance. While I respect the right of people to make a living selling fish, I would respectfully suggest we do our level best to enchance out existing wild stocks to their numbers of the past, and eliminate the need for farmed fish unless they are truly farmed in ponds on land with appropriate waste removal, and feed production other than the dwindling ocean resources of 3rd world counties
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