The Sunshine Coast Conservation Association welcomed wild salmon advocate Alexandra Morton to Roberts Creek Tuesday night.
Morton, a biologist and former whale researcher, has spent years working to preserve B.C.'s wild salmon stocks and fighting against open net fish farms.
Speaking to a full house at Roberts Creek Hall May 24, Morton gave her presentation, titled "Calling the Wild Salmon People." The presentation focused on Morton's work and her conclusion that fish farms spread diseases and sea lice that detrimentally affect wild salmon populations.
Sea lice, she explained, are easy to study, and she has produced numerous papers on the topic, looking at all different kinds of issues. However, Morton said government doesn't seem to be listening.
"The industry just keeps going. So it's my very strong impression there is some kind of unnatural relationship between all levels of our government and the Norwegian industry," said Morton. "It is 92 per cent Norwegian owned, and the government seems to be very hesitant to do anything about this. I can publish as many papers as I want, but the government has become immune to me."
Accompanying her presentation were various images shown to the crowd, including slides of salmon affected by sea lice as well as inlets and shorelines affected by fish farm waste run-off.
Morton and her colleagues have been on a tour of Vancouver Island and the south coast to raise awareness on the issue of fish farms. The tour was planned to coincide with the federal election, in an effort to highlight the fish farm issue to campaigning party members. Morton said she and her colleagues were well received by some candidates, while others would not receive them at all.
She then discussed her support for and participation in the Cohen Inquiry, a commission set up in 2009 by the federal government to examine the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River. Morton was instrumental in the campaign to have fish disease records released, records she feels will have important information within the inquiry.
A continual theme Morton stressed throughout the evening was the importance of people working together to save wild salmon stocks.
"If we want to have wild salmon, we really have to all get involved. The government is being courted by big business and we're just a diverse group of people. We can't give up on the environment," said Morton. "In the end, it takes all of us."
