Gorilla Radio blog: Canada to Norway: Uniting for Wild Salmon - Indigenous Salmon Defenders March in Solidarity

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Canada to Norway: Uniting for Wild Salmon - Indigenous Salmon Defenders March in Solidarity

Wild Salmon First! From Canada to Norway: Uniting for Wild Salmon - Indigenous Salmon Defenders March in Solidarity

by www.wildsalmonfirst.org

‘March for Wild Salmon’ begins next week (1 March) with solidarity events in Canada and Norway. In Oslo, a ‘Declaration for Wild Salmon’ written upon a hand-made Norwegian flag will be brought to the King of Norway, the Norwegian Parliament and the Norwegian Government-owned company Cermaq.

In Vancouver, the Indigenous Salmon Defenders will gather to deliver a similar declaration with the message:

“Stop Norwegian Fish Farms from Killing Wild Salmon!”

‘March for Wild Salmon’ is a month-long series of events with protests also planned in Galway, Ireland (2 March) and Bergen, Norway (6March), before closing on 31 March with a global vigil for wild salmon in support of the young salmon smolts as they prepare to head out to sea and past the disease-ridden Norwegian-owned salmon farms.

“We need widespread support of people who are willing to stand beside us to protect our sacred wild salmon and most nutritious and precious food,” said Dawn Morrison of the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Network who is leading the gathering of Indigenous Salmon Defenders in Vancouver.

“We have stood on the shores of the rivers, lakes, streams and ocean and watched the government fail miserably by allowing the Norwegian owned salmon farming industry to inflict disease and suffering upon this amazing keystone species. It is time to head to higher ground and find balance in the politics and greed that has been compromising wild salmon. In addition to being the most culturally adapted food in Indigenous communities, the salmon are highly significant contributors to the beautiful landscapes that define BC. The value of wild salmon is much higher than any amount of money that can be traded in the market economies created by fish farms.”

“Wild salmon are the lifeblood of Indigenous communities and have been for thousands of years,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. “The spectre of salmon farms has not only placed the survival of wild salmon under threat, but the cultural survival of Indigenous Peoples. By continuing to operate in the Pacific waters of our wild salmon, the Norwegian owned salmon farming industry is unacceptably infringing on the rights of Indigenous Peoples as identified in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We are left no choice but to unite in solidarity and demand the removal of threats posed by the salmon farming industry.”

“Travelling thousands of miles through the oceans and seas, wild salmon know no borders,” said Elena Edwards, founder of Wild Salmon First! “Unfortunately, neither does the salmon farming industry and the infectious diseases that come with it. The spread of this predominantly Norwegian owned industry is going to require a united multi-national effort to ensure that salmon farming does not bring the final death blow to wild salmon of the world. People must fight to ensure that wild salmon are the first priority not the last.”