Let Their Be Fish: Mother Nature Votes Conservative

Fishermen are scrambling to their boats to cash in on what is pegged as the strongest sockeye run on the Fraser in almost a century – just as an inquiry into last year’s collapse of that run gets under way.

Minister Gail Shea,  PM Stephen Harper

Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea has been in B.C. this week and said the excitement she’s seen in fishing communities is palpable. “Everybody is abuzz about the great return of the Fraser sockeye,” she said in an interview on Tuesday.

“They broke their promise to make protecting wild salmon a top priority, and now we’re in serious trouble,” he said. “We need action from this government, not broken promises.”-  Fin Donnelly on Friday, October 23, 2009 NDP CALLS FOR AN INDEPENDENT JUDICIAL INQUIRY ON SALMON CRISIS
MP Peter Julian NDP Burnaby West 

Fri 30 Oct 2009

40th Parliament, 2nd Session
Question Period
Mr. Peter Julian (Burnaby—New Westminster, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, a few months ago, the sockeye salmon run in the Fraser River in B.C. collapsed. Ninety per cent of the fish simply disappeared.
We saw, under a former Liberal government, the costs of ignoring the initial signs of a fishery collapse. That led to the near extinction of the Atlantic cod.
We have seen zero action from the current government,
no response to the NDP action plan,
no increased funding for salmon enhancement and monitoring,
no move to close containment, no emergency summit with the stakeholders,
no rescue package and no binding public inquiry.
The silence of the minister is worse than the silence on the Fraser River.
Will the minister take real action now?
* * *
Mr. Randy Kamp (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, it is a very serious situation with the sockeye salmon. I wish he had noted as well, though, the record pink salmon returns this year and the chum return that is going on right now is also at record levels. However, this is a serious situation that requires a serious response, something other than political grandstanding. The minister has been out there and has talked to all kinds of stakeholders. She is putting together her response. I think Canadians will be pleased by this and he should wait for that.

I am curious how many NDP experts are out fishing today?

 

The last time we have had this many fish in the Fraser, this guy was the Prime Minister. With biggest salmon run in nearly a century, hope returns to the Fraser

How is that Karma working out for the Liberals, Democrats crying out for more regulations, a carbon tax, CAGW?

"We’ve just seen an entire Fraser River sockeye run evaporate. Millions of salmon just didn’t show up.
Ask upstream communities about the consequences. Ask Aboriginal communities. Ask fishers. Experts are already talking about a connection with climate change.We need an urgent, independent public inquiry, using the best ocean and climate scientists to figure out what happened, and how we can to keep it from happening again. -Michael Ignatieff Vancouver Board of Trade October 13, 2009

H/T CAW

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• Sports fishermen net first salmon on Fraser River (theprovince.com)
• First Fraser River sockeye commercial fishery in four years opens in Johnstone Strait (globaltvbc.com)
• Cautious approach to be taken over management of Fraser River sockeye (theglobeandmail.com)
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