B.C.-based salmon activist Alexandra Morton has been invited to speak at a federal inquiry into the reasons behind last year's devastating decline of the Fraser Basin sockeye salmon.
Morton, a biologist who for several years has been building a case that she says points to open-net fish farming as one of the key reasons behind a long-term decline of wild salmon stocks, was granted standing at the commission led by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen Thursday (April 16) along with 19 other groups and individuals.
On Monday (April 19), Morton said that while many previous government efforts to fix long-term problems with fisheries - such as that those involving the East Coast cod fishery - have led to recommendations that were subsequently ignored, she's optimistic that the Cohen Commission's findings will be based on facts, not politics, and will help fix the problems.
"Every time the fish farm issue goes before the courts, we get spectacular decisions, reasonable decisions, based on the facts not just the status quo," Morton said.
Most notable was last year's decision to hand jurisdiction over fish farming to the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Morton, who attended the standing hearing, said Cohen "seems like a very fair and quite an eloquent man."
"These sorts of processes can be a tangled web, with lots of politics, but I'm really, really thrilled that this is going forward," she said.
Last year, sockeye salmon returns in the Fraser River system were only about 1 million, or about one-tenth of what was expected. Last November, the federal government appointed Cohen to head up a commission whose mandate is to gather evidence and make recommendations to DFO by May 2011.
John Weston, Member of Parliament for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, brought forward a motion last month at the House of Commons Fisheries Committee that Morton be among those invited to make presentations to the Cohen Commission.
Morton has repeatedly asserted that there's clear evidence sea lice and other pathogens introduced from open-net salmon farms are adversely affecting wild salmon stocks. Some fisheries biologists, though, have said they have yet to see solid evidence of such a link.
Dave Brown, vice-chair of the Squamish-Lillooet Sportfish Advisory Committee, which had been for Cohen to hear Morton's evidence, said he was pleased to hear of the decision.
"I think it's fabulous that the commission is going to hear what she has to say."
Brown said he's not sure why others in the field are so adamant in their refutation of Morton's position. But he said he's confident that the commission will weigh all the evidence and recommend viable solutions.
"I think the important thing here is recognizing that we're on the teetering point with our wild salmon stocks, and if there's evidence that this is contributing in any significant way, then we need to give it a serious look," he said.
Others granted standing at the commission include the federal and B.C. governments, four groups representing First Nations including the Western Central Coast Salish First Nations and the First Nations Coalition, the Pacific Salmon Commission, the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, the B.C. branch of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, and a coalition of conservation groups including the David Suzuki Foundation, Georgia Strait Alliance and Raincoast Conservation Foundation,
It's not known when the hearings will begin, but the commission is scheduled to provide an update on its work to the public by Aug. 1.
