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Tamo:
For me, I always feel that themost important voices are the ones
most affected by the issue. For the natural gas plant on Lelu Island it was
the Gitwilgyoots, in the Sacred Headwaters it was the Talhtan, with these
fish farms it’s theMusgamagw Dzawada’enuxw. And they are losing the
essence of their lives. These people will face the brunt of the forces and if
we want to understand the situation best we should be listening to them.
If we lift their voices up, we have amuchmore systematic solution.
Alexandra:
The leadership I saw this summer was astonishing. First
Nations have literally been attacked, but they are so tied to the land that
they never say, ‘if it gets worse I am leaving.’ I have never heard anyone
say that. The people and the place are so entwined they can’t imagine
living without the river, fish and ocean. First Nations are the only hope I
see for this andmany issues faced by humanity. We don’t see non-native
towns standing united against the destruction of our earth.
MountainLife:
In2010,we talkedabout fully containedfish farmson land.
That seems likeanobvioussolution, is itworking?
Alexandra:
Yes. The ‘Namgis First Nation of Alert Bay, BC run Kuterra, a
closed tank, on-land salmon farm that is selling fish in grocery stores now.
Google it. There are solutions that are working and they are making
money. But for some reason, we are slaves to these three Norwegian
companies riding roughshod over communities and fishermen and
fish. It doesn’t make sense, there must be some foul deal high up at
a government level, because this has been gong on for so long. New
governments make all kinds of promises, then they get elected and fall
in line. The federal government just approved another salmon farm! The
company Grieg Seafood tried to give the local fishermen $20,000 each
to shut them up, they said “no” but a year later the Trudeau government
quietly approved it. No one has been able to stop this highly destructive
take-over of the BC coast.
Ifwedon’t havesalmon,wedon’t havebears, trees, eagles.
Spawningsalmonare like the redveins that give life to the
entireWest Coast. –TamoCampos
ABOVE
Martin SheenRV setting sail to fight the good fight.Alert Bay, BC.
BOTTOM LEFT
Martin SheenRV setting sail to fight the good fight.Alert Bay, BC.
BOTTOMRIGHT
The stench is a little toooverpowering for IvanAlexis. SIMONAGER / SEA SHEPHERDCONSERVATION SOCIETY
