For the Love of Wild Salmon by Alex Morton

For the Love of Wild Salmon, Get Salmon Farms Out
British Columbians show their love for wild salmon by handing out Valentine’s to their fellow commuters and his Majesty King Harald V of Norway

Vancouver, Victoria, Nelson, Duncan BC Canada
| Feb 14, 2011 | Valentine’s Day
Fishermen, First Nations, students and businesspeople are teaming up with Salmon Are Sacred and the Wilderness Committee to deliver a message to their hometowns and to the King of Norway. Dozens of people in Vancouver and Victoria are set to hit the public transit systems to hand out Valentine stickers that bear a simple message - For the Love of Wild Salmon, Get Fish Farms out. They plan on visiting the Norwegian embassy to request that Norwegian open-net salmon farms leave BC.

Many former participants of the Get Out Migration (a rally last May that saw thousands gather in Victoria to demand that open net fish farms be removed from BC waters) and the Paddle for Wild Salmon (the 100-person canoe journey down the lower Fraser River asking Justice Cohen to request fish farm disease data be released to the Inquiry into the decline of the Fraser River Sockeye) are gathering in teams to hand out Valentines to commuters.
These wild salmon people will be at some of the busiest skytrain stations in the lower mainland handing out stickers and reminding Vancouverites that they live on the edge of a wild salmon run that appears compromised by Norwegian open-net fish farms. Afterwards they will visit the Norwegian embassy at 11:30am to hand deliver the same message for the King of Norway. There is also an online event to email a “Valentine to King Harald V and PM Harper – salmonaresacred.org for more details.

Dr. Alexandra Morton said: “I applaud these people for their imagination and spirit, this is about our love for wild salmon.”
Laura Finch of Island Bagel, who will be handing out the Valentines in Duncan said: “I love real, local food, in particular, wild West Coast salmon and I’m giving out Valentine’s to spread this message to my community in Duncan”.
Anissa Reed, creative genius behind the Valentine sticker said: “I do this because wild salmon feed my home, the BC coast. I am tired of hearing about sea lice and mystery brain lesions, for the love of wild salmon these Norwegian corporations need to stop using our coast as a dumpsite.”
Alexis Baker, who coordinated the Vancouver event said: “The salmon farmers can spend all they want on their ads, but with actions like this, the public has a voice. We don’t want these open net feedlots in BC waters”

By Alex Morton - make sure to visit her website/blog for much more interesting reading about these problems.