AR-News: (CA) NDP opposes aquaculturists: In an open letter to Jack Layton

[Barry Kent MacKay]

Positive Aquaculture Awareness criticizes an NDP election promise that 
would put BC aquaculture out of business

May 31, 2004

 From a press release received from Animalnet

CAMPBELL RIVER, BC - In an open letter to federal NDP leader Jack 
Layton who arrives in Vancouver tomorrow, the head of a Campbell 
River-based grassroots-group criticized an NDP election promise that 
would put BC's aquaculture sector and its thousands of workers out of 
business. "This plank in the NDP election platform could have been 
devised by the anti-aquaculture activists at the David Suzuki 
Foundation - it's that bad," said Positive Aquaculture Awareness 
President Laurie Jensen. "For the NDP to adopt such a platform without 
even so much as a consultation with hardworking BC coastal communities 
and First Nations is completely outrageous and unacceptable," Jensen 
said.

"As a responsible leader, the first thing Jack Layton needs to do when 
he steps off the plane in Vancouver tomorrow is admit mistakes have been 
made and agree to change his anti-aquaculture approach because British 
Columbian Coastal residents deserve no less," said Jensen.

The federal NDP's election platform promises to "phase out current 
(salmon-farming) operations and replace them with 'closed containment 
fish farms.'"

In an open letter to Layton, Jensen wrote, "the so-called 'closed
containment' idea has been proven impractical, uneconomic and 
environmentally preposterous. It will do nothing to protect BC's 
environment, wild salmon habitat or aquaculture employees."

"Layton's platform will stifle innovation in BC's sustainable 
aquaculture industry and bury the sector in red-tape," said Jensen. "The NDP

platform is based purely on erroneous assumptions provided by an activist
movement bent on destroying the sector," Jensen added."If implemented, the
NDP's anti-aquaculture platform will result in the shutdown of BC's most 
promising and largest agricultural export, accounting for 15 per cent 
of BC's total agricultural production and contributing over $600 
million to the BC economy," Jensen said.

A copy of the open letter follows:

May 31, 2004


Open Letter to NDP Leader Jack Layton Dear Sir:

Re. NDP Releases its 2004 Election Platform

Can British Columbians believe their ears?

BC's coastal communities are suffering real economic hardship while 
salmon aquaculture tries to retain its position as one of the few 
bright spots in an otherwise tough economic picture.

Now along comes an NDP election platform that promises to "phase out 
current (salmon-farming) operations and replace them with 'closed 
containment fish farms.'"

Mr. Layton, your close affiliation with Greenpeace (Greenpeace Canada's 
most recent Executive Director Peter Tabuns is one of your party's 
supposed 'star' candidates) has blinded you from seeing that the salmon 
farming industry has been responsible for creating new, long-term and 
well-paying jobs in hatcheries, on farms, and in fish processing plants 
along our coast.

In fact, salmon farming is the single largest employer in the northern 
Vancouver Island community of Port Hardy and in the Central Coast First 
Nations community of Klemtu. Over 4000 jobs have been created. Farmed 
salmon has become BC's largest agricultural export item, accounting for 
15 per cent of BC's total agricultural production and contributing over 
$600 million to the BC economy.

Instead of lending support to this highly sustainable industry and 
fostering long-term economic growth on the BC coast, you and your BC 
colleagues seem to have been doing everything in your power to destroy 
the industry and the jobs of working people.

Your party's recently announced platform would bury the industry in 
counter-productive red tape and would stifle innovation. Based on 
erroneous assumptions provided by an activist movement bent on shutting 
the sector down, the so-called "closed containment" idea has been 
proven impractical, uneconomic and environmentally preposterous. It 
will do nothing to protect BC's environment, wild salmon habitat or 
aquaculture employees.

You need to realize that BC salmon farming, despite activist rhetoric, 
is already a highly sustainable industry that takes pressure off wild 
salmon stocks and provides consumers with a healthy, nutritious product 
rich in heart-friendly Omega-3 fatty acids.

Is there room for improvement? Always. After all, sustainability is 
best considered a work in progress, but your party's platform will take 
us in the opposite direction.

This province's aquaculture industry is built on the hard work and 
innovation of proud British Columbians, including First Nations. Mr. 
Layton, your platform is an insult to these hard working people, their 
families, and their communities.

Yours very truly,
Laurie Jensen, President, PAA

________________

Barry Kent MacKay
Canadian Representative 
ANIMAL PROTECTION INSTITUTE 
www.api4animals.org