Re: “Cohen commission report must be acted upon,” “Don’t be duped by story,” Nov. 7, 2012
Perennial aquaculture naysayers Leona Adams and Paul Dean seem to believe that if they repeat myths often enough, people will think they are facts.
They make numerous claims about the Cohen Commission report which are plainly false at worst, and distortions of the truth at best.
The good news is that anyone with a computer can easily test their claims for themselves. The entire report is available online for the public to read.
In his report, Justice Bruce Cohen plainly states that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that salmon farms are in any way linked with the decline of sockeye salmon. He also points out that the decline is coast-wide, from Alaska to California, and that the “elephant in the room” is climate change.
Too bad that Adams and Dean, who are eager to play the role of our environmental guardians, have completely ignored the “elephant in the room.”
Cohen’s report is a “proceed with caution” message for salmon farms. He suggests more research to show definitively that farms do not harm wild salmon runs, and we’re happy to follow his advice.
Aquaculture is part of the solution to saving wild salmon. You can’t save wild fish by catching and eating them all. We provide a healthy, safe alternative source of seafood to meet the growing demand which capture fisheries just can’t meet.
The Cohen report shows that farmed and wild salmon can co-exist in the same ocean. Now is the time to move on from the tired old debates and work together on tackling the “elephant in the room.”
Grant Warkentin,
Mainstream Canada Communications Officer