Media Releases

SOINTULA, B.C.—Farmed Atlantic salmon were estimated to be present in over half of surveyed rivers and streams according to modeling conducted for an article recently published online in the journal Biological Invasions. Living Oceans is calling on Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea to stop approving new net-cage salmon farms until she can provide the public with clear evidence that Canada’s rivers are not being colonized by invasive species.

The Ecology Action Centre (EAC) and Living Oceans Society (LOS) spoke out today against the cloud of secrecy obscuring federal government approvals of genetically modified (GM) organisms in Canada – including what may be the world’s first GM food animal to hit supermarket shelves: AquAdvantage™ salmon.

OTTAWA – All Canadians can play an important role in protecting the future of our fisheries and marine life, according to a group of national sustainable seafood programs, celebrity chefs and NGOs who are renewing calls to have March 18 recognized as National Sustainable Seafood Day in Canada.

Living Oceans today released a report that examines the major threats to whale recovery posed by plans to increase in oil tanker traffic on Canada’s Pacific coast. Justified in the Circumstances: Whales or Supertankers? states that in order to protect whales as required by the Species at Risk Act, neither the Northern Gateway nor the Trans-Mountain pipeline and tanker projects can proceed.

Environmental groups want a court to decide if the federal government violated its own law by permitting the manufacture of genetically modified salmon in Canada. “Canadians expect their government to implement, not ignore, the laws that protect our ecosystems from harm,” said Tanya Nayler, one of the Ecojustice lawyers representing Ecology Action Centre and Living Oceans Society. “By granting approval for this genetically modified species without obtaining all the legally required information, the government has failed to meet their legal obligation.”

SOINTULA, B.C.—The federal government is acting in secrecy to expand salmon farms on the British Columbia coast without public input, according to Living Oceans Society. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans continues to drag its heels on releasing information, even in response to Access to Information Requests, effectively shutting out public scrutiny of its handling of salmon farms.

VANCOUVER—Environmental groups have launched a lawsuit to block Cabinet approval of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline. The Joint Review Panel’s (JRP) final report, the groups say, is based on insufficient evidence and does not satisfy the environmental assessment process.

Vancouver, B.C.—First Nations, environmentalists and representatives from northern communities held a press conference today in response to the 209 conditions on the Enbridge pipeline announced yesterday by the Joint Review Panel (JRP). “The JRP’s conditions are so flawed they are to be ridiculed,” said Gerald Amos, Chair of the Wild Salmon Coalition, introducing today’s session. “They do nothing to protect communities, the land, and the ocean from a catastrophic oil spill, and the people of B.C. will not let this pipeline be built.”

CALGARY, ALTA.—The Joint Review Panel’s recommendation to approve the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline is a major setback for science and democracy in Canada, Ecojustice lawyers said today. “We submitted hundreds of pages of scientific evidence on behalf of our clients that lead to one emphatic conclusion: The Northern Gateway pipeline is an unsafe, unsustainable and unnecessary project, and it does not serve the national interest of this country,” said Ecojustice staff lawyer Barry Robinson.