Campaigners are calling on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to endorse wild salmon not farmed salmon during the royal visit to Canada later this month. The royal party will be presented with a gift of wild salmon when they arrive in Victoria (24 September) and challenged to issue a public statement pledging to boycott farmed salmon.
"Shamefully, both William and Kate have been cheerleaders for the disease-ridden salmon farming industry in Scotland," said Don Staniford, Director of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture (GAAIA).
"Serving guests at their royal wedding diseased farmed salmon was a slap in the face for healthy wild fish and still leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. Farmed salmon is not fit for the Queen’s corgis let alone young children like Princess Charlotte and Prince George. Wild salmon is clearly the King of Fish not the farmed imposter with the fake tan, lice-infested skin, parasitic mushy flesh and cancer-causing chemical contamination."
The royals are visiting British Columbia during an upsurge of protests against salmon farms.
Last month, First Nations sent a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau demanding the eviction of salmon farms from British Columbia.
"We, the Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw view the destruction of wild fish by the fish farming industry as part of the long history of genocide forced on our people by the governments of Canada," stated the letter. "Salmon are essential to our well-being and the well-being of our world."
"The salmon are our sustenance," said Willie Moon, chief councillor of the Kingcome community. "Without that salmon, we will no longer exist."
"The royal visit to Canada is an opportunity for the Duke and Duchess to learn at first hand the 'genocide' wrought by salmon farms in British Columbia and understand why First Nations are rising up against salmon farming," continued Staniford. "The royals should be aware that salmon farms around the world are killing wild fish as well as spreading infectious diseases, toxic chemicals and environmental pollution. Please follow the lead set by Prince Charles and promote healthy wild salmon not diseased farmed salmon. Boycotting farmed salmon during their visit would give a royal seal of approval for wild salmon and shine the global spotlight on the shameful practices of salmon farming."
Last year, the Yaakswiis Warriors won a famous victory against a new salmon farm in Clayoquot Sound following a two-week occupation.
"We want to get rid of all the fish farms on our territory," John Rampanen, a member of the Ahousaht First Nation, told DeSmog Canada.
During the royal visit to Canada, the Duke & Duchess will visit Victoria (24 September) - scene of a recent protest against salmon farms in British Columbia.
The royals will also visit Bella Bella (26 September) where they will be ceremoniously welcomed by the Heiltsuk First Nations community. Known as "the salmon people", the Heiltsuk have a history of protests against salmon farms and a "zero tolerance towards the aquaculture industry in their territory".
"The Heiltsuk were skilled hunters, fishers, gatherers and traders - and these activities shaped their economy," reported The Daily Mail in a preview of the royal visit to Bella Bella. "Salmon was a staple part of their diet, which explains why many camps settled near salmon streams".
If the royal party stops to listen to the views of the Heiltsuk community then they will be left in no doubt that farmed salmon should never be served to enemies let alone guests.
The Duke & Duchess will learn that farmed salmon is about as welcome as a dose of smallpox.
Guests at Kate & William's royal wedding in 2011 were shamefully served farmed salmon from Loch Duart - a company with an appalling environmental and food safety record including contamination with listeria, sea-bed pollution, sea lice infestation, toxic chemical use and killing of seals (watch more via "Loch Duart: The Toxic Salmon Company").
The Sunday Herald reported just last week that Loch Duart has killed at least four seals in the Sound of Harris during 2016. Last year The Sunday Times reported last year that the royals were in "opposing camps" when it came to salmon.
The pro-farmed salmon stance of Princess Kate and Prince William is a slap in the face of Prince Charles who has been a supporter of wild salmon. The Scotsman reported in 2006 that Prince Charles was sourcing wild Alaskan salmon not Scottish farmed salmon for his food company:
The Prince's snub to farmed salmon prompted Sarah Palin to offer an invitation to visit Alaska:
Meanwhile, Her Majesty the Queen (who earns rental income from issuing salmon farm licences in both Canada and Scotland) has been a long-standing supporter of farmed salmon.
The Sunday Express reported in 2005:
Her Majesty the Queen's support for salmon farming was further questioned following her decision to serve farmed salmon sourced from Loch Duart at her Diamond Jubilee luncheon.
"Do you know if the farmed salmon from Loch Duart which Her Majesty the Queen served at the Diamond Jubilee luncheon was contaminated with Chlamydia, Pancreas Disease and/or Winter Ulcer?" wrote GAAIA in a letter to Her Majesty the Queen in November 2012. "Disease data obtained from Marine Scotland via Freedom of Information in August 2012 (for the period April to July 2012) revealed that Loch Duart’s operations in Lochmaddy were riddled with infectious diseases including Epitheliocistis (Chlamydia), Salmonid Alphavirus (Salmon Pancreas Disease Virus) and Vibrio species (Winter Ulcer):
A press release issued by GAAIA in November 2012 included:
“Chlamydia-infected farmed salmon is not fit for the Queen’s corgis let alone the Royal Family,” said Don Staniford of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture (GAAIA) who will deliver the letter on behalf of APES. “Loch Duart markets itself around the world as ‘The Sustainable Salmon Company’ but if truth be told it should re-name itself ‘The Chlamydia Company’.”
“Loch Duart is a mange-ridden wolf in salmon’s clothing who has duped Her Majesty the Queen, Prince William, the Marine Conservation Society and some of the world’s top chefs including Rick Stein,” continued Staniford who visited Loch Duart’s operations in Lochmaddy yesterday (18 November). “The fact is that Loch Duart is a company which uses known shellfish-killing chemicals such as Teflubenzuron, Azamethiphos, Cypermethrin, Deltamethrin and Emamectin benzoate and has an appalling history of escapes. Chlamydia-infected farmed salmon from Loch Duart should be avoided like the plague.”
Read more via "Fit for the Queen & Residents of Nova Scotia - Loch Duart’s Chlamydia-Contaminated Salmon?"
In December 2015, GAAIA wrote to Her Majesty the Queen in her role as patron of the RSPCA (an organisation which endorses the killing of seals at salmon farms certified by RSPCA Assured). "GAAIA implores Your Majesty to intervene to end the slaughter of seals at salmon farms across Scotland," stated the letter. "As Royal patron of the RSPCA (who certify over 70% of Scottish farmed salmon via the RSPCA Assured scheme which sanctions the killing of seals), you have the blood of dozens if not hundreds of seals on your hands."
"Given RSPCA Assured's 'shoot-to-kill' policy on salmon farms, the RSPCA should be renamed the Royal Seal Culling Association!" continued the letter.
"Will Your Majesty give seals are early Christmas present by pledging to introduce a cease-fire on RSPCA-certified salmon farms? Or will you continue to sanction the slaughter and allow yourself to be drenched in the blood of Scottish seals?
Your Majesty may not be personally pulling the trigger or loading the bullets but your royal patronage of the RSPCA is endorsing the bloody slaughter of seals at salmon farms across Scotland."
Here's photos from GAAIA's protest outside Buckingham Palace in December 2015:
Read more via Dear RSPCA, please wash the blood of Scottish seals off your hands!
Download press release in full as a PDF online here
More blogs via:
- "Stop the slaughter now"/"Cruelty and pollution have no place in Scotland's waters"
- Sunday Herald: "Scotland's 'trigger-happy' salmon farmers risk losing £200m US export market"
- Seal of Approval for U.S. Ban on Salmon
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