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The Mail On Sunday reported (23 October 2016):
Download PDF of article online here
For more background read:
"Fatwa On Salmon (Don't Worry Mr. Rushdie!)"
"Backlash against chicken and pork in farmed fish"
"French Say "Non" to Chicken & Pork in Farmed Salmon!"
"Feather meal: Hinging on consumer acceptance, not legality"
"Finger Lickin' Good? Farmed salmon feed contains chicken parts"
BBC News reported (6 October):
"Levels of beneficial omega-3 oils in farmed salmon have fallen significantly in the past five years, a study shows. BBC News has learned that, on average, levels of omega-3s halved in the fish over that period."
Watch the BBC News report online here
Read the BBC News story: "Omega-3 oils in farmed salmon 'halve in five years'" (6 October 2016)
The BBC News report included:
The Daily Mail also reported (6 October):
The Daily Mail concluded:
The Daily Telegraph reported back in 2015:
For more background read/watch:
"Fatwa On Salmon (Don't Worry Mr. Rushdie!)"
"Backlash against chicken and pork in farmed fish"
"French Say "Non" to Chicken & Pork in Farmed Salmon!"
"Feather meal: Hinging on consumer acceptance, not legality"
"Farming Salmon is Stealing Food from Poor People & Our Oceans"
"The Greed of Feed – the hidden cost of your cheap farmed salmon"
"Finger Lickin' Good? Farmed salmon feed contains chicken parts"
The forthcoming legal battle in the Supreme Court of British Columbia between "Alexandra Morton, John Doe, Jane Doe and other persons unknown" (the Defendants) and Norwegian salmon farming giant Marine Harvest (the Plaintiff) has underdog victory written all over it - think of David Vs Goliath or Rocky Balboa Vs Ivan Drago.
Whilst the salmon SLAPP will be headlined by many commentators as 'Morton Vs Marine Harvest' the fascinating undercurrent of First Nation Vs The Corporation could rise to the surface. As my previous blog - Who's Calling Who A Trespasser? - suggested: it will be interesting to see how a Norwegian multinational (owned by Cypriot-based Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen along with Clearstream Banking and J.P. Morgan Bank in Luxembourg, State Street Bank & Trust in the USA and Canada, Citibank in the USA, Jupiter European Fund in Great Britain ans various Norwegian investment funds) intends to prove "trespass" against native leaders who have aboriginal title, indigenous rights, 13,000 years of history and the law on their side.
With all the Defendants occupying the three Marine Harvest salmon farms in the so-called "trespass" they may need a bigger courtroom.
Marine Harvest's Notice of Civil Claim describes the events at the mass "trespass" at Midsummer Island:
Vincent Erenst, Managing Director, Marine Harvest Canada said in a press release announcing the legal action: "We cannot stand by and allow individuals to ignore the law and trespass on our facilities."
Marine Harvest's Notice of Civil Claim includes:
This isn't the only legal battle simmering in the pristine waters of British Columbia. Last month the Canadian Government approved the Petronas liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in northern British Columbia prompting "a slew of legal challenges". Donnie Wesley, the highest ranking hereditary chief of Gitwilgyoots tribe (which has jurisdiction over Lelu Island where the LNG terminal would be built) called the Canadian Prime Minister "an outright liar" and said the project's approval was "a slap in the face".
The Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau (aka Daddy Canada), is now being drawn into the mother of all salmon farming fights which some First Nations equate to "genocide".
With the law now firmly on their side, First Nations are rising up in protest. CBC News reported in August:
"We have heard the words of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, that honouring the rights of First Nations are a 'sacred obligation' to the Liberal Government of Canada," said Dzawada’enuxw hereditary leader and chief councillor Willie Moon in a press release (29 August).
"Our people have spoken, we want salmon farms out of our territory."
A letter sent to Justin Trudeau in August included: "We, the Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw view the destruction of wild fish and marine ecosystems by the fish farming industry as part of the long history of genocide forced on our people by the governments of Canada".
An 'eviction notice' issued by the Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw on 15 August left the Federal Government of Canada in no doubt that the salmon farming corporations Marine Harvest and Cermaq were not welcome in the unceded territory of the Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw.
The fight is now on.
And the Defendants have 13,000 years of history on their side.
The Tyee reported (30 September): "I think we are going to have a chance to see what bullies they are," said Morton, who described the development as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP). Such suits are intended to silence critics of an industry by burdening them with the cost of a legal defence"
The Tyee also reported (30 September):
Watch the video - "Hard Evidence" - online here
Watch video footage of the "civil" boarding of Marine Harvest's salmon farm at Midsummer Island online here
Video also available online via Musgamagw Dzawada'enuwx Occupy Marine Harvest Fish Farm and more footage via "Fish Farm Resistance Heats Up in BC"
One image of the mass "trespass" at Marine Harvest's Midsummer Island farm in August sums up the difference in ideology between the Plaintiff and the Defendants.
Whilst the Defendants realize that they cannot eat money, Marine Harvest's list of shareholders read like a who's who of money.
Marine Harvest's #1 shareholder (Geveran Trading) is, according to Bloomberg, "a company controlled by shipping and oil billionaire John Fredriksen".
Norwegian John Fredriksen now lives in Cyprus as a tax exile and is worth $9.2 billion - ranked 133 in the Forbes 'World's Billionaires' list.
Fredriksen is variously known as and 'Tanker King', 'Big Wolf' (the title of his unauthorized biography), 'Viking Raider' and 'King Salmon'.
He has a huge appetite for making money and has gorged himself on super-sized salmon farming.
In March 2016, Fredriksen made over $500 million from selling 8.4% of Marine Harvest yet he still remains the largest shareholder.
Read more about Marine Harvest's largest shareholder via "The Life and Times of John Fredriksen - Putin's "Bagman" in London"
And watch via the film "Salmonopoly"
Marine Harvest's second largest shareholder, Folketrygdfondet, is the Government Pension Fund of Norway which is worth nearly 200 billion Norwegian Kroner ($25 billion).
Some of the Defendants named as 'John Doe' and 'Jane Doe' in Marine Harvest's Notice of Civil Claim appear to be pensioners with a net income considerably less than the Plaintiff.
Marine Harvest's third largest shareholder, Clearstream Banking, is a "wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Börse" and "an important player in the securities services industry with consistently high credit ratings".
Some of the Defendants do not look old enough to have a bank account let alone a credit rating.
Other shareholders in the Plaintiff include major financial institutions such as J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, State Street Bank, and Citibank.
Meanwhile the Defendants do not bank on a future without wild fish.
Whilst Marine Harvest's shareholders are faceless corporations and financial institutions controlled by fund managers in Europe as in the Jupiter European Fund.
The Plaintiffs are upstanding, proud pillars of the local community - including hereditary chiefs and respected elders.
Watch video footage of the mass "trespass" on Marine Harvest's Midsummer Island salmon farm in full online here
And online here
"Where did you get your authorization to be in this territory?" asked Dzawada’enuxw First Nation Hereditary Chief Willie Moon to a Marine Harvest employee telling him he was trespassing on their farm.
"This area you're talking about belongs to the Musgmagw Dzawada’enuwx people. We've never ever given you the right to come and take over our territory. You're here illegally."
"We're here because we have every right to be here," said another First Nations leader. "This is our territory and has been so for at least 13,000 years. Our roots go deep within these waters, deep within these territories."
"So we're here under our authority. Our law has been here way before British law even got here. So to ask us to try and protect your interests here in our territory is disrespectful."
On another 'eviction' visit to a Cermaq-owned salmon farm, Dzawada’enuxw First Nation Hereditary Chief Willie Moon told the Japanese-owned corporation that they were trespassing on their territory:
"You can tell me all you want that we're trespassing. You're trespassing on our territory without our consent to be on our land. Don't tell my people we don't have a right to this"
"Well you have no authority on our lands. As the Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw Nation - you are trespassing. We have never given you the rights to be in our territory. So don't tell me I don't have rights on this farm"
The mission and vision of the Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw people is one of unity.
Marine Harvest's mission is a single-minded financially-motivated one; namely making money.
As Professor Joel Bakan, author of The Corporation, puts it:
Marine Harvest's board of directors include John Fredriksen's daughter Cecilie Fredriksen as well as an executive of Coca Cola and Harvard Business School graduates.
Photo: Marine Harvest owner John Fredriksen flanked by his twin daughters Cecilie and Kathrine
The Plaintiff is clearly a corporation flying the flag for Norway and money.
Whereas the Defendants have a long history of standing up and pulling together for wild salmon.
And will fight to the bitter end.
Watch video online here
Alexandra Morton - who has been culturally adopted by the Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw and named “Gwayum’dzi” (‘Whale’) - will certainly not be standing alone in the courtroom.
Whether Marine Harvest choose to chase down the Plaintiffs listed as 'John Doe' and 'Jane Doe' in their Notice of Civil Claim or not, the ancestors of the Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw Nation are watching.
Also watching with interest will be the Yaakswiis Warriors in Clayoquot Sound who were arrested in August for obstructing a salmon farm operated by the Japanese giant Cermaq (owned by Mitsubishi).
CBC News reported (25 August):
Last year the Yaaksiis Warriors won a famous victory by closing down a new salmon farm in what CTV News called the "War on the Water".
DeSmog Canada reported:
Watch more about the upsurge in fish farm resistance online here
And watch CHEK News reporting on a protest at the BC Legislature last month:
Alexandra Morton is certainly no stranger to fighting in the courts - including notable battles against Marine Harvest as well as the Federal and Provincial Governments.
Find out more online here and donate to Alexandra's fighting fund online here
To support the Musgamagw Dzawada'enxw's fight against fish farms please see online here
Read more via:
The Scottish Government's "blasé" attitude about the financial implications of new U.S. rules banning imports of salmon from seal-killing salmon farms is attracting more criticism.
"The Scottish Government has got its knickers in a twist over this," said John Robins, Secretary of Save Our Seals Fund, in a press release (27 September): "They simply do not realise that if they fail to make shooting seals a criminal offence American customs officers will not let as much as a Scottish-caught pickled herring cross their border. Salmon farmers will lose well over £200 million a year in exports. Killing seals should have been banned decades ago. I would not be surprised if in coming months we see fish farmers picketing Parliament with “Save Our Seals & Save Our Jobs” banners. I am disgusted that I have had to use a foreign Government to get protection for Scottish seals. The Scottish Government should be ashamed over their lack of action on this."
The letter from the Scottish Government and e-mails below to the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change & Land Reform should make the situation clear:
From: JFRobins [mailto:john@jfrobins.force9.co.uk]
Sent: 27 September 2016 15:55
To: Roseanna Cunningham MSP (CabSecECCLR@gov.scot)
Cc: Fergus Ewing MSP (cabsecrafe@scotland.gsi.gov.uk); Alasdair Allan (scottish.ministers@gov.scot); Nicola Sturgeon (FirstMinister@gov.scot); Claudia Beamish MSP (Claudia.Beamish.msp@parliament.scot); Mark Ruskell MSP (Mark.Ruskell.msp@parliament.scot); Maurice Golden MSP (Maurice.Golden.msp@parliament.scot); Mike Rumbles MSP (Mike.Rumbles.msp@parliament.scot)
Subject: salmon farming and seals
E-MAIL FROM: John F. Robins, Secretary, Save Our Seals Fund (SOSF), C/O Animal Concern, Post Office Box 5178, Dumbarton G82 5YJ. Tel: 01389-841-639, Mobile: 07721-605521. SOSF is a recognised Scottish charity: RCNo. SC025489. E-MAIL: sosf@jfrobins.force9.co.uk website: http://www.saveoursealsfund.org/
Roseanna Cunningham MSP,
Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change & Land Reform,
The Scottish Government,
St. Andrew's House,
Regent Road,
Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Dear Cabinet Secretary Cunningham,
Please find attached a letter dated 23rd September which I received from Mr. Ian Walker of Marine Scotland. I think it is in reply to the e-mail (copied below) I sent you on 7th September regarding the forthcoming USA salmon import restrictions.
In his reply on your behalf Mr. Walker makes it fairly clear that the Government does not intend making it illegal for fishery and aquaculture interests to shoot seals. He obviously believes it is up to individual fish farmers to decide for themselves if they want to continue with licensed shooting of seals and not export to the USA or if they want to stop shooting seals and continuing exporting to the USA.
I have been lobbying the US Government on this for five years and it is my understanding that the provisions of the US Marine Mammal Protection Act allow the USA to ban imports from countries whose Governments permit the deliberate killing of marine mammals by fish producers. This was confirmed by statements made by John Henderschedt, Director of the US Government National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection.
In an article (link below) in the Sunday Herald on 11th September Mr Henderschedt commented on the forthcoming new import regulation saying; “This rule requires harvesting nations to demonstrate that they prohibit the intentional mortality or serious injury of marine mammals in the course of commercial fishing operations,” He went on to say that countries must have “procedures to reliably certify that exports of fish and fish products to the United States are not associated with a fishery in which intentional killing or serious injury of a marine mammal is allowed,”.
I believe Mr. Walker is wrong in his interpretation of the new US import rules. The onus to take action is on the Scottish Government not individual salmon farmers. If the Scottish Government does not make it illegal for fishery and aquacultural interests to deliberately kill seals then it will be illegal for the United States of America to import any fish and fish products from Scotland. Furthermore the Scottish Government must be able to reliably certify that Scotland does not allow fishery and aquaculture interests to kill seals. Even if all salmon farmers in Scotland decided not to apply for licences to shoot seals they could not export to the States if the licensing system permitting the shooting of seals is still in place.
Once again I urge the Scottish Government to end the seal shooting licensing system and replace it with a law making it a criminal offence for anyone to deliberately kill a healthy seal. In addition I request that legislation be introduced making it compulsory for marine fin fish farms to install and maintain predator exclusion nets to keep seals and other marine mammals far enough away from the inner cage nets to avoid causing alarm and stress to the fish. By doing so fish farmers will finally meet their legal duty to protect their stock as required under the Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006. It will also create new jobs in rural areas as these nets require frequent cleaning and maintenance.
If the Scottish Government fails to at least make the shooting of seals illegal fish farms in Scotland will lose well over £200 million a year in exports to the USA.
I would be grateful Cabinet Secretary if you would please give me your opinion on this matter.
Yours sincerely,
John F. Robins,
Save Our Seal Fund
From: JFRobins [mailto:john@jfrobins.force9.co.uk]
Sent: 07 September 2016 14:04
To: 'CabSecECCLR@gov.scot'
Subject: salmon farming and seals
E-MAIL FROM: John F. Robins, Secretary, Save Our Seals Fund (SOSF), C/O Animal Concern, Post Office Box 5178, Dumbarton G82 5YJ. Tel: 01389-841-639, Mobile: 07721-605521. SOSF is a recognised Scottish charity: RCNo. SC025489. E-MAIL: sosf@jfrobins.force9.co.uk website: http://www.saveoursealsfund.org/
Roseanna Cunningham MSP,
Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change & Land Reform,
The Scottish Government,
St. Andrew's House,
Regent Road,
Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Dear Cabinet Secretary,
From 1st January 2022 the United States will ban the import of salmon from sources where the deliberate killing of marine mammals is part of the production process.
Since the early 1980s I have lobbied successive Westminster and more recently Scottish Governments in a futile bid to make the killing of seals by salmon farmers illegal in Scotland.
Since 2011 Save Our Seals Fund has been urging the US Government to use existing legislation to ban the import of salmon produced on farms where seals are deliberately killed. After a lengthy consultation period the US has agreed to this and the ban comes into force on 1st January 2022.
The US Government specifically mentions my correspondence regarding the Scottish Government licensed shooting of seals as having influenced their decision to implement the ban.
My argument is quite simple – instead of shooting seals salmon farmers must be legally required to install and properly maintain predator exclusion nets to humanely stop seals getting close to the salmon cages. An alternative is to farm salmon in on-shore seawater tanks.
These systems are expensive to install and maintain but not only do they protect wildlife they create new jobs in rural communities. It has made me extremely angry to see politicians, civil servants and even RSPCA Freedom Foods refuse to force salmon farmers to invest some of their considerable profits to make Scottish farmed salmon seal friendly. It is all the more galling when many of the farms in Scotland are owned by multinational companies which use predator exclusion nets when they are required to do so in other countries in which they operate.
Instead of protecting wildlife the Scottish Government gives salmon farmers licences to shoot seals then leaves shooters to police themselves using a useless honesty box system to report numbers shot. Since licensing was introduced I have argued that it allows lactating seals to be shot leaving dependent pups to die a slow, cruel death from starvation. A few weeks ago an academic report confirmed my concerns and proved the inherent cruelty of the Scottish seal killing licence system.
Once again I ask the Scottish Government to make it compulsory for salmon farmers to use predator exclusion nets and to stop giving out licences to kill seals. Previous Governments did not see the need to protect seals from extreme cruelty as a good enough reason for taking action. Perhaps the need to protect Scottish exports to the United States will be?
Yours sincerely,
John F. Robins,
Save Our Seals Fund
Animals 24-7 reported (29 September):
Read article in full via "U.S. law to save seals in Scotland"
Parliamentary questions filed earlier this week by Mark Ruskell MSP are due to be answered later this month.
Read online here
Read online here
Read more via:
"All At Sea: Seal-Killing Salmon Farms"
"The Two Billion Dollar Salmon Ban"
"Concern as crucial forum for protection of seals abandoned"
"Scottish salmon exports at risk if seals keep being shot"
"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"
"Scottish Sea Farms points to progress in seal management"
"Exposed: the inhumane shooting of hundreds of seals"
"Scottish salmon has five years to cut seal deaths before NOAA action"
"Campaigners claim new NOAA rules could see Scottish salmon banned from US"
"End the slaughter of seals in Scotland now"
"U.S. ban for lethal Scottish salmon- £200 million in exports killed off by seal slaughter"
"Charity makes plea to end seal shooting in Scotland"
"Seal culling in scientists’ crosshairs"
"Staniford calls on RSPCA to drop Marine Harvest, Scottish Sea Farms, SSC"
"RSPCA defend record as anti-seal cull campaigners allege salmon farms are not 'last resort' killers"
Dear RSPCA, please wash the blood of Scottish seals off your hands!
Video Message to the RSPCA - stop the killing of seals on salmon farms!
"Anti-salmon farm campaigners petition Queen over RSPCA’s seal-shooting sanction"
Petition to the RSPCA: End your support for the killing of Scottish seals!
"RSPCA Savaged Over Seal Killing in Scotland"
"Scottish Salmon Blinded by Seal Killing"
"Salmon farmers are shooting seals instead of installing non-lethal deterrents, campaigners say"
"Protests planned as number of seals killed in Scots salmon farms rises by 20 per cent"
"Stop Shooting Seals for Salmon Meals"
"VICTORY: Disclosure of Seal-Killing Salmon Farm Data Ordered by 21 August"
"Scottish Salmon's Secret Seal Killers! - FOI refusal prompts call for boycott of farmed salmon"
"Lethal Scottish Farmed Salmon: Serial Seal Killers Named & Shamed!"
"Scottish Salmon's Seal Killers Named & Shamed!"
Read more documents on ADDs and salmon farms online below:
SNH FOI reply February 2017 online here
SNH covering letter FOI reply April 2017 online here
FOI Backgrounder May 2017 online here
Read a scientific paper presented on 1 May 2017 at the European Cetacean Society conference in Denmark (read abstracts online here):
Read more via an ADD Media Backgrounder (May 2017) online here
Read more via a complaint to the European Commission online here
Read more via a letter to the UK Government, Scottish Government and SNH online here
Read more via Press Release: "Cetaceans Sound Alarm On Salmon Farms - new research sparks EC complaint & call to ban Acoustic Deterrent Devices" (7 May 2017) (PDF version online here)
