On Thursday and Friday a small flotilla of boats from Kingcome Village, Gilford Village and Alert Bay, with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Societyโs research vessel โMartin Sheenโ in the background, handed eviction notices to four Cermaq Canada salmon farms. Hereditary chiefs say notices will be issued to all 27 farms in theirย territory.
With chiefs in traditional robes, drumming and singing, the group ignored efforts by Cermaq employees to prevent them from landing, handed over the notice and then held a cleansing ceremony and wild salmon barbecue at one of theย farms.
โOur people have spoken. We want salmon farms out of our territory,โ said chief councillor Willie Moon, the first to pull into the farm off northern Vancouverย Island.
Musgamagw Dzawadaโenuxw consists of five nations, with 576 members, whose territory encompasses the Broughton Archipelago east of Alert Bay. Cermaq and Marine Harvest have farms in theย area.
โI just told them they were trespassing and we had every right to be there. This land belongs to our people,โ Moon said in anย interview.
Last spring 40 per cent of young salmon leaving the territory were killed by sea lice, Moonย said.
Beaches and clam beds are also being polluted, said Melissa Willie, Dzawadaโenuxw councillor and fisheriesย coordinator.
โAll that shit going into the water. I donโt believe it is being flushed out and the beaches are becoming muck. Itโs our whole food chain. We want them totally out of our territory and I just hope someone is listening,โ sheย said.
Musgamagw Dzawadaโenux leaders, who say they have the support of many other coastal bands, are demanding that no more farm fish be transferred into their territory, all farm salmon should be removed within three months, that First Nations have access to the fish so they can assess what diseases exist and the right to have an observer present duringย harvest.
Two previous attempts to evict the farms have failed and, this time, the First Nation is sending a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking him to live up to his promise to honour the rights of First Nations as a โsacredย obligation.โ
The letterย reads:
โWe, the Musgamagw Dzawadaโenuxw 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. Salmon are essential to our well-being and the well-being of ourย world.โ
People are now ready to fight for their traditional way of life, Willieย said.
โOne of our youth said โare we prepared to die for this?โ I think we are now,โ sheย said.
โThe fight is on.โฆ This is just theย beginning.โ
#FirstNations Hand Eviction Notices to #FishFarms #bcpoli #cdnpoli https://t.co/q53UMLJyJC
โ DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) August 24, 2016
There has been no support from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans who, in 2015, allowed the number of salmon at several farms in their territory to almost triple, even though each tribe had rejected the applications, the leadersย said.
After the first eviction notice was issued on Thursday, the leaders received a letter from Cermaq offering to meetย them.
โBut all they want to talk about are their operations and we are just talking about getting them out. Thatโs the bottom line, so I donโt think thereโs much point,โ Willieย said.
Jeremy Dunn, B.C. Salmon Farmers Association executive director, said salmon farms in the area have a two-decade history of positive working relationships with First Nations and farmers have 20 social and economic agreements with B.C.ย bands
Those agreements cover 78 per cent of the salmon raised in B.C., heย said.
โThirty years ago there were no First Nations agreements and salmon farmers were one of the first to put together agreements to respect their territories and to share in the benefits of the activity,โ Dunnย said.
Cermaq is open to meeting with the First Nation to discuss the issue, but having the group landing on the farms has been disconcerting for staff, Dunnย said.
โImagine if 30 people came to your workplace when there are four or five of you in the middle of the ocean. It is challenging,โ heย said.
The eviction notices appear to be part of a campaign being orchestrated by Sea Shepherd, Dunnย said.
The โMartin Sheenโ crew are helping independent biologist Alexandra Morton on a virus-hunting voyage around salmonย farms.
Morton is taking samples to investigate which diseases could be spreading from farmed fish to wildย salmon.
Cermaq also suspects Sea Shepherd is behind the evictionย notices.
โOver the past few weeks, our employees have been harassed by the Sea Shepherd Society and other activists,โ says a statement on the Cermaqย website.
But Musgamagw Dzawadaโenuxw members say their only aim is to cleanse their waters for their children, future generations andย ancestors.
โThe people who are benefitting from these farms are benefitting over the suffering of our people,โ said Dzawadaโenuxw hereditary leader Farronย Soukochoff.
Image: Hereditary chiefs and supporters from the Musgamagw Dzawadaโenuxw First Nation hold a cleansing ceremony at a Cermaq Canada salmon farm ย off northern Vancouver Island. The First Nation has issued eviction notices to four farms and say they plan to try to evict all 27 farms in theirย territory
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