From: Colin Braker [mailto:cbra...@fns.bc.ca]
Sent: July-26-13 12:17 PM
Subject: DFO mismanagement, overfishing, and unfettered resource extraction led
to this year's sockeye crisis.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DFO mismanagement, overfishing, and unfettered resource extraction led to this
year's sockeye crisis.
Lake Babine, July 25, 2013-After reducing sockeye to a historic low,
Governments are forcing Lake Babine Nation to choose between conservation and
food.
Chief Wilf Adam angrily states as he looks over Babine Lake, home of BC's
second largest collection of sockeye populations. "They dump mine tailings into
our lake: strip forests from along our streams; overfish our wild sockeye; sign
agreements that permit Alaska to fish our sockeye even when they are at
critically low levels; eliminate important scientific monitoring and research
activities; ignore their own policies, and when the inevitable happens, let us
choose between the food necessary to get through the winter and ensuring enough
sockeye spawn", Chief Adam explains.
Adam is Chief of the Lake Babine Nation. Babine Lake, which produces 85% of
Skeena sockeye, lies in the center of their 2,700 square kilometer territory in
north-western British Columbia. Sockeye has, for thousands of years, played a
central role in their culture, economy, and sustenance. Today, with high levels
of unemployment and poverty, Babine sockeye remains a critical source of
healthy and affordable protein for the Nation.
This year's Babine sockeye return has never, in living memory, been this poor.
In addition, water levels are low and temperatures warm in spawning streams,
raising additional concerns for the sockeye that do make it back to spawn.
Donna Macintyre, Lake Babine Nation's Fishery Manager describes, with tears
spilling down her cheeks, the terrible choice she faces: saving what sockeye
she can and ensuring her people and elders have food for the winter. "Our
sockeye, our elders, our culture are all sacred to us, how do I choose?" she
quietly asks.
"We understand that salmon populations go up and down over time but overfishing
of our wild populations, habitat deterioration in and around Babine Lake, and
DFO's refusal to implement a Wild Salmon Policy that has been on the books
since 2005, has turned a low year into a crisis" she adds.
"It is immoral, unfair and likely unconstitutional for DFO to put us in this
position". Chief Adam states. "We will take what steps are necessary to protect
our fish and get some food to those who need it most, but mark my words; we are
never going to allow governments do this to us again"
---30---
Contact:
Chief Wilf Adam: wild.a...@lakebabine.com +1-250-692-0422
Donna Macintyre, Fisheries Manager: donna.macint...@telus.net +1-250-692-0344
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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