Thompson River Steelhead threatened!!!

[SilverHilton]

Hi All,

 

I received the following email from Dana Sturn of the Speypages. Have a read and take action to protect the Thompson River Steelhead. I have.

 

Robin

 

 

Dana Sturn here from the Speypages!

 

Please take a minute or two to review this thread:

 

http://www.flyfishingforum.com/flytalk4/sh...ead.php?t=18134

 

These fish are an international treasure and in danger of being lost to indiscriminate netting in the Fraser River. If you can please take a moment to send an email to the addresses listed below the following notice voicing your concerns:

 

we've entered a critical time. We have DFO's attention, however we have no indication that they will respond to our concerns. Despite our efforts, the chum fishery went ahead yesterday, and DFO is considering additional openings. We now need to increase the pressure to make certain that they think long and hard before going ahead with another gillnet fishery in the Fraser.

 

Over the past 48 hours hundreds, perhaps thousands, of phone calls and emails from around the world have arrived at DFO offices in Vancouver. We need to make sure that thousands more arrive in Ottawa cc'd to Vancouver so that the Canadian government and DFO know that the world is watching.

 

I implore you to act quickly. This great race of steelhead--an international treasure--is at the mercy of a few short sighted bureaucrats who don't seem to listen when we address them directly. We must now go straight to the top and yell loud and long until we are heard.

 

What follows is a sample email you could send to The Honourable Geoff Regan, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, to make your feelings known:

 

Dear Minister Regan,

 

I was alarmed to learn that Fisheries and Oceans Canada went ahead with a commercial opening for chum salmon in the Fraser River on Wednesday October 20th, 2004. Conservation groups, Provincial officials, and the international angling community expressed their grave concerns about the impact this opening would have upon endangered Thompson River steelhead and demanded that the fishery be suspended, yet despite this outcry your staff in Vancouver refused to act to protect this threatened fish species.

 

I understand that Fisheries and Oceans is considering additional chum salmon openings in the coming weeks. The Government of Canada must intervene. The Minister must order an immediate halt to all commercial fisheries in the Fraser River and other Thompson River steelhead approach areas; further, the Minister must order a full public review of the Pacific salmon fishery's impact upon wild steelhead populations.

 

email addresses:

 

send an email to The Honourable Geoff Regan at: Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

 

cc the following:

 

Canadian Government

 

Prime Minister Paul Martin: pm@pm.gc.ca

Minister of the Environment Stephane Dion: Dion.S@parl.gc.ca

David Anderson MP: Anderson.D@parl.gc.ca

 

the Opposition

 

Stephen Harper

Leader of the Opposition

Harper.S@parl.gc.ca

 

Loyola Hearn

Fisheries and Oceans Canada – Critic

Hearn.L@parl.gc.ca

 

John Cummins

Assistant Fisheries Critic

Cummins.J@parl.gc.ca

 

Robert Mills

Environment Critic

Mills.R@parl.gc.ca

 

John Reynolds

Reynolds.J@parl.gc.ca

 

Jack Layton

Leader of the New Democratic Party

Layton.J@parl.gc.ca

 

DFO Vancouver Staff

 

Paul MacGillivray macgillivrayp@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

 

Devona Adams adamsd@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

 

British Columbia Provincial Officials

 

Premier Gordon Campbell premier@gov.bc.ca

 

Bill Barisoff, Minster of Water Land and Air Protection bill.barisoff.mla@leg.bc.ca

 

also please cc to me at blacksalmon@shaw.ca

 

please distribute this information widely, posting it on other websites or forwarding it on to anyone you believe could help. We need many voices so that the Canadian government knows that the world will not sit idle while they net Thompson steelhead into extinction.