The marine biologist Alexandra Morton passed through town recently. She was leading another campaign to raise consciousness about the hazards of fish farms along the coast of B.C.

It is a well-known fact that coastal fish farms, raising Atlantic salmon under unhealthy conditions, have affected wild salmon.

The latest scare is about sea lice. Feedlot salmon are crammed into open-net containers. They number in the millions. They feed on fish from South America – causing scarcities in foreign places – and produce a ton of waste a day. They’re particularly subject to disease, which disperse in surrounding waters.

To fight pathogens, the industrial feedlots use chemicals with toxic side-effects. Feedlots nestle into the richest bays and inlets along our southern coast.

In an effort to justify their trade, the farms, principally Norwegian, point to the run of 2010 and say, “Look what abundance!” Alexandra warns us not to be fooled. This turn-around actually shows how little we know of the generative elements involved.

Alexandra herself lives in Echo Bay in the Broughton Archipelago where orcas abound, and because salmon is the staple food of those magnificent creatures, she pays attention to their numbers.

Wild salmon have been steadily on the decline over the past eighteen years. Finding through research that fish farms are a prime suspect, she has fought them all, one at a time. The woman has written twenty scientific papers giving grounds for her suspicions.

The remarkable thing is that in all those years, DFO has never responded to her warnings. There is this weird atmosphere of secrecy and backroom deals surrounding the fish farm business. Nobody in government will talk with openly about the problem.

With the blooming of sea lice and the collapse of the sockeye run of 2009, Alexandra could no longer rest in peace at home. She hit the campaign trail, calling for a timely emptying of fish farms before the 2010 wild smolts commenced their migration to the sea.

Her theme – “Get Out Migration” – took her on a long walk down Vancouver Island, assembling in Victoria before the parliament buildings along with five thousand or more salmon-lovers. The conventional press made little of the event, but it was a unique – unique as a people’s movement in B.C.

Alexandra’s latest campaign is called “Paddle to Vancouver.” She went swirling through Hell’s Gate on a raft, after which a fleet of canoes accompanied her down the Fraser from Hope to Vancouver, where they landed at Jericho Beach. Then in the pouring rain, they marched over the Burrard Bridge to the court chambers where the Cohen Commission was holding a judicial inquiry into the 2009 sockeye salmon collapse.

Many of us will remember Justice Cohen’s hearing in Lillooet during the summer of this year at the REC Centre.

So demonstrators by the hundreds streamed over Burrard Bridge (including 20 folks from Lillooet holding their Salmon Talks banner aloft). Native and non-native, they hailed mostly from up and down the Fraser River and from the west coast of the province. They formally presented Justice Cohen with an elk hide scroll covered with signatures of folks supporting the salmon campaign (mine included!).

The people came forward with an urgent demand. They urged the court to order the release of the fish farm disease records. This was vital information to Cohen Commission’s inquiry. Feedlots have been asked to release their records. They have refused.

In Lillooet, I found making salmon-talk with Alexandra inspiring. We reached certain agreements. We resolved to pay closer attention to political elections. We should look for candidates who can represent us Salmon People, and hold them responsible.

Alexandra’s final proposal is that we form a voting block, and build it up huge, so that politicians will heed our wishes. Let the salmon be a symbol of democracy among us. We’ll call ourselves Wild Salmon People. The strategy is to stay in our favoured political party but join the voting block.

My comment: It’s been a while since we’ve seen a real people’s movement sweep through B.C. But it’s happening, and I’m glad to be a part of it.

The reader might enjoy Alexandra’s Morton’s absorbing book, Listening to Whales.

For a complete account, see www.wildsalmonpeople.ca, and SalmonAreSacred.org.