June 14, 2012 - 07:00 — Timothy Gillespie
When Silver Donald Cameron, then a columnist for the province's leading newspaper, wrote a column in 2010 denouncing the expansion of what he called "salmon feed lots", he got a call from a worried salmon conservationist who wanted to know how opponents of the feedlots could most powerfully publicize the issue. The idea for "Salmon Wars" was born.
When Silver Donald Cameron, then a columnist for the province's leading newspaper, wrote a column in 2010 denouncing the expansion of what he called "salmon feed lots", he got a call from a worried salmon conservationist who wanted to know how opponents of the feedlots could most powerfully publicize the issue. The idea for "Salmon Wars" was born.
The documentary film, which was shown Wednesday night to more than 40 interested viewers at Jordan Bay Hall - and hundreds more at simultaneous showings in Halifax, St. Mary's Bay, Eastern Shore and via online streaming - has been generating plenty of interest in Nova Scotia and beyond. (see Global news segment here).
Journalist Ralph Surrette has called the film, "An impressive piece of work that brings the issue in all its dimensions into the light of day, where it belongs."
The Salmon Wars web site gives the following introduction to the film: "In 2010, strongly encouraged by Nova Scotia's NDP government, international salmon-farming corporations moved to establish massive new salmon feedlots in three pristine bays and harbours, and to expand existing feedlots in other inlets. Galvanized by the threat to wildlife habitat, tourism, salmon runs and the all-important lobster fishery, Nova Scotia's coastal communities furiously opposed the plan, to no avail."
One of the communities fighting open net aquaculture is Jordan Bay, where Fisheries and Aquaculture minister Sterling Belliveau and his staff has been encouraging New Brunswick multi-national Cooke Aquaculture to place two massive salmon fish farms. Mayday Shelburne County was the sponsor for Wednesday's showing.
In the 70-minute video, Cameron interviews fishermen, industry representatives, salmon growers, wild salmon conservationists and Sterling Belliveau.
Although Belliveau has consistently told community groups and fishermen that his department has plenty of science to support the safety of open pen aquaculture and has said that the department does extensive monitoring, "Salmon Wars" shows that Belliveau and his department have never seen the scientific evidence he touts, as it is in in the possession of federal authorities. Monitoring of fish farm sites in Nova Scotia is done by the owners of the farms, not the government.
In a discussion after the film, community members questioned who knew what and when regarding the ISA outbreak in Shelburne Harbour, why the NDP government appeared to be so adamant about promoting industrial scale aquaculture and what citizens could do to get the attention of Belliveau and premier Darrel Dexter.
Cameron was also the host and executive producer of the environmental web site The Green Interview, which provides video interviews with the world's leading environmentalists. With his colleague Chris Beckett, he had the capacity to produce a video documentary for non-traditional distribution via cable, the web, village meetings and the like. The film production costs have been underwritten by the conservation community and individuals throughout Canada.
"Salmon Wars" will be shown again in Shelburne on July 12 at Shelburne Regional High, when noted scientist Inka Milewski presents her most recent findings about the results of extensive fish farming in Shelburne Harbour.
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Comments
It is too bad if you missed this important film.
Salmon POOP is not a good thing.
If you go Silver Donald Cameron's HomePage there are some really interesting stuff! It is informative as well as entertaining.