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The Intertribal Treaty Organization (ITO) unanimously supports the removal of salmon farms for the protection of Fraser River Salmon and a transition to closed containment.
Over the past year, CAAR has been travelling in the Fraser and Thompson River Basin, meeting with representatives of a number of Indigenous Nations to share information about the potential danger to out-migrating juvenile salmon as they pass by open net-cage salmon farms in the northern Georgia Strait. We have been well received and heard grave concerns that net-cage farms may be partly responsible for the loss of wild salmon - an essential part of the land and culture.
We are very excited that the Intertribal Treaty Organization (ITO) voted unanimously to support Indigenous Nations of the Broughton Archipelago and Georgia Straits for the immediate removal of fish farms from their territories for the protection of Fraser River fish stocks.
ITO’s member Chiefs also expressed their support of a transition from open net-cage practices to closed containment technology for the aquaculture industry in BC.
This sends a clear signal to the Federal government that support for action on open net-cage salmon farms is not just an issue for coastal communities, but an issue for communities throughout the province as well.
The ITO’s membership is comprised of all Indigenous Nations in the Fraser and Columbia watersheds and their mandate is to protect the wild salmon stocks, the lifeblood of the Indigenous Nations of the Fraser and Columbia watersheds.
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