|
604.812.9453
BOOK NOW
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|||
Environmental Alerts
Sign the petition to STOP TROPHY HUNTING BEARS IN B.C.
Go to Stop Trophy Hunting Bears in B.C. on GoPetition.com, to sign the petition personally or anonymously, and help us make a difference today. February 2010![]() Subject: Press Release - Olympic Mascot Under Threat FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - VANCOUVER, BC, February 23, 2010 -- In a few weeks, the B.C. government plans on reopening the trophy hunt of bears in the internationally celebrated Great Bear Rainforest. And the spirit bear, which was featured in the Olympic Games' opening ceremonies, could be one of its targets. The future of the white Kermode or spirit bear is being put at risk because black bears that carry the spirit bear's white fur gene are fair game for trophy hunters. The genetically distinct Haida black bear and the grizzly bear, which is listed as a Species of Special Concern by the Canadian Federal government, can also be killed senselessly for sport. Coinciding with the release of a Vancouver Sun full page ad, supported by over 20 million people from 40 countries, conservationists have released a map showing that less than two percent of the white Kermode or spirit bear range actually protects the bears from trophy hunting in B.C. "How can British Columbia be celebrating the spirit bear in the opening Olympic ceremony and as an official mascot to the Olympics when trophy hunting is allowed in over 98 percent of the animal's genetic range?" asks Ian McAllister of B.C.-based Pacific Wild. "It just doesn't make sense to protect only the white coloured bears when the black bear also carries the gene that produces white cubs." said Kitasoo/Xai'xais bear viewing guide Doug Neasloss. "The spirit bear is a beautiful representative of evolution and we should not be tinkering with nature by allowing black Kermodes to be shot only to be hung on people's walls. This is an archaic and shallow blood sport," said Wayne McCrory, a Valhalla Wilderness Society biologist who has studied Kermode bears for 20 years. Liz Barratt-Brown, an attorney with the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council, is urging the B.C. government to end the trophy hunt. "The spirit bear is important enough to us that it is represented in our logo and our 1.2 million members and activists want to know that bears are protected in the Great Bear Rainforest." "The eyes of the world are on B.C. and the global campaign to end the trophy hunting of bears in Canada's Great Bear Rainforest will continue to escalate until they are protected," said Rebecca Aldworth of Humane Society International/Canada. Contact: Ian McAllister, Pacific Wild: 250-957-2480 or cell 250-882-7246 Liz-Barratt Brown, Natural Resources Defense Council: 202-289-2404 Wayne McCrory, Valhalla Wilderness Society: 250-358-7796 Rebecca Aldworth, Humane Society International/Canada: 514-575-6797 *Douglas Neasloss, Kitasoo/Xai'xais Spirit Bear Adventures:778-839-1241 *Doug Neasloss is in Vancouver at the Pan Pacific Aboriginal Pavilion during the Olympics and is available for television interviews. B-roll footage available. To download recent ads and map of the current black Kermode hunting area visit: www.pacificwild.org Facts: * In 2001, Premier Gordon Campbell overturned a moratorium on the trophy hunting of grizzly bears. Since then, over 2,000 grizzly bears have been killed for sport in B.C. *The globally rare white Kermode bear is protected from hunting, but the black Kermode, that produces white offspring is subject to open season trophy hunting in over 98 percent of its natural range. * A 2009 an Ipsos-Reid poll showed that nearly 80 percent of British Columbians are opposed to the trophy hunt of bears. * The trophy hunt also threatens tourism-based bear viewing operations, which generate considerably more revenue in B.C. than bear hunting. *Coastal First Nations are opposed to the trophy hunt of bears in their traditional territories. List of organizations supporting an end to the trophy hunt: Pacific Wild Humane Society International/Canada Humane Society of the United States Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust Coastal First Nations Greenpeace Sierra Club BC Western Canada Wilderness Committee David Suzuki Foundation The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition Valhalla Wilderness Society Bears Matter Forest Ethics Animal Rights Sweden Freedom for Animals - Croatia Brigitte Bardot Foundation - France Franz Weber Foundation - Switzerland Global Action in the Interest of Animals (GAIA) - Belgium Fundacion para la Adopcion, Apadrinamiento y Defensa de los Animales (FAADA) - Spain Four Paws (International) Respect for Animals - UK Commercial Bear Viewing Association of British Columbia Robin Wood Canopy Friends of the Earth BCSPCA Vancouver Humane Society Natural Resources Defense Council -30 - January 2010Media Advisory from FISHERMENLIST@LISTS.ONENW.ORG From: Alexandra Morton Date: January 26, 2010 2:13:17 PM PST (CA) To: "fishermenlist@lists.onenw.org" Subject: [fishermenlist] We Won again Hello Today BC Supreme Court ruled in our favor once again. Justice Hinkson granted the federal government a suspension order until December 18, 2010 so that Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) can further prepare to assume control of regulating salmon farms. However, Justice Hinkson forbade any expansion of aquaculture during that period. Specifically, the province cannot issue any new fish farm licences and cannot expand the size of any tenure. He recognized the First Nation interest in this matter by granting the Musgamagw-Tsawataineuk Tribal Council intervenor status, which is essential as this case is based in their territory. On the matter pursued by Marine Harvest at the Court of Appeal and sent back to Justice Hinkson to reconsider (that is whether the fish in the farms are privately owned by the companies and whether the Farm Practices Protection Act (FPPA) is still in force), Hinkson confirmed that the FPPA, will no longer apply to finfish aquaculture and thus no longer protect farms from nuisance claims. On the question, does Marine Harvest own the fish in their pens? Justice Hinkson found that this was not the place for this decision. Marine Harvest will have to bring this before the courts themselves. For now, we know that the aquaculture fish are now part of the fisheries of Canada. Today's decision is met by the unrelated announcement by US box store chain "Target" that they have eliminated all farmed salmon from its fresh, frozen, and smoked seafood offerings in its stores across the United States, because of farm salmon environmental impact on native salmon. There is an enormous amount of work ahead to translate any of this into better survival of our wild salmon, but the courts seem consistently interested in bringing reason, the constitution and the law to bear on the Norwegian fish farm industry in British Columbia. While I am truly sorry that jobs will be lost in ocean fish farming, bear in mind the industry is in deep trouble with mother nature herself in the fish farming strongholds of Chile and Norway. Trying to hold this nomadic fish in pens is never going to work, because it causes epidemics, unnatural sea lice infestations and drug resistance. Salmon farming is not sustainable and ultimately we are better served by our wild fish. Alexandra Morton
Winter 2009Media Advisory from FISHERMENLIST@LISTS.ONENW.ORG From: Alexandra Morton Date: October 26, 2009 4:35:37 PM PDT (CA) To: "fishermenlist@lists.onenw.org" Subject: [fishermenlist] Member of Parliament Judicial Inquiry! Hello All Good News Finally! Peter Julian, Member of Parliament - New Westminster has just launched a petition for a Judicial Inquiry into the Fraser sockeye crash. CONSIDER THIS: If there had been a Judicial Inquiry into the declining North Atlantic cod, we would have rebuilt that fish stock by now because we would have discovered that the critical research by Dr. Ransom Myers of DFO was being suppressed by DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans). Here we are again. DFO is completely silent, they have not even acknowledged that the Fraser sockeye crash pattern is extremely specific and provided the media with misinformation. A judicial inquiry will place people under oath so they can be heard over the politics. Please go to Peter Julian's website: http://peterjulian.ndp.ca/node/864 And download the petition document, and sign: here This has to be a paper copy, there can be 1 signature on a page, or a full page of signatures, the address is on the document and postage to the federal government is free. You cannot say you care about wild salmon if you don't make this effort. This will make a very big difference in the future of BC and the eastern pacific. Alexandra Morton www.adopt-a-fry.org
Fall 2009September 21st, 2009
Hello Mark
We are emailing you from the First Nations village of Hartley Bay on the North Coast of B.C.. Today we learned from the Elders of Hartley Bay of their greatest concern for their village: oil supertankers traveling the waterways of their traditional lands.
This is a land of great abundance... and especially, an abundance of spirit. The Gitga'at People of Hartley Bay rushed to the Queen of the North as she sank to the bottom of Wright Sound, saving most of the lives of the passengers and crew that cold winter night. This is absolutely NOT a surprise to us. We've known these people for over 10 years now.. these are a people that are the very definitions of all that is good and right. Many visitors come to this area of B.C.'s North Coast in search of the Spirit Bear... but aside from this unique and amazing little white bear, there is the awe inspiring spirit of a people that is more unique than even the spirit bears who share their traditional homelands.
Considering the rare and unique people and the white Spirit Bears who share their homelands, how can Enbridge consider a project that will bring oil SUPER tankers to these waters and how can the governments of British Columbia and Canada allow this to happen??
Long ago, we entered into a protocol agreement with the Gitga'at People of Hartley Bay... and we intend to honour that which we have promised... we will stand by their sides as they attempt to protect their lands, their waters, their wildlife, their children, their Elders and their way of life.
May 27th, 2009
Click here to view the NDP/Liberal ridings map.
Click here to subscribe to One North West's Fishermen's Listserve.
"A project proposed by Enbridge would bring oil tankers bigger than the Exxon Valdez right over the heads of the whales and other sea life..."
Click here to read the full document.
|
|||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|||
|
First class BC wilderness cruises, coastal tours and charters on the West Coast of British Columbia aboard the 54 ft. Great Bear II, out of Vancouver, BC.
· Queen Charlotte Islands · Haida Gwaii · Great Bear Rainforest · Gulf Islands · Princess Louisa Inlet · · Desolation Sound · Howe Sound · Indian Arm · Whale Watching · Bear Viewing · Wilderness Adventures ·
Copyright © 1998-2010 Ocean Adventures Charter Co. Ltd
|
|||||