In “Letter from Dr. Gordon Hartman to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans” (Hartman, G., McAllister, C. 2009), the role that Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is playing versus the role it should be playing in terms of fishery issues is well observed and criticized. Being a government-run organization, DFO is supposed to be following the precautionary principle established by our government itself. In the past 25 years, however, DFO has not been abiding to this rule and has certainly not been playing its part in environmental issues.
According to a short video (http://saveourrivers.tv/dfo_aquanor_hires.html) and to much research done by Hartman and McAllister, DFO has been working mainly at being “an aquaculture promotion organization than a responsibly involved fisheries research and management agency” (Hartman, G., McAllister, C. 2009). Its goals oppose each other in the sense that one is to protect wild salmon and the other is to sell it.
During an exhibition in Norway (according to Hartman’s and McAllister’s article and to http://saveourrivers.tv/dfo_aquanor_hires.html), DFO has not made enough research to be able to farm salmon, yet they are requesting the permission to either move their industry to northern Canada or to expand it. Their industry is neglecting the presence of sea lice (they have a negative impact on salmon) and is very expensive to fund. It is also a cause of rotting waste in the water and it consumes a large amount of energy. Nonetheless, DFO’s industry is very secretive, not providing information during interviews, and posting “Keep Out” signs near the farms.
If the precautionary principle was better followed by our government-run organizations, problems such as over-production of wild salmon could be stopped and more knowledge could be gained on it. It only takes a couple authors to raise awareness – it takes acknowledgment to stop the problem.
Resources:
Hartman, G., McAllister, C. “Letter from Dr. Gordon Hartman to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.” Rafe Mair Online. August 2009. < http://rafeonline.com/2009/08/letter-from-dr-gordon-hartman-to-the-minister-of-fisheries-and-oceans/>.
Video, < http://saveourrivers.tv/dfo_aquanor_hires.htmlv>.
I liked how you included the video clip as a resource because it adds some diversity to our sources. It was a very interesting clip, really showing how fisheries are abusing the salmon population. However, I think it must be realized that the creator is biased towards using the precautionary principle, and probably showed fisheries in the worst possible light. Critics would find many ways to argue with the creator’s position including that wild salmon are necessary to the economy, they can be harvested in sustainable ways, there are millions of them and they have never died out before, etc.
ReplyDeleteI personally liked your statement about how fishing industries work against each other by saying that they want to protect and sell the salmon. Perhaps there are ways to harvest these fish in an unobtrusive manner, however at the moment it seems as though they need some time to recover.
- Amy Adair
Great Job Kiera
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Amy on the video clip it was a very creative and also a very affective way to explain and share your blog. I thought it gives the readers of the blog more knowledge towards your topic. It was also a great way to take advantage of the technology we are presented with in the 21st century.
The conclusion of you blog was very strong, I very much agreed with your last sentence "it only takes a couple authors to raise awareness – it takes acknowledgment to stop the problem."
because everyone needs to acknowledge and understand what the problem is before they can actually solve the problem.
Kendra Bester