The recently released Cohen Commission report is a far-ranging, bold document aimed at making the federal government perform its duties with respect to the Fraser River sockeye run, which is the second most important sockeye fishery, after Bristol Bay, Alaska, in the world.
It has also made fish-farm environmental damage hit mainstream sa国际传媒. The general public now realizes the damage of marine harvest - farms should be on land. Cohen stated: "Mitigation measures should not be delayed in the absence of scientific certainty." This is his formulation of the precautionary principle for creative salmon solutions.
Cohen recommended a freeze on net-pen salmon farm production in the Discovery Islands until Sept.
30, 2020 [the migration route of most Fraser sockeye fry]. "If by that date, DFO cannot confidently say the risk of serious harm to wild stocks is minimal, it should then prohibit all net-pen salmon farms from operating in the Discovery Islands." If before that date the government determines that salmon farms pose more than a minimal risk to Fraser River sockeye, their operation should be prohibited immediately.
The research of DFO scientist Dr. Kristi Miller on the "viral signature" of Fraser sockeye that die before spawning by the millions, along with that of salmon leukemia virus in the '90s and findings of ISA back to 1988, are examples of such research already undertaken.
There are plenty of other stressors of the fish sa国际传媒 residents like to eat the most. These range from forestry practices, water removal for farming, marine spills, algal blooms in the Strait of Georgia, acoustical evidence of fresh-and salt-water mortality, pesticides, pulp and paper, metal mining and municipal water effluents, lack of enforcement, enhanced fish effects and funding. He also called for eliminating the "client" handling of the Canadian Food and Inspection Agency.
If you want to cut to the chase in this 1,200 page, $26-million, three volume tome, read the summary of its 75 recommendations, pages 105 to 115 of Volume 3. At its heart, Cohen's report says there should be a new western director general charged with the responsibility of implementing the 2005 Wild Salmon Policy and the 1986 Habitat Policy.
Cohen calls on the new position to undertake responsibility for the environment, with greater emphasis on sections 35 and 36 of the Fisheries Act, as well as the Environmental Protection Act, and a greatly increased science budget for Fraser sockeye. Note that this would negate the gutting of those acts' fish protection clauses, and resist the layoffs of science people that the federal government has completed in the last year.
Cohen calls for stakeholder comment, making DFO science public on its website, as well as responding to comments - publicly. This is much like a permanent Cohen Commission, without its legal evidentiary nature, that at times, did reduce progress to a snail's pace.
