BC,Canada:Downsizing Salmon Fleet-Bonanza for Packers

[the.greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org]

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Original-TO:      World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-Cc:      The Greenbase (Green2:Green2:Gnl:Main)
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               GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
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>> SALMON FLEET DOWNSIZING PROMISES BONANZA FOR B.C.
PACKERS
 
Federal strategy ensures corporate concentration and community
collapse 
 
VANCOUVER, March 29,1996 (GP) Greenpeace  predicted today that
the way the Department of Fisheries and Ocean's (DFO) plans to
downsize the B.C. fishing fleet will lead to the west
coast equivalent of  the  cod destruction.
 
The prediction is based on the fact that  DFO's plan does
little to address the West Coast salmon's most pressing
problem:   large seine vessels capable of taking thousands of
fish in one set of the net.  Instead DFO chose to downsize the
entire fleet by one third, a move which will mostly effect

fishermen operating smaller boats.
 
"This government is sticking to the game plan big business
wants - the plan that failed in Newfoundland." said Catherine
Stewart, Greenpeace Fisheries Campaigner.  "The growing
concentration of fishing capacity in the hands of Galen
Weston, Jimmy Pattison and their mobile capital is going to
destroy the salmon. Is Minister Fred Mifflin seriously
expecting Canadians to back this strategy?"
 
Greenpeace is pushing for selective fisheries geared to
maximizing employment at the community level while sustaining
the fish stocks. The international environmental
organization recently circulated draft Principles for
Ecologically Sound Fishing in fishing, aboriginal and academic
communities. The proposals have drawn strong interest and
growing support from small-scale fishermen.
 
"The combined pressures of degraded habitat, impacts on ocean
ecosystems and continued intensive fishing have led us to the
brink of disaster. We're losing our salmon - and this
government's plan is not going to save them", Stewart said.
 
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Contact:  
Catherine Stewart, Greenpeace Vancouver   1-604-253-7701
 


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