Mission for Wild Salmon – Alexandra Morton tours the Fraser River basin

Sep 28th, 2010 7:59 AM

Media Release Mission for Wild Salmon – Alexandra Morton tours the Fraser River basin (Mission, B.C., September 28, 2010) - Salmon Are Sacred kicks off their tour of the Fraser River watershed on Friday (1st October) with a guest appearance by Dr. Alexandra Morton at the Mission Film Festival’s “In Praise of Wild Salmon” event followed by a visit to the Adams River ‘Salute to Sockeye’ festival (3rd October). The Fraser River tour will include meetings with First Nations and other communities, visits to sockeye spawning grounds, walks and paddles. Salmon Are Sacred will visit Prince George (4th/5th), Fraser Lake (5th/6th), Stuart Lake (7th), Takla Landing (8th/9th), Quesnell Lake/Horsefly (10th), Williams Lake (11th), Kamloops/Barriere (12th), Lumby (13th), Enderby (14th), Adams Lake (15th), Lillooet (18th) and Lytton (19th) before embarking from Hope on a five-day paddle down the Fraser River to Vancouver (20th to 25th October). Dr. Alexandra Morton, who was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Simon Fraser University, said, “A run of wild salmon this big has not been seen in B.C. for 100 years. I am taking the Get Out Migration up the Fraser River watershed. Wild salmon are the lifeblood of B.C. and our journey will connect the coast to the upper reaches of the Fraser. I am calling all Wild Salmon People – to speak out for wild salmon to the Provincial and Federal Governments. The 2010 Fraser River sockeye provided $500 million to the B.C. economy and 45 million kg of nutrients to the Fraser basin that covers 60% of B.C. Pacific wild salmon are too precious to risk being decimated by Atlantic salmon feedlots controlled by secretive Norwegian corporations.” Anissa Reed of Ocean Aura, and the creative genius behind Salmon Are Sacred said, “We will be supporting ourselves on this trip and raising awareness by selling T-shirts. I am doing this because I love my home and salmon are what keep it alive. Wild salmon are the backbone of B.C. and we ask that all Wild Salmon People join together in putting wild salmon first.” The Fraser River tour is a prelude to the Paddle for Wild Salmon that leaves Hope on 20th October. In May, thousands massed on the lawn of the Legislature in Victoria for a rally at the end of a 500 km Get Out Migration down Vancouver Island. Following the Paddle for Wild Salmon the wild salmon people will gather in Vancouver for a flotilla, march and rally on 25th October – bringing the message that we want the complete truth to the opening of the Cohen Commission. Follow the journey at Alexandra’s blog: http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/ For more details of ‘The Paddle for Wild Salmon’ please visit: http://www.salmonaresacred.org/paddle-wild-salmon For more information, please contact: Alexandra Morton: 250 973-2306; 250 974-7086 Don Staniford: 250 230 1172