The Wild Salmon Forever Society are calling on federal candidates in the province to sign a pledge to end open-net fish farms along the B.C. Coast.
Currently, three candidates in the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding have either signed the pledge or are planning to.
Taylor Bachrach, NDP candidate for the riding was the first to sign the pledge.
Mike Sawyer, Green Party candidate said salmon farming is impacting our wild salmon.
“I will be taking the pledge shortly, I’m fully supportive of Taylor taking the pledge and will be taking it myself,” he said.
MyBulkleyLakesNow also got in contact with Liberal Candidate Dave Birdi. He said he will also be taking the pledge and he thought it was a great idea.
The only candidate to decline the pledge out of the four major parties is conservative party candidate Claire Rattee.
MyBulkleyLakesNow has reached out to Rattee about declining the pledge but has not received a response.
Bachrach said in a press release he was surprised to see the conservative party decline the pledge.
“There are many issues on which the candidates disagree but I had hoped that this wasn’t one of them. For the sake of our Wild Salmon, I hope that they will reconsider and that all the candidates will support the pledge. Let’s stand together on this one,” he said.
Sawyer also said the conservatives have never had a strong environmental policy.
“Any environmental activity that would constrain business activity would not be something the conservatives would likely support, but it also might be at a local level the candidate doesn’t understand the science behind it and why it’s so critically important,” he said.
The pledge reflects the growing concern around the impact of open-net fish farms on the health of wild Pacific Salmon by spreading disease and parasite.
Responses from the federal candidates can be found at https://www.wildfirst.ca/pledge-tracker/.