Alexandra Morton on the 2009 Fraser Sockeye Salmon Run

When I was a young man I took my first family to see the Adams River Sockeye Run. Known the world over as "The Crimson Sockeye" a wonder of our natural world.

At that time you could stand on the Bridge over the Adams River and (if you were there at the right time) you could actually see the Emerald Green of the river turn Crimson as Millions of sockeye entered the channel. It was a sight to see. Damn but it was a sight to see.

Those same fish come from the Fraser run every four years and they go past Kamloops up the South Thompson to the Adams. The last year was 2006 and the next run will be 2010.
With the downgrading of the Fraser Run this year I doubt the Adams Run will have but a handful of Sockeye next year as that run will most likely be decimated as well.
But I will be there with my new family in hopes they can see that which I witnessed so many years ago.

Gordon Campbell your policies have destroyed one of the wonders of the world.

A letter from Alex Morton:

Hello

This week the Fraser River sockeye run was critically downgraded. This was no surprise to me as I looked at this generation of Fraser sockeye and they were infected with sea lice near the fish farms from Campbell River to eastern Johnstone Strait. While they are bigger than pink and chum salmon when they enter the sea, they are damaged by the lice, you can see an image on the website www.adopt-a-fry.org The pattern keeps repeating. If they caught farm lice when they were young, they never come home. As soon as the farm salmon are removed, they do come home.

Actor William Shatner is lending his star power to our efforts and wrote to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. His letter is on our website.

One of the signatories on our letter to the Minister of Fisheries generously donated his services to produce a full page information ad on salmon farms. You can see Gary Dunham, of Mercury Graphics in Langley BC's work on the "Action" page at www.adopt-a-fry.org Thank you Gary for your patience and talent.

Many people have heard about the salmon farming controversy, but they don’t know the specifics. I have included some of the many issues that are causing the problems with this industry. I would really like to hear from you about which local newspapers this should appear in. If you could send me a link to the paper that would be really great. Any financial assistance in running this ad in your community would also be welcome.

The downgrade of the Fraser sockeye is a warning we can choose to ignore or react to. Alaska is seeing huge sockeye returns and they do not allow Atlantic salmon to be penned on their salmon migration routes. We can make many guesses as to what happened to our sockeye, but it does not make sense to ignore the one that has been researched and published and seen worldwide. Commercial, sport and tourism operators are taking losses to protect our wild salmon and yet the fish farms just keep getting bigger and more numerous.

There is something very wrong here and if we want our wild salmon we need to speak now or forever lose our fish.

Standing by,

Alexandra Morton