Protesters disrupt Marine Harvest schedule
For more than a week, Canadian indigenous peoples have occupied Marine Harvest’s site at Swanson Island in British Columbia, protesting that the farm is threatening their way of life by impacting wild salmon and herring stocks. Now Ian Roberts, communications manager of Marine Harvest Canada, says the company has had to interrupt its regular harvest schedule at the plant, and fears are growing about the safety of the occupants.
Senior management of Marine Harvest Canada met the leadership of Namgis First Nation in Alert Bay, BC, on Friday to try to resolve the ongoing protest at Swanson Island. But Roberts told Kyst.no that after four directors carried out a three-hour trip to the plant, the meeting with the occupants only lasted nine minutes, as the the Namgis First Nation refused to discuss their concerns about the aquaculture facilities.
He said Marine Harvest has now requested that they leave the area, citing health and safety risks include fire hazards through gas and electric cables, lack of safety gear (personal flotation devices), sleeping on floating structures at night, inclement weather, and risk of injury from heavy-duty machinery.
Safety considerations
Asked if the plant could run normally with protesters in such close proximity, Roberts said: “To prevent any accidents or harm to the unscheduled visitors, we have had to interrupt our regular harvest schedule. In addition to other safety concerns, it’s imperative that these visitors leave our site so we can continue to operate our business without interference.”
Ernest Alfred, a leader of the indigenous people Lawitsis, Mamalilikala and Namgis, told the Seattle Times that they have occupied the plant at Marine Harvest after pens holding about 305,000 Atlantic salmon at Cooke Aquaculture’s Cypress Island facility across the US border in Washington State failed a fortnight ago, leading to a mass escape incident. The company has been vacuuming up fish that remain in its nets, with at least 142,551 captured so far.
The protesters at Marine Harvest’s site in BC say they won't leave until the provincial and federal governments revoke permits for fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago.
