Feds announce salmon inquiry
Fin Donnelly and Peter Julian held a press conference last week calling for a federal government inquiry into the declining sockeye salmon returns.
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Updated: November 05, 2009 4:58 PM
The Conservative government will announce the conditions of a judicial inquiry looking into why the sockeye salmon stocks off B.C.'s coast are declining at an alarming rate.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the inquiry in the House of Commons today (Thursday).
The conditions of the inquiry will be announced tomorrow by Trade Minister Stockwell Day.
“As the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has said on numerous occasions, we are very concerned about the low and falling returns of sockeye salmon in British Columbia,” said Harper in the House of Commons.
Only 1.37 million sockeye returned to the Fraser River this year, far below the projected return of 10.6 million.
Burnaby-New Westminster MP Peter Julian welcomed the announcement but was unsure if the inquiry would satisfy his concerns.
Last month Julian and New Westminster-Coquitlam NDP candidate Fin Donnelly called for an independent judicial inquiry into the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run to ensure that west coast salmon don’t go the way of Atlantic cod.
"We believe this comes as a result of public and NDP pressure, working together. We've definitely forced the government to acknowledge the concerns around the collapse of the sockeye salmon fishery," said Julian.
"We've said very clearly their needs to be binding recommendations and it has to be a fixed term inquiry," he said. "And resources need to be allocated immediately."
mmcquillan@newwestnewsleader.com
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