The Honourable Bruce Cohen has a lot to consider when it comes to the decline in Fraser River Sockeye run.
Released publicly Wednesday, the Discussion Paper outlining the issues the Cohen Commission intends to investigate includes the Department of Fisheries and Oceans regulations, harvesting methods, fish biology, water pollution, salmon farming, logging, hydro, urbanization, climate change and more.
"The discussion paper shows just how complicated the topic of wild salmon declines is," said Mary Ellen Walling, Executive Director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association. "There is a huge amount of information out there about individual factors and their potential cumulative effect."
The association has been granted standing at the commission and hopes that by providing factual information in a transparent manner, they can assist the Honourable Cohen in the large task at hand.
The Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River was established in November 2009 and has been in the preliminary establishment stages for the last few months. Beginning next week, the first hearings will be held in Vancouver to establish a priority on the issues outlined in the discussion paper, and see whether there are others that need to be included.
Justice Cohen has been tasked with determining why the decline in Fraser River Sockeye occurred and how the future sustainability of the stock can be secured. In the update released this week, it's explained that investigation will be conducted through formal hearings, public forums and site visits. An interim report is anticipated by Aug. 1, 2010 with evidentiary hearings tentatively scheduled for September.
The paragraph that refers to salmon farming outlines the items they will look into: such as sea lice management, escapes, benthic monitoring and closed containment systems.
"There is significant research that speaks to these questions - since they're all issues that our salmon farmers are actively engaged in managing," said Walling. "We're happy to contribute to this collaborative effort to find the best public policy in moving forward."
To read the full paper, click here.
