Do you think the report will make a difference to the way our government looks after our fisheries?
There are 75 recommendations. Some of the main ones are (1) more care is needed in the placement of salmon farms, especially where farms are close together (2) DFO needs to minimize the scientific uncertainty associated with farms - ie, collect more data and measure the effects of farm-centric diseases on wild sockeye over long periods of time. (3) Mitigation measures should not be delayed in the absence of scientific uncertainty of cause and effect.
This is the "precautionary principle" which was most clearly stated in the report of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit as follows - "Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation".
Mr. Cohen states in his report that penned net farms should be banned (by the year 2020) if we are not certain that they pose at most minimal risk to native sockeye stocks. (4) more funding is needed for DFO for science and enforcement (but he praises front-line DFO staff for doing a good job in challenging circumstances) (5) Mr. Cohen agrees with the critics of changes to the Fisheries Act contained in the recent omnibus bills and states that the effects of reduced habitat protection will only become apparent in the future. (6) the federal government must provide sufficient funding for DFO to do its job.
If you have opinions on this important report I would love to hear from you - Jeff Surtees (email me at jsurtees@tucanada.org)"
Link to Cohen Commission - Final Report
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