March 17, 2003

 To: The Editor, North Islander

 Re: “Same Hack, different pile” in your March 15/03 edition  

Could the “glut” of letters Van Egan complains about have a common theme? Maybe common people [far below his literary standards] feel forced to defend their families, doing something they never imagined, writing letters to newspapers.

Do all defenders of salmon growing say, “there is not good solid science”? What compels me to write is the “P.R. bullshit” [his words] called science and spouted by the public relations groups masquerading as environmentalists. This “science” is then churned into a hysterical froth by a media who operate on the principal that “good news stories don’t sell".

All of this spawns many very lucrative careers. For a small sampling see: Enviro Job Listings on the net. 

Currently there’s a job posting by a west coast group, for a “Director of Development”. The posting boasts, “their operating budget for 2003 is just over $3 million, with a goal to move to $5-8 million annually.” They also plan to develop “a $20 million investment fund and a $15 million capital campaign over the next five years”. Another one of the main foundations opposing salmon growers already has a staff of 28 people, mostly communications specialists. This foundation has a Job posting for a “Research and Policy Analyst”; salary offered “$44,030 to $49,210 per annum” with “a four day workweek, as well as an extensive benefits package”. They also seek a “Communications Specialist, Forest and Lands Program”, “$3,669 to $4,101 per month”… same four day workweek and benefits. Responsibilities: “Pitch stories, op-eds, broadcast interviews and other forms of coverage to the media”.

Watch out Logging Families, another fun career is about to begin, funded by tax-deductible donations!

Remember the BCSF has a staff of two and I must agree with Van Egan when he says, “After all, there’s big money in P.R, bullshit”.

Yours truly,

March 24 2003 

To: The Editor of The North Islander 

The War in Iraq highlights something pioneered by J.Goebells, controlling the minds of the public by manipulating the media. Most soldiers are puppets unaware of the big picture, or those pulling the strings back home in the USA. The American puppeteers do however put operatives into the field to further their interests on a "need to know basis".

Who's pulling the strings in Iraq? You'd really have to have your head buried deep in the oil sands not to see American Billionaires.

Could different American billionaires use covert media control to achieve their agendas and promote American interests within Canada and beyond? Shouldn't the money trail across the border, to activist groups operating in Canada, be examined more closely? The activists have an army of "communications specialists" that would make Goebells proud.

This brings me to your March 22/03 issue. Of the activists with opinions printed in this issue, how many are simple foot soldiers, duped by American puppeteers and zealously parroting their agendas? Conversely, how many could be operatives? And, if operatives, how much do they "need to know"?

The "War in The Woods" and the boycott of Canadian salmon, both farmed and wild, while promoting American products [Seafood Guides by Living Oceans and Sea web, as well as the current soft wood lumber dispute] should make us wonder, who really is making Canadian policy? Are we going to continue to be the third world country the activists and their American puppeteers desire, or are we going to pull together, and grow as an independent nation?

Marg Hughes 

April 2 2003

 To: The Editor of The North Islander.

Re: "DFO lies said to be root of a bigger problem", Neil Frazer, your Mar.29/03 issue.

 I'll try to respond to this half page rant, with a letter of the size we are allowed.

Mr. Frazer says, "Ironically while DFO was throwing money at ONSA [open net cage salmon aquaculture], wild pacific salmon have apparently been increasing". What money? It is a fact however, that during the thirty years that salmon have been grown in B.C., wild salmon have done well.

 Mr. Frazer calls our fisheries scientists liars, strong words indeed! Apparently this is not the first time he has called our fisheries scientists into question. In the spring of 1999 Mr. Frazer wrote a letter to, then Fisheries Minister David Anderson. Here he rails against DFO scientists for setting the roe herring harvest rate in the Gulf of Georgia at a very conservative 20%. In his letter Mr. Frazer said, "First of all, 20% is not "very conservative", it is not even conservative. It is I would say, a horrendous gamble". He then goes on to say "No responsible fisheries scientist [whose cheque you do not sign] will tell you different". No fisheries scientist needs tell us anything, history speaks for itself, the Gulf of Georgia herring stocks are strong, and wild salmon are doing well.

 What's all the fuss about then?

 The footnote to Mr. Frazer's Mar. 29/03 letter very pointedly says, "He is not financially supported by any environmental organization".  Who does support him financially?  Americans; Americans that don't like poor Canadian peasants, struggling to feed their families in logging & Aquaculture. It might bother them during their midsummer visit!

 Unlike most things, American money doesn't dominate the salmon farming industry; Europeans dominate it. Americans don't like this; so they spend millions on an army of communications specialists. These specialists blacklist and boycott Canadian farmed and wild salmon. Canadian lumber tariffs are yet another form of favoritism, and the evening news shows us what happens when someone gets in the way of U.S. oil money.

 Could the 2.5 million dollars funneled into UBC by Americans since Dec./02, have something to do with this? We'll have to see what UBC has to say in the coming months. Remember, Europeans control salmon farming wealth, not Americans.

Mr. Frazer should stick to his study of earthquakes and leave fisheries management to Canadian professionals. He should also be a lot more discerning about whom he calls liars. This could be a case of the pot calling the kettle black?

Sincerely,