Get Out Migration sparks anger, support

Dan MacLennan
April 30, 2010
Courier Islander

A salmon farm protester lobbed Atlantic salmon onto the Marine Harvest balcony Wednesday when the Get Out Migration came to town. The fish were said to be escapees from Marine Harvest?s Port Elizabeth farm. The farm suffered the embarrassing and controversial loss of more than 40,000 fish last October.

Alexandra Morton's Get Out Migration continued to spark growing support, criticism and publicity as it passed through the Campbell River region Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday saw a small flotilla of protest boats visiting fish farms in Okisollo Channel, just north of Quadra Island, although the promised eviction notices did not materialize. There was a swim around a fish farm and a celebration/rally on Quadra. On Wednesday about 300 people gathered at Campbell River's Spirit Square to hear Morton and others speak. Atlantic salmon, escaped from Marine Harvest's Port Elizabeth farm last October, were piled in front of the company's door and lobbed onto a second floor balcony in the Discovery Harbour Shopping Centre.

"Atlantic Salmon do not belong in the Pacific," Morton said. "We're just returning them to the Norwegian company Marine Harvest. We don't think they made every effort to recapture them. It's been impossible to communicate with these companies by letter, by science. They require a physical demonstration like this."

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Posted April 30th, 2010