Local Community Outreach

The Coastal Alliance For Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) has people working on local issues in coastal communities along the BC coast. Currently there are local coordinators in Comox Valley, Sointula, Alert Bay, Tofino, Bella Bella and Prince Rupert. In 2001, a moratorium on the expansion of open net-cage salmon farming was lifted. The lifting of this ban left the industry with the expectation they would grow at a rate of ten new farms per year, doubling the existing farms within a decade. Due to the local opposition in the proposed areas, the fish-farming industry has yet to even have ten sites approved in the last six years.

One of the roles of these coordinators is to work on the ground to bring together First Nations, fishermen, tourism operators and concerned citizens opposed to open net-cage salmon farming, and relate their concerns to all levels of government, consumers, the general public and the salmon farming industry itself. Through media, letter campaigns, and meetings, your concerns about open net-cage salmon farming are being heard. In restaurants, grocery stores, on the streets and on docks in coastal communities all along our coast people are discussing the impacts from this unsustainable industry.

Local coordinators in these areas work on salmon farming issues connected to their region. They are working hard to bring the right people together to work towards a more sustainable industry.