Our local wild salmon species and thousands of jobs are at risk -- a fish farming giant is trying to transfer diseased farmed salmon into their environment, even after a federal court ruled against them.

There was a major victory last year -- a federal judge ruled that a massive foreign fish farming corporation couldn’t transfer diseased Atlantic salmon to open-net fish farms where they could infect local species.

But Marine Harvest, a Norwegian-based global fish farming giant worth $3.6 billion, launched an appeal in 2015 with Stephen Harper’s old Conservative government. And the new Liberal government isn’t dropping the case -- even though the disease is endemic to BC.

To make matters worse, fish farming corporations have received over $400 million of public subsidies. Meanwhile, their recklessness and negligence put the thousands of jobs in the wild salmon industry at risk -- not to mention the traditional way of life of First Nations communities.

We need to act now to keep diseased salmon out of our oceans.

Tell Marine Harvest to save our wild salmon.

Marine Harvest is no friend to Canada. Last year its sponsorship of a Vancouver Island soccer team forced a teenage girl who opposed fish farms off her team -- even though she moved from a remote community just to play elite soccer.

If the court appeal succeeds, it could be left up to fish farming corporations to decide if fish that may be carrying disease should be transferred to open-net pens. These pens are frequently located right next to wild salmon migration routes, putting entire populations at risk.

When a proposed mine threatened to destroy the largest sockeye salmon run in the world, 160,000 SumOfUs members spoke out to ask its biggest investor, mining giant Rio Tinto, to save Sockeye salmon. And it worked -- the company pulled its investment of the mine just days before we planned to deliver the petition signatures to its headquarters.

I know SumOfUs is pulling out all the stops to halt the merger between Monsanto and Bayer, which would spell disaster for our food supply and farmers all over the world -- we need to fight to curb corporate power both on our coasts and on the global stage.

SumOfUs’ history of protecting our food supply from corporations is why I reached out to their campaigners to help send a message about our wild salmon.

For nearly forty years, I have dedicated my life to restoring the balance between the people and the wild salmon off the coast of British Columbia, and I urge you to join me in my fight to stop the salmon farm industry from taking over our coastlines.

Let’s protect our wild salmon. Tell Marine Harvest we don’t want its sick fish in our seas.

This petition was started by Scientist and Environmental Activist, Alexandra Morton. www.alexandramorton.ca

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