Will you stand with Chief Tsu-tsii-in for salmon?
The Issue
Stand with Hereditary Chief Tsu-tsii-in Alton Watts to protect wild salmon by evicting farm salmon
On September 23, 2026, Ḥupačasatḥ Ḥawił (Hereditary Chief) Tsu-tsii-in Alton Watts ordered international salmon farming corporation Cermaq to remove its hatchery from Ḥupačasatḥ territory by the end of the year. The Boot Lagoon Hatchery in Port Alberni rears Atlantic salmon smolts for stocking open-net pen farms on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
With this bold move, Hereditary Chief Tsu-tsii-in is standing up to Norwegian-based Cermaq and its owner, Mitsubishi to restore wild salmon runs.
We, the undersigned, stand in support of Ḥupačasatḥ Ḥawił Tsu-tsii-in Alton Watts and his effort to protect wild salmon in BC.
Background
The evidence that fish farms harm wild salmon led the Canadian government to announce a ban on open-net pen salmon farms in B.C., starting July 1, 2029. However, after intense lobbying by the salmon farming industry, the federal government will not answer whether they plan to honour their promise or not.
The seven east Vancouver Island First Nations* that have already removed salmon farms from their territories are seeing large increases in wild salmon returns. In 2019, ‘Namgis First Nation went to court and struck down the DFO policy to allow farmed Atlantic salmon to be transferred from hatcheries into ocean pens without testing for the Atlantic piscine orthoreovirus (PRV). Despite this, DFO continues to refuse to screen farm salmon smolts for this virus and it is spreading through the Pacific.
DFO's own risk assessment reports the west coast of Vancouver Island is a hot spot for pathogens found in high abundance in salmon farms.
"WCVI sounds show an overabundance of pathogens in natural-origin Chinook salmon compared to other regions of the coast. While fish farms are not the only source of pathogens, the farms are under human control, and their impacts can therefore be mitigated if required."
* Mamalilikulla, Namgis, Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis, Kwiakah, Gwawaenuk, shíshálh, Nuchatlaht
777
The Issue
Stand with Hereditary Chief Tsu-tsii-in Alton Watts to protect wild salmon by evicting farm salmon
On September 23, 2026, Ḥupačasatḥ Ḥawił (Hereditary Chief) Tsu-tsii-in Alton Watts ordered international salmon farming corporation Cermaq to remove its hatchery from Ḥupačasatḥ territory by the end of the year. The Boot Lagoon Hatchery in Port Alberni rears Atlantic salmon smolts for stocking open-net pen farms on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
With this bold move, Hereditary Chief Tsu-tsii-in is standing up to Norwegian-based Cermaq and its owner, Mitsubishi to restore wild salmon runs.
We, the undersigned, stand in support of Ḥupačasatḥ Ḥawił Tsu-tsii-in Alton Watts and his effort to protect wild salmon in BC.
Background
The evidence that fish farms harm wild salmon led the Canadian government to announce a ban on open-net pen salmon farms in B.C., starting July 1, 2029. However, after intense lobbying by the salmon farming industry, the federal government will not answer whether they plan to honour their promise or not.
The seven east Vancouver Island First Nations* that have already removed salmon farms from their territories are seeing large increases in wild salmon returns. In 2019, ‘Namgis First Nation went to court and struck down the DFO policy to allow farmed Atlantic salmon to be transferred from hatcheries into ocean pens without testing for the Atlantic piscine orthoreovirus (PRV). Despite this, DFO continues to refuse to screen farm salmon smolts for this virus and it is spreading through the Pacific.
DFO's own risk assessment reports the west coast of Vancouver Island is a hot spot for pathogens found in high abundance in salmon farms.
"WCVI sounds show an overabundance of pathogens in natural-origin Chinook salmon compared to other regions of the coast. While fish farms are not the only source of pathogens, the farms are under human control, and their impacts can therefore be mitigated if required."
* Mamalilikulla, Namgis, Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis, Kwiakah, Gwawaenuk, shíshálh, Nuchatlaht
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Petition created on September 28, 2026