“Industry apologist gone amok” by Robert Corlett
As a person who considers himself a friend of Odd Grydeland, I feel compelled to respond to his piece titled “Environmentalism gone amok”.
Industry apologist gone amok
Canada: salmon farming activist in British Columbia sets off a heated response that results in Rob wanting to put his hands on Odd’s throat and giving his head a shake!
Odd and I have spent many years working together in the salmon farming industry. We have welcomed each other into our homes. We supported each other through difficult times.
Odd in all the years that we worked together you exuded class. Your respect and care for the salmon in your cages, for workers, contractors, and the environment were exemplary. You stood beside me when the fish farm company that I worked for attempted to force me to take responsibility for their blood water (97g harvest season). You stood beside me when a farm fish processing plant illegally possessed some of my equipment. You tried to help with the outfall of the Orca vessels that, according to Wayne Easter MP were brought here illegally if my information was correct. You had the same information and knew it was correct.
Odd, you are a better person than indicated by the content of your article. It is difficult to stay away from animadversions when reading it. So I will not.
It seems my friend Odd Gryeland has become the machicolation of the salmon farming industry. In the true fashion of an extremist, Odd has relied heavily on fear mongering, shameful deflection of placement of responsibility and blending of fiction with the odd fact.
Odd, it appears that you are only offended by the small illegal act of someone stepping out in front of a bus. Why haven’t you unleashed similar tirades about the illegal acts that have been committed by fish farmers? When you paid for proper disposal of your mortalities, did it not bother you that other farmers relied on birds, bears, flies, maggots, overflowing totes, slashing of nets to release heavy kills and ocean dumping of mortalities?
When the Province newspaper published a two page article that contained falsehoods as to the real ownership of the Orca vessels, you and the other “movers and shakers” in the industry did nothing to set the record straight.
Odd, you know that Alexander Morton and Don Staniford are not responsible for my strong dislike of the conduct of the salmon farm industry on our coast. I have formulated that dislike based on what I have witnessed by working in the industry. It is my opinion that those with lower standards of ethics and morals have pushed aside people like you in their desire to concentrate the ownership of the salmon farm industry worldwide. I was cast aside with the same level of regard given to a “mort”. Are you writing to save yourself from becoming a discard?
Odd in closing, as you somehow seem to hold Alexander Morton responsible, should I hold you responsible for the fish farmer that tried to feed ‘morts’ to his crew during a bloom? The vaccination program that resulted in ‘sticky guts’ that caused quite a problem for processing plants? The ‘marine anemia’ that caused so much financial harm to some of our mutual friends? The fish farmer that held out for a higher price and could not afford to feed his fish? Cutting a hole in the bottom of the outer predator net so that the seals would become trapped and drown? How about the many times that I have heard people in the industry say things that could imply a threat of physical or even death to enviro’s? How about the racial slurs that were hurled towards my two sons by wastrels working in the industry?
Editor’s Note: Below is the original article by Odd Gryleland as published in the FishfarmingXpert
Environmentalism gone amok
Canada: Anti-salmon farming activists in British Columbia set off a heated debate that result in the suggestion of death threats
Opinion
Odd Grydeland
In true fashion, the extreme American environmentalist and salmon farming fear-monger Alexandra Morton denied what was a fact for everyone to see- on the evening television news. Ms. Morton has for years worked hard to instill a level of fear among anybody that in some fashion or the other are connected to the wild Pacific salmon of North America. And that means pretty well everybody living in this region of the world. She has on numerous occasions accused the salmon farmers in British Columbia of causing the imminent and final demise of wild salmon populations up and down the coast, and in the process set off a groundswell of opposition that is not justified based on sound science, but which is based on fear-mongering and junk science.
The latest evidence of how far Ms. Morton and her cohorts have driven members of the public in their hatred of salmon farming was displayed by a Canadian Television Network (CTV) report last week- one that Ms. Morton refused to believe. She is the obvious hero of the “Salmon are Sacred” web site, and last week the accompanying Facebook contained a series of comments about a high level parliamentary delegation from Norway that was visiting Ottawa, Victoria and Campbell River. One of the interests of this delegation was the participation by First Nations in British Columbia in the aquaculture industry, and this prompted a submission to the “Salmon are Sacred”’s Face book site that “We need a sniper…”. In other words, Norwegian salmon farmers or parliamentarians should be shot.
Alexandra Morton’s response to CTV was a familiar “I don’t believe it- just someone trying to make trouble”. And making trouble is definitely her expertise. Her statement that “We have never had a violent protest”, and that “we have a history of respectful and peaceful demonstrations” rings hollow when you look at the large, desecrated Norwegian flag that she and her small group of First Nation supporters display at gatherings all over the place. Statements like “We have ISAv and we don’t want that” should be beyond the acceptance of someone who calls herself a “biologist” or even a “scientist”.
Other environmentalists that are enticing violence against the honest people working in the salmon farming industry are England’s Don Staniford and the Norwegian leader of the “Green Warriors” Kurt Oddekalv. In a recent statement following his deportation from Canada, Staniford said that “I’ve gone straight to work for the Green Warriors of Norway and straight to the belly of the beast here in Norway. Norway controls much of the global industry and I’m going to slay the dragon in its own lair.”
Recent news coverage by CTV suggested that “The new job is significant because Kurt Oddekalv, leader of the Green Warriors of Norway, has described himself as the most “hard hitting environmental warrior” in his country. Oddekalv, who has led the Green Warriors of Norway since 1993, said he and Staniford should complement each other because of their experience. “I think joining us together will really make an international force,” he added, noting his organization has 22 employees and has a budget of millions of dollars. Both are also planning another action for Vancouver in 2013, when Staniford will be allowed to return to Canada. “I’m going to continue this fight,” he said. “The Green Warriors of Norway are going to take the battle, take the fight directly to the Norwegian-owned industry here in Norway, and we’re also going to take the fight to the market place where Norwegian owned companies are selling their farmed salmon”.
Despite the illegal blockage of their bus by Alexandra Morton and her fellow protesters, the Norwegian delegation that came to Campbell River enjoyed their meeting with Chiefs, elders and other representatives from eight First Nations- seven of which work with the Norwegian salmon farming companies Marine Harvest, Mainstream and Grieg Seafood for mutual benefits.
JLS ……For What It’s Worth
