Interior Fraser coho salmon abandoned

Cowardly act kills species

By terry glavin

Although it once thrived, the Interior Fraser coho may soon be forced out of the world’s fast-dwindling inventory of living things. Ernest Keeley photo.

This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but with decisions. The decision that this column is about is buried deep within a 6,916-word “regulatory impact analysis statement”, a document with the misleading title “Northern Bottlenose Whale (Scotian shelf) and Channel Darter Protected Under the Species at Risk Act”. It appeared quite suddenly on an obscure federal public-registry Web site, at the very end of the business day in Ottawa, on Friday, April 7.

What was hidden in that document was Ottawa’s decision to withhold the protection of the Species at Risk Act (SARA) from a critically endangered species known as the Interior Fraser coho salmon.

Read the full story in the Georgia Straight.

Money for BC Slaughterhouse transition

MEAT TRANSITION: Assistance program

The Meat Transition Assistance Program (MTAP) will provide $5 million to help B.C.'s new and existing slaughterhouses meet the standards under the Ministry of Health's Meat Inspection Regulation by Sept. 30, 2007, the new date for provincewide enforcement. The program has been introduced to increase livestock slaughter capacity throughout B.C. by ensuring there are sufficient licensed facilities to provide livestock producers reasonable access to slaughter services.

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