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Port Alberni, B.C. - Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations have announced they will do everything possible to prevent more open-net pen fish farms from polluting their territories.

"As the owners of these lands, waters and foreshore areas, we will not stand by and watch our resources be destroyed for the benefit of foreign companies," said NTC Northern Region Co-chair Archie Little. "We are not against economic development, but we will not accept the old mentality of 'jobs at any cost' either," he said.

The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council has repeatedly stated their opposition to open-net pen salmon farms which pollute area shellfish beds, infect wild salmon with foreign diseases, and completely destroy large areas of seabed underneath the fish farm sites.

Dozens of applications are awaiting the lifting of the salmon net cage moratorium to move into Kyuquot, Nootka, Clayoquot and Barkley Sounds.

"There's been no consultation with Nuu-chah-nulth on lifting the moratorium," said Richard Watts, NTC Southern Region Co-chair. "Nuu-chah-nulth have been clear about our position on salmon farms. We made 50 recommendations to the Salmon Aquaculture Review in 1997. None of Nuu-chah-nulth recommendations or provincial government's own 49 recommendations have been acted on to protect wild salmon and the sea habitat."

Representatives from the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) are calling on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada to uphold the Fisheries Act in preventing the expansion of open net-pen fish farming in British Columbia.

"The west coast of Vancouver Island is a perfect example of why the lifting of a fish farm moratorium is a bad idea," said Central Region Co-Chair Nelson Keitlah. "We've had massive fish die-offs and escapes here, and have found foreign fish species in wild salmon spawning areas. These fish farms in our territories have polluted our shellfish areas, and have thrown the entire ecosystem for a loop," he said. Fisheries and Oceans Canada is responsible for ensuring that aquaculture projects comply with the Fisheries Act, Environmental Assessment Act and Navigable Waters Protection Act, yet little work has been done to determine whether west coast fish farms are complying with these laws.

"B.C.'s own salmon aquaculture specialists reported that 12 of the 34 salmon farms in Nuu-chah-nulth territory have negatively impacted the environment," said NTC Fisheries Program manager Dr. Don Hall. "With B.C. gutting it's Environmental Protection Ministry, DFO needs to step up and do the job it is supposed to be doing anyway - protecting wild fish, shellfish, and habitat."

With more than 30 fish farms located within Nuu-chah-nulth territories, Nuu-chah-nulth Nations agreed to work together to prevent new open-net pen fish farms from entering their territories. The 14 Nations of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council cover the west coast of Vancouver Island from Brooks Peninsula south to Port Renfrew with a population of more than 8000 people.