Fredericton and the Canadian media

Day two on the genetically engineered salmon tour, and things are coming along well. We drove four hours this morning from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, to Fredericton, New Brunswick. Most of the day was spent in the car, but we also had a number of interviews with local press and got to meet our hosts from the Conservation Council of New Brunswick and the Fundy Bay Keepers, two of our allies in Canada.

The press coverage around our tour has been greater than I ever would have predicted: We had a front page, above-the-fold story in The Guardian (Prince Edward Island’s largest newspaper), as well as other news stories, and have been featured on some major TV news programs.

Seems the Canadian media is just as concerned with getting more information about genetically engineered salmon as we are. So it’s no surprise to me that AquaBounty is trying to fight back, preserve their image and get people on their side. At the bottom of this article, the company had the paper make this correction to the first version of the story:

“AquaBounty has never announced plans to rear genetically-modified salmon in the U.S., and the Bay Fortune operation is not the only place in the world producing genetically-modified salmon, as this story previously stated.”

Hmm…If that’s the case, then why did The Guardian in the UK report last week that the head of AquaBounty said the company had “prospective fish farmers lined up” in South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Ohio, just waiting to produce genetically engineered salmon?  Loud and clear, AquaBounty CEO Ron Stotish told The Guardian, “We have people in the United States who are interested in growing these fish right now.”

Fishy business indeed!

Until tomorrow,
Eric

P.S. I’ve been recording testimonials of activists throughout our travels so we can help spread their concern about genetically engineered salmon. Check out a few below:

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