River’s value neglected

Fraser’s fishing industry worth more than $300 million a year

The Fraser River Watershed and the Lower Fraser River Watershed’s Ecosystem is threatened under the name of economic development, by deepening the Lower Fraser River to create deep sea docks within it and manmade docks at its mouth. The Fraser River must maintain its flow of water and volume of sediment for its ecosystem to survive.

The Cohen Commission, which investigated the decline of the Fraser River salmon, said it was mainly from the loss and degradation of their habitat within the Fraser River Watershed and Estuary.

The Fraser River fishing industry alone is worth more than $300 million annually and produces more salmon than any river in the world and is the home of the sturgeon, the largest freshwater fish in North America. The Fraser River delta is recognized all over the world for its international significance and ecological importance for migratory birds and fish species and diverse habitats that support a multitude of other fish species.

Maintaining a healthy ecosystem within the Fraser River Watershed is vital, not only for the people who live within it, but for other marine life that live within that ecosystem with its lakes, beaches, wetlands, and coastal banks (Sturgeon & Roberts). A healthy ecosystem has a continuing economic value of at least $30 billion per year.

We must include those economic values before we build anything within that ecosystem that will detract from its continued healthy existence and ecological importance.

DOUGLAS GEORGE MASSEY Delta