The Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform issued the media release Draft global salmon farming standards out for comment announcing a 60-day public comment period for the first draft of global standards intended to measure and identify environmentally and socially responsible salmon farming.  See the media release for more information on how you can get involved and provide comment on the draft standards.

Now that the Federal Government has announced a sixty-day public input period for Pacific Aquaculture Regulations, Alexandra Morton is calling on the public to make their voices heard and ensure that regulations are sufficient to protect wild salmon and the habitat they arrive on.

For more information, to send a letter or add your name to a petition see Alexandra Morton's Blog.

The deadline for comments on the aquaculture regulations is September 12, 2010.

The Stewardship Centre for BC is developing a database of stewardship groups and organizations that are working on marine coastal transboundary issues in the Georgia Basin. Using this list, they hope to distribute some funding that is earmarked for transboundary marine issues. 

For more information and the full questionnaire see the SCBC letter or contact Kate Hagmeier at scbcprojects@gmail.com.  Questionnaires are due by the end of June 2010.

The following email was received from John Slater, MLA Boundary-Similkameen Parliamentary Secretary for Water Supply and Allocation:

The Water Act Modernization Discussion Paper is now available for your review and comment.

The Discussion Paper outlines opportunities for using, sustaining and managing water resources in a changing environment and has been developed to encourage discussion on ways to modernize the Water Act.  The Discussion Paper proposes principles to underpin a modernized Water Act and presents goals, supporting objectives and possible solutions.

The paper does not present any preferred option or position. It is designed to help you prepare a response or submission and includes links and references to other information sources.

The way we manage water is everyone’s business and we invite you to share your views on the ideas and possible solutions presented in the Discussion Paper.  Submissions may be completed online, emailed to livingwatersmart@gov.bc.ca or sent to:

Water Act Modernization
Water Stewardship Division
Ministry of Environment
PO Box 9362 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC, V8W 9M2

The closing date for submissions is April 30, 2010.

Over the coming months we encourage you to review our website, join the discussion about possible solutions on our blog or participate in one of our regional multi-stakeholder workshops or First Nations sessions.

Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Ecojustice and the Polis Project on Ecological Governance held a meeting on Dec. 2nd on reform of BC's Water Act. At that meeting we discussed priorities for better protection of water in BC, and reviewed a draft Statement of Expectations from BC NGOs on Reform of the BC Water Act. After the meeting, we received comments, and amended the document to reflect these comments and also what we heard at the meeting. It is now shorter and more forceful. 

See the final version of Statement of Expectations and consider signing on to this Statement, and endorsing these recommendations to reform BC's Water Act. 

We plan to send this document to the Minister of the Environment and other key people at the Ministry of the Environment at the end of next week, Dec. 18th. We hope this document will influence the government's agenda for BC Water Act reform, which is planned to proceed this winter and spring. 

Contact Linda Nowlan by December 17, 2009 if your group wants to be added as a signatory. We believe that the more groups that sign on, the better. There is strength in having the environmental community deliver a common message on this initiative.