Fiona Gilfillan, ASF Committee; Michael Meighen, Chairman, Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF). Photo: Lois Siegel
There was nothing fishy about the Atlantic Salmon Federation’s 17th Annual Ottawa Fall Run Conservation Dinner and auction at the Museum of Civilization — except maybe the platters of Nova Scotia smoked salmon.
Since 1948, the federation, along with 100 affiliated river-conservation groups and more than 30,000 volunteers, have been opening their wallets and raising money and their voices to protect Atlantic salmon and their habitat. Projects include researching the damage done by overcrowded ocean-penned salmon farms — including escapees interbreeding with and spreading sea lice infestations and diseases to wild salmon.
Photo: Lois Siegel
The federation supports a successful alternative — land-based aquaculture. In fact, the Nova Scotia salmon served at the event was raised in such a facility, which produces a taste-tested superior product without risk to wild salmon and other fish.
Other projects include tracking Canadian salmon on their migration to Greenland before returning to spawn in Canadian rivers, especially important with Greenland’s resumption last year of commercial fishing, which involves fishing adult salmon before they return to Canadian waters to spawn.
The dinner and auction, attended by 220 people, was emceed by CBC’s Evan Solomon, (himself a salmon fisher with a special interest in river ecology). The evening began with a report on salmon-preservation projects and finished with a concert from acclaimed Canadian tenor, John McDermott, fiddler Anne Lindsay and guitarist Jason Fowler.
Working with dinner committee chair Dawson Hovey, Diplomat magazine invited some ambassadors to the event. Among the guests were Icelandic Ambassador Thordur Aegir Oskarsson, Irish Ambassador Ray Bassett, former Guatemalan Ambassador Georges de la Roche and Yemeni Ambassador Khaled Mahfoudh Bahah. The event raised $90,000.
Donna Jacobs is Diplomat’s publisher
