To potential sponsors
March 24, 2013
Subject: Spirit of Wild Salmon Gala Fundraising Dinner Let your company, agency or business shine as leaders in your community by contributing towards protecting Fraser River sockeye salmon. As part of a greater effort, Salmon Are Sacred and the National Salmon Feedlot Boycott are opening a window of opportunity for you to be one of the sponsors of the Spirit of Wild Salmon Gala Fundraising Dinner. As a sponsor, you will make a significant contribution, at a level you can afford, towards restoring the conditions for wild salmon stocks to rebound and flourish as they once did. Wild salmon, recently recognized as the official provincial fish emblem, reflects British Columbians’ support for this irreplaceable resource. B.C. wild salmon is an essential and integral part of our collective identity, culture and physical well-being, and provides a powerful economic base that employs many people. First Nations people, in particular, are connected to the spirit of wild salmon and consider wild salmon a relative. The eco-tourism industry proudly displays wild salmon feeding and nurturing the orcas, bears, eagles, wolves – in short, the biodiversity of Supernatural B.C. Wild salmon are under stress, much of which is due to human activity. Dwindling returns since the introduction of the Norwegian aquaculture industry in the early 1990s are particularly disturbing. Growing farmed Atlantic salmon in open net cages threatens to bring wild salmon to extinction with transference of deadly diseases from European viruses and harmful parasites like sea lice. This can be remedied by removing the pens from the migration routes of wild salmon in coastal waters. The Norwegian aquaculture industry has immense financial resources and enjoys the support of the federal and provincial governments to continue with open net farming, despite the fact that this practice has brought harm to the marine environment and wild fish wherever it is established around the world. There is an imbalance of power and influence that sorely needs to shift in favor of wild salmon. For more information, please go to www.salmonconfidential.ca/ and www.salmonaresacred.org/. The Gala Fundraising Dinner will be held on Saturday, June 1, 2013 in Chilliwack. This event will capture for you the Spirit of Wild Salmon with inspirational speakers, an impressive array of art to be auctioned, live entertainment and a wild salmon feast. For further details about the Gala Fundraising Dinner, please see the website: http://wildsalmonforever.org. Artwork donations would be most welcome! Please let us know if you will be a proud sponsor of this event by April 12, 2013 so we can include your logo on our promotional materials. Please accept our deepest gratitude for your kind consideration to contribute in a meaningful way to this collaborative effort to leave a legacy of many healthy returns of wild salmon for future generations to enjoy. Eddie Gardner Coordinator, Chilliwack Chapter, www.salmonfeedlotboycott.org/ Singingbear@shaw.ca; Tel: 604-792-0867