A Copy of a Letter Sent to the West Coast Farmer:
Randy Hawes is "Right On" when he says that it's time to ban blueberry cannons
in the Fraser Valley. No one should be allowed to blast a neighbour with
extremely
loud noise all day long for three months every summer. What ever happened to
common sense and respect for ones neighbours?
Also, cannons aren't all that effective anyway. Transport Canada who are
concerned
about bird strikes at airports have studied cannons and give them a poor
rating. They
say that birds acclimatize themselves to the noise in just a few days.
In your newspaper article, you asked if there are better solutions. There
are many.
Nets are 100% effective, and newer versions of nets have smaller openings
that stop birds
from getting tangled in them. Also there is a long list of silent
alternatives such as flashers, streamers,
overhead devices, simulated hawks, lasers, live falcon services, etc. etc.
Blueberry growers could use
a combination of silent alternatives to scare birds rather than just
blasting away with cannons.
Randy Hawes is totally correct on this one, and I hope that other Fraser
Valley MLA's stand up for their
constituents and support Randy's initiative to phase out blueberry cannons.
Sincerely,
M. D.
Rural Abbotsford
