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VANCOUVER - ForestEthics Advocacy launched an ad campaign today bringing attention to jobs that will be threatened by fracking for coalbed methane in northwest British Columbia.

The group’s ad suggests that the jobs currently supported by thriving salmon populations will be lost if Shell’s plans to drill for gas in the region known as the Sacred Headwaters are permitted to go ahead.

“Is Premier Clark willing to ignore the sustainable local jobs that salmon have provided in the region for generations in favour of fracking for gas in the vast wilderness of the Sacred Headwaters?” asks Karen Tam Wu, ForestEthics Advocacy senior conservation campaigner. “Or will she ban coalbed methane permanently in the Sacred Headwaters, clearly demonstrating the importance of salmon to regional economies and cultures?”

ForestEthics Advocacy’s ad is in response to an ad campaign promoting the government's job search tool. The group’s ad will appear in various outlets, including newspapers, across the province over the next few months.

“We need Premier Clark to understand that coalbed methane is not a job creator for the communities of this region,” says Tam Wu. “The reality is that livelihoods and traditions will be lost if Shell’s plans are allowed to go ahead.”

Shell’s plans would see thousands of gas wells and thousands of kilometres of roads built at the headwaters of the Skeena, Nass, and Stikine Rivers. Due to broad opposition in the region, the BC government imposed a moratorium in 2008. The moratorium is due to expire this year on December 5th.

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Founded in April 2012, ForestEthics Advocacy is a non-profit society devoted to public engagement, outreach and environmental advocacy - including political advocacy. We secure large-scale protection of endangered forests and wild places and transform environmentally destructive resource-extraction industries. For more information, visit www.ForestEthicsAdvocacy.org.