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Vivian Krause explainer

Vivian Krause, a resident of North Vancouver, British Columbia, is a controversial Canadian blogger who has worked in public relations for the salmon farming industry. She currently describes herself as an “Independent Public Relations and Communications Professional.”  Krause runs a blog called “Fair Questions” primarily focused on defending Alberta’s tar sands oil industry from criticism, and continuing to defend the farmed salmon industry. 

Although Krause states that she has not received funds from the farmed salmon industry since July 2007, she has stayed in close contact with industry and trade association leaders. Her current employment status is unknown.

In December 2010, when asked by a radio interviewer how she has financed her work, she stated: "It has been extremely difficult, frankly. I lived on a shoestring until I couldn't do it anymore, I borrowed money from my family, even friends. Finally, I sold my house… I had been living from my savings. I wish this had fallen in someone else's lap, but I couldn't look away."  Recently (March 2011), a right-leaning Vancouver political blog referred to Krause as “a North Vancouver single mom” and claimed that “Vivian Krause has self-financed through mortgaging (later selling) her home, and accepting loans and good will from family members…”

In her December 7, 2010 testimony in front of the Canadian Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources, Krause stated, “I am not funded by anyone, I am not part of any industry or any political party.” 

In September 2011, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) paid Krause $5,000, plus travel expenses, to address its members during a luncheon talk. "I work from home on my own nickel," she stated in a subsequent tweet. "I'm not funded by anyone. $5,000 from CAPP is the first honorarium I've had."

In a November 24, 2006 presentation in front of the Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture of the B.C. Government, Krause claimed “no connection whatsoever” to the salmon industry, but stated that, “I was employed in the industry three years ago.”

Shortly after her presentation to the Special Committee, Krause said that she began to investigate the role of American foundations, in funding Canadian environmental and charitable organizations critical of the fish farming industry, all at her own expense.

On June 27, 2007, Krause published an article called “The Demarketing of Farmed Salmon by 35 Environmental Organizations in the United States and Canada” on salmonfacts.org, a website operated by the industry association Salmon of the Americas, which Krause later acknowledged paid her a $7500 consultant’s fee for work up until the end of July 2007. 

In its Winter 2007 newsletter, Salmon of the Americas highlighted an article that Krause wrote in another publication as “a concerned citizen and consumer” defending farmed salmon, without revealing that the industry group had recently retained her as a consultant.

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