Legacy -October 2013

Issue 24

October 2013

Legacy © Wild Game Fish Conservation International

The Journal of Wild Game Fish Conservation Published by volunteers at:

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Eddie Gardner and the Wild Salmon Warriors – Farmed Atlantic Salmon Boycott – read details about this and other breaking news inside

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Legacy Wild Game Fish Conservation International Wild Game Fish Conservation International (WGFCI): Established to advocate for wild game fish, their fragile ecosystems and the cultures and economies that rely on their robust populations.

LEGACY – The Journal of Wild Game Fish Conservation: Complimentary, no-nonsense, monthly publication by conservationists for conservationists LEGACY, the WGFCI Facebook page and the WGFCI website are utilized to better equip fellow conservationists, elected officials, business owners and others regarding wild game fish, their contributions to society and the varied and complex issues impacting them and those who rely on their sustainability.

LEGACY features wild game fish conservation projects, fishing adventures, accommodations, equipment and more. Your photos and articles featuring wild game fish from around planet earth are welcome for possible inclusion in an upcoming issue of LEGACY. E-mail them with captions and credits to Jim (wilcoxj@katewwdb.com).

Successful wild game fish conservation efforts around planet earth will ensure existence of these precious natural resources and their ecosystems for future generations to enjoy and appreciate. This is our LEGACY.

Wild Game Fish Conservation International Founders

Bruce Treichler

Jim Wilcox

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Contents WGFCI Outreach via Legacy and Facebook _________________________________________________________ 8 From the editors __________________________________________________________________________________ 9 Seafood consumption: Public health risks and benefits _____________________________________________ 12    

Warning: Eating Farmed Salmon May Affect Your Baby _________________________________________________ Begich continues Alaska seafood fight ________________________________________________________________ Listeria in Smoked Salmon: Examining the Risk ________________________________________________________ Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse Oak Smoked Salmon recalled __________________________________________

12 13 15 16

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Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse recalls further batches of its Oak Smoked Salmon ______________________ Avoid Atlantic salmon ________________________________________________________________________________ Food for thought _____________________________________________________________________________________ Enjoy seasonal wild Pacific salmon dinners at these fine restaurants:____________________________________ PROUD TO SUPPORT WILD SALMON – Original art by Leanne Hodges __________________________________ Wild Salmon Supporters – View entire list here _________________________________________________________ Fish Oil by Eating a Fish vs. Fish Oil supplements/pills in a Jar __________________________________________ What do they know about BC farmed salmon that has caused all these markets to avoid it? _______________ Can’t Bear Farmed Salmon – Watch video HERE _______________________________________________________ Formaldehyde Detected in Supermarket Fish Imported from Asia ________________________________________ SeaChoice.Org - Sustainable Seafood Policy: Avoid Atlantic Salmon_____________________________________ Canada Safeway: Sustainability Seafood Policy ________________________________________________________ SeaChoice for healthy oceans _________________________________________________________________________ Smarter consumer choices may save our salmon _______________________________________________________ Safeway: What’s New in Seafood Sustainability ________________________________________________________ WGFCI visits Safeway Seafood Counter in Tumwater, Washington _______________________________________ Working together for sustainable seafood solutions ____________________________________________________ MSC hails South African initiative _____________________________________________________________________

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MSC standards ______________________________________________________________________________________ Tell your grocer: Boycott GMO salmon ________________________________________________________________ Campaigner warns of 'monster salmon' risk ____________________________________________________________ Top 10 most unhealthy, cancer-causing foods – never eat these again! __________________________________

45 46 48 49

We’re asking the questions for wild game fish conservation_________________________________________ 51  Maia Bellon, Director, Washington State Department of Ecology _________________________________________ 51  IKEA ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 51  Elizabeth Young: Communications Manager, BC Salmon Farmers Association ___________________________ 52  World Wildlife Fund __________________________________________________________________________________ 52  Canada Safeway _____________________________________________________________________________________ 53  Denny Heck, US Congressman, Washington state ______________________________________________________ 53  Safeway _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 53  Monterey Bay Aquarium: Seafood Watch program ______________________________________________________ 54  Denny Heck, US Congressman, Washington state ______________________________________________________ 54  Denny Heck, US Congressman, Washington state ______________________________________________________ 55

Responses to WGFCI: ____________________________________________________________________________ 56  Rebecca Reid, Regional Director, Fisheries Management Branch, Pacific Region, DFO ____________________ 56

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!  Safeway Canada, Customer Service Team _____________________________________________________________ 58  IKEA, Central Customer Service Department ___________________________________________________________ 58  Safeway (USA), Safeway Customer Service Team _______________________________________________________ 58  US Congressman Denny Heck, Washington state 10th Congressional District _____________________________ 59

Community Activism, Education and Outreach: __________________________________________________________ 60  Leave this world better than when you found it _________________________________________________________ 60  It’s Everybody’s Thing! _______________________________________________________________________________ 62  Salmon Alert - Farmed Atlantic Salmon: DON’T BUY IT! Facebook Group _________________________________ 63  Fish farming killing off native species; boycott farmed salmon before it's too late _________________________ 64  Celebration Rally at Safeway: Salmon Ethics and Safeway’s Sustainable Seafood Policy __________________ 66  Farmed salmon protesters claim victory _______________________________________________________________ 69  Sign Petition: Restore wild salmon, Ban salmon feedlots in BC __________________________________________ 70  B.C. scientists rally against government restrictions, narrow funding ____________________________________ 71  ALEXANDRA MORTON, Stand Up For Science, Vancouver, September 16, 2013 __________________________ 73    

Don Staniford: Galway Bay Is Not for Salmon Farms ____________________________________________________ 'Organic’ farmed salmon misleads conscientious consumers ___________________________________________ Not So Wild About Salmon ____________________________________________________________________________ 40 Million Salmon Can’t Be Wrong _____________________________________________________________________

74 75 77 78

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Europe's Anglers Call for Salmon Farming to be Contained _____________________________________________ Choose Your Seafood Wisely - Keep Wild Atlantic Salmon Leaping ______________________________________ Salmon Confidential featured during Vancouver International Film Festival _______________________________ Salmon Disease Symptom Reporting – Poster now available HERE ______________________________________ Chief Dolores O'Donaghey, Boston Bar First Nations – Salmon Fishways Centennial Celebration __________ Wild Salmon Warrior Radio with Jay Peachy – Tuesday Mornings________________________________________ Wild Salmon Warriors All Star Basketball Team ________________________________________________________ INTRODUCING THE WILD SALMON WARRIORS ________________________________________________________ Wild Salmon Warriors Community Basketball Team ____________________________________________________ Wild Salmon Warrior News ____________________________________________________________________________ Longview coal hearing draws foes, backers ____________________________________________________________

79 80 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 90 91

 Robert Redford Calls Alberta Oil 'The Dirtiest Oil On The Planet' In New Anti-Keystone XL Video (VIDEO) _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 94  Idle No More National Day of Action - Are you attending? __________________________________________________ 96  Call to action (Canada): Report all Poachers and Polluters ______________________________________________ 97  Who you gonna call? - Fish Busters ___________________________________________________________________ 98

Impacts of open pen salmon feedlots ______________________________________________________________ 99  Norway's awful gift to BC      

Watch Video HERE _______________________________________________________ 99

Growth in salmon farms not sustainable ______________________________________________________________ UBC Indian Chiefs vice-president urges protection of wild salmon ______________________________________ Fish Farms - Zero Tolerance: Indian Salmon Don't Do Drugs ___________________________________________ Scientists claim sea lice in farms kill one third of wild salmon __________________________________________ Sea Lice ‘Out of Control’ in Many Scottish Regions ____________________________________________________ Irish take lice war to Europe__________________________________________________________________________

103 104 105 106 108 110

 Some of the intentional pollution left behind at the site of an abandoned, Vancouver Island open pen salmon feedlot ______________________________________________________________________________________ 111

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Climate Change _________________________________________________________________________________ 112  Flooding due to rising seas could cost $1 trillion by 2050, with Vancouver's risk high, study says _________ 112  Rising ocean acidity will exacerbate global warming ___________________________________________________ 114

Energy production and wild game fish: Oil, Coal, Hydropower, Wind, Natural Gas ___________________ 116 Oil – Drilled, Tar Sands _________________________________________________________________________________ 117  B.C. officials worry oil spill would 'overwhelm' resources ______________________________________________ 117  Oyster growers see crude oil shipments as a threat to the estuary ______________________________________ 120 Coal __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 121  Mercury fingerprint of Pacific fish points to Asia coal power plants _____________________________________ 121  What is the Chuitna Coal Project? ____________________________________________________________________ 123 Hydropower and water retention ________________________________________________________________________ 124  Chehalis River Research _____________________________________________________________________________ 124  Washington Tribes Grow Impatient With Fish-Killing Dam ______________________________________________ 125  Reclamation to Increase Releases from Lewiston Dam to the Trinity River for Tribal Ceremony and Lower Klamath Flow Augmentation ___________________________________________________________________ 129  Trinity River releases to flow _________________________________________________________________________ 130

Corporate. Government and Non Government Organization “Greenwashing”: _______________________ 132            

The DFO and The Broughton Salmon collapse (Part 1 of 2) _____________________________________________ IKEA _______________________________________________________________________________________________ IKEA Group Sustainability Report - 2012 ______________________________________________________________ Aquaculture Stewardship Council: Working together for responsibly farmed salmon _____________________ Global Salmon Initiative - Areas of Focus: BIOSECURITY STANDARDS FEED & NUTRITION ______________ First ocean-farmed salmon makes eco-friendly list ____________________________________________________ Trout Unlimited Canada Partners with Enbridge _______________________________________________________ Travel Alberta demands anti-oilsands film trailer be yanked from YouTube (with video) __________________ Fish farmers of the future? ___________________________________________________________________________ US salmon consumption rises despite high prices, boosts Marine Harvest Canada ______________________ Unsustainable fish __________________________________________________________________________________ Exceptional Q2 for salmon giants ____________________________________________________________________

132 133 134 135 136 139 141 142 144 145 146 147

 Preparations for greatly expanded oil exports already moving forward __________________________________ 149  Whole Foods Market: Aquaculture ____________________________________________________________________ 151

Government action/inaction and wild game fish ___________________________________________________ 153  I Don’t Pay Attention to Politics… ____________________________________________________________________ 153  If you can’t win the scientific argument, suppress it ___________________________________________________ 154  Alberta Premier says Robert Redford not credible on oilsands critique __________________________________ 156        

‘Namgis Pin Hopes On Closed Containment Fish Farm _________________________________________________ Fiskeriministerens anlegg må tvangsslakte fisk _______________________________________________________ NAFTA Commission: Canada must address claims about fish farms ____________________________________ ARCHIVED — Pacific Aquaculture Regulations ________________________________________________________ Gray Aqua ordered to pay $648,000 owed for fish feed _________________________________________________ Salmon anemia hit company hard ____________________________________________________________________ State of Salmon – Restoring a Washington Icon _______________________________________________________ Fear of native opposition to B.C. pipelines behind blitz of top officials __________________________________

158 160 163 165 167 169 172 173

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!  U.S. Reps Kilmer and Heck promise to continue drive to clean up Puget Sound __________________________ 176

Mining and wild game fish _______________________________________________________________________ 178  Anglo American withdraws from Pebble Mine, casting project's future into doubt ________________________ 179  New EPA chief to visit Alaska over Pebble mine controversy ___________________________________________ 182  Tahltan First Nation, Fortune Minerals face off over coal mine project ___________________________________ 184  B.C. issues contentious mineral-exploration permit in Clayoquot Sound ________________________________ 185

Wild game fish management _____________________________________________________________________ 187  Setting the right course for U.S. oceans_______________________________________________________________ 187  Lake Babine sockeye fishery at risk of unprecedented closure _________________________________________ 189  DFO targets salmon poachers on Fraser River ________________________________________________________ 193  Sport fishermen hit hard by closure (video) ___________________________________________________________ 194  Court: Water Releases to Protect Salmon in California Move Forward ___________________________________ 195  State of Washington: Threatened and Endangered Wildlife (August 2012) _______________________________ 197

Wild Game Fish Conservation Projects ___________________________________________________________ 198  Changes in the Marine Environment May Be Affecting Salmon and Steelhead Survival – An International Research Partnership ___________________________________________________________________ 198  20 projects receive state grants to restore Puget Sound shorelines _____________________________________ 199     

Why are salmon dying when they reach saltwater? ____________________________________________________ Can-Am Leaders Launch Salmon Recovery Effort _____________________________________________________ Is 500,000 gallons of effluent dumped each day into Quilcene Bay harmful? _____________________________ Trout Unlimited: Invitation to help remove trash from banks of Puyallup River ___________________________ Chinook salmon return to Elwha River to spawn upstream from location of former dam __________________

200 202 203 204 205

Conservation-minded businesses – please support these fine businesses __________________________ 206    

"Dave and Kim Egdorf's Western Alaska Sport Fishing on Facebook ____________________________________ Jim Teeny Incorporated______________________________________________________________________________ Anissa Reed Designs ________________________________________________________________________________ Spirit Bear Coffee Company__________________________________________________________________________

206 207 208 209

Attention Conservation-minded Business Owners _________________________________________________ 211 WGFCI endorsed conservation organizations: _____________________________________________________ 211 Featured Artists: ________________________________________________________________________________ 212  The Wilds___________________________________________________________________________________________ 212  Ta’Kaiya Blaney: “Earth Revolution”__________________________________________________________________ 213  Meg McDonald: Wild Chinook Salmon Leaping Tumwater Falls (HD) ____________________________________ 214  Sander Jain: Help protect Clayoquot Sound and take action! (View and Like) ____________________________ 214

Featured Fishing Photos: ________________________________________________________________________ 215  Idrijca River- home of marble trout ___________________________________________________________________ 215  A day on the Pacific Ocean on “Slammer” (Deep Sea Charters – Westport, Washington) _________________ 217

Recommended Reading _________________________________________________________________________ 218  Alexandra Morton: “Listening to Whales” Watch orcas up close HERE ________________________________ 218  David Montgomery: “King of Fish: The Thousand - Year Run of Salmon” ________________________________ 219

Video Library – conservation of wild game fish ____________________________________________________ 221 Final Thoughts: _________________________________________________________________________________ 222  Truth _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 222

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Legacy Forward The October 2013 issue of Legacy marks twenty four consecutive months of our webbased publication, the watchdog journal published by Wild Game Fish Conservation International. Once again, no holds are barred in this issue.

Legacy is published each month to expose risks to the future of wild game fish and their ecosystems around planet earth to our growing audience. Legacy is also utilized to promote the many benefits of healthy populations of wild game fish. Please share this uniquely comprehensive publication with others far and wide as it includes something of interest and importance for everyone.

Our hope is that those who read Legacy will come to understand that what is good for wild game fish is also good for humans. Similarly, what is bad for our planet’s wild game fish is really bad for humans!

It’s exciting that a growing number of recreational anglers and others around planet earth are passionate about conserving wild game fish and their continued availability for this and future generations to enjoy and appreciate. Just as exciting is that growing numbers of consumers and retailers are paying close attention to the impacts each of us have on global resources through our daily activities and purchases.

We continue to urge our global audience to speak out passionately and to demonstrate peacefully for wild game fish and their ecosystems; ecosystems that we are but one small component of.

As recreational fishermen, conservation of wild game fish for future generations is our passion. Publishing “Legacy” each month is our self imposed responsibility to help ensure the future of these precious gifts that have been entrusted for safekeeping to our generation.

Bruce Treichler

James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

WGFCI Outreach via Legacy and Facebook

The September issue of Legacy is being read in these countries

4,500+ WGFCI Faceb

ook friends

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

From the editors Since November 2011, we at Wild Game Fish Conservation International (WGFCI) have utilized Legacy to expose many risks to wild game fish to our growing number of associates around planet earth. Among these are the risks associated with the global, open pen salmon feedlot industry.

The open pen salmon feedlot industry is directly responsible for several significant risks to public health, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies wherever they are sited.

During our two years, WGFCI has developed collaborative relationships with respected, internationally-recognized conservationists including marine biologists, virologists, hereditary indigenous families, tribal elders, commercial and recreational fishers and others.

Several of our conservation colleagues graciously provided the following brief summaries of specific open pen salmon feedlot industry risks:

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Public Health Claudette R. Bethune, PhD Pharmacokineticist The general population is exposed to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury, both in terms of concentration and diversity, to induce significant toxic effects to development, cancer and metabolic disorders such as diabetes. Current health advisories on tolerable consumption limits of POPs and heavy metals have slowly developed over the last decade, with toxicological evidence urging for these levels to decrease particularly for pregnant and nursing women as well as children. The levels of certain POPs as well as mercury allowed in farmed salmon are determined by another set of levels that are developed based on occurrence levels seen in wild and farmed fish to allow for their sale.

Farmed salmon contain much more fat than wild salmon, farmed salmon contain on average 12-16% total fat in the filet compared to typically 4-6% in wild salmon, and the biology of farmed Atlantic salmon allows their bodies accumulate the most toxic forms of the fat soluble POPs that we then consume. Staggering levels of PCBs have been found in farmed salmon compared to their wild counterparts. For farmed salmon, instead of cleaning the POPs out of the feed, Norwegian delegates lobbied to increase the allowable levels of dioxins and PCBs in fish from 4 pg TEQ/g to 8 pg TEQ/g in 2006, and from 2011 it's still allowed to be 6.5 pg TEQ/g. Cadmium in fish feed doubled from 0.5 mg/kg to 1.0 mg/kg in 2005. For the banned pesticide endosulfan, levels allowed in feed were lobbied in 2012 to allow 10-times the amount established previously. The levels of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs allowed in farmed salmon on market shelves are about 15-times higher than that allowed in chicken and 33-times higher than that allowed in pork in the EU, where the more established testing is done since the PCB accident in chickens in 1999. The reason for these differences is the carry-over of POPs in feed that transfer up to 10-times more to farmed salmon than for terrestrial farm animals.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Significant health effects can occur from national recommendations on fatty-fish consumption (1-2 times a week) if farmed salmon are consumed. The neurodevelopmental toxicity to mercury is well known. Prenatal exposure to low, clinically relevant levels of PCBs has been linked to lower birth weights, smaller head circumferences, and abnormal reflex abilities in newborns, as well as to mental impairment in older children. Many POPs are known to cause cancer, and this year PCBs have been fully designated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as carcinogenic compounds to humans. We also know now that exposure to POPs commonly present in farmed salmon leads to insulin resistance and associated metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes. The current understanding of the health effects from farmed salmon consumption should attract the greatest attention from the public health and governmental authorities to provide warning labels and reduced consumption to protect consumers.

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Corporate Influence Andrew Gage, staff lawyer West Coast Environmental Law “The overall problem with BC’s fair comment laws lies in the general imbalance within the legal system. Most essentially, critics of industry should be free to oppose industry without the fear of harsh reprisal.”

Editorial Comment: Don Staniford was invited to testify here on this topic.

He was advised against it by his legal advisors.

These quotes from Mr. Gage are from “The Chill Effect: Wild Salmon Advocate Learns $75,000 Lesson in Court So You Won’t Have To”

“We can all press for laws that strike a better balance,” he says. “Quebec has banned lawsuits aimed at silencing public critics (known as SLAPP suits), while Australia has banned large companies from suing for defamation at all.”

“BC,” he adds, also “needs laws to protect free speech.”

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Communication Integrity Through Art and Media Jay Peachy Wild Salmon Warrior Radio An artist elder of mine once said to me 'before the advent of words and language and their subsequent political ramifications, as the basis of communication, came images and sound".

Whether its music, visual art or spoken word, creative expression has the power to deliver a message that appeals to our visceral senses. Arts, for me, are also the tools in pursuit of the truth and media are the means to share in that journey.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

One thing that I have found with open-net farmed salmon industry is that they almost have unlimited resources to spread their version of the truth. Today we the people now through the Internet and Social Media have access to power modes of communication that we haven't had before. We have the ability to counteract, big business and corporate agenda with our version of the truth.

However it is important to communicate in the most honest way possible, there are many people trying to express their message through dishonest forms of communication in order to make a quick buck or grab your attention.

As Wild Salmon Warriors the challenge is to continue to engage people in the conversation, appeal to our emotions and express the truth with integrity, share it freely with others so they can come to their own understanding and act on it to make the changes needed.

Conservation Jim Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International Impacts by humans are rapidly destroying planet earth’s amazing, life-giving wild salmon and their fragile ecosystems. Wild salmon conservationists have the self-imposed responsibility of ensuring that our wild salmon and their ecosystems are available for future generations to enjoy, appreciate, protect, restore and benefit from.

The open pen salmon feedlot industry is an enemy to wild salmon and their stewards around the world. These weapons of mass destruction (open cages floating in wild salmon migration routes) with their parasites, diseases, chemicals and more devastate the very wild salmon and ecosystems that support public health, cultures, communities and economies.

The insanity of open pen salmon feedlots sited in wild salmon migration routes must end in order to recover wild salmon. No ands, ifs or buts!

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Seafood consumption: Public health risks and benefits

 Warning: Eating Farmed Salmon May Affect Your Baby

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Begich continues Alaska seafood fight September 6, 2013 U.S. Senator Mark Begich no longer makes headway in one battle to win back acceptance for the Alaska seafood industry, than he finds himself battling the matter on still another front.

The Alaska Senator recently contacted WalMart’s CEOs who sent company executives to meet with Alaska seafood experts this week, and those they met with managed to convince them to continue to purchase Alaska seafood for sale at their box stores across the U.S., even though they don’t use the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) criteria or label.

The executives met yesterday (Thursday) with Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI), the Alaska Department of Commerce Commissioner, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the Alaska Congressional Delegation and representatives from the Governor’s office. Apparently, the company is open to changing its position that would have excluded the sale of fish from Alaska, which operates under its own strict standards.

Mark Begich

“This is great news for Alaska’s jobs and economy and is also great news for consumers across the nation who will still be able to buy wild, fresh Alaska seafood,” said Sen. Begich. “There were several positive developments from today’s meeting,” he added. “First, Wal-Mart has a better understanding of Alaska fisheries management and has decided that promoting Alaska seafood is the right thing to do. Second, Wal-Mart is committed to making make sure Alaska seafood is available to customers for years to come and will schedule follow-up meeting to discuss how to move forward with this commitment.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

But the fight rages on for Begich who also has called out the multi-national Sodexo Corporation on its new seafood purchasing policies, and engaged in a standoff on social-media with the CEO of Domino’s Pizza over a video ad that put down halibut.

Now comes Hollywood health guru and fitness trainer Harley Pasternak, with an article in People Magazine, August 21, 2013, that implies that farmed salmon may be better for you than wild salmon due to the mercury content in ocean-going fish. People Magazine article Begich’s letter of response to Pasternak, dated September 5, 2013, describes the benefits of wild salmon over their “floating corncob” counterparts, and calls fish farms environmental polluters that feed their fish “crops” with genetically modified grains. Here’s an excerpt from that letter: Why should consumers choose wild fish over farmed fish? 

Wild fish are more nutritious. According to FDA studies, wild salmon have a 20 percent higher protein content than farm-raised salmon.

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Farm fish are “swimming corncobs.” It’s believed that because of the use of grains rather than natural feed, levels of heart-healthy omega-3 fats are about 50 percent lower in farmed salmon than in wild salmon. Farmed salmon are sometimes referred to as “swimming corncobs.”

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Farm fish get sick—a lot. Farm fish suffer from disease, lice and pests and are given antibiotics to combat disease. Even with antibiotics, it is not uncommon for a large percentage of the farm fish ‘crop’ to die in captivity.

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Farm fish damages the environment. Waste from fish farms pollutes. Experts estimate that salmon waste off the coast of British Columbia, for example, releases as much nitrogen as sewage from a city with a population of 250,000. Gross.

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Farm fish are couch potatoes. Instead of fighting against the raging currents of glacially fed streams, evading predators, and “getting their spawn on” like their wild cousins, farm fish are restricted to their farm fish tanks. They don’t have to battle predators and raging waters or even search for food. The farm fish just has to swim and eat—the equivalent of an aquatic couch potato.

So if you like the taste of antibiotics and are a big fan of genetically modified food that harms the environment, then farm-raised fish are for you.

In conclusion, Begich asked Pasternak to reconsider his views on farmed fish and instead “become an advocate for fresh, delicious, naturally-organic and sustainably caught wild Alaska seafood.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Listeria in Smoked Salmon: Examining the Risk September 11, 2013 Listeria monocytogenes bacteria detected in some ready-to-eat smoked salmon samples sparked a rash of recalls in recent months, with major fish producers such as Ocean Beauty, Marine Harvest and Pacific Seafood Group, plus retail giants including Whole Foods Market, Walmart and Ralph’s, getting caught in the recall net.

But no outbreak of illnesses prompted these companies to voluntarily pull smoked salmon from store shelves.

The uptick in recalls led some to speculate that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) might be taking a new get-tough approach targeting Listeria in smoked salmon and stepping up inspections.

That wasn’t the case, says FDA spokesman Sebastian Cianci.

“FDA is not currently conducting increased sampling for L. monocytogenes in seafood,” Cianci wrote in an email, adding that it’s possible individual seafood-processing plants or state regulators may have increased the frequency of their inspections.

READ ENTIRE FOOD SAFETY NEWS ARTICLE HERE

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse Oak Smoked Salmon recalled Science behind the story Listeriosis, the foodborne illness caused by population are at increased risk and many cases are associated with chilled ready-to-eat foods. listeria, is relatively rare, but listeria causes more deaths from food poisoning in the UK than other foodborne bugs. Vulnerable groups of the The Agency aims to reduce the number of cases of listeriosis in the UK by the year 2015 through the Listeria Risk Management Programme.

Between 2000 and 2009, the annual number of laboratory-confirmed cases of listeriosis more than doubled from 114 to 234 cases in the UK. In 2012, there were 184 laboratory-confirmed cases, which remains elevated (more than 50%) above levels observed in the 1990s.

Listeriosis has a significant public health and economic impact because of its high hospitalisation and mortality rate. Most people infected with listeria are hospitalised and approximately a third die. The disease costs the UK economy an estimated £245 million a year.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse is recalling a batch of their own Oak Smoked Salmon, because Listeria monocytogenes has been detected in the product and may pose a health risk. If you have bought this product, with the batch code 31702, do not eat it. The Agency has issued a Product Recall Information Notice.

Product The product being recalled is: Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse Oak Smoked Salmon Batch code: 31702 Pack sizes: 

125g, 200g

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250g Trimmings

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800-1200g Unsliced Sides

Date code: ’Use by’ dates between 28 August 2013 and 9 September 2013 Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse is recalling the above product. Product recall notices have been supplied to retailers to be displayed in store, to tell customers about the recall.

If you have bought this product, with the batch code 31702, please do not eat it. Instead, return it to the store it where you bought it or contact Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse.

No other Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse products are known to be affected.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Loch

Duart Artisan Smokehouse recalls further batches of its Oak Smoked Salmon August 30, 2013 Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse is recalling further batches of its Oak Smoked Salmon because Listeria monocytogenes has been detected in the product and may pose a health risk. If you have bought this product with the batch codes listed, do not eat it. The Agency has issued a Product Recall Information Notice.

Product The product being recalled is: Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse Oak Smoked Salmon Batch codes: 07082, 15082, 13082 and 21082 Pack sizes: 125g, 200g, 500g, whole sides (sliced and unsliced) Date codes: ‘Use by’ dates between 3 September 2013 and 21 September 2013 Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse is recalling the above products. Product recall notices have been supplied to retailers to be displayed in store to tell customers about the recall.

If you have bought any of the product listed, please do not eat it. Instead, return it to the store where you bought it, or contact Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse.

No other Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse products are known to be affected.

About product recalls and withdrawals If there is a problem with a food product that means it should not be sold, then it might be 'withdrawn' (taken off the shelves) or 'recalled' (when customers are asked to return the product). The Food Standards Agency issues Product Withdrawal Information Notices and Product Recall Information Notices to let consumers and local authorities know about problems associated with food. In some cases, a 'Food Alert for Action' is issued. This provides local authorities with details of specific action to be taken on behalf of consumers.

You can get FSA alerts about product recalls and withdrawals either by email or SMS text. Visit the 'Email updates' link at the bottom of this page to find out how.

You can also subscribe to our Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed for food and allergy alerts. RSS is a format for distributing news content and is a simple way to keep up to date with the latest news on a website.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

When we publish via RSS, you can automatically get the updated content via a 'news aggregator' or 'news reader'. Our RSS feed will contain a brief summary and link back to our web content.

 Avoid Atlantic salmon The global open pen salmon feedlot industry knowingly and adversely impacts public health, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and ecosystems by producing lice-infested, disease-ridden, cancer-causing, chemically-treated Atlantic salmon for human consumption.

As recommended via seafood sustainability standards (Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, SeaChoice, Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions, Marine Stewardship Council), Atlantic salmon should be AVOIDED.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Food for thought

Selling Feedlot Salmon is...

Gambling with PUBLIC HEALTH What Happens in Norway Should…

Stay in Norway

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Enjoy seasonal wild Pacific salmon dinners at these fine restaurants:

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 PROUD TO SUPPORT WILD SALMON – Original art by Leanne Hodges

Editorial Comment: When making your next dining reservations for yourself, you and your loved one or a party, please be sure to look first at the restaurants that do not offer open pen feedlot salmon on their menu.

This is a simple way that we can thank these businesses for their significant dedication and commitment to our iconic wild Pacific salmon.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Wild Salmon Supporters – View entire list here

Eddie Gardner: BAD CHOICE! So called “Fresh Farmed Atlantic Salmon Steak Tip" is very fatty and this absorbs high concentrations of PCBs. For your health and for the well being of the marine habitat, do not purchase this product.

Nikki Lamarre: They couldn't pay me to eat that!

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Fish Oil by Eating a Fish vs. Fish Oil supplements/pills in a Jar Hundreds of research studies have been conducted over the past 30 years and they’ve all concluded that fish oil is good for you.

The fish oil that have been tested and the subjects that they tested them on were basically feeding fish to people as well as researching heart disease among people who live near a lake or sea and historically consume more fish compared to people who live far away from lakes and have been less likely to have had a high consumption of fish in their diet.

The research studies concluded that fish oil from fish was beneficial.

Eating 2 or 3 servings of fish, especially wild salmon is good for you since the unsaturated fats in fish, called omega-3 fatty acids, appear to reduce the risk of dying of heart disease and therefore has been recommended by the American Heart Association for decades.

Unsaturated fatty acids are a great substitute for saturated fatty acids such as those found in meat, because they lower your cholesterol rather than increase your cholesterol level as meat does. But the main benefit of unsaturated fatty acid is that it reduces inflammation throughout the body.

Inflammation in the body can damage your blood vessels and lead to heart disease.

But eating fish is very different than taking fish oil supplements.

First of all, why would someone not like to eat fish and instead take fish oil supplements where some factory somewhere has extracted, often with chemical treatment and/or heating process, oil from farmed fish?

In a recent study, fish oil supplements were given to heart patients for at least a year, and it was discovered that the claim behind fish oil supplements are absolutely inconclusive – or in other words no sufficient evidence was found to prove that fish oil supplements can protect against the risk of major cardiovascular problems like heart attacks or strokes, the study was published in Archives of Internal Medicine.

So, yes, fish oil by consuming wild fish is good for you but fish oil supplements in the form of pills from farmed fish fed on chemical fishmeal, is not.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Why? Farmed fish are often grown in polluted and low quality water that has problem of disease spreading quickly in a tight space and then of course there is toxins and contamination associated with farmraised fish. Farm raised fish are fed pellets containing high concentrations of fish. It is this concentration of fish that increases PCB levels and high concentrates of toxins and mercury.

For instance farmed raised salmon: • has almost 10 times the level of PCB’s as compared to wild salmon • has 30 times the number of sea lice as compared to wild salmon • are fed colored pellets to give them color • are fed pellets of chicken/turkey feces, corn meal, GMO soy/maize, or GMO canola oil • are fed pellets with antibiotics at higher levels than any other livestock because of water toxins • have less omega 3 fatty acid due to the type of diet fed • are grown in very small spaces resulting in more disease infested water and pollution Still think you want to have fish oil supplements and pills?

Think again. Eat wild fish like wild salmon. The supplements are ineffective to say the least.

Sources: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/weighing-the-evidence-on-fish-oils-for-hearthealth/?utm_source=GSG+Newsletter+List&utm_campaign=cc7b81de17Newsletter_Nutrition_to_combat_anxiety_9_17_2012&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4ed741a69 3-cc7b81de17-34794217

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 What

do they know about BC farmed salmon that has caused all these markets to avoid it?

Alexandra Morton In my ongoing investigative shopping - I found Icelandic Atlantic farmed salmon for sale in Wholefoods in North Vancouver. Fresh Atlantic salmon shipped thousands of km when it is made locally by three big Norwegian companies - but Wholefoods won't buy it.... Norwegian farm salmon in Los Angeles, Chilean farmed salmon in Washington State, Scottish farmed salmon in California, Icelandic farmed salmon in BC - What do they know about BC farmed salmon that has caused all these markets to avoid it? Let me know where the farmed salmon in your community is from. Send pictures.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Can’t Bear Farmed Salmon – Watch video HERE

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Formaldehyde Detected in Supermarket Fish Imported from Asia 1 in 4 fish contaminated September 11, 2013 A large number of fish imported from China and Vietnam and sold in U.S. supermarkets contain alarming levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, according to tests performed and verified by researchers at a North Carolina chemical engineering firm and North Carolina State University.

Around 25 percent of all the fish purchased from supermarkets were found to contain potentially dangerous levels of formaldehyde, a toxic chemical compound commonly used as a medical disinfectant or embalming agent. All of the fish found to contain the compound were imported from Asian countries, and it was not found in fish from the U.S. or other regions.

Formaldehyde is illegal in food beyond any naturally occurring trace amounts. But, according to chemical engineer A. James Attar and his colleagues who conducted the tests, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not test any imported fish for formaldehyde contamination, and only 4 percent of imported fish gets tested for any contaminants at all.

“The look on my face when we found this – it was a complete shocker,” said Jason Morton, Attar’s colleague at N.C.-based Appealing Products, Inc. Attar, Morton and another colleague at Appealing Products, Matthew Schwartz, came across the alarming revelation when they set out to validate a new formaldehyde test they developed for Bangladeshi clients who needed a cheap way to detect contaminated fish.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

To verify the accuracy of their test, the team purchased domestic and imported fish from supermarkets around Raleigh, NC, with the intent of purposefully contaminating them with formaldehyde and then verifying that their test worked.

Instead, they found that about one in four fish was already contaminated with formaldehyde. The commonality between all the contaminated fish? They were imported from Asian countries, predominantly China and Vietnam.

Not all of the Asian fish were contaminated, but many were, Attar said.

Attar and Morton stopped short of accusing Asian fish companies of intentionally adding formaldehyde to fish to prevent spoilage, though it appears to be a common problem in Bangladesh, where formaldehyde might preserve fish when refrigerators or ice aren’t available. (Think of frogs preserved for dissection in a high-school science lab.)

Attar and his team first uncovered the issue in February 2013, and then spent six months routinely testing samples, finding the same results. Their results were then verified by researchers at North Carolina State.

Attar said the sampling was restricted to purchases from Raleigh only and might not reflect fish in supermarkets nationwide.

“But, empirically, this is what we found,” he added.

Formaldehyde is present in some fish at small, naturally occurring levels. But everything observed in the Asian fish found that they were contaminated with far higher-than-normal or acceptable levels, Attar said.

The team tested whether or not levels of formaldehyde increased in cuts of fish as they aged, but the levels remained the same. They also tested the same species harvested from both Chinese and U.S. companies, finding that the Chinese-caught fish contained formaldehyde, while the U.S.-caught fish of the same species did not.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, the U.S. imports approximately 91 percent of its seafood. China alone accounts for approximately 89 percent of global aquaculture production.

Appealing Products’ formaldehyde test costs approximately $1 per swab, which is applied to a cut of fish and turns purple in the presence of formaldehyde. The company has shipped 100,000 tests to Bangladesh and anticipates orders from companies in other Asian countries. More information on the tests can be found atformaldehydetests.com.

Documented instances of intentional formaldehyde contamination of food have occurred in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.

Attar and Morton said that their evidence makes a strong case for improved testing on seafood imports in the U.S., especially from Asian countries.

“I cannot say that companies are adding formaldehyde to fish, but our findings are higher than what naturally occurs,” Morton said.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 SeaChoice.Org - Sustainable Seafood Policy: Avoid Atlantic Salmon

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Canada Safeway: Sustainability Seafood Policy

As one of Western Canada’s largest food retailers, Canada Safeway is committed to transitioning the seafood we sell to our customers to sustainable sources. As we work to achieve this goal, we are implementing a comprehensive sustainable seafood policy.

Sustainable seafood task force Supplier outreach Staff training Customer outreach

While the oceans have provided healthy food choices for generations, there is clear scientific evidence that many species of seafood are being threatened. To address this, Canada Safeway has developed a sustainable seafood action plan that encompasses multiple aspects of our business. It focuses on four key areas: 1. Sustainable Seafood Task Force Canada Safeway continues to build a strong base in our efforts to completely transition our fresh and frozen seafood products to sustainable sources by the end of 2015. In 2008, we assembled an internal Safeway team to focus on sustainability. In 2011, we joined with SeaChoice. Together, we are working to improve the health of our oceans and freshwater ecosystems.

2. Supplier Outreach Canada Safeway is actively communicating our seafood sustainability program to the supplier community. As an important first step, all of our suppliers completed a detailed sourcing assessment in 2011 that has helped us determine the following:   

Specific source location of both farmed and wild-caught products Harvest or production method of all products. For example, was the fish caught using a hook-and-line system or purse seine net?

Associated credible sustainability certifications and fisheries improvement projects

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

This information has allowed us to better understand the current sustainability of our products and to prioritize suppliers for environmental improvement plans. We are now working with several of them to improve how their products are caught or farmed. We are now also expanding our policy and approached to other areas in our store, such as canned seafood products -- notably our private label canned tuna.

3. Employee Training Canada Safeway and SeaChoice have developed a comprehensive program to ensure employees understand our sustainable seafood policies, programs and products. This knowledge will enable employees to help our customers make informed sustainable seafood purchasing decisions.

4. Customer Outreach We have a well-earned reputation for providing our customers with information on topics such as nutrition, food safety, and preparation. Through enhanced customer service, clear signage and additional materials, we will provide our customers with the information they need to choose seafood that is healthy for themselves and the oceans.

Canada Safeway offers a range of products recognized by SeaChoice as a “Best Choice” for sustainability. Good examples are farmed scallops, mussels, clams, and oysters. These shellfish require no special feeds, have a very low impact on the environment and can help improve the water quality of their surroundings. Our continued support of these farmed shellfish is a sign of our commitment to providing seafood that can be enjoyed by generations to come..

What We’ve Done As part of our commitment, we are actively promoting seafood sustainability.

To date, we have taken the following actions:



Partnering with Groups That Make a Difference

In 2011 we partnered with SeaChoice to implement our sustainable seafood policy.

SeaChoice is a national program that provides science-based sustainability assessments of seafood and helps Canadian businesses and consumers make sustainable seafood choices.

SeaChoice is a joint initiative of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, David Suzuki Foundation, Ecology Action Centre, Living Oceans Society and Sierra Club BC.



Eliminating Red List Species

Canada Safeway no longer sells several “red list” species that play essential roles in threatened ocean ecosystems. The List includes blue fin tuna, yellow fin tuna, shark, Atlantic halibut, Chilean sea bass and orange roughy.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon! 

Supporting Fishery and Aquaculture Improvements

We have identified fisheries and farms that our vendors source from and that are currently unsustainable, but that have the potential to improve over time. Our company continues to work with suppliers to achieve needed improvements. 

Seeking Sustainable Alternatives

We have actively sought out producers that are working hard to reduce the environmental impacts of traditional harvesting and production methods. For example, Canada Safeway is working with closed containment farmed salmon operators. In 2012, we began sourcing skipjack tuna for our private canned tuna from fisheries that reduce the capture of non-target species and juvenile fish.

Support healthy oceans by Selecting “Green” or “Yellow” SeaChoice labeled seafood items.

First Choice for Sustainable Seafood “Best Choice” seafood comes from a fishery or farm that implements strong environmental practices.

Second Choice for Sustainable Seafood “Some Concerns” is another seafood choice when ‘Best Choice’ is unavailable. The fishery or farm implements sound environmental practices however there is room for improvement.

What if an Item is Unlabeled?

Unlabeled seafood items are either red-ranked or do not currently have a SeaChoice assessment. Canada Safeway has removed several red-ranked items from our stores. By 2015, all fresh and frozen seafood in our stores will be sourced from sustainable fisheries or be in a time-bound improvement project. For more information please ask a member of our seafood team.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 SeaChoice for healthy oceans

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Smarter consumer choices may save our salmon September 17, 2013 Editor: The following is a letter in response to the low sockeye returns this year.

Open-net salmon farms raising Atlantic salmon were introduced to B.C. in the 1970s. These farms have long been recognized as a threat to wild B.C. salmon. Yet despite a 2007 B.C. Special Committee recommendation that "A rapid, phased transition to ocean-based closed containment begin immediately", and despite the finding of the federal 2009 Cohen Commission that "the potential harm posed to Fraser River sockeye salmon from salmon farms is serious or irreversible," no level of government has issued any plan to deal with the threat of open-net salmon farms in B.C. waters.

The 2013 Fraser sockeye run is estimated at a shocking two million fish. Making matters worse is the added threat of warming weather-hence warming waters. All species of salmon are harmed by warm waters.

Looking at the current sockeye runs, DFO estimates 70 per cent will die before they spawn. That leaves only 600,000 to spawn this year. And we thought 2009 was bad.

Wild B.C. salmon are in trouble. What can you do? One action is to make educated purchasing choices by looking for SeaChoice guidelines place seafood into three categories: Green = Best Choice; Yellow = Some Concerns; Red = Avoid.

Open-net farmed salmon fall into that red category. Avoid.

The Overwaitea Food Group (PriceSmart, Save-On, Coopers, and Overwaitea Foods) got on-board with SeaChoice in 2010 and removed open-net farmed salmon from their shelves in 2012. Recently Safeway has committed to remove all SeaChoice red-labelled products from their shelves by 2015.

Wild Pacific salmon are a source of pride in B.C., as evidenced by their designation as B.C.'s official fish.

They provide myriad benefits that can never be duplicated by any sort of salmon farm. Show support for wild Pacific salmon by looking for those SeaChoice labels, commending those stores that do not sell opennet farmed salmon and encouraging the rest to follow suit.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Safeway: What’s New in Seafood Sustainability August 2013 Keeping Our Oceans Healthy

As one of the country's largest grocers, we recognize the big part we play in protecting marine resources. At Safeway, we're proud to help conserve seafood for future generations.

Our efforts were recently recognized by Greenpeace USA, who has named us as one of the highest ranked national grocers for sustainable seafood for the past three years in a row.

Here are some of the other things we're doing to help keep the oceans healthy: •

We've committed to having all of our fresh and frozen seafood to be responsibly caught or farmed, or from sources in a process making credible improvements, by the end of 2015.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

•

We offer seafood that already meets this goal. Look for items marked "Responsible Choice" while you shop. That means they are considered a "Best Choice" or a "Good Alternative" by the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program, or are certified to an equal standard.

•

Together with FishWise, a sustainable seafood consultancy, we're continually working to protect the health of our oceans.

By working together we can help ensure the availability of seafood for generations to come. When you purchase Responsible Choice seafood from your neighborhood Safeway store, you can feel proud to be making a healthy decision for you, your family, and the environment.

To learn more about our dedication to seafood sustainability, read more about our programs or visit our FishWise website.

We take seafood safety seriously. We make sure our fish is safe and healthy by working with suppliers who monitor for high levels of mercury.

Eddie Gardner: “Farmed Atlantic salmon is much more contaminated than wild salmon and that is why it is red-listed under SeaChoice to warn consumers and to encourage them to protect their health by avoiding these products. Avoid it like the plague and you will, at the same time, support saving wild salmon that are on the brink of extinction.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 WGFCI visits Safeway Seafood Counter in Tumwater, Washington August 28, 2013

Editorial Comment: According to Safeway, their goal by 2015 is to no longer sell red-tagged, farm-raised salmon like the chinook and Atlantic salmon photographed here during a visit to our local Safeway store.

Wild Salmon Warriors are urging Safeway and other markets to move this timeline up in order to remove open pen salmon feedlots from our oceans sooner than later.

Public health, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies are at risk with these weapons of mass destruction in our world’s oceans.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

FARMED ATLANTIC SALMON There are many environmental problems related to farming Atlantic salmon, which means it is ranked "Avoid." However, efforts to reduce some of these environmental impacts by raising fish in inland tanks have been successful. Salmon from these farms are a "Best Choice."

Consumer Note The majority of salmon farmed today are Atlantic salmon. A small quantity of Pacific salmon Chinook and coho - is also farmed. Salmon is known as sake when prepared for sushi.

Health Alert Environmental Defense Fund has issued a health advisory for farmed salmon due to high levels of PCBs.

Summary One of the biggest concerns is the amount of food required to raise farmed salmon. It generally takes three pounds of wild fish to grow one pound of farmed salmon. The environmental impact of salmon farming is still increasing as global production continues to rise.

Most salmon are farmed in open pens and cages in coastal waters. Waste from these farms is released directly into the ocean. Parasites and diseases from farmed salmon can spread to wild fish swimming near the farms and escaping farmed salmon can harm wild populations. As a result, all salmon farmed in ocean net pens get an "Avoid" ranking.

However, some salmon farmers are making changes to improve their practices. So far, one change has proven successful—raising U.S. freshwater coho using inland tank-based, closed systems.

Closed systems reduce environmental risks by containing pollution, disease, parasites and reducing fish escapes and result in a "Best Choice" ranking.

Look for wild-caught salmon or clearly labeled U.S.-farmed freshwater coho salmon. For now, "Avoid" farmed Atlantic salmon.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Working together for sustainable seafood solutions

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 MSC hails South African initiative August 22, 2013

WOOLWORTHS South Africa has announced a commitment to sustainability that includes sourcing wild-caught seafood from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fisheries.

The retailer first introduced a Sustainable Seafood Policy to their operations in 2008 and in 2012 partnered with the MSC in a consumer focused joint marketing campaign across all of their South African stores. The campaign aimed to raise the profile of the MSC ecolabel on products in Woolworths' canned, frozen and chilled seafood ranges. They have since implemented a businesswide 'Fishing for the Future' programme and continue to cement their position as the retailer with the widest choice of sustainably sourced and traceable seafood products in the country.

Woolworths' announcement builds on a number of procurement milestones that have been achieved over the past five years, which saw them become the first South African retailer to introduce a Sustainable Seafood Policy and to sign the WWF-SASSI Retail Charter. Since implementing the policy Woolworths has ceased to sell species that do not fit with their sustainability guidelines. In 2010 they introduced random DNA testing to help combat mislabelling and in 2012 became the first retailer in the country to have their fresh seafood counters certified against the MSC's Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

"We're very proud of what we have achieved over the last five years," says Woolworths Managing Director of Foods, Zyda Rylands, "not only as far as ensuring that the seafood we sell is responsibly sourced, but in raising our customers' awareness of the real danger posed by declining fish populations and the need to only buy responsibly sourced seafood from responsible retailers."

Woolworths' commitment states that by the end of 2015 all of their wild-caught seafood will be:   

Sourced from MSC (or equivalent) certified fisheries or Sourced from fisheries that are undertaking a credible, time-bound improvement project in order to reach these standards or WWF-SASSI green listed.

Chris Kastern, WWF-SASSI Retailer/Supplier Engagement Officer, added: "Woolworths has placed sustainability high on their agenda for a number of years and should be congratulated on setting themselves a challenging, but achievable target. Retailers play a pivotal role in guiding consumer buying behaviour and a growing number of responsible retailers worldwide are making a huge contribution to the improvement of global fishing practices."

Martin Purves, MSC's Southern Africa Programme Manager was enthusiastic about Woolworths' announcement, saying: "Consumers are increasingly aware of the environmental impacts of their seafood purchases and want to make the right choices. The growth of MSC labelled products in South Africa is very encouraging and we are delighted to work with Woolworths and support them in their quest to offer shoppers the widest range of sustainable seafood choices."

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 MSC standards When you see the MSC ecolabel, you can be sure that the seafood bearing the label comes from a certified sustainable fishery. It is the MSC standards that define the performance needed for fisheries to be certified as sustainable and for businesses to trade in certified seafood.

The MSC has 2 standards, for sustainable fishing and seafood traceability. Fisheries and seafood businesses voluntarily seek certification against the relevant standards, which meet the world's best practice guidelines for certification and ecolabelling.

MSC environmental standard for sustainable fishing Fisheries can demonstrate that their practices are sustainable and access market benefits by getting certified to the MSC standard for sustainable fishing.

MSC chain of custody standard for seafood traceability When seafood is sold with the MSC ecolabel every business in the supply chain must have undertaken a detailed traceability audit against the MSC Chain of Custody standard. This ensures that only seafood from a certified fishery is sold with the MSC ecolabel.

Third party certification Assessments against both MSC standards are carried out by independently accredited certifiers. The MSC's ‘third-party’ approach ensures our certification and ecolabelling program is robust, credible and meets best practice guidelines.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Tell your grocer: Boycott GMO salmon Sign the petition HERE Has your market pledged to not sell GMO salmon? Find out HERE

AquAdvantage by AquaBounty could become the first brand of genetically modified (GMO) frankenfish coming to your grocery’s seafood case - but opposition from supermarket chains could help us stop it.

Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have already agreed to boycott the fish, but none of the other supermarket chains like Kroger, Safeway, Target, and Walmart -- which account for the vast majority of supermarkets under various brands -- has commented yet.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Tell national supermarket chains: No frankenfish for me. Join the campaign for GMO-free seafood and refuse to sell genetically engineered salmon.

AquaBounty's frankenfish is an Atlantic salmon, spliced with genes from an eel pout and growth hormone from a Chinook salmon. The result is a salmon that produces growth hormone year-round and grows twice as fast.

The fish hasn't been proven safe for humans. But the FDA may approve it based on a limited, flawed, and inadequate study — despite the fact that the same study identified elevated allergy-causing potential,1 and elevated levels of the IGF-1 growth hormone, which is linked to colon, prostate and breast cancers. Clearly more study is needed to determine possible dangers to our health and other wildlife posed of GMO salmon.2 These lab-created salmon would pose a serious risk to wild salmon populations if they escaped into the wild, as they consume five-times more food than wild salmon, and are more aggressive.

Introducing these traits into the wild population would be serious — and irreversible.3 Separate from any risks, GMO salmon are less healthy to eat — producing less of the beneficial omega-3 fatty acids than conventional salmon — and a less efficient food source — requiring 1.5 to 8 kilograms of wild fish to produce one kilogram of conventional farmed salmon.

Your grocer shouldn’t stock these GMO salmon. Tell it to join the campaign against GMO seafood and boycott these fish.

If your grocer agrees to sell these salmon, you’ll have no way of knowing when you’re buying them.

Monsanto and other companies have dumped millions into blocking laws that require GMO foods to be labeled,4 so these fish will show up in supermarkets without any indication of their GMO source.

But national grocery chains are sensitive to public pressure, and could agree to stop selling these products if there’s enough public outcry, which could lead people to just buying less salmon overall.

Just last year, the top three grocery chains agreed not to sell products containing “pink slime” meat after publicity forced their hand.

Tell national grocery chains that GMO salmon is unacceptable, and they must refuse to stock it.

Thank you for standing up for safe food.

1. Michael McCauley, "Consumers Union Says FDA Assessment of GE Salmon Is Flawed and Inadequate," Consumers Union, December 21, 12.

2. Joe Cummins, "AquAdvantage Salmon Ready for Commerce?" Permaculture News, September 23, 2010.

3. "Tell the FDA: No Frankenfish," Organic Consumers Union.

4. Stacy Finz, "Prop. 37: Genetic food labels defeated." San Francisco Chronicle, November 7, 2012.

5. Ian Simpson, "Kroger joins rival grocers in rejecting 'pink slime' beef." Reuters, March 22, 2012.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Editorial Comment: Negative impacts associated with open pen salmon feedlots will be exacerbated with these GMO salmon:  escapees will out compete wild salmon for food and space  impact declining populations of forage fish  contamination of the marine ecosystem  risks to public health, cultures, communities and economies

 Campaigner warns of 'monster salmon' risk August 23, 2013 A leading Norwegian bio-safety campaigner has warned that a new technology could lead to 'monster salmon' escaping into the wild, with unforeseeable consequences. 

Salmon sales plummet as China punishes Norway (15 Aug 13)



Norway limits 'low stock' salmon fishing (19 Jul 13)



Fish farms blamed for wild salmon decline (16 Jul 13)

Norwegian salmon breeding company is this year delivering a million genetically engineered 'triploid' salmon, which have three sets of chromosomes instead of the normal two, to six farms in Norway.

Ingeborg Myhr, the acting director of the GenØk Centre for Biosafety, warned that the new salmon, because they are sterile, might reach an unnatural size.

"Salmon stops growing when it reaches sexual maturity. Would sterile salmon continue to grow so that we would get the media talking about 'monster salmon at large'?," she asked.

Triploid salmon have previously suffered serious skeletal weaknesses which have made them unviable for salmon farming.

But AquaGen has developed a special diet, which when fed to the sprats, offsets this problem. The salmon will be harvested in 2015.

Nina Santi, a spokesperson for AquaGen, said that using sterile fish was the best way to prevent GM salmon escaping and breeding in the wild.

"With farmed fish in the sea there remains the possibility that human error will result to an escape, so to avoid the industry needing to move on land, it is better to look for a solution with sterile farmed fish."

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Top 10 most unhealthy, cancer-causing foods – never eat these again!

April 18, 2013 The statement “everything causes cancer” has become a popular hyperbole, and one that some people use as rhetorical fodder to excuse their own dietary and lifestyle failures, particularly as they pertain to cancer risk. But the truth of the matter is that many common food items have, indeed, been scientifically shown to increase cancer risk, and some of them substantially. Here are 10 of the most unhealthy, cancer-causing foods that you should never eat again: 1) Genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). It goes without saying that GMOs have no legitimate place in any cancer-free diet, especially now that both GMOs and the chemicals used to grow them have been shown to cause rapid tumor growth. But GMOs are everywhere, including in most food derivatives made from conventional corn, soybeans, and canola. However, you can avoid them by sticking with certified organic, certified non-GMO verified, and locally-grown foods that are produced naturally without biotechnology.

2) Processed meats. Most processed meat products, including lunch meats, bacon, sausage, and hot dogs, contain chemical preservatives that make them appear fresh and appealing, but that can also cause cancer. Both sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate have been linked to significantly increasing the risk of colon and other forms of cancer, so be sure to choose only uncured meat products made without nitrates, and preferably from grass-fed sources.

3) Microwave popcorn. They might be convenient, but those bags of microwave popcorn are lined with chemicals that are linked to causing not only infertility but also liver, testicular, and pancreatic cancers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognizes the perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in microwave popcorn bag linings as “likely” carcinogenic, and several independent studies have linked the chemical to causing tumors. Similarly, the diacetyl chemical used in the popcorn itself is linked to causing both lung damage and cancer.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

4) Soda pop. Like processed meats, soda pop has been shown to cause cancer as well. Loaded with sugar, food chemicals, and colorings, soda pop acidifies the body and literally feeds cancer cells.

Common soda pop chemicals like caramel color and its derivative 4-methylimidazole (4-MI) have also specifically been linked to causing cancer.

5) ‘Diet’ foods, beverages. Even worse than conventional sugar-sweetened soda pop, though, is “diet” soda pop and various other diet beverages and foods. A recent scientific review issued by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) of more than 20 separate research studies found that aspartame, one of the most common artificial sweeteners, causes a range of illnesses including birth defects and cancer. Sucralose (Splenda), saccharin and various other artificial sweeteners have also been linked to causing cancer.

6) Refined ‘white’ flours. Refined flour is a common ingredient in processed foods, but its excess carbohydrate content is a serious cause for concern. A study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Mile Markers, and Prevention found that regular consumption of refined carbohydrates was linked to a 220 percent increase in breast cancer among women. High-glycemic foods in general have also been shown to rapidly raise blood sugar levels in the body, which directly feeds cancer cell growth and spread.

7) Refined sugars. The same goes for refined sugars, which tend to rapidly spike insulin levels and feed the growth of cancer cells. Fructose-rich sweeteners like high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are particularly offensive, as cancer cells have been shown to quickly and easily metabolize them in order to proliferate. And since cookies, cakes, pies, sodas, juices, sauces, cereals, and many other popular, mostly processed, food items are loaded with HFCS and other refined sugars, this helps explain why cancer rates are on the rise these days.

8) Conventional apples, grapes, and other ‘dirty’ fruits. Many people think they are eating healthy when they buy apples, grapes, or strawberries from the store. But unless these fruits are organic or verified to be pesticide-free, they could be a major cancer risk. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that up to 98 percent of all conventional produce, and particularly the type found on its “dirty” fruits list, is contaminated with cancer-causing pesticides.

9) Farmed salmon. Farmed salmon is another high-risk cancer food, according to Dr. David Carpenter, Director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany.

According to his assessment, farmed salmon not only lacks vitamin D, but it is often contaminated with carcinogenic chemicals, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), flame retardants, pesticides, and antibiotics.

10) Hydrogenated oils. They are commonly used to preserve processed foods and keep them shelfstable. But hydrogenated oils alter the structure and flexibility of cell membranes throughout the body, which can lead to a host of debilitating diseases such as cancer. Some manufacturers are phasing out the use of hydrogenated oils and replacing them with palm oil and other safer alternatives, but trans fats are still widely used in processed foods.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

We’re asking the questions for wild game fish conservation

 Maia Bellon, Director, Washington State Department of Ecology I'm writing on behalf of Wild Game Fish Conservation International in support of on-gong efforts to protect and restore the uniquely-productive Quilcene Bay located in Jefferson County, on the western shores of Hood Canal and on Washington's Olympic Peninsula .

Estuaries such as Quilcene Bay are extremely valuable components of marine ecosystems. Hundreds of species of fish, birds of prey, marine mammals, terrestrial animals and other wild creatures as well as humans rely on healthy estuaries as has been widely documented, including in the efforts to protect and restore the Nisqually River estuary near Olympia.

Maia Bellon A growing number of individuals and organizations are concerned about the increase in suspended particulates observed in Quilcene Bay. Some suspect they are from marine mammals, some believe they are from home owners' failing septic systems and others believe they are from effluent originating from the Coast Seafoods hatchery located on Quilcene Bay. The presentation, "Barely Breathing" (Greenfleet Monitoring Expeditions) documents some of the observations of suspended particulates and one of the potential point sources. It also associates the declining fish populations in Quilcene Bay with the declining number of birds of prey that often frequented Quilcene Bay. What recent testing has been done by the Washington Department of Ecology to identify the source(s) of this pollution and what are the results of this most recent testing? Lastly, what enforcement options are available to the Department of Ecology associated with this known pollution occurring in this otherwise beautiful, productive marine environment?

 IKEA I am writing on behalf of Wild Game Fish Conservation International and our associates around planet earth to express our disbelief that IKEA continues to promote and sell open pen feedlot-raised Atlantic salmon to your unsuspecting customers.

IKEA management and shareholders should be ashamed of this practice as it's known worldwide that open pen salmon feedlots adversely impact public health, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies.

Many appropriately liken Norway's open pen salmon feedlots to weapons of mass destruction.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

The stores who sell these subpar products are likened to corporate whores - anything for a buck, no matter the consequences, even if it's to public health.

We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International respectfully request that IKEA immediately and permanently discontinue the sale of open pen feedlot-raised Atlantic salmon. Not doing this unacceptable as this practice puts people and our environment in harm's way.

 Elizabeth Young: Communications Manager, BC Salmon Farmers Association .

I'm writing on behalf of Wild Game Fish Conservation and our associates around planet earth to comment regarding the planned BCSFA display during the annual Kidz Discovery Farm.

BCSFA participation during the Kidz Discovery Farm exhibit in Vancouver is yet another attempt by the open pen salmon feedlot industry to "Greenwash" the many negative impacts directly associated with this filthy industry.

Here are the comments I penned following today's BCSFA press announcement:

Elizabeth Young

•

Even when teaching young children about the “benefits” of open pen salmon feedlots, the open pen salmon feedlot industry uses children’s toys to represent their subpar products which attempt but fail to replicate the benefits of wild Pacific salmon – truly shameful!

•

There really is nothing at all with this display to help “young people to understand better our food system and the role farmers play in it”, especially given that open pen salmon feedlots are no more farms than are beef, pork or chicken feedlots.

•

BCSFA: guilty in the first degree of deceiving our youth.

 World Wildlife Fund Given the many significant environmental successes by World Wildlife Fund over the years, it's truly unimaginable that such a stellar organization is partnered with the open pen salmon feedlot industry as this industry negatively impacts human health, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies.

Hopefully WWF will disassociate with the open pen salmon feedlot industry and begin to work to remove this filthy industry from the world's uniquely-productive oceans.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Canada Safeway I am writing on behalf of Wild Game Fish Conservation International and our associates around planet earth to express our gratitude to Canada Safeway for your effective approach to sustainable seafood.

Removing the SeaChoice red tagged (AVOID) products such as open pen feedlot-raised Atlantic salmon from your stores will help reduce the negative impacts the open pen salmon feedlot industry has on public health, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies.

Once again, Safeway sets the bar high for others in the food service industry. Thank you.

 Denny Heck, US Congressman, Washington state I'm writing as one of your constituents to applaud your commitment to restoring Puget Sound along with the marine life in it.

One of the issues that often is overlooked when attempting to restore marine habitats is that of open pen salmon feedlots.

These weapons of mass destruction must be removed immediately and permanently from wild Pacific salmon migration routes in Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands and Strait of Juan de Fuca if in fact the goal of restoring Puget Sound is to restore its wild Pacific salmon, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies.

Removal of these open pen salmon feedlots Washington's marine environments is long overdue.

from

Denny Heck

Your leadership in this important matter will truly be appreciated throughout wild Pacific salmon country.

 Safeway Given that farm raised Atlantic salmon sold in the Tumwater, Washington Safeway store have been red-labeled (AVOID) via multiple seafood safety standards, it's immoral and inhumane of Safeway to postpone removal of open pen feedlot salmon from your stores one more day.

Open pen salmon feedlots put human health, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies at significant risk.

Now is the time for Safeway to lead the efforts to rid the world's oceans of these weapons of mass destruction.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Monterey Bay Aquarium: Seafood Watch program We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International were recently surprised and bewildered upon reading "the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program moved Verlasso farmed salmon from Chile to its "yellow list" as a good alternative".

Given the many negative impacts of open pen salmon feedlots to public health, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies, this action removes any credibility associated with the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program.

We respectfully urge the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program to reverse this action as these farm raised salmon are not a good alternative to anything.

 Denny Heck, US Congressman, Washington state Your comments regarding the need to protect and restore Puget Sound from negative impacts such as those associated with open pen salmon feedlots are spot on.

The science is in - we cannot have viable wild salmon stocks and open pen salmon feedlots sited in wild salmon migration routes.

Of course, Washington state origin salmon and anadromous trout (steelhead, cutthroat, bull) currently migrate near and through salmon feedlots sited in Washington and British Columbia marine environments. Many of theses wild salmon and trout pass these feedlots at least twice; on their out migration as juveniles and on their return migration as adults returning to their natal rivers.

Your leadership regarding the removal of open pen salmon feedlots from Washington state is essential, if in fact Puget Sound is to be restored.

Denny Heck

Similarly, your collaboration/leadership within the US Congress is needed to work with British Columbia/Canada to remove open pen salmon feedlots from British Columbia marine waters as they significantly impact US-origin salmon and steelhead.

For further reference for you and your staff are the following items regarding Piscine Reovirus; a peer-reviewed scientific paper in Virology Journal and a documentary. Both document the identification of Piscine Reovirus in BC's farm-raised salmon and the known impacts it has to wild salmon and trout:

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Virology Journal “Whole-genome analysis of piscine reovirus (PRV) shows PRV represents a new genus in family Reoviridae and its genome segment S1 sequences group it into two separate subgenotypes” Alexandra Morton, et al http://www.virologyj.com/content/10/1/230 “Asking Norway about the Piscine Reovirus” Twyla Roscovich http://vimeo.com/70399899

 Denny Heck, US Congressman, Washington state (Meeting request to Congressman Heck’s scheduler) I'm writing on behalf of Wild Game Fish Conservation International to request a meeting with Congressman Heck to discuss the impacts of open pen salmon feedlots on human health, wild Pacific salmon, their ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies.

It's our contention that Washington's wild Pacific salmon and steelhead trout will never be recovered as long as open pen salmon feedlots are permitted to be sited in wild salmon migration routes in Washington and British Columbia.

As our representative in Congress, we are turning to Representative Heck to take a leadership role in removing open pen salmon feedlots that, according to current science, adversely impact Washington's $2 billion wild salmon based economy while putting public health, cultures, communities and economies in harm's way.

Denny Heck

Desired meeting date/time: As soon as possible Proposed meeting attendees: • Bruce Treichler, Wild Game Fish Conservation International, Olympia Washington • Jim Wilcox, Wild Game Fish Conservation International, Olympia, Washington • Alexandra Morton (tentative), independent marine biologist, Vancouver, British Columbia

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Responses to WGFCI:

 Rebecca

Reid, Regional Director, Fisheries Management Branch, Pacific Region, DFO

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

WGFCI response to DFO: Thank you for responding to our questions and concerns regarding the impacts of open pen salmon feedlots.

We appreciate your confirmation that, "The protection and conservation of Canada’s wild salmon is a priority for Fisheries and Oceans (DFO)".

Unfortunately, your statement, "The Canadian aquaculture industry operates under some of the strictest regulations in the world" leaves alot to be desired.

Clearly, the global aquaculture industry, under existing regulations, is directly responsible for risks to public health, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies. The same is true for the open pen salmon feedlot industry operating as a commercial fishery in British Columbia.

It's obvious that British Columbia cannot enjoy restored populations of iconic, wild Pacific salmon and steelhead trout while allowing open pen salmon feedlots to be sited in British Columbia's wild salmon migration routes.

Your leadership in removing open pen salmon feedlots from wild salmon migration routes will be appreciated - it's the right thing to do for the right reasons.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Safeway Canada, Customer Service Team Thank you for your recent correspondence expressing your kind words regarding the seafood selection for your local Safeway store. Positive comments from our customers are always appreciated.

We strive to ensure that Safeway standards and services exceed our customer's expectations. It is gratifying to know when we meet that goal. Your comments will be directed to the Store Manager and shared with the staff.

 IKEA, Central Customer Service Department Dear Sir/Madam, Thank you for your email.

IKEA only source salmon products from recognised, high quality salmon farms in Norway.

These farms work to ensure that the salmon are well looked after during every stage of their life, from fry to adulthood.

We regularly monitor and follow health advice on salmon consumption from relevant authorities and have confidence in their claims that salmon is healthy and safe to eat as part of a well balanced and varied diet.

In addition, IKEA regularly conducts microbiological and chemical tests to ensure that products are safe to eat.

 Safeway (USA), Safeway Customer Service Team We appreciate the time you have taken to bring this matter to our attention. We apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced. Your comments are important to us and will be forwarded to the Public Affairs Department for further review. Thank you for your time.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 US Congressman Denny Heck, Washington state 10th Congressional District “Concerned about open pen salmon farming” September 5, 2013

Thank you for contacting me about salmon feedlots. I appreciate your taking the time to share your views on this important issue.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we are fortunate to have an abundance of natural resources that we have a responsibility to safeguard for future generations. That is why I cofounded the Congressional Puget Sound Recovery Caucus, to bring folks together who share our views of protecting the environment. Shellfish farming, recreational fishing and other outdoor and tourism activities all depend on a healthy Puget Sound. We must do all that we can now– moving backwards is simply not an option.

Denny Heck

Protecting wild salmon and their habitats must be one of our first priorities as we work to protect the Puget Sound. Our salmon are world-famous and an incredibly important economic and environmental resource for our region. That's why I share your concerns about open-pen salmon farming. This practice has been shown to contaminate key salmon habitats and produce diseased fish.

While no legislation has yet been introduced in the 113th Congress relating to open-pen farming, I will be sure to follow this issue closely and keep your comments in mind.

Again, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on salmon farming. I hope to hear from you again soon as I continue working for you in Congress.

Sincerely, Denny Heck Member of Congress

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Community Activism, Education and Outreach:  Leave this world better than when you found it

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 It’s Everybody’s Thing!

Artwork by Andy Everson

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Salmon Alert - Farmed Atlantic Salmon: DON’T BUY IT! Facebook Group

Wild Salmon Warriors, Eddie Gardner (standing) and Jim Wilcox join forces to educate shoppers and others about public health risks associated with consuming Atlantic salmon raised in open pen salmon feedlots (salmon farms)

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

ď ś Fish farming killing off native species; boycott farmed salmon before it's too late June 5, 2013 (NaturalNews) Equally as menacing as the potential release of genetically-modified (GM) salmon into the wild, factory fish farms are a modern scourge responsible for killing off droves of native fish species all around the world. And unless immediate action is taken to address this problem - you can help by boycotting all farmed fish when you shop or dine out - wild salmon, an important "keystone" species that sustains entire ecosystems, could become extinct in the not-too-distant future.

While it is true that the general concept of fish farming has been around for centuries, modern day fish farms are exceptionally invasive and damaging, not only to the environment but also to wild fish species. As explained in the new documentary film Salmon Confidential, fish farms are spreading viruses and other diseases to wild fish species, which has led to major declines in wild fish populations. And in the case of wild fish populations near British Columbia, Canada, government corruption is largely to blame for these die-offs.

"When biologist Alexandra Morton discovers BC's wild salmon are testing positive for dangerous European salmon viruses associated with salmon farming worldwide, a chain of events is set off by government to suppress the findings," explains a synopsis of the film. "The film documents Morton's journey as she attempts to overcome government and industry roadblocks thrown in her path and works to bring critical information to the public in time to save BC's wild salmon."

You can view Salmon Confidential in its entirety on Vimeo: http://salmonconfidential.ca/ Why keystone species are necessary to sustain life It would be one thing for wild salmon to merely go extinct in isolation - as devastating as this would be, at least we would have all the other fish and sea life, right? Wrong. Because it is a keystone species, wild salmon are absolutely necessary for the proper function and sustenance of the entire ecosystem. Without wild salmon, in other words, many fish species would die, as would native human populations that rely on wild salmon for food.

"Salmon runs function as enormous pumps that push vast amounts of marine nutrients upstream to the headwaters of otherwise low productivity rivers," explains the Wild Salmon Center about the importance of wild salmon. "Salmon carcasses are the primary food for aquatic invertebrates and fish, as well as terrestrial fauna ranging from marine mammals to birds - eagles, ducks and songbirds - to terrestrial mammals, especially bears and humans."

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Wild salmon, in other words, are a delivery system for nutrients that sustains both freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems all across the planet. Over 40 species of birds and mammals just in southeast Alaska rely on salmon for food - just imagine how many species worldwide rely on salmon for survival? The threat to their preponderance as a species is great, and factory fish farms are the leading cause of this threat.

To make matters worse, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is planning to approve the first genetically-engineered (GE) salmon for commercial sale, which recent studies have shown will contaminate native species. So not only will wild salmon have to deal with diseases like infectious salmon anemia virus (ISA) and salmon alpha viruses from farmed fish, but they will also face genetic contamination from GE "Frankensalmon."

Be sure to check out the film Salmon Confidential to learn more: http://www.wildsalmoncenter.org/about/whySalmon.php You can also tell your local grocers, restaurants, and other food suppliers that you will no longer purchase any farmed fish, and urge them to stock only wild varieties harvested sustainably.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Celebration

Rally at Safeway: Salmon Ethics and Safeway’s Sustainable Seafood Policy August 27, 2013

We applaud Safeway’s sustainable seafood commitment, which is: “By 2015 all fresh and frozen seafood, as well as private labeled canned tuna will be sourced from sustainable and traceable sources, or be in a credible time-bound improvement project.” Under this policy, Canada Safeway is committed to not selling any species ranked as “red” or “unranked” as deemed by SeaChoice’s science-based assessments, and this includes farmed salmon: http://www.solutionsforseafood.org/cv4.

In an email to Eddie Gardner, Kelly Roebuck, SeaChoice Representative from Living Oceans Society, stated: “SeaChoice and Canada Safeway will continue to work on making progress towards the full phase out of redranked farmed salmon to a sustainable alternative by (if not before) the 2015 timeline.”

“Although this is definitely encouraging news, salmon ethics calls for red-listed farmed salmon to be phased out much sooner than 2015,” said Eddie Gardner. “Wild Salmon is in serious danger of extinction and the aquaculture industry may be the last nail in the coffin of this keystone species,” emphasized Gary Haggquist, member of the Chilliwack Boycott Chapter.

Albiano, one of the newly-trained Safeway staff, serving customers at the Sustainable Seafood counter.

“We need to encourage SeaChoice and Safeway to continue the work of educating Safeway customers why farmed salmon are red-listed – health concerns and environmental issues. This helps consumers make an informed decision to “avoid” contaminated farmed salmon,” Wayne Froese of the Chilliwack Boycott Chapter advised.

Jim Wilcox of Wild Game Fish Conservation International, based in the US, sent the following statement, “We applaud Canada Safeway for your meaningful and sorely needed seafood sustainability policy, a policy of extraordinary leadership that will go a great distance in our efforts to ensure robust populations of wild Pacific salmon. Your courageous seafood sustainability policy will also greatly improve public heath, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and wild salmon economies.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

The Union of BC Indian Chiefs Vice-President, Bob Chamberlain, tells us wild salmon face a perilous danger from fish farms on the BC coast. Chamberlain, Chief of the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxa’mis First Nation, and founder of the Wild Salmon Alliance, pointed out other countries are putting the brakes on net-pen fish farming. “I’ve been to Norway four or five times and they now ban fish farms on the National Fjords.” Chief Chamberlain keeps hope alive by observing the province has not allowed the expansion of fish farms in recent years, and Fraser River First Nations are very receptive to supporting the Wild Salmon Alliance. Mr. Chamberlain fully endorses the farmed Atlantic Salmon boycott.

Wayne Froese, Ian Stephen, Delores Adolph, Eddie Gardner, Denise Zalischuk and Adam Letellier Today, the Chilliwack Boycott group turned what was intended as a boycott rally at Safeway, to a celebration of Safeway’s new seafood policy. Wal-Mart, Costco and Superstore need to immediately red-list net-pen farmed salmon and encourage their customers to avoid this product for the sake of their health, the well being of wild salmon and its habitat. Using this new momentum, boycott action by the Chilliwack Chapter is scheduled for Wal-Mart Tuesday, September 24 and another one at Superstore in October.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Farmed salmon protesters claim victory The Chilliwack chapter of the Farmed Salmon Boycott held a celebration rally at the Safeway grocery store Tuesday after the company announced it would adopt a new sustainable seafood policy.

The group, also known as the Salmon Feedlot Boycott, has spent months publicly protesting the seafood sourcing practices of Safeway and other stores in Chilliwack and around B.C. Members claim that open net fish farms located on the approaches to migratory rivers used by wild salmon release toxins and diseases that contribute to the decline of wild salmon stocks.

Editorial Comment: Wild Game Fish Conservation International is proud to support the ongoing Farmed Salmon Boycott efforts by Eddie Gardner and others working to protect and restore BC's iconic wild Pacific salmon and their fragile ecosystems.

These fish of international importance deserve all the help each of us can provide.

At the same time, open pen salmon feedlots must be removed from wild salmon migration routes to remove their risks to public health, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies.

Salmon from such fish farms should not be sold to consumers, the group believes.

Leader Eddie Gardner has welcomed Safeway's new policy.

"This is encouraging news and we applaud this sustainable alternative to open net pens on the migration routes of wild salmon," said Gardner in a release. "This helps us move closer to making Chilliwack an Atlantic farmed fish free zone."

The manager of the Safeway at 45850 Yale Road led Gardner on a tour of the seafood section of the store, where a banner announcing the new policy was displayed.

Safeway Canada has partnered with SeaChoice, a Canadian comprehensive sustainable seafood program, to advise consumers to avoid red-listed seafood, such as net-pen farmed Atlantic salmon and Yellowfin tuna.

"Canada Safeway continues to build a strong base in our efforts to completely transition our fresh and frozen seafood products to sustainable sources by the end of 2015," notes the company's website.

The company also launched its own brand of canned tuna that was sustainably caught.

Safeway joins Save-On Foods, Coopers, and Price Smart in banning open net farmed Atlantic salmon, according to the Farmed Salmon Boycott.

Gary Haggquist, another boycott activist, added: "This will send a clear message to Superstore, Walmart and Costco that they need to direct the Aquaculture Stewardship Council to adopt the same policy as Safeway."

The Farmed Salmon Boycott is planning future protests at the Chilliwack locations of the Real Canadian Superstore and Walmart.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Sign Petition: Restore wild salmon, Ban salmon feedlots in BC Petitioning Green Party Leader Jane Sterk Restore wild salmon, Ban salmon feedlots in BC Petition by: Alexandra Morton Sointula, Canada Despite nearly 80,000 signatures, the government of British Columbia does not understand that they are threatening the coastal economy of BC by allowing Norway to raise Atlantic salmon in the most important wild salmon migration routes.

If you are concerned about European viruses spreading from Atlantic farmed salmon to wild salmon, please sign and share this petition. The 3 Norwegian companies that own 98% of the salmon farms in BC have money to lobby and advertise, we do not so if you want wild salmon it is up to us.

Thank you, Alexandra Morton www.alexandramorton.typepad.com

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 B.C. scientists rally against government restrictions, narrow funding September 16, 2013 David Suzuki, Alexandra Morton and other prominent B.C.-based scientists rallied on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery Monday to decry what they called the continued muzzling of federal scientists and to reason for broadened science funding.

The rally, one of more than a dozen held in cities across Canada, came on the same day the New Democratic Party tabled a motion seeking to eliminate restricted access to federal scientists and their research findings.

“The great strength of science is its openness to scrutiny, to examination and self-correction,” Suzuki told a crowd that numbered more than 200.

The author and environmentalist said scientific research was necessary for the public and other scientists to assess issues that include the merit of proposed projects such as the Northern Gateway pipeline, the hazards and benefits of genetically modified organisms, and the consequences of vanishing animal species.

“Science, not politics or corporations, provides by far the best assessment of the way the world works, and the information that we need to decide how we must act,” Suzuki said.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

“I believe that the muzzling of science represents a government that is willfully blind.”

Earlier this year, the federal information commissioner’s office launched an investigation into complaints the Harper government had been muzzling and restricting access to scientists.

Among scientists attending the rally was Abby Schwarz, a biologist who studies marine animal behaviour and ecology. Schwarz said the public should not assume federal research would find its way into the public domain.

“The government has its own ideas as to what is important and what is not,” she said.

Monday’s nationwide rallies were planned by Evidence for Democracy, a non-profit organization led in part by Katie Gibbs, a biologist and the organizer of the 2012 “death of evidence” protest on Parliament Hill.

Separate from the protests, NDP science and technology critic Kennedy Stewart tabled Monday a motion for federal departments to permit scientists to speak freely to the media and the public.

The motion would, among other things, allow federal scientists to present personal viewpoints and prohibit elected officials, ministerial staff and communications officers from directing scientists to suppress or alter their findings.

Gibbs said the timing of the NDP motion was uncoordinated.

Tzeporah Berman, the former co-director of Greenpeace International’s Global Climate and Energy Program, was a key speaker at the Vancouver rally. She said democracy thrives with shared knowledge.

“We need to call on our government to free our scientists and let them speak to us,” Berman said.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 ALEXANDRA MORTON,

Stand Up For Science, Vancouver, September 16,

2013 Watch video HERE

Courtesy of ButchNews

Alexandra Morton: “Why has the BC vet in charge of salmon farming resigned from the veterinary College of BC? Along with 2 CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) vets? None of them can practice veterinary science in BC.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Don Staniford: Galway Bay Is Not for Salmon Farms Watch video HERE

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 'Organic’ farmed salmon misleads conscientious consumers August 21, 2013 We are repeatedly being told the economic salvation of Ireland’s remote coastal and island communities will be massive new 'organic' salmon farms.

Barely a day goes by without either BIM, Marine Minister Simon Coveney, or the Irish Farmers' Association promoting this 'organic' label as a sustainable solution in a world suffering from collapsing fish stocks and increased demand for seafood.

But are the practises allowed what consumers have come to expect from an organic label?

Rather than saving wild fisheries, farmed salmon are further depleting them. Salmon are carnivores and in the wild their diet consists of smaller fish and crustaceans. Today, between 30 and 50 per cent of wild fisheries are going to feed farmed fish worldwide.

To combat this, the theory was organic salmon farmers would feed their fish on filleting waste from sea fisheries that have won sustainable status or products derived from other forms of organic aquaculture.

Unfortunately, this approach failed. There simply wasn’t enough supply to meet demand.

As a result, the rules have been changed to allow fish meal and oil from unsustainable sea fisheries and non-organic aquaculture operations to be used. This means 'organic' Irish salmon farming is supporting unsustainable sea fisheries and non-organic aquaculture practises. Further problems include ever-increasing chemical use and marine pollution.

Even the colour of 'organic' salmon is artificial. Wild salmon is pink, a result of the crustaceans in their diet, but farmed salmon, due to their artificial diet, is grey. Unsurprisingly, consumers do not want to eat grey salmon. For this reason, they’re fed the same dye as used in conventional salmon farms.

They also use chemical treatments, antibiotics, and sedatives to combat disease and parasites such as sea lice. Again, these are the same chemical treatments used in non-organic aquaculture. The chemicals designed to kill sea lice can also harm valuable crustaceans such as prawn, shrimp, crab, and lobster — no surprise given sea lice are also crustaceans. In recognition of the problems associated with excessive chemical use, EU organic regulations state only two sea lice treatments are allowed per year.

An exception is, however, allowed when compulsory eradication is required because the number of sea lice exceed the 'trigger level'. Today, this exemption is increasingly exploited as Ireland’s ongoing sea lice infestations thrive in our warming ocean.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

While salmon farms are required to keep data on such chemical use, this data is not gathered by any government authority. When requested, the Government has been unable to provide it, instead directing interested parties to the salmon farm operators who simply refuse to make this data public.

This begs the questions: How can organic salmon farms be allowed to use chemicals without any public record? And what have they got to hide? It’s not just chemicals.

Salmon farms, just like any other intensive form of livestock farming, produces waste (fish faeces and uneaten feed). While no land-based farm is allowed to discharge such waste directly into the environment, this is permitted in Irish organic salmon farming.

What does all this mean? Any consumer purchasing salmon labelled organic in the belief they are protecting the environment from pollution could not be more wrong.

The organic label also suggests improved fish welfare. Yet regulations state that every 10kg of organic salmon only needs a cubic metre of water. This equates to about a bathtub of water per adult salmon. To claim such a situation resembles their natural environment is absurd; in the wild a salmon would swim up to 14,000km. Indeed, the only resemblance between the open ocean and an organic salmon farm is that it is suspended in seawater.

Taking the latest research together, sea lice from salmon farms can cause anything from a 40 to 50 per cent reduction in wild salmon returning to our rivers. It is for this reason recommendations were made by a government report as early as 1994 that no salmon farm should be placed within 20km of a wild salmon river. Yet organic standards have no such requirement, and are often located only 1km or 2km off salmon river mouths.

Wild salmon face further problems because Irish salmon farms import smolt (young salmon) often from Norwegian stock that bears no relation to the local wild salmon. As farmed salmon often escape, they in turn breed with wild salmon, weakening them genetically. Wild salmon are now outnumbered by escaped farmed salmon in many of Norway’s rivers.

Wild salmon are not the only species at risk. Sea birds, seals, otters and small cetaceans (dolphins and porpoises) are attracted to salmon farms as a ready food source. They get tangled in nets and drown.

Consumers have come to respect the organic label. They are willing to pay more to source food that is free of artificial chemicals and will not damage the environment.

The ‘organic’ farmed salmon label not only misleads the conscientious consumers who choose ‘organic’ salmon believing they are protecting the environment, it also brings all organic labelling into disrepute.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Not So Wild About Salmon September 9, 2013 Here’s Jenny Scobie, Chair of Protect Wild Scotland, writing in The Sunday Herald:

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 40 Million Salmon Can’t Be Wrong Look and listen HERE to learn about this worthy project and how you can help it succeed

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Europe's Anglers Call for Salmon Farming to be Contained September 2, 2013

In a show of unity, Europe’s anglers have come together to call for farmed Atlantic salmon to be produced in closed or contained farm systems.

A resolution passed last week at the general assembly of the European Anglers Alliance (EAA), representing the interests of 3 million recreational anglers across 13 European nations, demands that all farmed Atlantic salmon should be produced in closed systems.

EAA also urges all fish farming nations across Europe to pursue rapid development towards more sustainable practices that reduce the impact on wild salmon populations and urges policy makers to use the “precautionary principle” and “polluter pays principle” to facilitate a rapid transition towards more environmentally friendly and sustainable salmon farming practices.

Escaped farmed salmon and sea lice infestations continue to have a devastating impact on wild Atlantic salmon and Europe’s seatrout populations – many of which have seen severe declines, or have been destroyed completely. So far, the focus has been to fish-out escaped farmed salmon as well as using chemical and biological measures to remove lice in the farms. These measures have unfortunately not solved the problems.

Closed or contained systems, either at sea or on land, would reduce the infestation of sea lice among farmed fish, reduce the risk of farmed fish escaping into the environment and dramatically reduce the damage done by waste, pollutants and chemical residues from disease treatment entering the natural environment.

Jan Kappel, EAA’s Secretary General, said: “It may come as a surprise to most people that in many rivers there are more farmed than wild salmon. The escaped farmed fish compete with and genetically pollute our wild salmon stocks. It is well known that sea lice spread from the salmon farms and harm wild salmon stocks. To our greatest surprise Norway has banned recreational angling in the Hardangerfjord where salmon stocks have declined due to the impact from extensive salmon farming.

This doesn’t make sense. The polluter should be managed before other legitimate and sustainable users like recreational anglers are denied access to what used to be healthy salmon stocks.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Choose Your Seafood Wisely - Keep Wild Atlantic Salmon Leaping ASF raises funds to support conservation of wild Atlantic salmon, and also supports efforts of organizations to offer consumers guidelines for sustainable seafood use.

August 26, 2013 The fact that the King of Fish inspires many people is no surprise, and this is reinforced by the number of expected attendees at numerous fund raisers in the United States and Canada taking place this fall. From September to November, the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF), an international charitable organization, will raise funds for Atlantic salmon conservation at dinners and receptions in Chicago, New York, Montreal, Ottawa, St. Johns Newfoundland and Saint John New Brunswick, with the help of live and silent auctions of treasured items that appeal to anglers and non-anglers alike.

Seehttp://asf.ca/events.html .

Wild Atlantic salmon are listed as endangered in Maine and their southern Canadian range and cannot be fished. The good news is that there are still many more northern rivers in Canada that draw anglers from the United States, Canada and overseas to fly fish for this amazing fish. Known historically as “the leaper” because of its acrobatic ability to jump up to 14 feet in the air, people can still meet this creature face-to-face, whether on the shores of a wild salmon river or in interpretive centres scattered throughout eastern Canada and northeastern United States. Many North Americans recognize the importance of these fish to the environment as they make their challenging migrations from natal streams to high seas feeding grounds and back again to their birthplaces to spawn.

Where you do NOT find wild Atlantic salmon is in grocery stores and restaurants. The vulnerable health of wild Atlantic salmon populations brought an end to the commercial fishery for them in the United States in the mid twentieth century and in Canada, by the twenty-first century. Instead, grocery stores and restaurants offer farmed Atlantic salmon for sale.

Many sustainable seafood advisory groups that are raising awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources actually advise consumers to avoid farmed Atlantic salmon. One of the reasons for this is the threat of genetic and environmental impacts of salmon that are grown in open net pen cages in the sea. http://asf.ca/aquaculture-in-need-of-change.html .

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

For more than two decades, ASF has studied the interactions between wild and farmed salmon that escape sea cages and enter wild salmon rivers. Such a river is the Magaguadavic in southwest New Brunswick, the centre of the salmon farming industry in the Bay of Fundy. The Magaguadavic is the North American index river for researching what happens when farmed salmon escape the confines of their nets in the ocean, because of storm and predator damage, or leak from their freshwater hatcheries, and enter wild salmon rivers.

Scientific studies have documented that farmed escapees actually can survive in these rivers, competing with wild salmon for food and habitat and can interbreed with wild stocks, causing fitness reduction in wild salmon as a result of the interbreeding http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3131974/ .

In other words, the interbreeding ruins the ability of wild Atlantic salmon to jump waterfalls and make their amazing migrations. The river’s wild salmon run will, over time, die out. The run to the Magaguadavic has been reduced to only one or two wild salmon annually, despite comprehensive restoration attempts, from an average run of 800 in the 1980s before the salmon farming industry gained its strong foothold.

Consumers who wish to eat products that are grown in an environmentally-sustainable way can check out the websites that provide this advice, such as Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch. http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_recommendations.aspx , Sea Choice http://www.seachoice.org/ and Vancouver Aquarium Ocean http://www.oceanwise.ca/ .

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Salmon Confidential featured during Vancouver International Film Festival Director: Twyla Roscovich PROD Department of Wild Salmon

Show times: Oct 02 06:00 pm, Oct 04 03:40 pm International Village #9 This shocking documentary by Twyla Roscovich tells the behind-the-scenes story of the biggest environmental government cover-up ever perpetrated on British Columbians. When biologist Alexandra Morton discovers BC’s wild salmon are testing positive for dangerous European salmon viruses associated with salmon farming worldwide, a chain of events is set off by the government’s efforts to suppress the findings. Tracking viruses, Morton moves from courtrooms, into British Columbia’s most remote rivers, Vancouver grocery stores and sushi restaurants. The film documents Morton’s journey as she attempts to overcome government and industry roadblocks thrown in her path while working to bring critical information to the public in time to save BC’s wild salmon. We gain surprising insight into the inner workings of government agencies, and share rare footage of the bureaucrats tasked with managing our fish and the safety of our food supply.

“For years, Alexandra Morton has soldiered on providing evidence of, and calling for action on, the catastrophic state of wild salmon. Government and industries have thwarted her over and over again.

This film clearly documents that governments do not put protection of wild salmon at the top of their priorities and Canadians should be outraged. I am.”—David Suzuki

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Salmon Disease Symptom Reporting – Poster now available HERE

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Chief

Dolores O'Donaghey, Boston Bar First Nations – Salmon Fishways Centennial Celebration “It will take all people working together to resolve the wild Pacific salmon crisis” Watch video HERE

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Wild Salmon Warrior Radio with Jay Peachy – Tuesday Mornings • •

August 20, 2013 Program with Dr. Claudette Bethune and Jim Wilcox September 10, 2013 with Rod Marining, Louise Reynolds and Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Wild Salmon Warriors All Star Basketball Team

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 INTRODUCING THE WILD SALMON WARRIORS

Wild Salmon Warriors (WSBB) is a community oriented sports team, based in the Coast Salish Territories in British Columbia Canada.

We are focused on giving service to wild salmon through promoting healthy living, culture and creative expression.

We aim to assist low-income, inner city communities and serve to showcase positive alternatives for high risk youth.

Inspired by indigenous values, we believe in providing direct access to nature and environmental awareness as a key component to a healthy living model.

Through our exhibition games, tournaments and outreach, we hope to express these values to the communities we serve.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Wild Salmon Warriors Community Basketball Team

Official Signed Game Ball, thank you to Abbie Sports for your support and to Jim Wilcox of Wild Game Fish Conservation International for his donation to the team.

Robert Holler (L) - team manager. Demitri Harris (R) - men’s captain with official game ball to be signed and sold to raise funds for the team

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Wild Salmon Warriors defeat the VPD Basketball Team at the inaugural Wild Salmon Warrior Challenge at Kits Beach – August 31, 2013

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Wild Salmon Warrior News August 2013 On July 11, Virology Journal published a scientific paper co-authored by Dr. Fred Kibenge, myself and others reporting that a highly contagious European salmon virus is in BC. It appears piscine reovirus (PRV) arrived in BC waters around 2007. Virology is the first publication to note the occurrence of the virus outside of Norway. The authors show that the virus they found in BC closely matches the same virus in diseased Atlantic farmed salmon in Lofoten, Norway.

There is strong scientific evidence that Atlantic farmed salmon carried an exotic virus into BC. PRV is associated with a serious salmon heart disease. For anyone who takes a look at the science, it’s pretty hard to deny this one. Perhaps that is why Fisheries and Oceans Canada is completely silent.

Will the industry get away with it?

I first reported piscine reovirus in 2012 when I began buying farmed Atlantic salmon in BC supermarkets to test for European viruses. These fish also tested positive for segments of the infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAv) and salmon alpha virus (SAV). These are all European viruses killing massive numbers of farmed salmon in Norway. None of these viruses were previously reported in BC. Most widespread in my samples is PRV. In 100 Atlantic farmed salmon sampled in BC supermarkets, the PRV infection rate was a staggering 95+%. PRV is a tough, durable virus more easily detected than the fragile ISA virus. Unfortunately, these findings came too late to be included in the Cohen Commission into the decline of the Fraser sockeye, but they would have been important for this reason. Norwegian scientists don’t think a salmon with the heart disease associated with PRV can swim up a river.

Up to 90% of some sockeye runs that make it to the lower Fraser River no longer make it up the river to their spawning grounds. If close to 100% of the BC Atlantic salmon tested in BC supermarkets markets are infected with PRV, it stands to reason, that many, if not most, salmon farms on the Fraser sockeye migration route are also infected; BC wild salmon have to swim past many salmon farms to get to and from the river. One scientist warned that PRV can spread like “wildfire.”

Did this virus really come from Norway? Is it dangerous to wild salmon? Could it be responsible for declines in wild BC salmon? To answer the first question, we can only look at the science. PRV has never been reported outside of Norway. The strain in BC matches the strain in Norway.

Is it dangerous to salmon? Three scientific papers report that PRV appears to be causing Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation (HSMI). Marine Harvest is one of the largest salmon aquaculture companies in the world. The Norwegian company has operations in BC and cites HSMI as the second leading cause of death of their salmon worldwide.

Could it be a factor in BC wild salmon declines? Because we were finding it in wild salmon, filmmaker Twyla Roscovich went to Norway in May to ask the experts, on camera. The scientists were unanimous, emphatically stating that PRV causes HSMI, which damages the salmon’s heart to the point they are unable to pump blood. One scientist warned BC to get PRV- infected Atlantic salmon out of its waters before it’s too late. View the short film Asking Norway About the Piscine Reovirus at SalmonConfidential.ca The Department of Wild Salmon is asking for the public’s help to stop the spread of this virus. For more info and to get involved, visit SalmonConfidential.ca – Alexandra Morton is an independent biologist in BC working to protect wild salmon. www.alexandramorton.typepad.com

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Longview coal hearing draws foes, backers Four more are scheduled on $643 million project, including 1 in Vancouver About 2,000 people jammed into the Cowlitz Expo Center on Tuesday evening, capping six hours of hearings on a proposed Longview coal terminal in which both sides rallied vigorously but without the incivility law enforcement officials had feared.

With opponents dressed in red and supporters donning blue, the Expo Center resembled a mixed-party political convention, with the reds, many bused in from outside the area, having a decided majority.

Editorial Comment: Wild Game Fish Conservation International continues to oppose the irresponsible transportation of American coal by rail and its illadvised export to foreign markets:  Public health risks  Environmental risks  Community, cultural and economic risks

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Outside, a sign on a 12-foot-tall inflatable globe declared “Coal is poison,” and a majority of people shared those sentiments when they urged state, federal and Cowlitz County regulators to conduct a broad environmental review of a $643 million Millennium Bulk Terminals proposal to export 44 million tons of coal annually at the old Reynolds Metals site.

“How much more does my neighborhood have to suffer? … Justice, not expedience, needs to be the guiding light in this process,” said Dawn Hansen, a nurse who lives in the Highlands neighborhood, located about a mile from the site.

Robert Stewart, Millennium’s general manager, testified that “the old Reynolds site is a premium site for bulk exporting commodities.”

Most of the speakers, drawn by lottery, were from the Cowlitz County area, because participants on both sides handed their tickets to pre-determined speakers in an apparent effort to boost local voices.

Four buses hauled environmental supporters in from out of town for the evening meeting.

Opponent Dawson Dunning, whose family owns a ranch in Eastern Montana near a proposed coal mine, said he traveled to Longview because he’s worried the terminal will create demand that will hurt his business.

“Longview is connected to Montana ranches because the coal that comes from our backyard ends up on your doorstep. Longview is the most important town in Montana today,” Dunning said.

Cowlitz County officials said the Expo Center has a capacity of 1,800. Most seats were full, and people also milled around the hallways.

About 150 speakers testified at the hearing. Opponents worried about the potential damage from coal dust and the traffic gridlock the terminal could create in Longview with 16 train trips — eight roundtrips— heading through town daily. Millennium employees and supporters argued that they can handle coal safely and cleanly while creating 135 permanent jobs and 2,000construction jobs.

“Our site is very clean, and we as employees keep it that way,” Millennium employee Dixie Dailey said.

Labor unions have been among Millennium’s biggest supporters, but Tuesday’s hearing exposed a few cracks in union solidarity.

Noting they don’t speak for the union, two Vancouver-area longshoremen said they’re worried about long-term environmental effects of the terminal.

“I like to clam dig. I like to fish. I like to take my kids in the environment,” said Cager Clabaugh, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Vancouver-based Local 4.

Jake Whiteside, president of the Longview-based ILWU Local 21, said the majority of his local membership favors the terminal, but there still are divisions. He added that he believes Millennium is a good fit, and the company has made a good effort to work with unions.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

“Longview is set up like (city founder) R.A. Long set it up — for industry. Millennium is doing good in this community because they’re cleaning up a site that’s been tainted for a long time,” Whiteside said, speaking of the contamination left behind when Reynolds closed down in 2001.

Despite the hype that preceded the hearing and the heated national debate over the issue, no media outlets from outside the greater Portland area covered the session.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held the first hearing session from 1 to 4 p.m., which was much more sparsely attended. Cowlitz County and the state Department of Ecology conducted the second go-round in the evening, from 5 to 8 p.m.

In the hour between the two hearings, Millennium and opponents held dueling, back-to-back rallies.

Several hundred anticoal protesters cheered and unfurled banners despite a downpour that soaked their clothes through.

Dan Carpitha of Enumclaw brought a flute to play a Native American prayer song before both the rally and the second round of hearings. His mother’s tribe is the same as Sacajawea's, he noted, and he’s opposed to the coal terminal, saying he’s concerned about generations to come.

The promised coal jobs, he said, remind him of “a bartender who continues to serve an obviously intoxicated customer because he needs the money.”

Wearing a red anti-coal shirt and purple hat, Doris Disbrow stood on a sidewalk waving at cars, cheering when she got a thumbs up and brushing off people who yelled that they support coal.

“I love Longview and I’ve been involved in historic preservation, so I know the importance of industry. … I didn’t put an (anticoal) sign in my yard until two weeks ago because I was still deciding. If it was 2,000 jobs, I’d be all for it, but not for 130. … I’m not against development and jobs, but I don’t want coal jobs,” she said.

Inside the floral building on the Cowlitz County Fairgrounds, about 200 Millennium supporters gathered behind a banner highlighting Cowlitz County’s high unemployment rates.

“This is exactly the type of private investment we need in our community,” said Longview City Councilman Mike Wallin.

Near the main entrance to the fairgrounds, Kelso’s Jeff Childers, a Millennium employee, handed out blue stickers and talked to visitors. Coal opponents, he said, don’t really understand how often coal is used in society. Water treatment plants use coal filtration, as do respirators, he said.

“This is the most family-oriented company I’ve worked for,” he said. “I see this as a good thing.”

The purpose of the “scoping” hearings was to gather public suggestions for what issues should evaluated in the environmental impact studies of the terminal proposal. Four others will be held statewide over the next several weeks, including one in Vancouver.

Officers from three police agencies and two fire agencies were stationed around the fairgrounds and Expo Center. No disruptions were reported. Supporters waved signs and gave a thumbs up to support speakers but did not applaud, at the request of moderators.

Police and firefighters questioned the man who inflated the giant globe, Eric Ross of Vashon Island, because of concerns that a similar prop had exploded during another anti-coal rally in the Puget Sound area last year.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Robert Redford Calls Alberta Oil 'The Dirtiest Oil On The Planet' In New AntiKeystone XL Video (VIDEO)

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Robert Redford is calling Alberta oil "the dirtiest oil on the planet."

Just days after singer Neil Young publicly denounced the Alberta oilsands, Redford appears in a video attack on the Keystone XL pipeline as part of a new climate change campaign.

The video is just one of several put out Monday by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on DemandCleanPower.org, an activist website aimed at collectingpetition signatures against the Keystone XL pipeline.

“Developing the Canadian tarsands is destroying our great northern forest at a terrifying rate. It is producing enough carbon pollution to wreak havoc with our climate for decades to come. And the pipelines that carry this toxic tarsands fuel are a direct threat to our own drinking water supplies,” Redford, a longtime anti-oilsands activist, says in the video.

He adds that Alberta oil is, "great for oil companies, but it is killing our planet.”

Redford is well known for his on-going crusade against Calgary-based TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL pipeline.

In 2011 he appeared in a three-minute video on the New York Times' website, speaking out against the pipeline that, if built, would travel through several U.S. states.

Redford has also written at length about the destruction he believes the pipeline would cause in a series of blog posts for The Huffington Post.

"We already know that tar sands development causes more carbon pollution than conventional oil.

And now a slew of experts from industry insiders to financial analysts all agree that the Keystone XL is the linchpin for Big Oil's plan to more than triple tar sands production over the next 20 years -- and the climate disruption that will follow," he wrote in a post published today. "...The Obama administration can help North America solve our climate problem is by rejecting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and calling on the Canadian government to cap tar sands production," he continues.

Celebrities Carole King, Juila Louis-Dreyfus and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., also recorded videos for NRDC's campaign.

"Tell President Obama to reject the climatedestroying, Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and lead the way to a clean energy future instead," reads the website's call to action.

President Barack Obama has not decided whether to grant approval to the pipeline. The decision is likely to come sometime next year.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Idle No More National Day of Action - Are you attending?

Vancouver Art Gallery: 750 Hornby Street, Vancouver, British Columbia October 7, 2013 at 8:00pm

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Call to action (Canada): Report all Poachers and Polluters

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Who you gonna call? - Fish Busters

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Impacts of open pen salmon feedlots

 Norway's awful gift to BC

Watch Video HERE

August 25, 2013

Over 90 per cent of B.C. farmed salmon are testing positive for a recently imported Norwegian virus that causes lesions in the hearts of salmon, according to independent research. Should we be concerned about its effects on wild salmon, one of B.C.’s most valuable natural resources?

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

There's solid evidence in a peer-reviewed scientific paper, Virology Journal, that the salmon farming industry appears to have imported an exotic virus considered to be the causative agent of a serious salmon disease. For anyone who takes a look at the science on this, it’s pretty hard to deny. So far, Fisheries and Oceans Canada have made no public statement about this virus, which appears to be widespread in BC farmed salmon that are being raised on the major migration routes of our wild salmon.

The piscine reovirus in BC was first made public by biologist Alexandra Morton in 2012 when she began sampling salmon in BC for European viruses.

The reason she went looking for European viruses in the first place was because during the Cohen Commission she gained access to the previously confidential fish health files of the provincial farm salmon veterinarian, Dr. Gary Marty.

In the fish health reports he provided to the industry, Morton found references to several different European diseases, enough to make her suspicious. She began sending samples of both wild and farmed BC salmon to a few different high profile fish viral labs.

Sure enough, she began to receive positive test results for segments of the infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAv), the piscine reovirus (PRV) and salmon alpha virus (SAV). While none of these viruses are reported as natural to BC, they happen to be some of the most common and devastating viruses in salmon farms in Norway.

The most widespread virus Morton has been finding is PRV in BC farmed salmon: a virus that is described to spread like wildfire through a population. She could only gain access to grocery and sushi farmed salmon for testing, but there she found a staggering infection rate of over 90% in the farmed salmon she sampled, all of which had been raised in BC waters.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

PRV is a durable, easily detectable virus that lives a long time after the fish dies, unlike the ISA virus, which begins to fragment shortly after the fish dies, making it much more difficult get the whole sequence from store-bought fish.

After Morton went public with her findings, Dr. Gary Marty also announced that he had also found very high PRV infection rates in farmed salmon in 2010 (75 per cent). Morton lobbied the Cohen Commission to review this new information, because the virus is reported to weaken the salmon heart and many Fraser sockeye reach the river but are unable to swim up it.

Unfortunately, it was too late, the Commission had been officially closed for months, and so Justice Bruce Cohen never heard the evidence that the vast majority of salmon farms on the Fraser sockeye migration route are likely infected with PRV. This is significant, considering nearly all the Fraser sockeye must pass by a multitude of farms likely infected with this highly contagious exotic salmon virus.

There are questions to be answered: How dangerous is this virus? Does it cause disease in BC? Did it in fact come in eggs imported from Norway?

Viral diseases are those that are caused by a particular virus. Beginning in 1999, salmon farms in Norway were increasingly being hit with a mysterious heart disease called Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation (HSMI). No one knew what was causing it until 2010 when a group of researchers headed by Ian Lipkin, director of Columbia University’s Center for Infection and Immunity, used genome sleuthing to uncover the identity of the causative agent of HSMI: a new virus called piscine reovirus.

This finding was subsequently confirmed by another group of researchers in Norway, who came to the same conclusion, PRV causes the distinctive heart disease in salmon. Since then several other studies have been published supporting these findings (see the research papers here).

HSMI is a serious salmon disease, which is now very common in salmon farms in Norway. In fact, in its 2012 annual report, Marine Harvest lists HSMI as the second leading cause of fish losses for the company.

Although the disease may only kill 10-20 per cent of salmon in a farm, 100 per cent can be affected by the heart lesions to varying degrees. HSMI damages the heart and muscle tissue, which interferes greatly with the fish’s ability absorb oxygen and swim.

Salmon sick with HSMI swim slowly, and often rest against the side of the pens for long periods. It typically takes several weeks for a salmon to recover from this disease. Although it is a problem for the salmon farming industry, it can live with it since most infected farm salmon eventually do recover.

It is alarming, however, to think what HSMI means for wild salmon, which do not have the luxury of resting for weeks while they recover.

Still, the BC salmon farming industry and government deny that PRV has any connection to HSMI, calling it an “orphan virus” — a virus without a disease — despite the numerous scientific papers which refer to PRV as the "causative agent" of HSMI. We decided the best way to clarify what piscine reovirus means for salmon in BC was to go directly to Norway and interview the scientists who are currently dealing directly with this virus.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

In May, I flew to Norway to interview scientists at various universities, vaccine companies and veterinary associations. My first question was simple:“Does PRV cause HSMI?” Across the board, all the scientists were unanimous in their assertion that piscine reovirus was indeed the causative agent of HSMI. This was from scientists who were working for the industry, some of who were conducting experiments with the virus by injecting into the salmon to study the heart lesions in an attempt to develop a vaccine for the industry, and who were oblivious to the controversy about the virus in BC. The next argument given by industry and government in BC to explain their lack of action is that perhaps PRV has always been in BC and we just never knew it. However, this doesn’t hold water either. In July 2013 Alexandra Morton coauthored the first scientific paper on PRV outside of Norway in Virology Journal.

Dr. Fred Kibenge, Morton and others, show that the viral sequences found in Atlantic salmon in BC most closely match a PRV in infected farmed Atlantic salmon in the Norwegian Lofoten Archipelago, meaning that the virus almost certainly came from Norway. You can't have nearly identical viruses existing in two different oceans. Viruses gradually mutate and the slight changes in the BC variant suggest it arrived sometime around 2007.

If government and industry had a valid disagreement to this published science, they could submit a scientific rebuttal to the Virology Journal.

The real question is: why wouldn’t we have the same European disease as Norway? We have the same companies, farming the same salmon, with the same virus.

BC wild salmon could easily be contracting the virus as juveniles as they pass the farms on their way out to sea. The Norwegian scientists say it takes a several months after contracting the virus for the heart damage to develop, by that time, the wild salmon would be well on their way to the North Pacific, possibly unable to catch food and escape predators.

Millions could be disappearing due to this disease and no one would ever know. It is baffling that no one seems to be paying any attention to this serious threat to one of BC’s most important public resources.

Another aspect to this issue is that this virus is quietly present wherever infected farmed salmon are sold. Since it is such a durable virus, when people wash farmed fillets under running water, PRV could be entering watersheds from the Fraser River, to California and Asia. PRV not only infects salmon, but has also been found in herring and trout with unknown consequences.

The Department of Wild Salmon is asking for the public’s help in stopping this virus from spreading, and determining what impacts it may be having on BC wild salmon. Although infected fish often show no outer symptoms, two common symptoms are soft flesh and heart tissue.

We have created a poster listing a number of fish disease symptoms that could be linked to European viruses. The poster can be downloaded from our website or we can mail waterproof copies to people interested in putting them up at fish cleaning stations, harbors, marinas, etc.

For more info on the virus, disease symptom reporting and what you can do visit SalmonConfidential.ca and Deptwildsalmon.org. Our government’s lack of response is not acceptable as wild salmon are too valuable.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Growth in salmon farms not sustainable September 15, 2013 I READ the article by Eddie Barnes “Human rights row over salmon” (News, 8 September) and was shocked by comments attributed to Paul Wheelhouse MSP, Scottish Government Minister for Environment and Climate Change.

How can the minister for the environment possibly believe “we must continue to look at ways of sustainably growing” the salmon farming industry? What he should be doing is stopping expansion of the industry while we still have a few sea lochs which are not blighted by the presence of floating factory fish farms.

First Minister Alex Salmond, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead and the minister for environment and climate change suggest salmon farming is sustainable. It is not.

Tonne for tonne the industry uses more wild fish as salmon feed than it produces finished product. Salmon farmers rely on chemicals and additives to medicate, colour and delouse their stock.

Don Staniford

Salmon farms are a source of pollution which damages the seabed around farm sites. Government licenses the shooting of seals by salmon farmers who cannot be bothered installing seal exclusion nets.

Alex Salmond and his ministers should hang their heads in shame for encouraging the expansion of salmon farming and colluding with Norway to con the Chinese into buying what is basically Norwegian salmon with a tartan tint. China banned the import of Norwegian salmon after Norway gave the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident.

Two-thirds of salmon farms in Scotland are Norwegian owned. Last month I did a stock check in a supermarket in Argyll, a county with a large number of salmon farms. All of the fresh chilled salmon on sale was from Norway. Are the Norwegians selling their home-grown salmon here while their Scottish farms are busy supplying the Chinese market?

The way the Scottish Government has bent over backwards to appease the Chinese is disgraceful.

Allowing the degradation of the Scottish marine environment while acting as middle-man for the Norwegian salmon producers who are profiting from this trade is unforgivable.

John F Robins, Secretary to Save Our Seals Fund SHAME on the SNP for selling Scotland’s family silver off on the cheap to China. The SNP seems hell-bent on mortgaging Scotland’s future to underwrite a disease-ridden salmon farming industry which is ethically and environmentally bankrupt. Draining our oceans of wild fish to feed to farmed salmon for export to the Far East is a false economy of Ponzi-size proportions.

By sanctioning a 50 per cent increase in salmon farming production by 2020, Scottish ministers are selling Scotland’s wild salmon down the Yangtze River.

Don Staniford, director, Protect Wild Scotland

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 UBC Indian Chiefs vice-president urges protection of wild salmon August 26, 2013 Union of BC Indian Chiefs vice-president, Bob Chamberlin, told a gathering last week in the Chilcotin that the resilient Chilko sockeye salmon face a perilous danger from fish farms on the BC coast.

Chamberlin, who is chief of the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation of northern Vancouver Island and founder of the Wild Salmon Alliance, attended the Tsilhqot’in Nation Gathering Aug. 20 and 21 near Hanceville. He said fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago between Northern Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia is inundated with fish farms that are spreading diseases like infectious salmon anemia to the wild salmon stocks.

Bob Chamberlin (with mic)

“Infectious salmon anemia is a virus that weakens the hearts of migrating salmon so they can’t make it back to their spawning grounds,” Chamberlin said. He added that one of the key attributes of the Chilko sockeye is their strong hearts.

He said Chilko smolts making their way to the ocean, have to pass the Broughton Archipelago fish farms. Despite attempts by the fish farm regulators to place the pens where they can be flushed by tidal waters, the small fish are helpless to swim against the tidal flows and are often swept right into contaminated waters.

In his effort to lobby against the proliferation of fish farms, Chamberlin says he is continually faced with the deafness of government. He said one measure of his success is that the provincial government hasn’t allowed the number of fish farms to expand in recent years.

He said other countries are putting the brakes on fish farming.

“I’ve been to Norway four or five times and they now ban fish farms in the national fjords.”

Chamberlin says his people of the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation at Gilford Island are fish eaters and clam diggers. He has worked tirelessly to bring the First Nations together to preserve the wild salmon stocks.

“The Fraser River First Nations are very receptive to supporting the Wild Salmon Alliance. There are a lot of impacts like global warming, fish farms and habitat degradation affecting our fish.”

Chamberlin asked, “What can we do differently to save wild salmon?”

Then he answered his own question: “We can continue to bring First Nations together.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

1998  Fish Farms - Zero Tolerance: Indian Salmon Don't Do Drugs Salmon are a resource treasured and shared by all Indigenous Peoples within British Columbia. They are born in one area, grow to maturity in another, and live their adult lives in marine waters, to return to the place of their birth for their life cycle to continue. Salmon bind all of our Peoples together. When salmon are threatened, the livelihood and way of life of all Indigenous Peoples are threatened.

Salmon and all marine life are a vital resource to all Indigenous Nations. Any actions which threaten salmon or marine life threaten our well-being and the livelihood of our Peoples. Fish farms destroy their immediate environment and threaten marine life and wild fish stocks.

All Indigenous Nations have territories which include either oceans, rivers, streams or lakes. Each and every Indigenous Nation will be impacted if the current moratorium on fish farms is lifted. As Indigenous Peoples, we have a shared responsibility to work together in order to preserve and protect the fishery resource.

Fish farms seriously and severely impact Aboriginal Title Lands and Waters. Water is contaminated, poisoning salmon, shellfish, and other marine life. The immediate dangers include disease, destruction of habitat, and escaped farmed salmon displacing other marine life (such as herring and oolichan) or colonizing wild salmon stocks.

All marine resources, most notably salmon, are already deeply depleted as a result of mismanagement. Fish farms only serve to further endanger salmon stocks which are already fighting for survival.

When our salmon, oolichan, shell fish and other marine resources die or are attacked, our Peoples are attacked.

The Aboriginal Right to fish is vital to all Indigenous Nations and fish farms threaten to destroy that right. We will not let this happen.

The fishery has sustained our Peoples’ for generations. We were handed this resource which our ancestors held in trust for us and we must ensure that the fishery is an inheritance which we pass to our own future generations. Now that fish farms threaten to destroy the fishery, we have a responsibility to protect and guard this precious natural resource. As Indigenous Peoples, it is our turn to honour our responsibility and fight to sustain the future of the fishery. This is our obligation both to the salmon and all marine life and to our future generations.

READ ENTIRE UNION OF BC INDIAN CHIEFS’ ARTICLE HERE

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Scientists claim sea lice in farms kill one third of wild salmon EVIDENCE cited by the fish-farming industry that sea lice kills only a tiny fraction of wild salmon is seriously flawed, it has been claimed.

NET GAIN: A controversial study claims only 1% of wild salmon deaths are attributable to infested fish farms.

The scientific study published in Agricultural Sciences by a scientist of Ireland's Marine Institute, which, it has been claimed, justified the salmon fishing industry's stance that a mere 1%-2% of wild salmon deaths are due to sea lice, has been challenged in a key publication.

A recent critique by scientists from Scotland, Canada and Norway and led by Martin Krkosek of the University of Toronto's department of ecology and evolutionary biology, published in the Journal of Fish Diseases, argues that the Marine Institute's work has "fundamental errors".

Hughie Campbell Adamson, chairman of the Salmon and Trout Association Scotland (S&TAS) is now demanding that the Scottish Salmon Producers' Organisation (SSPO) retract a statement made by its chairman, Professor Phil Thomas, six months ago dismissing the impact of sea lice on wild salmon.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

The new interpretation of the research claims there are "grave mistakes in measuring control and treatment groups, leading to wide inaccuracies".

The fresh examination of the original data shows that the impact of sea lice on wild salmon causes a far higher loss (34%) of those returning to Irish rivers than the 1% loss that was calculated in the original paper.

The February publication of research opened up a new chapter in the debate on the impact of the parasite on fish stocks, with recent controversial claims that sea lice thriving among farmed salmon put wild stocks at risk.

Krkosek said the purpose of the research was not to downplay other factors involved, but to highlight that parasites can and do have a large effect on the conservation of wild salmon stocks.

Mr Campbell Adamson said: "In light of what has now been clarified by Krkosek and his fellow experts in this field, one would hope that the SSPO, if it is to retain any credibility as the representative trade body for the salmon farming industry in Scotland, will have the integrity to withdraw formally the press release it issued in February in which the SSPO chairman, Professor Phil Thomas, made his inflammatory and ill-considered statement.

"It is now clear that the paper the SSPO and Professor Thomas relied on to justify their position is simply a travesty and, indeed, given the flaws which have now been exposed, should never have been published."

Mr Scott Landsburgh, chief executive of the SSPO said, "We stand by our position and we, like they, are entitled to our opinion."

Krkosek's original findings - that calculated that 39% of wild salmon deaths were down to sea lice were rigorously challenged by salmon farmers.

But Professor Christopher Todd, of the Scottish Oceans Institute at St Andrews, who was part of an international group involved in the study, defended the attack.

He said: "The salmon aquaculture industry has long placed a high priority on controlling sea lice in their captive salmon - but these results do emphasise the need for the industry to not only maintain the health of their own stocks, but also to minimise the risk of cross-infection of wild fish."

A spokesman for St Andrews University said yesterday: "The Krkosek paper is a simple matter of scientific fact, not opinion. The facts speak for themselves." l Shetland is set for a record year of white fish landings as boats report high levels of stocks around the islands, according to Shetland Seafood Auctions.

The number of boxes sold through the local market's electronic auction system yesterday passed the 200,000 mark for the year.

It is over 30,000 up on the same week in 2012 and more than 20,000 ahead of the equivalent stage of the best previous year.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Sea Lice ‘Out of Control’ in Many Scottish Regions Salmon farming industry figures reveal the Scottish regions where sea lice are out of control on fish farms.

September 9, 2013 As the damage being caused to wild salmon and sea trout in Scotland continues, the Salmon & Trout Association (Scotland) (S&TA(S)) has analysed aggregated sea lice data published by the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO), in its first two quarterly sea lice reports.

In June 2013 over one third of salmon farms (47 farms) on the Scottish mainland and in the Hebrides were in areas where average sea lice numbers exceeded the industry’s own limit for sea lice. In each of the previous five months at least one quarter (35 farms) were in this category.

In three key fish-farming areas, the SSPO’s ‘averaged data’ showed sea lice numbers in excess of the industry’s own limits for sea lice for every month from January to June 2013:

The underbelly of a wild juvenile sea trout, smothered in sea lice (the brown dots), eating away at its flesh. This fish was caught in June in Little Loch Broom within two miles of Wester Ross Fisheries’ salmon farm at Ardessie

• ‘Inchard to Kirkaig North’ - eight active salmon farms, all run by Loch Duart Limited, the selfstyled ‘sustainable salmon company’. Between February and April the average monthly lice count on Loch Duart farms was more than three times the industry’s own threshold and never went below twice that threshold in any month.

• ‘Kennart to Gruinard’ - seven farms operated by two companies, Wester Ross Fisheries Limited and Scottish Sea Farms Limited. Between February and June the average monthly lice count on farms in this area ranged between four to more than nine times the industry’s own threshold • ‘Isle of Harris’ - 12 fish farms operated by three different companies including The Scottish Salmon Company and Marine Harvest (Scotland) Limited. Between February and June the average monthly lice count on farms in this area was at times more than five times the industry’s own threshold.

Hugh Campbell Adamson, Chairman of S&TA(S), said: “The SSPO reports confirm that, in at least three key fish-farming regions of Scotland, sea lice numbers are out of control and consequently the fish farm companies are failing to protect wild fish from the devastating effects of the release of vast numbers of juvenile parasitic sea lice into west coast sea lochs.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

We have a simple question for the SSPO. Why have companies such as Wester Ross Fisheries and Loch Duart not been expelled from SSPO membership when they fail so consistently and dramatically to keep sea lice numbers within the limits they have signed up to? If the SSPO’s Code of Good Practice on sea lice is to retain any credibility, then surely serial offenders like Wester Ross Fisheries and Loch Duart should be excluded from the salmon farmers’ trade organisation”.

Guy Linley-Adams, Solicitor to the S&TA(S) Aquaculture Campaign said: “In light of the appalling sea lice numbers that companies such as Wester Ross Fisheries Limited and Loch Duart Limited have been reporting, we would ask Paul Wheelhouse MSP, Minister for the Environment in the Scottish Government, what he intends to do about this.

Specifically, when is the Minister going to introduce statutory controls on on-farm sea lice numbers to protect juvenile wild fish from picking up lethal infestations in the sea-lochs?

The SSPO’s reports also expose just how wrong Scottish Government was when it refused earlier this year, against the better advice of all west coast local authorities, all wild fish groups and its own Scottish Environment Protection Agency (see Note 7), to include a requirement in the Aquaculture and Fisheries Bill for all fish farms to publish weekly sea lice count data by law. The supposed confidential interests of the fish-farmers were allowed to trump the public right to know what is being released by the salmon farmers into the wider environment potentially causing huge damage to wild fish conservation.

However, the Scottish Government still has the power under the Aquaculture Act 2007 to order the publication of farm-specific data and we call upon them now to use that power”.

Why are sea lice on fish-farms such a threat to wild salmonids?

•

The negative impact of sea lice, produced in huge numbers by fish farms, on wild salmonids (salmon and sea trout) is widely accepted by fisheries scientists including the Scottish Government’s own Marine Scotland Science.

•

In Ireland, the Government of Ireland’s agency, Inland Fisheries Ireland, is crystal clear as to where the problem lies:

•

“The presence of salmon farms has been shown to significantly increase the level of sea lice infestation in sea trout in Ireland, Scotland and Norway. These lice infestations have been shown to follow the development of marine salmon aquaculture….studies from Ireland, Scotland and Norway have shown that in bays where salmon farming takes place the vast majority of sea lice originate from salmon farms……”

•

Most recently, a new paper published in 2013 by a group of fisheries experts from Norway, Canada and Scotland re-analyses data from various Irish studies and shows that the impact of sea lice on wild salmon causes a very high loss (34%) of those returning to Irish rivers.

•

Most importantly, there is clear evidence that both wild salmon and sea trout are in decline in Scotland’s ‘aquaculture zone’, whereas, generally, populations have stabilized on the east and north coasts where there is no fish-farming.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Irish take lice war to Europe August 29, 2013 THE European Commission has requested documents from the Irish Government which were not made available during the recent Commission 'Pilot' investigation into sea lice on Irish salmon farms.

The request follows an objection lodged against the Department of Agriculture by the environmental lobby group Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] for their handling of the EU investigation into complaints from Irish NGOs on salmon farms and sea lice.

FIE has examined internal Irish Government files which they claim show that the Report requested by the EU during the investigation from Inland Fisheries Ireland [IFI] was concealed by the Department of Agriculture from the investigators.

Janez Potocnik, the European Environmental Commissioner, has told Nessa Childers, MEP, that "all the information and material referred to by FIE will be sought from the Irish Authorities and duly examined" to see if it "justifies reopening the investigation."

The IFI Report entirely contradicted the Department of Agriculture's claims during the Pilot investigation which were based on a Marine Institute study (Jackson et al., 2011). The Institute said the 10 year study proved that infestation of outwardly migrating salmon smolts with sea lice was only a "minor component of the overall marine mortality in the stocks studied". The same Marine Institute study formed the basis of the Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Galway Bay salmon farm.

However, in a critique published recently in the peer-reviewed international Journal of Fish Diseases, where the original paper appeared, four international scientists have re-evaluated the Marine Institute's work. Rather than the 1% of wild salmon mortalities claimed by the Institute, using the same data but correcting three methodological errors the authors show that the true figure is 33% mortalities of wild salmon due to farmed salmon sea lice.

FIE has now provided this critique to the Commission as well as providing data that contradicts the Minister for Agriculture's claim to the Oireachtas that "As far as we are concerned, the sea lice issue is no longer significant."

A FIE statement released with the Commission correspondence says that: "Sea lice infestations continue to rise in spite of the Minister assurances that sea lice are 'no longer an issue'.

Marine Harvest's, the country largest producer of farmed salmon with 80% of the country's production, 2013 Annual Report shows that infestations of sea lice have more than trebled, from 6% of their sites in 2010 to 20% in 2012.

"Figures from the Marine Institute itself show that with two-winter salmon, the most vulnerable, the number of sites exceeding the permitted level of sea lice have doubled over the last three years from 24% to 50%."

The Commission has told the organisation that it expects to reach a decision in September

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Some

of the intentional pollution left behind at the site of an abandoned, Vancouver Island open pen salmon feedlot

Posted on Facebook by Askbud Ca: I received a letter from a friend "Simon James, a fisherman" who is dismayed that there are abandoned fish farms and quite a mess up our coast, it seems no one who he contacts cares; here is some photos and a copy of his letter.

Hi Bud, took me a while to find files, these pens are the size of football fields, abandoned with miles of anchor chain, and large blocks of concrete left on beach as debris, it’s a shameful sight, north shore of Helmcken Island, DFO, Coast Guard or Marine Harvest will not return calls or investigate mess, it’s like no one cares, and Marine Harvest just gets away with this.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Climate Change

 Flooding due to rising seas could cost $1 trillion by 2050, with Vancouver's risk high, study says August 20, 2013 VANCOUVER - Coastal flooding could cost the global economy $1 trillion a year a few short decades from now due to the rise in sea levels caused by global warming if action is not taken now to stem the flow and Vancouver is one of the cities most at-risk for losses, says a new study.

The article, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Climate Change, is part of an ongoing project by the Organization for Economic Cooperation.

"This work shows that flood risk is rising in coastal cities globally due to a range of factors, including sea-level rise," Robert Nicholls, a professor of coastal engineering at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom and co-author of the study, said in a news release.

"Hence, there is a pressing need to start planning how to manage flood risk now."

The authors based their prediction on an increase in sea levels of between 0.2 and 0.4 metres by 2050 caused by melting continental ice sheets.

The University of Southampton team looked at population, flood protection infrastructure and elevation of storms.

They looked 136 of the largest coastal cities in the world, and found that losses from flooding could hit US$63 billion a year by 2050.

Without efforts to adapt, total annual losses could top $1 trillion, the article said. By comparison, average global flood losses in 2005 were estimated to be approximately US$6 billion.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

I n a c ti o n i s n o t a n o p ti o n , th e te a m s a i d .

Flood defences in coastal cities have been designed for past conditions, and officials need to improve flood management and infrastructure, the study urged.

Those improvements will cost about $50 billion a year for the 136 cities the study considered.

The list of 20 cities most at risk, based on average annual losses due to floods, is topped by Guangzhou, Miami, New York, New Orleans, Mumbai, Nagoya, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Boston, Shenzen, Osaka-Kobe and Vancouver.

However, the authors note that when defence measures are taken into account, Vancouver does not make the list, which shifts dramatically toward cities in developing countries with fewer resources to guard against flooding.

Last year, Vancouver became the first Canadian city to adopt a climate change adaptation strategy, which includes a coastal flood risk assessment and flood-proofing policies.

"I think it's another strong message about why that work is so urgent, but I don't think there's any stronger message than the floods that we saw in Calgary this past year, and in Toronto," said Coun.

Andrea Reimer.

"You might be able to argue with a report. It's very hard to argue with the weather, and the observed impacts of extreme weather."

Climate change will bring heavier precipitation, higher daily temperatures, and more extreme weather events, she said.

The sea level in the city rose by almost 20 centimetres over the past century, and that rate is increasing rapidly, said Vancouver's report.

One local study suggested $25 billion worth of real estate alone will be at risk from rising waters by the end of this century.

"Climate change is imposing threats along coasts, both from rising sea levels and increased intensity and frequency of storms," it said.

Vancouver's plan calls for the city to improve infrastructure to deal with flooding and extreme heat and storms.

Stephane Hallegatte, a senior economist with the World Bank and lead author of Nature paper, said policy makers should be considering early warning systems and evacuation planning.

"There is a limit to what can be achieved with hard protection: populations and assets will remain vulnerable to defence failure or to exceptional events that exceed the protection design," he said.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Rising ocean acidity will exacerbate global warming Carbon dioxide soaked up by seawater will cause plankton to release less cloud-forming compounds back into atmosphere.

August 25, 2013

Marine phytoplankton releases sulphur compounds into the atmosphere that contribute to cooling the planet. But ocean acidification could hinder this process.

The slow and inexorable increase in the oceans’ acidity as they soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere could itself have an effect on climate and amplify global warming, according to a new study. Acidification would lead certain marine organisms to emit less of the sulphur compounds that help to seed the formation of clouds and so keep the planet cool.

Atmospheric sulphur, most of which comes from the sea, is a check against global warming.

Phytoplankton — photosynthetic microbes that drift in sunlit water — produces a compound called dimethylsulphide (DMS). Some of this enters the atmosphere and reacts to make sulphuric acid, which clumps into aerosols, or microscopic airborne particles. Aerosols seed the formation of clouds, which help cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

James Lovelock and colleagues proposed in the 1980s that DMS could provide a feedback mechanism limiting global warming1, as part of Lovelock’s ‘Gaia hypothesis’ of a self-regulating Earth. If warming increased plankton productivity, oceanic DMS emissions might rise and help cool the Earth.

More recently, thinking has shifted towards predicting a feedback in the opposite direction, because of acidification. As more CO2enters the atmosphere, some dissolves in seawater, forming carbonic acid. This is decreasing the pH of the oceans, which is already down by 0.1 pH units on pre-industrial times, and could be down by another 0.5 in some places by 2100. And studies using 'mesocosms' — enclosed volumes of seawater — show that seawater with a lower pH produces less DMS2. On a global scale, a fall in DMS emissions due to acidification could have a major effect on climate, creating a positive-feedback loop and enhancing warming.

The sulphur factor Katharina Six at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, and her colleagues have applied these mesocosm data to a global climate model developed at their institute. In a 'moderate' scenario described by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which assumes no reductions in emissions of heat-trapping gases, global average temperatures will increase by 2.1 to 4.4 °C by the year 2100.

The model projected that the effects of acidification on DMS could cause enough additional warming for a 0.23 to 0.48 °C increase if atmospheric CO2 concentrations double. The moderate scenario projects CO2 doubling long before 2100. Their paper is published in Nature Climate Change today3.

“The result in itself doesn’t surprise me too much,” says Michael Steinke, a researcher at the University of Essex. But he thinks that incorporating such results into predictive global models is important. “This is something that hasn’t really been done very much yet,” he says However, Steinke points out a recent study of his own4 indicating that oceanic DMS emissions might be more affected by increasing temperature than acidity. Warmer waters tend to make more DMS, so it could increase overall in future. The new study does take warming into account, but Steinke emphasizes that the effect of acidification on DMS production is better understood than that of other human-induced environmental changes.

Tom Bell, a marine biogeochemist at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the UK, advises caution in extrapolating mesocosm data obtained over weeks into changes occurring over decades. Six recognizes that limitation in her team’s study. “It is definitely not encased in stone.” She points out that there have been no mesocosm experiments in tropical and subtropical regions, and that running simulations with different models would help to rule out error.

All agree that it is important to recognize that marine organisms will be affected by environmental changes and that this may impact the climate in return. “CO2 that is absorbed by the ocean is still climate-relevant”, says Six.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Energy production and wild game fish: Oil, Coal, Hydropower, Wind, Natural Gas

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Oil – Drilled, Tar Sands

 B.C. officials worry oil spill would 'overwhelm' resources August 25, 2013

VANCOUVER - Officials in British Columbia privately warned the province lacks the ability to manage oil spills from existing and future oil traffic, and even a moderate spill would overwhelm their ability to respond, documents show.

Ottawa's decision to deal with coastal oil spills from a base in Quebec would make it much harder to contain spills, and Transport Canada and the Coast Guard lack the needed "environmental expertise" to manage them, officials said the documents obtained by The Canadian Press under freedom of information laws.

The notes were written by B.C. environment ministry bureaucrats for the incoming minister's briefing book in June, and other concerns were detailed by emergency response officials in memos from last year.

B.C. environment ministry bureaucrats voiced a range of misgivings for minister Mary Polak.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

"The Ministry of Environment, as the ministry responsible for preparedness, prevention, response and recovery for spills, is not adequately staffed and resourced to meet the existing and emerging expectations to address spills," they wrote in the briefing book.

"Even a moderately-sized spill would overwhelm the province's ability to respond and could result in a significant liability for government . . . The industry requirements, established by Transport Canada, are perceived as being insufficient in both scope and scale. For example, in both Washington State and Alaska industry requirements are far in excess of what is required in B.C." The B.C. government has said the Enbridge (TSX:ENB) proposed Northern Gateway pipeline — which would deliver Alberta oilsands products to a tanker port in Kitimat, B.C., for export to Asian markets — and Kinder Morgan's proposed expansion of its existing TransMountain pipeline into the Port of Metro Vancouver could increase tanker traffic by more than 1,000 trips annually off the Pacific coast.

Enbridge is seeking approval for its project from the National Energy Board's joint review panel, which finished its hearings in June and is expected to make a recommendation on whether the pipeline can go ahead by the end of the year. For the TransMountain project, Kinder Morgan has yet to formally submit its proposal for its required federal environmental review.

The briefing book notes many risks of a spill from a tanker negotiating B.C.'s coastal waters.

"Weather conditions and the remoteness of the pipeline's route in B.C. could cause cleanup delays, leading to broader water, land and wildlife contamination. Sensitive habitats, local economies (fisheries and tourism, for example) and First Nations along the route could be affected."

The briefing book estimates that at a rate of 500,000 barrels of crude oil a day, a pipeline spill lasting an hour could lead to 21,000 barrels spilling into B.C.'s wilderness.

When spills occur, under Canada's polluter-pay principle, the polluter must start the response and pay for damages and clean-up costs. The lead government agency — the Coast Guard for water spills and the National Energy Board for land spills —doesn't physically manage the incident itself but guides the polluter's actions. Environment Canada's task is to be always on call to provide scientificbased expert advice. The B.C. environment ministry has several mandates such as overseeing provincially regulated species and all B.C. Crown lands, and it has final authority over the final disposal of waste materials from a spill.

Mark Johnson, a spokesman for Environment Canada, said in an interview Ottawa agreed last March to create a tanker safety expert panel, due to report this November, and to fund eight new steps to ensure a "world-class" tanker safety system for shipping oil and chemicals "before major new energy infrastructure becomes operational." These steps include more tanker inspections and monitoring, research, and the creation of a Canadian Coast Guard incident command system.

But last year, B.C. emergency response officials wrote that money was not the only problem: "Coast Guard and Transport Canada are to receive increased funding to respond," stated one memo.

"However, these agencies do not have the required environmental expertise."

As well, cuts in the 2012 federal budget prompted Environment Canada to close its regional spill response offices in Vancouver and other cities and consolidated these in Quebec.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

In May 2012, documents show officials in the B.C. Environmental Emergency Program in Victoria privately wrote this relocation would hinder efforts to contain an oil spill on the west coast. Those warnings were written about then-existing oil traffic, without factoring in future pipelines and tankers.

Wrote Program manager Graham Knox in an internal memo: "As a result, Environment Canada will have little or no surge capacity in the event of a major spill to bring in responders from across the country. . . Trying to provide the current level of service from Montreal is not realistic. Current EC staff have found it challenging to respond to spills outside of their base in Vancouver, and a move to Montreal will certainly increase these challenges many-fold."

The document show local program officers agreed: "Not a good day," wrote one. "Looks like heavier dependence on the province. Response activities cannot be managed remotely. Preparation and accumulation of local knowledge are vital to a cohesive and coordinated response to emergencies."

Johnson declined to comment on the concerns outlined by Knox.

Stuart Bertrand, a spokesman for the B.C. environment ministry, confirmed in an interview the province now has "some additional workload" due to the relocation "and the reduced capacity of EC emergencies staff that now work out of Quebec."

Bertrand added that the B.C. government is now exploring the concept of a new provinciallyregulated but industry-led and funded "terrestrial spill response cooperative," and "while we are pleased with the steps Ottawa is taking, we are also pressing forward with our own review to help define our world-class marine spill system."

Federally, the shipping industry is responsible for funding the Western Canada Marine Response Corp., which responds to about 20 marine spills a year at a cost of about $5.3 million.

But Polak's briefing book indicates a concern about the lack of commercial vessels that could be used to help in the event of an oil spill: "The level of (industry) resources, including spill response assets and trained personnel, provided to the Canadian Coast Guard for spill response appears to be inadequate and may be even more challenged with the anticipated increase in large vessel traffic on the B.C. coast."

Johnson pledged new federal research on marine pollution risks and how to reduce oil-spill effects on marine life and habitats. In February, Transport Canada, working with the Coast Guard and Environment Canada, sought proposals for a Canadian-wide risk assessment study on ship-source oil spills, and awarded the contract to Genivar Inc. Yet last year, Knox regretted the loss of at least one existing resource, notably Ottawa's firing of the internationally respected Canadian oil spill expert Kenneth Lee and the elimination of his research centre in Dartmouth, N.S. "This will limit resource managers' access to critical scientific expertise when making response decisions in the future," he wrote. "Oil spill expertise is eroding."

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Oyster growers see crude oil shipments as a threat to the estuary August 20, 2013 Recently the Port of Grays Harbor Commissioners passed a resolution allowing crude by rail to be part of the Port’s business plan. Presently, three crude by rail proposals are in the works. The City of Hoquiam and Department of Ecology are jointly responsible for the permitting process to allow this to happen. Hoquiam and the Department of Ecology issued a Mitigated Determination of NonSignificance. What this means is that even though the public had concerns and made them known during the comment period, the city and the state did not honor them, even if valid.

The Grays Harbor Oyster Growers have concerns about these three projects and are shut out of any discussion because of the Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance. Our concerns are that standard quality crude is difficult to clean up after a spill and that the infrastructure for the three projects will be built and in place before the real impacts are revealed. We know that when the money has been spent the projects are sure to go forward no matter what the studies determine.

Even more importantly the types of petroleum products that can be shipped do not lend themselves to current cleanup methods being proposed. The Port, Hoquiam and Department of Ecology say — just trust us.

The petroleum product that has not had much discussion is that of tar sands bitumen from Canada.

This product is a very heavy and thick product and has to be thinned to be pumped. One thinner that is used is benzene, a regulated carcinogen. There are other carriers but the petroleum industry does not have to reveal what they are. The product the growers have special concern with is dilute bitumen or dilbit. There has been a number of dilute bitumen spills in recent years with disturbing cleanup results. For example, the spill in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River happened nearly three years ago and the federal Environmental Protection Agency is still trying to clean it up. If interested Google it.

Dilbit has special properties that make it dangerous for the Grays Harbor Oyster Growers and the environment we all use and enjoy. When spilled, once the thinners are exposed to water and air the product sinks to the bottom. Once it gets under the surface it does not lend itself to standard clean-up procedures. You can imagine a tar like substance trading up and down the estuary and Chehalis River bottoms releasing contaminant sheen on each tide change. Once the permits are in place the railroad can haul this product and federal laws will protect this use.

The shellfish growers, fishing families and tourism based industries need a clean environment to operate. A recent study concluded that the lower Chehalis River and estuary provide more than 30 percent of the economic base for our county. They are claiming to create a lot of jobs, but as stated at a recent public meeting, in Elma, Westway currently only hires four employees at their local tank farm. Please contact your elected official and neighbors and demand a Environmental Impact Statement so that the public questions can be asked and the answers provided before crude by rail is allowed in Grays Harbor.

Mark Ballo is president of the Grays Harbor Oyster Growers Association.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Coal

 Mercury fingerprint of Pacific fish points to Asia coal power plants

Mercury found in high levels in deep Pacific Ocean fish such as swordfish has a chemical fingerprint, and it implicates coal-burning power plants in Asia, according to a new study.

A research team from the universities of Hawaii and Michigan looked at mercury in the flesh of nine species common to the massive North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, the largest ecosystem on the planet, at 7 million square miles.

Four years ago, the team found that mercury levels in such fish as tuna increased with the depth of the fish’s habitat.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

This time, they set out to find out why, and what forces were at play. On the way, however, they found evidence implicating coal. The results were published online in Nature Geoscience.

Sunlight breaks down the kind of mercury that’s dangerous on the sushi platter: monomethylmercury, according to the study. That makes shallower species, such as yellowfin tuna and mahi mahi, a safer dining bet, Popp suggested.

“If you are concerned about high levels of mercury in fish, consume those that are feeding shallowest in the water,” said Brian Popp, a University of Hawaii geochemist who was part of the research team.

But different processes also change the ratio of isotopes of mercury -- chemists call it fractionation.

The sunlight-driven (photochemical) processes in shallower water result in one isotope ratio, while processes driven by living things -- microbes, for instance -- leave another fingerprint. Comparing those ratios and doing a bit of calculation helped the team figure out the “fingerprint” of the mercury before these processes came into play. And that mercury fingerprint looked suspiciously like the mercury that comes from the atmosphere.

“The surprising thing is that when we remove this fingerprint of organic mercury, we get a match between elemental mercury in the atmosphere and the isotopic compositions in fish,” Popp said.

“People have speculated that the main source of mercury to the ocean is through atmospheric deposition, but people have also argued that it comes from sediments, hydrothermal activity, coastal sediment that’s moved from the coast to the open ocean. Our work suggests the main source is from the atmosphere.”

Prevailing winds carry atmospheric mercury from Asia, where countries such as China have greatly increased their use of coal to generate electricity.

Further bolstering the role of Asian coal burning are previous studies that have show drops in organic mercury levels in deep Atlantic fish -- in areas adjacent to countries where mercury emissions have been reduced.

The mystery that remained, however, was why organic mercury concentrations increased with the depth of a fish’s feeding zone, despite its photochemical breakdown in shallower waters. The answer, according to the report, is microbes assembling elemental mercury into “organic” mercury -- a clue found in the isotope fingerprints.

About 80% of the organic mercury in the tissue of fish from the deep probably was produced by these bacteria clinging to sinking particles of organic matter, the study suggested.

“It tells us information that we kind of knew,” Popp said. “Now we understand why.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 What is the Chuitna Coal Project?

The Chuitna Coal Project is being designed by PacRim Coal, LP, as a surface coal mine with contemporaneous reclamation to recover an estimated 300 million tons of sub-bituminous ultra low sulfur coal.

It is located on the west side of Cook Inlet in the Chuit River Watershed in the Kenai Peninsula Borough of Alaska, approximately 12 miles northwest of the Native Village of Tyonek and 45 miles west of Anchorage. Permitting for the project began in 2006 and is currently in the advanced permitting phase.

Production is expected to average 12 million metric tons per year which will depend on market demand. Major components of the Project are: the Mine Area, the Infrastructure and the Port Facilities.

Significant changes to prior designs for the Chuitna Coal Project have been made to reduce potential impacts and improve the Chuitna Project compatibility with the local environment.

These beneficial changes to the infrastructure have resulted in a 74% reduction in the overall project infrastructure footprint and a 72% reduction in affected wetlands. These changes will be reflected in revisions to the applications for the permits to develop the Chuitna Coal Project.

Our Mission The Chuitna Coal Project will develop important energy resources; improve local economies; fund AK Mental Health Land Trust programs throughout Alaska; protect and ultimately enhance the local environment, especially for fish and wildlife habitat.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Hydropower and water retention  Chehalis River Research August 20, 2013 The dramatic tale of 100 years of flood mitigation efforts in the Chehalis Basin will peak next November when local flood experts report to Gov. Jay Inslee and recommend — or don’t recommend — continuing progress with construction of a water retention structure on the upper Chehalis River.

In the 2013-15 capital budget, flood mitigation efforts were awarded $28.2 million; $5.6 million was allocated specifically for determining the permit feasibility, engineering safety and mitigation requirements of building a dam.

To be prepared for that critical juncture next November, local flood experts need concrete data — fast.

Planned work includes engineering analysis of alternatives, including fish passage requirements, hydrology and hydraulic analyses to define inundation and protection levels, quantified environmental impacts to, and mitigation requirements for, fish, water quality and sediment transport, updated costs and benefits of the alternative designs.

But even that list of work is general.

The work on the ground — such as that being done by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife — is completed meter by painstaking meter.

Mara Zimmerman, the research scientist who designed Fish and Wildlife’s current project, said that broad data must be collected and analyzed before the effects of a dam can be estimated.

“You’re going to change the flow of the river and therefore you’re going to change the habitat,” Zimmerman said. “Floods, from a Fish and Wildlife perspective, destroy but also create — that’s sort of a natural process that happens, and when you alter that, you’re altering the process of destroying and creating.”

“We’re trying to understand now where fish are in the river what habitats are important to them,” she said.

A team of four Fish and Wildlife technicians, led by project manager John Winkowski currently are working their way down the Chehalis River, counting steelhead, chinook and coho while measuring the depth and the width of the river.

The team on Monday deployed two technicians into the river to snorkel and collect data.

Every 200 meters, the snorkelers gathered with the rest of the team — who followed behind, collecting other information — and reported the fish tallies they had marked on their waterproof slates, worn like arm guards.

The team will work 200 meters at a time, 5 kilometers a day until it reaches the end of its 100kilometer journey.

Their data will become more meaningful when combined with other information, including GIS maps and detailed water temperature data collected via a three-day flyover, currently in progress, according to Zimmerman.

Several fish tagging operations, operated by both Fish and Wildlife and the Chehalis Tribe, will help create a fuller picture of fish movement.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Washington Tribes Grow Impatient With Fish-Killing Dam August 29, 2013 BUCKLEY, Wash. — Right now there are tens of thousands of salmon dying at the base of an outdated dam on the White River east of Tacoma.

Local tribes say the federal government is failing in its responsibility to transport the fish around the dams on this river, and into prime spawning habitat in the Mount Rainier watershed.

The Buckley Diversion Dam is a small dam on the White River about 25 river miles from Tacoma. It was built in 1911 and hasn’t really been updated since.

For tens of thousands of pink salmon, it’s the end of the road.

Russ Ladley, a fisheries biologist with the Puyallup tribe, stands in the shallows below the Buckley dam. Dying fish flop around in the shallow water at his feet.

Local tribes say the federal government is failing in its responsibility to transport the fish around the dams on this river, and into prime spawning habitat in the Mount Rainier watershed.

“This is a female,” he says, nudging one with his boot. “She’s full of eggs.”

The Buckley Diversion Dam is a small dam on the White River The green backs of struggling fish churn nearby. Some of them are visibly battered. Others continue to about 25 river miles from Tacoma. It was built in 1911 and feebly heave themselves onto the lower section of the dam, impaling themselves on old exposed nails. hasn’t really been updated since.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

“This goes on 24 hours a day, seven days a week until the fish are just depleted of all their energy reserves,” Ladley says, “then the current and the color of the water hides the bodies and they will be scattered downstream.”

Ladley estimates that up to 200,000 fish will die here in the next month during the height of the pink salmon run.

There is no hydropower being generated at this small dam. The Army Corps traps fish here and then loads them into trucks and drives them around the Mud Mountain Dam, a 300-foot tall earthen dam 6 miles upriver. It’s a technique called “trap-and-haul.” And its use here makes the White River one of at least 10 in Washington and Oregon with trap-and-haul facilities, according to the environmental advocacy group, American Rivers. It says more are proposed for the Willamette and Yakima River basins.

Mud Mountain Dam

Fred Goetz, fisheries biologist with the Army Corps.

Mud Mountain Dam was built in the early 1940s for flood protection, without any way for fish to get around it.

Without this smaller diversion dam there would be no way to trap the fish to transport them upriver, but this facility hasn’t been updated since the 1940s and the fish kills have gotten worse in the last decade as pink salmon have started coming up the White river by the hundreds of thousands.

Scientists aren’t exactly sure why the pink salmon are rebounding in Puget Sound, but Ladley says this old “trap-and-haul” facility can’t handle all of them, nor is it advanced enough to allow fisheries managers to sort out the endangered or threatened chinook, steelhead and bull trout that also come up this river.

“These pink runs have come out of nowhere and they’ve overwhelmed the system,” he says. “They’re so abundant that they can inhibit passage of other species as well – and they do, the coho, chinook that are also trying to get upstream. There are more fish here now than the Corps can effectively move.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Twelve miles upriver from where Ladley was standing, a truck backs up to a long metal chute and opens its rear hatch, releasing 1,200 gallons of water and roughly 300 pink salmon.

These fish are some of the lucky survivors of the barrier dam downstream. They’re being released into the upper reaches of the White River, free to spawn anywhere from here up to the foothills of Mount Rainier.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spends an extra $600,000 moving the massive influx of pink salmon around their dam. The agency has added four more trucks to move fish 24 hours a day, but they’re not getting all the fish.

“We’re at our capacity,” says Fred Goetz, a fisheries biologist with the Army Corps. “If there are more we’re going to do our best to move that backlog.”

The corps acknowledges the so-called trap-and-haul facility isn’t up to the task of moving all the fish that come back to this river now. Goetz explains the pink salmon runs only happen every other year, and in the past decade their numbers have skyrocketed in the White River. He calls it a “one-of-a-kind phenomenon” in the last 100 years in Puget Sound. In 2001 there were no pinks in the nearby Green River. Then in 2009 there were 3 million. In 2011 there were 800,000 pinks that returned to that river.

“So the up and down of this kind of salmon run is one of the most unpredictable we’ve ever seen,” Goetz says.

And that makes it hard to decide how to design a fish-trapping facility. Do you make it so it can handle the big years, or the average years?

The corps has haggled over the design for the dam and trap with the local tribes for the past 10 years. The tribes are impatient and every odd year, like this one, tens of thousands of salmon die waiting to be transported upriver.

Fully replacing the facility would cost close to $80 million. Goetz says the corps doesn’t have that kind of money right now. Instead it hopes to spend about half that amount and replace the old dam, not the fish trap.

“We’re doing everything we can right now,” Goetz says, “especially when we don’t have a lot of funding and we may not see very much in the future as well.”

The Muckleshoot and Puyallup tribes say replacing the dam isn’t enough. The old fish trap also needs to be replaced. Right now endangered chinook and bull trout get mixed in with the hundreds of thousands of pink salmon in the river.

The trap at Buckley Dam has not been updated since the 1940s. With the massive influx of pink salmon, managers can’t separate out the endangered chinook, steelhead and bull trout from the pinks.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

The old trap does not provide a way to separate the endangered species from the rest of the fish – or to filter out hatchery fish from wild fish.

Don Jerry, a member of the Muckleshoot tribe who serves on the tribal fish commission, stands next to the Buckley diversion dam.

“We need to take care of them, and the federal government isn’t doing their part,” he says. “They’re the ones that caused the problems with the decline of the salmon. We’re left with the burden of trying to rebuild it.”

The Army Corps expects that it could take up to eight years for this dam to be replaced, without a new trapping facility included.

The tribe and other parties are considering litigation under the Endangered Species Act.

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 Reclamation to Increase Releases from Lewiston Dam to the Trinity River for Tribal Ceremony and Lower Klamath Flow Augmentation August 23, 2013

WEAVERVILLE, Calif. – On Sunday, August 25, 2013, at approximately 8 a.m., the Bureau of Reclamation will begin to increase releases from Lewiston Dam to the Trinity River in support of the Hoopa Valley Tribe's bi-annual Boat Dance Ceremony. The increased flows in the Trinity River will also meet downstream needs and will be adjusted at rates that protect the public and fish and wildlife.

The increased releases will raise flows gradually from the summer base flow of 450 cubic feet per second to a peak of 2,650 cubic feet per second by midnight Sunday.

Following the close of the ceremony, on Tuesday, August 27, 2013, at approximately midnight, the flows will begin to be gradually reduced to a rate of approximately 850 cubic feet per second. To protect the near-record Chinook salmon return in the Klamath River, releases from Lewiston Dam will then vary from about 850 to 900 cubic feet per second until approximately September 19, 2013, when flows will gradually be reduced back to 450 cubic feet per second. As always, the public is urged to exercise caution when recreating in or around the Trinity River.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Trinity River releases to flow August 23, 2013 Trinity River water will be released to protect salmon after a federal judge lifted his order Thursday afternoon, finding the additional flows critical to preventing a repeat of the massive fish kill from 2002. ”Releases are designed to prevent a potentially serious fish die off from impacting salmon populations entering the Klamath River estuary,” Judge Lawrence O'Neill concluded. ”There is no dispute and the record clearly reflects that the 2002 fish kill had severe impacts on commercial fishing interests, tribal fishing rights and the ecology, and that another fish kill would likely have similar impacts.”

John Corbett, senior legal counsel for Yurok Tribal Attorney's Office, said O'Neill cited former Yurok Tribe fisheries biologist Josh Strange, who testified that Ichthyophthirius multifiliis -- a fish disease commonly called “ich” -- is more prevalent in warm, still water, and that an expected 272,000 returning Chinook salmon would likely meet lethal conditions if the flows were not released. ”Judge Lawrence O'Neill found that blocking the flows would do greater harm to the tribes and the fisheries, if an injunction was granted, than it would to the water districts,” Corbett said.

However, Yurok Tribe officials also warned that the chance of a fish kill has not been completely eliminated. In a release, officials said that if their monitors -- in collaboration with U.S. Fish and Wildlife fish pathologists -- start to see significant numbers of diseased fish, the tribe will seek to have flows doubled for up to seven days.

The federal Bureau of Reclamation had authorized the flows to begin Aug. 13, after deciding the additional cold water from the Trinity River is needed to protect the fish.

The Westlands Water District and the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority claimed the releases would decrease already low water allocations available to farmers for irrigation and sued the bureau. San Joaquin Valley farmers also argue that the bureau did not have the authority to authorize the flows.

O'Neill granted a temporary restraining order on the releases last week, and set the hearing for tribal and government officials to show evidence on how the extra water would save fish.

He was considering whether to grant a preliminary injunction, which would have held off the flows until the lawsuit is decided. The order expired today.

The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations and Hoopa Valley Tribe, which joined the case in support of the flows, also presented their arguments.

Earthjustice attorney Jan Hasselman, who intervened on behalf of the PCFFA, said in a release that the decision to protect salmon also protects the Northern California coastal communities.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Klamath River Fish Kill 2002 (Earthjustice video) ”Salmon runs can provide jobs forever if managed correctly,” Hasselman said. “The science is clear that additional releases are needed to protect this priceless resource.”

Hoopa Valley Chairwoman Danielle Vigil-Masten called the Trinity River the tribe's “vessel of life” and the salmon are their “lifeblood.” ”We applaud the decision to release this water to avert a fish disaster, however, this lawsuit demonstrates the need for long term solutions to the fisheries crisis in the Klamath and Trinity Rivers,” she said in a release.

San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority Executive Director Dan Nelson said in a release that a long-term solution is needed. ”Yesterday, the United States reduced their stated need of up to 109,000 acre-feet of water, which they claimed just last week was the amount necessary, to now only 20,000 acre-feet. Clearly the scientific justification they provided last week just couldn't hold up,” Nelson said. “While no one knows whether or not this action will alter what would have happened in its absence, it is clear that in order to move beyond this current conflict we must all work together to develop a lawful long-term approach to managing these requests that is balanced and scientifically supportable.”

Hoopa Valley Tribal Vice Chairman Ryan Jackson said the judge's decision was a victory for both tribes and fisheries. ”Without the salmon, we wouldn't be who we are today,” Jackson said. “We are river people. We will fight to defend the fish and the waters that run through it.”

Calls to Westlands Water District and its attorney were not returned by the Times-Standard deadline.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Corporate. Government and Non Government Organization “Greenwashing”:

 The DFO and The Broughton Salmon collapse (Part 1 of 2) Unacceptable “greenwashing” of British Columbia’s problematic, open pen salmon feedlot industry by Canada’s federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans Watch and listen HERE

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 IKEA

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 IKEA Group Sustainability Report - 2012

Salmon “Salmon is an important product for IKEA. In FY12, we continued to participate in the WWF Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue to support development of sustainability standards for the farmed salmon industry, and the final standard has now been published by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC). Our goal is for all salmon products to come from ASC-certified sources by 2015. We are currently assessing our suppliers against the new standards.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Aquaculture

Stewardship Council: Working together for responsibly farmed

salmon August 15, 2013 The Global Salmon Initiative (GSI) chose ASC as the leading standard today to help it meet its commitment for sustainable change. Together the ASC and GSI will work to significantly reduce the key environmental and social impacts of salmon aquaculture.

The GSI is a leadership initiative established by global farmed salmon producers to make significant progress on industry sustainability. The GSI has 15 member companies; approximately 70 per cent of the global salmon industry.

Chris Ninnes, ASC’s Chief Executive, said: “I am delighted that GSI has committed to meet ASC’s salmon standard. Fish is a high quality protein food and the sector makes a significant and growing contribution to world food security. Salmon is farmed on a worldwide scale with nearly two thirds of all the salmon consumed coming from farms. Given the anticipated farmed sector growth it is very important that the industry manages its aquaculture practices responsibly.”

Recognising responsible farming The ASC certification programme recognises and rewards responsible farming activities, focusing on the conservation and quality of water resources, no misuse of antibiotics, minimising escapes, compliance with strict feed requirements and social responsibilities.

In line with the ASC standards, the salmon farms within the initiative will be required to disclose an unprecedented amount of farm-level data. The farms will also participate in area-based management (ABM) plans. This spatially divides the marine environment for its uses and accounts for the stresses and threats on the ecosystem, which provides a basis to deal with impacts. There is a scientific consensus that ABMs reduce risks related to pathogens and parasites to wild and farmed fish.

In areas with wild salmon, the farms will monitor sea lice and adhere to strict criteria related to escapes. The suite of escapes requirements aim to move farms towards zero escapes.

GSI’s commitment The GSI is committed to making sure that the industry can deliver a responsibly produced source of healthy food to feed the growing population, which is predicted to reach nine billion by 2050.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Over 84 per cent of the world’s fisheries are already either depleted, over- or fully exploited. This means that natural fisheries will not be able to meet future protein needs.

Alfonso Marquéz de la Plata, chair of the GSI standards committee and CEO of Empresas AquaChile S.A., said: “We cannot choose between a healthy environment and healthy food, we need both. This initiative is a practical approach to achieving both. While meeting the standard at a global level will be a significant challenge, this is a major commitment from the salmon farming industry and we hope that through GSI collaboration, we can get there together.”

The GSI will achieve its aim through global collaboration and research, pooling of resources and sharing knowledge.

Currently the GSI is focusing on biosecurity, feed and nutrition and meeting industry standards.

 Global Salmon Initiative - Areas of Focus: BIOSECURITY STANDARDS FEED & NUTRITION Biosecurity Working as a global partnership to research, document and reduce the impacts of biosecurity to the farmed salmon industry, most notably the issues of sea lice, the spread of disease and reducing the impact on the marine ecosystem.

The GSI recognize that biosecurity issues are a huge challenge for the industry, but with the correct management strategies in place the industry can help ensure healthy fish stocks.

We have prioritised our efforts on the issue of sea lice.

Sea Lice Sea lice represent a significant challenge for the farmed salmon industry. Sea lice are a naturally occurring parasite found throughout the world’s oceans and on many species of fish, and have a detrimental effect on the health and welfare of the infected fish, and can reduce productivity of the farm.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

There are two forms of sea lice which are a concern to the salmon farming industry: Lepeophteirus salmonis, which affects Norway and British Columbia, and Caligus rogercresseyi which affects farms in Chile.

The farmed salmon industry has made considerable efforts in recent years to reduce the levels of sea lice, and is continuing to work on reducing numbers year on year. Despite declining numbers, as the industry expands the pressure of sea lice remains a challenge that must be monitored and controlled.

Through a programme of industry cooperation and knowledge sharing, the GSI has developed a list of best practices that it will work to implement across all GSI farms. Through wider application and adherence to these best practices, the GSI seeks to make significant improvements in sea lice management.

GSI Sea Lice Best Practices  





Minimise adult female lice levels  Utilize lice thresholds and treatment trigger points Increase industry cooperation on:  Zone management strategies  Synchronized treatments  Coordinated fallow and production cycles  Single generation production areas Medicinal control  Implement medicinal product rotation  Use resistance bioassays for treatment decision making  Timing of site treatments  Use of peroxide with full tarpaulins  Optimal dispensing and distribution of medicines  Dispense treatments in wellboats Non-medicinal control  Integrated control solutions  Use of wrasse and cleanerfish where appropriate

Standards As members of the GSI we are committed to significant improvements in the sustainability of our operations. The ASC standard provides a framework for us to work towards.

The GSI recognizes the importance of transparency, and understands that our progress in achieving our sustainability goals requires evaluation. The industry has already made great progress towards greater sustainability, and has met the requirements of many demanding standards but we are always looking to improve, and want to set a common standard for the GSI member companies to strive in reaching.

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) standard provides a framework to guide and report on the progress the GSI is making, and the GSI is working to adopt the ASC framework as its primary reference point for its work and progress.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

While the ASC standards will be difficult to achieve, we hope that through the collaboration of the GSI, and the commitment to share technology and best practices, we can use the standard as our starting point in making significant progress in sustainability.

It is the intention to bring farms operated by the GSI members up to the ASC standards by 2020.

To read the ASC standards statement, click here.

Feed & Nutrition In partnership with FAO, the GSI are reviewing projects to support the expansion of sustainable aquaculture. Projects include obtaining sustainable sources of feed, and developing a global understanding of sustainable aquaculture through a process of knowledge transfer.

A key aspect of the sustainability of salmon aquaculture is the amount of fishmeal and fish oil contained within industry feed supplies, both of which are finite resources. The availability of these resources depends upon available quotas and the level of direct human consumption.

Salmon farming has grown from a few thousand tonnes in the early 70’s to over 1.6 million tonnes in 2011. During the same period, the global production of fishmeal has been stable. As result of consumer demand, pressure on these valuable resources is set to increase in future years from a number of industries, the GSI see the sustainability of feed sources as an emerging industry challenge. Working together, and in partnership with the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), we aim to research and develop new projects to support the sustainable management of available resources, and to review the potential of alternative resources.

It is a clear ambition of the GSI to reduce our dependency on marine raw materials, and over the past 20 years, salmon farmers have been gradually substituting marine raw materials with vegetable raw materials, while sustaining the health benefits and high quality of farmed salmon.

We are also working closely with a number of feed companies; EWOS, Skretting and BioMar, to ensure farmed salmon retains its high levels of nutrients and fatty acids, while working to reduce the pressure on the raw materials. Despite decreasing the use of fish oil over recent years farmed salmon remains one of the best sources of Omega 3 and provides a number of health benefits to the consumer.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 First ocean-farmed salmon makes eco-friendly list Farmed salmon has long been disdained by environmentally motivated consumers.

August 26, 2013

Don Staniford “More shameful green-washing of DuPont's GM yeast-fed farmed salmon! “ For the first time an ocean-farmed salmon has gotten a coveted nod from an influential "eco-friendly" fish list. On Monday the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program moved Verlasso farmed salmon from Chile to its "yellow list" as a good alternative.

The Seafood Watch list is one of several that assign seafood a red, yellow or green rating, based on their sustainability and environmental impact. Red is "avoid," yellow is "good alternative" and green is "best choice."

Consumers and wholesale buyers use these lists "to make choices for healthy oceans," says Peter Bridson, the Seafood Watch aquaculture manager.

Up until now none of these lists has included salmon raised in ocean-based fish farms. Farmed salmon has long been disdained by environmentally motivated consumers. One reason was because salmon must be given feed high in omega 3 fatty acids to thrive. Ground-up herring, anchoveta and other fatty fish contain those fatty acids and were used to make salmon feed.

Historically it took about four pounds of wild fish to produce a pound of salmon. That number has come down to between 2.5 and 3.5 pounds to one pound of salmon through better management, said Bridson.

Even so, about 17% of the world's fish catch is rendered for fish meal and oil, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Other concerns are that the salmon are often grown in high-density pens. This can lower water quality and result in infestations of parasites that can spread to wild fish populations. Chemicals used for disease and parasite control also can spread to nearby wild fish.

Salmon farms are beginning to clean up their acts and Verlasso, based in Miami, has changed its practices enough to make it onto Seafood Watch's yellow list.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

The biggest impact will be on wholesale buyers, says John Sackton, publisher of Seafood.com, an industry news site based in Lexington, Mass. "Companies that want to buy sustainable seafood use these guidelines," Sackton says. That includes "places like Bon Appétit Management Co., which does a lot of sales with tech companies."

The list is also used by many chefs and will likely have an impact there, he said.

Verlasso has made several changes to its growing practices over the past three years, said director Scott Nichols. The biggest has been switching to feed whose omega 3 fatty acids come from a genetically modified yeast rather than from wild-caught fish. Verlasso is a joint venture between AquaChile, which raises the salmon, and DuPont, which produces the feed.

This reduces the amount of wild-caught fish needed to feed the Verlasso salmon and allows the company to achieve a "fish-in, fish-out" ratio of 1.34 to 1. That means it takes 1.34 pounds of wild fish to produce one pound of salmon, Nichols said. Some fish is still necessary in the feed in part because salmon are picky eaters and don't like feed made entirely from corn and soybeans.

While consumers might be surprised to hear that the fish feed is made from genetically modified ingredients, feed from GMO yeast is little different from the feed from GMO corn and soybeans that has been fed to farmed fish, cattle, pigs and chickens for decades, said Chris Mann, a senior officer with the Pew Charitable Trusts' environment program.

The online grocery FreshDirect has been carrying the Verlasso salmon since it was first introduced in 2011. The company sells in the greater New York City metropolitan area and focuses on organic and sustainable foods.

"We were looking for something better than a traditional farmed salmon that we could try to educate and upgrade customers into," said David McInerney, FreshDirect co-founder.

The gamble has paid off. Despite selling for about $2 more a pound, the Verlasso salmon now makes up 30% of FreshDirect's salmon sales "which is pretty strong considering how hard we push wild salmon in season," said McInerney.

At other stores, Verlasso salmon typically sells for $2 to $5 more a pound.

The entire salmon farming industry is becoming more sustainable and less environmentally damaging overall, said Seafood Watch's Bridson. No other companies have applied to get on their yellow list "but I think there's definitely the potential for things to change," he said.

Salmon farming has transformed the market for fish in the United States, raising consumption.

Salmon has moved from "a luxury you only had on rare occasions to something that's an everyday protein," says Pew's Mann. In 2011 salmon was the third most consumed seafood in the United States, after shrimp and tuna fish, according to the National Fisheries Institute

Give Me a Break!

“Salmon – a luxury you only had on rare occasions”.

Who are these people?

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Trout Unlimited Canada Partners with Enbridge

Enbridge presented a Yellow Fish Road Event to launch a partnership with the City of Regina on Saturday, August 24 at the Saskatchewan Science Centre. Some 30 Enbridge employees and their families became water stewards for a day, learning about their watershed and taking action to protect it in the surrounding communities! There was great food, fun and prizes for all. Thanks to Enbridge for supporting the program, the City of Regina for partnering with YFR, and the Wascana Centre Authority and the Science Centre for hosting the event.

Editorial Comment: It is shameful of Trout Unlimited Canada to partner with and promote Enbridge; one of the world's worst polluters.

To have Enbridge associated in any way with the Yellow Fish Program is telling the corporate world that Trout Unlimited Canada will look the other way when corporate resources are provided.

This is wrong thinking!

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Travel

Alberta demands anti-oilsands film trailer be yanked from YouTube (with video) August 26, 2013

An image used in the fundraising campaign for Fort McMoney - Remember to Breathe" CALGARY - Travel Alberta has demanded that a film trailer critical of the oilsands be removed from YouTube’s video-sharing site, citing copyright infringement.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

The provincial tourism agency has taken issue with the trailer for a yet-to-be-produced film called “Welcome to Fort McMoney — Remember to Breathe.” In the trailer, California-based satiric filmmakers Andy Cobb and Mike Damanskis make use of a clip from one of Travel Alberta’s “Remember to Breathe” commercials, contrasting the ad’s lush travel shots with scenes of environmental destruction.

Watch video HERE The filmmakers — who are trying to crowd source funding for their movie on Indiegogo.com — hope to raise enough money to travel to Fort McMurray to shoot their documentary about the oilsands.

On advice from a lawyer, Travel Alberta wrote a formal letter requesting YouTube take the video down. The video has since been removed from the site.

“Our position is, we’re here to protect our brand,” said Travel Alberta CEO Bruce Okabe, adding the ‘Remember to Breathe’ ads are part of a highly effective and popular tourism campaign. “We’ve invested a lot of time and money and resources into it, and we’d just like them not to use our marks, our brand.”

On their Indiegogo site, Damanskis said he and Cobb have lodged a counter-claim with YouTube.

Damanskis said Travel Alberta’s actions amount to “intimidation” and said the filmmakers will continue to fundraise for their project.

In a statement on its website, the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation said the takedown request was “no more than a crude attempt at censorship” and that the filmmakers’ use of the tourism-promotion clip fell within U.S. copyright law’s “fair use” exception.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Fish farmers of the future?

August 20, 2013 CHILDREN visiting the Pacific National Exhibition, an annual agricultural fair held in British Columbia, will be able to try their hand at salmon farming.

For the third year, the BC Salmon Farmers Association is participating in the Kidz Discovery Farm, which gives children the opportunity to visit simulated farms and net a farm-raised salmon.

"The Kidz Discovery Farm is a great place for kids to learn about where their food comes from in a fun, interactive way," said Elizabeth Young, Communications Manager for the BCSFA. Elizabeth Young The children can stop in at mock-ups of farms that are operated in British Columbia. There they get to pick up a toy representation of the product produced at each farm. At the end they trade the toys in for a treat. It's a great way for young people to understand better our food system and the role farmers play in it.

Editorial Comment: Even when teaching young children about the “benefits” of open pen salmon feedlots, the open pen salmon feedlot industry uses children’s toys to represent their subpar products which attempt but fail to replicate the benefits of wild Pacific salmon – truly shameful!

As in previous years, volunteers from the BCSFA will be on hand on weekends to answer any additional questions that visitors may have about salmon aquaculture in BC.

There really is nothing at all with this display to help “young people to understand better our food system and the role farmers play in it”, especially given that open pen salmon feedlots are no more farms than are beef, pork or chicken feedlots.

"We're really proud to be able to be at the PNE to help tell the story of agriculture in BC and how salmon farming fits into that story," said Young.

BCSFA: guilty in the first degree of deceiving our youth.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 US

salmon consumption rises despite high prices, boosts Marine Harvest Canada August 21, 2013

Marine Harvest saw its second quarter results boosted by a price achievement turnaround in its Canadian operations, helped by US consumption growth, despite high prices.

The Canadian operation reported operational earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) per kilogram of NOK 14.55, compared to a negative figure of NOK 4.18/kg in Q2 of 2012.

This made it the best performing division in the company, when compared to Scotland’s NOK 13.55/kg and Norway’s NOK 12.33/kg.

Editorial Comment:  Greenwashing of the open pen salmon feedlot industry, their inhumane practices and diseased products continues to deceive consumers.  Clearly, these feedlot salmon are not raised to feed nutrient-deficient populations.

US reference prices increased by around 40% compared to Q2 2012, a development Marine Harvest called surprising considering American supply increased some 23%, taking the inventory sell down in Chile into account.

Despite the price increase, 83,000 metric tons of salmon was sold to the US in Q2 2013 (in total, not just Marine Harvest), 3.9% more than in 2012 and representing an 11.2% increase over the 12 month period, according to total supply data from Kontali, referenced by the company.

Marine Harvest harvested 8,932t from its Canadian operation, down from 10,577t in the same quarter of 2012.

Canadian salmon was the only produce to achieve prices above the reference price in the second quarter – 3% greater – marking a turnaround from Q2 2012, when it was 5% below the reference price.

This was largely down to reducing the effects of soft flesh (Kudoa) by around 80% compared to Q2 2012. This, as well as growth improving initiatives, worked to bring costs down and earnings per kilogram up, to the extent that the company’s board congratulated the operation on its work.

The low amount of business Marine Harvest Canada does via contract – 5% compared to the 40% of the firm’s Norwegian salmon on contract – went a long way to explaining its good results, as the spot market price rose.

“Limited availability of salmon of Canadian origin in the American spot market is the main driver for the observed spot price increase,” noted Marine Harvest in its report.

“The Alaskan wild salmon harvest is expected to be lower than last year, which will contribute to maintaining the price of farmed salmon at a favourable level.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Unsustainable fish August 22, 2013 Dr Martin Jaffa (Letters, 19 August) accuses Don Staniford of running a “one-man crusade” against salmon farming. Dr Jaffa goes on to use figures for the amount of fish fed to pet cats to somehow justify the amount of wild fish fed to farmed salmon.

Don Staniford was just a lad in short trousers when I and many, many other people started campaigning against the floating factory fish farms which blight Scottish waters.

If Martin Jaffa thinks opposition to salmon farming is a “one-man crusade” his arithmetic isn’t very good.

As for the amount of fish fed to pet cats, I’m afraid the good doctor is guddling red herrings. What myself, Don Staniford and others are concerned about is the frequent use of the word “sustainable” in relation to salmon farming.

On more than one occasion during the past 12 months I have had to challenge the First Minister and other members of his government for describing salmon farming as sustainable.

The fact is that salmon farming is not sustainable, as the industry consumes a greater weight of wild caught fish than it produces in farmed fish. The industry is shy in producing figures but it is estimated that it can take between three to five tonnes of wild fish to produce one tonne of marketable product.

I do, however, agree with one statement from Dr Jaffa.

If you take into consideration the other adverse effects of salmon farming (pollution, use of chemicals, high levels of parasites, damage to wild salmon and sea trout stocks, routine shooting of seals) he is perfectly correct when he describes salmon farming as an “easy target”.

John F Robins Save Our Seals Fund Dumbarton

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Exceptional Q2 for salmon giants August 21, 2013 MARINE Harvest's Q2 results, which were published today, make for positive reading and the group's shareholders are now due receive an extraordinary dividend.

The group achieved an operational EBIT of NOK 901 million, compared to NOK 231 million in the corresponding quarter of 2012. Cash flow from operations was NOK 1,123 million (Q2 2012: 918 million).

"Backed by a strong market, Marine Harvest delivers the best second quarter in history.

Naturally, we are very pleased with these results.

Editorial Comment: It’s common practice in the open pen salmon feedlot industry to “greenwash” their impacts on public health, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies.

In this article the bottom line is “greenwashed” to not reflect the costs to society associated with public health, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies.

It appears that the open pen salmon feedlot industry is getting a free ride.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

As a consequence we are proposing an extraordinary dividend of NOK 0.05 per share.

The future prospects for Marine Harvest are also good. We are ramping up production estimates with 55,000 tonnes in 2014, to 390,000 tonnes," says CEO Alf-Helge Aarskog.

The Group reported operational revenues and other income of NOK 4,445 million (NOK 4,005 million) in the second quarter of 2013. Total harvest volumes were 79,438 tonnes.

Marine Harvest Norway achieved an operational EBIT per kilo of NOK 12.33 (NOK 3.37) in the second quarter, while Marine Harvest Scotland and Marine Harvest Canada reported operational EBIT per kilo was NOK 13.55 and NOK 14.55 respectively (NOK 7.11 and NOK -4.18). As planned, Marine Harvest Chile did not harvest fish in the second quarter (NOK 0.64). The figures include contribution from Sales and Marketing, including VAP Europe. Marine Harvest VAP Europe reported an operational EBIT of NOK 7 million compared to NOK -5 million in the second quarter of 2012.

The group expects to harvest a volume of 335,000 tonnes gutted weight in 2013, of which 80,000 tonnes are expected to be harvested in the third quarter.

"I would like to highlight the results of Scotland and Canada," says Aarskog. "These countries are examples of how a long term and systematic approach to biological issues improves not only the fish welfare; it also shows on the bottom line."

Cash flow from operations amounted to NOK 1,123 million (NOK 918 million) in the second quarter of 2013. Net financial items amounted to NOK -375 million (NOK -218 million). Net financial items include interest expenses of NOK 149 million (NOK 93 million). Net interest-bearing debt for second quarter was NOK 5,857 million, compared to NOK 5,177 million in the second quarter of 2012, and to 5,381 million at the end of 2012.

The equity ratio was 47.3% at the end of the quarter (50.1% at end of 2012). Annualised ROCE for the quarter was 16.7% and NIBD/Equity 47.2% at the end of the period.

"I am very encouraged by the strong market outlook in Europe, with future prices of NOK 34 for the remaining part of 2013 and NOK 35 in 2014. Marine Harvest is well positioned to take advantage of this as the majority of our volume will be originating in Europe," says Aarskog.

Wild Salmon Warriors Community Basketball: Thanks to Paul at Spirit Bear coffee for the game day T shirts.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Preparations for greatly expanded oil exports already moving forward August 26, 2013

As opponents rage against new pipelines, planning has already begun in preparation for the hundreds of oil tankers the pipelines would supply off B.C.’s coast.

Port Metro Vancouver is creating a Canadian “Center of Excellence” for oil and liquefied gas shipments, in anticipation of the port becoming a major exporter of energy products.

In a recent submission to a federal panel on tanker safety, the port revealed the centre will be a “leading source of information on best practices for shipping Canada’s energy and oil and LNG commodities on Canada’s Pacific Coast.”

And, in northern B.C., Ottawa is sponsoring an ocean-monitoring study to probe surface wind effects on bitumen from Kitimat to the Hecate Strait, to prepare for oil spill response measures.

If the Northern Gateway pipeline gets the nod from Ottawa early next year, some 250 tankers could one day operate out of Kitimat.

Another 350 mid-sized tankers would operate annually out of Vancouver’s port should Kinder Morgan’s expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline be approved.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

This would mark a huge change. Currently, no oil tankers visit Kitimat, and just 50 or 60 a year leave Trans Mountain’s Westridge Terminal in Burnaby.

A paper by Calgary economist Jennifer Winter forecasts that the Trans Mountain’s expansion “would result in (Port Metro Vancouver) becoming a major exporter of crude oil,” with such exports accounting for 30 per cent of total port tonnage.

That is roughly the same as coal, one of the port’s biggest exports along with forestry products.

In advance of this controversial transformation, the Harper government is working to build public confidence in regulatory systems that police tanker movements and govern responses for spills.

Last March, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver was in Vancouver to announce the three-member tanker safety panel, due to issue a report this fall.

Oliver also reported Ottawa would review its $1.3-billion oil pollution liability limit. The potential cost of a Pacific Coast tanker spill involving the gooey Alberta bitumen has been pegged at anywhere from $9 billion to $40 billion.

Port Metro Vancouver last June told the tanker safety panel it “has served as Canada’s Pacific Gateway for bulk oil for more than 50 years, and we have never had a navigational issue with an oil tanker.”

While that may be true, oil shipments traditionally have accounted for just 3.1 per cent of total tonnage — involving a limited number of tankers a year at the Westridge Terminal.

There is, of course, a basis for concern about any increase in tanker operations at Canada’s largest port.

The port has 600 kilometres of shoreline, bordering 16 municipalities and several aboriginal communities. Mayors in Vancouver and Burnaby oppose increased tanker operations.

Kinder Morgan, which will file an application later this year to the National Energy Board for its pipeline expansion plans, told the tanker safety panel it has found that “the tanker safety regime in Canada is not well understood or appreciated” by the public.

It acknowledged its plans would pose “an incremental change in risk (arising) from a higher probability of an incident due to increased residence time and transit frequency.”

The company also acknowledged: “Our strict obligation for tanker safety ends once the tankers leave the Westridge Marine Terminal.”

Port Metro Vancouver, meanwhile, is recommending standards be boosted for spill cleanup capability.

Transport Canada requires responders to be able to address oil spills up to 10,000 tonnes, compared to 30,000 tonnes in the U.S. If a green light is given to significantly more tanker traffic off B.C.’s coastline, it certainly would be hard to justify a lower level of cleanup capability than in the U.S.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Whole Foods Market: Aquaculture Farmed catfish. Farmed salmon. Farmed shrimp.

You see it everywhere.

So what's the difference between our farm-raised seafood and what's available anywhere else?

We know exactly where our farmed seafood comes from. We know where it swam and we know what it was fed...and more importantly, what it wasn't fed!

We also know that we can trust our farmer partners because, like us, they're committed to the healthiest, most environmentally friendly farmed seafood. Together with scientists and environmentalists, they helped us to develop our strict Quality Standards for Aquaculture. And with the traceability required by those standards, we can track our farmed seafood—where it came from and how it got to our stores.

What's so Great about Aquaculture?

It makes sense! Farming seafood can provide a consistent, high-quality, year-round supply of healthy and delicious protein. And when it's done right, aquaculture can be environmentally friendly and can be a crucial way to supplement wild-caught fish supplies.

On the other hand, poor farming practices, including those that cause water pollution and other negative impacts on the environment—as well as the overuse of chemicals and antibiotics—are bad news. That's where Whole Foods Market comes in. With our strict Quality Standards and third-party verification process, we ensure that we only source farmed seafood from the world's leaders in environmentally responsible aquaculture.

READ ENTIRE WHOLE FOODS MARKET ARTICLE HERE

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Forest Management

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Government action/inaction and wild game fish

 I Don’t Pay Attention to Politics…

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 If you can’t win the scientific argument, suppress it Evidence on effect of sea lice heavily contested September 16, 2013 One of the reasons for our obesity crisis is the loss of radio adverts specifically designed to put you off your food. Remember eating your bacon and cabbage to the accompaniment of adverts about liver fluke, sucking lice and sarcoptic mange mites?

The decline of these appetite suppressants has had a catastrophic effect on our waistlines. So, as a public service, today’s column is about sea lice. Though, actually, it’s about something even more disgusting: public policy and the way it is made.

Sea lice are of public importance because they are at the heart of the debate about fish farms. The State, through Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), plans to develop enormous salmon farms off the west coast, beginning with a gigantic project in Galway Bay. BIM is in the process of creating a huge farm (actually two farms) between the Aran Islands and Galway Bay. It will occupy 456 hectares – more than 1,100 acres. This massive scale is new: the Galway Bay project alone will produce more farmed salmon than all existing Irish fish farms combined.

Mounting concerns The louse in the ointment is that fish farms are easily infested with parasites. Sea lice breed in them and spread to wild fish – sea trout and wild salmon in particular – and (allegedly) kill them. There are also concerns that chemicals used to control lice may affect other forms of aquaculture, like oyster beds and shellfish fisheries.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Hence the question for public policy: does the good that giant fish farms do (some jobs and potentially large exports) outweigh the harm (environmental damage with bad economic and employment effects on tourism and inland fisheries)? The answer, for the vast majority of us is: we don’t know. We need solid evidence-based expert advice. And we need honest discussion of the pros and cons. A healthy system of governance would be able to provide those things.

Instead, what we have are two disturbing developments. The first concerns a paper produced in January by the Marine Institute, which is the relevant statutory body. It was great news: forget about sea lice, they’re really not a problem. It found that only 1 per cent wild salmon fatalities are caused by the lice.

If true, this is effectively the green light for massive salmon farms all along the coast. But, it seems, the institute’s sums are wrong. Writing in the Journal of Fish Diseases, four scientists from the University of Toronto, University of Prince Edward Island, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research and the Scottish Oceans Institute cite “at least three fundamental methodological errors” in the paper.

They say that the Marine Institute’s own figures show that the percentage of salmon killed by sea lice is not 1 per cent but 33 per cent. This is serious stuff. If policymakers and citizens can’t rely on scientific data, how can decisions be based on evidence?

The second disturbing development is the apparent suppression of awkward views within the State apparatus itself. The issue here is that there is a clear split between two arms of the State. The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAFF) is at odds on this issue with the Department of Natural Resources and, specifically, with one of its agencies, Inland Fisheries Ireland. IFI is responsible for wild salmon and trout stocks and does not buy the line that sea lice infestations are harmless.

In 2010, the European Commission, which was conducting an investigation into sea lice and salmon farms asked the department of fisheries for the views of IFI. According to documents obtained by Friends of the Irish Environment from the commission, what happened next is startling. IFI presented a report to the department of fisheries in October 2010. It was critical of the Marine Institute’s monitoring of sea lice in fish farms and reiterated concerns about the effects on wild stocks.

The staggering thing is that DAFF declined to pass this report from a State agency to the commission, which had specifically requested it.

‘Misleading’ It wrote to IFI’s parent department to say that “transmission of your Department’s observations to the Commission would not only be misleading but would also cause confusion in the public mind regarding sea lice controls and possibly undermine the State’s regulatory system. For these reasons I would ask you to withdraw the formal observations of your Department and to support the observations supplied to the Commission by DAFF.” (The EU commissioner for the environment Janez Potocnik has told Nessa Childers MEP that he is now seeking a copy of the report.)

Leave aside the substantive questions about fish farms and what we have here is a dreadful way of making public policy: highly dubious figures and demands that contrary views not be expressed.

Memories of the previous successes we’ve had with these approaches should be enough to put you off your dinner.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Alberta Premier says Robert Redford not credible on oilsands critique September 17, 2013 EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Alison Redford is shaking her head over recent attacks on the oilsands by celebrities Robert Redford and Neil Young, noting the stars use those same resources to go around "flying on planes."

"This is not different than what they have been saying for some time. It certainly shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone," the premier told reporters on a conference call from China, where she was on a trade mission Tuesday.

"I've really got to question how people who are using (conventional) energy flying on planes can make these sorts of comments and assume that they are going to have any credibility.

"We have to start having a discussion based on the facts.

That's not what we're seeing here."

Young was in the Fort McMurray area earlier this month. He said he drove his custom hybrid 1959 Lincoln Continental up from the U.S., though a Fort McMurray filmmaker hired to film scenes for a documentary on the car said there was a diesel bus that followed along for the crew.

Young went away calling the region a post-apocalyptic landscape that was making native people in the area sick.

"Fort McMurray looks like Hiroshima," the singer said.

On Monday, Robert Redford released a short video urging U.S. President Barack Obama to reject the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

The pipe would ship Alberta oilsands bitumen south across North America to refineries on the Gulf Coast in Texas. Proponents say it's a critical link to boosting Alberta's economy and ensuring the U.S. has a source of oil distinct from the volatile politics of the Middle East.

Editorial Comment: 

Robert Redford has proven to be far more credible over the decades than elected officials who are in the pockets of foreign corporations and governments.



The Honorable Alison Redford continues to do all she can to sell off Alberta’s resources to China and wherever else she can get the best deal for her. A total lack of any credibility.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Editorial Comment: The bitumen in this proposed pipe will not reduce fuel prices in the USA. It will be exported, once refined, to supply Asian markets But in the video, Robert Redford agrees with critics who say the environmental degradation and the risk of catastrophe from pipeline spills are too high a price to pay.

"I can understand why oil companies love tarsands," the actor says, standing in a field. "There's a lot of money to be made by strip mining and drilling the dirtiest oil on the planet — but why should the rest of us pay the price?"

His comments are delivered over images of blackened, denuded land around oilsands operations in Fort McMurray, north of Edmonton.

"Developing the Canadian tarsands is destroying our great northern forests at a terrifying rate," intones the actor, famous for roles in "All the President's Men," "The Sting," and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." "It's killing our planet, and there's no energy security in that."

Redford and Young join a list of celebrities, such as Daryl Hannah, critical of Keystone and the oilsands.

Alison Redford's predecessor as premier, Ed Stelmach, met with Hollywood producer-director James Cameron in September 2010 after Cameron criticized the oilsands as a "black eye" and a "dead-end paradigm."

Cameron had just completed "Avatar," a futuristic film about indigenous peoples on a far-flung planet battling business types bent on ripping and razing their land with massive claw machines in order to get at the minerals underneath.

Cameron said he presented Stelmach with studies suggesting the cancer rate is 30 per cent higher than normal in downstream communities, but Stelmach presented his own figures refuting that.

Since Alison Redford became premier two years ago, she has made it clear that high-profile critics coming to tour the oilsands will not receive her assistance to get up on a soapbox.

When federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair came to Alberta last May to tour the oilsands and talk to leaders, he was met not by Redford but by Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk.

Who do you believe? 

VIDEO: Premier Alison Redford on Alberta’s Oil Sands



VIDEO: Robert Redford: Alberta Tar Sands Oil is Killing our Planet

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 ‘Namgis Pin Hopes On Closed Containment Fish Farm August 1, 2013 The ‘Namgis First Nation is holding out high hopes for their recently developed, first-of-its-kind, closed containment Atlantic salmon farm on its land near Port McNeill, on northern Vancouver Island.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

The $8.5 million dollar ‘Namgis Closed Containment Project aims to prove it can produce high quality, healthy salmon from fry to market size of about three to five kilograms in 12 to 15 months. In open-net pens, the fish take 18 to 24 months to grow to harvestable size.

The facility is the first commercial-scale, land-based Atlantic salmon farm in Canada. The project is being intensely monitored by the salmon farming industry and conservation groups.

The farm received delivery of 23,000, Atlantic salmon smolts from Marine Harvest, the largest Atlantic salmon farming company in the province. The smolts entered the facility on March 18th and have since grown to be 6 times their size when they entered the facility.

“We’ve basically built a Club Med for fish,” said ‘Namgis spokesperson Garry Ullstrom. “We expect these fish to grow to full size in about twelve months, which is twice as fast as open-net.”

The closed containment system (CCS) uses water recirculation technologies that continuously filter and recycle the water used to produce fish. That means the ‘Namgis can do large scale fish farming using just a small amount of water producing no pollution.

As much as 99.8% of the water flowing through each of the five 500 cubic metre tanks used to grow out the fish is continuously cleaned and returned to the fish tanks.

By continuously filtering and cleaning the water, the CCS can control and capture over 99% of fish waste solids that then can be used as fertilizer unlike open-net facilities where waste goes directly into the ocean. Since there is no contact with the marine environment in CSS, this further eliminates concerns regarding potential transmission of disease and parasites to wild salmon.

The salmon produced are healthy, nutritious and free from antibiotics and pesticides.

The K’udas project, whose name means place of salmon, could ultimately produce 2,500 tonnes of fish per year, but the initial phase is expected to produce about 470 tonnes.

The land-based salmon farm is entirely owned by the ‘Namgis, but funding for the project came from the federal government, Tides Canada, and other conservation and philanthropic organizations.

The First Nation has a contract with Albion Fisheries, a wholesale company, to market the salmon.

Steve Hughes, Albion’s general manager, said they will market the salmon in the Canadian and U.S. retail and food service markets, with an emphasis on the western Canadian market.

“They have a high fat content and that contributes to good taste,” said Hughes. “Any aquaculture system has protocols to make sure the fish taste good and that’s what we expect.”

The ‘Namgis have witnessed the proliferation of open-net pen salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago and believe diseases and pollution from those farms are impacting wild runs of salmon.

Finding alternatives to open-net ocean-based salmon farms is becoming increasingly important with the confirmation of Infectious Salmon Anemia in eastern Canadian open-net pen salmon farms.

Guy Dean, Albion’s Chief Sustainability Officer said because the ‘Namgis fish farm uses a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS), and all aspects of the site are controlled, it answers consumer concerns regarding food safety, health and sustainability, and – the fish taste great!

Dean said blind taste tests conducted by the West Virginia-based Freshwater Institute, the world’s leading research facility on RAS, revealed a preference for salmon grown in recirculating aquaculture systems with some testers describing the fish as having a buttery, rich flavour.

More info on ‘Namgis Closed Containment Salmon Farm.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Fiskeriministerens anlegg må tvangsslakte fisk September 18, 2013

Article translated from Norwegian to English: Fisheries Minister facility must forcibly kill fish No medicines work anymore, lice survive what is tried. Now two million farmed fish are slaughtered and the sea will be broke.

Must be slaughtered: Food Safety Authority of Northern Norway has had to issue an order to forcibly kill the fish because lice on fish survive all drugs.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Food Safety Authority (FSA) of Northern Norway has never experienced it before. Having to give orders to forcibly kill the fish because lice on fish survive all drugs.

Sea north of VIKNA emptied of fish farming in order to save next year's generation fish and wild fish that swim by.

- This is the only recipe remains, said district chief John B. Falch at the FSA to tv2.no.

BACKGROUND: Fisheries Minister companies threatened with gigantbot Dramatic instrument - Yes, this is dramatic, but necessary, says Falch.

FSA has carried out inspections, as previously described by tv2.no, and five farmers must do the same: to empty cages for farmed fish.

Only at Sinkaberg Hansen, plant as Minister Lisbeth Berg-Hansen is co-owner of, does it force the slaughter of two million fish.

- We decided independently by the FSA to put in the time harvest, says production manager Jon Sinkaberg.

CO-OWNER: In Sinkaberg Hansen, plant as Minister Lisbeth Berg-Hansen is co-owner of, two million fish forced slaughter. Reuters

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

- Of course this costs, how much I do not know precisely, but we must therefore kill fish two months ahead of schedule.

Lice resist drugs Also in Hardanger have the same happened. All lice survive medicines farmers poured into the sea.

FSA Hordaland gave a breeder orders to kill all the fish in two different locations. Bolaks firm has already executed the mission.

- It is the first time we see the need to give such an order founded in resistance in lice, says veterinarian Hulda Bysheim, Food Safety Authority of Bergen.

Sea emptied - That no drugs against sea lice, and the need to empty the cages and put everything broke, it suggests a dramatic situation?

- Yes, it's a serious situation, admits John B. Falch by FSA in Namsos. And you can just hope that pharmaceutical companies are now coming up with something new.

- For now we are focusing on that by emptying the farm and let everything lie fallow until spring next year, then wild salmon swim out to their pastures without being contaminated by sea lice.

FSA has imposed Mid-Norwegian Aquaculture and Fish Emilsen to make a harvest in October.

Sinkaberg Hansen is already in the process of emptying their cages for lusbefengt fish

Editorial Comment: We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International assume that: 

salmon raised in Norwegian-owned, open pen feedlots that were ordered killed due to uncontrolled sea lice (vectors for diseases) will appear for human consumption in markets and restaurants around the world.



powerful pesticides used by Norway to control sea lice in their open pen salmon feedlots had significant impacts to the Norway’s marine ecosystem.



salmon treated with these powerful pesticides, fed fishmeal loaded with contaminants (including PCB’s), and treated with antibiotics and other chemicals impact public health around the world.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 NAFTA Commission: Canada must address claims about fish farms September 14, 2013 According to a news release from the Center for Biological diversity, an international commission ruled this week that a citizen petition challenging Canada’s failure to protect wild salmon from industrial fish farms warrants an official response from the Canadian government. The Commission for Environmental Cooperation, an entity established under the North American Free Trade Agreement, determined the petition includes sufficient information that Canada may be violating its own conservation laws to trigger a formal response.

The petition was filed by conservation, fishing and native groups last year out of concern that disease and parasites from proliferating industrial fish farms are harming British Columbia’s wild salmon. This week’s decision by the commission is an important step in moving the petition forward under NAFTA’s environmental dispute process.

“The initial response from the NAFTA environmental commission is encouraging, since the damage being done to wild salmon along the west coast of North America by the aggressive Norwegian salmon farming industry is an environmental and trade issue of international concern,” said biologist Alexandra Morton with the Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society. “I hope the Canadian government acknowledges the extent of the problem and that they need help moving toward immediate action.”

“We look forward to examining Canada's response and measuring it against the Cohen Commission Report recommendations,” said Chief Bob Chamberlin of the Kwikwasu'tinuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation. “The government must end their delay, deny and distract approach and safeguard wild salmon.”

“Wild salmon shouldn’t fall victim to diseases, toxic chemicals and parasites from industrial fish operations,” said Jeff Miller with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Canada must abide by its Fisheries Act and protect wild salmon habitat.”

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"Canada's open-water fish farms threaten native salmon stocks and our fishing communities," said Zeke Grader of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "This ruling may finally prompt Canada to heed its own Cohen Commission report and begin moving finfish farming onshore to closed ponds that do not allow nonnative fish to escape or spread disease and parasites into the wild."

The petition challenges the Canadian government’s violations of its Fisheries Act in permitting more than 100 industrial salmon feedlots in British Columbia to operate along wild salmon migration routes, exposing ecologically and economically valuable salmon runs to epidemics of disease, parasites, toxic chemicals and concentrated waste. The petition documents the proliferation of industrial aquaculture and its impacts on British Columbia ecosystems that support wild salmon. Salmon feedlots are linked to dramatic declines in British Columbia’s wild salmon populations and lethal salmon viruses.

Since the petition was filed, Atlantic salmon farms around Vancouver Island suffered a virus outbreak in May 2012 that led to a quarantine and the cull of more than half a million fish. In fall of 2012 the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River issued a final report concluding that salmon farms along the sockeye migration route in the Discovery Islands have the potential to introduce exotic diseases and to aggravate endemic diseases, with a negative impact on Fraser River sockeye. The Cohen Commission recommended a freeze on net-pen salmon farm production in the Discovery Islands until 2020 and suggested that Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans should no longer promote salmon farming as an industry or farmed salmon as a product.

More recently scientists documented a devastating Norwegian salmon virus spreading through British Columbia, with nearly all farmed salmon raised and for sale in British Columbia infected.

Background When a country that is signatory to NAFTA fails to enforce its environmental laws, any party may petition the Council for Environmental Cooperation for investigation. Canada’s Fisheries Act prohibits harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat or addition of “deleterious substances.” The petitioners seek a finding that Canada is violating its Fisheries Act with regard to industrial aquaculture. Such a finding could push Canada to protect wild salmon, ideally by relocating fish aquaculture into contained tanks on land.

The Canadian government has until Dec. 6 to respond to the allegations. The commission then has 120 working days to decide whether further a full and detailed investigation is warranted.

Scientific evidence of harm to wild salmon swimming through B.C. waters from fish feedlots has been mounting, as has public concern that feedlots could spread epidemic diseases. This is a threat that jeopardizes the health of every wild salmon run along the Pacific Coast, since U.S. and Canadian stocks mingle in the ocean and estuaries.

The Canadian petitioners are the Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society in B.C. and Kwikwasu'tinuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation, a native tribe whose territory off northern Vancouver Island is being used by 27 Norwegian-owned salmon feedlots. The U.S. petitioners are the Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, the largest trade association of commercial fishers on the west coast, representing family fishing men and women. The University of Denver Environmental Law Clinic helped prepare and submit the petition.

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 ARCHIVED — Pacific Aquaculture Regulations December 8, 2010 (as referenced by Rebecca Reid, Pacific Region, DFO) Executive summary Issue: On February 9, 2009, the British Columbia Supreme Court (BCSC) ruled that aquaculture is a fishery and therefore of exclusive federal jurisdiction. In essence, this ruling means that the majority of the elements of the British Columbia provincial aquaculture regulatory regime lies outside the constitutional jurisdiction of the Province. The current federal regulatory regime does not adequately cover the British Columbia aquaculture fishery. In order to afford the federal government time to consider legislation (including regulations) of its own, the BCSC suspended its decision until December 18, 2010. A federal regulatory regime is required to be in place by this date to ensure that new and existing aquaculture operations are able to obtain licences to operate lawfully under the Fisheries Act (the Act).

Description: The Pacific Aquaculture Regulations (the Regulations) and the applicable provisions of existing federal fishery regulations, such as the Fishery (General) Regulations (FGR), replace existing provincial regulations and some federal regulations that were previously applied in the management of aquaculture activities in British Columbia. The Regulations work synergistically and provide for the management and regulation of aquaculture on the Pacific coast.

The Regulations establish a licensing regime, consistent with the regime for other fisheries managed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) but tailor-made to address the uniqueness of the aquaculture sector in British Columbia. The Regulations apply to most aspects of aquaculture that were covered in the former provincial regulations, as well as those covered by the Marine Mammal Regulations, and individual Harmful Alteration, Disruption and Destruction (HADD) authorizations issued under section 35 of the Act. Cost-benefit statement: The baseline for the cost-benefit analysis is the current situation in which aquaculture is managed by the government of British Columbia. The Regulations will contribute to the long-term sustainability of aquaculture in the province and will provide clarity to the Canadian regulatory environment for aquaculture.

The Regulations will maintain the current economic activity in rural communities (in 2007, the overall revenue generated by the aquaculture industry in the province was approximately $385M) and boost investor and consumer confidence (approximately 90% of farmed salmon is exported to the United States).

For the federal government, it is expected that the implementation of the regulatory regime will cost $8 to 8.5M annually to implement. The high end of the estimate assumes that the existing provincial program (which costs approximately $5.7M annually) will be replaced by federal programming. The net effect for taxpayers is an approximately 40% increase over current provincial costs.

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These incremental costs are largely attributable to performance management, evaluation and reporting activities, such as increasing transparency through regular public reporting of performance information and the collection and synthesis of regulatory compliance information, as well as increased enforcement capacities.

Business and consumer impacts: The Regulations are designed to reduce regulatory burden while ensuring proper management of the sector, particularly with respect to protection and conservation of fish and fish habitat.

Through the consolidation of federal and provincial licences and authorizations to one licence, it is expected that aquaculture companies will accrue some reductions in administrative costs.

The current duplication in the area of fish habitat protection (federal) and finfish waste water control (provincial) will be eliminated.

Domestic and international coordination and cooperation: Throughout the regulatory development process, DFO has been consulting with other Federal agencies, such as Environment Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Health Canada and Transport Canada.

DFO is working with the Province of British Columbia to transition the existing provincial regulatory regime into a federal regime. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been developed, defining roles and responsibilities between the provincial government and DFO. First Nations and other stakeholders, including industry and environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) were consulted on the development of the Regulations.

This proposal is not expected to impact Canada’s trading partners.

Editorial Comment: Several months ago, questions were raised as to why Marine Harvest’s “Orca Chief” did not display registration numbers as other fishing vessels are required to do. The response from DFO was that farm raised salmon were agriculture products and not the result of fisheries.

As ruled by the British Columbia Supreme Court, aquaculture is a fishery (see above) – seems as though Orca Chief and other vessels utilized in aquaculture should be registered.

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 Gray Aqua ordered to pay $648,000 owed for fish feed Aquaculture company Gray Aqua has been ordered to pay more than $600,000 owed to an animal-feed company.

According to a statement of claim from Corey Nutrition of Fredericton, N.B. — filed July 8, and obtained by The Telegram — the New Brunswick-based Gray Aqua has failed to pay for fish feed supplied to the company’s Newfoundland operations between January and June of this year. Including interest up to June 30, according to the claim, Gray Aqua owes Corey Nutrition $648,681.67.

On July 31, with Gray Aqua not having filed a statement of defence, the Supreme Court issued a default order that Gray Aqua pay Corey Nutrition $648,001.02 with pre-judgment interest of $10,225.99 (a rate of 1.5 per cent per month) up to July 26, as well as postjudgment interest and court costs.

More Canadian Tax Dollars to Troubled Salmon Feedlot Industry: “Gray Aqua has received provincial and federal funding, including $500,000 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency in March 2012 for expansion of its farming operations in the Bay d’Espoir area.

In November 2012, the provincial government announced a $5-million investment to buy capital assets needed for farming expansion, including boats, motors, cages and moorings.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Derrick Dalley said at the announcement in St. Alban’s that the funding would help Gray Aqua quadruple its annual production of 4,000 metric tonnes to 16,000 metric tonnes, and more than double employment, from 42 to 96 full-time positions.”

Clyde Collier, Gray Aqua’s top official in Newfoundland, referred inquiries about the case to Gray Aqua president Tim Gray, who did not return messages seeking comment on the lawsuit.

Lee Corey, president of Corey Nutrition, also did not return messages seeking comment.

Gray Aqua’s Newfoundland fish stock has been hit by three cases of infectious salmon anemia since June 2012. Last month, the company announced it had to destroy 500,000 fish at its Pass My Can site due to the virus.

The cull meant the company’s new processing plant in Hermitage-Sandyville would not open this year, after having already been delayed from a planned opening in 2012. After the announcement, Collier said the company was rebuilding its stock at a grow-out site in Facheux Bay on the south coast.

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“This new case is very devastating to us, as we have to start the business of building an inventory all over again,” Collier told Harbour Breton’s Coaster newspaper last month. “We realize that the citizens of Hermitage-Sandyville are disappointed with this news, too, but we have to move on from here.”

Collier said last month Gray Aqua planned to talk to other aquaculture companies in the area to acquire fish for processing, but said there was no guarantee that would happen.

Gray Aqua has received provincial and federal funding, including $500,000 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency in March 2012 for expansion of its farming operations in the Bay d’Espoir area.

In November 2012, the provincial government announced a $5-million investment to buy capital assets needed for farming expansion, including boats, motors, cages and moorings.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Derrick Dalley said at the announcement in St. Alban’s that the funding would help Gray Aqua quadruple its annual production of 4,000 metric tonnes to 16,000 metric tonnes, and more than double employment, from 42 to 96 full-time positions.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Salmon anemia hit company hard Beleaguered aquaculture company Gray Aqua has filed for bankruptcy protection, owing nearly $40 million to creditors, including taxpayers.

Documents obtained by The Telegram show that the New Brunswick-based company, with operations in Newfoundland, filed a notice of intention Aug. 21 under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act to make a proposal to its creditors, which number in the dozens — ranging from $24.9 million owed to bank HSBC to $323.29 owed to New Brunswick company Pennfield Hydraulics — giving it 30 days to come up with a plan to pay them.

Gray Aqua has been beset by three separate cases of infectious salmon anemia (ISA) over the past 14 months, resulting in culls of more than a million fish ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency — a major setback for the company, according to the head of the provincial aquaculture industry association.

“They lost three of their farm sites due to ISA, and there’s some public compensation for that, but it’s never enough to recover, or hasn’t been for them,” said Cyr Couturier, executive director of the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association.

“That amount sometimes covers your operating costs. Sometimes it doesn’t. But most of the time it doesn’t, and I think in this case that’s what will happen with Gray, where some of the fish were young, and most of the production of salmon is front-loaded, so your costs are 50 or 60 per cent up front and then by the time they reach market value, then you start making money. But in the case of small fish, you lose money.”

Couturier called Gray Aqua’s troubles a “blip” when it comes to the provincial industry as a whole.

“The way we look at it, I’d say for the industry here in Newfoundland and Labrador, this is a blip in our production this year and next year in the planned production,” he said, adding he hopes the company’s restructuring is successful and Gray Aqua will continue to operate in the province.

If it can’t, said Couturier, another company would fill the void.

“What will happen is the assets will still remain here in Newfoundland and Labrador. Gray may continue to operate, depending on their restructuring plan, but the jobs will still remain here in terms of the production going forward, and we’ll continue to grow in a sustainable and responsible manner as we’ve planned.”

Last year, said Couturier, the provincial aquaculture industry produced about 18,000 tonnes of fish, with Gray Aqua contributing about 2,000 tonnes — although it would have been more had it not been required to destroy nearly half a million fish, he added.

Earlier this week, The Telegram reported Gray Aqua had been sued by a fish-feed supplier over unpaid bills totalling more than $648,000, with invoices going unpaid beginning in January, just two months after the Newfoundland and Labrador government announced a $5-million investment in Gray Aqua for expansion.

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Gray Aqua has also received nearly $3 million from the federal Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency over the last two years, and still owes the agency $2.2 million, according to the list of creditors.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Derrick Dalley called it a difficult situation for Gray Aqua.

“But the industry as a whole, it’s been a very strong industry with tremendous growth opportunities,” he said.

“From our perspective, the industry is strong and the outlook is positive. It’s just a very unfortunate and difficult situation that Gray finds themselves in right now.”

Dalley said he met with representatives of the company Aug. 13.

“We’ve had some discussion about the company and some of the challenges that they were facing,” he said.

“They’d agreed then that they’d be submitting (a plan) to government for consideration.”

At the time, he said, the company didn’t indicate they’d be filing for bankruptcy protection, but department officials have met with the company again since last week’s filing.

Dalley said Gray Aqua had drawn on $3.8 million of the $5-million provincial investment announced in November — “I guess that’s all that’s going to be drawn down at this point,” he said — with the money coming from government funds specifically designated to support and attract aquaculture businesses in the province.

“We saw an opportunity where, particularly in an area of the province, the south coast, that was decimated economically through the ’90s, we saw a tremendous opportunity there to be able to attract companies,” he said.

“But in order to do so, because of the risks associated with aquaculture, the lending institutions weren’t as interested as probably companies would have liked, but with the support of government through this equity program, we’re able to attract the lending institutions to support the companies.”

About $24 million has been put into the program by the provincial government over the last several years, said Dalley, resulting in about $400 million in investment from companies.

“The $3.8 million, it’s a difficult situation, and we’d like to get the direct return on the $3.8 (million), but in terms of economic development, some 1,000 jobs have been created within the industry — it’s (an) over $100-million industry with tremendous potential, so it’s been a good investment from our perspective, but it’s just a difficult situation right now for the company, and we wait 30 days to see what the outcome will be.”

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will not release the amount of compensation provided to Gray Aqua following the agency’s orders to destroy infected fish.

“Specific compensation amounts are not disclosed publicly as they fall under the Privacy Act,” wrote agency spokesman Rod Lister in an email to the Telegram.

“Until a final payment is awarded, the CFIA is not able to publicly discuss specific details surrounding any determination for compensation, including this one, due to privacy and confidentiality concerns.”

The amount of compensation is meant to reflect market value of the fish, up to a maximum of $30 per salmon, under federal regulations. With 450,000 fish ordered destroyed in 2012 and another 800,000 ordered culled in June, Gray Aqua could receive a maximum of $37.5 million in compensation.

Company president Tim Gray has not responded to repeated messages left requesting comment on the company’s financial troubles.

“He won’t talk to you, I can tell you right now,” said the Gray Aqua employee who answered the phone Wednesday.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

“I’ll give him the message, but I can guarantee you right now he won’t call you back.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 State of Salmon – Restoring a Washington Icon Watch video HERE Editorial Comment: As the efforts documented in “State of Salmon”, continue to provide better freshwater spawning and rearing habitat for wild Pacific salmon and steelhead trout, much needed work must be funded and accomplished to resolve negative impacts to these same fish while they are in marine environments.

Not understanding and addressing these marine impacts to wild Pacific salmon is unacceptable.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Fear of native opposition to B.C. pipelines behind blitz of top officials Letter suggests high-level consultant has warned Ottawa can expect legal action over Northern Gateway OTTAWA — The Harper government is launching a blitz to convince B.C. native leaders to support oilsands pipelines to the West Coast.

Those leaders said they will listen, but one said it appears to be a last-minute effort by the Harper government to fend off possible native lawsuits rather than the start of real consultation.

The steady stream of cabinet ministers and a team of top public servants from seven ministries — unprecedented, according to one native leader — will be in B.C. in the next few weeks, the apparent result of a consultant’s warning that First Nations are determined to opposed the Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan pipeline proposals.

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That consultant, Vancouver lawyer Doug Eyford, was appointed by Harper in March.

“He’s been out here, on the ground, finding out what the mood is,” said Gordon Christie, director of the University of B.C.’s Indigenous Legal Studies Program. “I can’t imagine anything other than him going back and saying anything other than, ‘things are not looking good.’”

Ottawa won’t release Eyford’s report. But a letter from a top federal official to B.C. native leaders earlier this week hinted Ottawa has to do a better selling job.

Eyford’s meetings with those who could be affected by the pipelines “have highlighted the importance of engagement between senior government officials and First Nations, covering all aspects of the government’s plan for responsible resource development,” wrote Serge Dupont, deputy minister at Natural Resources Canada.

Vancouver Island NDP MP Jean Crowder said Harper is scrambling to win hearts and minds in anticipation of the federal Joint Review Panel (JRP) decision on Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat, due in December.

“He’s only got two years left in his mandate. If he doesn’t get cracking it isn’t going to happen before the next election,” she said.

“The (Eyford) report’s come to him and it says, ‘you guys have blown it, you haven’t built the relationship with First Nations.’ Harper looks at the calendar and says, ‘oops, I’ve only got two years left, and these things don’t move quickly,’ so now he’s flooding the region” with top officials.

But she said the response doesn’t come close to meeting the Supreme Court of Canada’s requirement to consult, accommodate and even compensate first nations for projects that infringe on aboriginal title to land and resources.

Grand Chief Ed John of the B.C. First Nations Summit said he welcomes a push by Ottawa to consult more broadly on oilsands pipelines. But he said the officials shouldn’t just stay in Vancouver, and should travel to areas like the north coast where there are concerns about possible tanker spills.

He also complained that Harper, who is in Vancouver Monday on an unrelated matter, has never met with West Coast leaders on B.C. turf since being elected in 2006.

“That’s a fundamental reality of this government and this prime minister, they are aloof to the needs and interests of First Nations in British Columbia.”

He said Harper needs to become engaged if he hopes to push the multi-billion-dollar natural resource projects.

“The governments of Canada and British Columbia need approval of first nations for their development proposals in this province. There’s absolutely no way around this,” he said.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said he believes the Conservatives are anticipating a rejection of Northern Gateway by the JRP. If that happens “we believe the Harper government would simply declare (Northern Gateway to be) in the national interest and overturn the Joint Review Panel recommendation,” Phillip said.

“At which time there would be a flurry of lawsuits … and the Harper government would rely on the consultation record as part of their legal defence — that’s possibly what’s happening here.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

But Grand Chief Doug Kelly of the Sto:lo Tribal Council said he doubts Ottawa is sending heavy hitters in hopes of proving to judges that Ottawa fulfilled its requirement to consult and accommodate.

He noted that Dupont specifically states in his letter that the meetings aren’t intended to meet the Crown’s duty to consult.

Kelly said his people are anxious to get out of poverty and want to listen to economic development proposals, but added that some projects — he wouldn’t identify them — should be rejected from the outset due to the potential environmental damage.

UBC’s Christie said Ottawa appears to be recognizing that it must do more to win support from first nations than relying on the JRP process to assess aboriginal concerns.

“The feds seem to have thought they could rely on the JRP to satisfy, substantially, their duties to consult,” Christie told The Vancouver Sun. “But now they see the resistance still there, and if anything as strong as ever, and are concerned that regardless of the extent to which they may have met their duties through the JRP process this is headed to a major showdown in the courts, should they press ahead.

“A last-minute push to try to win people over seems to be their response, after months of inactivity.”

Stuff Happens!

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 U.S.

Reps Kilmer and Heck promise to continue drive to clean up Puget Sound August 22, 2013 U.S. Reps Kilmer and Heck promise to continue the work of Norm Dicks on behalf of wetlands, shorelines

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Freshmen U.S. Reps. Derek Kilmer and Denny Heck promised Tuesday that they’ll do their best to sustain former Congressman Norm Dicks’ drive to clean up Puget Sound.

“Together our feet aren’t big enough to fill the shoes of Norm Dicks and what he has done to improve the health of Puget Sound,” said Heck, D-Olympia, “but we’re here to see how we can advance our movements forward.”

At a field hearing held at Tacoma’s Center for Urban Waters, Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, called the restoration of Puget Sound “both a moral and an economic necessity.”

Editorial Comment: The ongoing, collaborative work to restore the health of Puget Sound / Salish Sea (Washington state) is vitally important to the efforts to restore wild Pacific salmon, their ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies.

An essential component to the successful restoration of these wild Pacific salmon is the immediate and permanent removal of open pen salmon feedlots from wild Pacific salmon routes throughout the Salish Sea

Kilmer replaced Dicks, who retired in 2012 after representing the 6th Congressional District for nearly four decades.

In 2009, when Dicks was chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee on the interior, environment and related agencies, he raised the budget for Puget Sound-related work to a high of $50 million — 100 times what it had been the previous decade.

During more than two hours of testimony Tuesday, the heads of federal and state environmental agencies and Indian tribes summarized achievements, which they said included the restoration of miles of wetlands and other shoreline habitat; improvements in the handling of stormwater runoff; and the removal of invasive species, creosoted docks and pilings, and derelict vessels.

But they told the congressmen that continued vigilance, and a continued flow of federal money, is critical for success.

“It’s not like putting out a fire,” said Bill Ruckelshaus, former administrator of the EPA and former chair of the Puget Sound Partnership’s Leadership Council. “We’ve got to stay everlastingly at it.”

Several who testified said more money needs to be allocated for scientific monitoring. Getting money for restoration projects has been relatively easy lately, they said, but finding money for monitoring results has been nearly impossible.

Another consistent problem with the restoration effort, several who testified said, is that a sizeable portion of the public is still either unaware or unconvinced that a problem exists.

At the Center for Urban Waters, which overlooks the Thea Foss Waterway, a parade of pleasure boats headed back and forth from Commencement Bay. “How can you say, looking out here, that everything is not hunky-dory?” said Randy Kinley, representing Lummi Nation. “The problem is below the sunny surface.”

Heck said he believes that is indeed a central issue.

“You have to convince the people,” Heck said, “and what you need to convince the people is a convincing message. Distilling the message is something we can make a lot of progress on.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Mining and wild game fish

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Anglo

American withdraws from Pebble Mine, casting project's future into

doubt September 16, 2013

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Anglo American, one of the key backers of the controversial Pebble mine in Alaska's Bristol Bay region, announced Monday that it is withdrawing from the Pebble Partnership -- and will take a $300 million hit for doing so. The London-based Anglo American has a 50 percent share of the Pebble venture, with Northern Dynasty Minerals out of Vancouver, Canada controlling the other half. The company said that Northern Dynasty will assume sole responsibility for the project.

In a statement, Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani said that the company was seeking other investment opportunities.

"Despite our belief that Pebble is a deposit of rare magnitude and quality, we have taken the decision to withdraw following a thorough assessment of Anglo American’s extensive pipeline of long-dated project options," Cutifani said. "Our focus has been to prioritize capital to projects with the highest value and lowest risks within our portfolio, and reduce the capital required to sustain such projects during the pre-approval phases of development as part of a more effective, value-driven capital allocation model."

RELATED: New EPA head gets earful of Pebble Mine chatter in Southwest Alaska meetings Pebble Mine fears shadow Alaska land plan for Bristol Bay area John Shively, CEO of the Pebble Partnership, insisted that reports of Pebble's death are premature.

“Obviously we’re disappointed, but we still have a great project,” he said. “Anglo American was reviewing all of their assets. When they got to us, we didn’t make the cut,” he said.

Shively, who learned of the pullout this weekend in phone calls from the owner companies, said he expects that Northern Dynasty will decide in the next two or three weeks what its next steps should be. He said the “partnership has to be unraveled,” and Northern Dynasty has to consider its options.

Pebble has received intense scrutiny during the exploratory phase of the project. Critics say the mine's proposed location could present a risk to the Bristol Bay watershed and salmon fishery, one of the most lucrative fisheries in the world. Supporters have accused the Environmental Protection Agency of playing politics with the project after the EPA released an assessment of the potential impacts of a large open-pit mine on Bristol Bay fisheries last year. That report said that even barring a major mishap, damage to salmon runs were a likely side effect of mine development.

Meanwhile, the Pebble Mine prospect is also a high-value proposition: Northern Dynasty estimates that the proposed mining area could contain as much as 81 billion pounds of copper, 5.6 billion pounds of molybdenum and 107 million ounces of gold. Estimates have put the value of the resources at up to $300 billion.

The mine could have potential for the state as well, as it represents the largest mining prospect in Alaska's history. The potential tax revenue from the Pebble prospect -- despite mining taxes that are dwarfed when compared to the tax dollars brought in by oil -- could eventually prove valuable to the state as it faces declining oil tax revenues after a tax cut that could see the state lose $1 billion a year in revenue.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

The two competing interests have made for a high-stakes public relations battle, with each side disputing the others' facts, and even residents of the region split between the mine's potential for job creation, the existing jobs in the fishery, and the possibility of damage to subsistence salmon stocks if something were to go awry at the hypothetical mine.

Can Pebble survive?

Environmental groups quickly adopted a gloating tone after Anglo American's announcement Monday morning, with the World Wildlife Fund issuing a statement that said in part: "When a company is willing to accept a $300 million charge to walk away from a project, it gives you a sense of just how bad of an idea the proposed Pebble Mine really is."

The group Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay issued a release noting that 900,000 people -greater than the entire population of Alaska -- had submitted public comments on the EPA's draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment, and argued that the vast majority were opposed to mine development.

It's unclear where Anglo American's withdrawal from the Pebble Partnership will leave Northern Dynasty, which acquired the Pebble project in 2001. Anglo American, one of the world's largest mining conglomerates, came aboard in 2007. With Anglo American out of the picture, the question becomes who might take the company's place -- and if the Pebble project can go on without it.

While opponents of Pebble may regard this as a death blow, Shively said the venture may be worth more to some potential future partner than it was in 2007 when the two companies created their partnership.

“We have to sit down with Northern Dynasty and figure out where we go from here,” he said.

“Northern Dynasty has a better asset to sell now to a partner than they did in 2007. We’ve made a lot of progress in terms of defining the prospect and in terms of getting ready for permitting. None of that was on the table in 2007.”

Shively said the project managers believed they had been getting close to filing for permits with the state, but that’s likely to change.

“It’s not good news, but this is the way I look at it. Pebble is a great asset, not just to Northern Dynasty, but to the state.”

“This asset is going to be developed some day. I’m certain of it.”

A statement from Northern Dynasty CEO Ron Thiessen seemed to agree with Shively: "Northern Dynasty will again own 100 percent of one of the world's most important copper & gold resources and will have the benefit of $541 million worth of expenditures, which opens the door to a number of exciting possibilities for Northern Dynasty and its shareholders and the Pebble Project and its stakeholders. Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Partnership have both the expertise and resources necessary to advance the Pebble Project."

At the market close Monday, Northern Dynasty's stock prices had fallen more than 30 percent from Friday's close.

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 New EPA chief to visit Alaska over Pebble mine controversy August 21, 2013 WASHINGTON -- New Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy plans to visit the site of Alaska's proposed Pebble Mine next week as she decides whether to block the massive project to protect one of the world's last big runs of wild salmon.

It's one of McCarthy's first trips since her confirmation last month as EPA administrator. The trip underscores the growing national battle over what could be the largest open pit mine in North America.

The companies seeking to build the mine are waiting on final details but expect to host McCarthy at the mine site.

"Hopefully, she can see for herself what the project is all about," said Pebble Partnership spokesman Mike Heatwole.

Gina McCarthy

He said the Pebble Partnership will talk to her about how the mine and the salmon can co-exist, as well as economic opportunities the mine would bring.

An EPA study released in April said the mine could wipe out nearly 100 miles of streams and 4,800 acres of wetlands in the Bristol Bay region. The area produces about half the world's wild red salmon.

The agency is finishing the report as it considers whether to use the Clean Water Act to block development of the mine.

"We believe her visit will confirm for her that the protection of Bristol Bay and its fisheries must remain a top priority for the agency," said Jason Metrokin, president and CEO of the Bristol Bay Native Corp., which opposes the mine.

The mining proposal is among the most heated issues McCarthy faces as she takes over the EPA. Congressional Republicans slam the agency for wading into the fight. Democratic senators from Washington, California and Oregon say the mine threatens the seafood industry.

Several EPA representatives will join McCarthy on the trip, including Dennis McLerran, the Pacific Northwest regional administrator, according to an email that EPA officials sent to Alaska tribes this week.

The email said McCarthy plans to hold meetings in the Bristol Bay communities of Dillingham and Iliamna. The EPA did not respond to questions about the trip.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Iliamna Development Corp. CEO Lisa Reimers said meetings are scheduled for Tuesday. She said she welcomes the visit and urges the EPA not to veto the mine.

"Iliamna does not want anything to happen to our fish or our environment," she said in an email. "But for the EPA to base its assessment on a hypothetical mine that could never be permitted in Alaska is not just unprofessional, it has the potential to have significant negative consequences for our village and our people who are in dire need of economic opportunity."

Pebble developers have not completed plans for the mine.

They say the EPA is rushing to judgment.

The EPA said its work is based on preliminary mine plans submitted to government agencies, including a 2011 report to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The agency said it launched the study at the request of Alaska tribes and others concerned about the salmon.

The Pebble Partnership says the region's deposit is one of the largest of its kind in the world, with potential to produce 80.6 billion pounds of copper, 107.4 million ounces of gold and 5.6 billion pounds of molybdenum (used to make stainless steel) over three decades.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Tahltan First Nation, Fortune Minerals face off over coal mine project August 21, 2013 The two sides are in a standoff this week at a mining field camp near the small community of Iskut in the Skeena Mountains, about 300 kilometres northeast of Prince Rupert. With RCMP officers looking on, a group of about 30 elders has been drumming and singing outside the camp and is threatening a full blockade.

“They are angry and they are frustrated that this company is there,” Annita McPhee, president of the Tahltan Central Council, said on Wednesday.

Ms. McPhee said the Tahltan have supported a number of projects, including BC Hydro’s $700million Northwest Transmission Line and a $200-million hydro generation project by AltaGas Ltd., and is in discussions with Imperial Metals Corp. over the $500-million Red Chris mine.

But she said the Fortune Minerals mine is a no-go because it threatens the headwaters of three important salmon rivers: the Skeena, Nass and Stikine.

“Ultimately with the Tahltan Central Council, our goal is to have permanent protection in this area.

We’re not unreasonable people. We’ve been very supportive and partners with industry in development projects in our territory,” Ms. McPhee said. “But there are some things that we want to protect for ourselves and we have to draw the line. … We want to see this company leave.”

Troy Nazarewicz, a spokesman for Fortune Minerals, said the mining camp is important because it is gathering scientific and baseline data for the environmental-assessment process.

He said the camp shut down over the weekend because of concern about the protest, but began operation again Monday. “We’re going day by day I guess is the best way to look at it,” he said when asked about the threat of a full blockade. “If they escalate it or interfere with any of the work ... they would be arrested.”

RCMP Constable Lesley Smith said police are monitoring the dispute. “Right now, the protest is peaceful and lawful,” she said.

At a small rally outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on Wednesday, Tahltan First Nation member Colleen Collins said she hopes the public will get engaged. “We’re hoping to get a lot of [public] recognition and have people come in to support us,” she said as she handed out pamphlets.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 B.C. issues contentious mineral-exploration permit in Clayoquot Sound August 26, 2013

Natives in Tofino are outraged that the B.C. government has issued a mineral-exploration permit for an area of Clayoquot Sound in which they have declared a tribal park.

The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation is seeking a meeting with Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett to outline its opposition to Vancouver-based Selkirk Metals Corp., a subsidiary of Imperial Metals Corp., exploring for gold in the Tranquil Valley, about 20 kilometres northeast of Tofino.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Saya Masso, Tla-o-qui-aht natural resource manager and councillor, said Monday his people support sustainable development in tribal parks, including low-impact tourism, hatcheries and green energy, such as appropriate run-of-river projects — but not a mine.

“We’re the ones who have to bathe in the river and eat the fish in it, and there’s been nothing to convince us that this is something good for our grandchildren,” he said in an interview.

“We’re trying to restore the fish and the trees. This will jeopardize all our conservation efforts.”

Steve Robertson, vice-president of corporate affairs for Imperial Metals, could not be reached to comment.

In a letter dated Aug. 15, senior mines inspector Ed Taje said that consultation with natives had been “meaningful and sufficient” and that aboriginal interests would be “minimally impacted” by authorized activities under Selkirk’s Fandora exploration project.

The permit states that should exploration encounter an archaeological site, work “shall be suspended or modified in such a manner as to ensure that the site is not damaged, desecrated or otherwise altered ….”

Selkirk also must cease activity in the “immediate area” of a stream or water body being used for ceremonial bathing, and natives must be notified of any sites where water is removed from Tranquil Creek.

The company must also make “every reasonable effort” to accommodate native hunting and traditional harvesting in the area, and allow passage of natives through work areas as it is safe to do so.

Ministry spokesman Matt Gordon said that exploration permitting is a statutory decision under the Mines Act and does not involve the minister, but that Bennett “would be happy to meet with the Tla-oqui-aht First Nation and is waiting for details to be arranged.”

The Tla-o-qui-aht have declared a total of four tribal parks, including the famous old-growth rainforests of Meares Island.

Native opposition to mining in the area is supported by the Wilderness Committee, Greenpeace, Friends of Clayoquot Sound, Clayoquot Action, and Sierra Club B.C. Torrance Coste, Vancouver Island campaigner with the Wilderness Committee, noted that while “tribal parks are not recognized by the government or other officials right now” they should be encouraged because they support “more sustainable, more environmentally friendly development.

We share their (aboriginal) frustration that the province is not listening.”

Coste noted that small-scale mining activity occurred at the Fandora site several decades ago, but that Selkirk wants to go back and conduct more intensive work.

Issuance of an exploration permit is a preliminary step only and does not mean that a mine would necessarily be approved if commercially viable deposits are discovered. “If the company chooses to move forward, they would proceed to the pre-application phase of Environmental Assessment,” Gordon noted.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Wild game fish management

 Setting the right course for

U.S. oceans

September 12, 2013 When it comes to protecting the environment, too often we wait for a crisis before we’re compelled to act. That’s especially true of marine conservation.

Oceans cover more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, they transcend political boundaries, and as long as the public sees fish for sale at the store, problems such as overfishing can be easy to ignore.

The United States, however, has made remarkable progress toward ending overfishing -- catching fish faster than they can reproduce -- and rebuilding depleted stocks in our waters. This is largely due to a willingness to follow the science and stick with firm annual quotas on catches that cannot exceed scientific recommendations. Credit this to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary law that governs our nation’s ocean fisheries.

Pacific lingcod, South Atlantic black sea bass, and mid-Atlantic summer flounder are among the 32 fish populations rebuilt under the act since 2000. The recovery of these and other depleted fish species is good for the environment and our economy alike. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service projects it will result in an additional $31 billion in annual sales and 500,000 more jobs.

Now, faced with rising demands on our oceans, fisheries managers, scientists, conservation groups, and fishermen have begun exploring ways to broaden the focus from a traditional species-by-species approach to one that considers how everything in the ocean is linked together. Known as ecosystembased fisheries management, this approach considers, and then accounts for how fishing for one species affects larger ocean ecosystems.

Along the Pacific coast, regional fisheries managers from Alaska to California are beginning to use this method proactively to conserve schooling species of small prey fish that are a critical food source for whales, seabirds, and larger fish. Globally, these forage fish, including sardines, anchovies, and herring, already account for more than one-third of the total catch of wild marine fish, and nearly all of this -- 90 percent -- is processed into fish meal or oil.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

This spring, the Pacific Fishery Management Council unanimously adopted its first fishery ecosystem plan, setting a priority to prohibit new fisheries for forage species that are not now commercially sought after until the effect on ecosystems has been evaluated.

Although it may seem like an obvious precaution, exploring these issues before industrial-scale fishing vessels take to the water does not happen often enough. It has been more than a decade since fisheries managers in Alaska enacted similar protections for key forage species, with the strong support of commercial fishermen who recognized the need to protect the prey for the fish that sustains their livelihoods.

Alaska now boasts some of the most robust and healthy fish populations in U.S. waters.

The success of this proactive effort and the progress that has been made to conserve our fisheries offers encouragement, yet more needs to be done. One glaring example is our response to a changing climate, which is fundamentally altering the web of life below the ocean’s surface.

Recently, a study in the science journal Nature documents that fish populations are moving from warmer water in the tropics toward colder waters at the poles. Oceans are also becoming more acidic as they absorb increasing levels of carbon dioxide. This presents an inescapable threat to marine creatures that form shells, from tiny copepods that nourish fish and whales to oysters savored by seafood lovers around the world. At the same time, our fragile ocean ecosystems face rising industrial pressure due to new shipping routes, more energy extraction, and the growing need to feed a rising world population.

In light of such challenges, and as debate in Washington heats up this fall on reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, Congress should work to strengthen this essential legislation to maintain resilience and productivity in our oceans for the long term. Fisheries managers have made significant progress to end overfishing and rebuild depleted populations. Similar efforts are needed to better account for the role of critical forage fish within the larger marine food web and to prevent the expansion of commercial fishing into new areas without first understanding the potential consequences.

Our current fisheries law has served our nation well, but science has greatly expanded our knowledge of ocean ecosystems. Now those laws and regulations must catch up if we are to ensure that our marine resources are as bountiful in the future as they have been in the past.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Lake Babine sockeye fishery at risk of unprecedented closure August 12, 2013

Aboriginal people in British Columbia who rely on Skeena River sockeye are facing some extremely difficult decisions as sockeye salmon returns plunge to historic lows.

Lake Babine Chief Wilf Adam was on his way to Smithers, B.C., on Monday for a discussion about whether to entirely shut down the food fishery on Lake Babine, something he said would be drastic and unprecedented – but may ultimately be necessary.

The recreational and non-aboriginal fisheries on the lake and Babine River have been shut entirely since the Department of Fisheries and Oceans issued a directive last week, though aboriginal people have still been able to fish in a limited way for food.

But that could change.

“If the numbers are the way they are, we’ve got to close everything down,” Adam said. “That’s not an easy decision to make. Salmon is our livelihood. That is the soul of our being. To deny that from our citizens is not a happy event.”

Last month, the department noted returns for the Skeena River sockeye run were dire.

Mel Kotyk, North Coast area director for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said the department’s monitoring activities were finding one of the lowest runs in 50 years.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Only 453,000 sockeye are expected to swim along the Skeena this year, Kotyk said, compared to approximately 2.4 million last year, forcing all commercial and recreational Skeena sockeye fisheries to be closed.

Conservation groups have sounded the alarm, saying Alaskan commercial fishermen are contributing to the problem as Skeena River sockeye get caught in the nets of Americans fishing for pink and chum sockeye.

Kotyk said department scientists don’t know why the return numbers are so low.

“We don’t have anything definitive at this point,” Kotyk said in an interview Monday.

“Most of the Skeena fish come from the Babine system. And when they went out to sea they seemed to be very strong and healthy and in good numbers, so we think something happened in the ocean.”

He said all parties involved in the fishery are being consulted.

“Everyone has been very co-operative,” he said.

He noted that at this point, there are no concerns about next year’s returns based on the current predictions.

But the Headwaters Initiative, an aboriginal non-government organization in northern British Columbia, slammed the department for not ensuring the recreational fishery was closed on Lake Babine earlier.

Adam agreed, saying the directive for the lake last week came about three weeks late. Now, he said, the department needs to step up enforcement to ensure all fishing on the lake aside from the aboriginal food fishery ceases.

“Because of mismanagement by DFO on our fisheries, it’s forcing me to tell the elders and the single mothers that there is no salmon for them,” said Adam.

“It is forcing me to limit what we can do on our lake in regards to the salmon food fish. I have to balance with the conservation measures that are in place now. We’ve never seen anything like this in all these years I’ve done this. I’ve asked the elders and they have never seen anything like this at all.”

Adam said other species of salmon seem not to be having the same problems as the sockeye.

He said pinks are in the lake in good numbers, as are jack salmon. Jack are two-year-old sockeye that have returned to the spawning channels two years early.

Adam said they can be cooked, but they can’t be dried or smoked, which is how his people have traditionally eaten them.

And they don’t spawn.

“What those jacks do in the spawning channels and spawning beds is destroy things. I call them teenaged salmon. They’re just there to destroy everything.”

The one bright spot, he said, is that usually when jack salmon show up, the return for sockeye the following year is good.

“So I have to look at this positively,” he said.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 DFO

launches investigation into video allegedly showing fishermen harming salmon August 19, 2013

VANCOUVER — The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has launched an investigation after an online video surfaced recently that allegedly showed the harmful release of salmon back into the wild from boat decks.

The video was filmed during a pink-salmon fishery just south of Kitimat, B.C., on the province's North Coast, and appears to show other species of salmon lying unsorted on boat decks for as long as six minutes before being tossed or kicked off the side.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

North Coast area director Mel Kotyk called the images disturbing and questioned whether fishing vessels are "acting in accordance with their license."

"Under the Fisheries Act (non-targeted fish) must be returned the ocean in the quickest and least harmful manner possible," he said, adding the department has requested the raw footage from the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, the environmental advocacy group that posted the video last week.

A spokesman for the Canadian Fishing Company, which is owned by the Jim Pattison Group, welcomed the investigation.

"We have taken strong action in terms of re-instructing our fleet in how to properly care for fish that are released into the water," said company spokesman Rob Morley. "We continue to believe that the majority of the fleet are doing a good job. We certainly don't want to see poor practices."

Morley said improving the industry is always a goal.

"We're always interested in looking at cost-effective solutions that can improve the situation, but it's a big fishery with thousands of vessels participating, and a lot of people have to be consulted to figure out what those measures may be."

Watershed Watch spokesman Aaron Hill said fishing boats targeting pink salmon in B.C.'s northern fisheries may be killing up to 165,000 salmon through improper release practices.

Hill said the investigation may result in a few fishermen becoming scapegoats, instead of industrywide change that he said is desperately needed.

"We've exposed a behaviour in the fishing fleet that is quite commonplace," he said. "There are a few boats out there that are doing things right, but we went out onto the fishing grounds and we (taped) the first three boats we came across, and they all were mishandling fish, and one boat in particular was egregiously mishandling the fish and leaving them on the deck for dead."

Hill also dismissed concerns the video was selectively edited and questioned whether the practices caught on film are those of "a few bad actors."

"There are systemic problems that need to be addressed that aren't going to be addressed by disrupting a few guys who've already had their lives tremendously disrupted by being unfortunate enough to be the ones in our video," Hill said.

Kotyk said he doesn't know how long the investigation will take but it will look at the handling practices of the vessels in the video, as well as the industry.

He said the department will also consider evidence other than the video to determining what action, if any, should be taken.

Fisheries officers can issue warnings and tickets to offenders, he added, and the department can also take people to court where a judge decides on the penalty.

The video is posted at watershed-watch.org/resources/north-coast-chum-discards.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Editorial Comment: It’s a sad state of affairs when First Nations families are unable to harvest wild Pacific salmon to sustain their lives and those of their loved ones. DFO’s use of night vision goggles and other technology to arrest and fine a few fishermen was absolutely heavy handed!

DFO could perform a far more valuable service to society by immediately and permanently removing open pen salmon feedlots from wild salmon migration routes.

Restoring declining populations of wild Pacific salmon requires effective collaboration by all user groups and those hired to conserve public resources.

 DFO targets salmon poachers on Fraser River August 23, 2013 The Sal Conservation officials are warning poachers to get their nets out of the Fraser River.

This year's disastrous sockeye salmon runs have prompted the closure of all commercial and recreational fisheries.

Fraser River salmon ban begins tonight But enforcement officials say they've pulled up 50 nets and seized eight vessels in the last week alone.

Twenty-seven people are being investigated, most of them First Nations fishermen, said Herb Redekopp, chief of conservation and protection for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

"We're facing a fair number of nets that are fishing at night,” he said.

"There's a real pent-up demand for these fish and the market price on the black market is very high."

Sockeye salmon shortfall drives up price Officials have stepped up enforcement on the river this week, including night patrols and aerial units.

"We're hitting the river hard,” Redekopp said.

“We've doubled our enforcement strength on the Fraser River from Surrey up to Hell's Gate and our primary focus is to move all the sockeye that are in the system right now up to the spawning grounds.”

Redekopp said most of the seizures have happened in the Chilliwack and Agassiz area of the Fraser.

The DFO says it's also looking into complaints of illegal fish sales.

Poachers can face a fine of up to $100,000 or up to two years in jail if found guilty.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Sport fishermen hit hard by closure (video) August 26, 2013

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Court: Water Releases to Protect Salmon in California Move Forward Judge agrees water from Trinity River needed to prevent another fish kill disaster on lower Klamath AUGUST 22, 2013 FRESNO, CA — A federal court today ruled that water releases planned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to protect the migration of Chinook salmon into the Klamath/Trinity rivers in Northern California should move forward.

After a two day hearing in Fresno, CA, the court rejected demands by agricultural interests in California’s Central Valley led by the Westlands Water District, to block the releases, which were supposed to have started August 13. After hearing from half a dozen fisheries experts who all agreed that the water release program was supported by the science, the Court ruled for the water release program to move forward.

The Court concluded, “… On balance, considering the significantly lower volume of water now projected to be involved and the potential and enormous risk to the fishery of doing nothing, the Court finds it in the public interest to permit the augmentation to proceed.” (PAGE 19) “Commercial fishermen and Indian Tribes explained to the Court how another large-scale fish kill would devastate the coastal economy,” said Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA). “This decision is wonderful news for a California native salmon run and all the coastal communities who depend on the salmon for their sustainable livelihoods.”

The Court also noted, “… the flow augmentation releases are designed to prevent a potentially serious fish die off from impacting salmon populations entering the Klamath River estuary. There is no dispute and the record clearly reflects that the 2002 fish kill had severe impacts on commercial fishing interests, tribal fishing rights, and the ecology, and that another fish kill would likely have similar impacts.” (PAGE 16)

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Attorney Jan Hasselman of Earthjustice who intervened on behalf of PCFFA said, “The decision to protect salmon also protects the Northern California coastal communities. Salmon runs can provide jobs forever if managed correctly. The science is clear that additional releases are needed to protect this priceless resource.”

This year is unusual in that extremely low flow conditions in the lower Klamath are occurring at the same time fisheries managers expect the second-largest run of chinook on record to begin arriving within days. Federal, state and tribal salmon biologists have been gravely concerned that this confluence of high runs and low flows will lead to another mass fish kill like the one that occurred in 2002.

Experts explained to the judge how water conditions in the basin this year are almost identical to those in 2002, except with a far larger adult run of chinook. The undisputed evidence before the Court was that the risk of another fish kill was grave.

The 2002 fish kill led to coast-wide closures of commercial, recreational and tribal fishing, leading to serious harm to the economy. Congress ultimately appropriated $60 million in disaster assistance to help coastal communities, an amount that was widely regarded as a fraction of what was needed.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 State of Washington: Threatened and Endangered Wildlife (August 2012)

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Wild Game Fish Conservation Projects

 Changes in the Marine Environment May Be Affecting Salmon and Steelhead Survival – An International Research Partnership There is increasing evidence that changes in the Salish Sea marine environment may be significantly affecting the overall survival of salmon. The smolt-to-adult survival (largely, the period when they are in the marine environment) for many stocks of coho and Chinook, which typically enter the Salish Sea from mid-spring through early summer and can utilize the Salish Sea for a significant period of time, has declined, in some cases to less than one tenth of the levels that existed in the 1970s and 80s.

The Puget Sound steelhead population has also declined significantly, with evidence that mortality in the Salish Sea marine environment is playing a role. Conversely, many pink and some chum salmon populations, which enter the Salish Sea in late winter to early spring, are thriving and sockeye populations have been highly variable, perplexing scientists who work to predict their return for harvest management.

Identifying the Causes of Salmon Decline in the Salish Sea

Long Live the Kings (LLTK) and project partner Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) of Canada are working with scientists, managers and funders from the public and private sectors to facilitate the development of a joint US/Canada research program, utilizing intellectual and capital resources from both countries to evaluate the causes of weak salmon and steelhead survival in the Salish Sea marine environment. Through the development of a comprehensive, ecosystem-based research framework, coordinated data collection, and improved information sharing, the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project will help managers better understand the critical relationship between salmon and the marine environment.

Outcomes will be instrumental in informing and prioritizing hatchery, harvest, habitat and ecosystem management decisions to increase sustainable fishing opportunities and advance the recovery of ESA-listed salmon, steelhead and southern resident killer whales.

View and download a project fact sheet OR the frequently asked questions document View a complete list of project partners

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

NEWS RELEASE Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife August 21, 2013 Contacts: Betsy Lyons (ESRP), 360-9023-2572 Patricia Jatczak (EPA grants), 360-902-2597

 20 projects receive state grants to restore Puget Sound shorelines OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has begun distributing $12 million in funding for 20 local projects designed to protect and restore the natural shorelines around Puget Sound.

Project sponsors include local governments, tribes and non-profit organizations from Hood Canal to the San Juan Islands who applied for funding through two competitive grant programs administered by the department.

Funding distributed by WDFW through those programs comes from a combination of state capital funds and federal grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Betsy Lyons, who manages WDFW’s Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program (ESRP), said most projects funded this year involve removing unnecessary bulkheads, correcting barriers to salmon passage and restoring tidal functions altered by land-use practices over the past century.

“More than a quarter of Puget Sound’s 2,500-mile shoreline is currently lined with bulkheads or other types of shoreline structures,” Lyons said. “These restoration projects will play an important role in advancing salmon recovery and ensuring our natural areas are healthy and productive.”

Twelve projects will be funded this year through ESRP, which is supported by revenue from the state’s capital construction budget. Six other projects, specifically geared to beach restoration, were funded through EPA grants administered by the WDFW’s Marine and Nearshore Grant Program, and two other projects were funded by both programs.

Patricia Jatczak, WDFW manager for the EPA grant program, said this year’s funding was directed to qualified projects at shoreline parks that are accessible to the public.

“One goal of these projects is to give the public a chance to learn about beach processes and the role shorelines play in salmon survival,” Jatczak said. “People may not realize, for example, that sediment from bluffs is critical in providing new beach material and creating healthy shorelines. Loss of sediment can lead to reduced breeding habitat for nearshore fish such as surf smelt that salmon feed on.”

While both grant programs focus on restoring Puget Sound shorelines and salmon runs, they also provide other public benefits, said ESRP Manager Betsy Lyons.

“These projects provide a number of additional benefits for local communities by creating jobs, reducing the risk of floods and expanding public access to Puget Sound shorelines,” she said.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Why are salmon dying when they reach saltwater?

August 22nd, 2013 A new research program, announced yesterday, will work to untangle the mystery of what is killing young salmon after they leave their natal streams. The program is being coordinated in both Washington state and British Columbia — by Long Live the Kings on the U.S. side and by Pacific Salmon Foundation in Canada. See today’s Kitsap Sun (subscription required).

At high tide, water now covers what had been a farmer’s field for decades on the Union River estuary near Belfair. On Monday, an old farm dike was breached in two places. Estuaries are considered important for salmon survival.

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Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

I have conducted hundreds of interviews about salmon through the years. Biologists can usually explain what makes a good salmon stream: clean water, sufficient gravel, vegetation to provide food, woody debris to provide protection and so on.

What they cannot explain very well is what young salmon need to survive in saltwater. Is it clean water, as in freshwater environments? Is it a particular kind of plankton for food, or maybe natural shorelines to provide protection during migration? Is the increased marine mortality of salmon the result of disease or predators? All may be factors, but which ones really count?

When asked to explain why salmon runs are coming in larger or smaller than predicted, salmon managers typically fall back to two words: “ocean conditions.” Conditions may be good or bad in a given year, but what makes good or bad conditions cannot be answered very well.

Biologists who predict salmon runs talk about the “black box” that salmon swim into when they leave the streams and swim back out of when they return. It’s a way of saying that the computer models used to predict salmon runs have a blind spot when it comes to the deep, dark ocean — which we now believe includes the estuary at the edge of the stream, where the salmon change from being a freshwater fish to being a saltwater fish.

“What is currently recognized as a black box appears to be a black hole for salmon recovery,” Jacques White, executive director of Long Live the Kings, told me yesterday in an interview. “If we don’t know what is going on, we can’t make decisions for salmon recovery. It makes it difficult to manage the stocks coming back.”

That’s where the cross-border research program comes in, and it’s no wonder that salmon biologists are excited about the prospect of breaking into the black box. It won’t be easy to track the tiny fish after they leave the streams or to figure out where things are going wrong, but new technology will help. The project is proposed for $10 million in the U.S., with an equal amount in Canada.

Review the Long Live the Kings website for other information about the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project. To go deeper into the ideas behind the project, download the proceedings, notes and other information from November’s Salish Sea Workshop Series.

Meanwhile, efforts to improve estuarine and shoreline conditions will continue, using natural conditions as a guide. On Monday, I covered the final step in the Union River estuary restoration, which involved breaching an old farm dike in two places. I watched as the waters of Hood Canal, held back for a century, began to reclaim 32 acres of saltwater march. Check out the story and video in the Kitsap Sun (subscription required).

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Can-Am Leaders Launch Salmon Recovery Effort August 21, 2013 SEATTLE, Wash. — Leaders on salmon research and recovery from the U. S. and Canada came together in Seattle Wednesday to announce a new project.

It’s called the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project and it’s meant to address a major question: Why aren’t salmon and steelhead in Washington and Canadian waters recovering, despite the millions of dollars that have been spent on research and habitat restoration?

“We have a fairly clear idea of what salmon need and what they’re doing in the freshwater environment. We know considerably less about the marine systems,” said Jacques White, executive director of Long Live The Kings. The Seattle-based non-profit is coordinating the effort along with the Pacific Salmon Foundation in B.C. White says the project will focus on answering questions about what’s happening to salmon and steelhead when they leave the freshwater rivers and enter Washington’s Puget Sound and British Columbia’s Georgia Strait.

“There will be an increased effort to track fish, an increased effort to track their food and an increased effort to look at how that relates to physical parameters in the environment,” he told a small gathering at the Seattle Aquarium.

It’s a $20 million project. They money will be split between salmon managers and researchers in British Columbia and Washington.

The Canadians plan to raise their part of the project through revenues from recreational fishing licenses and through private foundation support.

Washington state has appropriated $800,000 for the project but future funding sources are unclear at this point.

“We have made drastic reductions in harvest in both state and tribal fisheries over the past two decades and despite those reductions in harvest our wild populations of salmon and steelhead in Puget Sound have continued to decline,” said Phil Anderson, head of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“We have to figure out what the cause is of the high mortality rates of our juvenile salmon that are entering Puget Sound and the balance of the Salish Sea or our investments in the rest of these areas will not bring the kind of results we are looking for,” Anderson said.

The marine survival for many stocks of chinook, coho and steelhead that migrate through the Salish Sea is now less than one-tenth of what it was 30 years ago.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Is 500,000 gallons of effluent dumped each day into Quilcene Bay harmful?

Watch the following slideshows presented by Greenfleet Monitoring Expeditions to learn more about this issue and how you can help this worthy conservation cause: 

Barely Breathing Part 1



Barely Breathing Part 2



Barely Breathing Summary and 2013 Update

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Trout Unlimited: Invitation to help remove trash from banks of Puyallup River

So we have enjoyed our return of the Pink salmon on the Puyallup River now come help remove the trash left behind

When: October 12, 2013 Where: Outside Johnny’s Bar and Grill (Puyallup, Washington) Time: 9:00am till 12:00pm Volunteers needed to help pick up trash and debris along the Riverwalk

Contact: Rosendo64@yahoo.com Rosendo Guerrero WA Council of Trout Unlimited

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Chinook

salmon return to Elwha River to spawn upstream from location of former dam September 9, 2013 OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — The kings have returned to the Elwha River.

One year after chinook were sighted— the first in 100 years — in the Elwha River above the site of the former Elwha Dam, adult chinook again have been spotted above the dam site, about 8 miles west of Port Angeles.

Wildlife biologists have counted at least 500 adult chinook in the river, as well as a few pink salmon and coho, said Rainey McKenna, spokeswoman for Olympic National Park, in which most of the river runs.

The official count will be released in November, but biologists said the run looks nearly identical to that of 2012.

Editorial Comment: With hundreds of millions of dollars being spent to recover the Elwha River and Puget Sound (both in Washington state), there is no reasonable logic to siting open pen salmon feedlots where wild Pacific salmon and anadromous trout migrate.

It’s insane to rear salmon in open pen feedlots that impact wild Pacific salmon.

“The run is every bit as strong as last year,” McKenna said.

The fall run of chinook is just past its peak, and numbers are continuing to increase daily, she said last week.

Silt is no problem for the fish, she added.

In April, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, operating a separate fish hatchery along the Elwha River, attributed the deaths of year-old chinook salmon, which were found along the Elwha banks, to heavy sedimentation in the river.

But now, because of a hold put on dam removal while filtration issues are addressed at the federally funded Elwha Water Treatment Plant and surface water intake — and because of low summer rainfall and runoff levels — the amount of sediment in the river water has returned to normal levels, within healthy ranges for salmon, McKenna said.

The best place to see the chinook as they move upstream is from the Altair Bridge on Olympic Hot Springs Road near the entrance to Altair Campground, Rainey said.

“There has been some good viewing,” she said.

READ ENTIRE PENINSULA DAILY NEWS ARTICLE HERE

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Conservation-minded businesses – please support these fine businesses

 "Dave and Kim Egdorf's Western Alaska Sport Fishing on Facebook

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Jim Teeny Incorporated Note: Be sure to mark your calendar for November 20th at 7:00 PM. The Olympia Chapter of Trout Unlimited will host Jim and Donna Teeny’s, alwayspopular, family-friendly “Fly Fishing for Large Steelhead and Salmon” program. Admission is free to the public.

This exciting and interesting program will be held at the North Olympia Fire Department – 5046 Boston Harbor Rd NE, Olympia, Washington Come by and say hi to Jim and Donna to learn from the ones who have been there and done that

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Anissa Reed Designs

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Spirit Bear Coffee Company

Awaken your spirit…naturally

Ecology — Drum Circling the earth.

A love for the environment shaped our decision to use organic and sustainable grown coffee from farms that preserve and restore the traditional growing areas.

Back at home, we continue to develop core sustainability principles for operations & purchasing, and bring forward a program entitled “Education for Preservation” to address issues concerning our fragile eco-system and natural environment.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Attention Conservation-minded Business Owners Many businesses around planet earth rely on healthy populations of wild game fish.

This is true for fishing guide/charter services, resort and hotel owners, fishing tackle and boat retail stores, clothing stores, eco/photo tours, grocery stores, gas stations and many more. In fact, wild game fish are the backbone of a multi-billion dollar per year industry on a global scale.

This is why we at Wild Game Fish Conservation International offer complimentary space in each issue of “LEGACY” for business owners who rely on wild game fish populations to sustain your business. An article with one or more photos about your business and how it relies on wild game fish may be submitted for publication to LEGACY PUBLISHER. Please include your business website and contact information to be published with your business article. Selected submissions will be published each month.

Healthy wild game fish populations provide family wage jobs and balanced ecosystems while ensuring cultural values. They also provide a unique, natural resourcesbased lifestyle for those fortunate to have these magnificent creatures in our lives.

Conservationists working together with the business community effectively protect and restore planet earth’s wild game fish for this and future generations to enjoy and appreciate. This i our LEGACY. WGFCI endorsed conservation organizations:

 American Rivers  LightHawk  Native Fish Society  Salmon and Trout Restoration Association of Conception Bay Central, Inc  Save Our Salmon  Sierra Club – Cascade Chapter  Sportsman’s Alliance For Alaska  Steelhead Society of British Columbia  Wild Salmon First  Wild Salmon Forever

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Featured Artists:

 The Wilds

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Ta’Kaiya Blaney: “Earth Revolution” Listen and watch HERE

Editorial Comment: “Earth Revolution” challenges each of us, no matter our age, to do what we can to protect, restore and conserve earth’s natural resources.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 Meg McDonald: Wild Chinook Salmon Leaping Tumwater Falls (HD) “Please do not buy farmed salmon – they spread diseases to wild salmon” Listen and watch HERE Be sure to visit Meg McDonald’s Wild Northwest Beauty Photography

 Sander Like)

Jain: Help protect Clayoquot Sound and take action! (View and

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Featured Fishing Photos:

 Idrijca River- home of marble trout Gašper Konkolič: Fly Fishing Guiding Slovenia

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!



Kim Egdorf shared Camille Egdorf's photo.

“Well as you can see the fishing has been great! Beautiful rainbow with beautiful lady....her nail polish matches the fish!!!”

Photo credit: William Bloggett, happy client at Dave and Kim Egdorf's Western Alaska Sport Fishing

“No matter how many we catch, I'll never get tired of mouse eaters!”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

A

day on the Pacific Ocean on “Slammer” (Deep Sea Charters – Westport, Washington)

Charterboat SLAMMER “20 anglers caught 11 Kings and 30 Silvers. This afternoon was about as fun as it gets for mooching salmon. I am pretty sure every boat limited out today.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Recommended Reading

 Alexandra Morton: “Listening to Whales”

Watch orcas up close HERE

In Listening to Whales, Alexandra Morton shares spellbinding stories about her career in whale and dolphin research and what she has learned from and about these magnificent mammals. In the late 1970s, while working at Marineland in California, Alexandra pioneered the recording of orca sounds by dropping a hydrophone into the tank of two killer whales.

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

 David Montgomery: “King of Fish: The Thousand - Year Run of Salmon” Déjà Vu for Salmon?

In 1715, King George I of England passed laws to protect salmon spawning grounds in more than a dozen rivers. The attempt to halt the decline in salmon populations proved to be largely fruitless.

Today few salmon ply British waters.

Strikingly, much the same scenario began playing out 100 years later in the rivers of northeastern North America. A century after that it began again in the Pacific Northwest.

David Montgomery, professor of earth and space sciences, details these parallels in his new book, King of Fish: The Thousand- Year Run of Salmon. Montgomery also outlines protections, different from those that have failed in the past, that he believes might save the remaining Northwest salmon runs.

These include establishing independent riverkeepers, creating salmon sanctuaries in river bottoms and flood plains, and stopping fishing for at-risk species for five to ten years, then restricting fishing to no more than half of any run.

“It’s not too late in this region to apply the lessons of past experiments, but it’s getting close to too late,” he says.

“Relative to Maine, we still have a ton of fish.”

Dave Montgomery Northwest, and that the region’s salmon were on a perilous course.

It was Montgomery’s participation in a Washington state salmon recovery panel that led to this perspective.

Montgomery noticed many local plans for protecting salmon but no comprehensive regional strategy. He began to explore accounts of salmon protection in earlier times and concluded that history was being repeated in the

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

His book quotes a variety of historic documents, starting before the decline of European salmon. As early as the 1400s, Europeans understood that “to keep a river full of salmon, enough adult salmon had to reach their spawning grounds, and enough juvenile salmon had to reach the sea,” says Montgomery. But time and again that simple strategy has been thwarted.

In some places nets were stretched across streams to capture virtually all adults returning to spawn. Dams were erected to operate mills or to generate electricity, blocking many salmon from reaching their spawning ground and hampering young fish trying to reach the ocean. Timber was harvested along riverbanks and impervious paved surfaces were installed, turning gentle runoff into torrents that scoured the gravel from spawning beds.

Residential development brought flood-control measures that straightened river channels and changed them from quiet salmon nurseries into fastflowing highways.

Even a well-intentioned tactic—using hatcheries to bolster troubled salmon runs—has backfired, Montgomery believes. Washington state hatcheries turned out 4.5 million juvenile Chinook salmon in 1896 and nearly a century later, in the early 1990s, exceeded 100 million.

Yet Chinook salmon are a threatened species in the Puget Sound region of Washington.

One reason, Montgomery says, is that hatchery fish, fed a special diet to promote fast growth, are larger than wild salmon by the time they are released but not as well adapted for life in both rivers and the ocean. Nonetheless, hatchery fish compete with wild fish for the limited food available in rivers and streams before they run down to the ocean. So while hatchery fish don’t fare well, they also harm endangered wild salmon.

Salmon were not always scarce. The book tells of a time when salmon were so plentiful that the English gentry was barred from forcing servants to eat it more than three times a week. But as the human population grew and rivers changed, salmon stocks began to dwindle. As the fish became scarcer they also became more valuable and so were caught in ever-increasing numbers. That scenario has played out time after time.

Montgomery believes that protecting salmon may, in some cases, require undoing past actions. He suggests, for example, removing homes from the flood plain on some stretches of river to allow the stream to meander back and forth, flooding naturally and maintaining salmon habitat. A decision on how to proceed should come from weighing all of the options, he says, not by waiting until there are no options left.

“It’s pretty hard to drive salmon to extinction because they’re resilient,” says Montgomery. “But the question is whether we want to have viable commercial fisheries rather than just remnant runs, a few fish that you can look at but not touch.”

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Video Library – conservation of wild game fish Aquaculture Piscine Reovirus in British Columbia: (14.36) Salmon Confidential: (69:15) The Fish Farm Fight; (6:51) Salmon Wars: Salmon Farms, Wild Fish and the Future of Communities (6:07) The Facts on Fish Farms (60:00+) “Algae culture fish farm” (6:40) Vegetarian Fish? A New Solution for Aquaculture (7:32) Everyone Loves Wild Salmon – Don’t They? - Alexandra Morton (2:53) Atlantic salmon feedlots - impacts to Pacific salmon (13:53) Farmed Salmon Exposed (22:59) Salmon farm diseases and sockeye (13:53) Shame Below the Waves (12:37) Occupy Vancouver, BC - Dr. Alexandra Morton (6:18) Farming the Seas (Steve Cowen) (55:53) Farming the Seas (PBS) (26:45) Cohen Commission – Introduction (9:52) Deadly virus found in wild Pacific salmon (1:57) A tribute by Dr. Alexandra Morton (5:35) Green Interview with Dr. Alexandra Morton (6:06) Closed containment salmon farms (8:15) Don Staniford on 'Secrets of Salmon Farming' (7:50) Greed of Feed: what’s feeding our cheap farmed salmon (10:37) Land-based, Closed-containment Aquaculture (3:14) Hydropower Undamming Elwha (26:46) Salmon: Running the Gauntlet - Snake River dams (50:08) Mining Pebble Mine: “No Means No” (1:15) Locals Oppose Proposed Pebble Mine (7:23) Oil: Extraction and transportation Tar Sands Oil Extraction: The Dirty Truth (11:39) Tar Sands: Oil Industry Above the Law? (1:42) SPOIL – Protecting BC’s Great Bear Rainforest from oil tanker spills (44:00) H2oil - A documentary about the Canadian tar sand oil (3:20) From Tar Sands to Tankers – the Battle to Stop Enbridge (14:58) Risking it All - Oil on our Coast (13:16) To The Last Drop: Canada’s Dirty Oil (22:31) Seafood safety Is your favorite seafood toxic? (6:06)

Legacy – October 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

Final Thoughts:

 Truth