Legacy - November 2012

Issue 13

November 2012

L e g ac y The Journal of Wild Game Fish Conservation Published by volunteers at:

Wild Game Fish Conservation International "People are not afraid of knowledge, they can handle it."

(Dr. Alexandra Morton)

Follow us on Facebook Š 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International "Friends Don't Let Friends Eat PHARM salmon!"

(Anissa Reed)

Peter Beech, Guardians of the Sounds:

"Every time I see mussel or fish farms and think of the pollution and adverse effects I feel a sense of profound sadness for a paradise lost."

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

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. Your “Letters to the Editor” are encouraged.

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 – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Legacy The Journal of Wild Game Fish Conservation

By Wild Game Fish Conservation International volunteers Celebrating Thirteen Consecutive Months of Wild Game Fish Advocacy Contents  Wild Game Fish Conservation International: Global Outreach ......................................................................... 5

Planet Earth ....................................................................................................................................................7              

Happy Halloween - Salmon Farming is Scary! .................................................................................................... 7 Today is Judgment Day in the 'Salmon Farming Kills' lawsuit Vs. Cermaq! ................................................... 8 B.C. salmon farm appeals defamation ruling ...................................................................................................... 9 PETA Still Has It All Wrong ................................................................................................................................. 10 Warning: Eating Farm Raised Salmon Causes Cancer .................................................................................... 12 Two Three Dead After Eating Infected Farmed Salmon - Death Toll Set to Rise to 17! ................................ 14 Ocean farmed salmon – “Just what the doctor ordered” – not so ................................................................. 15 Salmon Farming Kills Around the World ........................................................................................................... 16 ISA virus infects salmon from within ................................................................................................................. 17 The Tar Sands: A Personal View ........................................................................................................................ 18 Pipeline leak detection systems miss 19 out of 20 spills................................................................................. 21 Climate change will lead to smaller fish, UBC study says ............................................................................... 23 Enjoy seasonal wild Pacific salmon dinners at these restaurants: ................................................................ 24 “Pants on Fire” Recognition: Grant Warkentin – Communications Officer, Mainstream Canada .............. 25

Canada ..........................................................................................................................................................26  Aquaculture in Canada 2012: A Report on Aquaculture Sustainability .......................................................... 27  Fighting Canada’s salmon feedlot war on both coasts .................................................................................... 28  No one can understand why! .............................................................................................................................. 29  Cohen Commission to submit final report by October 29, 2012 ..................................................................... 31  Wild salmon inquiry nearing completion ........................................................................................................... 32  B.C. wild-salmon advocate side-steps sockeye inquiry to start her own ...................................................... 33 Alberta ............................................................................................................................................................................... 35  Not enough research to estimate environmental cost of Northern Gateway: lawyer ................................... 35  Environmental groups taking legal action regarding species at risk on Northern Gateway route ............. 36 British Columbia .............................................................................................................................................................. 37  Anti-salmon-farming activist wins B.C. court victory ....................................................................................... 37  Will your tax dollars subsidize BC’s unsustainable fish farms? ..................................................................... 40  DFO approves new open net-pen salmon farm in Clayoquot Sound despite ongoing concerns about disease and pathogens ........................................................................................................................................ 43  British Columbia: Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations Opposes DFO Approval Of Mainstream Canada's Plover Point Fish Farm .................................................................................................................................................... 44  Harper Government Invests in Sustainable and Innovative Aquaculture in British Columbia .................... 45  Dear Sue Farlinger: wishing you the guts to step up ....................................................................................... 47  Enbridge's plan to train supertanker captains ..... ............................................................................................ 50  You heard it here: Northern Gateway’s dead .................................................................................................... 51  Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines Project – proposed route ................................................................... 52  Enbridge Northern Gateway Project - Proposed Tanker Routes .................................................................... 53  Thousand-pound sturgeon caught near Chilliwack (with video) .................................................................... 54  Sockeye returns spell bad news for sport fishery ............................................................................................ 55  Angler survives B.C. grizzly attack, airlifted to Vancouver hospital ............................................................... 58 New Brunswick ................................................................................................................................................................ 60

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International Newfoundland and Labrador .......................................................................................................................................... 62  Salmon numbers down across province this year ........................................................................................... 62 Nova Scotia ...................................................................................................................................................................... 63  Dedicated BC Wild Salmon Warriors in Nova Scotia ........................................................................................ 63 Prince Edward Island ....................................................................................................................................................... 64  Salmon anglers surprised by close of season .................................................................................................. 64

Ireland ...........................................................................................................................................................65  Anglers' objection to salmon status bid ............................................................................................................ 65

New Zealand .................................................................................................................................................66     

Marlborough Sounds teen fights salmon farms (with video) .......................................................................... 66 'Dilution not the solution' .................................................................................................................................... 67 Protest flotilla 'a lynch mob' ................................................................................................................................ 68 Farms will 'scar' Sounds ...................................................................................................................................... 69 Salmon oil claim disputed ................................................................................................................................... 70

Scotland ........................................................................................................................................................71  Scottish scientists on verge of creating designer salmon to beat disease ................................................... 71  Salmon and trout catches healthy in Scotland as anglers stick to river code .............................................. 73  Fishermen in Western Isles losing up to 20% of stock as disease spreads .................................................. 75

USA ...............................................................................................................................................................76  I’m pro salmon and I vote! ................................................................................................................................... 76  World's biggest geoengineering experiment 'violates' UN rules .................................................................... 77  House approves GOP plan to quash coal, gas rules in election-year swipe at Obama ................................ 79  Coal exports could face roadblocks if Democrats maintain Senate control.................................................. 80 Alaska................................................................................................................................................................................ 81  Op-ed: Proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay threatens Seattle’s salmon industry ...................................... 81  Settlement over designation of lands in Bristol Bay region could impact mine ........................................... 83  Pebble Mine's Keystone 'science' worse than NFL replacement refs ............................................................ 84  Anglo American, It's Time to Dump Pebble Mine .............................................................................................. 86  Bristol Bay residents protest panel discussions on mine ............................................................................... 87 Oregon .............................................................................................................................................................................. 89  Brochure: Taking Care of Streams in Western Washington, Western Oregon and Coastal Alaska ........... 89  Portland City Council votes to oppose coal trains ........................................................................................... 90  Army Corps decision could expedite Morrow Pacific coal project ................................................................. 91  Fish vs. Coal ......................................................................................................................................................... 92 Utah ................................................................................................................................................................................... 93  Groundwater contamination is major issue in tar sands mine........................................................................ 93 Vermont............................................................................................................................................................................. 94  Conn. River dam licensing offers chance for change ...................................................................................... 94 Washington State ............................................................................................................................................................. 96  The State of Our Watersheds .............................................................................................................................. 96  Another fish barrier removed .............................................................................................................................. 97  Wild Pacific salmon return to Condit River following dam demolition ........................................................... 99  Sockeye salmon return to Cle Elum River ....................................................................................................... 100  Lummi Tribe joins the opposition to Whatcom coal port............................................................................... 101  Nisqually Tribe has new tool for separating wild, raised salmon ................................................................. 103  The Coal-man Cometh ....................................................................................................................................... 105  Chances dim in Congress for 'Wild Olympics' bill this year .......................................................................... 107  Janicki reels in fish-farming contract ............................................................................................................... 109  Jefferson County OKs fish-farming permitting process ............................................................................................. 111  WGFCI opposition to new open pen salmon feedlots in Strait of Juan de Fuca ......................................... 113  Skokomish River Fishing Rules of Etiquette ................................................................................................... 114  Man accidentally shoots self while fishing on Deschutes River ................................................................... 115  New ADA Access fishing site for disabled anglers opens on Wishkah River ............................................. 116  New WDFW website details salmon conservation efforts ............................................................................. 117

Featured Artist: Leanne Hodges - Coho Festival Mural 2012 (3’ x 6’) ...................................................119 Featured Fishing Photo for November 2012 ............................................................................................120 Youth Conservation - Students oppose salmon farms...........................................................................121 Featured Fishing Guide Service – Great River Fishing Adventures ......................................................122 Conservation Video Library – “Why we’re involved” .............................................................................123 Attention Conservation-minded Business Owners ................................................................................124 WGFCI endorsed conservation organizations: .......................................................................................124

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Wild Game Fish Conservation International: Global Outreach

4,380 Facebook Friends Since November 2011 https://www.facebook.com/WGFCI http://WGFCI.blogspot.com

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Legacy Forward

The November 2012 issue of Legacy marks the celebration of Wild Game Fish Conservation International’s beginning of our second year and of thirteen consecutive months of our webbased publication - Legacy.

The objective of publishing Legacy each month is to share current and planned actions that impact the future of wild game fish and their ecosystems around planet earth with our growing audience. Please feel free to share this publication with others.

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

It’s exciting that a growing number of recreational anglers and conservationists 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 choices and purchases.

We continue to urge our 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 to our generation.

Bruce Treichler

James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Planet Earth

ď ś Happy Halloween - Salmon Farming is Scary!

Farmed salmon is more trick than treat!

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Today is Judgment Day in the 'Salmon Farming Kills' lawsuit Vs. Cermaq!

Read judgment here September 28, 2012 Editorial Comment: We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International and our associates around the word congratulate Mr. Staniford and his colleagues for standing up to the open pen salmon feedlot industry giant, Cermaq and their subsidiary, Mainstream Canada by once again bringing global attention to the many negative impacts to wild fish, ecosystems, cultures and economies directly due to irresponsible practices by the open pen salmon feedlot industry worldwide. Thank you, Don.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 B.C. salmon farm appeals defamation ruling October 15, 2012 D Doonn S Sttaanniiffoorrdd:: ""C Ceerrm maaqq''ss kknneeee--jjeerrkk rreeaaccttiioonn ttoo aappppeeaall iiss yyeett aannootthheerr ccaassee ooff tthhiiss m muullttii--m miilllliioonn ddoollllaarr ccoom mppaannyy sshhoooottiinngg iittsseellff iinn tthhee ffoooott..

C Coom mm moonn sseennssee iiss cclleeaarrllyy nnoott aa ccuurrrreennccyy tthhiiss N Noorrw weeggiiaann--oow wnneedd m muullttiinnaattiioonnaall iiss uusseedd ttoo ddeeaalliinngg iinn"" ""TThhee uuggllyy ttrruutthh iiss tthhaatt N Noorrw weeggiiaann--oow wnneedd ssaallm moonn ffaarrm miinngg kkiillllss aallll aarroouunndd tthhee w woorrlldd..

N Noo aam moouunntt ooff ssaabbeerr--rraattttlliinngg,, iinnttiim miiddaattiioonn aanndd bbuullllyyiinngg bbyy tthhiiss N Noorrw weeggiiaann ggoovveerrnnm meenntt--oow wnneedd ccoorrppoorraattiioonn w wiillll aalltteerr tthhee ffaacctt tthhaatt ssaallm moonn ffaarrm miinngg kkiillllss sseeaa lliioonnss,, sspprreeaaddss iinnffeeccttiioouuss ddiisseeaasseess aanndd eevveenn rreessuullttss iinn tthhee ddeeaatthh ooff tthheeiirr oow wnn w woorrkkeerrss..""

D Doonn S Sttaanniiffoorrdd’’ss vviiddeeoo rreeaaccttiioonn M Maaiinnssttrreeaam mC Caannaaddaa’’ss aappppeeaall..

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VANCOUVER – A British Columbia salmon farming company is appealing a judge’s decision to dismiss a defamation case against an industry critic.

Mainstream Canada took British-born activist Don Staniford to court earlier this year over a 2011 campaign that included images of cigarette-like packages and statements such as “Salmon Farming Kills Like Smoking.”

Justice Elaine Adair dismissed the case in September, saying while Staniford’s statements were defamatory and he was motivated by malice, the activist honestly believed in what he was saying and animosity wasn’t his dominant purpose.

Mainstream Canada says in a release announcing the appeal that Adair’s decision, if it stands, could compromise healthy debate on matters of public policy.

The company says that public policy debates should be based on fact, and critics should be accountable for their comments.

Staniford, who was removed from Canada this past February for overstaying a visitor’s permit, says he will return next year for a lecture tour with the leader of the Green Warriors of Europe, an environmental organization.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 PETA Still Has It All Wrong October 13, 2012 The following is an excerpt from PETA Still Has It All Wrong: “Here’s the bald truth: In many cases, without recreational fishermen there would be no fish for PETA to worry about. Recreational fishermen happen to be some of the greatest—and most effective— conservationists on the planet. (Full disclosure: I am a fisherman.)

Take the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) for example. The nonprofit St. Andrews, New Brunswickbased group is small (7,500 members), but packs a big environmental punch.

The Atlantic salmon, as a species, suffered an alarming decline in the 1970s and 1980s, going from 1.8 million fish in North America to 418,000 in the 1990s, thanks to commercial overharvest and habitat destruction (like dams). The species is endangered in the US (hundreds of thousands used to swim up the Penobscot and Connecticut Rivers before dams were put in their way). But recently, the number of North American salmon has ticked upwards, to 650,000.

Much of that success is thanks to the ASF. Earlier this decade the ASF spearheaded an agreement to close the commercial harvest of Atlantic salmon off the coast of Greenland. In 1971, the Greenland fishery was taking 2,689 metric tons of Atlantic salmon. Thanks to the ASF-led agreement, it’s now down 26 metric tons, which amounts to merely a subsistence fishery for Greenlanders.

In 1999, the ASF led the effort to tear down the Edwards Dam on the Kennebec River in Maine, which freed up 17 miles of river that had been submerged.

The tearing down of the dam has led to better habitat for salmon, sturgeon, striped bass and shad, among other species. And a healthier river, to boot.

Those are the big headline wins. But every day, hundreds of ASF volunteers battle for the species on the ground, rebuilding and restoring river and fishspawning habitat in the Atlantic Canada provinces and Maine.

Editorial Comment: We at Wild Fame Fish Conservation International agree wholeheartedly with the points made in this article.

As recreational fishermen who have also enjoyed hunting with family and friends, we fully understand that those who enjoy and appreciate our wild fish and wildlife and their ecosystems are the ones who will fight the hardest for their protection and restoration.

We also agree that the national and international conservation organizations mentioned in this article as well as those not mentioned have accomplished great things for their members and for the resources we all cherish.

In addition, there are organizations like Salmon are Sacred, Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture, Wild Game Fish Conservation International and others working in very small groups on a variety of important conservation issues.

The conservation organizations with thousands of members as well as those with a handful of colleagues are fighting the good fights for our natural resources – we cannot say the same for PETA and others who unfortunately fail to recognize the value of conservation-minded fishers and hunters.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International And then there’s Trout Unlimited, the biggest coldwater conservation group in the US, with 400 chapters and 140,000 members, most of whom work at the local, grassroots level. Every year those volunteers donate 500,000 hours to clean up polluted rivers, restore fish habitat and fish populations.

Since TU’s founding in 1959, the group has worked to restore 10,000 river miles in the US. Recently they’ve taken on the issue of preventing the spread of invasive species in our waterways and have fought the proposed gold and copper mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, which could sully one of the country’s last wild places.

Sure, both the ASF and TU do their work on behalf of fishermen. But what’s incontrovertible is that in the bigger picture, their work has benefited fish—and the overall environment—even more.

PETA’s main contention is that fish feel pain, and that even catch-and-release fishing is cruel. The truth of that stance is a matter of debate (see Slate‘s Michael Agger’s brilliant treatise on the matter).

Catch-and-release angling, which both the ASF and TU promote, is a moral issue that every fisherman and woman must grapple with. I am primarily a catch-and-release angler, and I think about it all the time.

But so far I’ve always come to the same conclusion: those who are engaged with a resource will fight the hardest to conserve it. Some pick up litter on the side of a stream. Some give hundreds of thousands of dollars to groups like the ASF or TU. Most operate somewhere in between. In this case—for the greater good of the species—the end does indeed justify the means.

And then there are hunters—so readily caricatured by some as gun-toting dimwits. They shouldn’t be left out of this conversation. Ducks Unlimited (DU) is one of the most powerful—and again, effective— conservation organizations in the country. It’s estimated that the US loses 80,000 acres of wetlands each year. DU, a 773,000-member nonprofit, works to prevent that. Since 1937 they’ve protected 60 million acres of wetlands, critical habitat for ducks and 900 other wildlife species.

PETA would be better off focusing their efforts on the environment and habitat restoration when it comes to fish. (And perhaps with less “sexualized” advertising. I’m no prude, but using cartoon penises, naked female celebrities and The Situation in ads suggests a lack of serious intent and merely has a “look at me!” effect.)

Radical suggestion for PETA: Want to save these animals from the pain of rubbing their noses raw at the foot of concrete dams, or from suffering and dying in the heat of deforested streams, or from being systematically over fished by commercial nets? Want to save them from extinction from this earth? Perhaps it’s time to join forces with recreational fishermen instead of trying to tear them down.

After all, PETA knows a thing or two when it comes to “the means justifying the ends.” After all, PETA is in the animal-killing business. According to this Newsweek article, PETA euthanized 17,000 animals between 1998 and 2008. The group continues the practice to this day. On its website, PETA says euthanasia “is often the most compassionate and dignified way for unwanted animals to leave a world that has no place for them.”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Warning: Eating Farm Raised Salmon Causes Cancer August 27, 2012 First Global Study Reveals Health Risks of Widely Eaten Farm Raised Salmon Editorial Comment: As previously documented, eating salmon reared in open pen feedlots is hazardous to human health: “The majority of salmon served in restaurants and found on grocery store shelves is farmed rather than wild. In most cases, as detailed in the study, consumption of more than one meal of farmed salmon per month could pose unacceptable cancer risks according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).”

Science Study Suggests Sharp Restrictions in Consumption Albany, New York — A study published this week in a leading scientific journal found significantly higher levels of cancer-causing and other health-related contaminants in farm raised salmon than in their wild counterparts. The study, published in Science and by far the largest and most comprehensive done to date, concluded that concentrations of several cancer-causing substances in particular are high enough to suggest that consumers should consider severely restricting their consumption of farmed salmon.

The majority of salmon served in restaurants and found on grocery store shelves is farmed rather than wild. In most cases, as detailed in the study, consumption of more than one meal of farmed salmon per month could pose unacceptable cancer risks according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methods for calculating fish consumption advisories.

The Pew Charitable Trusts, one of the U.S.’s largest philanthropies, sponsored the study. Pew has sponsored major research on fisheries including a number of widely reported recent studies on the deterioration of the marine environment.

Whereas earlier studies have analyzed anywhere from 8 to 13 salmon samples from individual salmon farming regions, the current study analyzed fillets from about 700 farmed and wild salmon produced in eight major farmed salmon producing regions around the world and purchased in 16 large cities in North America and Europe.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International The study’s authors, six U.S. and Canadian researchers representing fields from toxicology to biology to statistics, selected salmon samples to be representative of the salmon typically available to consumers around the world.

The researchers found significantly higher concentrations of contaminants in farmed salmon versus wild. In particular, four substances that have been well studied for their ability to cause cancer — PCBs, dioxins, dieldrin, and toxaphene — were consistently and significantly more concentrated in farmed salmon as a group.

Geographic Differences Among the study’s conclusions, salmon farmed in Europe were generally more contaminated than farmed salmon from North or South America. Farmed salmon purchased for the study from supermarkets in Frankfurt, Edinburgh, Paris, London, and Oslo were the most contaminated and triggered consumption recommendations of one-half to one meal per month — based on U.S. EPA consumption advisories for these contaminants. A meal was considered to be an eight-ounce portion.

Farmed salmon purchased from supermarkets in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Chicago, New York, and Vancouver triggered a recommendation of no more than two meals per month.

There was slightly more variation in fish purchased in North America than those purchased in Europe.

While farmed salmon purchased for the study in New Orleans and Denver were generally least contaminated — triggering a recommendation of about 3 meals per month — farmed salmon purchased in Boston, San Francisco, and Toronto triggered the more stringent consumption recommendations of the European-purchased fish.

“Ultimately, the most important determinant of risk has to do with where the fish is farmed not where it is purchased,” said Dr. David Carpenter, an author of the study and Director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany. “And because it’s a global market, it’s hard to be sure what you’re getting.”

According to Carpenter, “Just because Europeans have the most contaminated farmed salmon, this doesn’t mean American consumers shouldn’t be concerned.”

With very few exceptions, farmed salmon samples tested significantly exceeded the contaminant levels of wild salmon, which could be consumed at levels as high as 8 meals per month. Even the least contaminated farmed salmon, from Chile and the state of Washington, had significantly higher levels of PCBs, dioxins, and dieldrin than wild salmon.

Contamination Likely Related to Feed The Pew-sponsored study concluded that the contamination problem is likely related to what salmon are being fed when they’re on the farm. While wild salmon eat a diverse buffet from small aquatic organisms like krill to larger fish, farmed salmon are fed a concentrated and high fat mixture of ground up fish and fish oil. And since chemical contaminants a fish is exposed to during its life are stored in its fat, the higher fat “salmon chow” passes along more of these contaminants to the farmed salmon.

READ ENTIRE BEFORE IT’S NEWS ARTICLE HERE

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Two Three Dead After Eating Infected Farmed Salmon - Death Toll Set to Rise to 17!

October 15, 2012

Updated October 18, 2012 read here

The Norwegian trade publication Intrafish reported today (15 October) that two people had died after eating salmonella-infected salmon - with the Dutch health agency warning that the death toll could rise to 17.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Ocean farmed salmon – “Just what the doctor ordered” – not so Angela Koch: “Just shortly after studies showed high amount of cancer causing toxins were found in farmed salmon, the fish farms put out this ad specifically TARGETING pregnant women and children to eat even more of their garbage. Meanwhile they knew darn well the study specifically told women of childbearing age, expectant and nursing mothers, and young children should minimize their consumption of farm-raised salmon to once every 2 months...”

Claudette Bethune: “Then, the next year the research group estimated consumption on cancer risk and concluded that farmed salmon in Northern Europe (Norway) should not be eaten more than every 5 months due to cancer risk in the normal (not vulnerable like pregnant moms) population.

Environ Res. 2006 Jun;101(2):263-74. Epub 2005 Sep 29.

Consumption advisories for salmon based on risk of cancer and noncancer health effects. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pubmed/16198332”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Salmon Farming Kills Around the World

Alexandra Morton: “Government and industry ridicule has had an ironic impact on public support. What they don’t understand is the more we get attacked the higher our credibility rises" Don Staniford: "If the history of salmon farming tells us anything at all it is the fact that overproduction causes problems wherever salmon farms operate.”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś ISA virus infects salmon from within September 24, 2012

New findings on the interaction between an influenza-related virus and the host provide a significant contribution to understanding disease mechanisms behind the serious fish disease Infectious salmon anemia (ISA).

The severity of ISA is emphasized by the fact that it is the only disease of farmed Atlantic salmon listed by the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health).

Typically, an ISA outbreak starts in one cage and spreads over weeks and months to neighboring cages. If nothing is done to limit the spread of infection large numbers of fish can be lost.

But, how exactly does salmon get ISA? And why do rainbow trout, a close relative of Atlantic salmon, not get the disease, even though they may carry the virus?

Many questions are unanswered. Researchers at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute and the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science have made important new discoveries, providing essential contribution towards understanding the interaction between Atlantic salmon and the virus, and how this interaction is leading to ISA. The findings are so interesting that they got published in the prestigious Journal of Virology, and may prove to be interesting in regards of influenza research in general.

Virus lock and key "Our approach in this work has been that if we understand more of what is happening in the fish, we might be able to identify factors in the host and in the virus that are important for the development of the disease," says senior researcher Knut Falk. He is leading the research project that is part of the doctoral work of PhD-student Maria Aamelfot.

"We examined ISA-diseased fish and studied which tissues and cells that become infected with the virus. Then, by using a novel method we determined to which tissues and cells the virus has a potential to attach to on healthy fish. The idea was to see what happened in the diseased fish, and then compare this with what happens at the molecular level when the fish becomes infected," says Aamelfot.

"For a virus to be able to infect a cell, it first needs to recognize the cell. We found that the ISA virus recognizes very specific cells in Atlantic salmon, endothelial cells. These are the cells that line the luminal surface of blood vessels and the rest of the circulatory system, including the heart," adds Falk.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 The Tar Sands: A Personal View As a pilot for 25 years, LightHawk's executive director Rudy Engholm has seen some incredible things from the air. But nothing could prepare him for what he saw when he embarked on a four-day, 5100-mile journey across North America to the Alberta Tar Sands. This is his story.

Video: Tar Sands Oil Extraction: The Dirty Truth (11 minutes)

Editorial Comment: These text and pictures are excerpts from the September 2012 issue of Way Point Flight Stories (Lighthawk) WGFCI and our associates thank Lighthawk, their volunteer pilots and support personnel for their continued dedication to conservation of our planet’s natural resources via a bird’s eye view.

The Processing At the Suncor plant, trucks deliver sandy bitumen to a conveyer belt. This is the start of the "upgrading" process.

Even though the local industry-funded Oil Sands Discovery Center museum demonstrates that the consistency of the bitumen mined in the region is as hard as a hockey puck, no one in Fort McMurray actually uses the term tar sands. They prefer "oil sands" to make the whole undertaking seem more benign, and more in keeping with all other oil extraction activities. I suppose this is like calling a sawmill a furniture factory, but what comes off the conveyor in the photo on the right sure looks more like rock than oil to me.

At the heart of the whole enterprise is water and heat - vast amounts of both. The bitumen is mixed with hot water and ground into a frothy slurry, where the tarry substance is separated from the sand in giant vessels like this one.

According to his book Tar Sands, Andrew Nikiforuk notes that Canada only has enough natural gas to recover less than a third of the bitumen in the tar sands. Right now the Tar Sands produce around 1.7 million barrels of synthetic crude per day. If they reach their targeted 5 million barrels a day, the oil companies would consume 60% of the natural gas available in Western Canada by 2030.

As one Albertan recently observed, "Using natural gas to develop oil sands is like using caviar as fertilizer to grow turnips."

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International Subsequent cracking in refineries like the one shown here break down stubborn hydrocarbons. Our tour guide Sarah told us the smokestack in front of us was just issuing steam.

Sarah is an earnest young woman one month out of college, who mostly spoke from a typed script she held. With no trace of irony, she said she worked for the Alberta Tourism Ministry, but wore a Suncor employee badge around her neck. (Perhaps this is in keeping with a local trend, where a Suncor Vice-President assumed a government position in 2007 as Assistant Deputy Oil Sands Secretariat while having her salary paid by Suncor.)

In spite of Sarah's statement, what I actually observed was a steam cloud dissipating a few hundred feet from the stack, with a long yellowish downstream smoke tail. We experienced extremely hazy flying conditions even at 26,000 feet in a 50-100 mile radius around Fort McMurray en route to Fort Chipewyan. The Nikiforuk book says that the area has the highest concentration of airborne pollutants in Canada.

Surface Extraction Almost nothing I can say adequately describes the next several images. Garth took them along our flight route in what is described as the largest industrial project in the world. This is not one site photographed from different angle, this is the landscape we observed below us for mile after mile.

There is a Latin term used in the law: "res ipsa loquitur" - "the thing speaks for itself."

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International The Toxic Ponds Some of the most prominent features of the landscape are vast lake-sized tailings ponds like those shown in the photos below. Remember the frothy slurry? The ponds contain the residue after the oil is extracted.

In a recent highly publicized incident, 1600 ducks landed on one of these ponds - which lies right on a major migratory route. In spite of heroic rescue efforts, virtually all of the ducks died. Everyone, including the companies, acknowledge that the tailing ponds contain toxic substances.

The plant tour guide spoke about improved methods of tailings disposal that will be coming Real Soon Now. But in the meantime, millions of gallons per day are added to the ponds, there is evidence of leaking toxics into the Athabasca River, and new ponds are visibly under construction.

My Personal Take After he returned from a recent LightHawk Tar Sands Expedition a few weeks ago, I asked Wyoming volunteer pilot Ray Lee for his impressions. He said: "There has got to be a better way." I agree.

The more I see and read about the Tar Sands, the more concerned I am about massive impacts to fresh water, human health, the atmosphere, energy, international security, democracy, and a host of other things. For example, Enbridge (the "sponsor" of the Kalamazoo River pipeline spill ... still not done after spending over $565 million in cleanup costs) - has a Trailbreaker Pipeline proposal on the table to pipe Tar Sands oil to a shipping terminal in Portland, Maine, a few miles south of my home. It envisions pumping abrasive bitumen crude under high temperature and pressure through an aging pipeline segment that passes within 0.2 miles of Sebago Lake - the source of drinking water for most of southern Maine (including me). While the Trailbreaker Pipeline proposal has the potential to risk my drinking water, there are many other pipelines that may affect you as well.

For Tom, Jan, Garth and me, flying over the industrialized portions of the former northern Alberta boreal forest engaged our eyes and minds, but it also reached our hearts. Yes, of course we all use oil and other resources. However, it all boils down to scale and alternatives. My house in Maine receives 100 percent of its total electric power and over 80 percent of its hot water from rooftop solar energy. But I didn’t have to unravel the earth to achieve it.

At the scale we observed, it is hard for me to think of Tar Sands oil extraction as anything less than a declaration of war against our planet.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Pipeline leak detection systems miss 19 out of 20 spills September 19, 2012

Kalamazoo River cleanup An investigation of pipeline accident reports from the last ten years has revealed that the much touted leak detection systems employed by pipeline companies only catch one out of twenty spills. The InsideClimate New article by Lisa Song illustrates an alarming disconnect between industry rhetoric and reality when it comes to detecting leaks on pipelines. Not only do pipeline leak detection systems miss nineteen out of twenty spills, they miss four out of five spills larger than 42,000 gallons.

Understanding the limits of current leak detection technology has never been more important. As companies like Enbridge and TransCanada propose pipelines moving large volumes of tar sands across sparsely populated areas, through rivers and aquifers, it’s critical that the public consider what’s at stake with open eyes. Particularly after learning from Enbridge’s Kalamazoo tar sands pipeline spill how much more damaging tar sands can be.

What does that mean for tar sands pipelines like Keystone XL and Northern Gateway?

TransCanada has told regulators that its leak detection system has a threshold of between 1.5% and 2%. Given that Keystone XL has a maximum capacity of 830,000 barrels of tar sands per day, TransCanada is saying that Keystone XL’s leak detection system can only reliably identify leaks if they’re spilling more than 500,000 to 700,000 gallons of tar sands a day. When put in that context, the reason folks don’t want Keystone XL built through their rivers and groundwater become clear.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International Of course, TransCanada has told federal regulators that “computer based, non real-time, accumulated gain/loss volume trending would assist in identifying seepage releases below the 1.5 to 2 percent” threshold. In plain English, that means that given enough time, if TransCanada put a certain amount of tar sands in one end of Keystone XL, and gets less oil out of another, eventually they’ll determine they have a leak. But when?

Few would take heart upon learning the answer to that question. One of the “57 special conditions” that Keystone XL proponents claim will make the pipeline safer lays out the requirements its “non real time” leak detection system. Condition 31 says that Keystone XL’s leak detection system must be prepared using guidance provided in the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). And what does the CSA say?

To comply with this “special condition,” TransCanada’s non-real time leak detection system must be able to detect spills of 4.9 million gallons within a week (or 2% of its capacity). Leaks larger than 350,000 gallons a day, or 1% of its capacity, must be identified within a month – allowing a leak to generate a spill of over 10 million gallons over the course of a month before discovery. And there is no guidance for leaks less than one percent – on Keystone XL, a leak less than 350,000 gallons a day. When looking into it that way, the condition doesn’t seem that special.

These issues are also at play with Enbridge’s Northern Gateway project, a pipeline to move tar sands across the mountains and rivers of British Columbia. As we noted in our report, that 525,000 bpd tar sands pipeline could also leak millions of gallons of tar sands in highly remote regions without its leak detection system identifying a problem.

Enbridge’s Kalamazoo tar sands spill presents another case undercutting industry’s claims about pipeline safety and leak detection. As the InsideClimate piece notes, “Just 10 days before the accident, Enbridge Inc., which operates the Michigan pipeline, told federal regulators it could remotely detect and shut down a rupture in eight minutes. But when the line burst open, it took Enbridge 17 hours to confirm the spill.”

What is more surprising is that one month after failures in its leak detection system allowed it’s line 6B pipeline to spill over a million gallons of tar sands into the Kalamazoo River, Enbridge proposed to employ a new leak detection system only capable of detecting leaks greater than 15% of Line 6B’s capacity. Such a leak detection system could only identify spills greater than 1.2 million gallons a day.

While Enbridge is now well known for its “Keystone Kop” performance during devastating Kalamazoo tar sands spill in Michigan, a smaller spill on another Enbridge pipeline demonstrates an entirely different category of risk. In June of 2011, a landowner discovered a 63,000 gallon spill from a leak the size of a pin-hole. No one is clear how long the leak had been ongoing, but one thing is clear – if a landowner had not happened upon the spill, in all probability the pipeline would still be leaking.

Operators can feel pressured to "tell people things they shouldn't tell them because it's not true" Richard Kuprewicz, President of Accufacts, Sept. 19, 2012 This is quite different from the picture painted by pipeline company representatives. In one public panel, TransCanada representatives simply denied that spills smaller than 2% could not be reliably detected by Keystone XL’s real time leak detection system. Simply stated, it’s hard to have an honest public discussion about the risks of projects like Keystone XL when the company sponsoring the project isn’t honest to the public about those risks.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Climate change will lead to smaller fish, UBC study says September 30, 2012 A new study from fisheries researchers at the University of B.C. says that climate change will lead to smaller fish in the world’s oceans.

Editorial Comment:

Using computer modelling to study 600 species of fish across the world’s oceans, the scientists found fish sizes could shrink by 14 to 24 per cent from 2000 to 2050, due to warmer temperatures and less oxygen.

This article provides further evidence that we need to minimize air pollution while also protecting and restoring our remaining marine and fresh water ecosystems.

The study, published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change, concluded tropical fish will suffer the most impact. Smaller-than-normal fish can lead to a host of negative consequences on communities dependent on fish stocks for food security and trade, especially developing countries.

Clearly, if we desire to change the long term outlook for our wild game fish and their ecosystems, we must change our lifestyles.

Marine ecosystems in general will be disrupted as smaller fish species move north and predator-prey relationships shift. For example, Cheung said, Pacific salmon are now moving closer to Alaska and sardines are moving from southern Europe to the North Sea. “This is the first study that looks at the changes in the maximum body size of fish on a global scale,” said William Cheung, assistant professor at the university’s Fisheries Centre and co-author of the study.

“There have been lots of studies, especially in the last few years, looking at the responses of marine organisms to climate change, but they mainly focus on changing of distribution or biological events, like the spawning of salmon. The effect on body size on this global scale hasn’t been done before.”

The next step is to study the exact effect on fish ecosystems, he said.

The UBC researchers based their computer models on a U.K. study that showed haddock stocks in the North Sea may already be experiencing a decline in maximum body size, correlating to rising sea temperatures. They also looked at a study, dating back to 1958, of the growth rates and body size of North Atlantic cod in the U.S., Canada and Europe that showed warmer habitats led to smaller fish.

“That study assumes there was a trend of increasing temperatures in the water in the 1950s,” Cheung said. “At that time climate change and ocean warming was not such a big concern compared to, say, fishing. I think that’s the reason why the idea was not carried forward until recently we picked it up again.”

Fish and other organisms that get oxygen from warmer water are affected in two ways. Not only is it more difficult already to access oxygen in water, but fish require more oxygen as they grow. And as water warms, cold-blooded fish will see an increase in their body temperature, speeding up the metabolic rate. So even though the demand for oxygen increases as fish grow, their ability to get it slows, triggering a halt to growth.

“The unexpectedly big effect that climate change could have on body size suggests that we may be missing a big piece of the puzzle of understanding climate change effects in the ocean,” Cheung said.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Enjoy seasonal wild Pacific salmon dinners at these restaurants:

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 “Pants

on Fire” Recognition: Grant Warkentin – Communications Officer, Mainstream Canada

Wild game fish conservationists around planet earth believe that some things we hear and read from corporate representatives, natural resources agency professionals and elected officials might not reflect reality. In fact, some associate these “leaders” with those who wear burning pants.

The November 2012 recipient of the coveted Wild Game Fish Conservation International “Burning Pants” honor is: Grant Warkentin Mainstream Canada. According to Mr. Warkentin:

• • • •

Salmon farms in B.C. have NOT destroyed returns of wild salmon.

We have had some of the biggest runs in recorded history for pinks and sockeye since salmon farms have been in operation, and at current production levels.

You will find that salmon farms cannot be linked to any rise or fall in wild salmon productivity.

There have not been any recent failures of fish farms in B.C.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Canada

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Aquaculture in Canada 2012: A Report on Aquaculture Sustainability

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Fighting Canada’s salmon feedlot war on both coasts

Dr. Alexandra Morton and Anissa Reed Nova Scotia, Canada Karin Cope: “Alexandra Morton and Anissa Reed are on an East Coast tour. They are visiting communities where citizens are mounting strenuous resistance to proposed and existing salmon feedlots.”

Related reports and photos from Dr. Morton

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś No one can understand why!

October 14, 2012 The story of Port Mouton was even more disturbing than Sheet Harbour. We left Sheet Harbour early in the morning and drove down to Port Mouton through beautiful scenery of ocean, rivers and trees in fall foliage.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International We met Bob Swim, his wife Norma, Brian, Ron and Ruth Loucks and Gloria Gilbert and headed out on Bob and Norma’s boat Lydia Belle, named after his grandmother.

In the stiff offshore breeze and brilliant sunlight we headed out to the salmon feedlot. Spectacle Island, owned

by Cook Aquaculture and now Ocean Trout. Strangely they are raising steelhead in this ocean pen.

READ DR. MORTON’S ENTIRE BLOG POST HERE

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Cohen Commission to submit final report by October 29, 2012

September 25, 2012

(Vancouver) The Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River has been granted an additional one month extension by the Governor General in Council to complete its work. The commission’s Terms of Reference are now revised to call for the final report to be submitted on or before October 29, 2012.

The Commissioner’s final report must be submitted in both official languages at the same time. Given the length and complexity of his report, the Commissioner requested the extension to complete the writing, translation and production of the report.

About the Cohen Commission The Cohen Commission (www.cohencommission.ca) was established on November 5, 2009 with the appointment of the Honourable Bruce Cohen as Commissioner. Under its Terms of Reference, the commission held hearings to investigate and report on the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River. Based on his findings, the Commissioner will make recommendations for improving the future sustainability of the sockeye salmon fishery in the Fraser River, including, as required, any changes to the policies, practices and procedures of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in relation to the management of the Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Wild salmon inquiry nearing completion September 25, 2012 Canada: Environmental groups in British Columbia have already placed their

Editorial Comment:

bets on the findings of a commission established to look into the wild

Wild Game Fish Conservation International and our associates look forward to the findings of the soon-to-be-completed, $25 million Cohen Commission investigation into significant reductions of Fraser River wild sockeye salmon.

fluctuations of returning sockeye salmon to the Fraser River- unfortunately, they may be missing the boat Many of the British Columbia-based environmental groups- of which there are hundreds- have already made public statements to the fact that they consider the province’s relatively small salmon farming industry to be the main cause for an unexpected low return of sockeye salmon to the Fraser River in 2009, which caused a public inquiry to be conducted by Judge Bruce Cohen.

In many cases, scant attention is placed on issues that likely will be of far greater importance to the well-being of sockeye salmon than the salmon farming industry, and the Watershed Watch Salmon Society (WWSS)- headed by its Executive Director Craig Orr- is typical of these organizations- none of who gave credit to the salmon farming industry for the huge sockeye run in the following year, when a hundred year record was broken.

Largely due to the mountain of documents piled on Judge Cohen’s desk by environmental groups, it now appears that the final report will be delayed by another month beyond its already extended deadline of September 30. And the selfproclaimed“ experts” from the WWSS are already offering their opinion to whatever the Cohen Commission will come out with-needless to say, it will be a spin focused on the ills of salmon farming- the only issue given serious space on the organization’s web site. But there is another source of information where reasonable people may want to check out before drawing conclusions about the interaction between wild and farmed salmon. The “Salmon Farm Science” blog suggests that “it seems that only poor, agenda-driven science attacking salmon farms gets mass media attention. We will show there is a lot more to the story, and the science.” In a recent posting, a suggestion was made that people should “Do your own research on the Cohen Commission”; The “Watershed Watch” environmental group has announced today that because of their “broad interest in salmon conservation” they have put together a “Synopsis of Key Evidence from the Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Fraser River Sockeye” to aid people in understanding the evidence presented at the commission. Watershed Watch and several other environmental groups were part of the “Conservation Coalition” which did little more than hammer on salmon farming throughout the commission.

So not surprisingly, their 70-page synopsis contains 31 pages of aquaculture-related evidence and quotes from the hearings, versus 21 pages for EVERYTHING ELSE. Commercial and recreational fishing? One page. Climate change?

Not even one page. Pulp mills, gravel extraction, aboriginal fisheries and logging? Barely three pages for all of them. And even in the 21 pages of “other” they still manage to throw in aquaculture-related comments and evidence.

If they’re trying to hide how much they hate aquaculture, and believe it’s responsible for the Fraser sockeye decline, they’re not doing a good job. If you are really interested in the evidence presented at the commission, do yourself a favour. Don’t read someone else’s opinion or skewed version of events, not even ours. Go read the transcripts for yourself. Use “Ctrl-F” to search for keywords you are interested in. Read it in context. Get the big picture. All the transcripts are available here. Pick a date in the calendar, the transcript will show up below along with all the exhibits presented that day. And don’t take our word for it, look for yourself.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 B.C. wild-salmon advocate side-steps sockeye inquiry to start her own September 25, 2012

Alexandra Morton : “There are a few things that came out not quite right in this article: It is not my organization - it is everyone who is already on the grounds, working with wild salmon, simply linking up.

Marine biologist Alexandra Morton, shown holding a fake salmon

VANCOUVER - One of British Columbia's most vocal advocates for the preservation of wild salmon says she's not waiting to find out from a government inquiry why the Fraser River sockeye run crashed in 2009.

Just hours after the Cohen Commission announced Tuesday it had received yet another extension to submit its written findings, Alexandra Morton said she has already set up her own volunteer group to test and monitor wild salmon along the coast.

I don't want a lab, I want a lab I can use that can do genomic profiling and test 200 samples per day for 40 pathogens. DFO has this lab, but although we, the public pay for it, we can't use it.

We can't send in samples and find out why thousands of salmon are dying right now before spawning, in cool waters of 9-10 degrees (centigrade).

There is a problem with viruses in BC's wild salmon and we don't have to wait for DFO to figure it out. We can and are doing this ourselves.”

Morton has dubbed it the Department of Wild Salmon, a private sector organization.

"I'm not going to waste my time and energy praying and hoping and begging Mr. DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) to do something right," she said.

"It's never going to happen. DFO is downsizing and my thought is: 'Right on. Bye, bye. Step out of the way. Step away from the fish. We can deal with this.'"

Morton said she made her decision while reading through commission documents and over issues like the importation of salmon eggs, and also because she said she's not allowed to present fish samples to DFO for testing.

She said her organization includes First Nations, fisheries managers, stream keepers and commercial fishermen, said Morton. They will be taught how to take biological samples from salmon so they can be tested for diseases.

Eventually, she hopes to have her own lab, which Morton estimated would cost as much as $20 million over 10 years.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International "What I see in DFO is a lot of really wonderful people who would like to do the right thing, but they can't," she said.

Last June, three scientists from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., published a letter in the journal, "Science," that was critical of cutbacks at eco-toxicology labs and an aquatic research facility run by the federal government.

One estimate pegged the cuts to as much as $79.3 million over the next three years.

The Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River was formed by the federal government in November 2009 to investigate and report on the reasons for the fish's decline.

That previous summer, about 10 million fish were expected to return to B.C.'s rivers and streams, but only one million actually showed up.

Justice Bruce Cohen, who was appointed to lead the inquiry, was asked to make recommendations for improving the fishery's sustainability.

At the time, the federal government set a May 1, 2011 deadline for Cohen to submit his final report.

The inquiry began in August 2010 and ended in December 2011. It heard from 160 witnesses and compiled 14,000 pages of transcripts and 2,100 exhibits.

Deadlines were extended to June 30, 2012, then Sept. 30, 2012, and on Tuesday, the commission announced it had been given another extension until Oct. 29, 2010.

Cohen's report must also be submitted in both official languages.

"Given the length and complexity of his report, the commissioner requested the extension to complete the writing, translation, and production of the report," stated a posting on the inquiry's website.

Despite Morton's skepticism, others remain confident something good will come out of the inquiry.

Bob Jackson is the regional executive vice-president for the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents Fisheries workers and made submissions at the inquiry. Jackson said his organization is confident the inquiry needs the extra time to do its work.

"It's a very complex process. Many, many, many pages of documents," he said.

Editorial Comment: The challenges facing wild Pacific salmon are politically driven due to corporate greed and government corruption – not by sound science – additional funding alone for DFO will not resolve these important issues.

Jackson said he welcomes the report and hopes Cohen will recommend more funding for DFO. "It's quite obvious, DFO needs more funding. I mean, salmon in B.C., as you're probably aware, are probably the most iconic symbols."

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Alberta

 Not

enough research to estimate environmental cost of Northern Gateway: lawyer September 19, 2012

EDMONTON - Enbridge hasn't done enough research to properly estimate the environmental cost of its proposed $6billion Northern Gateway pipeline and has even worked to block studies from being done, hearings into the proposed project heard Wednesday.

"They haven't done the studies that are necessary to truly understand the impacts of these projects on coastal First Nations and the ecosystems they rely upon, not only for salmon, but for all the resources along the whole of their territories," said Brenda Gartner, who represents aboriginal groups along the British Columbia coast.

"When work is being done, they lobby against that work proceeding," she said outside the hearing.

Editorial Comment: Canada’s remaining natural resources are precious; in fact many regard them as sacred.

As such, the environmental impacts (including ruptures and other spills) associated with the controversial Northern Gateway pipelines project cannot have a meaningful dollar amount placed on them – it would be arrogant to think otherwise – this iconic land and water must be protected from further devastation.

Gartner pointed to testimony from environmental economists hired by Calgary-based Enbridge (TSX:ENB), who acknowledged that they were unable to directly estimate environmental costs outside the immediate pipeline corridor. They also said they hadn't specifically determined if there would be impacts on salmon habitat.

"I'm relying on Enbridge's information and I do my analysis based on that," said Mark Anielski, one of the consultants.

Enbridge official John Carruthers said the company had filed 20,000 pages of information.

"I believe that there is sufficient amount of information for the panel to make a decision," he said.

Gartner pointed to Enbridge's involvement in the cancelling of an agreement between the federal and provincial governments, First Nations and conservationists that was to balance environmental concerns with economic development along the B.C. coast.

"Why was it that Enbridge lobbied the federal government to cancel the (Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area)?" she asked.

Carruthers denied Enbridge wanted the effort blocked. However, he acknowledged the company lobbied the federal government.

"We had concerns about where some of the money was coming from."

Ottawa ended the agreement it had with the other parties and returned an $8-million grant from Tides Canada, a non-profit group that would have funded the effort.

The federal government is now handling the coastal management effort on its own.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Environmental groups taking legal action regarding species at risk on Northern Gateway route

September 25, 2012

The Pacific Humpback — one is pictured here breaching in B.C.’s Barkley Sound — is one of four species featured in a lawsuit being launched by environmental groups Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012.

The other three species listed in the suit as being at risk along the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline route are the Nechako white sturgeon, marbled murrelet, and southern mountain caribou.

Environmental groups on Wednesday morning will announce details of legal action against the federal government related to protection of species at risk on Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway route.

Ecojustice says the case focuses on four species — Pacific humpback whale, Nechako white sturgeon, marbled murrelet, and southern mountain caribou — found on the Northern Gateway pipeline and shipping route.

Ecojustice is bringing the case before the Federal Court on behalf of the David Suzuki Foundation, Greenpeace Canada, Sierra Club B.C., Wilderness Committee and Wildsight.

Postmedia News last June published internal correspondence between the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada warning the Northern Gateway project posed a threat to at least 15 species, including marbled murrelet and caribou.

The 15 species did not include marine mammals such as whales that could be killed or harmed by the increased traffic or unintentional collisions with supertankers transporting the oil from the pi

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

British Columbia

 Anti-salmon-farming activist wins B.C. court victory September 28, 2012 Don Staniford suggested eating farmed salmon was as dangerous as smoking

E Ellllyy E Eddw waarrddss:: ""TThhiiss iiss aa vviiccttoorryy nnoott jjuusstt ffoorr D Doonn S Sttaanniiffoorrdd aaggaaiinnsstt M Maaiinnssttrreeaam m C Caannaaddaa..

TThhiiss iiss aa vviiccttoorryy ffoorr eennvviirroonnm meennttaall ccaam mppaaiiggnneerrss,, ssoocciiaall--jjuussttiiccee ccaam mppaaiiggnneerrss aaccrroossss tthhee w woorrlldd..""

Don Staniford, of Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

An anti-salmon-farming activist has won another victory against the global aquaculture industry, but also has been harshly criticized by a B.C. Supreme Court justice Justice Elaine Adair has dismissed a defamation case launched by the salmon-farming company Mainstream Canada against Don Staniford over a 2011 campaign that included images of cigarette-like packages and statements such as "Salmon Farming Kills Like Smoking."

In her ruling published Friday, Adair said while the statements were defamatory and Staniford was motivated by malice, the activist honestly believed in what he was saying and animosity wasn't his dominant purpose.

The ruling left officials at Mainstream Canada, a subsidiary of the Norwegian company Cermaq, disappointed.

But the British-born Staniford, who was removed from Canada this past February for overstaying a visitor's permit, was in a celebratory mood.

"I am over the proverbial moon and feel extremely vindicated," he said during a phone interview from Spain. "All along I knew that Cermaq [was] whistling in the dark."

"This is a victory not just for Don Staniford against Mainstream Canada. This is a victory for environmental campaigners, social-justice campaigners across the world."

Company calls ruling 'outrageous' Laurie Jensen, a spokeswoman for Mainstream Canada, said the company will be reviewing the ruling, noting it's too early to say if it will appeal, and she defended the court action, saying it was the right thing to do.

"What we're seeing is a character of a person," she said. "And because, you know, he's not found legally responsible doesn't mean that, you know, he's getting away with things."

She said Adair's ruling supports many of the company's allegations, but she's disappointed the judge dismissed the court action over fair comment, a ruling she called "outrageous."

Editorial Comment: It is encouraging and inspiring when those doing the right things to protect and restore wild salmon and their ecosystems come out on top of the bullies who take advantage of public resources for personal gain.

Thank you, Don. Don Staniford: "This judgment is a victory for free speech....The Norwegian Government's malicious attempt to abuse the Canadian courts to muzzle fair and honest criticism of Norwegian-owned salmon farming has back-fired spectacularly. Cermaq should now go back to Norway taking their disease-ridden salmon feedlots with them."

Editorial Comment: Wild Game Fish Conservation International finds Mr. Staniford and his colleagues to be absolutely credible. He does in-depth, professional investigation into many adverse impacts of open pen salmon feedlots all around the world.

Of course, he believes the messages he delivers – they are the truth – he has nothing to gain by fabricating these horrendous stories Similarly, Ms. Jensen and other fish farm spokespeople have presented their industrydeveloped messages so often that they have come to believe them as well.

One difference is that with a failing, unsustainable industry, these spokespeople are desperately scrambling to send messages that will appease their stockholders. That’s their only job.

Another difference is that these industry spokespeople have a great deal to lose financially when their messages are challenged and eventually proven to be false.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

The court action was not the first faced by Staniford.

His first legal threat came from a Scottish salmon-farming company in 2001 but that never went to trial. He also won a new trial that has yet to happen after appealing a defamation victory by B.C.'s Creative Salmon Company in 2007.

The latest defamation case was launched by Mainstream Canada based on a Jan. 31, 2011 Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture campaign.

Court documents state a news release sent to media included four mock-cigarette packages, all modelled after the Marlboro brand, containing statements like, "Salmon Farming Kills," "Salmon Farming is Poison," "Salmon Farming is Toxic," and "Salmon Farming Seriously Damages Health."

Images also appeared on the global alliance's website.

Plans return to Canada Many packages also included statements, such as "Norwegian Owned," and "92% Norwegian Owned."

Mainstream Canada, which has 27 fish-farm sites along the east and west coasts of Vancouver Island and is the second-largest salmon-farming company in B.C., argued there were more than 50 instances of defamatory words.

In fact, when questioned during the trial, Staniford wasn't aware of any research showing anyone had developed cancer after eating farmed salmon, Adair said in her ruling.

But based on peer-reviewed science from the global salmon-farming industry, Staniford said the product "can contain cancer-causing chemicals and can carry an elevated cancer risk," noted Adair.

But the judge found Staniford believed what he said, although she called him a "zealot," challenged his credibility and noted his "closed-mindedness and deep prejudices make him an unreliable reporter of facts."

Still, Adair ruled Staniford's defence of fair comment should succeed.

Staniford said the court case cost him about $100,000 even with his lawyer, David Sutherland, working at a reduced rate.

Staniford said he'll return to Canada as soon as he's allowed on March 1, 2013, and is planning a lecture tour around B.C. with Kurt Oddekalv, the leader of the Green Warriors of Europe, an environmental organization.

Related articles:  Court dismisses salmon farming defamation suit  Salmon farm activist acquitted of defamation  Salmon farming industry is a waste of resources

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Will your tax dollars subsidize BC’s unsustainable fish farms?

August 14, 2012 How’s this for a business model: You bring together thousands of fish, stick them in an open net in the ocean, despite warnings that the conditions invite infectious disease, and then, when they all get sick, you receive compensation from the Canadian taxpayer.

You may have seen the media reports about the virus outbreaks, the quarantines and the destruction of fish currently occurring at several fish farms around BC. But as yet, there has been little coverage of the fact that under Canadian law these large and often foreign-owned fish farms could receive compensation from the federal government, and many of them are asking for compensation.

As Superheroes for Salmon has written, both Grieg Seafood and Cermaq (which owns Mainstream Canada) have now filed statements about their respective outbreaks with the Norwegian Stock Exchange expressing their hope that the Canadian taxpayer will bail them out. Grieg’s statement reads, in part: … Canadian authorities are expected to issue a depopulation order of the concerning site within short term. … The Culloden Point site holds in excess of 300,000 Atlantic salmon, with an average weight of in excess of 0.5 kg and a book value of NOK 9m. The final financial impact of the likely depopulation order will depend on the potential compensation from Grieg Seafood's insurance and/or Canadian authorities as a consequence of a potential depopulation order.

[Emphasis added] Similarly, Cermaq says: “The financial impact depends on any compensation from the company's insurance or the Canadian Authorities that has required the depopulation.”

One might be inclined to think that this talk of a taxpayer bail-out was just positive spin by the companies for their shareholders, but it turns out that there’s a recent precedent. This past April the federal government compensated an East-coast fish farm for the fish destroyed as a result of a disease outbreak: The federal government will compensate Cooke Aquaculture for the hundreds of thousands of salmon ordered destroyed in Shelburne this week.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

The Canadian Food and Inspection Agency order the New Brunswick-based salmon farming company to destroy all the remaining fish on a farm of cages just outside Shelburne Harbour after the CFIA confirmed "additional cases" of infectious salmon anaemia. … CFIA spokesman Guy Gravelle says an assessment team has visited the site to begin the process of determining the amount of compensation.

Say what?

So why would fish farm companies be able to claim compensation for losses through disease? Even if you buy their line that these diseases were spread from wild fish (the Friends of Clayoquot Sound have data that suggests otherwise), these companies, and not the Canadian taxpayer, made the choice to have Atlantic salmon in open net farms in waters infested by wild salmon with their yucky diseases, and apparently made the choice not to vaccinate them against those diseases.

The legal basis for the claim for compensation is found in the Health of Animals Act (section 51), which reads, in part (and at the risk of oversimplifying): The Minister may order compensation to be paid from the Consolidated Revenue Fund to the owner of an animal that is … destroyed under this Act … The amount of compensation shall be … the market value, as determined by the Minister, that the animal would have had at the time of its evaluation by the Minister if it had not been required to be destroyed … minus the value of its carcass…

The rules for calculating compensation, including maximum amounts, are found in the regulations.

The good news is that this compensation is not automatic. The government can apparently consider the above factors and refuse compensation. However, if the Minister does refuse to award compensation, the fish farm companies can appeal that decision (under s. 56 of the Act) to a government “assessor,” and get a second kick at the can.

The economics of open net salmon farming Salmon farming has a controversial history in BC. Many would argue that fish farms have done as well as they have because they do not need to pay the costs of the damage that they cause to wild stocks, or even fair rent on the public waters that they use.

But a bailout for these losses would mean that they don’t even have to pay for losses that come with open net salmon farming, and as such represents a direct subsidy to what many, including West Coast Environmental Law, believe to be an unsustainable industry.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International These are very large companies, with private insurers. They can afford to pay for the costs of their own choices. As other ENGOs have pointed out, these outbreaks represent an additional reason, and a financial incentive, to get open net fish farms out of BC’s waters, and into closed containment facilities. But why would fish farm companies head that financial incentive if it’s paid for by the taxpayers?

We understand the value in compensating small-scale farmers whose operations are, through no fault of their own, negatively impacted by diseases that must, for the good of the public, be controlled.

However, similar issues are raised when these provisions are used to compensate large-scale losses for factory farms and other farm operations that rely on a density of animals that promotes the spread of disease, absent large-scale antibiotic use.

We believe that the law should ensure that fish farm companies are responsible for the real costs of their operations. Bailing out these companies would definitely be a step in the wrong direction.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 DFO approves new open net-pen salmon farm in Clayoquot Sound despite ongoing concerns about disease and pathogens

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | October 12, 2012 Vancouver, B.C. — The Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) is appalled to learn that on October 10, DFO quietly issued a new aquaculture licence to Mainstream Canada for another open netpen salmon farm in Clayoquot Sound. The new site is located in Fortune Channel near Plover Point on Meares Island.

“DFO calls this new licence a ‘replacement’ for another site that has been inactive for 47 out of the last 51 months,” said David Lane, Executive Director of the T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation.

Editorial Comment: Wild Game Fish Conservation International and our colleagues around the world support: 

Immediate and permanent moratorium against new open pen salmon feedlots



Immediate and permanent removal of open pen salmon feedlots from the world’s marine ecosystems

“Replacing a poorly producing site with a site able to greatly expand production of Atlantic salmon in open net-pens along the Bedwell Sound and Fortune Channel corridor is a recipe for disaster for wild salmon.”

Wild salmon in Clayoquot Sound continue to be some of the most depressed stocks along the west coast of Vancouver Island even though their freshwater habitat is relatively pristine. Earlier this year Mainstream Canada emptied two of their farm sites in Clayoquot Sound due to confirmation of the IHN virus in their Atlantic salmon. They claim the source was passing wild salmon. As well, testimony was given at the Cohen Inquiry last winter showing evidence of positive test results for the ISA virus at two other Pacific salmon farms in the Sound. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is currently in the first year of a two year pathogen surveillance program of wild and farmed salmon in B.C. coastal waters. Results are not yet available.

“We are hugely disappointed that DFO took this decision at this time,” said Kelly Roebuck from Living Oceans Society. “The Cohen Report is due out in less than a month and the recommendations from that report may have an impact on salmon farming everywhere in B.C., not just along the migration routes of Fraser River sockeye.“ CAAR supports an end to net-pen production and a transition to closed containment technology for the industry.

“The UNESCO Biosphere Reserve designation in Clayoquot Sound makes it the perfect proving ground for raising salmon in closed containment technology,” said John Werring, Senior Science and Policy Advisor for the David Suzuki Foundation. “The intent of the designation is to explore new ways to create employment that have less harmful environmental impacts and closed containment has huge potential to do just that by eliminating any interaction between the farmed salmon and their surrounding marine environment.”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 British

Columbia: Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations Opposes DFO Approval Of Mainstream Canada's Plover Point Fish Farm October 16, 2012

The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations is appalled to learn that on OCTOBER 9th, Department of Fisheries and Oceans issued a new aquaculture license to Mainstream Canada for an open netpen salmon farm located in Fortune Channel near Plover Point. The new site will have negative impacts to our WahNa-Jus/Hilth-Hoo-iss (Meares Island) Tribal Park. In 1984, our Tla-o-qui-aht Hawiih (Hereditary chiefs) declared total preservation of Wah-Nah-Jus/Hilth-Hooiss Island based on title and survival of Indigenous way of life by protecting the ancient old growth with an intact ecosystem that is connected to the coastal waters.

Our Tribal Parks Declaration clearly states that our seafood, shellfish, salmon streams, herring spawning areas and medical plants must be preserved for future generations.

“Fish disease outbreaks and pollution could devastate our already stressed salmon runs and shell fish sites near the Plover Point site, and put further constraints on our Tla-o-qui-aht strategic fishery planning. The Tla-o-qui-aht leadership has written several letters and voiced our opposition to Mainstream Canada, Ahousaht First Nations, DFO, Transport Canada, and BC, and our title and rights to the coastal waters have been clearly ignored. We will not allow governments and industry to run roughshod over our rights to clean water and sustainable fisheries. We are investigating legal options and will not rule out direct actions to stop Mainstream Canada’s Plover Point fish farm.” - Terry Dorward, Tla-o-qui-aht Elected Councilor.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Harper

Government Invests in Sustainable and Innovative Aquaculture in British Columbia

NANAIMO,

BRITISH

COLUMBIA,

Oct

02,

2012

(MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- The Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, today announced the Harper Government will invest in 11 British Columbia companies to encourage sustainable and innovative aquaculture projects in that

Editorial Comment: Salmon aquaculture practices (open pen, contained and land-based) are not, and never will be, sustainable, innovative, cost-effective or ecosystem-friendly.

province.

"The aquaculture industry is evolving world-wide," said Minister Ashfield. "The funding announced today will ensure that Canada's aquaculture industry continues to remain globally competitive, while enhancing economic prospects for Canadians."

This investment of $1.25 million will support three finfish and eight shellfish aquaculture projects in B.C. The projects will improve the competitiveness of the Canadian aquaculture industry and encourage the development of innovative technologies and management techniques.

Recipients of the funding include: Bees Islets Growers, Island Scallops Limited, Island Sea Farms, Nova Harvest Limited, Nootka Sound Shellfish, Aphrodite's Garden, Mac's Oysters, B.C. Shellfish Growers Association, Sable Fish Canada, B.C. Salmon Farmers Association and Taste of B.C. "The Harper Government is committed to supporting the sustainable development of Canada's aquaculture industry, based on the best science available and within one of the most rigorous regulatory systems in the world," said Minister Ashfield.

British Columbia's aquaculture industry creates close to 6,000 jobs, resulting in $224 million in annual wages. About 740 aquaculture operations in B.C. produce salmon, other finfish and shellfish year-round, with a total harvested value of nearly $534 million.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada recently released Aquaculture in Canada 2012: A Report on Aquaculture Sustainability.

This report documents current information related to the social, economic and environmental dimensions of aquaculture.

For more information on the Department's aquaculture program, including the Aquaculture Innovation and Market Access Program, please visit Fisheries and Oceans Canada's website: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/index-eng.htm Eleven projects in British Columbia have received over $1.25 million in funding from Fisheries and Oceans Canada through the Aquaculture Innovation and Market Access Program (AIMAP).

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International FINFISH Sable Fish Canada (Salt Spring Island) has received $213,188. This project will design, construct, and test an innovative, modular, environmentally-controlled transportation system specifically designed for sablefish and suitable for other aquaculture species with minor modifications.

BC Salmon Farmers Association (Campbell River) has received $49,995. This project will deliver information technology that will be relevant to Fisheries and Oceans Canada's industry reporting requirements. Canadian salmon farmers are collaborating to improve environmental data management and information sharing to increase accuracy and reduce costs.

Taste of B.C. (Nanaimo) has received $450,000. This project will establish a land-based model aquaculture farm for steelhead as a pilot project. It will demonstrate a novel, dual drain, round tank recirculating aquaculture system. In addition, it will pilot the application of recirculating aquaculture systems for the production of steelhead in the Pacific Region.

SHELLFISH Bees Islets Growers (Cortes Island) has received $49,865. This demonstration project will encapsulate existing spray foam floats in affordable sea-worthy plastic, extending the equipment lifespan and addressing aquaculture-related pollution in marine environments that can result from the breakdown of Styrofoam.

Island Scallops Limited (Qualicum Beach) has received $70,000. This project will develop and demonstrate a new type of nursery heating system, specifically suited for colder climates, to increase production and availability of domestic shellfish seed supplies.

Island Sea Farms (Salt Spring Island) has received $175,000. This project will design, install and assess an innovative duck predator deterrent system to reduce predation of farm-raised mussels and to minimize harm to ducks.

Nova Harvest Limited (Bamfield) has received $69,800. This project will benchmark and demonstrate innovative land and ocean-based nursery technologies for high efficiency geoduck seed production using local algae for feed.

Nootka Sound Shellfish (West Coast of Vancouver Island) has received $32,842. This project will develop, test and evaluate protective barriers to counter sea otter predation of Manila clams, which is a serious threat on the North Coast and North Vancouver Island of British Columbia.

Aphrodite's Garden (Pendrell Sound) has received $55,000. This project will develop and test handling equipment to produce single oyster seed in commercial quantities using recycled plastic pails and local wild spat (oyster larvae) fall from Pendrell Sound.

Mac's Oysters (Fanny Bay) has received $37,000. This project will develop, demonstrate and test an innovative rack and tray insert to improve performance of a "floating upweller system" for bivalve production (oysters). This novel floating nursery will enable users to increase production on existing aquaculture sites without increasing the site's size.

B.C. Shellfish Growers Association (Comox) has received $55,125. This market access project will enable the Pacific shellfish industry to revise and improve their environmental code of practice. It will specifically review best practices from other jurisdictions and address related requirements from the new Pacific Aquaculture Regulations managed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Dear Sue Farlinger: wishing you the guts to step up September 20, 2012 Sue Farlinger Regional Director General, Pacific Region Suite 200-401 Burrard St. Vancouver, BC V6C 3S4 Dear Ms. Farlinger: As a participant of the Cohn Commission, I read hundreds of internal DFO emails. I saw that DFO expends enormous time and resources to create documents, such as your recent response to a salmon farm near the mouth of the Fraser River infected with IHN. The template of these letters is always: There is no problem, it is not DFO’s fault, don’t worry we are on it.

Your August 15, 2012 letter, which I note you did not sign personally, is a classic example. You are ignoring your own science and a technical report commission by Justice Cohen.

This is how the once abundant cod stocks were stolen from future generations. DFO should have been gutted and reassembled for destroying one of humanity’s greatest food resources. But nothing was done and so the people who depend on wild salmon are being hurt in the same manner today.

You must be aware of the points I am going to raise, so this letter is not so much for you, but to all the people who are forwarding me the letters you sent to them about IHN: Farlinger: “... [IHN] virus can be rendered non-infectious within minutes by sunlight...”

AQUACULTURE UPDATE 11/23/1992 (DFO) “...99% of the viral [IHN] particles are inactivated within 3 weeks” Download IHN Aquaculture Update 1991.pdf (390.6K) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Farlinger: “...susceptibility of sockeye salmon to IHNV disease decreases with age...”

Technical Report #1 to the Cohen Commission on the threat of disease to Fraser sockeye "I designate the following pathogens as potential "HIGH RISK...IHNV” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Farlinger: “... sockeye fry that survive freshwater exposure...may represent a source of virus to... farmed salmonids...”

Dr. Kyle Garver (DFO) testimony at the Cohen Commission: “... If you have a farm that has approximately a million fish...experiencing 30 percent infection... you do get 650 billion viral particles shed per hour.” Testimony 08/25/11 page 14, line 25 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International Farlinger: “... the CFIA ... is currently working to confirm the presence and strain of IHN from this farm.” (August 15) Grieg Seafood ASA: IHN confirmed at the Culloden Point site in BC, Canada: “Reference is made to the stock exchange notification on 3 August 2012. Renewed tests confirm the presence of the IHN virus at Grieg Seafood... Canadian authorities that have conducted the renewed testing, has not yet issued any depopulation order... The final financial impact of the likely depopulation order will depend on the potential compensation from Grieg Seafood’s insurance and/or Canadian authorities...”

Ms. Farlinger, in the wild predators remove sick, slow fish and you don’t easily get this kind of massive viral release. But salmon feedlots violate the natural laws, hold salmon stationary, prevent the predators from removing the sick and thus allow unnatural viral release.

Scientists report the virus is of high risk to the Fraser sockeye, can live up to three weeks in saltwater and a single infected farm produces hundreds of billions of IHN viral particles an hour. The farm in question is near the mouth of the Fraser River, meaning adult salmon passed through a IHN viral cloud just before entering the nursery areas of Adams Lake, Scotch Creek, Takla Landing, Chilko, Shuswap, Horsefly, Gates Creek, Birkenhead, Nicola, Weaver.... There is nothing natural about a school of 300,000 Atlantic salmon shedding IHN virus into the Fraser sockeye migration exposing the young salmon fry rearing in the river.

Until DFO recognizes that salmon farms amplify pathogens to dangerous levels, I will maintain my opinion that DFO has no intention of protecting wild salmon from salmon farms. I suspect you have been pressured to make it easier for the salmon farmers to collect insurance and apply for compensation.

I have asked Grieg repeatedly and now I ask you, what strain of IHN was detected in Grieg Seafood’s Culloden Point salmon farm so we, the public, can assess for ourselves which way this virus is moving.

I suspect you do not feel free to speak your mind on this, but there is always a way to step up and protect a public resource as generous and essential as wild salmon. In closing I offer a link to a blog that details questioning of your Director General of Science, Dr. Laura Richards concerning DFO research on viruses affecting the Fraser sockeye and ask; what hope can we possibly have, in the face of this kind of testimony, that wild salmon are safe with DFO? Wishing you the guts to step up and set this on the right course, Alexandra Morton

How many salmon died without spawning in the Fraser River this year?

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Is this how BC fish farmers empty their RV holding tanks when on vacation?

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Enbridge's plan to train supertanker captains .....

To ensure our coast will be safe from a spill ......

They say the method is "based" in science and it has the Faux PM's approval.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 You heard it here: Northern Gateway’s dead October 5, 2012 The Northern Gateway pipeline that Enbridge proposes to build from Alberta’s bitumen oil to the Pacific coast of British Columbia is, for all intents and purposes, dead.

Yes, regulatory hearings before the National Energy Board will continue until the NEB approves the project. And yes, Enbridge will keep pushing for it. And yes, the Harper government, which is so publicly committed to the project, will continue to extol its virtues as part of the need to get Canadian resources to Asia.

Rumours of his demise are greatly exaggerated But the project is dead. It has too many obstacles now, and there’ll be more in the future.

To survive, the Gateway pipeline would have to push past the growing opposition of British Columbians in general, the opposition of the current Liberal provincial government and the NDP government likely to replace it next year, the unanimous opposition of environmentalists, considerable opposition from at least some of the aboriginal groups along the route and, if all this were not enough, the likelihood of prolonged court battles.

What’s not standing in the way are U.S. environmentalists, whom the Harper government accused of being the principal reasons for the project’s problems. This wild statement was, then as now, completely at variance with reality, since British Columbians are hardly to be led around by their collective nose by a handful of folks from south of the border. To suggest otherwise is to insult their intelligence.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark just spent two days in Alberta, including a meeting with Alberta Premier Alison Redford that both described as frosty. Ms. Clark said she was in Alberta to inform Albertans of B.C.’s concerns and demands; but given a looming political debacle at home, she was really speaking to her home audience.

It was the height of rudeness to ask for a meeting, as Ms. Clark did, then offer nothing and not even pretend to be civil, as if the most urgent thing on her mind was telling the B.C. media how unproductive had been the meeting she sought.

But good manners flee, even between premiers of contiguous provinces, when one of them – Ms. Clark – is fighting for her political life and has come to understand how unpopular Gateway has become in British Columbia. Indeed, it would seem that the more British Columbians know about the project, the less they like it, starting with the reasonable question: Why should B.C. take most of the environmental risks for so little actual gain?

Ms. Clark, reading the political winds, has become testy about Gateway; her likely successor, NDP Leader Adrian Dix, is adamantly opposed. As are, of course, the federal New Democrats. The Harper Conservatives can steamroller the federal NDP in Parliament, but they can’t so easily steamroller the B.C. government and public opinion.

Aboriginals are divided, of course, but those who’re opposed can make life very difficult for Enbridge even if the NEB approves the pipeline. In fact, some aboriginal groups would take a green light to Gateway as a green light to appeal to the courts, arguing that their constitutional right to be consulted

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

on lands they claim to be theirs was not respected, a precept articulated by the Supreme Court of Canada. At the very least, this litigation would stretch on for years.

Enbridge has not helped itself in the court of public opinion with embarrassing pipeline spills. These might be one-off affairs, explainable on technical grounds, but they looked bad and, politically, smelled worse.

The diminished prospects for Gateway make it somewhat more attractive building further pipeline capacity down the Fraser River to the Lower Mainland, where the Kinder Morgan-owned Trans Mountain pipeline already runs. The prospect of more ships in Vancouver’s harbour is among the obstacles for this project.

Trains? They don’t carry the capacity of pipelines. But they arouse less opposition, so that option has a better chance politically than a pipeline for bitumen to the Pacific. Shipping more oil to Eastern Canada seems to be the easiest option politically of all.

But bitumen oil to Asia through northern B.C. just ain’t going to happen.

 Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines Project – proposed route

Animated videos: •

Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines Project - route

•

Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines Project - route safety

•

Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines Project – tanker safety

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Enbridge Northern Gateway Project - Proposed Tanker Routes

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Thousand-pound sturgeon caught near Chilliwack (with video) September 26, 2012

Another massive sturgeon has been caught on the Fraser River near Chilliwack.

On Friday, a group of Kamloops accountants watched-and helped-their boss reel in an 11-foot, eightinch fish from the Fraser River near Chilliwack.

"That thing was huge," said Norman Daley, who hooked the fish, which is estimated to have weighed more than 1,000 pounds. "In the first few minutes I had it on the line I thought my arms were going to fall off. Or I would end up in the river," Daley-the managing partner of a Kamloops accounting firm-had brought nearly two dozen of his employees on a team-building fishing trip. They had booked their trip with Chilliwack-based Great River Fishing Adventures, which just two months ago helped another client reel in a 12-foot, four-inch sturgeon.

"Managing that fish became a true team effort," Daley said in a press release issued Tuesday by the guiding company. "About 15 minutes into the battle I handed the rod off to my colleague. Then after another 15 minutes he handed it back. There was no way that one person alone was going to get that fish to the boat. It was truly a team effort."

It took Daley, his colleagues and lead guide Jeff Welch 50 minutes to bring the fish to shore.

The fish was untagged, leading Great River to dub it a "virgin sturgeon" in their press release.

After the fish was measured, a tag was applied to the sturgeon. It will allow the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society (FRSCS) to be notified if the fish has been caught again. Pectoral fin clippings were also taken for a scientific study.

Great River owner Dean Werk was present for both catches and said they showed that sturgeons are repopulating the Fraser.

"It is really exciting to see another monster fish like this within such a short time period," he said.

"This second catch is proof that our conservation efforts have been successful and that this is a sustainable fishery."

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Sockeye returns spell bad news for sport fishery August 21, 2012

Looks like neither the commercial fleet nor the recreational anglers will get a crack at the sockeye fishery in 2012.

The 2012 Fraser River sockeye run is running out of steam.

It looks likely that neither the commercial fleet nor recreational anglers will be getting a crack at the prized red salmon this year.

The run size estimate for the summer run of sockeye remained unchanged Friday at 1.3 million, and about 2.3 million for the total Fraser sockeye returns, according to the Pacific Salmon Commission “The late run sockeye is the limiting factor,” said Barry Rosenberger, co-chair of the Fraser River Panel, and also DFO’s area director for the Interior.

Alexandra Morton: “The reports coming in from around the Fraser River are quite dire. Large numbers of salmon dying before spawning, even in cool water temperatures has become the new "normal." Normal or not, they died of something, something killed them.”

They would need the late summer run to reach about 300,000 fish to trigger a commercial fishery opening for sockeye.

“Currently we’re only at about 250,000 fish,” he said.

At Fred’s Custom Tackle, the lack of a 2012 recreational sockeye opening will mean an estimated quarter of a million dollar hit to the bottom line just for the retail location in Chilliwack, said store owner Fred Helmer.

He figures it’s another $350,000 in losses at the Abbotsford store.

The fishery is a huge economic engine for the region, and many are frustrated by the poor returns.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International “It’s a bitter pill to swallow,” he said. “And I’m just one guy. You just got to go with whatever is out there and hope that Mother Nature cooperates next year.”

It was an exceedingly tough year for the sport fishing retail and guiding industry, starting with the challenges of high water over a prolonged wet and cold spring, and early predictions for poor Fraser sockeye returns.

“You always hope somewhere deep down they’re going to be wrong. The estimates aren’t an exact science,” said Helmer.

One of the issues in the summer run is that stocks of concern, like the dwindling Cultus Lake sockeye, are intermingled with other stocks coming through the system.

“I think at this point there’s an attitude of resignation out there now among recreational anglers,” said Rod Clapton of the B.C. Federation of Drift Fishers.

DFO is still expecting a few more sockeye to come up the river but it won’t like change anything, and no one is expecting a recreational opening.

“Whenever the Late Summers show up, it shuts down the fishing, so it’s not looking too positive for this season,” Clapton said.

The big hope is for the year after next, when a record run is set to come back on its four-year cycle.

“We’re just holding our breath that it will be a wonderful year.”

DFO officials are not expecting things to change much for the rest of this season, but they’ll continue to monitor daily test fishing catches.

“So we’re still looking for some more fish, but things are winding down,” said Rosenberger.

Aboriginal fisheries on the Fraser have taken a total of 288,050 fish to date, according to the PSC. That is for all of the First Nations communities to share on the Fraser.

“The thing is it’s either feast or famine in the Aboriginal food fishery,” said Ernie Crey, fisheries advisor to the Sto:lo Tribal Council. “The DFO can try to spin this season saying it’s marginally better than four years ago, but there were fewer taken this year.

The abundance or dearth of fish stocks depends on migrating patterns and conditions, which vary wildly from year to year.

Impoverished First Nations communities along the Fraser watershed will have to work “really hard” with DFO officials, as well as commercial fishermen, conservation and sport fishing groups to restore these runs, he said.

“Only when the spawning beds are reseeded and the strength of runs restored will the Aboriginal priority to fish truly be respected.”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

B.C. rejects proposal for copper, gold mine, cites concerns over salmon October 1, 2012

Editorial Comment: Another victory for wild game fish!

VICTORIA — The B.C. government has rejected plans for a copper and gold mine in the province’s northwest, saying the project could endanger salmon in the Skeena River.

Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. had proposed the mine at Morrison Lake, a 15-kilometre-long lake surrounded by Crown land near Smithers.

The lake is at the headwaters of the Skeena River, which produces the second-largest amount of sockeye salmon in B.C. The government’s environmental assessment of the project found the mine could affect sockeye salmon populations as well as water quality in the lake, and the long-term environmental risks of the mine outweighed the potential benefits to the province.

Pacific Booker had planned to dig out 30,000 tonnes of copper and gold ore from the site each day over 21 years.

The nearby Babine Lake First Nation had earlier raised concerns about conservation of habitat and fish in the area if the mine was approved.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Angler survives B.C. grizzly attack, airlifted to Vancouver hospital September 21, 2012

A grizzly bear is seen fishing along a river in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park near Bella Coola, B.C., Sept. 10, 2010. An Alaskan angler mauled by a grizzly bear this week in central B.C. has been airlifted to a Vancouver hospital where he will undergo intensive surgery for many broken bones and a missing jaw.

VANCOUVER - An Alaskan angler mauled by a grizzly bear this week in northwestern B.C. has been airlifted to a Vancouver hospital where he will undergo intensive surgery for many broken bones and a missing jaw.

Sergeant Kevin Nixon, a spokesman for the B.C. Conservation Officer Service, says the 65-year-old man was fishing alone at dusk on Tuesday in the Morice River in Houston when he startled a sow and one or two of her cubs.

It was around 7:30 p.m., and the man was just packing up his fishing gear for the evening. It's believed he was crouching down to put something in a bag, and when he stood up the bear lunged at him.

After the mauling, and with multiple broken bones all over his body, the man somehow crawled about 300 metres out of the rural wooded area to a road.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International Nixon said a woman was driving along the road at that moment and saw him curled up in the ditch.

She stopped to help the man and when she realized the severity of the situation called emergency services.

"If she hadn't stopped for him, this could have been a life-or-death situation," said Nixon.

The man, whose name has not been released by authorities, was transported to a hospital in Smithers but was later airlifted to Vancouver General Hospital.

Mounties believe the man was on vacation from a small town in Alaska and are trying to contact his family. Corp. Aaron Geary, a spokesman for the Houston RCMP, declined to release his hometown because it could identify the victim.

He said the man's camper van has been towed from the fishing site. The area, he said, is a popular destination for fly fishing and attracts people from all over the world, including celebrities and politicians.

Nixon said the man's condition is not known but he has severe facial and head injuries, multiple broken bones and deep puncture wounds. He said the man is missing his lower jaw and will require months of reconstructive surgery.

Conservation officers spoke to the man briefly, but said his injuries were so severe he could only respond to yes and no questions.

From that interview, officers were able to determine that the animal was a grizzly bear and that the attack was likely defensive rather than predatory.

Conservation officers combed the site on Wednesday and found the area covered in blood. They found bear fur on the trees and bear cub tracks.

The officers did a flyover of the area, but found no sign of the bear or cubs.

Nixon says sections of the road between Owen Flats and the Aspen Pool campsite have been closed until further notice. They are warning anglers and hikers to stay out of the area for now while they investigate this weekend.

Grizzly bear sightings are not unusual for the rural area of Houston, however Nixon said he had not heard of an angler being mauled before at the Morice River, a common spot for fishing steelhead.

Geary warned that there are lots of bears in the area and people should always fish in pairs. He also suggested playing a transistor radio or making plenty of noise so the bears will stay away.

Last fall, a woman was mauled by a black bear about 20 kilometres east of Houston. She survived but was badly mangled and her ear was torn off.

Geary said that incident was the first bear mauling in 11 years in Houston.

Meanwhile, conservation Inspector Chris Doyle says there have been fewer bear complaints — which can be everything from sightings to property damage or maulings — in Metro Vancouver compared with last year.

So far, he noted that there has only been one major conflict with a person. In June, a man was attacked while soaking in a hot tub in Whistler.

The 55-year-old man was treated for minor cuts on his head.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

New Brunswick

Alexandra Morton: “Yesterday we watched the well-boat Ronja Carrier, tied to a salmon feedlot off Grand Manan Island. We were told farm salmon were being pumped into the boat for chemical de-lousing. The lobster fishermen were not happy to see this because in the bay they lost their lobster season when a highly toxic drug was released from a salmon feedlot. They were getting a lot of lobster, the next day the lobster were curled up tight, the next day and for the rest of the season there were no lobsters. This is before the courts right now behind closed doors, but the fishermen were never compensated for their loss. We were told these boats just release the drug water when they are done.”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Anissa Reed: “Half price factory salmon at Sobeys in St John. The man at the counter said they were issued an advisory this morning not to sell any whole salmon because of the sea lice infestation and hold any back they may have in stock. He hasn't heard of anything like it in 8 years at least.”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Newfoundland and Labrador

ď ś Salmon numbers down across province this year September 25, 2012 It hasn't been a good year for Atlantic salmon, with a drastic drop in the number of fish that returned to rivers this year.

Numbers are down at 13 of DFO's 15 counting stations across Newfoundland and Labrador.

Only Conne River and Middle Brook yielded higher numbers.

Some rivers are down by as much as 60 per cent.

The biggest drop was on the Sand Hill River in Labrador.

It's a sharp reversal from last year, which saw salmon return in higher-than-expected numbers.

"That's generally indicative of a population that's not stable and is having some problems," Don Ivany of the Atlantic Salmon Federation said.

Ivany said some of this can be explained by the poor spawning year of 2009, but not all.

He said it doesn't help that Ottawa is shutting down most of its regional conservation and protection offices.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Nova Scotia

 Dedicated BC Wild Salmon Warriors in Nova Scotia Anissa Reed: “This was Cooke aquaculture's site which completely wiped out the inner bay lobster fishery...

There were 4 or 5 fishermen who only fished the inner harbour and the lobster fishing declined and disappeared as the salmon farm grew salmon and polluted the bottom.

Other fishermen had to sell their boats and put in about 50 grand to buy bigger boats and go further off shore in rougher water to fish the lobster.”

Dr. Alexandra Morton, Marine Biologist Alexandra Morton: “The people of Nova Scotia are fighting so hard for their way of life.

Their struggle is so familiar to me, but I have to say their situation is even worse than in BC. As one fisherman said to me tonight, why do they have to kill everything.”

Anissa Reed

Dr. Morton

Anissa Reed: “The crowd last night in Sheet Harbour who want to stop fish farms from Snow Island and Loch Duart.. and anyone else that would try and put open net pens into their bays effectively killing their lobster industry and threatening their sea run trout and other wild fish.”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Prince Edward Island

 Salmon anglers surprised by close of season September 18, 2012 Some Island sport fishermen are upset the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is not extending the Atlantic Salmon catch and release season in more rivers on P.E.I. For as long as avid fly fisher Dwayne Miller can remember, DFO has extended the season beyond Sept. 15 on several Island rivers. But the Dunk and West rivers are now closed.

Only Morell River remains open.

"I was quite upset," said Miller.

Editorial Comment: Wild Game Fish Conservation International and our associates fully support extending fishing seasons for catch and release opportunities practiced by those using approved artificial lures.

Like others, we fully understand the time-tested value of having “eyes on the river” as a means of conserving wild game fish.

"Everybody was very eager to have the extension and get a chance to catch a few of those fish."

DFO said fishing is being restricted for conservation reasons. That has Todd Dupuis, executive director of regional programs for the Atlantic Salmon Federation, scratching his head. He said catch and release with fly-fishing may kill a few fish per season, but there are also benefits.

"You lose one or two fish but you're actually saving more fish by maintaining the interest in the species itself and actually having eyes on the river watching for any poachers," said Dupuis.

Bait fishers support closure Fly fishers are finding themselves in opposition to bait fishers on the season closure.

The P.E.I. Bait Fishers Group had asked that the season not be extended this year. It argued this year's dry, hot summer had hurt the overall health of streams, and extending the season was not sustainable.

"They can start fishing the first time, April the 15th, as us and most of them do. And go until September 15th, the same as we do," said group president Bill Warren.

Provincial biologist Rosanne MacFarlane has no objection to the closure, but she is concerned the last-minute announcement will lead to confusion.

"We would have preferred that this maybe would have been held over till the start of the 2013 season, and give us some time to think about it and get the message out there," said MacFarlane.

"Many people might be confused and might actually be going out without realizing that those two rivers are no longer extended."

Dupuis said if DFO wants to help Atlantic salmon it should delay the opening of the season by two weeks in the spring. He said that's when the fish are the most vulnerable

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Ireland

 Anglers' objection to salmon status bid October 10, 2012 It’s a mark of quality that would see salmon from Ireland joining the ranks of such world renowned foods as Feta cheese, Champagne and the Cornish pasty.

But Northern Ireland’s anglers are up in arms about plans to seek PGI (protected geographical indication) status for the term ‘Irish salmon’, so that only salmon farmed in Irish waters can be labelled as such.

The Ulster Angling Federation has lodged an objection to the PGI application, which is the first to be made on an all-Ireland basis.

The anglers claim the term has been hijacked by the Irish salmon farming industry and will create confusion following last week’s warning that wild Irish salmon is in danger of going extinct.

UAF chairman Jim Haughey said: “The idea is clearly to create the illusion that consumers are receiving a wild Irish product.”

“Nothing could be further from the truth. The proposal needs to be amended to, say, ‘Farmed Salmon from Ireland’.”

Editorial Comment: The proposed action to seek protected geographical indication status for the term “Irish Salmon” is consistent with the open pen salmon feedlot industry’s consistently deceptive marketing strategies which promote “ocean fresh salmon” that have flesh artificially colored with chemicals to more resemble the color of wild salmon.

These marketing strategies, free waste disposal, relaxed environmental regulation enforcement, free salmon feed supplementation (wild herring, salmon smolts), free water recycling, low cost permits, government-backed crop insurance, government backed product marketing and more are reasons the open pen salmon feedlot industry is working hard with elected and appointed officials to have a presence in marine ecosystems around plane earth.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

New Zealand

 Marlborough Sounds teen fights salmon farms (with video) October 18, 2012

For the past nine weeks the future of New Zealand’s aquaculture industry has been up for debate.

King Salmon, 51 percent owned by the Tiong family of Malaysia, is applying for nine salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds, on top of its five existing ones.

But it wants those farms in areas which currently prohibit aquaculture.

The company's application, which is being heard in front of the environmental protection authority, has attracted more 1400 submissions.

One of those is from a 17-year-old girl, who lives in the sounds and has spent the past six months fighting the multinational.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International



'Dilution not the solution' September 21, 2012

“You should have been a lawyer," Judge Gordon Whiting told Sustain Our Sounds chairman Danny Boulton in Blenheim yesterday.

"That's an insult," a voice from the public was heard to say.

Mr Boulton was reading evidence at the Environmental Protection Authority hearing considering whether New Zealand King Salmon should be granted a plan change and resource consents to farm salmon at nine new sites in the Marlborough Sounds.

Mr Boulton said the fish farms King Salmon planned to build were not ecologically sustainable because they would release harmful nitrogen waste.

Damaging effects could include triggering harmful algae blooms, he said.

"The Marlborough Sounds requires protecting, not polluting," he said.

It seemed bizarre that a pet owner could be fined up to $10,000 if his dog pooed in a park but King Salmon was looking to release waste equivalent to that of 58,000 dairy cows into the Sounds, Mr Boulton said.

Farm footprints would extend 900 metres beyond cages yet accounted for only 20 per cent of waste.

The remaining 80 per cent would be released into the sea water.

"Dilution is not the solution to pollution."

Mr Boulton said the farms would threaten outstanding undersea environments supporting vast sponge gardens, hydroid forests and seldom-seen species including burrowing sea cucumbers. King shags, which were the rarest seabirds in the world, and dolphin species could be endangered and displaced.

Globally, businesses were looking to contain waste and King Salmon should investigate farming on land or in a vessel at sea as alternatives, Mr Boulton said.

Flow-on effects of all sites threatened the health of the Marlborough Sounds, flew in the face of public opinion and would have unacceptable social, economic and ecological impacts, he said.

Mr Boulton, who runs a dive business at French Pass near D'Urville Island with his wife Lyn, is a prominent face of the fight against King Salmon expansion plans.

His underwater filming of sites under and near proposed farms has brought the undersea environment of the Sounds to life for everyone following the hearing, which today ends its fourth week in Blenheim.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Protest flotilla 'a lynch mob' October 1, 2012 The Government's top of the South MPs have condemned a flotilla protest against NZ King Salmon as "a lynch mob".

Kaikoura MP Colin King said Saturday's flotilla against King Salmon's application to set up new salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds was "a bad look".

"The people who are against the situation feel good, but it won't influence anything.

They're trying to get publicity."

He said he'd been talking with Nelson MP Nick Smith earlier that day and they both felt it was "similar to an old-fashioned court case and having a lynch mob outside".

A flotilla of boats protests the proposed new King Salmon salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds by gathering around Ruakaka salmon farm and visiting several of the proposed new sites.

Mr King said his position was that he expected "a positive outcome, a quality outcome".

"At the end of the day, the sky is not going to fall in. We have to balance within a context of what's sustainable economically and environmentally.

"We live in a modified environment. People believe it's sacrosanct, but we've been modifying it for some time."

As local MP, he "certainly" understood that people in this community had a view. "It's very much part of the process. As soon as you step off the plane in Wellington, everyone else has got a different view."

He said that if Marlborough was going to keep saying no to economic development, people needed to have consideration to the long-term economic prospects of the region and come up with some alternatives.

Dr Smith put out a statement saying the planned flotilla was "misguided and ill-timed".

He said people were being misled into believing the protest will influence the decision by Environment Court Judge Gordon Whiting and the independent board of inquiry.

"I would be equally critical if King Salmon and other marine farming supporters organised and funded a protest at this time, arguing for the jobs and economic growth from the proposal. We should be letting the Board of Inquiry make a well-informed decision without undue pressure from either side of the argument."

He said the decision over NZ King Salmon's marine farming application was incredibly important to both Nelson and Marlborough from an economic and environmental perspective.

"We need more jobs and exports to secure a prosperous future but we also need to carefully manage environmental jewels like the Marlborough Sounds to protect our great lifestyle. (ed. This industry’s track record is consistent – you cannot have your cake and eat it too!)

"The region's interests are best served by a decision based on sound science rather than slick slogans, and on the quality of the evidence rather than the noise of the protest."

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Farms will 'scar' Sounds October 9, 2012 King Salmon's fish farms create more pollution than the environment can handle and proposed sites in Tory Channel will pose a navigational risk to boats, Guardians of the Sounds chairman Peter Beech says.

Mr Beech opposed King Salmon's application to build nine new fish farms at an Environmental Protection Agency hearing at Waikawa Marae on Thursday and Friday.

Representing Marlborough Sounds conservation advocacy group Guardians of the Sounds, Mr Beech said the farms would permanently scar the environment with "five to 9000 litres of anti-foul [paint] containing zinc and copper per farm per annum".

"Every time I see mussel or fish farms and think of the pollution and adverse effects I feel a sense of profound sadness for a paradise lost."

Peter Beech, Guardians of the Sounds

The industry needed to use closed-containment farming to control the feeding, waterflow and pollution of the farms.

The Tory Channel sites were a prime example of uncontrolled pollution, the original depositional footprint was 150 metres, and the company was now applying for 900 metres, but faeces and toxins had been found up to kilometres away because of the high water flow, he said.

Mr Beech said all existing farms exceeded enrichment stage (ES) level 5. Level one being pristine, level seven being completely dead.

Proposed sites at Kaitapeha, Ruaomoko and Ngamahau were a risk to safe navigation in the channel for private boat owners and ferries. The farms could also leave debris in the water and could come adrift from their moorings creating a floating minefield.

"They cannot guarantee these huge structures will not come adrift and it is irresponsible to place them in a narrow [high volume shipping] channel."

The application went against the Treaty of Waitangi, the United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous people and the Takutai Moana Act because the Government was attempting to claim ownership of part of the seabed to let King Salmon use it exclusively.

He believed the proposed 35-year leases were too long and could easily be renewed provided King Salmon complied with regulations.

Guardians of the Sounds' long-term goal was for a Marlborough Sounds Integrated Management Structure made up of various stakeholders to govern the area and for the boundaries of Coastal Marine Zone 1 to be a prohibited zone.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Salmon oil claim disputed October 11, 2012 New Zealand King Salmon has supported its application to expand in the Marlborough Sounds with misleading statements, Arapawa Island resident Carney Soderberg says.

The firm had aggressively marketed its king salmon as nutritionally superior to Atlantic salmon, Mr Soderberg told the Environmental Protection Authority hearing in Blenheim on Tuesday.

A flyer distributed in Marlborough in April this year said foreign Atlantic salmon had half the healthy omega 3 oil of king salmon, which was one reason it was in demand. However, this was disputed by figures published by the United States Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service, he said.

That information showed king salmon had 12 per cent more calories than Atlantic salmon, 8 per cent more fat, 11 per cent more saturated fat, 35 per cent more cholesterol, and 19 per cent less omega 3. On the positive side, king salmon had 16 per cent more protein and 1.6 per cent less sodium, Mr Soderberg said.

Arapawa Island resident Carney Soderberg

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Scotland

 Scottish scientists on verge of creating designer salmon to beat disease September 30, 2012

Dr Alan Tinch of Landcatch Natural Selection SCOTTISH scientists are on the verge of creating a disease-free super salmon that could revolutionise the fish-farming industry across the world.

The scientists claim they are close to identifying the specific genes within Atlantic salmon that determine how susceptible individual fish are to a range of devastating diseases and infestations.

Editorial Comment: Even if these bio-engineering experiments are successful, open pen salmon feedlots will still be unacceptable.

They will remain problematic due to their negative impacts to marine ecosystems, over-reliance on wild forage fish and escapees.

They are now planning to market the first salmon eggs, developed from the genetic discoveries, before the end of next year. Their work could be a major breakthrough for the £500-million-a-year fish farming sector, which spends huge sums fighting the effects of sea lice infestation and fatal diseases such as IPN (Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis).

The Argyll-based company is also planning to use the same technology in future to improve the quality of farmed salmon, including the colour, fat content and omega 3 levels thought to have an effect on human health.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International Dr Alan Tinch, director of genetics at Landcatch Natural Selection, said the research team had already narrowed down the search for disease resistance to some 100 possible genes from the 30,000 genes they had first examined.

“We are closing in on the target gene all the time,” he said. “The analogy is that we used to know what country the gene was in. We now know the house and the street that the gene is in – but we don’t know which room it is in yet.

“Every step that we take in the search for this gene gets us a little bit closer, and one day we will have that ‘Eureka moment’ that says this is the gene that is causing that particular effect for that particular disease. It could happen tomorrow, in three months or in a year’s time.”

Tinch said Landcatch, in collaboration with scientists at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Glasgow University and the Stirling Institute of Aquaculture, had developed genetics technology used in human medical research and cattle breeding to address the needs of the salmon industry.

The company had developed innovative techniques to analyse rapidly the variations in DNA sequences, which would help scientists locate a range of genes associated with disease. Although the specific target genes had yet to be pinpointed, Landcatch was using the information they had gathered over two years of research to begin breeding salmon eggs and smolts for improved resistance to disease. The company is planning to market the first eggs, developed from the disease resistance research, by 2014.

Neil Manchester, the general manager of Landcatch, declared: “The missing genes are like our Holy Grail and finding them will have widespread positive implications. Breeding fish that are resistant to lice and disease will be an incredible achievement and a major commercial breakthrough for aquaculture.”

Dr John Webster, technical director of the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation, said: “We are always very supportive of research and development to help the industry further underpin its long-term sustainability and ability to develop. We look forward to hearing how the project develops and what findings may be taken from it.”

Mike Russell, the Scottish Education Minister and the local MSP for Argyll and Bute, said: “I am very pleased to see an Argyll-based company at the forefront of important research that should have strong commercial and environmental benefit.”

Juvenile fish largely immune to infestations and disease will be a major boon for an industry that is expected to grow in importance globally over the next 20 years as global warming devastates agricultural crops. Aquaculture now accounts for nearly 50 per cent of the world’s food fish.

In Scotland, salmon farming is a major industry on the west coast. Almost one million fresh salmon meals are eaten every day in the UK, and salmon are Scotland’s largest food export.

However, farmed salmon are susceptible to infestations of parasitic sea lice that cause considerable stress to fish and major economic losses to the industry as well having an effect on wild salmon and sea trout stocks.

Fish that could tolerate sea lice infestation – it is known that resistance is inherited – would be a major benefit to an industry that is forced to spend huge sums every year on chemical treatments.

IPN is a highly contagious viral disease that also poses a major threat to Atlantic salmon. According to the Scottish Government, there has been a substantial number of deaths in young farmed salmon in Scottish waters in recent years.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Salmon and trout catches healthy in Scotland as anglers stick to river code September 22, 2012

Angling on the River Tay

THE total number of wild Atlantic salmon caught by anglers in Scotland last year was the sixth highest rod catch on record, new statistics show.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International The haul follows a 2010 season which saw catches soar to their highest level since records began almost 60 years ago.

The Scottish Government figures showed the rod catch of salmon reached 87,915 last year. The vast majority hooked on the line were returned to the rivers by anglers under the catch and release policy aimed at ensuring the long-term survival of the king of fish. Under the anglers’ voluntary conservation code, 73 per cent of all salmon caught on Scotland’s rivers were released – rising to a 91 per cent release of the vital spring component of the catch.

During the year the total reported rod catch of sea trout was 23,324 – an increase of 4 per cent compared to the previous five-year average. Seventy per cent of the sea trout catch was also released back in the rivers.

Paul Wheelhouse, the Scottish environment minister, welcomed the continued boost for one of Scotland’s most important leisure industries. He said: “Salmon and sea trout fishing is a key part of Scotland’s rural heritage and modern economy and the Scottish Government is fully committed to ensuring that it remains so.

“In addition to delivering valuable local employment the sector provides a recreational activity enjoyed by locals and visitors alike. Indeed, salmon fishing attracts substantial numbers of visitors to Scotland, benefiting local hotels and businesses.”

He continued: “The practice of catch and release plays an important role in the continuing conservation of our freshwater fisheries. The upward trend in catch and release is therefore welcome and demonstrates that anglers are very aware of the need to sustainably fish salmon and sea trout.”

Dr Alan Wells, the policy and planning director for the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards, welcomed the confirmation that rod catches of salmon remained high in 2011. “This is partly testimony to the good management and conservation policies being exercised by fishery boards, supported by fishery trusts,” he said.

“It is important to emphasise that these conservation initiatives, particularly catch and release, are largely delivered on a voluntary basis. They reflect a partnership approach with fishery managers and anglers working together to ensure that stocks of this iconic species are maintained.”

The Scottish Gamekeepers Association also welcomed the figures. Alex Hogg, the association chairman, said Scotland’s ghillies and fisheries bosses should be applauded for their efforts in promoting the voluntary catch and release code and helping to preserve vital stocks.

“These statistics are very encouraging and prove that individuals can make rational and intelligent choices about conservation without being compelled to do so by law. Anglers in Scotland provide a major boost to the rural and national economy and are part of the countryside way of life and heritage.

“Ghillies and river bosses have done a great job in promoting the benefits of catch and release as guardians of these rivers and lochs and deserve great credit. Many operate their own catch and release policies and quota systems and are active on a daily basis in safeguarding the ecology of these rivers.”

Mr Hogg said that angling was estimated to be worth £113 million annually to the Scottish economy.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Fishermen in Western Isles losing up to 20% of stock as disease spreads October 11, 2012

Fishermen in the Western Isles say they are concerned about the spread of disease in fish farms across the area.

A parasite which causes fish to choke to death is devastating stocks of farmed salmon.

Warmer and saltier waters are being blamed for the outbreak.

It is estimated some are losing 20% of their stock.

On the Western Isles local fishermen, who have to exist side by side with the giant tanks, are worried about the possible effects.

Creel fisherman Angus Campbell said: “The reports on Sepa indicate that there are hundreds of tonnes of fish dying in these sites.

“Last week we saw a load of 26 tonnes heading down to Uist to get buried. It’s just incredible the amount of dead fish coming out of these sites.”

The protozoan parasite Neoparamoeba perurans only appeared in Scotland last year, but has colonised in farms from Shetland to Argyll.

Producers are blaming unusually warmer seas this summer.

Critics say the over expansion of farms and the overcrowding of salmon has encouraged the disease to flourish.

Industry body, the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation claims "the treatment being used to kill the parasite, is entirely safe for both fish and the marine environment”.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

USA

 I’m pro salmon and I vote!

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 World's biggest geoengineering experiment 'violates' UN rules Monday 15 October 2012 Controversial US businessman's iron fertilisation off west coast of Canada contravenes two UN conventions

Dr. Maite Maldonado, Biological Oceanographer, UBC: "If you have a massive bloom or growth of this microscopic algae, you might not have enough oxygen in the water column at certain depths."

A controversial American businessman dumped around 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean as part of a geoengineering scheme off the west coast of Canada in July, a Guardian investigation can reveal.

Lawyers, environmentalists and civil society groups are calling it a "blatant violation" of two international moratoria and the news is likely to spark outrage at a United Nations environmental summit taking place in India this week.

“the process could have effects that are the reverse of those intended, as the lack of oxygen could potentially create toxic, lifeless waters”

Satellite images appear to confirm the claim by Californian Russ George that the iron has spawned an artificial plankton bloom as large as 10,000 square kilometres. The intention is for the plankton to absorb carbon dioxide and then sink to the ocean bed – a geoengineering technique known as ocean fertilisation that he hopes will net lucrative carbon credits.

George is the former chief executive of Planktos Inc, whose previous failed efforts to conduct largescale commercial dumps near the Galapagos and Canary Islands led to his vessels being barred from ports by the Spanish and Ecuadorean governments. The US Environmental Protection Agency warned him that flying a US flag for his Galapagos project would violate US laws, and his activities are credited in part to the passing of international moratoria at the United Nations limiting ocean fertilisation experiments Scientists are debating whether iron fertilisation can lock carbon into the deep ocean over the long term, and have raised concerns that it can irreparably harm ocean ecosystems, produce toxic tides and lifeless waters, and worsen ocean acidification and global warming.

"It is difficult if not impossible to detect and describe important effects that we know might occur months or years later," said John Cullen , an oceanographer at Dalhousie University. "Some possible

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

effects, such as deep-water oxygen depletion and alteration of distant food webs, should rule out ocean manipulation. History is full of examples of ecological manipulations that backfired."

George says his team of unidentified scientists has been monitoring the results of the biggest ever geoengineering experiment with equipment loaned from US agencies like Nasa and the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration. He told the Guardian that it is the "most substantial ocean restoration project in history," and has collected a "greater density and depth of scientific data than ever before".

"We've gathered data targeting all the possible fears that have been raised [about ocean fertilisation]," George said. "And the news is good news, all around, for the planet."

The dump took place from a fishing boat in an eddy 200 nautical miles west of the islands of Haida Gwaii, one of the world's most celebrated, diverse ecosystems, where George convinced the local council of an indigenous village to establish the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation to channel more than $1m of its own funds into the project.

The president of the Haida nation, Guujaaw, said the village was told the dump would environmentally benefit the ocean, which is crucial to their livelihood and culture.

"The village people voted to support what they were told was a 'salmon enhancement project' and would not have agreed if they had been told of any potential negative effects or that it was in breach of an international convention," Guujaaw said.

International legal experts say George's project has contravened the UN's convention on biological diversity (CBD) and London convention on the dumping of wastes at sea, which both prohibit forprofit ocean fertilisation activities.

"It appears to be a blatant violation of two international resolutions," said Kristina M Gjerde, a senior high seas adviser for the International Union for Conservation of Nature. "Even the placement of iron particles into the ocean, whether for carbon sequestration or fish replenishment, should not take place, unless it is assessed and found to be legitimate scientific research without commercial motivation. This does not appear to even have had the guise of legitimate scientific research."

George told the Guardian that the two moratoria are a "mythology" and do not apply to his project.

The parties to the UN CBD are currently meeting in Hyderabad, India, where the governments of Bolivia, the Philippines and African nations as well as indigenous peoples organizations are calling for the current moratorium to be upgraded to a comprehensive test ban of geoengineering that includes enforcement mechanisms.

"If rogue geoengineer Russ George really has misled this indigenous community, and dumped iron into their waters, we hope to see swift legal response to his behavior and strong action taken to the heights of the Canadian and US governments," said Silvia Ribeiro of the international technology watchdog ETC Group, which first discovered the existence of the scheme. "It is now more urgent than ever that governments unequivocally ban such open-air geoengineering experiments. They are a dangerous distraction providing governments and industry with an excuse to avoid reducing fossil fuel emissions."

CBC News: Iron fertilization project stirs West Coast controversy Guardian: Canadian government 'knew of plans to dump iron into the Pacific'

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 House approves GOP plan to quash coal, gas rules in election-year swipe at Obama September 21, 2012 WASHINGTON — House Republicans voted Friday to cramp President Barack Obama’s environmental policies in favor of increased coal production, in a parting jab before returning home to campaign. The bill would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from restricting greenhouse gases, quash stricter fuel efficiency standards for cars and give states control over disposal of harmful coal byproducts.

The “Stop the War on Coal Act,” passed on a mainly party-line vote, is a companion to GOP campaign ads accusing Obama and Democrats of costing the U.S. hundreds of thousands of jobs while driving up energy prices. Democrats dismissed the legislation as political theatrics, pointing out that almost all the provisions had already passed in the House.

Nineteen Democrats — mostly from coal-producing and conservative-leaning states — broke ranks to join Republicans in the 233-175 vote. The legislation is dead on arrival in the Democratic-led Senate, and Obama has already threatened a veto should it ever reach his desk.

Republicans and conservative groups are working to saddle down-ballot Democrats with Obama’s environmental policies, which are unpopular in energy-producing battleground states such as Virginia and Ohio. They argue that no source of jobs or affordable energy can be spared amid a still-weak economy, with unemployment at 8.1 percent, and reliance on oil from the tumultuous Middle East.

New fuel economy standards that cut tailpipe emissions — set for model years 2017-2025 — would be gutted by the act. So would the EPA’s ability to regulate gases blamed for global warming. A 2007 Supreme Court ruling cleared the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases under its authority to control air pollutants, but the legislation amends the Clean Air Act to preclude any taxes or regulations on greenhouse gases.

Another provision would forbid the Interior Department from issuing any new rules that threaten mining jobs or U.S. coal production through the end of 2013. The package also would create a new agency to study how EPA rules harm jobs and energy prices.

The measure also would give states broad control over disposal of coal ash, a waste product from power plants, and protection of water quality near mining operations. Also nixed would be EPA standards for mercury and air toxins and a “good neighbor” rule that protects states that are downwind from polluting power plants.

Rep. Bill Johnson, who authored the act, challenged Obama to follow through on his State of the Union vow to support an all-of-the-above approach to American energy.

“This is not about climate change,” said Johnson, R-Ohio. “If it’s a public health, public safety, national security issue, certainly common sense regulations are appropriate. Regulations that are based on fact and science — not based on political rhetoric or an environmentalist agenda.”

The measure’s passage dovetailed with a broadside against Obama in battleground Ohio, a coal-mining state. Republican Mitt Romney’s campaign released a television ad Wednesday entitled “War on Coal,” in which a coal worker declares that “Obama’s ruining the coal industry.”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Coal exports could face roadblocks if Democrats maintain Senate control October 7, 2012 Companies that want to export coal to Asia could find roadblocks in their path if Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) becomes chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Exporters have identified five ports in Oregon and Washington from which to send coal to Asia. Nations in that region, which have rapidly expanding economies and loose environmental standards, are a coveted destination for coal producers as use of the fossil fuel drops in the United States.

But Wyden, who is expected to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) as committee chairman if Democrats retain the Senate, is skeptical about sending coal abroad. He has called for more rigorous environmental reviews of the process, which many say could hold up coal exports from the Pacific Northwest.

Wyden wants the Army Corps of Engineers to consider the cumulative environmental impact of mining and transporting coal, rather than the current plan of evaluating each proposal individually.

“Senator Wyden believes federal regulators need to take a close look at the economic and environmental impacts of these coal export proposals,” Keith Chu, Wyden’s spokesman, told The Hill. “Oregonians in Morrow and St. Helens and Coos Bay, as well as those in communities along the transportation routes, have a right to know how these developments will affect them, sooner rather than later.”

Much of that coal would come from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana. Wyden said he is concerned about the impact that concentrated activity could have, and also about coal dust settling in communities along the transportation route.

The Environmental Protection Agency also has raised concerns about coal dust, diesel pollution and the effect exports would have on Asian greenhouse gas emissions.

Republican Wyoming Sens. John Barrasso and Mike Enzi say the more rigorous environmental analysis Wyden seeks would “set a dangerous precedent.” “[E]xpanding the scope of or delaying the environmental review process for new port facilities would create uncertainty for ongoing and future exports of coal from the Powder River Basin as well as Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, and West Virginia,” the senators told Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Army Secretary John McHugh in an August letter.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that coal exports rose 24 percent in the first six months of the year. Exports to Asia experienced a small increase, but insiders said that is largely due to the lack of Pacific Northwest export terminals.

The coal export issue has so far failed to resonate in Idaho, through which all Powder River Basin coal would need to pass to get to Pacific Northwest ports, an aide for Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) told The Hill.

That could change, the aide said, especially with a Wyden chairmanship, and if Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is still on the committee. The two would likely seek to bring the issue to light because their constituents are asking for it, the aide said.

The Risch aide said the power of the gavel would give Wyden license to call however many hearings he wants on the issue.

READ ENTIRE THE HILL ARTICLE HERE

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Alaska

 Op-ed:

Proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay threatens Seattle’s salmon industry September 25, 2012 Unless the Environmental Protection Agency takes action to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay from a mega-mine proposed by foreign mining interests, our salmon jobs and businesses in Seattle could be lost, according to guest columnists Mark Liffmann and Michael Brian Orr.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

AFTER a magnificent summer in Seattle, one cannot help but marvel at the incredible place we live.

Sadly, our salmon catch, an integral part of our economy and culture, is under significant threat.

Unless the Environmental Protection Agency takes action to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay from a mega-mine proposed by foreign mining interests, our salmon jobs and businesses in Seattle could be lost.

Salmon are as much a part of our Northwest culture as our towering forests or our world-class companies like Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon. We wait anxiously for the first fresh salmon of spring.

We know each and every salmon river from the Columbia to Bristol Bay. The wild salmon from Bristol Bay, our nation’s iconic salmon hub, support thousands of local jobs and businesses in and around Seattle.

The Pebble Mine proposed in southwestern Alaska is slated to become one of the largest gold, copper and molybdenum mines in the world. It would produce more than 10 billion tons of mining waste laced with toxins that threatens to decimate the half-billion dollar Bristol Bay salmon industry.

The mine would eliminate or block nearly 87 miles of salmon streams, destroy up to 4,286 acres of wetlands, and threaten to contaminate the ground and surface waters throughout the Bristol Bay watershed.

The Pebble Mine threatens so much destruction in the Bristol Bay ecosystems that more than 60 jewelers representing more than $6 billion in annual sales, including Tiffany & Co., will boycott gold produced from the Pebble Mine if it ever opens.

Bristol Bay is home to the world’s largest wild salmon fishery, supporting tens of millions of returning wild salmon each year and 14,000 fishing and tourism jobs. Commercial and sport fishing play an integral role in the Pacific Northwest economy. Roughly 1,000 people from Washington hold commercial fishing permits in Bristol Bay and, in turn, support thousands more fishery and cannery jobs — jobs and renewable natural resources that would be lost if the mine progresses. That’s why the mine is opposed by a broad coalition of diverse interests, including fishing and related businesses in Alaska and in the lower 48 states, particularly in Washington.

Sen. Maria Cantwell showed great leadership when she became the first U.S. senator to call on the EPA to use its veto power if the threat to Bristol Bay’s economy is confirmed. It was confirmed by the agency’s Watershed Assessment in May. As expressed by Cantwell, “We need to do everything we can to protect the commercial, subsistence, and recreational fishermen who rely on this sustainable fishery.”

The EPA’s Watershed Assessment provides more than enough information to conclude with absolute certainty that large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay watershed would pose enormous harm to the watershed. These findings are even more notable given the fact that the EPA’s analysis, by its own admission, underestimates the overall risks.

We must do everything we can to protect this resource. Industrializing the headwaters of the Bristol Bay fishery may enrich foreign mining interests in the short term, but could impose lasting economic harm on Alaska and Washington.

Relying on the findings of its Watershed Assessment, the EPA should use its legal authority to put an end to this ill-conceived mining scheme and protect Pacific Northwest jobs, businesses and natural resources.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Settlement over designation of lands in Bristol Bay region could impact mine September 19, 2012 JUNEAU, Alaska — The state's natural resources department will have to justify its rationale for how it designated land use in the Bristol Bay region nearly a decade ago, a process that could have ramifications for the proposed Pebble Mine.

An agreement in a 2009 case brought by tribes, Trout Unlimited and fishermen calls on the department to make revisions to its 2005 land use plan. Plaintiffs' attorney Geoffrey Parker said Wednesday that the plan — drafted as interest in the massive gold and copper prospect near the headwaters of one of the world's premier salmon fisheries was heating up — eliminated more than 90 percent of prior inland habitat classifications in the region, with a tilt toward mining.

The plan was an update to a 1984 land use plan, which Parker said mainly classified lands in the region for multiple uses, meaning all uses had to be given consideration. The 2005 plan, he said, moved more toward single classifications.

It primarily used marine criteria, things like walrus and sea lion haul-outs or herring spawning areas, to determine if inland upland areas qualified as fish and wildlife habitat, he said, but did not include consideration for caribou and moose wintering and calving areas. It also expressly excluded sport hunting and fishing from the definition of recreation for recreational lands.

Parker said the decisions "border on scandalous."

"I use the words 'border on scandalous' because this is clearly to benefit Pebble," he said.

The Pebble Limited Partnership, the group behind the Pebble Mine project, didn't form until 2007, but Parker said there was already interest in the mineral deposit at the time the plan was written.

Marty Parsons, deputy director of the department's Division of Mining, Land and Water, said he was not in his current position when the plan was written. But he said that, from the work he's seen, people involved were careful to work with the resources in the region and to accurately identify them, without a bias one way or the other in regards to development.

The agreement, recently signed off on by a judge, calls on the state to make a number of revisions and reclassifications, including adding caribou and moose considerations to the list of criteria used to identify sensitive habitats and revising the definition of recreation to include sport hunting and fishing.

The department also is to reclassify as wildlife habitat the spawning and rearing areas of navigable anadromous waters.

Once the plan is reopened, "everything is up for grabs again," Parker said, including debate over the classification of lands involving the Pebble prospect.

The agreement "should, and may well, affect Pebble, but I think we'll be arguing how much it will affect Pebble," he said.

READ ENTIRE THE REPUBLIC ARTICLE HERE

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Pebble Mine's Keystone 'science' worse than NFL replacement refs October 13, 2012 Imagine an NFL football game where the referees were picked by one team, flown around by one team, and paid by one team. Plus, the refs go into the game knowing which side is going to win.

It would not go over well with any player or fan with a sense of fair play and objectivity.

Yet, that is what the developers of the Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP) expect the public to accept when it comes

to

their

massive

gold-and-copper

mine

proposed in the Bristol Bay watershed. PLP has hired the Keystone Center to conduct “scientific panels” on the proposed Pebble Mine. The New Stuyahok Tribe has joined with other Bristol Bay tribes to oppose this process.

Science is important in evaluating the impacts of the proposed Pebble Mine in the Bristol Bay watershed. Likewise, it’s important to use sound science to manage the fishery of Bristol Bay, which provides half the world’s sockeye salmon.

But sound science is built on the foundation of objectivity. The Keystone process is not objective because Keystone has a financial relationship with the company that is actively seeking the rights to develop the Pebble Mine. We do not trust in a process that is bought-and-paid-for by the foreign companies that want to exploit these resources.

Second, the Keystone panels do not consider the most important question: Is large scale mining even appropriate in Bristol Bay, given the sensitivity of salmon to mining and the wide benefits the fishery provides? Instead, the Keystone panels focus on an outcome favorable to the mining company – how to build “the best” mine.

In the minds of our tribe, which has depended on this fishery for thousands of years, the best mine is no mine at all. The Bristol Bay salmon are central to our economic and cultural well-being. We know that the salmon will continue to provide abundant food and thousands of annual jobs, but only if the spawning grounds are protected from large-scale mining and harmful mine waste.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Finally, Keystone has said its objective is to “help stakeholders make better informed decisions about the proposed mine.” In other words, the panels are about telling, not asking. They are about pushing an agenda, not taking in information.

The panels aren’t even occurring in Bristol Bay. They are set in Anchorage – far from the people who will be most affected by the proposed mine.

There is an alternative that is much better than the Pebble-Keystone process. Bristol Bay Tribes, the Bristol Bay Native Corporation and the commercial fishing industry petitioned the US Environmental Protection Agency to get involved.

The EPA has no financial ties to the outcome and has clear regulatory authority to conduct a study of the risks of large-scale mining to the Bristol Bay fishery under the Clean Water Act. Its mission is to provide objective information to regional stakeholders.

The EPA watershed assessment is fair, transparent and thorough. It has broad local support.

Furthermore, the information is subject to a rigorous scientific process.

This is all in stark contrast to the process advanced by Pebble Limited Partnership. So far, PLP has produced 30,000 pages of what it calls “baseline data.” The documents are more confusing than enlightening. They underestimate the risks of pollution that are inherent to such a massive mining operation, with its billions of tons of toxic waste rock. The “data” cannot be checked, so there is no transparency. And of course, there is the basic conflict of interest underlying it all.

We aren’t the only ones questioning the Keystone process. University of Washington researcher David Montgomery, an expert on salmon runs, has bowed out of the panels, calling them scientifically flawed. Another recognized and highly respected salmon expert from the University of Washington, Daniel Schindler, was kicked off the panel, as Keystone picks and chooses the experts it wants to listen to.

We respect PLP’s right to spend its money as it wishes and hire consultants like Keystone to pursue its interests. But the public should recognize this “dialogue process” and the “scientific panels” for what they are: a far cry from legitimate science.

Dennis Andrew is president of the New Stuyahok Traditional Council and a long-time commercial fisherman. Five Bristol Bay tribes sent a letter to Keystone, available online here.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Anglo American, It's Time to Dump Pebble Mine October 2, 2012 Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll has been in the news recently -- and the news for the company isn't good. Amid reports of shareholder unrest, Carroll has pledged to cut $1.5 billion from the group's 2012 capital expenditures.

"We will look at the entire value chain, from resources to mining to processes sales and marketing and people, and no option is off the table..." said Carroll.

Here's an option: cut Pebble Mine.

Carroll also said that Anglo would prioritize capital to "projects with the lowest execution risks."

"

Pebble Mine, located at the remote headwaters of the world's greatest salmon fishery, is fraught with risk. Much has already been said about the unique environmental and economic risks associated with this particular site -- and they are significant. But there are other important risks as well, including: Reputational Risk. Anglo American is faced with an overwhelming number of Alaska Natives, Bristol Bay residents, commercial fishermen and others who are opposed to Pebble Mine, including:    

The Bristol Bay Native Corporation, 81 percent of whose shareholders oppose Pebble Mine; The residents of the Bristol Bay region, over 80 percent of whom oppose Pebble Mine; Commercial fishermen, over 85 percent of whom oppose Pebble Mine; and Americans in the lower 48, over 77 percent of whom oppose Pebble Mine.

Nunamta Aulukestai (composed of ten Native villages and nine Native village corporations in the Bristol Bay region) is also opposed to Pebble Mine.

READ ENTIRE HUFFINGTON POST ARTICLE HERE

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Bristol Bay residents protest panel discussions on mine October 3, 2012

Opponents of the Pebble mine gathered outside the University of Alaska Anchorage consortium library on Oct. 2 to protest the panel discussions presented by The Keystone Center as a means of validating the science produced by the Pebble Limited Partnership to develop a large-scale mine at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed. Keystone is being paid an undisclosed amount of

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

money by the PLP to conduct the panel discussions, which run through Oct. 10. Photo by Margaret Bauman Several dozen Bristol Bay residents, fishermen, hunters and anglers turned out Oct. 2 in Anchorage for the first of four panel discussions organized to validate research produced by promoters of a massive copper, gold and molybdenum mine.

The panel discussions, organized by The Keystone Center, of Keystone, Colo., are being paid for by the Pebble Limited Partnership, which wants to build the mine at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed, home of the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery.

Keystone officials have said none of the panelists are being paid for their participation in the panels.

Keystone spokesman Todd Bryan said Oct. 3 the PLP is paying Keystone less than $1 million over a four year period for its work and that "a big chunk" of that money is going for travel.

Some of the approximately 100 mine opponents said they want Keystone to immediately halt its socalled "independent" assessment of science released by the Pebble Limited Partnership.

"I think it would serve everyone if Keystone tell Alaskans how much they have been paid by Pebble to date," said Tim Bristol, director of Trout Unlimited. "Their unwillingness to disclose this information calls into question this entire process. It does not come close to providing the transparency and neutrality offered by the Environmental Protection Agency's ongoing watershed assessment process."

Keystone was hired by the Pebble Limited Partnership in December 2010 to validate their science and conduct a public dialogue about Pebble's plan to mine in the Bristol Bay region.

The EPA has spent the last 18 months independently assembling a thorough assessment of the impacts mining would have on the region, at the request of Native corporations, tribes and fishermen.

The EPA's draft watershed assessment, released this summer, found that the Pebble project would have an adverse affect on salmon habitat and the economic livelihood of some 14,000 individuals who depend on Bristol Bay salmon.

According to Carol Ann Woody, a fisheries scientist with extensive field experience in the Bristol Bay fisheries, the Pebble Limited Partnership cannot, after nine years of studies, tell how many total salmon spawn in streams draining the deposit area.

The PLP studies "are not transparent, violating a basic tenet of science," Woody wrote in her assessment of the reliability of the PLP salmon escapement studies.

"Alaskan consultants initially hired by Pebble estimated hundreds of thousands of salmon spawn in streams draining the deposit. The outside consulting firm PLP later hired to replace them, however, estimates only hundreds of spawning salmon."

An independent peer view of the EPA's draft assessment is ongoing and a final report is expected to be released before year's end.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Oregon

 Brochure:

Taking Care of Streams in Western Washington, Western Oregon and Coastal Alaska

OSU et al. 2002. Taking care of streams in western Washington, western Oregon, and coastal Alaska: a landowner’s guide to riparian areas (brochure). Oregon State University, University of Idaho, Washington State University, and University of Alaska, Pacific Northwest Extension Publication 558. Corvallis, OR. 6 pp. (http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/pnw/pnw558.pdf).

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Portland City Council votes to oppose coal trains September 19, 2012 PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland City Council has voted to oppose coal trains moving through that Oregon city until the Army Corps of Engineers can evaluate the impact of exporting coal through the Northwest to Asia.

Wednesday's vote was 3-0 with two commissioners absent.

The Oregonian reports ( http://is.gd/LYeMxo) that Mayor Sam Adams said he opposes "exporting the coal problem to other parts of the world."

A number of Northwest cities and ports have raised concerns about potential coal export problems.

The corps is reviewing permit applications from three coal export terminal projects - including one in Boardman, Ore., one in Longview, Wash., and one near Bellingham, Wash. Oregon terminals are also under consideration in Coos Bay and at an industrial park along the Columbia River between St. Helens and Astoria.

Editorial Comment: Tragically, two young women died when this train’s brakes failed while travelling twenty five miles per hour. The women were covered in tons of coal due to continued poor maintenance of the nation’s coal trains proposed to transport American coal from Montana and Wyoming to Asian markets via Northwest shipping terminals.

(Photo by Nate Pesce, Patuxent Publishing / August 20, 2012 )

The promise of a few jobs is not worth the many risks associated with this irresponsible proposal.

Train cars lie derailed in Ellicott City after the CSX train cars carrying coal derailed early Tuesday, Aug. 21. It was estimated that area roads would be closed for up to 30 hours bringing the historic city to a standstill.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Army Corps decision could expedite Morrow Pacific coal project September 19, 2012 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Portland division said it will only conduct an environmental assessment of Ambre Energy's Morrow Pacific coal export terminal proposed near Boardman and not the more exhaustive environmental impact statement.

The decision could be the difference between months and years of delay for the Australian coal company, which hopes to have its $250 million handling Asia-bound coal shipments by mid-2014, if not sooner.

An environmental assessment process is typically measured in months, while the EIS process threatened to add years to the project, which is seeking a permit from the Corps to build a new dock and terminal along the Columbia River at the Port of Morrow near Boardman.

The Corps, though, reserved the right to broaden the scope of its environmental review to an EIS at a later point.

“But for right now, we’re focusing on the direct, indirect and cumulative effects of the (project’s) construction activity,” said Scott Clemans, a spokesman for the Corps’ Portland district.

The Morrow Pacific Project calls for taking coal by rail to a new terminal at the Port of Morrow, where it will be transferred to covered barges and shipped downriver to a facility at the Port of St. Helens for loading onto ocean-going ships.

It is one of five coal export terminals proposed in Oregon and Washington. Already, the Corps' Seattle office has opted to pursue the full EIS process for two terminal proposals in Washington: The Gateway Pacific Terminal near Bellingham and Ambre’s Millennium Bulk Terminals proposed near Longview.

Clemans, though, said the Washington projects have a geographic reach measured in acres and traverse far greater amounts of wetlands and navigable waterways. The Morrow Pacific project, by comparison, is seeking a permit for “no more than 15,000-square-feet of dock.”

READ ENTIRE SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS OREGON ARTICLE HERE

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Fish vs. Coal The Corps of Engineers blows it.

September 19, 2012 This post is part of the research project: Northwest Coal Exports

The Army Corps of Engineers has some explaining to do.

They’ve just announced that, at least for the time being, Ambre Energy’s proposed coal export terminal on the Columbia River only needs a streamlined environmental assessment, rather than a more comprehensive environmental impact statement. Which means, as Scott Learn from The Oregonian writes, that Ambre’s project “is staying on the fast track.”

It’s hard not to think that the Corps is caving to pressure from the coal industry here. Let’s leave aside, if you will, the potential risks to human health—such as coal’s well-known problem with spontaneous combustion, or the many impacts on rail-side communities from coal dust. Ambre’s own consultants, in a biological assessment prepared earlier this year for the company, admitted that the Morrow Pacific coal export project will have significant impacts on threatened and endangered fish populations and their habitat.

Here are some choice quotes from the coal industry’s own report: •

“Project construction activities at the Port of Morrow site will affect these [fish populations] through noise impacts, turbidity, and other habitat impacts (such as shading and the potential for

•

36+9l;p9[p--“Critical habitat components for Chinook salmon will be affected by the proposed project.”

•

“Ongoing negative impacts to water quality, substrate at the docks, and food resources may occur as a result of project operations. As a result, the proposed project may affect, and is likely to adversely modify, critical habitat for UCR spring-run Chinook salmon, SR fall-run Chinook salmon, and SR spring/summer-run Chinook salmon.”

•

“Shading from the conveyor, walkway, and pilings at the Port of Morrow, as well as staged barges and tugs, may increase predation in the area around the new mooring facility. Habitat disturbance and shading will also occur from vessel operation at the Port of Morrow dock.”

•

“The proposed project may affect, and is likely to adversely modify, critical habitat for southern green sturgeon.”

READ ENTIRE DAILY SIGHTLINE POST HERE

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Utah

 Groundwater contamination is major issue in tar sands mine September 30, 2012

SALT LAKE CITY — Groundwater contamination — threatened, real or imaginary — lies at the heart of a contentious dispute involving what could be the nation's first large-scale oil sands mining operation in Uintah and Grand counties.

Members of Utah's Water Quality Board will hear arguments Oct. 24 at their next regular meeting and decide if they will uphold an administrative law judge's opinion on the matter, agree with it but make modifications, or reject it outright.

At issue is the state Division of Water Quality's decision to issue a permit to U.S. Oil Sands for its PR Spring Mine after determining it will have minimal impact to potential groundwater in the area. The reasoning was based on evidence that shows a lack of groundwater resources in the project area, according to the division, as well as the manner of the mine's operation, such as the exclusion of tailings ponds. The division's decision was appealed and in late August, an administrative law judge issued an order upholding the permit.

Kimberlee McEwan, with the Utah Attorney General's Office, advised the board Wednesday that ultimately members will act as judges in the case, weighing the information already on record as well as arguments presented by U.S. Oil Sands, the Utah Attorney General's Office and the protester of the decision, Living Rivers.

The environmental group contends the division acted unlawfully by issuing the permit and argue that the mine's impacts to groundwater will have negative impacts to the Tavaputs Plateau and adjacent area.

U.S. Oil Sands has 32,005 acres under lease in the Uintah Basin area for the potential extraction of bitumen, a thick, tar-like substance that can be refined into oil. An initial site of 213 acres is planned for active mining operations that could begin by late next year.

Living Rivers contends the material used in the extraction process poses toxic hazards and should not be released into the environment. U.S. Oil Sands counters that the material is a bio-solvent derived from citrus oil.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Vermont

 Conn. River dam licensing offers chance for change September 23, 2012

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Five big hydroelectric projects on the Connecticut River are up for federal relicensing, providing a once-in-a-generation chance for environmentalists, recreational river users and others to recommend changes to the dams’ operations.

The projects affect a roughly 85-mile stretch of the river, which forms the boundary between Vermont and New Hampshire, bisects Massachusetts and Connecticut and then flows into Long Island Sound. ‘‘It’s a huge opportunity for the public and project operators to think about not just one location but a whole stretch of river,’’ said Andrew Fisk, executive director of the Connecticut River Watershed Council, based in Greenfield, Mass.

Site visits set for the first week of October will kick off a process of environmental reviews and public meetings that’s expected to take five to six years.

It’s too early to know what issues will garner the most attention during relicensing, environmental group leaders and dam owners TransCanada Corp. and FirstLight Power Resources of Glastonbury, Conn., said last week.

The dams provide low-cost power without big carbon emissions, as well as jobs and big tax revenues in nearby communities, spokesmen Grady Semmens of TransCanada and Charles Burnham of FirstLight said.

Fisk said one area of study may be the impact that raising and lowering river levels behind the dams has on fish and wildlife species, particularly at Wilder. A second issue may be whether enough water is being left in the river to support fish populations below the Turners Falls dam.

Relicensing begins less than three months after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it was abandoning a nearly half-century effort to restore populations of Atlantic salmon that had dwindled in the Connecticut basin after the dams were built, saying the program had not been successful enough to justify the continuing cost.

The dams’ need for new licenses was not part of the decision to discontinue the salmon restoration program, said Bill Archambault, regional assistant director for fisheries with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. ‘‘Our decision was really based on the science and where we were (with) the program,’’ he said.

Salmon are born in inland streams, and migrate to the ocean before returning to the rivers to reproduce. Salmon were so plentiful in the Connecticut when Europeans arrived in New England four centuries ago that indentured servants had provisions written into their contracts limiting the amount of times per week they could be fed it.

New fish ladders and passageways were built in recent decades to try to get the salmon around the dams, but those efforts proved unsuccessful. Fisk said, though, that a bigger problem has been heavy fishing for salmon in the Atlantic. Fish stocked in the Connecticut and its tributaries have made it to the ocean but have not returned.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International As the process unfolds, Fisk said his group will be looking for members of the public to be voicing any concerns, including calls for better environmental stewardship or recreational opportunities. ‘‘It’s your river. You've given a private entity a very legitimate right to operate on it, but the public needs to get something in return for that,’’ he said.

They five projects include three hydroelectric stations owned by TransCanada on the river between New Hampshire and Vermont and two in Massachusetts, owned by FirstLight. From north to south they are: 

The 41-megawatt Wilder station, which dams the river between the Wilder section of Hartford, Vt., and Lebanon, N.H.;



The 49-megawatt Bellows Falls station between the village of Bellows Falls in Rockingham, Vt., and Walpole, N.H.;



The 37-megawatt Vernon station, between Vernon, Vt., and Hinsdale, N.H.



The Northfield Mountain Pump Storage Facility, in Northfield, Mass., a 1,119-megawatt station where water is pumped from the river to an uphill reservoir during times when power demand is low and then released to generate power as it flows downhill when demand for electricity is high;



The 68-megawatt Turners Falls station in the Turners Falls section of Montague, Mass.

Spring freshet at Turner’s Falls, Connecticut River, MA

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Washington State

 The State of Our Watersheds

2012

State of Our Watersheds

Conclusion The pages of the State of Our Watersheds report are filled with examples of a single, repeating trend: key habitat attributes, such as streamside vegetation, habitat connectivity and stream flows are imperiled by human activities. This extensive loss and degradation of habitat threatens both salmon and tribal cultures and treaty-reserved rights. The principle findings in this report illustrate this alarming trend, but it is ultimately the realities contained in each tribe’s watershed review that provide the most accurate depiction of habitat.

As sovereign nations, 20 Indian tribes signed treaties with the United States, ceding most of the land that is now western Washington, but reserving rights to harvest salmon and other natural resources.

Today those fishing rights are being rendered meaningless because the federal and state governments are allowing salmon habitat to be damaged and destroyed faster than it can be restored.

Tribal harvest has been reduced to levels not seen since before the 1974 U.S. v. Washington ruling that reaffirmed tribal treaty-reserved rights and status as co-managers with the right to half of the harvestable salmon returning to Washington waters. As the salmon disappear, tribal cultures, communities and economies are threatened as never before. Some tribes have lost even the most basic ceremonial and subsistence fisheries that are a foundation of tribal life.

The State of Our Watersheds report is a tool to assess, address and monitor progress on protecting and enhancing salmon habitat throughout western Washington. The report also serves as a bellwether – both an indicator and warning – that the tide of habitat loss and degradation must be turned if we are to restore the salmon resource. If we do not, we will continue down the path we are now on, which leads to the extinction of salmon and the loss of tribal treaty-reserved rights, economies and cultures. This vision of the future is unacceptable to the treaty Indian tribes in western Washington.

READ ENTIRE NWIFC REPORT HERE

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Another fish barrier removed Black River Tributary: State replaces culvert with bridge to aid path for salmon, trout October 05, 2012 Coho, cutthroat trout, steelhead and other fish will have an easier time migrating in a small stream that flows out of Capitol Forest to the Black River, thanks to a state program that aids small-forestland owners with removal of barriers that block fish.

The $130,000 project this week to replace a fish-blocking road culvert with a small bridge across Goliath Creek frees up more than four miles of upstream fish habitat. It’s a prime example of the kind of work the state Department of Natural Resources and its partners are poised to do.

Since 2003, some 232 fish barriers – usually road culverts – have been eliminated on nonindustrial timberland, returning some 500 miles of stream habitat to migrating salmon and trout through the state Department of Natural Resource’s Family Forest Fish Passage Program.

The $17 million program investment to date is about to jump significantly: The state Legislature included $10 million for the program when it passed a $1 billion jobs bills this year.

DNR officials want forest property owners to know this is a good time to apply for a chunk of money, anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 to tackle troublesome forest road crossings.

Eligible applicants face few, if any, out-ofpocket costs.

Workers watch Thursday as the waters of Goliath Creek near Rochester begin to flow in a channel built under a new bridge, replacing the previous culvert under a gravel road. The old channel is in foreground, with the new flow going from left toward the steel bridge.

It’s habitat-improvement work landowners would likely have to do if they applied for a timber harvest permit. Removal of fish barriers associated with forest roads is a key component of the Forest and Fish Act approved by the Legislature in 1999.

The program recognizes how onerous the costs of complying with the landmark act can be to smallland owners.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International “The jobs bill was a huge shot in the arm for the program,” said DNR program manager Rick Kuykendall. He said the state agency, working with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Recreation and Conservation Office and a host of project sponsors – including tribes, salmon enhancement groups and conservation districts – hope to complete nearly 100 projects statewide in the next two years.

To be eligible, landowners can harvest on average no more than 2 million board-feet of timber per year, which is the equivalent of a 40-acre clear-cut, he said.

DNR has a backlog of 400 applications, but knows from fish barrier studies that they are just scratching the surface.

In the Chehalis River watershed alone, which is the second-largest in the state, there are an estimated 1,500 miles of blocked fish habitat, said Jamie Glasgow, director of science and research for the Olympia-based Wild Fish Conservancy, the group overseeing the Goliath Creek project for DNR. From its headwaters in Capitol Forest, Goliath Creek flows into Mima Creek, which flows into the Black River within the Chehalis River watershed.

“There’s a huge need to restore fish habitat in this watershed,” Glasgow said. “We’re working on just a fraction of the habitat that the fish historically had access to.”

The Goliath Creek project, on a 10-acre parcel owned by Steve Baker of Roy, included a short stream rechanneling effort to place the new bridge. In less than two days, Glasgow and his co-workers had recovered 36 juvenile coho salmon from a small pond created by the stream diversion. They also found 15 freshwater mussels, which is an indicator of good water quality.

“This is a very productive stretch of stream,” Glasgow said.

State Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Laura Till described Goliath Creek as a high priority project that will open up top notch spawning habitat for coho, cutthroat and steelhead.

The new bridge also will reduce flooding at the road crossing. In the past, it was not uncommon to find fish on the road during heavy storms, Till said.

Logging roads that rely on stream culverts tend to suffer more storm damage, require more maintenance and lead to degraded water quality, Till said.

HELP IS ON THE WAY Owners of small forestland with forest roads that block fish habitat in streams can apply for state financial aid to remove the barriers. For more information call 360-902-1404 or go to www.dnr.wa.gov/sflo.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Wild Pacific salmon return to Condit River following dam demolition

When fall rains return to the Northwest, so do salmon! Now coho and Chinook salmon migrating into the White Salmon River can not only swim past the former Condit Dam site, but have an extra five miles of newly accessible habitat on Indian Creek.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Sockeye salmon return to Cle Elum River October 7, 2012 CLE ELUM, Wash. — Carcasses dot the banks of the Cle Elum River bank, signifying an end as well as a beginning.

Here, some 18 miles northwest of Cle Elum, are the bodies of adult fish who completed the arduous, several-hundred-mile journey from the Pacific Ocean to reproduce and perish.

Just feet away, females linger over their nests as males lurk nearby, their sleek red bodies easily visible in the clear river water. The males at this stage in their lives are called yellowbacks because the scales along their spines have been rubbed off during fights with other males as they vie for the right to fertilize a female's eggs.

More than a century after their runs up the Cle Elum River were wiped out by dams, the sockeye are spawning again.

This is the fourth year of an effort to reintroduce this prized salmon species back into the Yakima River Basin. The Yakama Nation is overseeing the program, which collected Wenatchee and Okanogan sockeye salmon at Priest Rapids Dam about three months ago and trucked them to Lake Cle Elum for release.

A total of 10,000 wild sockeye were released in the lake this year, a number that has grown steadily each year because of the abundance of the Columbia River sockeye run. The Yakama Nation will take fish at Priest Rapids after the overall run reaches 80,000 fish.

The total Columbia River run this year approached 600,000 fish.

Ultimately, the hope is for a self-sustaining run of Yakima River sockeye that will allow for a sport fishery.

Restoring sockeye to Lake Cle Elum is made possible by a crude fish passage system at the spillway to the 437,000-acre-foot lake. A flume allows smolts to escape to the downstream Cle Elum River.

Returning adults - the offspring of the first group planted in the lake - are expected to return next year. After making their way up the Yakima River toward Lake Cle Elum, they will be collected at Roza Dam, north of Yakima, where it is easiest to capture them before they encounter the lake's massive dam. They will then be trucked to the lake.

The wooden flume is supposed to be replaced in the next few years by a multistory fish release facility that will allow fish to escape the lake during both high and low water levels.

Lake Cle Elum sockeye died out more than a century ago when the high-mountain lakes like this one were dammed for irrigation. The dams blocked access to the tributaries above the lakes where the fish laid their eggs.

Tribal staff have been surveying the number of nests laid this year. Some 2,000 adult fish have been sighted on the spawning grounds, meaning many thousands more are still to spawn.

Brian Saluskin, fish passage biologist for the Yakama Nation, said spawning this year began shortly after Labor Day and is expected to continue as late as early November.

READ ENTIRE NEWS TRIBUNE ARTICLE HERE

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

ď ś Lummi Tribe joins the opposition to Whatcom coal port September 21, 2012 Extensive environmental hearings are about to get underway, reviewing the proposed coal port and its impacts. The tribes further complicate the chances for the port facility.

Elders of the Lummi Nation announced opposition Friday to a proposed export terminal at Cherry Point north of Bellingham, an industrial port area that remains a point of contention for Native Americans and proponents of development on the site.

The port, proposed by SSA Marine of Seattle, would become the largest coal-export terminal on the West Coast, sending some 48 million tons of Powder River Basin coal annually to Asia when fully developed. Cherry Point, site of two oil refineries and an aluminum plant, is also a historic Lummi gathering ground and a major factor in historic fisheries that are important to Native Americans in the region.

Lummi leaders announced their opposition at a "Xwe' chi' eXen Gathering" Friday, presided over by Hereditary Chief Bill James and Lummi Nation Chairman Cliff Cultee; about 250 Lummis and guests from the area. Xwe' chi' eXen is the ancestral name for Cherry Point, a peninsula projecting into Puget Sound adjacent to the Lummi Reservation.

"It is our promise and our duty to our ancestors, our elders and our future to protect and preserve Cherry Point," said Cultee.

Opposition to the export terminal was emotional and personal for several of the tribal leaders.

"This is the home of the ancient ancestors and it's up to us today to protect mother earth," Chief James told the audience after introducing his topic in the Lummi language. "Their spirits are here . . . remember what we are doing to mother earth." Chairman Cultee urged members of the Lummi Nation to work together, but also to work with other tribes dealing with export of coal; "don't just send it someplace else." Tribes in Oregon and Eastern Washington have also been dealing with the coalexport issue.

Guests of the Lummis were greeted by a plethora of the familiar "No Coal" signs that have dotted Bellingham neighborhoods, and the ceremony added an exclamation point by burning a large facsimile of a million-dollar check, labeled "Non Negotiable."

Although the tenor of the speakers and the anti-coal signs made clear the depth of opposition, SSA Marine spokesman Jim Waldo said the company will continue to work with the tribe on issues involving archeology and preservation of sacred sites, which were referred to by speakers. Later Friday, SSA Marine Senior Vice President Bob Watters reiterated attention to cultural values, and also cited an SSA study on impact on the fishery from the terminal. "It is also important to keep in mind that the Gateway Pacific Terminal will meet all of Washington's stringent environmental standards and will be an excellent source of family-wage jobs for all of Whatcom County, including Lummi members," Watters added.

The Gateway Pacific project covers nearly 1,100 acres, and SSA Marine has options on an adjacent 300 acres. The Friday ceremony was on county land near the terminal site.

Lummi opposition will place the tribe's concerns in a major position among elements to be considered when Whatcom County, Washington Department of Ecology, and the U.S. Army Corps of

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International Engineers begin on Monday (Sept. 24) the environmental review process on Gateway Pacific Terminal proposed by SSA Marine.

The first element in that process, determining the scope of the environmental review, was announced Friday in the Federal Register. It allows 120 days for governments, tribes, and the public to present information to the three reviewing agencies, in writing or at seven public hearings throughout the region.

The unusual length of the process and the number and reach of the hearings are important to critics of the export terminal, for they will bring a broad collection of opposition, including the impact of coal trains that will transit the state from Spokane to Cherry Point. Accordingly, the hearings will range from Ferndale, closest to the terminal site; to Bellingham, most impacted by the trains; and on to Seattle, Vancouver, and Spokane, all of which will see railroad impacts. Additional hearings will be in Mt. Vernon and Friday Harbor; the latter will focus on maritime impacts from bringing nearly a thousand giant coal ships through the San Juan Islands.

The first hearing will be Oct. 28 in Bellingham, the last on Dec. 12 in Vancouver. Scoping is critical to the entire project because it will determine which areas will get the most intense review by experts working under a contract to CH2M Hill, the regional engineering firm. The consultants will report to the three lead agencies, which will jointly set the scope for the consultants to review.

In its Federal Register posting, the Corps of Engineers listed a broad array of issues that it expects to be covered in the environmental review process: "Potentially significant issues to be analyzed in the EIS include but are not limited to project-specific and cumulative effects on navigation (e.g., vessel traffic and navigational safety); marine aquatic habitats, including State-designated aquatic reserves; marine aquatic species, including Endangered Species Act listed species and Washington State species of concern; Tribal treaty rights; wetland and riparian habitat and wildlife; railroad and vehicle traffic; cultural, historic, and archeological resources; air and water quality; noise; recreation; land use; and aesthetics."

Target date for completion of a draft environmental review is January 2014 although the GPT process has already seen major delays since it was unveiled in 2011. The Cherry Point project is the first of two large coal-export terminals to enter the environmental review phase; the other is the Millennium Bulk terminals project at Longview; no dates have been set for scoping on that project.

At Cherry Point, issues of tribal sovereignty could play a large part in eventual determination of the environmental review, particularly in terms of federal law and regulations. Lummi tradition rejects the loss of critical lands, including Cherry Point, in executive orders dating to the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant in the 1870s. The Cherry Point industrial area was once a reef-net site for Lummi fishermen, and still figures heavily in salmon fishing.

The GPT terminal could also impact the already-depleted herring fishery, which is critical to salmon runs in the area. "These sites are a part of our usual and accustomed fishing grounds and stations, and part of our cultural legacy to be passed on to future generations," said Jewell James, a Lummi elder, in describing the importance of the site to the tribe.

"This is our fish, our water — we want it all back," said Lummi vice-chairman Candice Wilson in an emotional appeal. "There are no boundaries for us; our heart says this is ours . . . our eyes are wide open, we are here, and we are not going anywhere," she added, addressing her comments to the non-Lummi guests in the audience.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Nisqually Tribe has new tool for separating wild, raised salmon September 22, 2012 A plastic pipe fence the length of a football field stretches across the Nisqually River near Joint Base Lewis-McChord property, signalling a new era in fisheries management for the Nisqually Tribe.

Nisqually Tribal fisheries salmon-enhancement manager Bill St. Jean guides a tagged salmon back out into the Nisqually River as biologist Rosalinda Turk, along with fisheries staff members Larry Guidry and Robert Wells, operate the rotating auger system Thursday at the site of the fish weir system in the Nisqually River. The technology is designed to sort hatchery-raised chinook salmon from naturally spawning chinook migrating upriver to spawn.

The portable dam, which includes traps and augers to lift the fish into holding tanks, is designed to capture every fall chinook salmon that has made it through a gauntlet of fisheries that stretches from Alaska to the river.

Once their migratory journey is halted, tribal crews sort the fish into two distinct groups: fish that were reared in one of the tribe’s two downstream hatcheries and fish that were born to naturally spawning parents upstream.

Life’s journey for the hatchery fish, which are distinguished by their clipped adipose fins, ends at the fish weir. They become food for tribal elders and area food banks.

The goal is to send the naturally spawned fish upstream to spawn, free of interference from hatchery fish, which are considered less productive than their wild counterparts and less capable of warding off predators and disease.

“There’s nothing else like this on a Puget Sound river,” noted David Troutt, natural resources director for the tribe. “It’s a pretty big tool to help us meet harvest goals and recovery goals for Puget Sound fall chinook.”

The weir, a small dam, has the support of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, which comanages Puget Sound salmon stocks with the treaty tribes.

“We applaud the tribe for their progressive view of salmon management,” noted Pat Pattillo, policy coordinator for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We’re excited about the weir and want to see it be successful.”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International When Puget Sound chinook were listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1999, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, Puget Sound tribes, conservation groups, anglers and others faced the daunting task of bringing the iconic species back from the brink.

In the Nisqually watershed, the tribe took the lead and essentially had to start from scratch. That’s because native Nisqually River chinook were wiped out in the 1960s by indiscriminate mingling with hatchery fish, hydroelectric dam operations upriver and over-harvest in marine waters and the river.

The weir is part of an updated Nisqually chinook recovery plan that includes a healthy dose of habitat improvements in the watershed.

Since 2000, the tribe and its many watershed partners have protected 74 percent of the river shoreline from development, created more than 900 acres of estuary near the mouth of the river, and restored nearly 7 miles of shoreline along two of the river’s main tributaries – Ohop Creek and the Mashel River.

“Given the history of chinook salmon in the Nisqually, restoring habitat is absolutely necessary before you start worrying about the mix of hatchery and natural origin fish on the spawning grounds,” Troutt said. “To develop a local stock, we need to be sure that only natural origin fish are spawning in the river. That is where the weir comes in.”

The tribe also is experimenting with new ways to harvest chinook salmon in the river, including tangle nets and beach seining nets that allow tribal fishers to pass upstream the naturally spawning fish and keep just the hatchery fish.

More than half of the naturally spawning Nisqually chinook are captured in fisheries all along the West Coast. The goal is to keep reducing that number over time so some 2,000 naturally spawning fish can be passed upstream to spawn while still sustaining a annual harvest in the river of 10,000 to 15,000 chinook, according to the chinook-recovery plan.

The tribe purchased the weir with a $1.6 million grant from a federal hatchery-reform program. It was tested in the river late last summer, but crews had trouble keeping it stationary in the fast-flowing river.

When it was reassembled this year, it was secured by five cement anchors stationed in the woods and a heavy-duty cargo ship chain. A gate at one end of the fence can be lowered to allow boats to pass, and fish can be corralled and sorted on either side of the weir.

The fish are mechanically hoisted into a holding tank on the riverbank, where they are measured and checked for origin and sex. The natural spawners are equipped with a numbered jaw tag for use in spawning ground surveys and a DNA sample is taken for long-term monitoring of fish productivity.

“I think the weir is a good idea,” said Robert Wells, a tribal member and one of six employees who operate the weir.

“It’s going to answer a lot of questions about the fall chinook.”

This year’s weir operation has been complicated by the numbers of returning fish, which appear to be much lower than the 26,000 that were forecast. As of Thursday morning, only nine naturally spawning chinook had been passed upstream and 28 hatchery fish had been intercepted. Typically, this would be the midpoint for the chinook run in the river.

“Everybody’s a little bit on edge,” Pattillo said.

The federal permit for operation of the weir calls for at least 870 fish, regardless of origin, to spawn upstream this year, said Bob Turner, regional administrator of NOAA Fisheries’ salmon-management division.

“I think most of us expect some hatchery fish will be passed upstream this year,” Turner said, adding that the long dry-weather spell could be delaying the salmon run. “The question is, how many?”

Regardless, the weir will be a valuable tool over time, Turner said.

Sometime in October, the tribe’s crew will pull the fence out of the water in 5-foot sections and haul all the equipment away for safekeeping.

“It’s kind of like a huge carnival ride,” said tribal salmon-enhancement manager Bill St. Jean. “We truck it in and assemble it, then tear it down and truck it out.”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 The Coal-man Cometh

Those people pissed off about the prospect of a huge increase in Coal Trains coming through Spokane will have a chance to complain to the feds.

As part of an environmental review process for proposed West Coast shipping facilities, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is holding a public hearing in Spokane Valley. If any of half a dozen proposed shipping facilities are built, as many as 60 more coal trains could rumble through Spokane each day.

That means more coal dust in town (possibly dangerous), more backed traffic (annoying), costs for bridge and road upgrades (expensive) and a lot bad karma in the global warming department.

The meeting will be from 4 pm to 7 pm on Tuesday, Dec. 4, at the Spokane County Fairgrounds.

“This is the start of Spokane’s voice being heard on the coal issue,” says City Council President Ben Stuckart.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Dear Friend, My name is Paul Anderson and I am a volunteer photographer for the Power Past Coal Campaign.

When I heard about proposals to put a coal export terminal at Cherry Point in Whatcom County I was shocked. Who would even consider putting such a dirty project in such a beautiful place?

Send a Comment on the Proposed Cherry Point Coal Terminal and Protect Washington from Dangerous Coal Exports!

I also knew if people saw what a coal export facility looked like it would inspire them into action. So I started taking pictures for the campaign.

When I first went up to the West Shore Coal Terminal in Canada I was immediately struck by how dirty it was. There was coal dust in the water and all over the ships -- it looked like the worst ecological disaster I had ever seen.

Don't let Washington suffer the same destructive fate. Decision makers are taking comments now!

Send your comment and protect Washington from dangerous coal exports!

I soon realized the environmental damage at the port was only part of the story. The destruction spreads far and wide, in communities all along the rail line, in the devastating effects of mining in the Powder River Basin, and in the global effects of climate change.

Send a comment to local, state, and federal agencies and ensure your community is protected from dangerous coal exports.

I had to get involved so that my kids could live in a community that was better than a dirty coal export town. So I am coming out from behind my camera to speak out against this dirty and dangerous proposal.

But my pictures and my voice alone is not enough to protect our beautiful region.

Together let's protect our families, communities, economy, and environment from this dangerous and dirty coal export proposal at Cherry Point. Too much is at stake not to.

Send your comment now and protect Washington from coal exports.

Sincerely, Paul Anderson

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Chances dim in Congress for 'Wild Olympics' bill this year September 28, 2012 PORT ANGELES — Chances are dimming that legislation aimed at designating 198 square miles of Olympic National Forest as wilderness — and thus off-limits to logging — will be considered by Congress this year.

The legislation, which also would protect 19 rivers by designating them wild and scenic, was introduced in the House and Senate in June and has yet to see the light of day at any hearings, congressional staffers said Thursday.

It may have to wait until next year before it's considered, a spokesman for the Senate sponsor, Patty Murray, DBothell, said.

The Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 2012, which would ban logging on 126,500 acres of the national forest, was introduced by Murray and 6th Congressional District Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, whose district includes Clallam and Jefferson counties — and who is retiring at the end of the year.

The bill is co-sponsored in the House by U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle.

The bill was introduced in both chambers in June and sent to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Natural Resources in the House.

In the House, it was referred to the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, Crystal Feldman, a spokeswoman for the House Committee on Natural Resources, said Thursday.

Congress was in recess for most of August and part of September, and is in recess again until mid-November.

“There's been a lot of legislation submitted and a finite amount of time,” Feldman said.

The legislation, HR 5995, is one of more than 600 bills that were assigned this year to the committee, she said.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

“To responsibly review and act on legislation, only a fraction of bills that are introduced are able to receive a hearing and take steps through Congress each year,” Feldman said.

George Behan, a Dicks spokesman, said the bill would have to move in the Senate first and that the House has not made it a top priority.

“The agenda has not been a real aggressive agenda on the House side,” he said.

Wilderness legislation typically takes “an extended effort” before passage, Murray spokesman Matt McAlvanah said Thursday.

But Murray has had difficulty ushering wilderness legislation through Congress, he said, adding that it may be something Congress will have to consider in 2013.

If it is not considered this year, “she is going to take the effort into the next Congress,” McAlvanah said.

“You have to be dogged,” he said.

GovTrack.US, an independent legislative tracking site, said the bill has a 1 percent chance of being enacted, considering the following factors: Dicks is a member of the minority party, and the House enacted only 4 percent of bills that were introduced in 2009-2010.

McAlvanah said public-lands bills such as SB 3329 usually are considered as one piece of legislation in omnibus form.

There are no omnibus bills that include the Wild Olympics on the legislative calendar for consideration this year, he added.

“It could happen before the end of the year; it could happen next year when it's reintroduced,” McAlvanah said.

“There are a number of players here in D.C. that have a say in these decisions.”

Connie Gallant of Quilcene, chair of the Wild Olympics Campaign, upon which the House and Senate legislation is based, said she is optimistic the legislation will be approved this year, citing “strong public support” from outdoors enthusiasts and businesses that depend on the natural resources protected by the bill.

“We are optimistic we can get it through in the seven weeks remaining in the session after the election,” she said.

Opponents say the bill limits the amount of working forests available for logging.

The Port Angeles Business Association opposes the legislation.

PABA President Dick Pilling said he's “delighted” the legislation may not be heard by Congress this year.

“I think that it's contrary to private property rights,” he said.

“I hope the Wild Olympics disappears entirely.”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Janicki reels in fish-farming contract September 25, 2012

SEDRO-WOOLLEY — Janicki Industries, high-tech manufacturer of composite aerospace parts and molds, boat hulls and alternative-energy harvesting equipment, is now waist deep into a new venture: fish tanks.

Janicki just finished manufacturing its second order of contained, in-ocean fish farming tanks for AgriMarine Holdings Inc., based in Vancouver, B.C., and has an agreement to build 10 more for the company.

Rob Walker, president of AgriMarine Industries Inc., said while his company manufactured a prototype of an open-water, 3,000 cubic-meter tank in 2011, it turned to Janicki to produce a redesigned tank that would be stronger and sleeker in rough waters, better at waste collection and easier to transport to developing markets overseas.

Improvement over current systems AgriMarine’s mostly submerged water-based tanks offer significant advantages in efficiency, performance and environmental care over current fish farm designs, said Walker, who has experienced problems with the other systems firsthand.

Walker said his company started farming salmon on the west coast of Vancouver Island with netcage farms in the ocean, but the harsh realities of open water took their toll on the business. Plankton blooms that deprive water of oxygen wreaked havoc on his fish stock a number of times, killing whole schools of farmed fish before harvesting.

In addition, seals and sea lions found ways to kill fish through the nets, and sea lice infestations attacked juvenile fish.

“After a couple of years, we learned it was impossible to compete with Mother Nature in that situation,” Walker said.

These environmental hurdles and green initiatives pushed by provincial government spurred AgriMarine to move to land-based flow-through tanks, Walker said.

In the land-based tanks, fish waste could be collected and disposed of, and food was not wasted as much as in nets. Predators weren’t a concern and water could be pumped in from deeper water, where sea lice don’t usually live, Walker said.

However, the new system presented a new set of problems.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International The tanks were placed above sea level and required two 175-horsepower pumps running 24/7 to keep oxygen-rich seawater in the tanks. Walker said the expense of pumping was too much to make a decent profit off relatively small tanks.

“Our power bills were $1,100 a month just to keep rolling,” Walker said. “So we knew that wasn’t going to be sustainable.”

Walker said company engineers then designed the first version of their enclosed water-based tank, which solved issues in both previous farm systems.

The closed design wards off predators and an integrated pump brings water up to avoid sea lice infestations. Fish waste can also be collected in the tanks and brought to land, where the company donates it for compost, Walker said.

Prototypes of the product were built in China for both freshwater use there and open-water use here.

Walker said the freshwater variants are faring fine in calm Chinese reservoirs, but a saltwater prototype tested in rough water in British Columbia needed to be redesigned for strength and easier transport if the company was going to sell the product commercially.

Cashing in on rising demand Walker said huge interest for his redesigned product is coming from Norway, the global leader in fish farming. According to the AgriMarine website, Norway has more than 1,000 farms and produces 65 percent to 70 percent of the world’s farmed salmon, in tonnage and value. He said new environmental regulations in that country are creating incentives for farmers to switch from netfarming systems, with interest perking in Chile and Lake Huron, Canada, as well.

Walker turned to Janicki to create a strong, easy-to-transport unit for production.

Jim Payant, vice president of marine energy at Janicki, said AgriMarine gave his team designs for the second-generation tank and worked closely with Janicki engineers to create a plan for manufacturing addressed questions of strength, transportability and cost-efficiency.

Bryan Harris, project manager at Janicki, said he used computer models to break the design into pieces that would fit into regular shipping containers — a huge consideration for products of this magnitude.

“Transportation always ends up being a huge part of the cost when you’re building something this big,” Harris said.

Payant said the size and number of products in the order was a change of pace for Janicki, which excels at one-off custom projects. He said dealing with inputs of a quarter-million pounds of Fiberglas and resin per tank was a challenge, but nothing the company couldn’t handle; the first two tanks for the order were finished one month ahead of schedule.

Harris said Janicki will emphasize efficiency in production and cost-reduction to win over farmers currently using other systems as it moves forward.

He said the experience of delving into a new industry was exciting for him and the company, especially considering the upside of the global market.

“That’s one of the cool things about working here, is you learn so much about industries you never knew existed,” Harris said. “To us, we see it as a huge opportunity.”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Jefferson County OKs fish-farming permitting process September 6, 2012 PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County commissioners have approved sending a letter to the state Department of Ecology saying they will allow fish- farming facilities off Jefferson County under a conditional-use permit process.

The move, decided Monday afternoon, clears the way to complete a shoreline management program update that was sent to the state in November 2010.

Ecology approved most of it in February 2011 except for a proposed ban on fin-fish aquaculture, which raises species such as Atlantic salmon in pens.

The state ruled that the county did not have the authority to forbid net pens but in July offered three possible solutions.

The county chose a conditional-use permitting process in which each application would go before a hearing examiner and be subject to a public hearing.

“I’m OK with it because it allows us to finalize our shoreline management plan,” Commissioner Phil Johnson, the most vocal on the panel in opposing net pen aquaculture, said Tuesday.

“I will find it very difficult to award a conditional-use permit,” Johnson said, “but I’m willing to listen to any argument.”

Johnson said he still “has a lot of questions” about the safety of the process, which holds large numbers of fish in a contained area for breeding purposes.

One of his biggest concerns is the dye used to give Atlantic salmon an orange hue, he said.

Editorial Comment: Wild Game Fish Conservation International and our associates around planet earth are absolutely opposed to open pen salmon feedlots.

These operations are deadly to wild salmon, their ecosystems, local cultures and economies.

The practices employed at these sites rely on chemical treatments to control sea lice as well as a variety of deadly salmon diseases.

The chemicals used at these facilities have also been directly linked to human health issues including cancer.

Fish that escape from these pens (often thousands at a time) compete with wild fish for feed and habitat.

Why in the world would Washington State encourage open pen salmon feedlots sited near Port Angeles given that this area is known for its wild salmon and the fact that considerable time and money is going into the restoration of the Elwha River, Puget Sound and our region’s wild salmon populations?

Is the Washington Department of Ecology completely out of touch with reality?

The county has not received any permit application for the construction of a net pen facility off Jefferson County shoreline, Department of Community Development Director Carl Smith said, though such farms are legal in the county now.

The closest in-water net pen fish farms are run by American Gold Seafoods, which has fish pens in Port Angeles and on Bainbridge Island, as well as on Cypress and Hope islands, and two hatcheries near Rochester.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International A key issue is the potential spread of parasites and Sabra Woodworth (British Columbia): pollutants, according to County Administrator Philip “For Jefferson County in or near Port Morley.

Townsend, Washington State, this is The fear is that parasites and pollutants from farms how shit happens: "Jefferson County could affect wild fish. submitted its proposed updated shoreline management program — the Smith said some of the criteria likely to be included in SMP — to Ecology in November 2010. a draft list for a conditional-use permit are: Ecology approved most of it in February  A fish farm could not be closer than 1,500 feet 2011 except for a proposed ban of all finfrom shore. fish aquaculture, which raises fish such  A fish farm would be prohibited in areas where as Atlantic salmon in pens. Ecology the mean current velocity is less than 0.1 knot ruled that the county did not have the because current is needed to disperse feed or authority to forbid net pens. The other pollutants. proposed letter that commissioners will consider today says that although they  Feed would have to be in pellet, not liquid, disagree with Ecology’s interpretation, form. they have 'made the difficult choice' of  Only chemicals approved by the federal Food choosing one of the options Ecology and Drug Administration would be allowed. presented to them in July. The option  Fish farms would have to be a minimum provides for a conditional use permit." distance from the mouth of any body of fresh JEFFERSON COUNTY PROPOSED A water, such as rivers or creeks, where wild fish BAN ON ALL FIN-FISH AQUACULTURE... spawn. who the hell is "ECOLOGY"?” 

The proposed fish farm would have to be shown not to impede existing vessel traffic and would have to be a minimum distance from any recreational shellfish beaches as well as from docks and marinas.

Ecology had asked that the county give notice of its intended path toward completing the shoreline master program by Oct. 1, Morley said.

Jim Wilcox (Washington State): “This will be an interesting situation in Washington State given that several state agencies (Ecology, Fish and Wildlife, Department of Natural Resources, etc.) will need to be involved.

Federal and international transportation agencies (NOAA, Commerce, etc.) will also need to be involved. The local tribes and their governing body (Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission) will most certainly be involved and so will many industry associations and nongovernmental organizations. Given the nearness of these proposed pens (Atlantic salmon and steelhead trout) to BC, one can only imagine that colleagues and impacted businesses across our shared border will be involved with this proposed project...”

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 WGFCI opposition to new open pen salmon feedlots in Strait of Juan de Fuca October 10, 2012

As submitted to Peninsula Daily News – Guest Opinion

As founders of Wild Game Fish Conservation International, it is our sincere opinion that no new open pen salmon/trout feedlots must ever be permitted in the marine waters of Washington State, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The practices employed by this industry worldwide have a many-decades-long history of devastating wild fish and their fragile ecosystems. This devastation leads to collapsed cultures and economies whenever and wherever these feedlots are permitted in marine ecosystems such as those within the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Some of the specific concerns associated with open pen salmon feedlots include, but are not limited to: 1. deadly salmon diseases, 2. parasites such as sea lice, 3. ingestion of chemicals used to control diseases, parasites and color of meat and 4. pollution of the sea floor from chemical treatments, excess fish food and fish feces. These issues and more impact pen raised salmon and trout as well as wild salmon swimming in and near the open pens.

For thousands of years, wild salmon held a key position in the food chain, as they provide ocean derived nutrition for humans, for a whole host of wildlife (orca whales, bears, wolves, sea lions, eagles) and even for the trees and plants in our watersheds where salmon deliver their nutrients to forests and to future generations of salmon..

To gamble the future of Washington’s wild salmon and their ecosystems, all that rely on robust populations of wild salmon, and the economies based on wild salmon on the very problematic open pen salmon feedlot industry is truly irresponsible and short sighted.

To jeopardize the ongoing Elwha River restoration efforts and those to restore Puget Sound by siting open pen salmon feedlots in the Strait of Juan de Fuca would be foolish. To jeopardize the lives of marine water enthusiasts by siting open pen salmon feedlots in the Strait of Juan de Fuca with its tide changes, winds and fog could be interpreted as criminal in the event of a boating accident associated with these pens. Similarly, these pens will negatively impact commercial and military marine traffic as they are often damaged and even dislodged during severe storms and tide changes.

We encourage those who rely on a safe and healthy Strait of Juan de Fuca to enthusiastically oppose open pen salmon feedlots sited in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Bruce Treichler James E. Wilcox

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Skokomish River Fishing Rules of Etiquette

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 Man accidentally shoots self while fishing on Deschutes River Published October 01, 2012 37 COMMENTS Editorial Comment: The following article is further evidence in support of keeping waters open to fishing – even if it’s for catch and release fisheries only – conservationists’ eyes on the water help to minimize illegal activity – this need is ever increasing as fish and wildlife enforcement budgets continue to be cut.

A Thurston County man told deputies he accidentally shot himself in the head with his .22-caliber rifle Sunday afternoon while he was "fishing" for salmon on the Deschutes River, according to a sheriff's report.

The man said he fired a shot into the river about 4:50 p.m. near the 9600 block of Old Highway 99, the report states. But the bullet ricocheted off of a rock and struck him in the temple.

"He said he scratched the injury with his finger and the bullet fell out of his head in the river," the report states.

Also according to the report: The man returned to his home off of Old Highway 99, and he would not tell his girlfriend what had happened. He then left the scene in his pickup. He told her not to call 911, but she did anyway.

Deputies pulled the man's pickup over on Old Highway 99, and he told them what had happened.

The man's girlfriend told deputies her boyfriend "regularly goes to the river and shoots salmon." He was not badly hurt, but was treated and released from an area hospital. The man was not cited with any criminal law violations.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 New ADA Access fishing site for disabled anglers opens on Wishkah River Action: Close approximately 300 feet of the Wishkah River within the posted fishing boundary at the newly developed ADA Access site at the Mayr Bros Hatchery; closed waters from 150 feet downstream of the hatchery outfall structure to 150 feet upstream of the hatchery outfall structure.

Disabled anglers with a designated harvester companion card, who are not ambulatory over natural terrain without a prosthesis or assistive device, or a person who is totally blind or visually impaired, will be allowed to fish in the new ADA Access area. All other rules for the river remain in effect.

Effective dates: Immediately through Dec. 31, 2012.

Species affected: All species.

Location: From 150 feet upstream to 150 feet downstream of the Wishkah adult attraction channel/outfall structure within the posted fishing boundary.

Daily limits: Trout, minimum size 14” and daily limit 2 fish. Other game fish, statewide minimum size and daily limits.

Salmon, Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, minimum size 12” and daily limit 6 fish, of which up to 2 may be adults.

Release chinook, wild coho, and chum.

Reason for action: The Grays Harbor Poggie Club, which operates the hatchery for WDFW, has developed an ADA accessible fishing area adjacent to the adult attraction channel (fish ladder) outfall structure thereby providing opportunity for an ADA access only sport fishery without substantively impacting the current open access sport fishery.

Other information: Anglers should refer to the Sport fishing Rules 2012/2013 pamphlet edition, FISHING IN WASHINGTON for other ongoing fishing opportunities.

Information Contact: Information Contact: Mike Scharpf (360) 249-1205, Mike.Scharpf@dfw.wa.gov Kirt Hughes (360) 249-1204, Kirt.Hughes@dfw.wa.gov .

Fishers must have a current Washington fishing license. Check the current WDFW “Fishing in Washington” rules pamphlet or the Fishing section of the WDFW webpage at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/ for details on fishing seasons and regulations. Fishing regulations are subject to change. Check the WDFW Fishing hotline for the latest rule information at (360) 902-2500; press 2 for recreational rules; call the Shellfish Rule Change hotline, (360) 7963215, or toll free 1 (866) 880-5431.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 New WDFW website details salmon conservation efforts

OLYMPIA – Finding current information about the state’s salmon runs and tracking ongoing efforts to recover at-risk stocks on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) website has never been easier.

A new online tool called the Salmon Conservation Reporting Engine (SCoRE) consolidates current information about state salmon populations, hatchery production, conservation guidelines and other aspects of salmon management in a single website.

The SCoRE website, available at http://wdfw.wa.gov/score/, outlines major recovery initiatives under way around the state to restore salmon habitat, restructure hatchery operations and redesign fisheries to conserve wild runs.

While focusing on WDFW’s role in these efforts, the website also provides information about an array of local and regional organizations, tribal governments and volunteer groups involved in the statewide effort. Readers can link directly to salmon recovery efforts in their area, and to statewide information such as the annual State of the Salmon Report.

This information provides a context for SCoRE’s detailed status reports on all biologically distinct salmon and steelhead populations around the state, describing their history, spawning escapement and recovery goals. This same information is also included for coastal cutthroat and bull trout populations, many of which are also listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

“Our goal was to make this information as easy to access as possible,” said Sara LaBorde, a special assistant to the director at WDFW. “With SCoRE, people can switch from an overview of statewide habitat-restoration efforts to spawning data for a specific salmon run with a few mouse clicks.”

Various issues addressed on the website include: •

Which salmon and steelhead populations are increasing, decreasing, or showing no change?

•

What are specific salmon hatcheries doing to support salmon recovery?

•

Who is involved in the effort to restore wild salmon and steelhead runs?

•

What can individuals do to get involved in salmon recovery?

LaBorde said WDFW designed the website for a variety of users, including policy makers, scientists, department employees and the general public.

“Our state made a major commitment to salmon recovery, and people have right to know how that’s going,” she said. “By providing a common base of information, we also hope this website will encourage more people to get involved in this effort.”

Like salmon recovery itself, the new website is a work in progress, said LaBorde, noting that WDFW will continue to add information to the SCoRE reporting system throughout the recovery effort.

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Featured Artist: Leanne Hodges - Coho Festival Mural 2012 (3’ x 6’)

Leanne Hodges: “Behold the amazing transformation of the sleek, silver coho from marine to fresh water spawning habitats.

Every stream bearing Coho populations will have a distinct colouration due to the inherent chemical signature, and habitat variables.

They redden up almost over their entire bodies with the female slightly less vibrant and mature into a very dark green head and deep crimson to purple.

Prominently displaying the white gums and elongated kype (nose).

These two have paired up, secured their redd site and have begun their transformation to a spectacular spawning Coho.”

See more of Leanne’s uniquely beautiful work at http://leannehodges.com/

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Featured Fishing Photo for November 2012 Nick Williams - Humptulips River Photo submitted by Nick’s grandfather, Denny Clemons

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Youth Conservation - Students oppose salmon farms Student action: Marlborough Girls’ College environment prefect Ruby McIntosh , front, with EnviroCouncil members at the Environmental Protection Authority hearing in Blenheim.

Marlborough Girls' College's EnviroCouncil members are against New Zealand King Salmon's application to expand in the Marlborough Sounds.

The salmon farms would have a detrimental effect on the local tourism industry and economy, Ruby said. She labelled the sustainability of the expansion as questionable, "educated guesswork".

Marlborough Girls' College science teacher and EnviroCouncil liaison Ally Jerram, said she was proud of the students' efforts and commitment

Dr. Alexandra Morton with young conservationists in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Anissa Reed: “One of the questions Alex was asked, "If your community was destroyed because of salmon farms do you think that could happen to our community?"

It could certainly affect the lobster fishery.”

Kate Brauer: “Another generation of wild salmon warriors!”

The NW Youth Conservation and Fly Fishing Academy It’s not to early to start thinking about a candidate for The Academy for 2013. Any boy or girl 12-16 is eligible to attend the Academy. They have to write an essay explaining why they would like to attend and they will need a letter of recommendation from their school science teacher or school counselor.

This experience is an invaluable life event for the youth that they will carry through their future lives. No youth will be turned away because of money. The event is sponsored by WCTU and WSCFFF and hosted

by SSFF, PSFF and Olympia TU. So please give it a serious thought, would your boys and girls, grandkids, friends or neighbors be a candidate for The NW Youth Conservation and Fly Fishing Academy for 2013. The Academy will be held the last week of June 2013. Mike Clancy, Co-Director (We are now on Face Book)

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Featured Fishing Guide Service – Great River Fishing Adventures http://greatriverfishing.com/great-river-fishing-adventures Office phone: 604.792.3544 E-mail: info@greatriverfishing.com

Conservation Conservation is extremely important to Great River Fishing Adventures.

We are involved with many conservation organisations and we practice safe handling techniques

.

Catch & Release Tagging Program We at Great River Fishing Adventures are dedicated to the survival and rebuilding of the population of our White Sturgeon. The most crucial and pressing issues are the preservation and the conservation of this unique fishery. The Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society has initiated a very successful and rare tagging program, which has allowed for the ability to record data such as migration patterns and growth rates. The initiative taken by the anglers on the river to diligently tag and record data on all Sturgeon caught trips is what mainly has kept this fishery open and flourishing. The catch and release tagging program has allowed British Columbia to be recognized as one of the top fishing destinations in the world for Sturgeon fishing.

We work hand-in hand with the Fraser River Conservation Society collecting data on all Sturgeon that board our boats. This program also allows the unique opportunity for our guests to gain knowledge and have the amazing chance to get hands on and assist our guides with the tagging process. It is with this knowledge and understanding we can help our guests to appreciate this magnificent creature.

Learn more about Great River Fishing Adventures at http://greatriverfishing.com/great-river-fishing-adventures

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Conservation Video Library – “Why we’re involved” Tar Sands Oil Extraction: The Dirty Truth (11:39) Salmon Wars: Salmon Farms, Wild Fish and the Future of Communities (6:07) Tar Sands: Oil Industry Above the Law? (1:42) SPOIL – Protecting BC’s Great Bear Rainforest from oil tanker spills (44:00) The Facts on Fish Farms (60:00+) Undamming Elwha (26:46) Is your favorite seafood toxic? (6:06) “Algae culture fish farm” (6:40) Pebble Mine: “No Means No” (1:15) Salmon Wars- Aquaculture, Wild Fish & The Future of Communities (6:25) Vegetarian Fish? A New Solution for Aquaculture (7:32) Everyone Loves Wild Salmon – Don’t They? - Alexandra Morton (2:53) The End of the Line (1:08) Sacred Headwaters - British Columbia, Canada (16:14) Atlantic salmon feedlots - impacts to Pacific salmon (13:53) Salmon: Running the Gauntlet - Snake River dams (50:08) Farmed Salmon Exposed (22:59) Salmon farm diseases and sockeye (13:53) Shame Below the Waves (12:37) Locals Oppose Proposed Pebble Mine (7:23) 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) 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) Greed of Feed: what’s feeding our cheap farmed salmon (10:37) Land-based, Closed-containment Aquaculture (3:14)

Legacy – November 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Attention Conservation-minded Business Owners Many businesses around planet earth rely in part on sustained 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 sustained 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.

Sustained 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 can effectively protect and restore planet earth’s wild game fish for this and future generations to enjoy and appreciate. This will be our LEGACY. WGFCI endorsed conservation organizations:

 American Rivers  Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture  LightHawk  Salmon Are Sacred  Salmon and Trout Restoration Association of Conception Bay Central, Inc (be sure to “Like” on Facebook)  Save Our Salmon  Sierra Club – Cascade Chapter  Sportsman’s Alliance For Alaska  Steelhead Society of British Columbia  Trout Unlimited