Legacy - November/December 2016

Legacy

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Releasing wild River Tay Atlantic salmon Scottish Salmon Fishing Surgery

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels

Legacy Wild Game Fish Conservation International Wild Game Fish Conservation International (WGFCI): Established in 2011 to advocate for wild game fish, their fragile ecosystems and the cultures and economies that rely on their robust populations.

LEGACY – Journal of Wild Game Fish Conservation: Complimentary, nononsense, 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 unparalleled contributions to society and the varied and complex issues impacting them and those who rely on their sustainability.

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

Successful wild game fish conservation 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

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels

Contents Water is Life _________________________________________________________________ 4 Standing Rock protesters celebrate 'big victory' as pipeline construction halted _____________________________ 4 Feds block Dakota Access Pipeline's route, company slams decision as politically motivated _________________ 4

Game Fishing Planet Earth – Then and Now _______________________________________ 8 Late Season Ling on Slammer ____________________________________________________________________________ 8

Opinion _____________________________________________________________________ 9 Community Activism, Education and Outreach ___________________________________ 10 Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register____________________________________________________________ 10

Salmon Feedlots – Weapons of Mass Destruction, Floating Cesspools _______________ 13 Minister of Fisheries and Oceans sued for putting wild salmon at risk ______________________________________ 13 Millions of Africans face food insecurity as fish stocks diverted to make animal feed for Western factory farms________________________________________________________________________________________________ 14 DFO study confirms 'widespread' mating of farmed, wild salmon in N.L. ____________________________________ 16 Video: It is not illegal to protect life on earth ______________________________________________________________ 18

Hydropower ________________________________________________________________ 19 Will Federal agencies’ review of Columbia, Snake dams lead to removal? ___________________________________ 19

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels

Water is Life

Standing Rock protesters celebrate 'big victory' as pipeline construction halted December 4, 2016 Feds block Dakota Access Pipeline's route, company slams decision as politically motivated Standing Rock protesters celebrated Sunday as news broke that construction of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline near their territory has been halted.

Moira Kelley, a spokeswoman for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a federal agency, said in a news release Sunday that the administration will not allow the four-state, $3.8-billion pipeline to be built under Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

The decision came a day before the government's deadline for the several hundred people at the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires, encampment to leave the federal land. But demonstrators say they're prepared to stay, and authorities say they won't forcibly remove them.

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Assistant Secretary for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy said her decision was based on the need to "explore alternate routes" for the pipeline's crossing.

"Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it's clear that there's more work to do," Darcy said. "The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing."

Upon learning the pipeline construction has been halted, some demonstrators headed toward the Backwater Bridge in Cannonball, N.D., which is blocked off by law enforcement and has been the site of violent clashes between protesters and police. No violence broke out at the site Sunday. (CBC ) The 1,885-kilometre pipeline — owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP — is mostly complete, except for a segment planned to run under Lake Oahe just outside the reservation near Cannon Ball, N.D. "People are breathing a sigh of relief today and the sun is shining bright and there's blue skies here in Cannonball," protester Clayton Thomas-Muller, a member of the Colomb Cree Nation in Northern Manitoba, told CBC News.

"There's certainly an atmosphere of celebration at this show of power and influence of the climate Indigenous rights movement here in the United States."

The company constructing the pipeline, Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, released a statement Sunday night slamming the decision as politically motivated and alleging that President Barack Obama's administration was determined to delay the matter until he leaves office.

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels "The White House's directive today to the Corps for further delay is just the latest in a series of overt and transparent political actions by an administration which has abandoned the rule of law in favour of currying favour with a narrow and extreme political constituency," the company said.

President-elect Donald Trump, a pipeline supporter, will take office in January, although it wasn't immediately clear what steps his administration would be able to take to reverse the Army Corps' latest decision or how quickly that could happen.

'Water is life' For months, thousands of people have descended upon a handful of camps in the area to voice opposition to the pipeline, which they said threatened drinking water and would harm sacred sites.

'This is a big victory for water protectors that have been here for months and months and months.'Clayton Thomas-Muller, Colomb Cree Nation The largest is the Oceti Sakowin Camp north of Cannonball River, land managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a federal agency operated under the U.S. Department of Defense.

The protest has garnered support from thousands who have flocked to North Dakota to protest against the completion of the line.

Hundreds of demonstrators near the Dakota Access pipeline protest camp broke into cheers and chanted "water is life" in the Lakota Sioux language as news spread constructed was halted.

'I died a thousand deaths': dad of severely injured protester "This is a big victory for water protectors that have been here for months and months and months," Thomas-Muller said.

The tribe issued a statement thanking protesters, supporters and the Obama administration.

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels "With this decision we look forward to being able to return home and spend the winter with our families and our loved ones, many of whom have sacrificed as well," the statement reads.

However, some of the protesters, who call themselves water protectors, say they are staying put.

Miles Allard of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe said he was pleased by the decision but remained cautious, saying opponents of the pipeline "don't know what Trump is going to do."

Allard says he's been telling his people "to stand up and not to leave until this is over."

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the Department of Justice will "continue to monitor the situation" and stands "ready to provide resources to help all those who can play a constructive role in easing tensions."

'It's nice to see the tide turning'

Read entire CBC article here

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels

Game Fishing Planet Earth – Then and Now Late Season Ling on Slammer Westport, Washington

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels

Opinion

eff ace: Take a look here, and tell me what you see. Farm raised Atlantic (Garbage) salmon, next to wild Coho deliciousness.

Same price, but very different backgrounds.

I spent some time at the Salmon Coast research station this spring and their studies have shown that the salmon farms are a breeding ground for Sea Lice, which in turn decimate the native salmon runs that pass through.

Take a look at the color and the growth lines and compare the two. The Coho salmon is deep red and full of natural Omega 3. When traveling to Pierre's Echo Bay Lodge & Marina, I drove right past the salmon pens and they're everywhere up there.

The fish are fed on a diet of what basically amounts to dog food, and they are often sickly and diseased due to their captivity. NEVER buy farm raised salmon. Never.

Editorial Comment: There is no way on God’s green earth that ocean-based, feedlot salmon can sustainably and economically meet the nutrition needs of our growing population.

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels

Community Activism, Education and Outreach

Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels

Salmon Feedlots – Weapons of Mass Destruction, Floating Cesspools

For Immediate Release October 12, 2016 SHARE

Minister of Fisheries and Oceans sued for putting wild salmon at risk Government failure to test farmed salmon for disease illegal, lawsuit alleges VANCOUVER – The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is breaking the law by not testing B.C. farmed salmon for a virus that has spread like wildfire in Norway and Chile before allowing them to be transferred into ocean pens alongside wild fish.

“According to federal fisheries laws, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is required to ensure that farmed fish are not carrying any harmful diseases or disease agents before he can license their transfer into the ocean,” said Morgan Blakley, Ecojustice lawyer. “The Minister, however, refuses to test farmed salmon for Piscine reovirus. In my opinion, this course of action is illegal and could lead to irreparable damage to British Columbia’s wild salmon stocks.”

Ecojustice lawyers, on behalf of independent biologist Alexandra Morton, filed a lawsuit today seeking a court order to force the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to comply with the Fishery (General) Regulations and apply the precautionary principle when approving fish transfer licences.

The Fishery (General) Regulations require the Minister to ensure that farmed fish do not pose a threat to the protection and conservation of wild fish before allowing farmed fish to be transferred into the ocean.

Piscine reovirus is highly contagious and likely causes a disease called heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI). HSMI causes heart damage to salmon that would make it extremely difficult for them to capture prey, swim upstream and spawn or escape predators.

In May 2016, the federal government revealed that HSMI had been found on B.C. salmon farms.

“This fall, with the Fraser sockeye salmon run size at the lowest ever recorded since 1893, the Minister must do all he can to protect wild salmon,” said Alexandra Morton. “Instead the Minister has chosen to turn a blind-eye to his responsibilities, as laid out in the law. We’re here to help him make a better decision. There is no reasonable excuse not to test farmed salmon for Piscine reovirus before they are transferred into pens along Canada’s highly vulnerable wild salmon migration routes.”

Last year Ecojustice lawyers, working on behalf of Alexandra Morton, successfully took the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to court for unlawfully delegating his regulatory responsibilities to fish farm companies.

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels

Millions of Africans face food insecurity as fish stocks diverted to make animal feed for Western factory farms September 17. 2016

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Exclusive: Farmed chicken, salmon and pork are all reared using fishmeal, and as global demand for cheap meet rises, producers are casting their net wider to obtain fish for animal feed, even effectively taking them from the mouths of people in West Africa Vital fish stocks destined for human mouths in West Africa are being pillaged by foreign meat companies to feed pig, chicken and salmon farms on the other side of the world, an investigation for The Independent has found.

Soaring global demand for meat is forcing producers to scour new frontiers in the search to produce animal feed ingredients for their factory farms, with omega 3-rich fish, such as sardines from Senegalese waters, increasingly on their target list.

Russian, Italian and Moroccan investors are among those who have begun to open plants on the shores of the country to cash in on the lucrative trade. But experts fear this new wave of investment could have a devastating impact on millions of people, threatening livelihoods and food security across Sub-Saharan Africa – one of the hungriest places on earth. It is likely that women will be hardest hit because they dominate the workforce within the traditional fish-smoking sectors.

Speaking anonymously, a leading sustainability expert who works closely with major British foodproducing companies in sourcing their ingredients said firms “have no idea that everyday products such as smoked salmon may be linked to fishmeal sourced from West African waters”, adding that the situation is “becoming the new Achilles’ heel in their corporate social responsibility policies”.

Another expert, Philip Lymbery, chief executive of leading international farm animal welfare organisation Compassion in World Farming, said: “Far from feeding the planet, this investigation shows how factory farming is creating food insecurity – taking food out of the mouths of hungry people to feed to farm animals.

“It underscores the urgent need to reform industrial meat production and stop such wasteful and inefficient practices.”

The issue centres on fishmeal. Almost every piece of bacon, chicken or smoked salmon on the world’s supermarket shelves has been reared on a diet that contains small but vital quantities of fishmeal and oil.

As conventional supplies of fishmeal are exhausted and meat consumption continues to increase around the world, Africa’s fish stocks are being diverted to supply the demands of the global livestock industry.

The Independent visited Senegal and found a dozen fishmeal plants have been built in recent years along its coastline. More are planned as investors flock to the region in the hunt for cheap sardine and herring to cook into powder and export as animal feed.

But Mariane Tening Ndiaye, a fish trader in Joal, Senegal, said: “We don’t have gold, or petrol or diamonds, the sea is the only resource that our country has.”

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels

DFO study confirms 'widespread' mating of farmed, wild salmon in N.L. 17 of 18 rivers studied had evidence of interbreeding `Research has confirmed that escaped farmed salmon are breeding with wild salmon and producing offspring in many rivers in Newfoundland.

"We did find evidence of successful breeding between farmed and wild salmon. Approximately a third of the individuals we sampled showed evidence of hybrid ancestry," said Department of Fisheries and Oceans scientist Ian Bradbury, of the unpublished study presented at an international aquaculture conference in St. John's on Tuesday.

Researchers studied thousands of fish in 18 rivers on the island's south coast, and found evidence of interbreeding in 17 of them.

"It was widespread across a suite of the rivers that we looked at. I think there was only one river where we didn't see evidence of hybridization," said Bradbury.

It's estimated that over the decades since the advent of aquaculture, more than 750,000 salmon have escaped from fish farms in the province. The new study sheds light on what happens to them in the wild.

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels 'Not unexpected' Bradbury said while wild salmon populations in the rivers DFO studied are generally not thriving, the rivers with the fewest returns seemed to be the most vulnerable to farmed fish interbreeding.

"The consensus seems to be that the more interbreeding and introgression we see, the more population productivity goes down. So we do see an impact on population size," he said.

Bradbury added the research is still in its early phases "and we really need to better understand what these impacts are."

'We do see an impact on population size ‌ and we really need to better understand what these impacts are.'- Ian Bradbury Studies in other aquaculture-intensive places, such as the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick, along with areas in Norway and Scotland, have turned up similar results, Bradbury said.

"This is perhaps not unexpected."

DFO will continue its research in coming years, in an attempt to answer the study's outstanding questions.

"We want to look at how well these hybrids do," said Bradbury. "Do they survive? What are the impacts? Do they go to sea, do they come back?"

Aquaculture escapees 'inevitable' The study sends up red flags for organizations concerned about the future of wild salmon stocks.

"This is the first time that we have actually had confirmation that it is happening in Newfoundland," said Steve Sutton, with the Atlantic Salmon Federation.

Sutton added it also heightens the association's fears about the potential impact of Grieg Seafood's proposal to set up a massive aquaculture operation in Placentia Bay. The company has stated it will produce sterile fish that can't breed with wild salmon, but the ASF doubts that's possible.

"The process for making those fish sterile is not 100 per cent effective. They are going to be putting about seven million fish in the sea cages in Placentia Bay every year. So, some of those will not be sterile," said Sutton.

"Even if it is just one per cent that are not sterile, that's more than enough to do significant damage to wild fish in Placentia Bay," said Sutton.

The ASF also refutes Grieg Seafood's claim that fish won't be able to escape from the state-of-the-art sea cages it plans to use.

"We have never seen an aquaculture operation in the ocean that doesn't have escapees and no matter how hard they try, there will be escapees. It's inevitable," said Sutton.

The ASF fears those escapes will be a speed up the decline of wild salmon in this province.

"We have seen already in Newfoundland the entire south coast salmon populations have been assessed as threatened and aquaculture has been named as one of the threats to those populations.

We've seen those populations decline and now we are finally starting to see the mechanism around those reductions."

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Video: It is not illegal to protect life on earth

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels

Hydropower

Will Federal agencies’ review of Columbia, Snake dams lead to removal?

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Three federal agencies that operate and market power from 14 dams in the Columbia Basin announced they are going to do an environmental review on future operations of the structures that inspired Woody Guthrie to write and sing "Roll on Columbia."

The Bonneville Power Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation will present a range of alternatives that will include removing or breaching some of them. They aren't saying that now but they simply could do an environmental impact statement without such alternatives and pass legal muster.

The process is expected to take five years including a biological consultation as required under the federal Endangered Species Act for 13 stocks of salmon and steelhead listed as threatened and endangered. That will be done by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries staff after the environmental impact statement is done.

They call the first step of the process scoping because the public can comment on all of the issues it believes need to be considered. Since the fisheries science community has said removing the four lower Snake dams is the best way to recover the salmon and steelhead that spawn in the Snake watershed, hard to see that alternative left out.

Oregon will certainly want the aggressive non-breach proposal with full spill at all dams considered.

Is taking out John Day Dam, the single most harmful dam to salmon below Grand Coulee, more feasible now than it was when studied in the 1990s? Then there is cultural issues. Will the Columbia River tribes want removal of the Dalles so that their sacred fishing grounds, Celilo Falls rises again in the Columbia Gorge?

Over this review the federal agencies will evaluate the potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts on flood risk management, irrigation, power generation, navigation, fish and wildlife, cultural resources and recreation. The dams include the four dams on the lower Snake, the five dams on the Columbia, Hungry Horse in Montana and two other dams in the Columbia watershed.

The dams not only provide tens of thousands of megawatts of electricity that can be turned on immediately, they also make the Columbia River a major shipping corridor with$20 billion of cargo and 10 percent of all U.S. wheat exports moving through the dams. Dam supporters also say taking out dams will increase the carbon that contributes to climate change.

THIS IS NOT JUST A HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE IDAHO’S WILD SALMON BUT ALSO A CHANCE TO RESTORE AN ENTIRE RIVER ECOSYSTEM. IT WOULD BE ONE OF THE LARGEST FISHERY RESTORATION PROJECTS IN HUMAN HISTORY AND IS AN ENORMOUS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR THE STATE. Zack Waterman, Idaho Sierra Club director The impact to the resources will be addressed in light of anticipated climate change impacts such as warmer water, diminished snowpack and lower flows.

In 2015, warm river temperatures killed off most of the run of returning sockeye salmon. This year This year 567 sockeye returned to the Sawtooth Valley, just below the 10-year average of 664 fish.

But keep in mind as late as 2007, only four sockeye returned.

November 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels The Upper Snake dams in Idaho, managed by the Bureau of Reclamation, including the three on the Boise River, are not included in the review.

Scoping ends Jan. 17, 2017, but the agencies will likely extend the scoping period because some state or tribe will request it. Anyone who is interested to help the agencies identify issues and concerns that could be analyzed can participate.

THESE DAMS PUT FOOD ON OUR TABLES, PROVIDE CLEAN ENERGY FOR HOMES AND BUSINESSES, AND HELP KEEP OUR SKIES CLEAN, WHILE ENSURING SAFE PASSAGE FOR SALMON. Terry Flores, executive director of Northwest River Partners a pro-dam group.

The agencies will host public scoping meetings at 15 Northwest communities in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana including Boise Nov. 29.

Additionally, two webinars will be held Dec. 13, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and 3 to 4:30 p.m. PST. Information and links to the webinars will be provided on the project website.

For more information about the Columbia River System Operations EIS, please visithttp://crso.info./.

Information is also available by calling 800-290-5033.