Legacy - March 2013

Issue 17

March 2013

Legacy Š Wild Game Fish Conservation International

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

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Watch for these truth indicators with the outrageous articles within:

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

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

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

LEGACY features wild game fish conservation projects, fishing adventures, accommodations, equipment and more. Your photos and articles featuring wild game fish from around planet earth are welcome for possible inclusion in an upcoming issue of LEGACY. 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 – March 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!

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By Wild Game Fish Conservation International volunteers

Contents Commentary ______________________________________________________________________________________ 8 Feature: Impacts of open pen salmon feedlots ______________________________________________________ 9  Environmental Impacts of Open-Ocean Aquaculture _____________________________________________________ 9  Salmon Feedlots - this was not a mistake ______________________________________________________________ 10  VIRUS THREAT TO INDIGENOUS WILD SALMON _______________________________________________________ 12  Statistics don’t lie: so it’s time for a boost in wild salmon money ________________________________________ 13  CFIA acknowledges that ISA wins _____________________________________________________________________ 14  Salmon virus poses no risk to U.S. exports: CFIA _______________________________________________________ 15  Infected Atlantic salmon sold to unknowing customers - WGFCI response _______________________________ 17  CFIA loses control of ISA virus in eastern Canada ______________________________________________________ 18  Low virulent infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV-HPR0) is prevalent and geographically structured in Norwegian salmon farming _________________________________________________________________________ 20  Co-infection patterns of infectious salmon anaemia and sea lice in farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., in southern Chile (2007-2009). _________________________________________________________________ 21  Locations infected with infectious salmon anaemia in 2012______________________________________________ 22  As the salmon go, we go ______________________________________________________________________________ 23  Impact of salmon farm plans __________________________________________________________________________ 24  Quarantined N.S. salmon sent to N.B. processor _______________________________________________________ 25  Mainstream quarantines salmon site over possible PD infection _________________________________________ 26  Salmon farming group argues open-sea farms best option ______________________________________________ 27  Scottish Salmon Infested With Parasites - Sea Lice Data Reveals 1001 Reasons to Boycott Farmed Salmon ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 29  BIM salmon findings criticised ________________________________________________________________________ 30  Dropping charges in sea lion, seal deaths was appropriate ______________________________________________ 32  Parasites and escaping fish on list of concerns ________________________________________________________ 33  Cooke: Chile acquisition could be imminent ____________________________________________________________ 34

Seafood consumption: Food safety and health _____________________________________________________ 35  Enjoy seasonal wild Pacific salmon dinners at these fine restaurants:____________________________________ 35  Wild Salmon Supporters – View entire list here _________________________________________________________ 36  Don’t be fooled by “Organic salmon” label _____________________________________________________________ 37  Skye's Group Against Unsustainable Fish Farming _____________________________________________________ 38  Infected salmon declared fit for human consumption by Canadian Food Inspection Agency _______________ 39  Blake’s bill would stiffen penalties for mislabeling seafood ______________________________________________ 40

Legacy – March 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!  Consumer Guide to Mercury in Fish ___________________________________________________________________ 41  Salmon farming requires further research ______________________________________________________________ 43  Do you care if your dinner is genetically engineered? ___________________________________________________ 44  Scientist that Discovered GMO Health Hazards Immediately Fired, Team Dismantled ______________________ 45  Canada and the United States sign agreement on animal disease zoning _________________________________ 46  Salmon virus making restaurant owners leery __________________________________________________________ 47  Sobeys not selling ISA salmon ________________________________________________________________________ 48  Don’t Bring Home the Virus – Anissa Reed _____________________________________________________________ 49

Climate Change and wild game fish _______________________________________________________________ 50  Nicholas Stern: 'I got it wrong on climate change – it's far, far worse' ____________________________________ 50

Energy production and wild game fish: Oil, Coal, Hydropower, Wind, Natural Gas ____________________ 51 Oil – Drilled, Fracked, Tar Sands _________________________________________________________________________ 51  Video – The Keystone XL Tar Sands Climate Threat (NRDC) _____________________________________________ 51  Maine Voices: Tar sands oil in New England: A test of presidential leadership ____________________________ 53  Canadian economy at risk if pipeline projects delayed: report ___________________________________________ 54  Oil discovery in Australia has potential to rival Saudi Arabia in production _______________________________ 55  Ottawa’s oil-spill plan for B.C. can’t cope with coming supertankers _____________________________________ 56  Rail or Pipe, it is Still the Great Bear Rainforest _________________________________________________________ 57  Huge crowd turns out for oil meeting __________________________________________________________________ 58 Coal ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 59  Southeast B.C. coal mines draw the ire of U.S. environmental agency ____________________________________ 59  Mercury Contamination in Fish - Know Where It's Coming From _________________________________________ 60  Cascadia and coal — image versus reality _____________________________________________________________ 61  Port Metro Vancouver approves first of two controversial coal export projects ____________________________ 62 Hydropower ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 63  B.C.'s run-of-river sector in regulatory disarray, documents suggest _____________________________________ 63  BC Hydro powers up Site C megaproject _______________________________________________________________ 64  NDP projects billion-dollar loss for BC Hydro __________________________________________________________ 65  J. Vander Stoep Commentary: Diverse Interests Are Finding Common Ground on Flood Damage Reduction ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 66  Experts back Premier Campbell Newman's pre-emptive dam releases strategy ___________________________ 67  Queensland ravaged by Flood emergency - Reservoir levels lowered ____________________________________ 68  Don’t Let Them Drown The McCloud And Upper Sacramento Rivers! _____________________________________ 69  DELHI DAM: Work Should Begin In Spring _____________________________________________________________ 71  Maricopa County settles years-old dam dispute for $23.7 million_________________________________________ 72 Wind___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 73  Hybrid wind systems may be next step in energy _______________________________________________________ 73

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

Forest practices and wild game fish _______________________________________________________________ 74  Forestry & Salmon ___________________________________________________________________________________ 74

Mining and wild game fish ________________________________________________________________________ 75  Video - NO MINING IN OUR SACRED HEADWATERS ____________________________________________________ 75

Wild game fish management ______________________________________________________________________ 76  Over harvest of earth’s oceans ________________________________________________________________________ 76  Sport angling a runaway leader in B.C.’s fishing and aquaculture sector _________________________________ 77

Special Recognition ______________________________________________________________________________ 78  “Pants on Fire” Recognition: Stewart Hawthorn, Managing Director, Grieg Seafoods ______________________ 78

Local Conservation Projects ______________________________________________________________________ 79  “All In” – Get Fish Farms Out _________________________________________________________________________ 79  Video: Kokanee Conservation – Lake Samammish Watershed ___________________________________________ 80

Youth Conservation: _____________________________________________________________________________ 81  2013 Northwest Youth Conservation and Fly Fishing Academy __________________________________________ 81  Youngsters like Freyja are “All In” to remove salmon farms _____________________________________________ 84

Conservation-minded businesses – please support these fine folks _________________________________ 85  Val and Roger Baker’s Cloghvoola Fishing Lodge ______________________________________________________ 85  Great Bear Nature Tours ______________________________________________________________________________ 86  Aniak River Lodge ___________________________________________________________________________________ 87  Badges, Bears, and Eagles by Steve Callan ____________________________________________________________ 88  Abby J’s Gourmet ____________________________________________________________________________________ 89

Attention Conservation-minded Business Owners __________________________________________________ 90 WGFCI endorsed conservation organizations: ______________________________________________________ 90 Featured Artists: _________________________________________________________________________________ 91  “Water Writes” is a series of 10 collaborative mural projects in 10 cities across the globe. _________________ 91  Geoffrey McNamara __________________________________________________________________________________ 92  Anissa Reed: When you control the food, you control the people ________________________________________ 93  Leanne Hodges: Backbones and Bloodlines ___________________________________________________________ 94

Featured Fishing Photos: _________________________________________________________________________ 95  From the archives: World Record King Salmon Caught On the Kenai River, Alaska _______________________ 95

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

Community Activism, Education and Outreach: ____________________________________________________ 96  Leave this world better than when you found it _________________________________________________________ 96  Idle No More ~ March for Wild Salmon _________________________________________________________________ 97  Video: The Facts On Fish Farms – Dr. Alexandra Morton ________________________________________________ 98  We the undersigned put the Province of BC on notice! __________________________________________________ 99  The 2013 Idle No More – Salmon Are Sacred March to Victoria __________________________________________ 100  Petition: Salmon Feedlot Boycott _____________________________________________________________________ 102  Petition: Urge Washington Governor Inslee to support regional salmon solutions ________________________ 103  Oh Canada, our home and infected land! ______________________________________________________________ 104  Video: The Salmon Story ____________________________________________________________________________ 105  URGENT ACTION NEEDED: BRITISH COLUMBIA'S COASTLINE A TICKING TIME BOMB BEFORE WILD SALMON/TROUT STOCKS IMPLODE. _________________________________________________________________ 106  Farmed salmon kills our way of life ___________________________________________________________________ 109  Bill would allow counties to ban fish farming __________________________________________________________ 110  Boycott Feedlot Salmon _____________________________________________________________________________ 111  Action request: Protect Washington from Dangerous Coal Exports!_____________________________________ 112  Help Defend BC’s Wild Rivers ________________________________________________________________________ 113  Galaway says NO to toxic fish farm ___________________________________________________________________ 115  Fight for the removal of Norwegian owned salmon farming industry in the waters of wild salmon _________ 116  Why Premier Dexter Should Halt Open Pen Fish Farming in Nova Scotia ________________________________ 117  Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife - KEY DECISIONS FOR 2013 ______________________________ 118

Conservation Video Library – “Why we’re involved” _______________________________________________ 119

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

Legacy Forward The March 2013 issue of Legacy marks seventeen consecutive months of our web-based publication, the watchdog journal published by Wild Game Fish Conservation International. No holds are barred in this issue where we feature documented impacts (human health, ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies) of open pen salmon feedlots and this industry that is unquestionably out of control.

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

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

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

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

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

Bruce Treichler

James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International

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

Commentary Jim Wilcox, publisher Legacy is published to communicate the diverse benefits of wild game fish and to expose issues that negatively impact the sustainability of our planet’s wild game fish populations. Each month, we re-publish several articles from many sources along with comments and photos for each topic.

As recreational fishermen, we at WGFCI have developed conservationbased biases over the past fifty plus years. We do, however, include articles and quotes in Legacy from corporations and government officials that may not agree with our positions and admitted biases.

The March issue of Legacy features many reported adverse impacts of open pen salmon feedlots to ecosystems, cultures, communities, economies and even to human health.

The diverse topics having local, regional, national and even global impacts on wild game fish that we explored while preparing the March 2013 issue of Legacy include: • Seafood consumption: food safety and health • Climate change / global warming • Energy production – oil, coal, hydropower, natural gas, wind • Forest practices • Mining • Wild game fish management Each issue of Legacy also features: • Special Recognition – Including WGFCI’s coveted “Burning Pants” award • Local conservation projects • Youth conservation activities • Conservation-minded businesses • Conservation organizations • Wildlife artists • Fishing photographs • Community activism, education and outreach • Conservation videos We sincerely hope that you: 1. better understand these important topics after reading this issue of Legacy 2. share this issue of Legacy with others who care about our planet’s wild game fish.

3. support the conservation projects, artists and organizations featured in Legacy 4. share your comments regarding this issue of Legacy with me at wilcoxj@katewwdb.com Thank you for doing what you can to conserve wild game fish for this and future generations.

Jim

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

Feature: Impacts of open pen salmon feedlots

 Environmental Impacts of Open-Ocean Aquaculture

Editorial Comment: The three month Incidental catch record at the left once again documents the severity of “bycatch” associated with open pen salmon feedlots.

This free food along with free water and free waste disposal are key factors influencing the open pen salmon feedlot industry’s battle to not transfer their multi-billion dollar industry to land-based facilities.

Additionally, if these operations were transferred to land-based businesses, they could no longer market their sub par products as ocean fresh or ocean grown.

Of course, company names like Marine Harvest would have little relevancy to their products.

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

 Salmon Feedlots - this was not a mistake Dr. Alexandra Morton, Marine Biologist January 21, 2013 The United Fisherman’s and Allied Workers Union UFAWU published a newspaper called THE FISHERMAN. This publication chronicled the arrival of salmon feedlots onto the BC coast. Writers like Geoff Meggs extensively quote politicians and bureaucrats, policy documents and public consultation. It is a record of how government brought this industry in swiftly with no public consultation, in full expectation that it would take the place of the wild fisheries, do away with the common fishery resource, and require heavy foreign investment.

Dr. Alexandra Morton

They knew it existed outside the Constitution of Canada, because they have figured out who owns the salmon inside the pens. The government gave them eggs from public hatcheries, even as those stocks were dwindling. They granted foreshore leases at a rate of one per day. They saw the conflicts with aboriginal title to fish, but plowed ahead regardless. They refused to assess environmental impact and they knew it would not make jobs.

The Social Credit government started this, but the industry continued to grow seamlessly when the NDP came into power. It made no difference, everyone stuck to the plan which openly stating “The days of common property fishing are over.”

This was a cruel ambition that would affect hundreds of thousands of people throughout rural British Columbia on the coast and on the Fraser River watershed.

I was living in a quietly prospering coastal community off the grid, beyond the highway systems, no phones, no ferry. We were selfsufficient. Salmon feedlots came at us out of the blue. They were an invasion. I have been operating on the premise that salmon feedlots must have been an honest mistake, an attempt to benefit places like Echo Bay. But the record below contained in THE FISHERMAN demonstrates otherwise. In this blog all text contained within quotation marks comes from THE FISHERMAN, everything within brackets

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

[] within that text are my additions. The bold text is my voice.

Elena Edwards, Salmon First:

Today, there are less than 10 people left in Echo Bay, the school is closed, the fishermen moved away, the salmon-eating whales were driven out, sportfishing has been largely abandoned and there are 27 Norwegian feedlots. After reading the material below all I can see is that this was no mistake everything went to plan.

“The spread of this predominantly Norwegian owned industry is going to require a united multi-national effort to ensure that salmon farming does not bring the final death blow to wild salmon of the world”

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Dr. Alexandra Morton: “The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has decided that ISA April 19, 1984, “More than 200 biologists, civil virus contaminated feedlot salmon can servant, fish market and hopeful entrepreneurs be grown-out in the ocean and sold to gathered in a penthouse ball room high above Canadians. The U.S. has reportedly Vancouver last month to see the Science rejected the product. This has become Council of Canada unveil a discussion paper a national incident; Canada is stepping designed to lay the groundwork for a Canadian away from international protocol for aquaculture industrial development plan.” this reportable influenza virus. The producer of these fish, Cook ‘We must act now or lose a commercial Aquaculture, is in a serious financial employment opportunity, task force member situation and perhaps the CFIA is David Saxby told the gathering. Science simply unable to continue paying up to Council representative, Ann Levi, urged all $30/fish in compensation for culling present to submit their [illegible] quickly ISA infected fish. Instead the fish are because we want to get this industry launched going to be disposed of down the as soon as possible.” throats of Canadians, who will support this practice by paying for the “The days of common property fishing are over.” product.”

It was noted that Mowi [Norway’s dominant farmed salmon producer in 1984] “... was built on the strong financial backing it received from Norsk Hyrdo, the country’s major utility.”

THE FISHERMAN

“... the [Science Council] task force estimating that only one person-year of employment is generated for every 20 tonnes of production, it is clear that salmon farming of 30,000 tonnes of salmon would employ only a fraction of those now employed in the industry.” “... some aquaculturalists see ‘traditional dependence on conventional fisheries’ as an obstacle to their plans for growth and development.”

READ DR. MORTON’S ENTIRE POST HERE

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

 VIRUS THREAT TO INDIGENOUS WILD SALMON WARNING FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND FISHERS! Deadly European viruses have been discovered in our indigenous/wild salmon and may lead to their extinction in less than five years! The human health effects of these viruses are unknown. We have to act now!

This is similar to the smallpox virus that was spread to our Peoples through the small pox blankets and killed more than 75% of our populations in less than 5 years. This was deliberately done to wipe out our people, along with other colonial strategies like killing off the buffalo, which was the main food for Indigenous Peoples on the Plains and forced them into treaties. The salmon are the bloodline of our people, our main food and without them we lose our rights to fish!

When they tested our ancestors' bones they showed that salmon made up 95% of our diet!

With the salmon decreasing in our diet, we are suffering from disease, like diabetes and cancer. Our lives are interconnected with the salmon, they are our relatives. The salmon are going through the same colonial experience that we have gone through.

Norwegian fish farms have colonized our waters and infected our wild salmon. Our salmon are forced to swim through the fish farm cesspools along their migratory routes. There is no safe passage for them!

Our indigenous/wild salmon have an amazing life cycle, that starts in our lakes and rivers and takes them on a migratory journey of thousands of kilometers into the oceans as far as Alaska and back home. This requires a lot of stamina, but now our salmon are being infected with viruses and are getting too sick to make it home and spawn.

Since 1992 up to 90% of the returning salmon that migrate past the salmon farms are dying in the river, before they can spawn. Whereas the salmon stocks that take a different migratory route with no fish farms are increasing.

There have been findings of heart virus, salmon flu and brain tumors, all related to salmon farms.

Findings of these viruses have been covered up by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the Fish Farm Industry and the Province of British Columbia. A provincial fish vet has confirmed that over 70% of farmed salmon tested positive for European heart virus and it is now in our wild salmon.

How do you expect our fish to make it through Hell's Gate with a heart condition?

READ ENTIRE KITIMAT DAILY NEWS ARTICLE HERE

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

 Statistics don’t lie: so it’s time for a boost in wild salmon money February 6, 2013

A report I have been waiting for five years has finally come out. B.C. Statistics has released its 2011 stats on the part of our economy related to fish, seafood, processing and sport fishing. These are the only stats you should believe as they rigorously eliminate the effects of inflation, double counting, and they lay out their realistic multipliers and caveats completely. Other estimates, such as those from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans the B.C. government, Canadian Food Inspection Agency and fish farms, are blue sky hopes, and not very grounded in reality. The B.C. Stats punch line is: Sport fishing is far and away the most important part of our province’s fish economy, and at $325.7 (all figures in millions and constant 2002 dollars) is 48.8 per cent of the $667.4 contributed to B.C.’s Gross Domestic Product, with the smallest sector being aquaculture at $61.9 or only 9.3 per cent.

READ ENTIRE TIMES COLONIST ARTICLE HERE

Alexandra Morton: Adrain Dix and Jane Sterk, “Here is what the salmon feedlot job numbers are vs sport fishing jobs. As the Norwegian shareholders have made more money, the number of jobs never went up. The black line is (the number of) salmon feedlot jobs; the green line is (the number of) sport fishing jobs. These feedlots breed diseases that harm wild salmon.

Their licences of occupation have to be revoked. Are you the leaders with the guts to do this?”

Editorial Comment: It is unwise to allocate precious taxpayer dollars for salmon production, protection and restoration as long as open salmon feedlots are sited in salmon migration routes. Open pen salmon feedlots must be removed from our oceans first – then there should be money spent as needed to protect and restore wild salmon.

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

 CFIA acknowledges that ISA wins January 30, 2013 The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has found that it cannot get rid of infectious salmon anemia (ISA) in Atlantic waters. As a result, officials are now beginning to focus on preventing the virus rather than containing it.

In mid-2012, ISA was identified at a farm site in Nova Scotia, where two cages containing smaller salmon were destroyed – but thanks to the CFIA, 240,000 fish that were close to market size were spared and are now being processed for sale at Cooke Aquaculture's plant in Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick.

Russell Wangersky: “I don’t think there are many people who, given a choice, would choose to eat fillets from diseased fish. I know I wouldn’t.

From a marketing point of view and from an animal husbandry point of view, I think this is the wrong way to go. I don’t think I’m alone on that.”

The virus has already struck in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Patricia Ouellette, a regional programme officer with the CFIA, said the inspectors have finally realised that killing fish does not eradicate the disease, CBC News reports.

"At first, the focus was on eradication of the disease,” Ouellette said. “We've shifted gears to preventing the spread of the disease and no longer consider eradication an option."

Although no treatment options currently exist for the virus, a vaccine is available to prevent ISA, according to the CFIA. Ouellette noted that ISA is harmless to humans and that the agency makes sure that steps are followed to prevent the spread of ISA during the transportation and processing of fish that are already infected, as was the case when Cooke’s 240,000 ISA-infected fish were moved to another province for processing.

“This spells the end of the salmon farming industry in the Maritimes unless they can persuade people to eat salmon infected with an influenza-type virus,” British Columbia marine biologist Alexandra Morton said, The Chronicle Herald reports. “They will not be able to raise fish without this virus finding them.”

The ant-farming activist pointed to the last four outbreaks of ISA reported in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador to argue that the farming industry is up against a new strain of the virus.

“This is extremely ominous,” Morton said. “This means the virus has mutated into a more deadly strain. This confirms that it is not from the wild fish.”

She also stressed that ISA seriously threatens the health of wild salmon.

The types of fish that are susceptible to the virus are Atlantic herring, Atlantic cod, Atlantic salmon and brown trout.

The Atlantic Salmon Federation expressed concern regarding CFIA’s move to allow Cooke to keep its infected farmed salmon in Nova Scotia waters for months before processing them.

“What happened to the idea that they’re supposed to be removed to prevent the spread of infection?” asked federation spokesperson Sue Scott.

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

 Salmon virus poses no risk to U.S. exports: CFIA Agency has come under fire for decision to process and sell infected salmon February 1, 2013

ISA infection is fatal for 90 per cent of infected fish, but poses no threat to human health, directly or through consumption, according to the CFIA. (Associated Press)

Video: Virus-infected salmon (14:35)

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

Salmon exposed to a deadly virus pose no risk Theresa Eisenman, USFDA: for Canadian exports being sold to the United States, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency “...salmon with ISA would also not be allowed said during a news conference Friday. across the border from Canada as it would be considered a violation of the U.S. Federal The CFIA has been criticized for its decision to allow about 240,000 salmon that had been Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.” exposed to infectious salmon anemia (ISA) to grow to market size in open-sea cages near Shelburne, N.S. The salmon were then Pamela Parker, Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers shipped to New Brunswick for processing to be Association: sold at market.

'There's not necessarily any evidence that ISA infection is fatal for 90 per cent of infected these fish ... actually have the ISA virus ... all fish but poses no threat to human health you need is a few fish, two or three ... [and] directly or through consumption, according to the whole facility [is] quarantined.' the CFIA. Paul Mayers, acting vice-president of programs for the CFIA, said processed salmon from ISAinfected fish meet all requirements for export to the U.S. because there is no risk to humans or wild salmon.

He said the exposed fish are only processed at facilities with a special ISA-processing licence.

"It is not expected that, that processing will have any impact on exports to the U.S. … the world organization for animal health provides explicit guidance: Two countries with respect to the trade in fish — regardless of ISA status — makes clear the fish fillets or steaks packaged for the retail trade are acceptable and can be traded safely," Mayers said.

"Like Canada, the U.S. takes a scientific approach to its decision-making. It respects international guidance and we would expect the same in this case."

Mayers stressed that the exposed fish that were sent to market were frequently monitored during the six months they were grown in the open-sea cages before being sent to the N.B. processor.

READ ENTIRE CBC ARTICLE HERE

Editorial Comment: Processed salmon are cooked, pressurized, smoked, frozen; not fresh as we see in US display cases at supermarkets, fish markets and restaurants.

Canada will not be permitted to export fresh salmon infected with ISA to the USA. Unfortunately Canadians will have this sub-par salmon in their stores and restaurants on an ever increasing basis if this practice is allowed to continue.

Actions to boycott feedlot salmon will gain momentum given that Canadian residents and tourists are being sold infected salmon without health warning labels.

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

 Infected Atlantic salmon sold to unknowing customers - WGFCI response January 28, 2013 This message was sent today to Washington State’s two US Senators; Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell: Re. CFIA switches gears to preventing deadly salmon virus

The news today that Canada's Food Inspection Agency determined that Infectious Salmon Anemia is impossible to eradicate from Atlantic salmon being raised in open pen salmon feedlots sited in Eastern Canadian marine ecosystems was predictable given devastating ISA outbreaks in similar scenarios in Chile, Norway and others including Washington state.

This news is even worse given that these ISAinfected Atlantic salmon will be sold to unknowing customers, including in the USA. To date, there is no definitive evidence that ISA will not harm humans or that the ISA virus will not mutate into something that will.

As the above referenced article reports, ISA only impacts fish - of course this a significant concern to those of us in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska and to our friends and colleagues in British Columbia where wild Pacific salmon are much more than icons; they are the backbone of our cultures, communities and economies.

Patty Murray US Senator, Washington State

Related to this issue is the effort by the US FDA to approve genetically engineered Atlantic salmon - If approved, as expected, the impacts of open pen salmon feedlots will be exacerbated by these rapidly growing, much larger "frankenfish".

Your continued efforts on these matters are vitally important and truly appreciated.

Maria Cantwell US Senator, Washington State

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

 CFIA loses control of ISA virus in eastern Canada January 28, 2013 Today a CBC article suggests the federal and provincial governments have lost control of the ISA virus in eastern Canada.

"At first, the focus was on eradication of the disease,” Ouellette said. [CFIA] "We've shifted gears to preventing the spread of the disease and no longer consider eradication as an option."

Dr. Alexandra Morton Marine Biologist

This means they have lost control of this influenza-type salmon feedlot virus. This turn of events is predictable as it has occurred in almost every region salmon feedlots move into. Most recently it occurred in Chile in 2007, causing the industry $2 billion in losses. Chile has no wild salmon to lose.

The pattern is always the same. At first the virus appears controllable, and the industry, wanting to make as much money as possible before it goes deadly, ignores the power of this influenza-type virus and they allow it to mutate into a deadly strain. Then it rips through the industry killing their fish with no attention paid to what is happening to the wild fish outside the feedlots. The trouble wild salmon feedlots is they cannot quarantine, they cannot keep their diseases in their pens because they dump all their raw sewage directly into the ocean through the nets. They never shovel their manure, it pours over the wild fish like a blizzard carried by the tides.

Ominously, the last four ISA virus reports made by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to the Office of International Epizootics (OIE) describe the virus found in the farm salmon as new strain never seen before.

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

09/02/2012 - Southern Nova Scotia - "Similar to HPR6 with an additional 4 amino acids missing (Sequencing of segment 6 was performed - pending) Emergency harvest, official destruction / disposal" virus isolation reverse transcription PCR positive 19/06/2012 - Newfoundland - "The strain of ISAV has not been reported in the Atlantic region before; it is believed to be a result of contact with infected wild species" entire farm depopulated, did not affect other feedlots in the area, no reporting on the name of this strain. Concurrent with BKD. 12/06/2012 - Nova Scotia Partial sequence of segment 6: HPR not classified; North American this strain has not been previously identified in the Atlantic region - emergency harvest, disinfection of infected premises - concurrent with BKD 26/11/2012 - Newfoundland - "The identified strain have not been reported before. The population is infected with at least 2 strains of ISAV (non-HPR0) one is most similar to HPR6, the other does not demonstrate any particulate similarity to any previously described HPR type" Both considered North American, hypothesized it came from wild finfish. Vaccinated against ISA, 3.8 kg concurrent with BKD and lice infestation.

Link to these reports: Despite the spread of a new strain of virus, the federal government agency in charge of the virus in eastern Canada, and the provincial government in charge of the salmon feedlots have decided: "... to allow fish, which are positive for infectious salmon anemia, to remain for half a year in their cages and then to be transferred to a different province for processing, points to a change in CFIA policy."

Government has decided to leave a previously unknown strain of the highly-infectious salmon influenza - type virus, which appears to be killing farmed Atlantic salmon in the same ocean where people fish for food. Furthermore, this suggests the salmon coming out of eastern Canada will be ISA virus contaminated. I don't know why the CFIA is not more concerned about people eating a new mutation of feedlot - origin influenza virus.

There have been statements by Dr. Larry Hammell of PEI that this virus will not harm wild fish, but I am not sure if he has tested this new mutation in herring and Atlantic cod: "This virus doesn't infect other fish species. It certainly doesn't affect other animals that are even coldblooded and found in these local environments and certainly it's not going that huge next leap to mammals or humans."

This could be the end of salmon feedlots in eastern Canada. If they have a new and deadly strain of ISA virus running the length of the Maritimes, on top of the drug-resistant lice which will serve to help spread the virus and weaken salmon, they are going to have to figure out how to get the U.S. to buy this, and how to get Canadians to eat this.

As well, if Atlantic cod are valuable to anyone in eastern Canada, I think you need to look into this closely. It may be OK to leave millions of ISA virus infected salmon in the water, but it also might be the last bit of abuse thrown at them by the governments of Canada before they vanish once and for all.

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

 Low

virulent infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV-HPR0) is prevalent and geographically structured in Norwegian salmon farming

Trude M. Lyngstad1,*, Anja B. Kristoffersen1, 2, Monika J. Hjortaas1, Magnus Devold3, Vidar Aspehaug3, Rolf B. Larssen4, Peder A. Jansen1 1Norwegian Veterinary Institute, PO Box 750 Sentrum, 0106 Oslo, Norway 2University of Oslo, Department of Informatics, PO Box 1080, Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway 3PatoGen Analyse AS, PO Box 1527, 6025 Ålesund, Norway 4Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, PO Box 8146 Dep, 0033 Oslo, Norway *Email: trude.lyngstad@vetinst.no ABSTRACT: Infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) is a severe disease in farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar that has caused epidemic outbreaks in most salmon-producing countries worldwide. The disease is caused by virulent ISA virus (ISAV). Low virulent variants of the virus, characterised by a full-length sequence in the highly polymorphic region of segment 6 in the virus genome, have been reported with increasing frequencies. These variants of the virus, termed HPR0, have been proposed to be ancestors of virulent ISAV. We examined this idea through studies of the phylogeographic and environmental distribution of ISAV-HPR0, as well as phylogeographic associations between virulent ISAV and ISAV-HPR0. Samples from 232 fish groups were screened for ISAV. Real-time RT-PCR was used for detection of ISAV, and the ISAV haemagglutinin esterase (HE) gene was characterised for positive samples. A Mantel test was used to test phylogeographic associations between pairs of ISAV-HPR0 HE gene sequences. A rank test was used to test associations between HE gene sequences from virulent ISAV and ISAV-HPR0. ISAV-HPR0 was detected in fish groups both in freshwater and marine environments, and in juveniles, on-grown marine salmon and broodstock salmon. Genetic and geographic distances between pairs of ISAV-HPR0 HE gene sequences were positively correlated, suggesting that the population of ISAV-HPR0 is geographically structured.

Finally, we found a spatial association between fish groups with virulent ISAV (n = 21) and fish groups with ISAV-HPR0 (n = 27), supporting the hypothesis that ISAV-HPR0 may undergo a transition to virulent ISAV. Claudette Bethune: "Early detection of ISA outbreaks and implementation of measures to reduce the spread of virulent ISAV thus remain important strategies for controlling ISA..."The spatial association between fish groups with virulent and low virulent ISAV supports the hypothesis that (low virulent) ISA may evolve to virulent ISA, indicating that there is a risk associated with low virulent ISA. If virulent ISAV evolves from low virulent ISA in a given fish group, then neighbouring fish groups are at elevated risk (Aldrin et al. 2011, Lyngstad et al. 2011)."

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

J Fish Dis. 2013 Jan 24. doi: 10.1111/jfd.12070. [Epub ahead of print]

 Co-infection

patterns of infectious salmon anaemia and sea lice in farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., in southern Chile (2007-2009).

Valdes-Donoso P, Mardones FO, Jarpa M, Ulloa M, Carpenter TE, Perez AM. Source: Center for Animal Disease Modeling and Surveillance (CADMS), UC Davis, Davis, CA, USA.

Abstract Infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV) caused a large epidemic in farmed Atlantic salmon in Chile in 2007-2009. Here, we assessed co-infection patterns of ISAV and sea lice (SL) based on surveillance data collected by the fish health authority. ISAV status and SL counts in all Atlantic salmon farms located in the 10th region of Chile were registered monthly from July 2007 through December 2009.

Each farm was categorized monthly according to its ISAV and SL status. A multinomial time-space scan test using a circular window was applied to identify disease clusters, and a multivariate regression model was fitted to quantify the association between disease-clustering and farmmanagement factors. Most of the identified clusters (9/13) were associated with high SL burdens.

There were significant associations (P < 0.05) between management factors and ISAV/SL status.

Areas in which good management practices were associated with a reduced disease risk were identified. The findings of this study suggest that certain management practices can effectively reduce the risk of SL and ISAV in the face of an epidemic and will be helpful towards creating an effective disease control programme in Chile.

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

 Locations infected with infectious salmon anaemia in 2012

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; March 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Year of the Wild Salmon!

ď ś As the salmon go, we go Anissa Reed

Take a moment today to think about where we will be if there are no wild salmon left.

No food for eagle, bear, wolf and whale. No flesh to nourish the forest floor deep in the mountains, no writhing maggots to fill the bellies of birds, no salmon eggs flowing down the river to feed the trout.

Or think about yourself and no more days on the water hook and line with a loved one. The last old fisherman gone home.

And the first nations people who suffered through European viruses themselves, gifted in blankets by our ancestors.. children taken away.. land destroyed.. will you think about them?... how we force their salmon to swim past the industrial floating salmon feedlot net pens when science shows everywhere in the world these things go ...wild salmon die.

European viruses in farmed salmon. European flu viruses found in wild salmon with top labs finding signs those fish are responding and fighting a flu...

When is it a time for truth and transparency?

I am looking for a government that will honour basic needs of people.

Anissa Reed

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

 Impact of salmon farm plans January 24, 2013 Letter: Sir, – As one of Ireland’s most senior anglers and angling writers, I have just heard, with great dismay, of plans to promote the world’s largest salmon farm in Galway Bay – a decision which has astounded the whole of the angling community worldwide!

For years, salmon farms have been the cause of deep resentment not only for the damage caused to our native fish, but also to the damage caused to the environment. The sea-trout population in all areas of salmon farming has been almost totally wiped out by the onslaught of sea-lice from the caged salmon. Constant spraying of chemicals into the cages does not solve this problem, instead it may well lead to a build-up in the fish.

I personally recall the sight of young sea-trout, smolts, on their seasonal way from fresh water to the sea, and then making a hurried return to fresh water covered with sea-lice! One such fish, at my feet, in the River Eske, Co Donegal, kept turning over and over in the current, being eaten alive by dozens of the vermin! I lifted the poor creature from the river and it died in my grasp – a victim of man’s stupidity and greed! A large area of the Donegal coastline has been destroyed by the Red Sea Algae Bloom, fed by the nutrients falling below the fish cages – a toxic mixture of waste food and faeces.

Large deposits of this waste from each single cage pollutes the sea and the shore. The sea was red for almost a half mile out, and a stone lifted from the beach found all life dead – even including the crabs!

Look down on the rows of cages in Killary Harbour, Connemara and then ask Peter Mantle, the former owner of the Delphi Lodge Fishery, how these cages affected the passage of sea-trout and salmon on their journey from the sea. The legendary sea-trout fishing was totally wiped out by sealice and the effect on the native salmon caused a multitude of deaths. It took very hard work on his part, by building a salmon hatchery, that he managed to maintain any fishing at all. Without the hatchery, the fishery would have been doomed.

The once-famous salmon fisheries in Connemara are now shadows of their former selves and just about holding the clients who expect a special fishing holiday.

The proposed Galway Bay Farm will destroy not only the Galway River with its run of salmon, it will destroy all tourist fishing in the west, with the resultant closure of hotels and bed and breakfasts with the loss of hundreds of jobs for local people.

Please, before it is too late: an urgent rethink and turn- around is needed. – Yours, etc, EJ MALONE, Malone Heights, Belfast.

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

 Quarantined N.S. salmon sent to N.B. processor January 19, 2013 Salmon from a quarantined Nova Scotia aquaculture farm are now being moved to a fish plant in Blacks Harbour, N.B. for processing.

Cooke Aquaculture is the first company to process fish with infectious salmon anemia (ISA) under a new set of rules set by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

According to the CFIA, ISA poses no threat to humans and are safe to consume.

About 240,000 salmon from Cooke Aquaculture's quarantined Coffin Island Farm near Liverpool, N.S. will be transported by tanker truck to New Brunswick in the coming weeks.

The first shipments of fish were sent last week.

There has been a heavy presence of CFIA inspectors at the Black's Harbour plant and also during the transfer process.

There is no treatment for ISA, which is fatal to fish and easily spreads throughout a population. The CFIA as taken steps to prevent contamination.

There has been a heavy presence of CFIA inspectors at stages throughout the transfer process and also at the Black's Harbour plant. Plant employees have had to wear special suits to avoid spreading contamination.

Nell Halse, a spokesperson for Cooke Aquaculture, said it's a big job.

"The plant has to be completely disinfected," said Halse. "The employees have to change gear and then the ISA fish are brought in and again — this is nothing to do with human health, the fish are perfectly safe to eat."

In fact, Halse said, the company is obligated to process and market the fish if possible because the government has to compensate salmon growers for fish that are culled because of disease.

Cooke has classifications under which the fish can be marketed.

Janice Harvey, who has been a critic of the industry since 1990, said disease is a byproduct of industrialized fish growing.

"If it's going to continue, then you're going to expect to have diseases and you're going to have to deal with diseased fish," she said.

An outbreak of ISA at a Cooke facility in Shelburne in February resulted in the company destroying 700,000 fish.

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

 Mainstream quarantines salmon site over possible PD infection January 21, 2013

Mainstream Norway, part of Cermaq, has detected salmon alpha virus in fish at the farming site Tuvan in Langefjorden, Finnmark, and suspects an outbreak of pancreatic disease at this site.

The Norwegian Food Authority and the other farming companies in the region have been informed about the situation. The site is quarantined. Mainstream is now in close cooperation with the Food Authorities developing a plan for harvesting of the site.

The Tuvan site contains approximately 580,000 fish. The fish has an average weight of 2 kg, and harvest was originally planned for third quarter 2013. The harvest of biomass at the Tuvan site is only expected to have limited financial impact.

Mainstream’s two farming sites in Langefjorden, Tuvan and Rivarbukt, have been subject to comprehensive controls after SAV virus was detected in the fish at the neighbouring site Ytre Kloven in August 2012. It has not been registered SAV in the biomass at Rivarbukt. The control of the fish at the Rivarbukt site will continue.

Alexandra Morton “We have found indications of this virus here in BC in farm salmon. Zero response from government. It was also in OCEAN WISE steelhead http://www.oceanwise.ca/seafood/steelhead/steelhe ad When I contacted the Vancouver Aquarium about this they said they would not act unless it has spread to the wild fish in Lois Lake. Stand by on that one; somehow it has fallen to us to figure this out for everyone.”

Editorial Comment: Steelhead trout are also being raised in open pen feedlots in the Columbia River. They will be raised in open pen feedlots sited west of Port Angeles, Washington in the Strait of Juan de Fuca if plans go forward.

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

 Salmon farming group argues open-sea farms best option Land-based farms called too expensive February 1, 2013 In depth: Deadly salmon virus outbreaks in Canada A fish farming group says open-ocean aquaculture poses little threat to wild populations and they are 150 times cheaper to operate, disputing a call from some wildlife groups to move to land-based operations.

Pamela Parker, the executive director of the Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association, said it only takes a few fish to shut down an entire operation.

"Well, as experts will tell you, there's not necessarily any evidence that these fish that have been harvested actually have the ISA virus. What happens is the fish were in a farm that — all you need is very few fish, two or three fish to be diagnosed with this virus — means that the whole facility to be quarantined," she said.

"So these fish ... even though they may have been around the virus, were not diseased and were perfectly safe for human consumption."

Wildlife groups like the Atlantic Salmon Federation are pushing for changes to the industry following a controversial decision by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The CFIA recently allowed Cooke Aquaculture to continue to raise open-pen salmon after they contracted infectious salmon anemia (ISA).

The disease kills up to 90 per cent of infected fish but poses no risk to human health, according to the CFIA. The ASF said moving to land-based tanks would eliminate environmental threats and the spread of disease into wild populations.

But Parker argues open water aquaculture farms are monitored very closely and that's how the ISA outbreak at the Shelburne, N.S. facility was caught so quickly.

"CFIA works very, very closely with the provincial vets and the salmon farming companies to determine the best management option and it's generally done on a case-by-case basis as we learn more and more about this virus," Parker said.

She said there are many factors considered before the decision is made to either cull or allow an infected fish to grow to market size to be sold.

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

"There's the size of the fish on the farm, the risk that the fish on that farm would have to other fish on that farm and/or other farms and to wild species that are also in the environment . . . all of which is available publicly," said Parker.

"What we're concerned about is their opposition. We're concerned that perhaps this is just another move to see salmon farms moved out of the ocean — which we do not believe is either a good idea from an environmental stand point or a fish health stand point," she said.

Land-based operations 150 times more expensive, says Parker The cost of running a fish farming operation on land compared to open-ocean cages is not comparable, Parker said.

She estimates raising fish on land would cost 150 times more than the market price.

"It's one of those most heart-healthy foods a person can eat and people simply cannot afford a salmon that costs 150 times more than the current market price," she said.

She said she recognizes that as technology develops within the industry, it may become most cost-effective to raise salmon on land.

"We also want to remember we have a very strong and sustainable industry in Atlantic Canada. It supports the economic diversity for multiple coastal communities and if we go to closed containment there is neither the land base, nor the fresh water base that's required to support these farms," she said.

Critics note ISA only becomes a real problem when it reaches the farmed fish environment because it spreads so quickly.

Editorial comment:  Wild Game Fish Conservation International does not support land based, closed containment salmon feedlots given concerns associated with overharvest of forage fish, feed source for feedlot salmon, chemicals used to treat salmon diseases and add artificial color to salmon meat and more.  Certainly land based salmon feedlots would cost considerably more to operate:  Would no longer have free sewer service via the ocean  Would no longer supplement salmon diet with wild fish in the pens (herring, salmon, etc.)  Would no longer have an unlimited source of nutrient rich water.  Would require greater electricity usage  Would pay market price for land leases  Would lose the marketing strategy of “ocean fresh” salmon

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

 Scottish Salmon Infested With Parasites - Sea Lice Data Reveals 1001 Reasons to Boycott Farmed Salmon February 4, 2013 Read press release and media backgrounder in full online here

Wester Ross, Scotland – Scottish salmon and sea trout are infested with sea lice parasites according to new data released by Marine Scotland via Freedom of Information and published online via FishyLeaks. Infestation levels of up to 145 sea lice per fish were recorded in Shieldaig in Wester Ross in 2012; up to 196 in Laxford in West Sutherland in 2008; 117 in Tarbert in Argyll in 2008; 113 in Sunart in Lochaber in 2008; and a staggering 1001 sea lice on a salmon sampled in Kanaird in Wester Ross in 2008.

Out of over 11,000 wild salmon and sea trout sampled since 1997 there were 2,750 fish with 10 or more sea lice; 913 fish with 50 or more sea lice and 367 fish with 100 or more sea lice. By far the worst area was Dundonnell in Wester Ross which reported 40 out of the top 50 infestation rates.

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

 BIM salmon findings criticised February 4, 2013 Fishing and tourism interests have reacted sharply to Bord Iascaigh Mhara's claim that sea lice are not a significant factor in the deaths of wild Atlantic salmon.

In support of its plan for one of Europe's largest salmon farms to be located in on a 456 hectare site in Galway Bay, the board said there was "no evidence to support the contention that salmon farming causes any environmental damage". It also claimed the latest commentary form the Marine Institute showed sea lice amounted to just one per cent of deaths in "absolute" terms, among wild Atlantic salmon.

However, a number of industry and environmental groups have accused the Bord of not "fully reading" the research.

Tony Lowes of Friends of The Irish Environment said the Bord was relying on a study that found the level of sea lice mortality from fish farms was just one per cent of over all mortality of salmon smolts.

But he said the overall survival rate of salmon smolts "is between five per cent and 10 per cent at the best of times - everything wants to eat them".

What mattered he said was that "of the five to 10 per cent that should be returning, tests show that 40 per cent of these are not". Mr Lowes said the original research quoted by Bord Iascaigh Mhara and the Marine Institute had acknowledged this point.

Karin Dubsky of Coastwatch said "the results and conclusions actually reached in that research are worth a read on the Marine Institute website. She said the research "supports the view that infestation of outwardly migrating salmon smolts with salmon lice has a negative impact on fitness and can contribute to increased marine mortality".

PJ Nally of Castlmartyr Co.Cork said the most recent Royal Society reviewed, internationally compiled paper, pointed to a near thirty nine per cent mortality in juvenile salmon infected by sea-lice from salmon farms in Ireland and Norway. He said attempts to establish Europe's largest salmon farms "anywhere along our Atlantic coast the result will be the willful decimation of our unique Atlantic Salmon gene pool."

The Green Party which organised last week's public meeting in Galway said a farm of the proposed size "would produce waste, many times greater than that produced by the current population of Galway city. Is this a risk we should take in the waters that surround the three great tourist landmarks of The Burren, The Aran Islands and Connemara, asked party spokesman Seamus Sheridan.

READ ENTIRE IRISH TIMES ARTICLE HERE

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

 B.C. salmon farming company says it has avoided charges for massive sealion deaths January 21, 2013 Grieg Seafood has avoided charges in connection with the 2010 drowning of 65 sea lions and four harbour seals in the company’s anti-predator nets near Gold River on Vancouver Island.

A B.C. salmon farming company said Monday that the federal fisheries department has agreed to drop charges in connection with the 2010 drownings of 65 sea lions and four harbour seals in the company’s anti-predator nets near Gold River on Vancouver Island.

Stewart Hawthorn, managing director of Grieg Seafood, said in a statement that under a joint agreement, the company agrees to pay: • $5,000 to a sea lion and seal management workshop and agrees to the publication of a best-practices report.

•

$5,000 to the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, with a request to target west coast Vancouver Island beaches.

• $90,000 to the Nootka Sound Watershed Society for community education and salmonenhancement projects in the Tahsis, Sucwoa, Leiner, Canton and Tsowwin areas.

The written statement said that the company had responded to an unusual number of California sea lions in 2010 and is “very saddened” at the marine mammals subsequently drownings.

Grieg Seafood said it went through a restorative justice program in which members of the community, including first nations, tourism representatives, and marine mammal experts participated.

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

 Dropping charges in sea lion, seal deaths was appropriate January 25, 2013 Re: Two Court Cases Simply Bizarre, Jan. 23 Our View - Campbell River Courier Islander.

I can't comment on the specifics of Mr. Peterson's charges regarding his interactions with killer whales. Given your editorial in the Jan. 23 Courier-Islander, however, I would like to provide context on why charges were dropped against Grieg Seafood with respect to sea lion and seal incidents at three of our 21 sea farms more than three years ago.

Dropping the charges was, in my view, appropriate given our strong commitment (and successful record) to non-harmful interactions with marine mammals both before and after this incident.

Firstly, we self-reported these accidental drownings and acknowledged they should never have occurred. We are sorry for what happened. Our goal is to ensure that we never harm seals or sea lions and in this case we failed. This is something that we take really seriously.

Addie Hollingsworth: “If they say it enough maybe it will become true!...ya right :(“

Prior to this event, Grieg had not experienced any accidental drownings of any seals or sea lions and we were very proud of that record. In 2009 there was an unprecedented increase in the number of animals around our farms - and their behavior changed. As soon as the problem was identified we immediately acted to change our farming systems to prevent a recurrence. Over the last three years we have invested more than $2M in our non-harmful predator management systems. They have been very effective. Preventing harm and farming responsibly is what is important here - and we have shown that we are doing that.

Farming the oceans is part of the solution to some of our world's environmental challenges. We produce less greenhouse gas emissions that any other type of animal farming - so we help address climate change. We provide a very healthy food choice for our ever-growing world population while not over exploiting wild fish stocks - so we help save our iconic wild salmon here in BC. We are now using feed that results in us producing more fish than is fed to our salmon - so we reduce pressure on other over-exploited fish stocks.

The challenge is to develop ocean farming responsibly and that is why we have achieved independently assessed Best Aquaculture Practices certification for every fish that we harvest. I have dedicated my life to farming responsibly and I am proud of the positive difference that I, my farming team and everyone involved in our farming sector is making.

Stewart Hawthorn Managing Director Grieg Seafoods

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

 Parasites and escaping fish on list of concerns February 2, 2013

Abandoned salmon cages at Bertraghboy Bay in Connemara, where it was claimed sea trout stocks were wiped out

OPPOSITION TO FISH FARMS: A range of fisheries and tourism interests say their opposition to salmon farms is based on bad experience.

Fisheries and estate manager Simon Ashe at Ballynahinch Castle near Cashel in Connemara said the estate used to have the largest sea trout hatcheries in the country, taking 5,000 sea trout out of nearby Bertraghboy Bay and surrounding waters each year. However, following the arrival of fish farms, “this was wiped out in three years”.

He said stocks were starting to come back since some fish farms in the bay were abandoned.

He claimed he also has a collection of photographs of sea cages half sunk or dumped on the shore.

Ashe speaks of problems associated with parasites; the denuding of sand eels from the natural habitat to feed fish in cages, leaving wild salmon without traditional feeding grounds; of chemicals used to kill fish parasites; of the effect of chemicals on local oyster beds; of problems caused by escaped fish rivalling wild fish for spawning grounds; and the impact on angling tourism.

Of the Galway Bay project, he said: “I am surprised the Minister for Agriculture hasn’t figured it out.

He is probably facing a train wreck here.”

Delphi Lodge’s Michael Wade said a local project released 20,000 smolts, 10,000 of which were immunised from parasites. They went to sea “past the fish farm barrier” but the mortality rate among the non-immunised was shocking.

“The fishing community of the world is watching this. If the Bord Iascaigh Mhara project goes ahead the anglers will go to Iceland or Russia. We have a wonderful resource here; all we have to do is leave it alone.”

Enda Conneely from Inis Oírr said five tourism and angling and development interests were concerned about the farm having seen a previous farm in the area fail with serious consequences.

An Taisce said it was opposed on environmental grounds. Friends of the Irish Environment said it was concerned the board was applying to its parent department for a licence. Other bodies opposed to the farm include Salmon Watch Ireland, the Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers, No Salmon Farms at Sea, Coastwatch and Save Galway Bay.

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

 Cooke: Chile acquisition could be imminent February 19, 2013

Cooke Aquaculture is actively seeking an acquisition in Chile and a deal could be announced in the near future, a spokesperson told Undercurrent News.

The Canadian salmon producer has just acquired assets from the Spanish seabass and seabream producer Doramenor, in a deal that will take its bass and bream production to 15t within 2013.

Editorial Comment: The planned global expansion by Cooke Aquaculture (a corporation known for its environmental devastation in Canada) will negatively impact valuable wild species, their ecosystems and the forage fish they rely on.

This unchecked, insane expansion will also destroy cultures, communities and economies.

A deal in Chile could soon be on the cards, the company’s spokesperson Nell Halse suggested.

“We can’t comment on specific negotiations right now but you should expect an announcement in Chile in the near future,” Halse told Undercurrent News.

The plan is to expand downstream into processing, Halse said.

“We have always been interested in growing our business in Chile and in broadening our assets to mirror Cooke’s North American model of vertical integration.”

An article by Seafood.com recently suggested that Cooke would be looking to sell its Chile subsidiary, Cupquelan – something Halse strongly denied.

“Any reports that we are selling are pure speculation and not based on fact,” she told Undercurrent.

Both the Spanish and potential Chilean acquisitions will be financed thanks to CAD 250 million in new financing that the company plans to raise with its banks, after having dropped plans to carry out a bond sale. The bank rate was more attractive, Halse told the Chronicle Herald.

The Herald added that Cooke is increasing production in Nova Scotia, and in the process of hiring around 30 people near Shelburne.

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

Seafood consumption: Food safety and health

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

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

 Wild Salmon Supporters – View entire list here

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

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

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

 Don’t be fooled by “Organic salmon” label

Products / Salmon / Organic Salmon Editorial Comment: This “organic”, pen-raised Atlantic salmon is neither organic nor is it a product grown in Canada. It’s from Norway, Scotland or Ireland; where a variety of hazardous chemicals are used to treat pen raised salmon for deadly salmon diseases and parasites (sea lice). The white stripes are fat that often contains PCB’s and other hazards to human health. Coloring is achieved via chemicals added to the feed.

Organic Salmon Salmo salar Characteristics          

Available as whole, butterfly, steaks, portions or fillet Fillets are available in a variety of sizes 3-4 & 4-up Whole is available in 9-11 & 11-13 LBS Salmon farm-raised with restrictions on the type of feed used and the number of fish raised in a cage CFIA has no laws or guidelines currently stating what Organic Salmon is therefore no Canadian Salmon can be called Organic Since Seacore is a federally registered seafood company we refer to Organic Salmon as 'Natural' Salmon on all of our invoices All Organic Salmon is currently from Europe where independent councils have been set up to classify it 100% Organic fillets are actually white in colour but most Organic in the market place has similar colour to regular Atlantic Salmon Fresh Product of Norway, Scotland & Ireland

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

 Skye's Group Against Unsustainable Fish Farming “Cattle consume the primary production of the land: grass. Likewise, wild salmon consume the primary production of the sea: plankton, which provides 85 percent of their diet. But feed made from fish comes from higher on the food chain, so its ecological footprint is far greater than the normal healthy diet that majors in plankton. Thus, the amazing efficiency of salmon farms is based on expensive feed that is the equivalent of super-charged rocket fuel.”

This is about the claim of the fish farming industry that salmon convert food into flesh so much more efficiently than most other farmed animals. Chickens raised on nutrient-dense worms and insects would also be more efficient than those fed on soy and wheat, not to mention that they'd be a whole lot healthier too.

“Salt water aquaculture is not about producing low-cost protein and reducing world hunger. It’s about providing highly profitable seafood products to a well-fed (and poorly informed) elite.”

Some (not all!) fish farming corporations claim that they aim to contribute to feeding a growing population. This in itself is nonsense because a population can't grow without food being available first. Increased food production causes population growth. But because that is such a widespread (but extremely dangerous) misunderstanding, perhaps we can forgive them that a bit. The claim might be understood to be well-intended much more if the salmon would for an important part feed the poorest in the world. It doesn't, of course: the poorest in the world don't stand a chance in hell to ever be able to afford a piece of farmed salmon. In some cases, those people even lose the wild fish they have always depended on because they're hovered up to become feed for farmed salmon.

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

 Infected

salmon declared fit for human consumption by Canadian Food Inspection Agency The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has approved a quarter million Nova Scotia salmon infected with the ISA virus for human consumption, but the U.S. won't take the fish.

February 1, 2013

For the first time, Canada’s food safety regulator is allowing Nova Scotia salmon infected with a flu-like virus to be processed for supermarkets and restaurants.

Last week the Canadian Food Inspection Agency declared fit for human consumption 240,000 Atlantic salmon with infectious salmon anemia — a disease it says poses no risk to human health. The ruling is the first time the CFIA has opted not to destroy fish carrying the virus since it started regulating the fish farming industry in 2005.

Because the U.S. won’t import fish with the virus, the fresh whole salmon, fillets and steaks will have to find dinner plates to land on somewhere in Canada.

At least one supermarket chain here says it will not stock the infected fish.

Dr. Alexandra Morton: “…meanwhile the wild fish are completely forgotten and the virus flows into the ocean, because quarantine is myth, salmon feedlots never shovel their manure, it is all dumped into public waters.”

Editorial Comment: Beware when eating Atlantic salmon in Canada - it may be infected with one of the known viruses. Are other food products in Canada infected with diseases as well? Shame on CFIA for permitting the sale of infected salmon for human consumption. The sooner open pen salmon feedlots are removed from marine ecosystems, the better.

Alexandra Morton, a marine biologist, says infectious salmon anemia is an influenza-type virus and can mutate in unpredictable ways, especially if it comes into contact with another flu virus in a human being.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for people to be eating it,” said Morton, who has worked as a government fisheries scientist and was a visiting lecturer at Dalhousie University last year. “We know that pathogens are becoming more virulent all the time and it’s events like this that I believe really risk human health safety.”

On its website, the CFIA describes how the virus can kill up to 90 per cent of infected salmon, causing them to slow their swimming, lose their appetite and gasp at the surface. Infected fish may have grey gills, a swollen abdomen and areas of bleeding along their belly and sides.

“Infectious salmon anemia poses no human health or food safety risk, and there is strong scientific proof of this,” the agency wrote in an email to the Star.

READ ENTIRE THE STAR ARTICLE HERE

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

 Blake’s bill would stiffen penalties for mislabeling seafood OLYMPIA — One of the top enforcement officers for the state Department of Fish & Wildlife says that lack of proper labeling on seafood products is leading consumers to purchase cheaper varieties of farmed fish at grocery stores and restaurants when they think they’re eating a premium variety.

As a result, “tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars in consumer fraud” is likely occurring on an ongoing basis, according to Deputy Chief Mike Cenci, with the state Department of Fish & Wildlife Law Enforcement division.

State Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, says he wants to provide better protections for both consumers and the industry to make sure what gets caught in the ocean off Westport is what actually lands on the dinner table, not farmed fish.

Blake’s legislation would make it a crime to knowingly sell or offer for sale any fresh, frozen, or processed fish or shellfish without identifying for the buyer at the point of sale the common name of what’s for sale and whether it’s farm-raised salmon or caught in the wild.

The legislation was heard Wednesday before the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee, which Blake chairs. He’s scheduled to vote it out of the committee next week.

“I don’t see a problem with it passing,” Blake said on Thursday. “The world is changing and markets and international markets are becoming more involved and there comes a time when you have to step in and give (Fish & Wildlife) the tools so these industries aren’t harmed and the consumer is treated fairly also.”

“It’s pretty unrealistic to expect the American consumer to know what fish is being sold unless you have some kind of labeling,” Cenci told the committee. “It’s all about protecting the consumer and the legitimate seafood industry and the high standards the industry has set for itself.”

Cenci also cited a study in 2006 that found that 50 percent of farmed salmon was being sold as wild fish, which fetches a higher price.

In the summer of 2011, a University of Washington Tacoma professor and her students released three years worth of data after conducting genetic tests proving a third of about 50 restaurants in the south Puget Sound had said they were serving wild Pacific salmon, when they were really serving Atlantic farmed salmon or said they were serving king salmon, when they were really serving cheaper Coho. The university never released the names of the restaurants and denied a request by The Daily World for the data when a public records request was submitted.

“Seafood is mislabeled as often as 25 to 75 percent of the time for fish,” Cenci said. “… You’re going to get disappointed if you don’t get what you pay for when you eat that fish.”

Officials with the Northwest Food Processors Association and the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers both testified they supported the bill with some minor changes.

For instance, on Willapa Harbor, premium oysters are grown and are often labeled differently than standard oysters, according to Jim Jesernig with the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers.

Cenci said inspectors are often present “at all levels of the marketplace, at restaurants, at the border, we inspect shipping companies.” Current law allows a fine for a first-time offense of $200. The proposed law changes it to craft three degrees of the crime with the most serious first-degree charges occurring if the value of the misbranded seafood exceeds $5,000, a Class C felony.

“The problem right now is that you really don’t know if the fish you bought for your family dinner is, in fact, what you paid for, because our existing labeling and branding requirements for seafood are dated and confusing,” Blake added. “The economic incentive for misbranding also compromises the local commercial fishing industry that works hard to bring quality, high-value seafood to market. My bill will update, clarify, correct and strengthen our current laws to make them more enforceable and better protect consumers and the fishing industry.”

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

PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY

 Consumer Guide to Mercury in Fish The list below shows the amount of various types of fish that a woman who is pregnant or planning to become pregnant can safely eat, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. People with small children who want to use the list as a guide should reduce portion sizes. Adult men, and women who are not planning to become pregnant, are less at risk from mercury exposure but may wish to refer to the list for low-mercury choices.

Protecting yourself -- and the fish: Certain fish, even some that are low in mercury, make poor choices for other reasons, most often because they have been fished so extensively that their numbers are perilously low. These fish are marked with an asterisk (read more below). * Fish in Trouble! These fish are perilously low in numbers or are caught using environmentally destructive methods. To learn more, see the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Blue Ocean Institute, both of which provide guides to fish to enjoy or avoid on the basis of environmental factors. ** Farmed Salmon may contain PCB's, chemicals with serious long-term health effects.

Sources for NRDC's guide: The data for this guide to mercury in fish comes from two federal agencies: the Food and Drug Administration, which tests fish for mercury, and the Environmental Protection Agency, which determines mercury levels that it considers safe for women of childbearing age.

About the mercury-level categories: The categories on the list (least mercury to highest mercury) are determined according to the following mercury levels in the flesh of tested fish.

Least mercury: Less than 0.09 parts per million Moderate mercury: From 0.09 to 0.29 parts per million High mercury: From 0.3 to 0.49 parts per million Highest mercury: More than .5 parts per million

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

This list applies to fish caught and sold commercially. For information about fish you catch yourself, check for advisories in your state.

LEAST MERCURY Enjoy these fish:

MODERATE MERCURY Eat six servings or less per month:

HIGH MERCURY Eat three servings or less per month:

HIGHEST MERCURY Avoid eating:

Anchovies Bass (Striped, Black) Bluefish Mackerel (King) Butterfish Carp Grouper* Marlin* Catfish Cod (Alaskan)* Mackerel (Spanish, Gulf) Orange Roughy* Clam Croaker (White Pacific) Sea Bass (Chilean)* Shark* Crab (Domestic) Halibut (Atlantic)* Tuna (Canned Albacore) Swordfish* Crawfish/Crayfish Halibut (Pacific) Tuna (Yellowfin)* Tilefish* Croaker (Atlantic) Jacksmelt Tuna (Bigeye, Ahi)` Flounder* (Silverside) Haddock (Atlantic)* Lobster Hake Mahi Mahi Herring Monkfish* Mackerel (N. Atlantic, Chub) Perch (Freshwater) Mullet Sablefish Oyster Skate* Perch (Ocean) Snapper* Plaice Tuna (Canned Pollock chunk light) Salmon (Canned)** Tuna (Skipjack)* Salmon (Fresh)** Weakfish (Sea Trout) Sardine Scallop* Mercury Pollution: An End in Sight?

Shad (American) Work continues on a global treaty to solve the world's mercury pollution problem.

Shrimp* Mercury is a potent neurotoxin and a pollutant that knows no borders. Mercury Sole (Pacific) pollution from industrial activities halfway across the globe can end up in your local Squid (Calamari) lake or the fish in your grocery store, where it poses a serious health hazard, especially for children and pregnant women.

Tilapia Trout (Freshwater) Mercury moves around the world in three key ways. First, it is actively traded as a global commodity, often for uses like artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the Whitefish developing world, where substantial releases to the environment are routine.

Whiting Second, airborne mercury released by industrial activities can travel great distances before being deposited in waterways. So mercury released in Asia, for example, can circle the globe and enter American waterways when it rains. Third, once mercury enters a waterway, naturally occurring bacteria absorb it and convert it to its most toxic form, methyl mercury, which then moves up the food chain into fish – and the fish we eat comes from all over the world. Stopping mercury pollution in the United States isn’t enough to protect the health of our kids and future generations. Mercury pollution is a global problem that needs a global solution.

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

 Salmon farming requires further research January 24, 2013 Letter I am writing the following letter to the editor in response to the Jan. 18 letter written by Ruth Salmon, “Clarification of toxins in farmed fish.”

I am an ecologist, journalist, and a resident of the area where open-net pen salmon aquaculture has the highest concentration of farms in Canada: Northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

I was alerted to this letter to the editor through Twitter, in which Ruth Salmon; the public relations and “media” watchdog of the industry, was impertinently spreading what she argued was “out-dated” information about salmon aquaculture.

I am writing to encourage your readership to inquire further than industry spokespeople who merely have the best interests of their business in mind when they claim to dispel myths.

While they are knowledgeable about their industry, they are not the authority on the health effects of their product or the effect of their industry on the wild salmon stocks of British Columbia and their dependent ecosystems.

In British Columbia, along with everywhere in the world where open-net pen salmon aquaculture operates, there have been endless problems with their product, and the environment in which they operate.

It is Ruth Salmon’s job to find publications of critical opinions of salmon aquaculture, and seek to meddle with the legitimate health and environmental concerns expressed.

EWOS Canada is the primary fish farm food company operating in Canada, and the majority of the oils that compose the feed that farmed fish served in California come from are from Manhayden fish in the gulf of Mexico.

It is my understanding that the oils in fish in the Gulf of Mexico are some of the most toxic fish in North America as a result of the industrial waste-stream from the Mississippi River Delta, and recent historic oil industry disasters.

The oils must undergo a “wash,” which is a coal-activated filtration process that extracts toxins from the oils to allow them to meet Canadian health standards. They bio-accumulate once again in farmed salmon. Toxins from the Gulf of Mexico, by means of the British Columbian salmon farming industry, end up on Napa Valley plates.

I learned this from a Canadian Supreme Court testimony from the EWOS Canada director of purchasing and nutrition in the court case of Don Staniford v. Mainstream Canada court case, Jan. 24, 2011, in Vancouver, B.C. There are many concerns about the validity of the testing methods for PCBs, dioxins, furans, and many other cancer-causing chemicals present in British Columbian farmed salmon further examined in this court case.

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

 Do you care if your dinner is genetically engineered?

January 24, 2013 A Massachusetts biotechnology company has created a salmon that grows twice as fast as its farm-raised peers by introducing DNA from Chinook Salmon and Ocean Pout fish into Atlantic salmon.

And, the resulting AquAdvantage Salmon, referred to by critics as the “frankenfish,” could soon be on sale at your local grocery store.

The Food and Drug Administration found these genetically engineered fish do not pose any major health or environmental risks, but some activists are asking whether consumers have the right to know if the salmon they’re eating was genetically modified.

That’s the issue behind Initiative 522, which would require all genetically engineered foods be labeled in Washington state.

Eddie Gardner: “It's high time to label feedlot salmon for diseases and chemical treatment. Consumers need to know what they are eating and make their choice to buy something healthy like wild Pacific salmon! “

While some argue that consumers have a right to choose whether or not they consume genetically engineered foods, others say this initiative is designed to make the public fear products that have been safely consumed for decades.

Genetic engineering involves producing a piece of DNA and introducing it into an organism to create a desired trait, resulting in a genetically modified organism (GMO). Traditional crossbreeding has been used to create desired traits for centuries, but genetic engineering has proven to be far more precise.

The FDA’s current food labeling policy only requires that genetically engineered foods be labeled if the engineered food is significantly different from its traditional counterpart or if its production method materially changes the food’s nutritional profile, such as adding an allergen.

I-522 would require labeling any foods produced through genetic engineering, including many kinds of corn and prepackaged foods made with sugar from genetically engineered sugar beets. Foods from restaurants, medical foods, alcohol, meat and dairy would all be exempt. The measure does not ban any genetically engineered foods, it only requires they be labeled.

“I think it’s important that it’s classified,” said Seattle food blogger Ashley Michael of genetically engineered foods. “We should know what we’re eating.”

Supporters of I-522 submitted more than 350,000 signatures to the Secretary of State on Jan. 3. If the signatures are approved the measure will be set to appear on the November ballot..

READ ENTIRE KOMO NEWS ARTICLE HERE

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; March 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Year of the Wild Salmon!

ď ś Scientist

that Discovered GMO Health Hazards Immediately Fired, Team Dismantled

Though it barely received any media attention at the time, a renowned British biochemist who back in 1998 exposed the shocking truth about how genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) cause organ damage, reproductive failure, digestive dysfunction, impaired immunity, and cancer, among many other conditions, was immediately fired from his job, and the team of researchers who assisted him dismissed from their post within 24 hours from the time when the findings went public.

Arpad Pusztai, who is considered to be one of the world's most respected and well-learned biochemists, had for three years led a team of researchers from Scotland's prestigious Rowett Research Institute (RRI) in studying the health effects of a novel GM potato with built-in Bt toxin.

Much to the surprise of many, the team discovered that, contrary to industry rhetoric, Bt potato was responsible for causing severe health damage in test rats, a fact that was quickly relayed to the media out of concern for public hearing.

But rather than be praised for their honest assessment into this genetically-tampered potato, Pusztai and his colleagues were chastised by industry-backed government authorities, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose office was discovered to have secretly contacted RRI just hours after Pusztai and his team announced the results of their study on television. For speaking the truth, Pusztai was immediately fired from his position, and his team dismissed from their positions at the school.

Research out of Egypt finds similar results - GMOs cause severe, long-term health damage As reported recently in Egypt Independent, similar research by Hussein Kaoud from Cairo University's Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene also made some fascinating, though politically incorrect, discoveries about the effects of GMOs on the body. After feeding nine groups of rats varying combinations of GM soy, corn, wheat, and canola, Kaoud and his team observed that these genetic poisons clearly obstructed the normal function of the animals, affirming Pusztai's research.

"I recorded the alteration of different organs, shrinkage of kidneys, change in the liver and spleen, appearance of malignant parts in the tissues, (and) kidney failure and hemorrhages in the intestine," said Kaoud about the effects of GMOs as observed in the test rats. "The brain functions were touched as well, and the rats' learning and memory abilities were seriously altered."

In Kaoud's case, his groundbreaking findings will soon be published in the respected journals Neurotoxicology and Ecotoxicology. But it remains to be seen whether or not the scientific community at large, which is heavily influenced by biotechnology interests, and the political structures that control it will accept the results as valid, or pull a similar character assassination on Kaoud and his team as punishment for defying the status quo.

What all this clearly illustrates, of course, is that modern science can hardly be considered the independent, truthseeking, "gold standard" of interpreting and understanding reality that many people mistakenly think it is. The truth about GMOs, as uncovered by mounds of independent research, is that they are inadequately safety tested, at best, and deadly at worst. But this fact remains shrouded in deception, thanks to the corporatized, pro-GMO culture of mainstream science.

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

 Canada and the United States sign agreement on animal disease zoning January 16, 2013

Winnipeg: Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced today that Canada and the United States intend to recognize each other’s zoning measures during highly contagious foreign animal disease outbreaks.

Although foreign animal disease outbreaks are very rare in North America, this arrangement will help to minimize trade disruptions while still preventing the spread of disease, should an outbreak occur.

Editorial Comment: This cooperation between Canada and the United States is not the least bit comforting given past practices at CFIA and USDA – even with several agency and independent studies confirming Infectious Salmon Anemia and other deadly diseases associated with BC salmon farms, CFIA denies the presence of these diseases.

“Cross-border trade in live animals, meat and other animal products and by-products contributes billions of dollars each year to Canada’s economy,” said Minister Ritz. “This arrangement will keep U.S. market opportunities open for Canadian producers should a foreign animal disease outbreak occur, all while protecting human and animal health.”

This initiative fulfills a commitment made in the December 2011 Joint Action Plan of the CanadaUnited States Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC), which is aimed at better aligning the two countries’ regulations. The main goal of the RCC is to enhance the economic competitiveness and well-being of the Canada and the U.S., while maintaining high standards of animal health, public health and safety and environmental protection.

Under the arrangement, each country intends to accept each other’s decisions on establishing, maintaining and releasing a disease control and eradication zone if an outbreak of a foreign animal disease, such as foot-and-mouth disease or classical swine fever, occurs.

A detailed guidance framework, outlining exactly how the arrangement will work, is under development. The framework will lay out agreed-upon processes and conditions for zoning recognition, and will involve extensive consultation with industry groups, states and provinces.

In practice, the arrangement will mean that if Canada were to establish a disease control and eradication zone anywhere in Canada, the United States Department of Agriculture would continue to allow imports of live animals, animal products and by-products from disease-free areas of Canada.

Once Canada released the zone, the U.S. would allow trade to resume from that area. Reciprocal arrangements would apply in the case of zones established anywhere in the United States.

For more information on the Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC), visit http://actionplan.gc.ca/RCC.

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

 Salmon virus making restaurant owners leery Infectious salmon anemia poses no threat to humans, says CFIA January 24, 2013 Some people in the restaurant business in Nova Scotia say a recent outbreak of infectious salmon anemia has made them leery of having farmed salmon on their menus, despite the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's assurances the virus poses no threat to humans.

"My choices to not serve salmon were simply based on the fact that there are just too many unresolved issues right now," said Michael Howell, the author of the Maritime Seafood cookbook and the former owner of the Tempest Restaurant World Cuisine in Wolfville.

"Any time any customer hears there are issues, they're going to be scared away anyway."

Last week, salmon from a quarantined Nova Scotia aquaculture farm were moved to a fish plant in New Brunswick for processing, making Cooke Aquaculture the first company to process fish with infectious salmon anemia under a new set of rules from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Editorial Comment: Atlantic salmon raised in open pen feedlots are harmful whether they are diseased or not: • Humans: Cancer and other illness due to PCB’s and other chemicals use to control diseases and parasites • Wild salmon: Deadly diseases, parasites, forage fish harvest, escapes.

• General concerns: Ecosystems, cultures, communities, economy • “Frankenfish” - Concerns above are expected to be exacerbated

According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, fish with the virus are safe to consume.

Andrew Lively, a spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture Inc., said the discovery of the disease at a fish farm in Coffin Island Farm near Liverpool has not affected the company's sales.

"Our customers realize that this is a fish health issue," he said.

Dennis Johnston, who owns Fid Resto in Halifax, said he has confidence in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which is overseeing the processing of the infected fish.

He does not serve salmon at Fid Resto — choosing lesser-known species such as wild hake and farmed Arctic char instead — but Johnston said that decision did not have to do with any diseases.

"That is sustainability, using other species that are less used," he told CBC News.

Dr. Larry Hammell, a professor of aquatic epidemiology at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island, said humans have likely been eating wild salmon infected with the same disease in the past.

Hammell said there's no evidence infectious salmon anemia is harmful to humans.

"It's true that it's hard to pinpoint a study that says, 'Here, we've looked at it and we've proven it doesn't happen.' It's just that it's such a remote possibility, it's really just no evidence that this virus can survive above about 20 degrees," he said.

"This virus doesn't infect other fish species. It certainly doesn't affect other animals that are even cold-blooded and found in these local environments and certainly it's not going that huge next leap to mammals or humans."

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

 Sobeys not selling ISA salmon January 23, 2013 In the wake of a vigorous public response to the recent news that Cooke Aquaculture will be marketing 2.5 million pounds of Atlantic salmon from a quarantined farm near Liverpool, Sobeys food store executives say that their stores will not be selling any of the fish which may be infected with the infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAv).

In an email responding to SCT inquiries, Shauna Selig, communications manager for Sobeys, says that, due to the news stories about the ISA salmon being processed in New Brunswick by Cooke, the company has been getting customer questions about the salmon and "whether or not we will sell it in our stores and, if so, will it be labeled."

Seling told SCt that Sobeys has not had any of these salmon for sale in stores in the area and that "our supplier has confirmed that none of these fish identified as having ISA will be shipped to our stores."

She added that, as they are "not selling any of these ISA-infected salmon in our stores, there will be no need to identify any as such."

Several news and Facebook sites and email user groups have been abuzz this week, after a CBC interview with a Cooke executive, explaining the reasoning behind the salmon sales.

Some of the comments on SCT included: "...this stuff is still diseased and not very appetizing to consumers" and "Forget Nell Halse and CFIA and other petty distractions. Tell Superstore and Sobey's that you won't buy any fish from a fish case that contains fish infected with ISA Virus. Ask them NOT to sell any seafood infected with the ISA virus. Then stick to your word. Don't buy it. Tell your family and friends not to buy it. And tell your friends in Montreal to stay away from those "salmon portions" at $2.99/lb."

Several Chronicle Herald readers expressed dismay based on that paper's recent story.

Cooke and CFIA officials have repeatedly warned consumers and media that ISA was completely harmless to humans. Those assertions are based largely on a 13 year-old EU Commission on Health and Consumer Protection study of the "Zoonotic Risk from Infectious Salmon Anaemia virus", where the conclusion was not that ISA was harmless, but that that there was "no evidence of risk to man."

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

 Don’t Bring Home the Virus – Anissa Reed

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

Climate Change and wild game fish

 Nicholas Stern: 'I got it wrong on climate change – it's far, far worse' January 26, 2013 Lord Stern, author of the government-commissioned review on climate change that became the reference work for politicians and green campaigners, now says he underestimated the risks, and should have been more "blunt" about the threat posed to the economy by rising temperatures.

In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Stern, who is now a crossbench peer, said: "Looking back, I underestimated the risks. The planet and the atmosphere seem to be absorbing less carbon than we expected, and emissions are rising pretty strongly. Some of the effects are coming through more quickly than we thought then."

The Stern review, published in 2006, pointed to a 75% chance that global temperatures would rise by between two and three degrees above the long-term average; he now believes we are "on track for something like four ". Had he known the way the situation would evolve, he says, "I think I would have been a bit more blunt. I would have been much more strong about the risks of a four- or five-degree rise."

He said some countries, including China, had now started to grasp the seriousness of the risks, but governments should now act forcefully to shift their economies towards less energy-intensive, more environmentally sustainable technologies.

"This is potentially so dangerous that we have to act strongly. Do we want to play Russian roulette with two bullets or one? These risks for many people are existential."

Stern said he backed the UK's Climate Change Act, which commits the government to ambitious carbon reduction targets. But he called for increased investment in greening the economy, saying: "It's a very exciting growth story."

David Cameron made much of his environmental credentials before the 2010 election, travelling to the Arctic to highlight his commitment to tackling global warming. But the coalition's commitment to green policies has recently been questioned, amid skepticism among Tory backbenchers about the benefits of wind power, and the chancellor's enthusiasm for exploiting Britain's shale gas reserves.

Stern's comments came as Jim Yong Kim, the new president of the World Bank, also at Davos, gave a grave warning about the risk of conflicts over natural resources should the forecast of a four-degree global increase above the historical average prove accurate.

"There will be water and food fights everywhere," Kim said as he pledged to make tackling climate change a priority of his five-year term.

Kim said action was needed to create a carbon market, eliminate fossil-fuel subsidies and "green" the world's 100 megacities, which are responsible for 60 to 70% of global emissions.

He added that the 2012 droughts in the US, which pushed up the price of wheat and maize, had led to the world's poor eating less.

READ ENTIRE GUARDIAN ARTICLE HERE

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

Energy production and wild game fish: Oil, Coal, Hydropower, Wind, Natural Gas Oil – Drilled, Fracked, Tar Sands

 Video – The Keystone XL Tar Sands Climate Threat (NRDC)

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

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

 Maine Voices: Tar sands oil in New England: A test of presidential leadership January 26, 2013 President Obama must say no to using a pipeline to Maine to transport the highly corrosive substance.

Like so many Americans, we are inspired by President Obama's commitment in his inaugural speech to respond forcefully to the growing climate crisis. The president declared: "We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations."

Now, the test stands before him to act on his words.

The president must demonstrate his leadership by saying no to any new tar sands pipelines.

Expanding the market for the most carbonintensive fuel on the planet is simply incompatible with addressing the threat of climate change and firing up the clean energy sources we need.

Many New Englanders have probably heard of the ongoing struggle against the controversial and dangerous TransCanada Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Texas.

But northern New England citizens, especially Mainers, are also directly threatened by ExxonMobil's plan to pump tar sands oil through Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, for export out of Casco Bay. ExxonMobil's proposal to repurpose a 62-year-old oil pipeline to run highly corrosive tar sands would put the Androscoggin and Crooked rivers, Sebago Lake -- the drinking water source for Greater Portland -- and Casco Bay at enormous risk from leaks and spills.

Tragically, we know that the risks and enormous costs of tar sands oil are very real.

On July 25, 2010, a pipeline near Marshall, Mich., burst open and spewed more than 1 million gallons of tar sands oil in Talmadge Creek and then into the Kalamazoo River, contaminating more than 30 miles of the river and an adjoining lake.

Tar sands oil is heavier than conventional oil, and it sinks and coats the bottom of the riverbed. As a result, cleaning up such spills is much more difficult and expensive than cleaning up spills involving conventional oil.

More than two years after the Kalamazoo spill, the estimated $725 million cleanup is still not complete, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency acknowledges that some parts of the Kalamazoo River may never be fully restored.

READ ENTIRE PRESS HERALD ARTICLE HERE

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

Canadian economy at risk if pipeline projects delayed: report

Crews work on construction of the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline east of Winona, Texas.

EDMONTON - Pipeline congestion is costing the economy up to $70 million a day, and Canadians need to shake off their reluctance to get serious about solving what is becoming a huge lost opportunity, says a new report from the Canada West Foundation.

“We feel some complacency has set in, and we want to get people to think again about what the reason for pipelines is — a massive economic benefit for this country which has an aging population and will need this revenue,” said Robert Roach, vice-president of research for the foundation.

The report, Pipe or Perish: Saving an Oil Industry at Risk, details the changing world oil markets and Canada’s lack of access to seaports. Paid for by the government of Saskatchewan, the report concludes that failure to address current pipeline shortfalls is putting Western Canada’s oil industry at risk.

It also outlines the economic benefits that will be lost if provinces don’t work together to open up access to markets in Asia, Eastern Canada and the U.S. Eastern Seaboard while co-operation between Canada and the U.S. is key to getting oil to the Gulf Coast.

READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE

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

 Oil discovery in Australia has potential to rival Saudi Arabia in production Up to 233 billion barrels of oil has been discovered in the Australian outback, potentially worth trillions of dollars January 24, 2013

There's oil in the Outback. Reserves hold great potential for Australia, but more work needs to be done to test the viability of the shale fields.

SYDNEY -- Up to 233-billion barrels of oil has been discovered in the Australian outback which could be worth trillions of dollars, in a discovery that could turn the region into a new Saudi Arabia.

The discovery in central Australia was reported to the stock exchange by Linc Energy, an energy company and was based on two consultants’ reports, though it is not yet known how commercially viable it will be to access the oil.

READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE

Legacy – March 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!  Ottawa’s oil-spill plan for B.C. can’t cope with coming supertankers Proposed new pipelines would require ships that can carry up to 300,000 tonnes of oil while current disaster plan caps maximum spill at 10,000 tonnes February 5, 2013 OTTAWA — The Harper government’s disaster planning has not kept pace with proposals to greatly expand oilsand exports from B.C. ports using supertankers, Canada’s environment commissioner said Tuesday.

Scott Vaughan said in a report that the number of tanker trips from the West Coast will increase to 2,400 a year from 600 in 2010 because of increased exports of natural gas and oilsands crude via proposed pipelines to B.C. from Alberta. And the tankers needed to ship that petroleum will have “significantly greater” capacity than the vessels that dock in B.C. ports today.

But Vaughan said the government only has management plans, training and equipment for oil spills of up to 10,000 tonnes. That’s a vastly smaller spill than the potential spill from the supertankers expected to come to B.C., some holding up to 300,000 tonnes.

The Sierra Club Canada said the report was a “scary” confirmation of Canadians’ “worst fears.”

And, in the House of Commons, the New Democratic Party accused the Conservatives of playing “Russian roulette” on oil spill cleanup.

“This negligence means that our tourism, fishery and economies of our coastal communities are all being put at risk. Even one tanker (spill) could leave Canadian families on the hook for billions of dollars in cleanup costs,” said B.C. MP Peter Julian.

Vaughan called the gap between the expected maximum spill and the potential maximum spill “quite significant.”

“We pointed out that given the risk involved, the federal government should go back and re-evaluate those risks, and then figure out if they have the right capacity, in the rare event there may be a tanker accident,” Vaughan said in an interview after his report was tabled in Parliament.

His report said the government has confirmed to him that there is a “risk” that existing maritime liability limits for tankers – up to $1.3 billion per spill – “may not be sufficient in the wake of a major spill from a vessel in Canadian waters.”

Vaughan told a news conference there are “some serious questions about the federal capacity to safeguard Canada’s environment.”

The federal government responded that it is reviewing the liability requirements.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper cited government measures announced last year to improve tanker safety and pipeline inspections.

READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE

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

 Rail or Pipe, it is Still the Great Bear Rainforest In response to growing opposition to the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal, alternative methods of transporting bitumen from Alberta to Kitimat, British Columbia are being explored. One such option is rail, with proponents saying use of the existing CN infrastructure is a safer and less environmentally invasive solution.

Claire Hume, Pacific Wild Intern: “For Pacific Wild, the ‘No Tankers’ stance remains consistent. Regardless of whether the oil is moved by pipes or rail, the end result still involves tankers that would put the Great Bear Rainforest at great risk.”

Compared to the devastation that would be caused by major pipeline accidents, the use of trains to move oil seems like a less threatening choice. But is it really?

Nathan Vanderklippe recently reported in The Globe and Mail that even Canada’s national railway companies admit to having more accidents than pipelines. As well they should. It turns out that, in comparison to pipelines, trains moving liquids in North America are three times more likely to be involved in an incident leading to loss of human life – and nine times more likely to cause a fire or explosion. Those frightening statistics are compiled not by worried environmentalists, but by the U.S. State Department.

In 2005 a faulty rail caused a CN train to derail at Lake Wabamun, a popular lake 65 kilometers west of Edmonton. The crash spilled a million litres of bunker oil, 700,000 of which ended up in the lake. It took more than two years to clean up Lake Wabamun after the CN derailment, and the fish in this once great angling lake are still unsafe to eat.

The Ecstall River; just one of the countless world-class salmon rivers in the Great Bear Rainforest that would be put at risk by train derailments.

READ ENTIRE PACIFIC WILD ARTICLE HERE

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

 Huge crowd turns out for oil meeting January 31, 2013 A public workshop to address three current proposals to ship North American-produced crude oil by rail and sea through the Port of Grays Harbor had its raucous moments Wednesday night when questions were shouted from the standing-room crowd of at least 250 people at the Aberdeen Log Pavilion.

But even those with calmer voices asked pointed questions wanting to know how the Port Commission was going to go about letting the public have its say.

“How are you three (Port commissioners) going to find out how the community feels about these changes … how are you going to survey us, how are you going to hear our concerns?

Because they’re real?” asked one woman near the front.

Port of Grays Harbor Executive Director Gary Nelson addresses a packed house at the Rotary Log Pavilion in Aberdeen.

Seating was limited and an elbow-to-elbow standing room crowd spilled out the door. Many people took a look at the size of the crowd and left.

During the Port-sponsored session, Port Executive Director Gary Nelson laid out the three proposals, currently in different stages of development, that are being made by existing Port tenants Westway Terminal Co. and Imperium Renewables, and a third by Houstonbacked US Development that is expected to be the largest potential so-called bulk liquid storage and shipment facility for crude oil.

Gary Nelson, Port of Grays Harbor Executive Director: “…most of the oil will have to be shipped to U.S. refineries by barge or tankers because it was produced in American oil fields and federal law requires it to be refined in this country.”

Some members of the audience, however, wanted to hear directly from the companies, which had representatives on hand at tables ringing the outside of the room where they did stay for more than an hour afterward and answered specific questions about their plans.

“We have not handled crude oil before,” said Imperium founder CEO and President John Plaza in an interview while several others from the company passed out information. “But it’s important to understand that our current permit allows us to store diesel, petroleum-diesel and biodiesel, and the laws we follow, both state and federal, are the exact same criteria that we follow for crude oil.”

“Really it’s not a new business for us, it’s just a different product,” Plaza added.

In addition to the company proponents, representatives of the City of Hoquiam and the state Department of Ecology also were in attendance at a shared table to answer questions about the environmental review process and permit process they will be doing jointly as any of the three projects goes forward. The U.S. Coast Guard, Greater Grays Harbor Inc. and several other agencies participated, and the audience included all three Grays Harbor PUD commissioners, mayors of several Harbor cities and environmental groups.

READ ENTIRE DAILY WORLD ARTICLE HERE

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

Coal  Southeast B.C. coal mines draw the ire of U.S. environmental agency EPA, Montana senators complain B.C., Ottawa not considering cumulative affect of area coal mines February 6, 2013

Teck’s Coal Mountain mine in B.C.’s southeastern Elk River Valley. It is one of five Teck projects in the area and near the Bingay mine proposed by Centermount Coal Ltd.

OTTAWA — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made a veiled threat to take Canada to the International Joint Commission in a dispute over plans to expand coal production in the Elk River Valley of southeastern B.C., near the Montana border.

The threat was made in a letter that outlines concerns about the potential for pollution running down B.C.'s Elk and Fording rivers into two bodies of water shared by B.C. and Montana — Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenay (Kootenai) River.

The letter was sent to Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent in December by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

She told Kent she hopes the federal and B.C. governments will support a study of the cumulative effects of existing and planned coal mine expansion in the area, mostly by Teck Resources Ltd. "A cooperative bilateral approach on potential mine development in the Elk River Valley could obviate the need for a joint reference to the International Joint Commission," wrote Jackson, who resigned last month.

READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE

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

 Mercury Contamination in Fish - Know Where It's Coming From Each year power plants and other sources create tons of mercury pollution, which makes its way into our homes and bodies in fish.

Some of the major sources of mercury pollution in the US include coal-fired power plants, boilers, steel production, incinerators, and cement plants. Power plants are the largest source, emitting around 33 tons of mercury pollution in the US annually, and contributing to almost half of all mercury emissions. Large boilers and heaters, many of which are powered by coal, are the next largest source of mercury emissions, followed by steel production. Incinerators, once the largest source of mercury in the U.S. have drastically reduced emissions, though they remain the fourth largest source.

Overall, mercury emissions have gone down by 65% in the US over the past two decades.

Power Plants and Coal Combustion Coal is naturally contaminated with mercury, and when it is burned to generate electricity, mercury is released into the air through the smokestacks. The bulk of this mercury pollution could be eliminated with the installation of relatively simple and widely-available pollution-control devices. Similar devices have proved very successful on municipal incinerators, which were once a significant source of mercury pollution. In the United States, mercury pollution from power plants and industrial sources collectively contributes to half of all the mercury air emissions.

Regulation of mercury pollution has finally begun to phase in among the largest emitters despite long delays and repeated attempts to weaken mercury regulations under the Clean Air Act. The Environmental Protection Agency finalized clean air safeguards to reduce toxic pollution, including mercury, from:  cement plants in 2010  power plants in 2011,  gold mining in 2011, and  industrial boilers in 2011, but these are now on hold.

New standards were proposed for the chlorine chemicals industry in 2011. Mercury emissions are slated to go down 80 percent by 2016 compared to 1990 levels, due to these US EPA regulations.

Outside the U.S., coal-fired power plants are the largest source of mercury air emissions worldwide.

Coal is an economically attractive source of energy in countries where it is abundant and inexpensive. Currently, coal-fired power plants supply 75 percent of China's energy; in the next eight years, China is expected to add more coal plants to meet domestic energy demand. However, China recently issued mercury emission limits on new and existing coal-fired power plants which will be implemented over the next few years.

Gold Mining In the U.S. large scale mining and processing of gold ore is a now a relatively minor source of direct mercury emissions to air thanks to effective regulations. Globally, however, large scale gold mining still emits substantial quantities of mercury to the environment.

READ ENTIRE NDRC ARTICLE HERE

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

 Cascadia and coal — image versus reality January 21, 2013 While British Columbians have been preoccupied by the debate over oil pipelines, our neighbours in Washington state have been duking it out over their own environmental issue lately.

Their fight is over coal.

That fight, ultimately, could have a profound effect not only on the global environment but on ours as well.

At issue are plans to develop a project called the Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point near Ferndale, Wash. Cherry Point is 25 kilometres south of the international border. Two large oil refineries exist there already.

If built, the Gateway Pacific Terminal would dwarf Roberts Bank and supplant it as the largest coal exporting facility in North America. Plans call for a maximum exporting capacity of 54 million metric tonnes annually, 48 million tonnes of which would be coal. In comparison, the Westshore Terminals at Roberts Bank, even after its recent new expansion, exported just over 26 million tonnes of coal in 2012.

“We’re watching the development,” said Westshore general manager Denis Horgan, “with some interest.”

The Cherry Point coal would come mainly from the Powder River Basin in Montana (where Westshore also gets some of its coal) and coal trains would come down the Columbia River Gorge and then up through the Puget Sound coast, passing through Tacoma, Seattle, Edmonds, Everett, Mount Vernon, Bellingham and Ferndale.

The terminal would be able to handle nine coal trains a day, which would mean there would be 18 coal-train transits a day (nine full, nine empty) along the line, and the trains would be made up of about 150 cars. Each train would be 2.4 kilometres long.

The coal would then be loaded onto cargo ships at Cherry Point. Vessels would be either Panamax class – up to 300 metres long and capable of carrying 50,000 to 80,000 tonnes – or the even larger Capesize class, which can carry, on average, 150,000 to 200,000 tonnes.

Panamax class – capacity up to 80,000 tonnes

If built to capacity, the Gateway Pacific Terminal could load up to 487 ships a year, meaning 974 transits of the Strait of Juan de Fuca annually. Already, the three Cherry Point oil terminal berths are the source of 850 annual transits through the Juan de Fuca.

Capesize class – capacity up to 200,000 tonnes

READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE

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

 Port Metro Vancouver approves first of two controversial coal export projects January 24, 2013

Neptune Terminals as seen from the upper deck of potash carrier U-Sea Colonsay in North Vancouver. Neptune Terminals has received approval to expand its coal export facilities.

Port Metro Vancouver has approved a $200 million expansion project at North Vancouver’s Neptune Bulk Terminals that will double the terminal’s coal export capacity.

The decision, announced on the port’s website Jan 23, is the first of two applications before the port authority that will help secure Metro Vancouver’s role as North America’s largest coal export hub. It comes at a time when public awareness is growing over coal exports, the role coal plays in global warming, and the port’s procedure in approving the expansions in-house.

Neptune proposes doubling its capacity from 8.5 million tonnes of coal a year to 18.5 million tonnes.

The terminal exports metallurgical coal – used in steelmaking – but it has become caught up in the controversy over thermal coal exports generated by an application from Fraser Surrey Docks to establish a terminal on the Fraser River for exporting American thermal coal to Asia. Port Metro Vancouver has yet to rule on that application. The two proposals, coupled with Westshore Terminal’s coal exporting capacity, would push total coal exports from the region to over 50 million tonnes a year.

READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE Related: In Port Metro Vancouver, it’s full steam ahead with coal

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

Hydropower

 B.C.'s run-of-river sector in regulatory disarray, documents suggest January 22, 2013 The independent run-of-river power sector is in regulatory disarray, following inconsistent rules designed to protect fish and with provincial officials hard pressed to crack down due to lack of staff and resources, freedom-of-information documents show.

The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations states in a staff report approved

by Julia Berardinucci, director of resource management in Surrey, there were 749 non-compliance incidents from a total of 16 hydro plants in southwest B.C. in 2010.

Ashlu Creek Independent Power Project north of Squamish

They included 313 incidents related to ramping (fluctuating water levels), 292 to not notifying government official of problems, 101 not Read to not fulfilling mitigation requirements, and 43 to more: maintaining in-stream flow rates. http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/river+sector+regulatory+disarr Flow rates ensure there is sufficient ay+documents+suggest/7857949/story.html#ixzz2ImaK8FOK water for fish downstream of power plants, while ramping rates (typically associated with the shutdown of a power plant for maintenance or an unanticipated failure) ensure water levels fluctuate gradually to not strand young fish.

“There has been a lack of resources (staff, database tools) … to track/monitor compliance at various facilities,” ministry engineering assistant Charlene Menezes writes in a freedom-of-information document dated March 29, 2012.

“Ultimately, there is limited compliance and enforcement of the water use obligations.”

Menezes’ report recommends, in part, a compliance monitoring program and a database to track incidents of non-compliance.

Gwen Barlee, the Wilderness Committee policy director who obtained the documents, said in an interview Tuesday that the documents confirm that the run-of-river sector “does not have proper oversight and can’t even meet low environmental standards.”

READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE

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

 BC Hydro powers up Site C megaproject Crown corporation says project that would flood farmland is necessary to meet growing demand for electricity January 28, 2013 BC Hydro filed a multi-volume environmental impact statement Monday for its proposed Site C dam on the Peace River, setting in motion a public review process for the $7.9-billion megaproject.

The five-volume statement — the executive summary alone is 88 pages — was filed with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office.

Hydro says it needs to go ahead with the project — which will flood agricultural land and force some landowners off their properties — because electricity demand is forecast to go up 40 per cent in B.C. over the next 20 years.

An artist’s rendering of BC Hydro’s proposed Site C dam.

That forecast does not take into account potential demand from the province’s emerging liquefied natural gas industry. If any plants go ahead, B.C. could need new sources of electricity generation.

“There are several potential LNG projects proposed or under discussion which would require some service from BC Hydro. The need for the project is established using a load forecast that does not include any load associated with new LNG facilities because the requirements of the facilities have not yet been confirmed by proponents,” the impact statement says. “However, additional demand from these facilities would increase the load forecast and could accelerate the need for new generation resources in B.C.” Site C is a proposed third dam and hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River in northeast B.C. The Crown corporation states that it would be a source of electricity for more than 100 years.

Hydro is proposing a 1,050-metre-long earth-filled dam that would rise 60 metres above the riverbed of the Peace River between Hudson Hope and Taylor. It would generate 5,100 gigawatt hours of electricity annually and have a capacity of 1,100 megawatts, providing enough energy to power the equivalent of about 450,000 homes a year. It would create an 83 kilometre-long reservoir, flooding an area that critics says is valuable farmland. It is also opposed by regional First Nations, who have joined forces with environmental groups to fight the project.

Roland Wilson, chief of the West Moberly First Nation, has said previously that the band is drawing a line in the sand over Site C. “What we are opposed to is the flooding of that valley,” he said, calling for talks on alternative ways to meet B.C.’s energy needs.

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

 NDP projects billion-dollar loss for BC Hydro February 4, 2013

An artist’s rendering of BC Hydro’s proposed Site C dam.

VICTORIA — BC Hydro is on track to lose more than $1 billion over the next four years by paying private companies to generate electricity the province doesn’t need, New Democratic Party energy critic John Horgan said Monday.

“BC Hydro’s fiscal situation is dire,” Horgan told reporters, offering his assessment of numbers released by the Crown corporation last week, which projected an energy surplus for the next 10 years. For the coming year, Horgan pointed out, the surplus will be so large it could power 472,000 homes.

The Sun reported last year that British Columbians paid $676 million for IPP power in the year ending March 31, 2012 — more than twice the price of imported electricity at that time.

Horgan said the problem stems from contracts signed by the B.C. Liberal government that now force BC Hydro to buy energy from independent power producers at above-market prices, despite the fact the Crown corporation is predicting a 10-year energy surplus.

“That’s a tragedy for BC Hydro and it’s a calamity for ratepayers who have already seen their rates go up in the neighbourhood of 36 per cent over the past number of years,” said Horgan, adding the problem could lead to a price shock for consumers.

READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE

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

 J. Vander Stoep Commentary: Diverse Interests Are Finding Common Ground on Flood Damage Reduction January 18, 2013 Last summer Gov. Chris Gregoire appointed a six-member task force with the goal of reaching agreement on recommendations to be incorporated into the Governor’s Capital budget proposal for the next steps forward on Chehalis basin flood damage reduction. The six members included the chair of the Chehalis Tribe, David Burnett; Flood Authority Chair Vicki Raines and Vice Chair Karen Valenzuela; Jay Gordon, a Grays Harbor farmer and head of the Washington Dairy Federation; Keith Phillips, staff advisor for Gov. Gregoire; and myself.

This group is diverse in their experiences and perspectives. Nobody, including the governor, knew when we started if we could reach agreement. We did. Over several months of meetings a clear strategy emerged for the next steps forward.

We agreed to support funding for engineering and design for water retention in the upper Chehalis River. This is not a decision to build a dam, but to create the design necessary to determine by December 2014 whether a dam is feasible from an economic and environment perspective, and if so, then to decide whether to start the permit process for approval.

Editorial Comment: With all due respect to Mr. Vander Stoep, not unlike the need to provide basin wide flood risk management, wild Pacific salmon and other aquatic species require intact river systems in order to thrive. Blocking the upper Chehalis River at river mile 108 with a multipurpose (hydropower and water retention dam) will destroy many miles of prime spawning and rearing habitat for anadromous fish and for fish such as rainbow trout that are resident to this stretch of this unique river.

As we’ve mentioned before, downstream habitat improvements to correct past mistakes are important whether the dam is built or not - they should not be done as mitigation for the habitat lost due to this irresponsible dam and its resulting reservoir.

We’ve recommended to elected officials that the $9 million proposed by Governor Gregoire for design and feasibility study for the Chehalis River dam be rejected and that the proposed dam be no longer included in Chehalis River flood risk reduction planning as its costs far outweigh its purported benefits.

As anyone who has built a home or business knows, you need a finished design in hand before you can seek permits. The group agreed that this analysis and design work should be funded. We also agreed to support funding for WSDOT to look at alternatives for protecting I-5 with and without a dam.

We also support funding numerous smaller local projects which will help protect important facilities across the basin. Many of these projects are in Grays Harbor communities as well as in Lewis. We expect that these projects will be underway very soon when, we hope, the Legislature adopts the Capital budget as proposed by the group and Gov. Gregoire.

READ ENTIRE CHRONICLE ARTICLE HERE

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

 Experts back Premier Campbell Newman's pre-emptive dam releases strategy January 28, 2013

Aerial shot of flood gates open on Wivenhoe Dam in 2011.

EXPERTS last night commended the pre-emptive dam release strategy imposed by Premier Campbell Newman on Seqwater.

They said it made sense to keep the dam's flood compartment empty and a similar approach could have helped avoid the disastrous flooding of 2011.

Seqwater was last night releasing 630 cubic metres a second from Wivenhoe Dam, with 11 per cent of its drinking water storage capacity still unused and all of its flood mitigation capacity available.

Somerset Dam was at 115 per cent and rising.

Mr Newman last week ordered dam levels be lowered to make room for floodwaters.

But Seqwater last night played down any political influence on its operations.

"The role of government is to set the strategic policy direction for water supply, while Seqwater is responsible for operationalising this policy," it told The Courier-Mail.

"The releases were always the decision of Seqwater and are at the low end of the Dam manual."

Seqwater said releases from Wivenhoe Dam were being made under the dam manual's "W2" strategy, under which the focus changes from minimising impact on rural life to protecting urban areas.

READ ENTIRE COURRIER MAIL ARTICLE HERE

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

 Queensland ravaged by Flood emergency

- Reservoir levels lowered

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

 Don’t Let Them Drown The McCloud And Upper Sacramento Rivers!

January 27, 2013 The Bureau of Reclamation has been studying a possible raise of Shasta Dam and expansion of its reservoir for decades. Most recently, the agency released the Shasta Lake Water Resources Investigation (SLWRI) Draft Feasibility Report (DFR) and Preliminary Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).

The DFR/DEIS examines six possible dam raise scenarios or alternatives, ranging from “No Action” to raising the dam by 6.5 to 18.5 feet. The existing Shasta Reservoir is already the largest reservoir in the state. Raising the dam by 18.5 feet would expand the reservoir as much as 1.5 miles upstream into the McCloud, upper Sacramento, and Pit Rivers and flood nearly 4,400 acres of National Forest land (including three protected roadless areas) currently managed for public recreation and fish and wildlife habitat.

Photo of McCloud River courtesy of Friends of the River.

The dam raise would also require the relocation of numerous roads, bridges, recreation sites, and other facilities around the existing reservoir.

Raising the dam and expanding the reservoir could cost $1.1 billion or more, with annual operational costs of $54 million. Because the Bureau hypothesizes that more than 61% of the benefits of this expensive project are public, the taxpayer will pick up the majority of the cost to build and operate the project, while most of the water will be exported south of the Delta to federal water contractors who will buy the water at significantly lower than market rates.

Significant & Unavoidable Impacts The Bureau’s own DEIS admits to a long list of significant and unavoidable environmental impacts that cannot be mitigated. These include: Native American Cultural Heritage – The DEIS documents that the dam raise and reservoir expansion will have “disproportionally high” impacts on local Native Americans, specifically the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. The Tribe lost most of their traditional homeland under the existing reservoir.

Raising the dam will drown and cultural and sacred sites still used by the Winnemem to this day.

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

Wild & Scenic Rivers – Nearly 30 years ago, the Forest Service identified both the McCloud and upper Sacramento Rivers as potential Wild & Scenic Rivers due to their rare free flowing character and outstandingly remarkable wild trout, Native American cultural, scenic, and geological values. The agency chose not to recommend Wild & Scenic protection for these outstanding rivers because their nationally significant values did not appear to be threatened at that time. But now it is clear that the dam raise/reservoir expansion will destroy the free flowing character and many of the nationally significant values of the lower segments of these rivers. In addition, flooding even a foot of the McCloud River would also violate state law, which the Bureau acknowledges but it simply suggests that state law should be changed to accommodate their project.

Wildlife – The dam raise/reservoir expansion will cause permanent loss of habitat for numerous important and special status wildlife species, including Pacific fisher, northern spotted owl, northern goshawk, foothill yellow-legged frog, Shasta salamander, seven special status bat species, and four special status mollusks. The project will also result in the permanent loss of rare plant habitat and critical deer winter and fawning habitat.

Lower Sacramento River – The dam raise/reservoir expansion will modify flows in the lower Sacramento River, with potentially significant impacts on the river’s riparian ecosystem and protected wildlife species that depend on that ecosystem. The Bureau proposes a so-called Adaptive Management Plan to mitigate these impacts but provides little information on how the Plan will be implemented, how the needs of water contracts will be weighed against ecosystem flow needs, and what guarantees will be provided to ensure that this significant impact is truly mitigated to less than significant levels.

Delta – The effects of the dam raise/reservoir expansion will be felt all the way downstream to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Storing more water behind the expanded dam and reservoir will further reduce fresh water flows into the Delta during critical periods, with potentially significant increases in mortality for endangered Delta fish due to increased reverse flows in the south Delta.

Air Quality – The Bureau admits that the dam raise/reservoir expansion will increase the short-term emission of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) by 30% but fails to recognize that the existing reservoir already pumps 224 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere on a daily basis (equal to 14,500 automobiles driving 40 miles a day)! Expanding the reservoir may increase Shasta Dam’s daily contribution to greenhouse gases and global warming.

Hydropower – The dam raise/reservoir expansion could decrease long term monthly average hydropower generation by as much as 5%, a level that could affect California’s always tenuous power market.

READ ENTIRE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA MEDIA ARTICLE HERE

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

 DELHI DAM: Work Should Begin In Spring January 25, 2013

Editorial Comment: Another failed dam to further document the insanity of constructing a water retention dam upstream of homes and businesses as is proposed for the Chehalis River hydropower/ water retention dam in Washington State.

Construction on a new dam to re-create an Iowa lake that was drained in 2010 could begin as soon as this spring.

Heavy rain in July of 2010 caused the Lake Delhi Dam to fail, sending all the water from the nine mile long lake rushing down the Maquoketa River.

Officials with the Lake Delhi recreational facility and water quality district told the Cedar Rapids Gazette that efforts to rebuild the dam will begin this spring, but say they can’t predict how long it will take to refill the lake.

In June of 2012 Governor Branstad signed an appropriations bill guaranteeing $5 million over two years from the state to help rebuild the dam and restore the lake.

Lake Delhi is a private lake, but does have public access.

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

 Maricopa County settles years-old dam dispute for $23.7 million January 25, 2013

Maricopa County has paid out $23.7 million to settle one of the longest-running lawsuits in recent county memory.

More than a dozen landowners along the Gila River in 1995 sued then-owners of the Gillespie Dam and the Maricopa County Flood Control District over flooding on their property that occurred when the dam broke two years prior.

Heavy rains caused the Gila River to overflow and breach the dam, located southwest of Phoenix, causing water and sediment to flow south onto downstream farm land. The concrete dam was used to divert water for irrigation. The flooding caused 34 to 36 million cubic yards of sediment to settle on downstream properties, according to court records.

The lawsuit filed by farmers grew into a web of legal disputes, mainly regarding who should be held responsible for indemnity paid to the landowners and how much should be paid. The case landed in the state Supreme Court after years in the Court of Appeals. The high court denied the county’s petition for review and ordered the county to pay to indemnify the farmers.

“It’s a case that has gone back and forth ... It’s done. It can’t be appealed any further. What’s exciting about it is, it’s finally over,” said Shelby Scharbach, assistant county manager and the county’s chief financial officer.

Maricopa County has spent $7.1 million on outside counsel to litigate the case.

READ ENTIR AZ CENTRAL ARTICLE HERE

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

Wind

 Hybrid wind systems may be next step in energy January 18, 2013 As wind turbines grace the skylines of more and more communities around the globe, some Alaskans are starting to look seriously at what the future for wind power looks like in the northernmost state.

For many Alaskans, solutions to the high and rising cost of energy can't come soon enough be it by wind, tide, geothermal or otherwise.

Bruce Wright is a senior scientist for the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association. He recently released a paper outlining a few ways Alaskan communities and leaders can streamline the air power potential in rural Alaska.

More than 120 of Alaska's small communities operate on independent micro-grids, Write reported, using less than 200 kilowatts at peak capacity.

The sophisticated equipment systems needed to offset diesel costs in these communities is complex and expensive, Wright said, making the risk of investment and potential blackouts a marked downside.

Making these upgrades may also put a community at risk of losing power cost equalization funds - a state subsidy for local diesel utilities.

Other issues crop up, such as utility customers going off the grid in favor of their own systems, or the instability of the wind supply itself.

"The variability in wind, the associated integration problems and the need to lower energy costs in remote communities beg for a better use of fickle wind energy resources," said Wright.

He advocates for hybrid systems with energy storage - offering greater stability and a higher volume of renewable energy.

"Such storage can be in several forms including hot water and electrical storage," Wright said. "In Alaska, some hybrid systems using wind and hydro along with diesel are seeing great success such as on Kodiak Island."

READ ENTIRE BRISTOL BAY TIMES ARTICLE HERE

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

Forest practices and wild game fish

 Forestry & Salmon A Report on Oregon's Coastal Watersheds and the Need for Forestry Reform

“This report: 1) Explains how coastal forests provided for native salmon historically; 2) Presents important data about the condition of coastal forests and salmon habitat; and 3) Includes a set of recommendations for restoring coastal salmon. “

Introduction

Coastal Oregon Watersheds

This report, Forestry & Salmon presents the best argument to date on the need to protect and restore all coastal watersheds in order to recover coastal salmon. The report is intended for decision makers, watershed advocates, watershed council participants and concerned members of coastal communities.

Two aspects of the report warrant your attention. First, powerful data, much of it not previously brought to public attention, is used to make the case for salmon recovery.

Secondly, we present the entire data rich report as an understandable story that walks through the connection of landscape to habitat to salmon. The references and data used are the best available. The report covers fourteen major coastal basins.

Acknowledgements The report was conceived and developed by CRA Executive Director, Chuck Willer.

Pacific Biodiversity Institute did the GIS analysis of various data sets. Natural resource writer Lucy Vinis provided final editing and proofreading.

READ ENTIRE COAST RANGE REPORT HERE

Endangered Coho Area

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

Mining and wild game fish

 Video - NO MINING IN OUR SACRED HEADWATERS Our authority is far higher than the Ministry of Environment

Dawn Morrison: “I really appreciate the intelligent questions and sophisticated approach taken

by Secwepemc women and children on the front lines...in essence, protecting sacred headwaters for ALL people.”

Video: Secwepemc Elder, Irene Billy

Action request – Sign this petition today

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

Wild game fish management

 Over harvest of earth’s oceans

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

 Sport angling a runaway leader in B.C.’s fishing and aquaculture sector Recreational fishery dominates revenue generation, employment figures in new study February 11, 2013

Jeff Welch (left) lead guide for Great River Fishing Adventures and Dean Werk, owner of Great River, hold a 1,000-pound Great White sturgeon caught in the Fraser River. Thirty anglers from a Kamloops accounting firm hooked the monster fish which measured 11 feet, eight inches with a massive five foot girth.

British Columbia’s recreational fishery is worth as much to the provincial economy as commercial fishing, aquaculture and fish processing combined, according to a new report from BC Stats.

The report, the first major economic review of the sector since 2007, estimates overall B.C. fisheries and aquaculture sector revenue at $2.2 billion for 2011 including $936 million contribution from recreational angling.

That boils down to a $325 million contribution to gross domestic product from the recreational subsector — not including spending on angling gear, boats and other vehicles — compared to $340 million in combined GDP from the commercial, aquaculture and fish processing sub-sectors including commercial boats and gear.

Within the recreational fishery, saltwater activity accounts for just over half of GDP with the remainder going to angling in lakes and streams.

Employment across the entire sector reached 13,900, 8,400 of whom worked in recreational fishing.

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

Special Recognition

 “Pants

on Fire” Recognition: Stewart Hawthorn, Managing Director, Grieg Seafoods

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 March 2013 recipient of the coveted Wild Game Fish Conservation International “Pants on Fire” honor is: Stewart Hawthorn, Managing Director, Grieg Seafoods.

According to Mr. Hawthorn:  commitment (and successful record) to non-harmful interactions with marine mammals both before and after this incident  goal is to ensure that we never harm seals or sea lions  preventing harm and farming responsibly is what is important here  provide a very healthy food choice for our ever-growing world population  help save our iconic wild salmon here in BC

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

Local Conservation Projects

 “All In” – Get Fish Farms Out Wild Salmon Warriors - Dr. Alexandra Morton and Anissa Reed

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

 Video: Kokanee Conservation – Lake Samammish Watershed

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

Youth Conservation:  2013 Northwest Youth Conservation and Fly Fishing Academy NWYCFFA on the web

NWYCFFA on Facebook

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

2013 Northwest Youth Conservation & Fly Fishing Academy 2013 Academy Dates: Sun., June 23 - Sat., June 29.

Supported by the Washington Council Trout Unlimited and the Washington State Federation of Fly Fishers. Hosted by Olympia Chapter TU, South Sound Fly Fishers and Puget Sound Fly Fishers. Held on Hicks Lake, Lacey, WA. .

ACADEMY FEATURES       

Co-educational, ages 12 – 16.

Curriculum focuses on conservation, natural resource stewardship, and fly fishing essentials.

Fly fishing classes include fly casting, fly tying, knot tying, reading water, and water safety.

Morning and evening fly fishing activities on Nisqually Pond and Deschutes River.

On-the-water aquatic macro invertebrate sampling activity.

Career discovery opportunities.

Faculty and staff include wildlife resource professionals, northwest fly fishing and fly tying professionals and enthusiasts, and local fishing club volunteers.

Fishing a Local Pond

Cost, including food and lodging: $275 Application deadline: April 15, 2013

Fly Casting Instructions

For additional information: Please visit website: www.nwycffa.com Email: nwycffa@comcast.net Telephone: Mike Clancy (360) 753-1259 Macro Invertebrate Sampling Activity

Jim Brosio (360) 943-9947

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

Academy Application

APPLICATION Name: _________________________________________________________ Date of Birth: ___________________Age as of June 23, 2013_____________ Address: ________________________________________________________ City: _____________________________State: _________ Zip: ___________ Telephone: Res:_____________________ Cell:_______________________ E-mail: _____________________________________ T-shirt Size: _________

Applicants must also provide the following: • A written essay on why you would like to attend the Academy and what you expect to learn from it.

• A brief letter of recommendation from your school science teacher or counselor including an address and telephone number.

Application and recommendation may be sent via postal mail or e-mail.

The Academy is limited to 24 qualified youths, ages 12 through 16. Applicants must not have reached their 17th birthday by April 15, 2013. A committee shall make selections based upon a candidate’s written essay and recommendation from science teacher or counselor. Tuition fee, including food and lodging is $275. Candidates should not send tuition until notified of selection.

Notifications will be sent out by May 10, 2013. ACADEMY DATES: JUNE 23-29, 2013

Application must be received by April 15, 2013 Editorial Comment: Print this application page, complete, and send to: Northwest Youth Conservation & Fly Fishing Academy C/O Mike Clancy 2531 Simon Lane N.E. Olympia, WA 98506

Wild Game Fish Conservation International is proud to endorse the 2013 Northwest Youth Conservation & Fly Fishing Academy – a truly unique

Or e-mail with all required information to: nwycffa@comcast.net

opportunity for maturing girls and boys to learn more about natural resources

For additional information e-mail to the above address or contact either: Mike Clancy: (home) 360-753-1259, (cell) 253-278-0061; or Jim Brosio: (home) 360- 943-9947

stewardship while learning the science and art of fly fishing from local and regional experts.

2013 NORTHWEST YOUTH CONSERVATION & FLY FISHING ACADEMY

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

 Youngsters like Freyja are “All In” to remove salmon farms

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

Conservation-minded businesses – please support these fine folks

 Val and Roger Baker’s Cloghvoola Fishing Lodge

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

 Great Bear Nature Tours

Great Bear Lodge Great Bear Lodge is located 50 air miles from Port Hardy, British Columbia. The fully self-contained floating lodge is situated at an outstanding wildlife viewing location. This is a place of spectacular beauty where one can still find the silence and solitude of another era.

From this location we operate our Grizzly Bear viewing program. The BBC used the lodge as their base while filming for the series Secrets of Our Living Planet.

The charming floating lodge has five bedrooms. The common area is a comfortable place for relaxing and listening to natural history presentations from our wildlife biologists. Each bedroom has a washroom, with hot showers located downstairs. The wind and solar powered lodge is in keeping with our commitment to low-impact ecotourism. Natural wood decks surround the lodge, a perfect place to enjoy a glass of wine while enjoying the beauty of the scenery.

Dining in the wilderness Wilderness-gourmet meals await you at the lodge on your return from the wilderness. We use the freshest possible local ingredients, and all organic food when it is available. A typical dinner might feature freshly caught salmon roasted on a cedar plank with a marinade of maple syrup, mustard seeds and balsamic vinegar. In between bear viewing sessions you will be able to join a guided activity such as an interpretive walk or a boat excursion, or you may choose to relax with a book from the extensive library. We are happy to cater for all dietary restrictions, with advance notice.

Click here to view a typical itinerary during your stay at the lodge.

The lodge is reach by seaplane flight from Port Hardy, which is included in the cost of your tour. To find out more information about the bear viewing, go to one of the following pages: bear watching, spring tours, summer tours or autumn tours.

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

 Aniak River Lodge

One of the top sport-fishing destinations in Western Alaska, we are located 318 miles WNW of Anchorage. The Aniak River flows with diversity. Depending on the week of your stay, there will be between 7 and 10 species of fish available for your angling pleasure. The Aniak provides all 5 species of Pacific Salmon, Leopard Rainbow Trout, Arctic Char, Grayling, Sheefish, and Northern Pike and there is no better place to bring these hard-fighting fish to the beach. Whether it be wading and sight-fishing the endless braids for rainbows near the tent camp or chasing salmon from the lodge on the lower river, let our guides show you where and what techniques work.

The Aniak is truly a one-of-a-kind fishery that has to be experienced to be believed!

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

 Badges, Bears, and Eagles by Steve Callan An Excerpt from the chapter “Gill Netters” in Badges, Bears, and Eagles, by Steve Callan.

By the time Albert reached the bridge, there was plenty of sunlight, so he dropped behind a railing and directed his binoculars toward the gill net. He was just in time to see a man paddling across the river in the little orange boat. A few minutes later, the same man was freeing the gill net from the cement piling.

It’s getting light, thought Nick. It figures that this guy might be getting ready to leave. Should I wait for backup here by his truck or move in now, catch him in the act and make sure he doesn’t get away?

Twenty-four years and two promotions later, now retired Patrol Captain Nick Albert provided me with a little insight into the decisions he made that day: “Catching a gill-netter in the act was so difficult and rare that I was desperate not to let the violator escape.

On the North Coast it was one of our major violations. I had hoped to catch him before he made it very far but that isn’t what happened. Even though things worked out in the end, in hindsight I would have done it differently.”

Without waiting for backup, the young, enthusiastic warden crossed the bridge and began a slow sprint up the south side of the river. Most of the south shoreline was exposed sandy beach with very few hiding places—Nick would have to stay out of sight the best he could and hope for the best.

Fortunately, the original suspect and an adult female were busy pulling in the gill net as Albert approached.

Warden Albert stopped behind a pile of driftwood and watched the two gill netters remove a large salmon from the net. The woman was medium height, thin and looked like she hadn’t used a hairbrush in weeks. She wore a bright red, full-length coat. Albert watched her pick up the salmon by the gills and carry it across the beach toward a patch of high grass. The adult male suspect was about Albert’s size, with short brown hair and a mustache. Both subjects appeared to be in their early to mid-thirties. The man continued to work on the net, removing debris and attempting to untangle a large steelhead.

I’ve seen enough, thought Albert. It’s time to end this thing.

Stepping away from his cover, Warden Albert walked across the beach toward the violators. The woman, later identified as Marla Kay Vinuchi, spotted the warden first and dropped the salmon she was carrying. “State Fish and Game!” shouted Albert. “Stay right where you are.” The male suspect, later identified as Ronald DeWayne Tucker, was preoccupied with trying to untangle the steelhead.

When he finally saw the officer approaching, he jumped to his feet and stared, wild-eyed, back at him.

Brandishing a large hunting knife, Tucker began walking toward Warden Albert.

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

 Abby J’s Gourmet

Editorial Comment: You’ll recall that Blackhawk Trophy Fly Fishing Stream was featured with other conservation minded businesses in the February issue of Legacy.

AbbyJsGourmet.com (featuring “farm to table” salsas) and Blackhawk Trophy Fly Fishing Stream are both owned and operated by Abby J.

The Soque River, a small winding river that runs down from the Blue Ridge Mountains past the northern Georgia town of Clarkesville, is perhaps one of the best kept secrets in the angling world today. If tangling with trout in the 3 lb. to 12 lb. class appeals to you, you'll love the action at Blackhawk, a stretch of the Soque that runs through private land.

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

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  Native Fish Society  Salmon Are Sacred  Salmon and Trout Restoration Association of Conception Bay Central, Inc  Save Our Salmon  Sierra Club – Cascade Chapter  Sportsman’s Alliance For Alaska  Steelhead Society of British Columbia  Trout Unlimited  Wild Salmon First

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

Featured Artists:

 “Water Writes” is a series of 10 collaborative mural projects in 10 cities across the globe.

Video: Orleans, California – Undam the Klamath

Video: Honolulu, Hawaii - Water as a public trust

The theme of water connects the participating communities and documents the current local and international water crisis.

Through our collective creative process, we engage youth, artists, organizers, and environmental activists to create imagery which reflects the relationship between the people and the water of each area. Community members are invited to a public paint day and able to participate in bringing these ideas into reality. The final murals are accessible to view by the public and also to communities across the world through video documentation and the Internet. We hope to spark discussions and cross collaboration between the participating cities and water warriors across the world.

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

 Geoffrey McNamara

Dr. Alexandra Morton admiring Geoff McNamara’s plague in British Columbia - salmon dying with their eggs locked inside them

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

 Anissa Reed: When you control the food, you control the people

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

 Leanne Hodges: Backbones and Bloodlines

“Backbones and Bloodlines” Leanne Hodges, Artist

West Coast Wild Leanne Hodges is a mixed media artist and naturalist living on Quadra Island in the Salish Sea. Her passion for the BC coast translates into visual narratives of wildlife, indigenous cultures, and our ecological footprint.

Leanne's art and advocacy celebrate both the creative experience and the abundant diversity of life on the inner south coast.

Slideshow Bio

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

Featured Fishing Photos:

 From the archives: World Record King Salmon Caught On the Kenai River, Alaska On May 17, 1985, Les Anderson of Soldotna, AK landed the all-tackle world record king salmon. This king weighed 97-pound, 4-ounce, was nearly 5 feet long and had an amazing 37.5-inch girth!

The improbable catch took place during the Kenai’s early run of kings, which typically features smaller salmon than the July run. What’s even more crazy is the fish probably weighed considerably more at the time Andersen caught it. After putting the giant in the net, he through the fish on the floor of the boat and fished the rest of the morning. Then, Anderson hauled it around in the back of his truck for awhile. Of course, it was one of those rare sunny & warm days in coastal Alaska…and the sun beat down on that fish for 7 hours before it was officially weighed.

There’s no telling how much weight the fish lost to dehydration but the king was probably pushing the 100-pound mark when it was fresh!! This record king salmon in on display at the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce.

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

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

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

 Idle No More ~ March for Wild Salmon Friday, March 1, 2013.

11:00am.

In concert with The March for Wild Salmon on the same day in Oslo, Norway Location: Victory Square – Cambie and Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C.

Editorial Comment: Wild Game Fish Conservation International endorses this very important, international wild salmon conservation movement. We will attend in solidarity with others March 1 in Vancouver, BC to peacefully demand that wild salmon be protected from the many negative impacts of open pen salmon feedlots.

Please do your part to protect our wild salmon.

https://www.facebook.com/events/549437745066538/ 11:00 am - Speakers, Indigenous Salmon Defenders (tba) 11:30 am - leaves via Hastings St, up Granville to Provincial Court building (800 Hornby St) 12:30 pm - arrive at Department of Fisheries, 401 Burrard Street at Pender with more speakers Child friendly – bring the family!

STOP NORWEGIAN FISH FARMS FROM KILLING WILD SALMON! We have reached a tipping point and cannot stand idly by while our most important food is destroyed by the fish farming industry.

Norwegian fish farms have colonized our waters and infected our wild salmon. Our salmon are forced to swim through the fish farm cesspools along their migratory routes. There have been findings of heart virus, salmon flu and brain tumors, all related to salmon farms, which have all been traced back to Norwegian sources. There is no safe passage for them!

Over 90% of B.C.’s nearly 150 salmon farm licenses are owned by three Norwegian multinationals: Marine Harvest, Cermaq (Mainstream in Canada) and Grieg.

For years British Columbians have tried to persuade this Norwegian industry to respect our Wild Fish, even offering to fund their transition to closed tanks, but they just keep expanding. 5000 people stood at the BC legislature telling government to get salmon feedlots out of the ocean, away from our Wild Salmon, but they did not hear us.

This is a time for people in Canada, Ireland, Scotland, Chile and wherever salmon farms are impacting wild salmon, to join forces and send a message loud and clear to DFO that wild salmon MUST be protected from the impacts of open-net salmon farms!!

Join the Voices for Wild Salmon to stand for the fish that brings life to our coast.

Learn more and boycott farmed salmon: http://www.salmonfeedlotboycott.com/ Please read, sign and share these petitions: • http://www.change.org/petitions/premier-christy-clark-do-not-renew-salmon-farm-leases • http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_European_salmon_viruses_from_killing_Pacific_salmon_r uns/?fklUgcb&pv=1

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

 Video: The Facts On Fish Farms – Dr. Alexandra Morton

Wild Salmon Warrior/ Stolo leader, Eddie Gardner

Legacy – March 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 – Year of the Wild Salmon!  We the undersigned put the Province of BC on notice!

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

 The 2013 Idle No More – Salmon Are Sacred March to Victoria Walking to end the abuse of the people, the land, the fish, our souls

Awinak'ola - "we are one with the land, sea and air."

February 2 – 10

Watch Video

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

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

 Petition: Salmon Feedlot Boycott

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

 Petition: Urge Washington Governor Inslee to support regional salmon solutions

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

 Oh Canada, our home and infected land!

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

 Video: The Salmon Story

W Wiilllliie eW Wh hiitte effe ea atth he err:: ““W Wh ha att a arre ew we ed do oiin ng g ffo orr o ou urr c ch hiilld drre en n? ?””

S Se eq qu uo oy ya ah hT Trru ue eb bllo oo od d:: ““IItt’’s s w wh he en n a allll tth he e ffiis sh h a arre e g go on ne e tth ha att w we e’’llll rre ea alliizze ew we ec ca an n’’tt e ea att m mo on ne ey y!!””

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

 URGENT

ACTION NEEDED: BRITISH COLUMBIA'S COASTLINE A TICKING TIME BOMB BEFORE WILD SALMON/TROUT STOCKS IMPLODE. Respond to the Cohen Commission recommendations now!

Salmon farming threatened by continued ISA outbreaks January 29, 2013

Canadian Food Inspection Agency admits no virus eradication possible Salmon farming in the Maritimes is threatened by the continued outbreaks of infectious salmon anemia (ISA) in open net pen salmon farms in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, according to prominent British Columbia marine biologist, Alexandra Morton.

Consumer consumption a solution?

“This spells the end of the salmon farming industry in the Maritimes unless they can persuade people to eat salmon infected with an influenza-type virus,” Morton said in an email to media Monday. Cooke Aquaculture reported last week that they would be processing more than two million pounds of salmon harvested from an infected farm near Liverpool and selling the fish though their consumer channels.

Morton added, "They will not be able to raise fish without this virus finding them.”

CBC radio reported Monday that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has concluded it can’t eradicate infectious salmon anemia in Atlantic waters and has changed its focus to preventing the virus, which kills fish but is considered harmless to humans.

My name is Leanne Hodges. I am a former DFO contracted fisheries guardian, wilderness tourism charter boat operator, eco-tourism guide, sport fisher, naturalist and wild salmon artist. www.westcoastwild.com .

I value wild salmon.

Do you have the moral courage to respond immediately to the devastating effects of open net, salmon feedlots and their impacts on wild salmon and their marine eco-systems ? Are you watching the devastating Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) outbreaks in eastern Canada ? Wild salmon / Trout population crashes in Norway, Ireland and Scotland due to drug resistant and persistent outbreaks !

I know intimately the menacing, open net fish farm issues, as I witnessed the many, many fisheries and marine mammal act infractions in the field. Illegal and sanctioned seal/sea lion kills, displaced Orca feeding opportunities, tons of herring destroyed, increased sea lice on doomed wild salmon smolts and juvenile fin fish nurseries impacted. Rather than charge these willfully destructive, industrial feed lots sited on our coast, the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans hierarchy allowed the Norwegian owned, open net fish farms exemption from the Canadian laws enacted to protect our own wild salmon under conservation and habitat protection.

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; March 2013 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2013 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Year of the Wild Salmon!

As a guardian I was tasked to ensure all stakeholders were treated equally if they should violate these laws.

The average stakeholder, property owner and taxpaying Canadian is not afforded, such blatant disregard for the environment, so why is a foreign company that knowingly harms wild salmon and our coastal ecosystems given the freedom to harm our coast?.

My DFO Pacific Region, supervisor would advise me to "stand down " when I caught fish farms harming wild salmon, marine mammals and their habitat. I took a stand and left a job I loved. Stepping into a kettle of red herrings I became a program coordinator for the Pacific Salmon Revitalization Initiative known as, the Displaced Fishers Skills and Retraining or the Mifflin program in Campbell River.

Another eye opening experience and what to me amounted to a political coup aiding the further expansion of fish farms. Whatever happened to the Pacific Salmon Revitalization and Wild Salmon Policy under the progressive, unprecedented fisheries agreement between province and the federal government?

This province acts like it doesn't care about the inextricably linked iconic, keystone species the magnificent wild Pacific salmon. Can you image how buoyant our wild salmon fisheries would be if we put the aquaculture investments back into area managed, community based fishery initiatives? Why are we squandering a gifted, nutritious food source, fishery, tourism, cultural revenue stream and west coast power nutrient?

Slice or Ivermectin, the sea louse pesticide is impacting lobster stocks on the east coast and threatening a significant economy. We know very little about transient impacts of these free flowing and abundant chemicals used on Pacific, open-net fish-farms and the impact on benthic or sediment dwelling invertebrates, such as the lucrative Pacific prawn fishery. http://web.uvic.ca/~serg/initiatives/spotprawns.html WHY risk so much for a minor industry where 90+ % of the revenue leaves the country? Given the huge conservation response to the commercial fleets through downsizing and perceived impacts on wild salmon, as vitally important to sustaining wild salmon, then the province and feds need to offer up the same HRSDC skills retraining and get the ocean farm transition to land in progress immediately.

Look to Washington's Aqua seed for success. http://www.aquaseed.com/about.html or recent support in Nanaimo http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/nanaimo-salmon-farm-nets-500-000-in-funds-1.1624 . Feed still a concern, but at least the chemical/virus laden effluent and sea lice issues mitigated.

Wild trumps, fish farms! This is industry is so wrong! Take a stand, as I did Premier Clarke and remove these ocean toxic blights, low paying jobs, small provincial revenue stream, and unsustainable, virus spreading violators from our sovereign waters.

Our regional eco-tourism, wild salmon and adventure tourism based companies (a 1.8 billion dollar contributor to BC's economy ), and heroic stewards, who ensure our province is a world leader in advocating the beauty and unique heritage on our coast deserve better representation by our governments. The provincial prawn fishery $45 to $50 million and $185 million sport fishery hangs in the balance.

WE are the back bone of the coast, as are the salmon. WE expect the highest of operational standards by our forestry companies and commercial fishers, and they pay an exorbitant price for their dedication. Honour their back breaking, generational commitment and personal, often volunteered sweat to maintain fragile wild salmon ecosystems by transitioning the farms to land. Once again projects and scientists like, Dr Andrew Wright , Eco-trust and Aqua Seed in Washington State have already proven their viability and cost comparisons.

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

Cohen Commission: $26 million wasted?

Today WE, the Wild Salmon Warriors stand against open net fish farms and the renewal of provincial water leases they are sited upon and will be relentless in our pursuit of the truth and wild salmon justice. Creating a voter-ship presence that should not be ignored, as the Cohen Commission recommendations state, "British Columbians will not tolerate more than a minimal risk of serious harm to BC’s wild salmon from salmon farms.

He stated that it is important that any fish health management plan ensure our fish are protected from the risk of serious harm. He concluded that “the potential harm posed to Fraser River sockeye salmon from salmon farms is serious or irreversible.”

Well, that impact concern is clearly serious with OIE certified labs confirming Scandinavian viruses in our wild salmon; BC WE have serious, irreversible harm. Where is the cautionary principal applied in this debacle?!

Based on the Cohen Commission findings and recommendations, proven Scandinavian virus strains exist in our Pacific salmon. International wild salmon and trout carnage already represents the unsustainable, marine ecosystem harming industry carnage. WE URGE YOU NOT renew these leases and focus on the federal Wild Salmon Policy. http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/species-especes/salmon-saumon/wsp-pss/index-eng.htm Quote " Canada's Policy for Conservation of Wild Pacific Salmon (WSP) represents Fisheries and Oceans Canada's commitment to maintain healthy and diverse populations of salmon that will support sustainable fisheries now, and meet the needs of future generations. WSP places conservation of salmon and their habitat as the first priority for resource management and encourages people throughout British Columbia and the Yukon to contribute to decisions about salmon conservation that reflect societal values."

What are your values, as a British Columbian raising children on a wild salmon coast with many, many species of animals dependent on our vital keystone species Do you and your family enjoy the resident orcas dependent on Chinook, the transients dependent on impacted, fish farm by-catch herring feeding the dolphins and seals they consume, or the bears, eagles, raven, kingfishers and herons? These are the voiceless and they will continue to suffer or disappear without the due consideration for their well being and if WE do not better manage salmon by protecting and renewing vibrant, productive habitat. We are better off revamping and funding our naturally occurring fisheries here on this coast, than inviting exotic species and habitat killing, open fish farms.

There are better ways to ensure healthy fisheries and habitat protection. WE in BC are acting like dim witted sheep, not proactive progressive and innovative world leaders. Here are a couple of good examples on how we can resurrect our natural wild salmon resource and cultural icon. http://blog.ted.com/2010/03/10/how_i_fell_in_l/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBoIHk7_fxg&noredirect=1 IDLE NO MORE! ~ And what about the First Nations culture and heritage wholly dependent on the wild salmon? As I said, Premier Clarke what are your values ? WE have now become a greater force called Idle No More with a vision to protect our precious natural resources from a wholesale sell off for short term political agendas. Without a healthy environment we are nothing. The wild salmon the canary in the coal mine ..... one viral outbreak the canary stops singing..... another silent spring crisis looms.

Do what is obviously right. Protect the wild salmon and you will be protecting an economy, a way of life, the arts, an ancient wild salmon culture and 200 species of plants and animals inextricably linked to wild salmon and our children will thank-you.

Spirit to spirit Leanne Hodges

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

 Farmed salmon kills our way of life

Alexandra Morton: The resistance to the invasion of Atlantic salmon onto the BC coast stretches back to its beginnings. It is time to revoke their licenses of occupation. If you agree write your MLA, despite what they might say, the province is the slumlord of this industry.

James Harris: “… as a Salmon fishing Guide my livelihood depends on them however the solution is not politicians.

They do not have the courage to save our wild fish or the environment for that matter. Politicians are reactive rather than proactive when we have a wild fish disaster the politicians will step in and then take credit for trying to solve the problem hoping we forget that they caused the whole mess with bad policy in the first place. The solution is changing corporate and consumer behavior remembering that we fight the good fight locally and provincially but most of our farmed salmon is exported primarily to the US.”

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

 Bill would allow counties to ban fish farming February 4, 2013 OLYMPIA — A bill sponsored by a Sequim Democrat in the state House would allow counties to ban net pen aquaculture.

The one-page bill, filed Thursday by state Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, a Sequim Democrat, says: “Master programs may include provisions for siting or prohibiting the siting of marine aquaculture net pen facilities.”

Steve Gray, Clallam County deputy director of the Department of Community Development, said that he was not familiar with the specifics of the bill, but said that some people in the county favor instituting a net pen ban.

Gray is in charge of Clallam County’s update of its shoreline master program, an endeavor still in early stages.

“We have a ways to go on this,” he said.

Editorial Comment: Good for Jefferson County - they have the right attitude regarding the protection and restoration of wild Pacific salmon, steelhead trout and other wild fish. Open pen salmon feedlots around the world destroy wild species, their ecosystems, communities, cultures and economies. Washington state should show the rest of the world that we will do ALL we can to protect and restore our wild Pacific salmon and all that rely on them - losing wild Pacific salmon is not an option!

“The next step would be to develop a working draft and submit it to the planning commission, followed by a series of public hearings.”

The one net pen operation in Clallam County is under the jurisdiction of the city of Port Angeles, Gray said.

The bill, although welcomed by Jefferson County commissioners, may not affect that county even if it becomes law, said Commissioner David Sullivan.

“I’ve heard about this bill, but I’m not sure it will change our situation,” Sullivan said.

“The bill would go into effect in July and we may have a conditional use structure by then.”

The county’s shoreline management plan has been on hold for two years during negotiations between the county and the state Department of Ecology, which supervises net pen aquaculture — the raising of species such as Atlantic salmon in pens.

County officials want to ban the practice while Ecology has ruled that counties do not have the right to do so.

The bill, which has been referred to the House Local Government Committee, adds that it does not allow a local government to ban facilities in conformity with requirements as of July 28 of this year.

An operator of a fish fin aquaculture farm in Port Angeles wants the state to continue to supervise the industry.

READ ENTIRE PENINSULA DAILY NEWS ARTICLE HERE

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

 Boycott Feedlot Salmon

Boycott feedlot salmon .... Unless you (like Dr. Alexandra Morton above) are buying them for testing for European viruses or to count how many sea lice they have.

Atlantic salmon raised in open pen feedlots are hazardous: •

Treated with dangerous chemicals parasites and deadly salmon diseases

•

Treated with chemicals to control color of flesh

•

Contain cancer causing PCB’s from feed

•

Feces, excess feed and chemicals accumulate on sea floor

•

Salmon diseases transmitted to wild salmon

•

Parasites transmitted to wild salmon

•

Marine mammal lethal removal (seals, sea lions)

•

Escapes

•

Unsustainable feed sources (forage fish)

to

control

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

 Action request: Protect Washington from Dangerous Coal Exports!

Tell Governor Inslee: We need your voice in the fight against coal exports!

The climate crisis dominated much of Governor Jay Inslee's first press conference since taking office, leading him to call coal exports, "the largest decision we will be making as a state from a carbon pollution standpoint certainly during my lifetime and nothing comes even close to it."1 And boy is he right! As proposed, coal exports terminals in the Pacific Northwest would burn 145 `million tons of coal producing as much carbon pollution for 52 million cars every single year. 2,3 If built, these coal terminals will exacerbate climate disruption that already fuels massive wildfires, causes our oceans to be more acidic damaging our local shellfish industry and makes winters shorter and milder harming our local winter sports economy. But strong leadership against coal exports can curb climate disruption and protect our Northwestern way of life.

Tell Governor Inslee to be a leader in the fight against coal exports and urge him to do everything in his power to stop dirty coal export terminals from being built in Washington.

While coal exports is a climate nightmare, we also know that coal is bad for our health, safety, air and water, and local business. Governor Inslee must defend Washington from these destructive projects.

The first step is to join elected leaders from all over the region in calling for an area-wide study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of what the impacts are to our state, our region and the world.

Governor Inslee has a reputation for being a leader on clean energy and climate, and has a clean energy agenda for the state that will protect our environment and put us back to work -- but exporting coal does not fit in with that vision.

Tell Governor Inslee to speak up for Washington State and demand the most rigorous review of these dirty coal export proposals!

Thanks for all you do to protect the environment,

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

 Help Defend BC’s Wild Rivers

Write a letter now!

You can help protect BC’s rivers, streams and fish from damage caused by the private hydropower industry! Private run-of-river hydro projects in the province are increasingly coming under scrutiny as more evidence emerges about poor planning, non-compliance with regulations, and water flow management problems that threaten fish.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request filed by the Wilderness Committee has revealed internal government documents that show over 700 cases of non-compliance at 16 independent power projects (IPPs) operating in the South Coast region of BC in 2010.

These non-compliance incidents include ramping problems (fluctuating water levels that can strand and kill fish) as well as numerous problems with reporting and monitoring by the industry.

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

The startling number of incidents recorded in these government documents is proof not only of the environmental damage these projects are causing, but also of the lack of enforcement from both provincial and federal agencies that regulate the industry. For more information, click here to view a recent article from the Vancouver Sun. The Wilderness Committee has also produced a new educational report about this issue, entitled “Defend BC’s Wild Rivers”. The report delves into the environmental, financial and political impacts of the province’s current energy policy, and explains how poor management at run-of-river projects in BC is causing problems for fish that live downstream of these facilities. It also raises concerns over the financial threat that private power poses to BC Hydro, because of contracts with IPPs that have forced our public utility to buy power that we don’t need, at rates much higher than market value.

If you are concerned about the privatization of our wild rivers, we encourage you to take action today.

Use the letter-writing tool on our website to write a letter to BC Premier Christy Clark, urging the province to enact a moratorium on IPP development and ensure compliance and enforcement of existing regulations.

Click here to write your letter now!

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

 Galaway says NO to toxic fish farm

Angling organisations in Ireland are planning another protest march against salmon farm expansion.

The latest march will bo to the Skipper Expo International Galway in Galway City on Saturday, March 2. This is a direct protest against the proposed salmon farms at various locations on the west and north-west coasts of Ireland including vast new farms in Galway Bay and Donegal.

The Ulster Angling Federation will be represented at the march, and would welcome as much support on the day as possible in an effort to show the Irish Government the strength of feeling against this proposal. The latest information on arrangements are: Saturday, March 2, convening for 12.00 midday at Eyre Square in Galway City. March through the town to the Claddagh where we will meet the boatmen with their boats and then on to the Galway Bay Hotel in Salthill. The hotel is the venue for the Skipper Expo and Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) will also be present at the show as sponsors.

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

 Fight

for the removal of Norwegian owned salmon farming industry in the waters of wild salmon

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

 Why Premier Dexter Should Halt Open Pen Fish Farming in Nova Scotia 

Open pen salmon isn’t good for you.



Open pen salmon costs taxpayers millions of dollars in subsidies and “crop failure” payments while threatening or destroying other, more sustainable existing industries.



Open pen fish farms pollute our coastal waters and beaches with tons of untreated waste.



Open pen fish farms aren’t good for lobsters, sea birds and other sea life.

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Open pen salmon farms deplete wild fish populations and destroy viable direct food sources.

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Open pen salmon farms easily become intensive breeding grounds for ISA and other serious diseases.



Open pen salmon farms are economically unsustainable.

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Open pen salmon threaten the health and genetic vigour of wild salmon.



Open pen fish farm licenses are granted in undemocratic ways, and privilege large national and international companies over citizens’ rights.



Land-based closed-containment salmon farms are the way of the future.

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

OLYMPIA CHAPTER OF TROUT UNLIMITED February 27, 2013 7:00PM NORTH OLYMPIA FIRE STATION 5046 BOSTON HARBOR ROAD NE

 Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife -

KEY DECISIONS FOR 2013

Program: The public is invited to the February 27th meeting of the Olympia Chapter of Trout Unlimited for a presentation by the Deputy Director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Joe Stohr. His color slide presentation will cover up-to-date information on new issues and new programs concerning our fisheries resources. Be on hand to ask questions about management plans directed by the Washington State Legislature; WDFW Commission sponsored programs and new programs being carried forward from 2012. Information on the WDFW budget as it relates to 2013 will also be discussed.

Light refreshments will be provided and all attending can participate in the fishing equipment raffle.

Bio: Joe Stohr is from Yakima, Washington and has a Bachelor of Science in Fisheries and Master of Science in Health Physics/Radiological Sciences from the University of Washington. He spent the early part of his career with State Department of Health and Department of Ecology as staff lead studying health impacts to the public associated with historic Hanford operations followed by management of state regulatory programs during the Hanford transition from nuclear weapons production to environmental cleanup. He served as the Department of Ecology Programs Manager for Oil/Hazardous Substance Spill Prevention and Response; managed the state Water Rights Program and served as water policy advisor for Department of Ecology Directors Fitzsimmons and Manning. He has been the Deputy Director of the WDFW since 2007.

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

Conservation Video Library – “Why we’re involved” The Fish Farm Fight; (6:51) 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)