Legacy - April 2014

Issue 30

April 2014

Legacy Š Wild Game Fish Conservation International

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

Wild Game Fish Conservation International Where conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection, especially of the natural environment

GMO salmon may soon hit food stores, but will anyone buy it? ((rre ea ad d rre ella atte ed da arrttiic clle es sa an nd dc co om mm me en ntts s iin ns siid de e))

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

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

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

Wild Game Fish Conservation International Founders

Bruce Treichler

Jim Wilcox

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Contents WGFCI Outreach via Legacy and Facebook ________________________________________________________ 10 Conservationist Extraordinaire – Walking the Talk __________________________________________________ 11  Jay Peachy __________________________________________________________________________________________ 11

Breaking Announcement! _________________________________________________________________________ 12  Ta’Kaiya Blaney: UNIFY LoveWater ____________________________________________________________________ 12

Editorial Opinion _________________________________________________________________________________ 13  We the People… _____________________________________________________________________________________ 13

Commentary: ____________________________________________________________________________________ 14  Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned _____________________________________________________________________ 14

Special __________________________________________________________________________________________ 15  How salmon help keep a huge rainforest thriving _______________________________________________________ 15

Seafood consumption: Public health risks and benefits _____________________________________________ 16             

Enjoy seasonal wild Pacific salmon dinners at these fine restaurants:____________________________________ Open pen salmon feedlot industry: Shameful, unethical, irresponsible ___________________________________ Tell Costco to Reject Genetically Engineered Salmon ___________________________________________________ What’s in Farmed Salmon? ___________________________________________________________________________ DDT found in salmon: Pesticide discovered in farmed fish on sale in five major British supermarkets ______ Increased use of medicine in Norwegian fish farming ___________________________________________________ Putting the Squeeze on Farmed Salmon _______________________________________________________________ Obese may be hurt by contaminants in farmed salmon __________________________________________________ 8 Foods Even the Experts Won’t Eat ___________________________________________________________________ Costco to Sell Salmon Fed GMO Yeast _________________________________________________________________ Contaminants found by Norway in their Farmed Atlantic Salmon ________________________________________ PCB levels in Canadian salmon (farmed vs wild) ________________________________________________________ Congratulations Overwaitea Food Group: Sustainable Seafood Policy ___________________________________

16 17 21 23 24 27 31 32 34 36 39 40 41

 PROUD TO SUPPORT WILD SALMON – Original art by Leanne Hodges __________________________________ 43  Wild Salmon Supporters – View entire list here _________________________________________________________ 44  Avoid most Atlantic salmon - Monterey Bay Aquarium: Seafood Watch __________________________________ 45

WGFCI: protecting what needs protected __________________________________________________________ 48    

Chehalis River dam meetings _________________________________________________________________________ John Kerry __________________________________________________________________________________________ Barak Obama ________________________________________________________________________________________ Honourable Rona Ambrose ___________________________________________________________________________

49 51 51 53

 Stephen Harper ______________________________________________________________________________________ 54  Derek Corrigan _______________________________________________________________________________________ 55  Water Ceremony: Tsleil-Waututh & Skwxwu7mesh First Nations in Sacred Burrard Inlet ___________________ 55

Community Activism, Education and Outreach: ____________________________________________________ 56  The Activist __________________________________________________________________________________________ 57  Never Give UP! _______________________________________________________________________________________ 59  Time for the government to sit up and take notice ______________________________________________________ 60  Brazilian indigenous leader slams Amazon mega-dams in Paris protest __________________________________ 62

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Crack Down on Deadbeat Dams _______________________________________________________________________ 64  Announcing: Alexandra Morton’s website ______________________________________________________________ 67  Refuse to expand the salmon farming industry in BC ___________________________________________________ 68  Locking Arms: Open pen salmon feedlot industry addicted to growth ____________________________________ 69  Locking Arms, Standing United: International march against Harper regime ______________________________ 70  Locking Arms: Atlantic Salmon Boycott Rallies – Real Canadian Superstores ____________________________ 73  Locking Arms: Simon Fraser University - March for Wild Salmon ________________________________________ 74  Locking Arms: Wild Salmon Solidarity Rally – Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Vancouver, BC) _______ 75  Locking Arms: Stop Farmed Atlantic Salmon - Real Canadian SuperStore ________________________________ 76  Well done guys! NO SALMON FARMS IN GALWAY BAY _________________________________________________ 77  Don Stanford: Five Fundamental Flaws of Sea Cage Salmon Farming ____________________________________ 80  Don Stanford’s Censored Salmon tour _________________________________________________________________ 83  137 Species Rely on Pacific Salmon ___________________________________________________________________ 85  Conservation groups call on Auditor General due to lack of action on $26 million salmon inquiry recommendations funded by taxpayers ________________________________________________________________ 86  Wild Farmed Salmon at this Restaurant in New Jersey __________________________________________________ 88      

Salmon Confidential – Historic State Theater – Olympia, Washington ____________________________________ Unist’ot’en Camp Resistance__________________________________________________________________________ Judge in Seattle Allows Lawsuit Over Coal Trains to Proceed ___________________________________________ Write to the Minister of Health, Stop GM Fish ___________________________________________________________ Doing nothing is not an option ________________________________________________________________________ Large crowd tells Hoquiam it doesn’t want crude oil here _______________________________________________

89 90 91 92 93 94

 The Canadian government: We call on you to fully protect the magnificent wild salmon of British Columbia. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 97  Canada says enough - No More Fish Feedlots! _________________________________________________________ 98  Idle No More Revolution _____________________________________________________________________________ 100  Tar Sands: Public Health and Environmental Risks – Exposed __________________________________________ 101  Tar Sands Gaining Momentum _______________________________________________________________________ 102  Sea Shepherd Saves Guatemalan Marine Life by Halting Poaching Operations! __________________________ 104  RESTORING WASHINGTON’S SALMON SPORT FISHERY ______________________________________________ 106  Wild Salmon Warrior Radio with Jay Peachy – Tuesday Mornings_______________________________________ 107

Open pen salmon and trout feedlots ______________________________________________________________ 108  Salmon Farming: Some Things are Just Wrong ________________________________________________________ 109  Reported Escapes from Fish Farms (1996-2012) _______________________________________________________ 110       

Canadians pay $millions for ISA-infected, farm-raised Atlantics in 2013 _________________________________ Fish farm sewage: DFO expansions cost you money ___________________________________________________ VISIT LANGSAND SALMON IN DENMARK - THE FUTURE OF SALMON FARMING ________________________ NOTHING BENEFICIAL ABOUT FARMED SALMON ____________________________________________________ Cyberspace opposition to British Columbia fish farm expansion ________________________________________ Fish Farm Pesticides closer __________________________________________________________________________ Fearing new fish disease ____________________________________________________________________________

111 112 116 119 120 121 122

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Sterilise farm salmon, say experts ____________________________________________________________________ 123  The giant floating robotic fish farm set to revolutionise salmon production ______________________________ 125  Fears 150,000 salmon have escaped Shetland fish farm after storms ____________________________________ 127  Call for ban on salmon to China ______________________________________________________________________ 129  Trailer -“Filet! Oh Fish” ______________________________________________________________________________ 130  Feedlot Salmon Boycott Campaign Intensifies _________________________________________________________ 131  Fear emissions of pollutants - requires cessation of farming ___________________________________________ 133  Your Best Sushi Years Are Behind You _______________________________________________________________ 135  Full-scale war over Galway fish farm__________________________________________________________________ 137

Climate Change _________________________________________________________________________________ 139  Marshall Islands at risk from sea-level rise ____________________________________________________________ 139  Bangladesh's Coal Delusion _________________________________________________________________________ 140

Energy Generation: Oil, Coal, Geothermal, Hydropower, Natural Gas, Solar, Tidal, Wind ______________ 143 Petroleum – Drilled, Refined, Tar Sands, Fracked ________________________________________________________ 147  Oil from the Exxon Valdez Spill Lingers on Alaska Beaches ____________________________________________ 147  Petropolis - Rape and pillage of Canada and Canadians for toxic bitumen _______________________________ 150  Sacred Spirit Bears, Diluted Bitumen and Hundreds of Oil Tankers _____________________________________ 151  The tar sands are damaging our air ___________________________________________________________________ 153  11 Million Litres a Day: The Tar Sands' Leaking Legacy ________________________________________________ 155  Profiling Oil Sands Mixtures from Industrial Developments and Natural Groundwaters for Source Identification ________________________________________________________________________________________  Pipelines and Oil Tankers, Economic Cost and Environmental Risk _____________________________________  The commercial Trans Canada doesn't want you to see ________________________________________________  38 year old Line 9 pipeline reversal approved for dilbit _________________________________________________  Oil trains traveling through Idaho on way to Washington, Oregon to increase dramatically _______________  Rail carries Canadian crude while Keystone pipeline decision simmers _________________________________  An Accident Waiting to Happen ______________________________________________________________________  Trading Water for Fuel is Fracking Crazy ______________________________________________________________

157 158 161 162 166 168 171 173

 A Canadian Company Is About To Become One Of The First To Extract U.S. Tar Sands Oil _______________ 175  National Energy Board under fire for approved changes coming to Line 9 _______________________________ 177 Coal __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 178  Probe to be conducted into health risks of proposed Metro Vancouver coal-handling facility _____________ 178  Coal quandary: Avista uses cheap power, but Inslee wary ______________________________________________ 180  Don’t blame ports for growth in coal shipments _______________________________________________________ 186  Investigation Into NC Coal Ash Spill Widens __________________________________________________________  Toxic Leak Taints North Carolina Coal Plants, And Regulators__________________________________________ Geothermal ___________________________________________________________________________________________  Canada’s high temperature geothermal reserves are in British Columbia ________________________________ Hydropower ___________________________________________________________________________________________  Battle lines being drawn in diplomatic water wars _____________________________________________________  “Damnation” ________________________________________________________________________________________

189 191 194 194 195 195 198

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 No Flood Money Included in State Budget _____________________________________________________________ 199  Dam-safety bill clears legislative committee ___________________________________________________________ 200 Liquefied Natural Gas __________________________________________________________________________________ 201  A Big Fracking Lie __________________________________________________________________________________ 201  B.C. environmental groups in court to argue against water use for fracking _____________________________ 204  Where will all the water come from for LNG? __________________________________________________________ 205  Nova Scotia LNG plant wins conditional approval _____________________________________________________ 207 Solar _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 208  Sonnenschiff: Solar City Produces 4X the Energy it Consumes _________________________________________ 211  California's Record-Breaking New Solar Plant Is Already Irrelevant _____________________________________ 213 Tidal __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 215  Nova Scotia and UK team up to study tidal power _____________________________________________________ 215 Wind__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 216

Forest Management _____________________________________________________________________________ 217  Sen. Murray: Wild Olympics bill likely won't pass this year _____________________________________________ 219

Genetically Engineered Atlantic Salmon: aka FrankenSalmon ______________________________________ 221  FDA: We don’t want FrankenSalmon! _________________________________________________________________ 221  Health Canada: we don’t want FrankenSalmon on our dinner plates_____________________________________ 222  GMO salmon may soon hit food stores, but will anyone buy it? _________________________________________ 224  Genetically Modified Salmon Court Case Prompts Federal Government to Publish Vague Notice of Waiver for Toxicity Information _______________________________________________________________________ 227  Safeway and Kroger say "No" to GMO salmon _________________________________________________________ 228  Feds face salmon egg lawsuit ________________________________________________________________________ 230

Government action ______________________________________________________________________________ 232    

I have to stop saying “How stupid can you be” ________________________________________________________ Still in Bed Together: BC Salmon Farmers and Department of Fisheries and Oceans _____________________ In Committee from the Senate of Canada - Fisheries and Oceans _______________________________________ Letter: Fisheries minister’s claim lacks facts __________________________________________________________

232 233 235 236

 City of Burnaby: Kinder Morgan Pipeline Expansion Application Incomplete _____________________________ 240

Burnaby Advises National Energy Board that Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project Application is Incomplete and does not meet Legal Requirements for Hearing and Public Evaluation ______________________________________________________________________________________ 240  Norway’s Atlantic salmon, sea trout and rainbow trout feedlots _________________________________________ 242  Can destroy "the world's most important wild areas» __________________________________________________ 243       

US aquaculture industry expects breakthrough year ___________________________________________________ North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Alberta Tarsands __________________________________ Senators Warn Keystone Report 'Woefully Inadequate' In Evaluating Health Risks _______________________ ‘We lost part of our soul’ in train disaster, mayor of Quebec town says __________________________________ Saskatchewan passes motion to support Northern Gateway pipeline____________________________________ Give Me One Good Reason Obama Should Approve Keystone XL_______________________________________ Big Oil’s new strategy: If you can’t build a new pipeline, just overload the old one _______________________

245 249 250 252 254 255 257

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Harper comes down hard on Taseko mine proposal ___________________________________________________ 259  Censored: Anti salmon farming activist must pay up after Supreme Court dismisses appeal ______________ 261  Fisheries minister visits Ladner for roundtable talk ____________________________________________________ 263

Greenwashing (aka: Pure Bovine Excrement) _____________________________________________________ 265  Fish farm licence delay ‘costing 2,000 jobs’ ___________________________________________________________ 266  Loblaws first to offer new responsibly-farmed certified Atlantic salmon _________________________________ 268  Launching of ASC standards receives criticism _______________________________________________________ 270  Salmon farming is built on science ___________________________________________________________________ 271  Fish feed breakthrough lifts salmon profits ___________________________________________________________ 272

Mining __________________________________________________________________________________________ 274  Beyond Pebble: Protect the entire watershed__________________________________________________________ 274

Wild fish management ___________________________________________________________________________ 277    

Missing fish farms offer clue to anticipated 70 million sockeye return ___________________________________ DFO assessment of herring fishery based on broken ecosystem, study finds ____________________________ Judge overrules minister’s decision to open herring fishery ____________________________________________ Proposed salmon fishery changes will harm independent fishermen ____________________________________

277 280 282 284

 Massive sockeye salmon run forecast for Fraser River _________________________________________________ 285  First Nations push to restore Columbia River salmon runs _____________________________________________ 287

Conservation-minded businesses – please support these fine businesses __________________________ 289         

Nature’s Garden: Tasty, Healthy, Organic _____________________________________________________________ Salmon Lodge, Quebec, Canada______________________________________________________________________ Rhett Weber’s Charterboat “Slammer” ________________________________________________________________ Taka Adventure, Alor - East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia ________________________________________ TMkey Film/Research ________________________________________________________________________________ Riverman Guide Service – since 1969 _________________________________________________________________ Learn to fish: experienced, conservation-minded professional instructors_______________________________ Cabo Sails – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico ________________________________________________________________ Westcoast Fishing Adventures _______________________________________________________________________

289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297

 Dave and Kim Egdorf's Western Alaska Sport Fishing _________________________________________________ 298  Old Mountain Fly Fishing Lures – Pirot, Serbia ________________________________________________________ 299  Great River Fishing Adventures ______________________________________________________________________ 300  Viviana’s SportFishing – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico _____________________________________________________ 301

Attention Conservation-minded Business Owners _________________________________________________ 303 WGFCI endorsed conservation organizations: _____________________________________________________ 303 Featured Artists: ________________________________________________________________________________ 304     

Dan Wallace: Passionate adherence to indigenous design _____________________________________________ Diane Michelin: "Estuary Essence" ___________________________________________________________________ Ta'Kaiya “Special Waters” Blaney ____________________________________________________________________ Anissa Reed Designs and Art ________________________________________________________________________ Jason Bordash: Fine Art America – “The Morning Rise”________________________________________________

305 306 307 308 309

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Featured Fishing Photos, “Funnies” and Not so Funny: ____________________________________________ 310  George Davis: Cubera Snapper_______________________________________________________________________ 311  Denny Clemons: Lahontan Cutthroat - Lake Lenore ____________________________________________________ 312  Gašper Konkolič: Sava River, Slovenia _______________________________________________________________ 313  Anissa Reed: “Dozens of eagles are getting a fill from a herring ball at this very moment.” _______________ 314  Vanessa Trainer’s Dorado (mahi mahi, dolphinfish) ____________________________________________________ 315  Nikola Novović: Moraca River, Montenegro ___________________________________________________________ 316  Mandi McDougal: Westcoast Fishing Adventures ______________________________________________________ 317  Lesly Janssen: Tolminka River, Slovenia ______________________________________________________________ 318  Steven Callan: Badges, Bears, and Eagles ____________________________________________________________ 321  “Wild Steelhead—The Lure and Lore of a Pacific Northwest Icon” by Sean M. Gallagher __________________ 322  Alexandra Morton: “Listening to Whales” Watch orcas up close HERE ________________________________ 323  Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat" - with a chapter on the "environmental catastrophe" of factory fish farming! _________________________________________________________________________________ 324  Terry Wiest: Float Fishing for Salmon and Steelhead __________________________________________________ 325

Video Library – conservation of wild game fish ____________________________________________________ 326 Final Thoughts: _________________________________________________________________________________ 327  Inconvenient Truth __________________________________________________________________________________ 327

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy Forward The April 2014 issue of Legacy marks thirty consecutive months of our web-based magazine, the no-holds-barred, watchdog journal published by Wild Game Fish Conservation International.

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

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

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. Additionally, 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 readers 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 – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

WGFCI Outreach via Legacy and Facebook

The March issue of Legacy has been read in these countries 4,500+ WGFCI Faceb

ook friends

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Conservationist Extraordinaire – Walking the Talk

 Jay Peachy

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Breaking Announcement!

 Ta’Kaiya Blaney: UNIFY LoveWater Watch, Listen, Learn HERE - Take Action March 22. 2014, 3:00 PM PDT: World Water Day - Synchronized Global Water Ceremony

Water Unifies us All. On March 22nd, join the world in the Synchronized Global Water Ceremony. At 3:00pm in your local time and 3:00pm Pacific. UNIFYing with the world to restore our relationship with this sacred medium of life.

No Water, No Life. Know Water, Know Life.

UNIFY.org is a platform to support the emergence of the Spiritual Renaissance happening on the planet.

LoveWater is a year-long campaign that will transform our relationship to water in every way possible.

Join us as we catalyze a global movement of beauty, love and truth.

Go to www.unify.org to learn more.

Deepest Blessings to you,

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Editorial Opinion

 We the People…

The people of the United States and Canada are directly responsible for declining populations of North America’s (aka Turtle Island) once-bountiful populations of magnificent wild fish. These gifts from God, the Creator, thrived in ponds, lakes, streams and rivers across this great and wonderful land – many also thrived in their nearshore and offshore marine ecosystems.

These fish have historically been cherished by indigenous people and by settlers alike as abundant sources of nutrition, key dietary components in many cultures. These fish also fed their ecosystems including other animals. All of creation lived in harmony Over time, following the arrival of European explorers and others, unwise and irresponsible land and water use activities across North America depleted many of the world’s finest wild fish to the point many have either gone extinct or are in real danger of doing so.

We are each responsible for allowing this ongoing catastrophe to take place. We have allowed government-enabled, greed-driven corporations to rape and pillage our lands, waters and the natural resources they sustain. This continues today at an unprecedented, unsustainable, breakneck pace.

Many believe that it’s too late to change this course of irresponsible utilization of these resources – they have given up on humanity to do the right thing to recover what we can and protect what we must.

Others of us believe wholeheartedly that it’s this generation’s responsibility to lock arms while standing united with others to recover, protect and conserve (use wisely) North America’s onceabundant natural resources.

Undoing the damage done to these precious natural resources the past one hundred years or so will require multiple generations of dedicated, like-minded people to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

There is no time like the present to begin to recover, protect and conserve the natural resources we have been blessed with – this is no longer the passion of a few conservationists – this is the responsibility of each of us – future generations depend on you and on me to leave our planet a better place than when we arrived – what will your legacy be? Will your heirs appreciate your conservation efforts?

James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Commentary:

 Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned

Planet earth, along with her bounty of natural resources, is being systematically destroyed by government-enabled, greed-driven corporations while her citizens are “busy” with what we consider to be important.

We’re rapidly becoming a highly-educated society of apathetic, unthinking, fearful sheep that does whatever we’re told by those in “authority” – a society that rarely questions whatever we hear and read – we don’t want to rock our little canoe.

It’s rare that we are held accountable for our actions – as such, our elected and appointed “leaders” are not held accountable – this must change – we must take responsibility for each of our actions.

We can no longer “fiddle” while mother earth is destroyed for the financial gains of a few at the expense of many.

We must stand united, arms locked and be Idle No More in order to control our own destiny as we were created to do.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Special

The Great Bear Rainforest is the largest temperate rainforest in the world. This huge and pristine wilderness depends on an unlikely source for its long-term survival – the salmon which spawn in its rivers and creeks.

 How salmon help keep a huge rainforest thriving Watch, Listen, Read, Learn HERE February 18, 2014 The Great Bear Rainforest is vital to the health of the planet. This enormous habitat covers 32,000 sq km (12,000 sq mi) on the Pacific coast of Canada, helping purify both air and water, and is an unspoiled home to grizzly bears, wolves and cougars.

The forest is the scene of one of nature’s most impressive migrations; the perilous journey of the Pacific salmon from the sea through the forest rivers to spawn in its creeks. The salmon run draws carnivores such as bears and wolves to the river bank, where they gorge on the migrating fish.

In this film, ecological economist Pavan Sukhdev, The Nature Conservancy’s lead scientist Dr M Sanjayan and camerawoman Sophie Darlington talk about the salmon’s unsung role in fertilizing the forest. The bears who feast on the spawning salmon don’t eat on the river – they drag the carcasses far into the forest. The remains of the salmon contain vast quantities of nitrogen that plants need to grow. Eighty percent of the nitrogen in the forest’s trees comes from the salmon.

In other words, these ocean dwellers are crucial for the forest’s longterm survival.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Seafood consumption: Public health risks and benefits

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

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Open pen salmon feedlot industry: Shameful, unethical, irresponsible Similar government-enabled marketing tactics as those employed by Big Tobacco, Big Oil, Big Pharmaceuticals…

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Why is farmed salmon so contaminated? Two reasons.





PCBs and dioxins exist throughout the foodchain. Farmed salmon eat pellets made of fish meal and grains that are soaked in fish oils. Since these toxins bind to fat, the oils in farmed salmon feed can contribute considerable toxin loads. Wild salmon do not eat rendered fish oils and so do not get this extra exposure.

The second source of toxins in farmed salmon is the grain used to replace fish meal which is becoming too expensive as it becomes scarce. Endosulfan is a pesticide that many countries stopped using when the Stockholm Convention recommended a worldwide ban in 2010 due to its bad impact on human health. Farm salmon feed companies, however, can but grains from countries that are ignoring this ban. Perhaps this grain is cheaper. While Norway is a forward-thinking nation in some ways, in 2013 they actually lobbied the European Union to allow 10 times more endosulfan in farmed salmon feed. It appears from the EU decision document that this was done to make farmed salmon feed cheaper and salmon farming more profitable. (See section 6). Kind of shocking, what about the babies of moms eating this?

Here is a list of scientific papers and popular articles on the toxins in farmed salmon: Download

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Tell Costco to Reject Genetically Engineered Salmon Kroger and Safeway--the #1 and #2 U.S. conventional grocery chains--have just joined other major retailers like Target, Meijer, Aldi, Giant Eagle, Whole Foods and many others in protecting consumers, wild salmon and the environment by rejecting GE salmon, but there are many companies who still haven’t responded. So, who’s next?

Costco is one of the largest retailers of salmon and seafood in the U.S. and is one of the last large retailers that hasn’t made a commitment not to sell GE salmon.

Sign the petition urging Costco to join its competitors and commit to keeping GE salmon off its shelves:

Dear Mr. Jelinek, CEO, Costco: As you may be aware, the US Food and Drug Administration is considering approval of the genetically engineered (GE) salmon, which would be the first GE animal ever approved for human consumption. Polls show the overwhelming majority of consumers don’t want to eat GE salmon.

Nearly 2 million people -- including scientists, fishermen, business owners, and consumers -- have written to the FDA in opposition to the approval of GE salmon.

More than 60 grocery retailers across the U.S., including Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Aldi, Target, Kroger and Safeway, have made commitments not to sell GE salmon or other GE seafood if it comes to market. As one of the largest retailers of salmon and seafood in the U.S., Costco should have a strong policy on this important issue. I urge Costco to join these other leaders in making a commitment to not sell GE salmon.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 What’s in Farmed Salmon?

Watch and Learn HERE

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Fresh salmon sold in five major supermarkets was found to contain trace levels of pesticide DDT

 DDT

found in salmon: Pesticide discovered in farmed fish on sale in five major British supermarkets March 7, 2014

    

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Trace levels found in Waitrose, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Iceland salmon Salmon production process involves dousing fish in chemicals to kill lice Fish also given protein feed which can contain DDT and other by-products Pesticide DDT banned for use 30 years ago because of risk to human health Some studies suggest link between DDT and Alzheimer's disease in elderly

Pesticides have been found in fresh salmon sold by leading supermarkets.

Farmed salmon from Norway and Scotland is hugely popular as a healthy oily fish.

However, the production process involves dousing the fish, reared in cages moored in the sea, in chemicals to kill parasitic lice.

They are also given a protein feed, created from small waste fish which can be contaminated with chemicals from the environment – including DDT and its by-products.

Trace levels of these chemicals were found in fish sold by Waitrose, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Iceland. DDT was banned for use almost 30 years ago because of its risk to human health.

A recently published study suggested a link between DDT, an associated by-product compound called pp-DDE and Alzheimer’s disease in the elderly.

Official studies show farmed salmon is more likely to carry traces of chemical pesticides than any other food type.

The Pesticides Residues Monitoring Programme, which is overseen by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), tested farmed salmon and trout sold in the supermarkets.

The figures from 2013, which have just been released through a Freedom of Information Act request, found the pesticides pp-DDE, Dieldrin and Cypermethrin, as well as other chemicals, in fish sold by supermarkets.

Dieldrin, a powerful pesticide, was banned in the 1970s.

It has been linked to health problems such as Parkinson’s, breast cancer, and immune, reproductive, and nervous system damage.

Cypermethrin is a pesticide used on farmed salmon to kill off lice that live on the captive fish.

The results revealed two samples of rainbow trout fillets from the UK sold by Morrisons tested positive for Dieldrin, while salmon sold by Iceland also tested positive. Tesco Everyday Value salmon fillets from Norway were found to contain traces of pp-DDE The chemicals accumulate in the fat of the fish. Salmon which is farmed is far fattier than the wild fish and therefore more likely to carry chemical traces.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters The details were revealed by Don Staniford, Director of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture, who is a long standing critic of fish farms.

He said: ‘Farmed salmon is the most contaminated food on the supermarket shelf. It should carry a Government health warning.

‘Salmon farmers can decontaminate fish feed – this has been known for decades but the industry has refused to take action.’

Government experts have ruled that the chemical levels are so low as to not pose a risk, say the HSE. The HSE added that it ‘does detect and report occasional residues of substances used to control lice on fish. When used for this purpose these substances are regulated as veterinary medicines.’

The British Retail Consortium, which speaks for food stores, said: ‘The HSE has confirmed the microscopic residues present no issues for consumers.

‘The chemical banned since the 1980s is still present in minute levels in the environment and the survey is to assess the levels present.’

The production process of salmon involves covering the fish in chemicals to kill parasitic lice. The creatures are also given a protein feed which can be contaminated with chemicals from the environment - including DDT and its by-products

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Increased use of medicine in Norwegian fish farming March 4, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters The Increase in sales of agents to treat sea lice infestations Continued in 2013.However, sales of antibacterials showed a reduction compared to the previous year. Sales of anthelmintics showed a slight increase compared to 2012.These figures come from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

Continued problems with resistant lice Sales of agents against sea lice (in kilograms) have two continued increases since 2012. There was an increased use of all agents against lice except cypermethrin and azamethiphos. The biggest increased item was for the chitin synthase inhibitors, diflubenzuron and Teflubenzuron. In 2013, sales of agents against sea lice were the levels seen in the early 1990s.

Taking into account the different dosage of the various agents, the figures show that the number of sea lice treatments was approximately at the same level in 2012 and 2013.

The trend in 2013 suggests continued high level of drug resistance in Norwegian salmon.

Reduction in azametiphos use may indicate lack of efficacy, as well as use in combination with other agents that lower dosage. Resistance to some agents against sea lice has resulted in increased sales of other agents. Use of sea lice treatment has been high since 2009.

In 2012, the use of hydrogen peroxide was somewhat reduced Compared to the previous two years. However, consumption has more than tripled from 2012 to 2013.

Still marginal use of antibacterials The sale of antibacterials for use in farmed fish in Norway varied in the period 2009-2013 (see table 1), but Because sales are very low, small variations in the number of disease outbreak are reflected in the statistics. In relation to the biomass of farmed fish produced, there are marginal changes in antibacterial sales, wooden are very low, the amount of antibacterials sold in recent years equate two Approximately 0.5 to 1 per cent of the fish being treated with a course of antibiotics.

Anthelmintic sales increasing Sales of medicine against intestinal worms have shown an annual decline since 2004, but increased for the first time from 2010 through 2011. In 2012, sales tripled Compared to 2011. In 2013 we see a slight increase in sales compared with 2012.

Other agents Consumption of the fungicidal bronopol has been relatively stable in the period 2010-2012, but Increased by 30 per cent in 2013.

Tables 1-5 show sales of antibacterials, sea lice treatment, anthelmintics, fungicides and anesthetics used in Norwegian aquaculture in the periodic 2004-2013. The figures are based on sales from wholesalers and feed mills.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

1) Estimated sales Source: Wholesaler-based Drug Statistics, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 2014.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Putting the Squeeze on Farmed Salmon Watch, Listen, Learn HERE

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

VIDEO: A researcher at the University of Bergen believes that obese should not eat farmed salmon.

 Obese may be hurt by contaminants in farmed salmon March 5, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Dr. Claudette Bethune:

 

“New research out on how the staggering levels of toxins in farmed salmon can lead the obese to metabolic disorders while those overweight with low contaminants stay healthy.

Researchers call for changes in dietary recommendations: “

A new study from the University of Bergen shows that the overweight have less risk of developing lifestyle diseases if they avoid contaminants in food. The researcher behind the study urges the overweight to not eat farmed salmon.

Researcher in Biology at the University of Bergen, Jérôme Ruzzin, has participated in a study showing that the obese have less risk for lifestyle diseases if they avoid contaminants in food.

- For the first time we have evidence that patients with obesity without diabetes have low contaminants in them. I think now that the recommendations on what we should eat, should be changed in the future, says Ruzzin.

SHOULD AVOID: researcher in biology, Jérôme Ruzzin, believes that farmed salmon is the worst.

It is the toxic substances in food that is why someone overweight has lifestyle diseases, while others are healthy. The results are from a research collaboration between universities in Norway, Sweden and Canada.

Farmed salmon the worst The researcher believes that it is farmed salmon that is the worst. Contaminants that researchers believe leads to diabetes and cardiovascular disease, are found in all foods with fat. But Ruzzin points out the fatty fish as the main risk food for overweight.



They take a chance on it, they will get many different pollutants in themselves, says the researcher.

Dismissing Warnings Research Director, National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES), Ingvild Eide Graff, rejects warnings from the university researcher.



Here at NIFES we analyze approx. 12000 farmed fish each year. Levels of these pollutants have decreased in the last ten years and is now very low. They are actually lower than the level in the wild, says research director.

NIFES is responsible for monitoring seafood that we have are safe and Graff believes that farmed salmon is harmless. She also encourages people to eat seafood.



It is much more dangerous not to eat farmed fish or seafood at all, explains Graff"

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 8 Foods Even the Experts Won’t Eat February 26, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Food scientists are shedding light on items loaded with toxins and chemicals–and simple swaps for a cleaner diet and supersized health. Experts from different areas of specialty explain why they won’t eat these eight foods.

Clean eating means choosing fruits, vegetables, and meats that are raised, grown, and sold with minimal processing. Often they’re organic, and rarely (if ever) should they contain additives.

But in some cases, the methods of today’s food producers are neither clean nor sustainable. The result is damage to our health, the environment or both.

So we decided to take a fresh look at food through the eyes of the people who spend their lives uncovering what’s safe–or not–to eat. We asked them a simple question: “What foods do you avoid?”

Their answers don’t necessarily make up a “banned foods” list. But reaching for the suggested alternatives might bring you better health–and peace of mind.

5. The Fisheries Expert Won’t Eat: Farmed Salmon

Dr. David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany, published a major study in the journal Science on contamination in fish.

The problem:

  

 

Nature didn’t intend for salmon to be crammed into pens and fed soy, poultry litter, and hydrolyzed chicken feathers.

As a result, farmed salmon is lower in vitamin D and higher in contaminants, including carcinogens, PCBs, brominated flame retardants, and pesticides such as dioxin and DDT. According to Carpenter, the most contaminated fish come from Northern Europe, which can be found on American menus. “You could eat one of these salmon dinners every 5 months without increasing your risk of cancer,” says Carpenter, whose 2004 fish contamination study got broad media attention. “It’s that bad.”

Preliminary science has also linked DDT to diabetes and obesity, but some nutritionists believe the benefits of omega-3s outweigh the risks.

There is also concern about the high level of antibiotics and pesticides used to treat these fish.

When you eat farmed salmon, you get dosed with the same drugs and chemicals.

The solution:



Switch to wild-caught Alaska salmon. If the package says fresh Atlantic, it’s farmed. There are no commercial fisheries left for wild Atlantic salmon.

Farmed Fish vs. Wild Fish: How Healthy Is The Fish At Your Favorite Grocery?

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Costco to Sell Salmon Fed GMO Yeast February 24, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Normally, news that Costco is test-marketing a new farm-raised salmon wouldn’t exactly make headlines—but this fish tale is different than the others.

This is the story of a salmon that has the potential to move the aquaculture industry away from the practice of using wild-caught forage fish as food for larger species—a practice that concerns both environmentalists and scientists.

Species like anchovy, sardines, and menhaden are the very cornerstone of the ocean’s food web. Too much pressure on these important stocks could have profound ripple effects if we continue scooping them out of the ocean to feed farmed fish.

But to get there, Verlasso, the company behind the salmon, is embracing genetically engineered or genetically modified (GM or GMO) technology. Unlike AquaBounty’s GMO salmon, which has been genetically altered to grow quickly in cold water (and is held up in the FDA rule-making process), the genetic engineering here is happening only to what the fish are being fed.

Verlasso is a joint venture between ag-chemical giant DuPont and farmed-salmon giant AquaChile.

They’ve developed a genetically modified yeast—one that carries genes from an Omega-3 producing algae—which has dramatically reduced the company’s reliance on forage fish as a component of the salmon’s diet. (It isn’t on the label.)

The industry term: “Fish In : Fish Out” is the ratio used to describe how much wild seafood (usually in the form of fish oil) is needed to produce one pound of farmed fish. For traditional farmed salmon, that number is about 3:1. All in all, around 50 percent of the world’s fish oil [PDF] goes to feed these fish. Verlasso’s ratio is closer to 1:1, an achievement that helped earn it a “good alternative” rating in August by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program—the first for a farmed Atlantic salmon raised in ocean net pens.

Pete Bridson, aquaculture manager at Seafood Watch, says Verlasso’s ability to reduce their reliance on forage fish was important, but wasn’t the only factor. Pens are stocked with fewer fish, which means there is less effluent impact (think: fish poo) to the water as well.

“The yeast is only replacing some of the fish oil. It’s not a complete solution, but it helps,” says Bridson. “And, [Verlasso] was very open to letting us see what they were doing, and monitoring their data, which was helpful too.”

Verlasso’s toehold in Costco’s seafood department could be huge. It’s the second largest retailer in the country, and is one of the largest sellers of salmon in the U.S. Costco declined our request for an interview, but Verlasso Director Scott Nichols tells Civil Eats that over the next few weeks, they’ll be selling sides of Verlasso salmon in 16 Costco stores in and around the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas, where the fish will appear alongside the store’s Kirkland brand farmed-salmon.

Much of that store-brand likely comes from Verlasso’s partner, AquaChile. The two companies have had a long relationship, which helped pave Verlasso’s entry into the retailer.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters In 2011, Costco stepped up their seafood sustainability policy, and agreed to stop selling 12 species of wild fish that were considered “red listed” by environmental groups. But in its yearly Seafood Sustainability Scorecard, Greenpeace placed the big box retailer a middling 13th place out of 20—in part, because it hasn’t kept pace with changes being implemented by other retailers.

Who has the top spot on the Greenpeace list? Whole Foods.

But despite Verlasso’s yellow rating from Seafood Watch, and its smaller reliance on forage fish, you won’t find it for sale at Whole Foods.

Verlasso and Whole Foods did have some exploratory, informal conversations in 2011 when Verlasso began to sell salmon on the market, but the talks never reached the point where Verlasso entered the store’s formal audit process. As I reported for Take Part last year, the grocer’s strict seafood guidelines for farmed seafood (you can read them here), include a preference for raising native fish and prohibits the use of antibiotics, a concern also raised in the Seafood Watch report.

While some consumers will likely be put off by the fact that Verlasso’s fish are eating a genetically modified ingredient, consider this fact: If you’re eating farm-raised salmon, it may already have been fattened on GMOs. Genetically modified soybeans are already being promoted as a sustainable alternative to fish oil, while some companies are exploring algae-based solutions and even insects.

Still, not everyone is convinced this is the right way to go.

“It’s notable that they’re trying to use GMOs to solve a systemic problem,” says Patty Lovera, assistant director at Food & Water Watch. “The same tactic being used in agriculture is now being used in aquaculture. In this case, they’re adding a GMO product to an open water environment; these salmon farms are not contained.”

One thing is clear: Reducing our dependency on forage fish is critical as we move towards more and more aquaculture production. By 2030, a whopping 62 percent of the fish the world consumes will come from aquaculture, according to a World Bank report released earlier this month.

Verlasso’s genetically modified yeast may not be the panacea to all of aquaculture’s woes, but if it can help keep more forage fish in the oceans where they’re desperately needed, perhaps it’s something to chew on.

Editorial Comment: This process seems fishy:

  

What percentage of the GMO wheat-“enriched” fish meal is wild fish oil?

Many variables, sustainability

including

food

source,

determine

Expected global increase in open pen feedlot salmon will not be sustainable even with GMO wheat substitution.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Contaminants found by Norway in their Farmed Atlantic Salmon

Dr. Claudette Bethune: “There is on average about 15 grams of total fat in 100 grams (15%) of wet weight filet. The contaminants in the filet are the same as in the fat, and publicly available (Norwegian food Safety authority mandate) on the industry/government supported web site here: http://www.nifes.no/sjomatdata/index.php?page_i d=&lang_id=2” (see table for farmed Norwegian Atlantic salmon)

Editorial Comment:

 

15% of what consumers of Norwegian farm raised Atlantic salmon buy is nonnutritious fat Norwegian farm raised Atlantic salmon contain cancer causing PCB’s and Dioxins along with other harmful contaminants (see above 2012 chart)

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 PCB levels in Canadian salmon (farmed vs wild)

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Congratulations Overwaitea Food Group: Sustainable Seafood Policy

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

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

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

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

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 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 – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Avoid most Atlantic salmon - Monterey Bay Aquarium: Seafood Watch

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

FARMED ATLANTIC SALMON There are many environmental problems related to farming Atlantic salmon, which means most are ranked "Avoid." However, efforts to reduce some of these environmental impacts have been successful.

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

Health Alert

Environmental Defense Fund has issued a health advisory for farmed salmon due to high levels of PCBs. Summary One of the biggest concerns is the amount of food required to raise farmed salmon. It generally takes three pounds of wild fish to grow one pound of farmed salmon. The environmental impact of salmon farming is still increasing as global production continues to rise.

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

Look for wild-caught salmon, clearly labeled U.S.-farmed freshwater coho salmon or Verlasso® salmon.

For now, "Avoid" most farmed Atlantic salmon.

Recipe Alternatives Seafood Watch recommends wild-caught salmon from Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, as well as U.S. coho (silver) salmon farmed in inland tanks and Verlasso® salmon.

Editorial Comment: You can do your part:

 

Frequent markets and restaurants that refuse to offer Atlantic salmon to their customers Support businesses that conserve sustainable populations of wild game fish

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

WGFCI: protecting what needs protected

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Chehalis River dam meetings Week of February 24, 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International co-founders, Bruce Treichler and Jim Wilcox, met with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife habitat staff, attended a Governor’s Chehalis River Basin Work Group presentation to Washington Senate members and met with Washington Representative Drew MacEwen to discuss the issues below regarding Chehalis River basin, flood damage reduction projects, especially the proposed Chehalis River dam: 1. Background:       



Legislative Building Olympia, Washington

Chehalis River basin in SW Washington is the largest and most complex river basin in Washington.

Chehalis River and its primary tributaries have flooded often throughout history – some years more than others.

Chehalis River flood damage in 2007 led to the Washington Legislature creating and funding the Chehalis River Basin Flood Authority for one year, beginning in mid-2008.

The purpose of the Flood Authority was to develop a basinwide strategy for flood damage reduction The Flood Authority’s initial eleven members represented local jurisdictions and the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation.

The Flood Authority has been funded each year since it was formed – The Flood Authority’s budget this biennium is $28 million. It’s likely to increase the next biennium if approved by the legislature.

Governor Gregoire created Governor’s workgroup. Members included Thurston County Commissioner, Chair of the Confederated Tribes, Representative from the Dairy Industry, Attorney from Lewis County, and Governor representative. It is facilitated by staff from the Ruckelshaus Center. They have done the bulk of the project development, etc. for the Governor, not the FA Chehalis River flood-related damage has been exacerbated the last 100 or so years by: o Irresponsible floodplain development throughout the Chehalis River basin o Irresponsible logging practices throughout the Chehalis River watershed

2. WGFCI recommendations to reduce Chehalis River flood damage:  Moratorium on Chehalis River floodplain development  Moratorium on steep slope, clearcut logging throughout the Chehalis River watershed  Utilize professionals in Washington agencies to conduct studies/research  Ongoing and future studies and reports be peer reviewed via University of Washington or Washington State University  Comprehensive Benefit/Cost analysis associated with a Chehalis River dam

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters 3. Results of these recommendations to the Flood Authority:  All were summarily ignored  Flood Authority continues to promote and attempt to justify a Chehalis River dam just above the town of Pe Ell.  Flood Authority continues to commission studies via private contractors/consultants – Studies published minus independent peer review 4. WGFCI Recommendation regarding the Chehalis River Basin Flood Authority:  Disband the Flood Authority given their costly ineffectiveness – Continue only as long as legally required to fulfill open contracts.

5. Realities:  The proposed Chehalis River dam will not be cost effective  Construction and maintenance funding for the proposed Chehalis River dam will not become available.  The proposed Chehalis River dam will not provide basinwide flood damage reduction, even if the abnormal 2007 storm event and conditions were repeated (unlikely) following dam construction.  The Quinault Indian Nation, the only Tribe with federally guaranteed rights in the Chehalis River basin and a member Tribe of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, formally opposes construction of the proposed Chehalis River dam  The Quinault Indian Nation, as fisheries co-managers and as the only Tribe with federallyguaranteed rights in the Chehalis River basin, has not been involved in processes associated with the Chehalis River Basin Flood Authority or with the Governor’s Work Group  Federally listed fish and wildlife species within the Chehalis River basin would be significantly impacted by the proposed Chehalis River dam  Catastrophic damage, including structures and loss of many lives, will occur when the proposed Chehalis River dam fails  Credible studies have yet to be funded and conducted in order to determine dam feasibility: o Geological o Hydrological o Seismic (known local faults) o Aquatic species (resident, anadromous, fin fish, shell fish) o Wildlife species (big game, small game, waterfowl, upland birds) o Cultural sites and artifacts/archeology o Dam design o Benefit/Cost analysis o More 6. Bottom line:  Catastrophic flood damage is long overdue in the Chehalis River basin - not since January 7, 2009  No effective, basinwide flood damage reduction strategy is implemented,  Catastrophic Chehalis River basin flood damage is expected to occur multiple times during the next several years  Floodplain development and steep slope clear cut logging continue throughout the basin thus exacerbating the impact of future storm events

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 John Kerry Secretary of State United States of America Wild Game Fish Conservation International, on behalf of our colleagues around planet earth, respectfully urge those elected or appointed to protect earth's citizens and her natural resources to oppose construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

This pipeline and the toxic materials it will transport are nothing less than weapons of mass death and destruction as evidenced in Canada and in the United States of America.

Extraction of bitumen from Alberta's tarsands has resulted in catastrophic public health and environmental risks like no other project in history.

John Kerry

Transportation of diluted bitumen by rail and pipeline have led to irreversible property damage and loss of human life. Impacted land and water resources will never fully recover.

Increased export via oil tankers will lead to increased marine accidents and irreversible damage to fragile ecosystems.

Refining and burning this hazardous material will only exacerbate impacts of a changing climate.

This insane reliance on fossil fuels at the expense of society only financially benefits a small number of unethical, greed-driven egomaniacs.

Now is the time to free ourselves from this madness.

 Barak Obama President United States of America We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International support the removal of obsolete dams for the environmental and economic health of our country. We ask your help to remove four especially harmful, federally operated dams on the lower Snake River: Ice Harbor Dam, Lower Monumental Dam, Little Goose Dam and Lower Granite Dam. Since its founding, our nation has built the equivalent of a dam a day, for a total that now exceeds 75,000. Many of these dams have become obsolete, providing minimal value and costing millions in upkeep yet doing sustained harm to public safety, ecosystem health, fisheries and tribal culture.

Barak Obama

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Communities in nearly every state are choosing to remove high-cost, low-value dams to restore rivers, recover fish stocks, revitalize waterfronts, improve quality of life, and render watersheds more resilient to climate change.

The Columbia-Snake river system in the Pacific Northwest provides a great opportunity for action.

Abundant wild salmon and steelhead once supported tribes, fishing communities and ecosystems, with up to 30 million wild fish entering the mouth of the Columbia River every year.

Now a fraction return, decimated by a gauntlet of dams that kill most of the salmon migrating through them.

The worst offenders are on the lower Snake River in southeastern Washington. These four dams – Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite – degrade water quality, harbor nonnative species, and impede salmon migration to and from their spawning grounds, which happen to be the healthiest salmon habitat remaining in the lower 48 states. The Snake River once produced half the salmon in the Columbia Basin; now every Snake River salmon stock is on the Endangered Species list or extinct.

These four obsolete federal dams cost taxpayers millions of dollars every year while providing no flood control and little irrigation. The small barge-transportation system they enable does not support itself and is in steep decline as users shift to the available rail system. Continuing to modernize this existing railroad and other improvements can provide far more efficient transportation for farmers and other shippers.

Removing these dams would save the millions of taxpayer and utility-ratepayer dollars now spent on their operation and maintenance. It is the surest means of restoring wild salmon and steelhead to self-sustaining numbers in more than 6,000 miles of river habitat. Current salmon mitigation efforts have cost more than $13 billion over the past two decades but have failed to produce recovery.

Snake River dam removal would benefit fishing and recreational businesses, create jobs in revitalized river communities and enhance overall ecosystem health. Improved energy efficiency and affordable clean renewables are already meeting nearly all new electricity needs in the Northwest, and investments in both can replace these dams’ sporadic hydropower production while reducing regional carbon emissions and improving water quality.

Diverse interests across the country have come together to remove obsolete dams and find more cost-effective options for power, shipping, irrigation and other needs. Success stories include the Elwha and White Salmon Rivers in Washington, the famed Rogue River of Oregon and the Kennebec and Penobscot Rivers in Maine.

Now is the time for action on the Snake. Under your leadership, farmers, fishermen, energy producers and others can forge common solutions to restore wild salmon and benefit all stakeholders throughout the region while lightening the taxpayer burden. As a first step, we urge your administration to authorize economic and feasibility studies on removing these high-cost, low-value dams. Thank you for your help.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

ď ś Honourable Rona Ambrose Minister of Health Canada I am writing on behalf of Wild Game Fish Conservation International to respectfully request that you deny the AquaBounty application to provide genetically modified (GM) fish for human consumption in Canada.

The GM Atlantic salmon is genetically modified with a growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon and genetic material from ocean pout (an eel-like creature), to grow faster.

Genetic engineering of these problematic Atlantic salmon will exacerbate the known risks to public health and wild ecosystems associated with Atlantic salmon reared in open pen feedlots - unsustainable reliance on wild fish processed for their feed, contamination fish and environment due to pharmaceutical treatments fish feces and food waste, uncontrollable sea lice, disease outbreaks, escapes and predator control.

Rona Ambrose

Environment Canada recently gave the company AquaBounty permission to produce GM Atlantic salmon eggs in Canada, for sending to Panama for grow out and processing for the U.S consumer market. Now the company says it also wants approval to sell the GM fish in Canada.

We know from AquaBounty that their products are not all sterile females and that they will be unable to control where the fish from their manufactured eggs will raised prior to harvest.

If Canada or the U.S. approve this fish for human consumption, it will be the first GM food animal in the world. It's unacceptable that Health Canada's entire process for assessing the safety of this GM fish is secret, that the public is not consulted, and there will be no mandatory labelling of GM salmon.

It's absolutely unacceptable that Health Canada refuses to even tell Canadians what GM animals it is assessing for human consumption.

Please stop this secret process and immediately deny human consumption of GM fish in Canada.

The risks to public health and wild ecosystems are too great to ignore.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Stephen Harper Prime Minister Canada cc: Gail Shea Minister, Fisheries and Oceans Canada Peter Ferguson Manager, Legislation and Regulatory Affairs, Fisheries and Oceans Canada Re: Proposed Regulations Establishing Conditions for Making Regulations under Subsection 36(5.2) of the Fisheries Act, published in the Canada Gazette, Part I February 15, 2014 I am writing to you today on behalf of Wild Game Fish Conservation International and our conservation-minded associates around planet earth to respectfully urge you not to pass section 2 of the proposed regulations that would allow the Fisheries Ministers to give blanket-authorization to fish farms and other industries to pollute our fisheries waters.

I also respectfully urge you not to pass section 4 of the proposed regulations that would allow the Environment Minister to offload responsibility for pollutants onto the provinces or other government agencies.

Stephen Harper

Wild fish play important health, economic, cultural, spiritual and recreational roles across Canada.

Careful monitoring and case-by-case consideration of pollution approvals helps safeguard our waters, our fisheries and our communities.

Allowing for blanket-approvals and offloading responsibility onto the provinces would result in less efficient and less effective, fisheries protection throughout Canada. These regulations are not in the best interests of our fisheries or of Canadians, nor are they in the interest of international fisheries that share these vitally important marine ecosystems.

Alexandra Morton: Received a note this morning from a person on the coast: “A barge with the H2 O2 tanks has been seen in Menzies Bay for the past month roughly. I would doubt that it has just sat there, so it is likely being used and brought back to Campbell River Marine Terminal to re-stock chemicals, but that's just a guess.

This barge stands out because the tanks look brand new and have a picture of an orca on them, they are roughly the size of a shipping container and there is what looks like pumps on the barge as well.

Yesterday there was three people in full body hazmat style suits with respirators working on them. It looked like they were washing down the outsides.

Anyways, a staff member at the terminal said the tanks are full of hydrogen peroxide in a very high concentration, he thought 70% and said "ya there's a lice problem”.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Derek Corrigan Mayor Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International and our colleagues applaud your courageous action taken recently to voice your community's significant concerns regarding the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project to Canada's National Energy Board.

According to your press release today, you correctly identified many of the same concerns that we have shared with you and others regarding this project, a project that comes with many significant risks to public health, communities, wild ecosystems and economies.

Derek Corrigan

Kinder Morgan's government-enabled, deceitful marketing strategies to promote the twinning of their original, 60-year-old, failing Trans Mountain pipeline is clearly "Greenwashing" at best and fraudulent, if not criminal at worst.

Please know that we will be honored to lend our voice to your efforts if that will assist in protecting your community from the irreversible risks of this unethical project before they occur..

Thank you again for your courage and leadership.

 Water

Ceremony: Tsleil-Waututh & Skwxwu7mesh First Nations in Sacred Burrard Inlet Watch, Listen, Learn HERE

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Community Activism, Education and Outreach:

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 The Activist

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Never Give UP!

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Time for the government to sit up and take notice March 15, 201 The people of our province have spoken about the aquaculture industry and their views were summarized and shared with the public recently in a government document called “What We Heard.”

The most outstanding insight coming out of these very limited consultations is that the fin-fish aquaculture on the south coast has much deeper issues than the slick public relations campaign by the industry can ever hope to gloss over.

In that document, 80 per cent of the respondents labelled the salmonid aquaculture industry as performing “poorly.” Indeed, fully 50 per cent thought the aquaculture industry performed “very poorly.” Premier Tom Marshall, Natural Resources Minister Derrick Dalley — are you listening?

Many of us have been trying to tell the government for years about the negatives of fin-fish aquaculture, but they have chosen to let our concerns fall by the wayside. Well, what about now?

These concerns are well known — pesticide use (legal and illegal) to treat the proliferation of sea lice; the numerous outbreaks of infectious salmon anemia and its repercussions; the near-annihilation of our wild salmon; the slaughter of predators; escapees which will dilute the wild gene pool; the pollution of our waters through untreated effluent and feces; and finally, the ungodly amounts of investments, subsidies and compensation insurance paid out to the industry each year.

Now, the provincial government has argued that all of this is needed to ensure the sustainability of the industry; but if all of these ills comprise what is known as sustainability, it is a no-win situation for taxpayers, the environment, our wild fish — indeed, even our own health.

The aquaculture industry is the only winner here, as there is no accountability on their part to ensure that they do it right.

This is not sustainability by any account.

What government heard from its citizens should now kick-start a new era in our aquaculture industry.

One of the suggestions expressed by many was that government should explore the new closed-containment option which it has steadfastly ignored up to now.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Sure, it’s more expensive, but just imagine how far ahead we would be now if the $35 million government has already paid in insurance to these companies had been put into land-based pens instead. We would now be a world-leader in environmentally sustainable aquaculture. And it’s coming, so let’s get onboard.

So head’s up to the aquaculture industry — if the government won't bring you to your senses, there's a growing groundswell of people who will.

Our bays, our wild fisheries, our ecosystems and our own health are far too precious to just pass over to those companies who do not treat them with the respect they deserve. So either develop your industry sustainably for future generations — or perish.

Rick Maddigan is a former president of the Salmonid Association of Eastern Newfoundland and vicepresident of the Salmonid Council of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Organizations: Salmonid Association Newfoundland and Labrador

of

Eastern

Newfoundland, Salmonid

Council

of

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Brazilian Indian Sonia Guajajara and over a hundred supporters protested today in Paris against Brazil’s construction of a series of mega-dams in the Amazon rainforest.

 Brazilian indigenous leader slams Amazon mega-dams in Paris protest March 14, 2014 Brazilian Indian Sonia Guajajara led a protest in Paris today – the International Day of Action for Rivers – calling for a halt to the construction of mega-dams in the Amazon.

Sonia led over a hundred protestors to the offices of French companies GDF Suez, EDF and Alstom, which are involved in the construction of several destructive dams.

She led the group in forming ‘human waves’ which crashed into the office buildings to represent the destruction of large Amazonian dams by the global anti-dam movement. The group then carried its messages to the River Seine. Survival supporters carried placards reading ‘STOP AMAZON DAMS’.

Sonia, of the Guajajara tribe in the north-eastern Amazon, is the national coordinator of the Association of Indigenous Peoples (APIB), a network of indigenous organizations in Brazil.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters She said, ’Brazil’s reputation is at stake… We are here to bring visibility to the unacceptable prejudice and discrimination suffered by indigenous peoples and to demand that it stops’.

Despite fierce opposition, Brazil is forging ahead with its construction of the massive Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River, and the Madeira and Tapajós river dams, all in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

Sonia Guajajara urged the Brazilian government and French companies GDF Suez, EDF and Alstom to stop the construction of several destructive dams.

Thousands of Indians have been protesting against these projects, warning that they are devastating the forest and putting at risk the lives of the thousands of Indians who live there.

Indian leader Megaron Kayapó said, ‘Which rivers will we have for fishing? The Xingu is our river, our supermarket… We live by hunting, fishing, and planting… We have always been against it (Belo Monte), and we will always be against it’.

The uncontacted Indians living near the dam construction sites could be completely wiped out by outside diseases brought in by the thousands of migrants being drawn to the areas.

On Tuesday, Sonia denounced Brazil’s abuse of indigenous rights at the United Nations in Geneva, including the government and landowners’ aims to weaken indigenous rights and open up indigenous territories for massive industrial projects.

Director of Survival France, Jean-Patrick Razon, said today, ’Sonia’s demands in Paris today, just three months before the World Cup kicks off, act as another wake-up call to the human rights scandal inflicted on the Indians by these French companies, and by the Brazilian state. When will they listen and put a stop to this once and for all?’

Sonia’s visit to Europe was coordinated by Amazon Watch, France Libertés and Planète Amazone.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Crack Down on Deadbeat Dams Petitioning President Obama – Sign Petition HERE Communities in nearly every state are choosing to remove high-cost, low-value dams to restore rivers, recover fish stocks, revitalize waterfronts, improve quality of life and render watersheds more resilient to climate change.

Join us in calling on President Obama to crack down on deadbeat dams, beginning with four especially harmful, federally operated dams on the lower Snake River in southeastern Washington: Ice Harbor Dam, Lower Monumental Dam, Little Goose Dam and Lower Granite Dam. Snake River salmon and steelhead once thrived, with up to 30 million wild fish entering the mouth of the Columbia River every year. Now, every Snake River salmon stock is on the endangered species list or extinct.

Obsolete dams impose a high cost on river communities and ecosystems, our economy and tribal cultures. We have found better ways to do the work of dams, and we have a historic opportunity to restore wild salmon to over 6,000 miles of river habitat. Now is the time for action on the Snake.

This petition was created in conjunction with the documentary film DamNation, and supporting partners Patagonia and Save Our Wild Salmon. Please visit DamNationFilm.com to learn more.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Announcing: Alexandra Morton’s website

For nearly forty years, I have dedicated my life to restoring the balance between the people and the wild salmon off the coast of British Columbia.

In 1984, I followed the whales into a remote inlet off the west coast of Canada and made it my home. There were no roads, electricity or telephones, but wild salmon and wildlife thrived, as well as a community of people.

When the salmon farms first appeared, we were told they would be good for us. Then the toxic algae blooms and sea lice developed, and the wild salmon die-off began.

First the whales I was studying left, then the salmon populations crashed and then my beloved community began to fade away. Today there are only 8 people left in the village and 27 Norwegianowned salmon feedlots dot the area.

This website tells the story of an ongoing battle. It references science, activism, films and legal battles I have undertaken (with the help of many) to keep this part of our planet alive and thriving.

I invite you to spend just a short while on this website. If I could ask you to do one thing, it would be to use your purchasing power for the force of good because without willing consumers, the salmon farm industry would not exist in the North Pacific.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Refuse to expand the salmon farming industry in BC Sign Alexandra Morton’s Petition to BC’s Premier Christy Clark HERE

100,000+ signatures - increasing daily Dear Premier Christy Clark: Please do not issue Licences of Occupation to the salmon farms trying to expand in British Columbia.

Wild salmon are much too important to the world to risk for a dirty industry that refuses to contain its waste and pollutes our oceans.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Locking Arms: Open pen salmon feedlot industry addicted to growth Alexandra Morton February 28, 2014

When the Mt Waddington Resource Board was tasked to look at allowing salmon farming into the Broughton, we had no idea how damaging it was going to be.

Imagine - tons of industrial feedlot waste dropping to the seafloor in Sir Edmund Bay, Simoom Sound, Burwood, Tribune Channel, Sargeaunt Pass - some of the best prawn, rock cod and salmon areas on this coast.

What a stupid short-sighted way to treat such valuable wild fisheries.

However, some of us fought hard to keep this filthy industry off the wild fisheries. We failed because we were blocked at every turn. At that time I truly believed there was a place for salmon farms outside of the important wild fisheries.

Today I do NOT see it that way.

The industry is an addict to growth. They will never be satisfied because they depend on continued growth.... well nothing can grow endlessly - we know that - it kills us.

Same with our precious ocean resources. I don't know why most fishermen were so easily separated from their fish and went docilely on their way, abandoned their fisheries and thus any chance of young people having the way of life they did!

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Locking Arms, Standing United: International march against Harper regime Unceded Coast Salish territory AKA Vancouver – Watch, Listen, Learn HERE March 1, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Locking Arms: Atlantic Salmon Boycott Rallies – Real Canadian Superstores Mission, Chilliwack, Coquitlam and Cranbrook March 15, 2015

Salmon Farms

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Locking Arms: Simon Fraser University - March for Wild Salmon Declare SFU A Farmed Salmon Free Zone!

March 4, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Locking

Arms: Wild Salmon Solidarity Rally – Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Vancouver, BC) Watch, Listen Learn: Wild Salmon Solidarity Rally at DFO; Feb 17 2014 HERE

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Locking Arms: Stop Farmed Atlantic Salmon - Real Canadian SuperStore National Wild Salmon Solidarity Rallies – One consumer at a time Watch video HERE February 22, 2014

(Chilliwack - Photo credit: Chris Gadsen, Gary Haggquist)

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Well done guys! NO SALMON FARMS IN GALWAY BAY

Galway Bay Against Salmon Cages on Shop St. Galway 15th March receiving fantastic support from the public.

Well done guys! NO SALMON FARMS IN GALWAY BAY

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Don Stanford: Five Fundamental Flaws of Sea Cage Salmon Farming European Economic & Social Committee in Brussels - Entire presentation HERE February 14, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Don Stanford’s Censored Salmon tour February 26, 2014 Ullapool, Scotland - The smoking hot 'Salmon Farming Kills' campaign has been re-launched

by Don Staniford in his new role as Director of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture (GAAIA). Don Staniford was previously the Global Co-ordinator of GAAIA and this week stepped down as Director of Protect Wild Scotland to work full-time on the 'Salmon Farming Kills' campaign.

Don Staniford will be visiting Norway in June (13-18) and Canada in September/October as part of the 'Censored Salmon' tour.

"GAAIA will be delivering the 'Salmon Farming Kills' message to all corners of the globe," said Don Staniford, Director of GAAIA. "The Norwegian State, as owners of Mainstream/Cermaq, may be able to silence free speech in corporate Canada but they cannot censor global criticism about the salmon farming industry's polluting practices.

Norway may have a monopoly on salmon farming but Norway does not own the truth.

The ugly truth is that salmon farming spreads toxic wastes, infectious diseases, sea lice parasites, social problems and contaminated food around the world.

Far from being labelled as 'healthy and nutritious', farmed salmon should carry an environmental and public health warning."

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

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98% of B.C.’s approximately 150 salmon farm licenses are owned by three Norwegian multinationals: Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg, represented respectively by the pink, orange and green dots on this map.

Approximately 85% of the farmed salmon is shipped to the U.S. after minimal processing.

Salmon feedlots kill Wild Salmon.

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.

Join the Voices for Wild Salmon to stand for the fish that brings life to our coast at Salmon Are Sacred: https://www.facebook.com/groups/11 1365508874859/

Salmon feedlots must GET OUT of our ocean.

NORWAY: GO HOME!

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 137 Species Rely on Pacific Salmon Isn’t time you put your carcass to work?

Read entire list and more HERE

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Conservation

groups call on Auditor General due to lack of action on $26 million salmon inquiry recommendations funded by taxpayers February 24, 2014

Vancouver--Watershed Watch Salmon Society and SOS Marine Conservation Foundation today filed Environmental Petitions with the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. While the federal government is to be commended for initiating the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Fraser River Sockeye, the call to the Auditor General was prompted by a dire concern around government’s failure to meet deadlines and take action associated with this Inquiry’s recommendations.

Nearly 16 months have passed since Justice Cohen’s Final Report and recommendations--hailed as a “blueprint for salmon conservation”--were publicly tabled. Despite government claims of action “consistent with Justice Cohen’s recommendations,” it’s inescapable that, to date, 18 recommendation deadlines have lapsed without any clear action or response from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) or the Minster of Fisheries and Oceans.

Another significant recommendation deadline looms in just over a month. By March 31st, 2014, an independent body, such as the Office of the Auditor General, is to report to Canadians on the federal government’s progress in implementing the Wild Salmon Policy--a progressive federal initiative geared towards protecting British Columbia’s wild salmon which has seemingly fallen to the back of the line, in terms of DFO priorities.

The two Environmental Petitions filed today include specific questions posed to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and other federal agencies on various aspects of the Cohen Inquiry such as:

  

Can DFO provide evidence that it has taken action on the Inquiry’s recommendation to remedy its conflicting bureaucratic mandates between conserving wild fish and promoting industries such as the open-net salmon farming industry?

Has a specific timeline been developed for implementation of the six strategies of the Wild Salmon Policy and if so, at what date(s) does DFO plan that its strategies will finally be implemented?

What work, if any, has DFO and any other federal departments done to review the Cohen Inquiry Final Report and implement its recommendations?

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans must reply in written form to the 36 questions filed in the two environmental petitions within 120 days of receiving them.

Dr. Craig Orr, Executive Director of Watershed Watch Salmon Society, expressed deep concern over the lack of meaningful action from the federal government on the Cohen Inquiry recommendations.

Dr. Orr said, “We are left with no choice but to call on the Auditor General of Canada to investigate exactly what the federal government has done to review the Cohen Commission recommendations and report back to Canadians. British Columbia’s wild salmon are at stake here.”

Stan Proboszcz, Fisheries Biologist with Watershed Watch Salmon Society, spent several years as a participant and following-up on the Cohen Commission and was pleased to see the high calibre of work outlined in the Final Report. He was hopeful it would lead to improved protection for salmon and habitat.

Fast forward almost 16 months, Mr. Proboszcz now fears the federal government is sidestepping the Commission’s work with slick communications that commit only to “acting consistently with the recommendations.”

Mr. Proboszcz said, “Wild salmon are a precious icon integral to the fabric of Canadian society.

Disregarding these recommendations is sadly reminiscent of the East Coast cod collapse, when federal bureaucrats were accused of ignoring the recommendations of scientists--and we all know what effect that collapse had on Canadians.”

One of the most common diseases in large-scale fish farming is infectious salmon anaemia (ISA).

Symptoms include pale gills and swimming near the surface gulping for air.

In its more insidious form, fish may develop ISA without showing any signs of illness, even maintaining a normal appetite until they suddenly die.

In salmon farms where this occurs, death rates may approach 100 percent.

Source: http://www.puresalmon.org/diseases_parasites.html

Juvenile wild salmon with sea lice. Photo: Alexandra Morton

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Wild Farmed Salmon at this Restaurant in New Jersey Watch, Listen, Learn HERE

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Salmon Confidential – Historic State Theater – Olympia, Washington

Single Show: October 5, 2014 at 7:30 PM – Entry by donation (suggested $10.00) Sponsored by friends of Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Salmon Confidential

2013 Vancouver International Film Festival Most Popular Environmental Documentary Film award

State Theater October 5, 2014 Doors open: 7:00 PM

202 4th Ave E Olympia, Washington

Salmon Confidential:, the award winning film by Twyla Roscovich on the government cover up of what is killing British Columbia’s wild salmon.

When biologist Alexandra Morton discovers BC's wild salmon are testing positive for dangerous European salmon viruses associated with salmon farming worldwide, a chain of events is set off by government to suppress the findings.

Tracking viruses, Morton moves from courtrooms, into British Columbia's most remote rivers, Vancouver grocery stores and sushi restaurants.

The film documents Morton's journey as she attempts to overcome government and industry roadblocks thrown in her path and works to bring critical information to the public in time to save BC's wild salmon.

The film provides surprising insight into the inner workings of government agencies, as well as rare footage of the bureaucrats tasked with managing our fish and the safety of our food supply.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Unist’ot’en Camp Resistance March 13, 2014 Clans within the Wet’suwet’en Nation have united and vowed to stop multiple pipeline projects from boring through their territory.

One of those clans, the Unist’ot’en, have set up camp right on the path of the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline.

Freda Huson and Hereditary Chief Toghestiy are part of the Unist’ot’en Camp and were in Winnipeg for a strategic meeting.

It involved people from other parts of the country who are opposing pipelines in thier regions.

Here now is our exclusive interview, on how one Nation in BC is protecting their land for future generations.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Judge in Seattle Allows Lawsuit Over Coal Trains to Proceed SEATTLE— A federal judge in Seattle on Wednesday allowed a lawsuit over coal trains to proceed against BNSF Railway.

Seven environmental groups sued BNSF last summer, alleging it violated federal law by allowing coal dust, coal chunks and other pollutants to spill into protected waterways from open-top railcars.

U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour denied BNSF's motion to dismiss the case. The railroad company argued the groups didn't give sufficient notice and didn't have proper standing to sue.

Trains currently carry coal from the Rockies through Spokane, Seattle and along the Columbia River Gorge to an export terminal in British Columbia. More such trains are expected if proposed coalexport terminals are built.

Two projects in Washington — at Cherry Point north of Bellingham and Longview — and one near Boardman, Ore., could bring millions of tons of coal by train through the state for export to Asia. The proposals are undergoing environmental reviews.

The environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance and RE Sources For Sustainable Communities, say coal and coal dust fall off the railcars through holes in the railcars or when coal trains pass through rough tracks or are blown off during high winds or fast speeds.

They argue that BNSF violated the federal Clean Water Act by discharging coal into local rivers without a permit.

The same groups filed a nearly identical lawsuit against BNSF in federal court in Yakima. In January, Judge Lonny Suko also denied the railroad company's motion to dismiss that suit. That case is pending, but BNSF attorneys indicated in court documents that they planned to ask the federal court to consolidate both cases.

In court documents in the Yakima case, BNSF has denied all claims. It said that the allegations are unprecedented and noted that no permit under the Clean Water Act has been issued or required by a regulator for the transport of coal by rail.

The environmental groups cheered Wednesday's news. A message left Wednesday with BNSF wasn't immediately returned.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

ď ś Write to the Minister of Health, Stop GM Fish Sign petition HERE

Editorial Comment: The letter below to Minister Ambrose is customizable prior to sending it from the petition site

Dear Minister Ambrose,

I am writing to ask you not to approve genetically modified (GM) fish for eating in Canada.

The GM Atlantic salmon is genetically modified with a growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon and genetic material from ocean pout (an eel-like creature), to grow faster.

Environment Canada recently gave the company AquaBounty permission to produce GM Atlantic salmon eggs in Canada, for sending to Panama for grow out and processing for the U.S consumer market. Now the company says it also wants approval to sell the GM fish in Canada.

If Canada or the U.S. approve this fish for human consumption, it will be the first GM food animal in the world. It's unacceptable that Health Canada's entire process for assessing the safety of this GM fish is secret, that the public is not consulted, and there will be no mandatory labelling of GM salmon.

It's totally unacceptable that Health Canada refuses to even tell Canadians what GM animals it is assessing for human consumption.

Please stop this secret process and halt any approval for GM fish.

Sincerely,

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Doing nothing is not an option

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Large crowd tells Hoquiam it doesn’t want crude oil here February 25, 2014 Members of the Hoquiam City Council butted heads Monday night regarding a measure to hire a consultant to create an Environmental Impact Statement for two proposed crude oil shipping projects.

The council approved the measure, but not without considerable input from about 40 members of the public who filled the council chambers to capacity. Most of the those commenting were dressed in red, and each one objected to the crude-by-rail projects.

“We want less hazardous chemicals in our community, not more,” said Ron Figlar-Barnes, the first to speak. “If we have an accident, it affects our water. It affects the bay. It affects the fishermen.”

Figlar-Barnes unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Port Commissioner Chuck Caldwell in the November, 2013 election. He ran on an anti-crude-by-rail platform.

Officials from other local governments also attended the meeting to speak against the projects: County Commissioner Frank Gordon and Aberdeen City Councilman Alan Richrod. Gordon both said they agreed with Figlar-Barnes and the other speakers, stating that crude-by-rail would bring shortterm economic developments and long-term detriments.

“But we need jobs, we really really do,” Gordon said.

Other members of the audience not only disagreed with the crude oil shipping projects, but with the process of completing an EIS. Arthur “R.D.” Grunbaum, a local environmental activist, argued that citizens aren’t usually given adequate time to comment. He said the comment period should last at least 90 days.

“The EIS process is very important and should incorporate public comment to the highest level possible,” Grunbaum said.

After seven people gave their input, Mayor Jack Durney announced that the next speaker would be the last, and that the city council needed to continue with scheduled business. His announcement was met with groans and cries of disbelief from the crowd.

Durney amended his decision, saying that he would continue the public comment period at the end of the meeting.

This announcement was met with loud cries of, “boo!” One man grumbled and left the room.

At that point, Council President Jasmine Dickhoff interrupted and asked Durney to let the public speak. She argued that she would rather hear them at that time than later through angry emails.

“If we’re going to hear them speak, why not do it now?” Dickhoff said.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters The other council members agreed, and the public comment period continued.

Donna Albert of Montesano asked the council to ban all crude oil shipping from Hoquiam, arguing that the decision would not only affect the city, but the rest of the county. The rail lines that would carry the crude oil pass through Montesano, Elma, Aberdeen and many of Grays Harbor County’s other cities.

“I just want you to make sure that you are making the right decision for us and our grandchildren,” she said.

Durney responded to her comment, arguing that there’s not much the City of Hoquiam can do to prevent oil shipping businesses from operating on the Harbor.

When Richrod took the podium, he refuted Durney’s statement. He argued that the city has the right to impose its own rules, as long as they comply with state and federal laws.

“What disturbed me was that I heard a question: ‘what power do we have?’ ” Richrod said. “Think about the fact that the city has more power to handle this than the state.”

City Attorney Steve Johnson said that because crude oil shipping is currently legal under city code, the City of Hoquiam would likely be sued if it tried to ban the businesses.

After Richrod spoke, Durney tried again to speed up the meeting. By this time, 11 people had spoken.

When Jared Figlar-Barnes, the son of Ron Figlar-Barnes, stepped up to the podium, Durney asked him to keep his comments to two minutes. Previous speakers had been allowed five minutes.

Durney’s speech was interrupted by Councilman Richard Pennant, who shouted expletives. Pennant yelled that in the “rulebook,” each speaker is allowed five minutes for their public comment.

Durney retorted that there was no rulebook for public comment, and that city code doesn’t set any guaranteed time for input.

Editorial Comment: The oil proposed for export via Grays Harbor is more problematic than light crude oil we’ve relied on for decades.

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Bitumen is a hazardous heavy crude oil (a tar-like material) that is mixed with condensate and chemicals to allow it to flow through pipelines once it’s extracted from Alberta’s vast tarsands.

Extraction of bitumen is resource intensive (Land, fresh water, natural gas). These resources are worth more financially than the petroleum they produce Dilbit (diluted bitumen) leaks and spills are toxic, extensive and very expensive to clean-up. It is impossible to clean up.

Continued extraction and export of bitumen is opposed by First Nations and conservationists

Jared Figlar-Barnes was then allowed to comment. The high school student asked the council to consider crude oil shipping’s affects on future generations.

“My generation doesn’t want to clean up your generations’ mistakes,” FiglarBarnes said.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters After seven more speakers, the council moved on to official business, eventually considering the measure to hire IFC Jones and Stokes, based in Seattle, to complete the environmental impact statement.

In light of the public comment, Councilman Greg Grun asked the council to table the measure so they could all learn more about crude oil shipping and the EIS process.

“I know I don’t know the process like I should,” Grun said. “I think it’s important that we understand this better.”

Shay urged the council to instead take five minutes to discuss the issue.

Various council members asked questions about the process.

Shay explained that the desire for an EIS came from appeals filed with the State Shorelines Hearings Board by local environmental groups and the Quinault Indian Nation after the city and state Department of Ecology issued a mitigated determination of non-significance for both the Westway Terminal Company and Imperium Renewables crude-by-rail projects.

The determination wouldn’t have allowed the companies to start building or shipping oil, but it would have streamlined the permitting process.

The state Shorelines Hearings Board sided with the Quinaults and the environmental groups last fall.

Shay said that the board’s decision didn’t explicitly ask for an EIS, but the need for one was implied.

Both Westway and Imperium wrote to the city and Ecology and asked that an EIS be conducted.

The companies will cover the full cost of the EIS, and both the city and Ecology will bill for the time spent on the project.

The EIS would be conducted by an independent consultant, IFC Jones and Stokes, with Ecology and the city co-managing the project. In many cases, Ecology alone would oversee the project, Shay said. But in this case, the department asked Hoquiam to act as a co-lead agency.

The consultant will do the full environmental review and present it to Hoquiam and Ecology, Shay said. The whole process will take about a year.

At the end of the process, Ecology could deny the project because there are too many risks, Shay said. Or, the project could be accepted with some additional requirements. The City of Hoquiam doesn’t have the power to approve or deny the crude-by-rail projects based on the EIS. Whatever decision Ecology makes could then be appealed to the Shorelines Hearings Board.

“This is the most stringent environmental review that we can place on (Imperium and Westway),” Shay said.

The council voted against Grun’s motion to table the measure, and voted to hire IFC Jones and Stokes. Shay said the EIS process will officially start March 13.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 The

Canadian government: We call on you to fully protect the magnificent wild salmon of British Columbia.

Sign the petition HERE

Why this is important: 

Off-shore farming of salmon is infecting the magnificent wild salmon runs; one of the most amazing spectacles in nature.



If the Canadian government insists in pursuing this potential calamity, we the citizens of Canada then firmly insist that these 'farms' are moved to safe on-shore locations.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Canada says enough - No More Fish Feedlots!

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Idle No More Revolution

Living and working in harmony to protect what needs protected

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Tar Sands: Public Health and Environmental Risks – Exposed Watch, Listen, Learn HERE

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Tar Sands Gaining Momentum March 14, 2014 Over a 100 people squeezed into a medium sized ballroom at the Best Western March 7th, where 3 accomplished speakers made the case against 2 pipeline projects that will connect the West Coast to the Alberta Tar Sands. The projects seemed to stall during the provincial election but have now picked up a sudden momentum ahead of the federal election. They are deserving of our attention. It struck me during the event that many people are unaware of the fact the Kinder Morgan project is actually 2 pipelines and the Enbridge Northern Gateway project is also 2 pipelines.

The Kinder Morgan Pipeline is two pipelines We hear a lot about the National Energy Board (NEB) hearings for Kinder Morgan’s proposed expansion of the aging Trans Mountain Pipeline. The events keynote speaker Andrew Nikiforuk said “The expected life span of the [Trans Mountain] pipeline is 50 years. The pipeline is 61 years old.” It seems logical and perhaps fair, for the company to expand capacity of the pipeline while digging it up for what’s becoming an urgent repair. Some believe that increasing capacity to serve the domestic and US markets is part of their plan. It turns out this isn’t true. What isn’t so well known about the plan, is that the expansion will be achieved by building a second, brand new pipeline. The old pipeline will not see its capacity increased, it will be patched in places but not rebuilt. The new pipeline will export unprocessed bitumen to world markets. The existing pipeline will continue to serve domestic and US markets but the project will not increase either of these. It’s rather interesting that Kinder Morgan describes a new pipeline proposal as an expansion, when in fact the new pipeline has little to do with the old one.

Former Enron Executives Richard Kinder and William Morgan founded Kinder Morgan in 1997 when they bought out Enron’s Pipeline assets.

The Enbridge Pipeline is also two pipelines Another lesser known fact is that the Northern Gateway Pipeline proposed by Enbridge is also made up of 2 pipelines, one going each way. The first Pipeline will bring unprocessed Bitumen from the Tars Sands to the BC Coast, the second pipeline will import a product called condensate from the BC Coast and send it to Alberta. According to West Coast Environmental Law condensate is a “toxic kerosene-like natural gas by-product used to dilute crude oil so that it can be transported by pipeline”.

So ironically Northern Gateway will not only increase oil exports by 500,000 Barrel Per Day, it will increase imports of petro-products ie condensate by 200,000 Barrels Per Day.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Three researchers made presentations at The Pipe Up Network event. They were welcomed by notable first nations advocate Larry Commodore. Natalie Jones of Water Wealth was a warm and effective MC. The first speaker was Liz McDowell from Conversations for Responsible Economic Development CRED. McDowell grew up in Chilliwack and holds a finance degree from McGill. She is the founder of the Otesha Project UK and worked for the UN Institute for Training and Research. Her presentation focused on the impact of pipelines on property values. She presented an assessment of the real estate risk of an oil spill in southern BC. She listed a number of case studies that showed property values near pipelines decline most dramatically based on the number of incidents and do affect properties along the pipeline route far away from the spill area. In other words several spills in Burnaby could result in a devaluation of Chilliwack properties. The property loss studies indicate a range in severity resulting from recent spills: 4.6% drop in Washington state 1999, 10.2% in Texas 1994 and 25% in Ohio 1991 (Source CRED). Liz concluded her analysis with economic statistics of the Tar Sands contributions to GDP. The figures she presented were surprisingly low about 2% of National GDP. (Note: The Tar Sands is a primary industry; these industries produce an economic multiplier effect that was factored into the 2% figure) In 2007 Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline spilled 250,000 litres of oil in Burnaby The second presenter, Melina Laboucan Massimo, lives in northern Alberta, in the Lubicon Cree First Nation. She earned her Master’s degree in environmental studies at York University and has worked as a climate and energy campaigner for Green Peace. She gave an historical overview of the extensive Oil and Gas developments in Lubicon territory showing a map that is covered in industrial activity. She elaborated on many technical aspects of the toxic chemicals the industry works with and gave a personal description of a large spill that occurred in the Lubicon territory.

Oil on Lubicon Land a photo essay The Keynote speaker was Author Andrew Nikiforu. He stated “I am an Albertan, and I can tell you, Albertans are becoming increasingly uneasy with what is going on in the Tar Sands.”

He said the economic benefits of the Tar Sands are overstated. He emphasized Tar Sands oil coming west would be for export to the east not for the US or domestic consumption. The US demand for oil has been in a steady decline since 2008. “Americans are driving less and producing more [oil] domestically, especially in North Dakota”. He also said that as a result American refineries, some of which are foreign owned are exporting more.

Ironically some of the Tar Sands oil Canada exports to the US is refined on the gulf coast and then sold back to Canada.

The three speakers took questions and each stressed hope in the closing remarks.

More information on the case against the Tar Sands can be found here.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Sea

Shepherd Saves Operations!

Guatemalan

Marine

Life by

Halting

Poaching

February 20, 2014 Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is on a mission to protect all marine life from harm and it’s doing a darn good job of it.

The nonprofit is most well known for its work interrupting Japanese “scientific” whaling operations, as filmed on the Animal Planet series “Whale Wars,” and also for its awareness-raising efforts in Taiji, Japan, where their Cove Guardians gather footage of the town’s massive dolphin round-up, hunt, and captivity capture annually.

Most recently, the organization has undertaken a collaborative partnership with Pharrel Williams and his company Bionic Yarn to clean up plastic waste from the ocean and turn it into sustainable fashion.

Now, Sea Shepherd is entering other waters, Guatemala’s that is.

Sea Shepherd’s boat Brigitte Bardot, a high-speed trimaran, has just returned from its “first successful patrol” of Guatemala’s waters by working in conjunction with the Guatemalan Department of Fisheries on its anti-poaching enforcement to “lower the impact of illegal fishing of billfish by commercial fishermen,” as reported in a recent press release.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters On the very first night of patrols, seven boats were boarded and two of them possessed illegal sailfish catch. After documenting the incident, the fish were safely returned to their home in the sea.

According to Sea Shepherd, “Administrative action has been taken against the fishermen.”

That’s justice served right!

Sea Shepherd’s crew and Fisheries officials are on the lookout for both illegal catch and the illegal use of longlines and gillnets, as both methods have been proven to be highly destructive to marine life.

As Sea Shepherd reports, “The main goal of these anti-poaching operations is to gather evidence to present to the Guatemalan government. Sea Shepherd is hopeful that if these patrols show that illegal fishing takes place on a large scale and presents a significant threat in Guatemalan waters, more action will be taken to combat this serious problem.”

The organization will continue its work with Fisheries officials and will also be giving talks at schools to spread awareness about the plight of sea life and the “urgent need for ocean protection.”

In time, we will certainly see more poaching operations stopped and more victories for marine animals in Guatemala with the help of Sea Shepherd.

Keep up the great work, ocean warriors!

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

OLYMPIA CHAPTER OF TROUT UNLIMITED March 26, 2014 7:00PM NORTH OLYMPIA FIRE STATION 5046 BOSTON HARBOR ROAD NE

WDFW Photo

WDFW Photo

 RESTORING WASHINGTON’S SALMON SPORT FISHERY The public is invited to the March 26, 2014 meeting of the Olympia Chapter of Trout Unlimited for a presentation by Frank Haw, former biologist and administrator with the Washington Department of Fisheries. His presentation will include the historic development of the once world's greatest salmon sport fishery, its decline, and what must be done to restore it. Be on hand to ask questions. Frank looks forward to meeting some of his old friends and meeting new ones.

Light refreshments will be provided and all attending are invited to participate in the fishing equipment raffle.

Bio: Frank Haw is a former Deputy and Acting Director of the Washington Department of Fisheries during the Evans and Ray Administrations. Following his retirement from the State in 1984, he joined Northwest Marine Technology (NMT) as a senior biologist and continues to serve in that capacity. NMT is the developer/manufacturer of the coded-wire-tagging system and of automated mass marking. Old- time Olympia Chapter members may recall that, due to their support, in 1990 he was the proud recipient of the TU National Award for Fish Management - Professional. During his career with the State, he was a leader in implementing a program that significantly improved salmon sport fishing in Puget Sound, and co-authored the book Saltwater Fishing in Washington. His work with NMT has focused on fishery and hatchery reform and in developing the tools to accomplish the task. Frank is an avid angler and takes pride in having caught more different members of the salmon family than anyone he knows.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Wild Salmon Warrior Radio with Jay Peachy – Tuesday Mornings “Streaming like wild Pacific salmon” March 4, 2014: Atlantic Salmon Boycott, SFU Burnaby – Farmed salmon-free campaign March 11, 2014: Line 9 Reversal, Pebble Mine March 18, 2011: Cohen Enquiry Recommendations, Planning to Win

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Open pen salmon and trout feedlots

Some say that the Open pen salmon feedlot industry Is analogous with the Parasites incubated in the industry’s pens The industry and its parasites suck every bit of life out of their unsuspecting hosts

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Salmon Farming: Some Things are Just Wrong  Alexandra Morton: Putting salmon in farms is like pouring milk in your beer!  Robert Corlett: Putting salmon in farms is like putting chicken litter on your sushi!  Dawn Newton: Finding farmed salmon on the menu is like finding dog shit on your shoe!  Jim Wilcox: Finding farmed salmon in the Pacific Northwest is like kissing your sister!

Putting salmon in farms is like living in your septic tank

 Cheryl Mackay:

At least milk in my beer wouldn't poison me!

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Reported Escapes from Fish Farms (1996-2012)

Editorial Comment: Escaped farmed salmon are a significant source of pollution to wild ecosystems.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Canadians pay $millions for ISA-infected, farm-raised Atlantics in 2013

Bill Bryden:





 

Of the TENS of THOUSANDS of farms in Canada....only a handful gobbled up 96+% of ALL the disease condemnation payment money from tax payers (ie cull orders) via the CFIA. These handful of meat producing companies posing as responsible "farms" all have two things in common:  They were ALL producing meat in an irresponsible manner (hence the serious disease issues)  They were ALL ocean based salmonid pharmers.

Tallying over $32M in NL in 2013 alone!.

These are diseases so serious they are internationally reportable to the World via a branch of the World Health Organization...

Source: http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/recgen/cpcpac/2013/vol3/ds6/index-eng.html#ds6_ra_1

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Fish farm sewage: DFO expansions cost you money March 16, 2014 The response to the Cohen Report in DFO’s Ottawa is zero, but in BC it is huge. The petition against allowing any new fish farms or expansions has been signed by more than 100,000 citizens. The people of BC have spoken – get the farms out of the water. The petition is going to Christy Clark who can prevent or eliminate fish farms by refusing or eliminating leases – in only sixty days. It’s that simple.

You will know that DFO is looking at 11, er, 12 – the number keeps growing – expansions or new farms. It’s response to Cohen’s key recommendation that DFO be stripped of its conflict of interest in fish farms, and deal solely with wild fish – the 2005 Wild Salmon Policy, the 1986 Habitat Policy and a new west coast director general for bringing back Fraser sockeye – is to ignore Cohen and keep on adding fish farms to our pristine ocean.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Fish farms rankle public, provide few jobs

Sport fishing yields far more jobs for BC than fish farms do But 100,000 signatures is big time support for getting fish farms out of the water and sending them back to Norway – we the people of BC don’t want them. And DFO’s interest is hard to fathom.

Perhaps it believes its own mantra that fish farms mean jobs and revenue. Well, its own report, put out by BC Stats, shows there is not much of either in BC, with only $61.9 million contribution to GPP from all parts of aquaculture, and only 1,700 jobs in all.

By comparison, the rest of the fishing sector – sport, processing and commercial – is ten times that size, with more than 90% of the sector’s $667.4 million toward GPP; and jobs are 87.8% of the 13,900 total. Fish farms are about 10%.

When you factor in that with wild salmon numbers down by 50% since fish farms set up shop in BC, those small number of jobs aren’t new, they simply replace jobs eliminated in other sectors. The commercial guys, for instance, are down 50% at 1400 jobs or nearly 83% of those fish farm jobs.

They would like them back.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Environmental, economic cost of fish farms It’s actually worse than it looks, and that’s pretty bad. I ferreted out there are only 795 actual jobs in fish farming. So it’s simply not true there are jobs and revenue in fish farms. It’s just not true. But don’t be mistaken, the cost to us is huge. The cost DFO doesn’t pay attention to – but we have to – is the sewage cost to our pristine ocean.

And just so you know, the industry already has in place a maximum of 280,000 metric tonnes of production. So why are they asking for more, when they have never produced more than 83,000 and could produce more than three times more than they actually do produce right now? Good question.

DFO’s fishy math DFO’s numbers are: 83,000 annual metric tonnes of product; 19,140 metric tonnes of new fish farms; and, fish are 4.5 kg at harvest. And as we all know, the cost of treating sewage is huge. Why, in Victoria, the bill, as everyone knows is $783 million for 360,000 people. And that’s just building it.

The commonly accepted number of fish in the sewage department is: 3–10 fish equal the sewage of one human being. Hard to believe, but check it on Google. And our cost that we absorb and thus pay for, using the conservative 10 to 1 ratio, is: 1000/4.5 X 19,140 = 4.25 million/10 = .425 million human equivalents $783/.36 = $X/.425 = $924 million.

So not only are multiplier jobs down, and the actual number of jobs is very very small, but the cost to British Columbians from expansion (when they don’t need it because they already have triple authorized more than what they produce now) is: $924 million in sewage cost alone. Do you want to pay for this?

Time to dump costly farms

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters My look around shows me the biggest problem encountered in treating sewage is that no one wants to pay a bean of anyone else’s sewage treatment cost. So why would we pay for fish, that aren’t even human? I don’t think so.

So, the sewage cost to our environment just for expansion, that we have to absorb, is basically a billion dollars. And we know from the 100,000 signatures on the petition to get fish farms out of the water that, obviously, no one wants to pay this sewage cost.

And then there are all the rest of the problems: exotic diseases like HSMI, ISA; killing of seals; reduction of oceans of fish that people should eat – even krill in Antarctica if you can believe it; killing wild salmon; and, chemicals in the fish.

So many chemicals that the big news out of Norway the past year is that doctors and scientists are warning people not to eat farmed salmon.

Tell Christy Clark – premier@gov.bc.ca – to send farms back to Norway. We want DFO to work only on wild salmon. And let’s have the same $400 million DFO’s Gail Shea put into aquaculture on the east coast in NL and PEI spent on wild salmon here. But let’s get rid of the sewage first. No one wants to pay for anyone else’s shit. Tell Gail: Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.

Editorial Comment: The facts presented in this article are global in scope – this is not a British Columbia or Canada issue:

 Chemical-laden, often diseased, Atlantic salmon raised in open pen salmon feedlots sited in British Columbia marine waters are sold to unsuspecting customers around planet earth.

 The impacts of open pen salmon feedlots sited in British Columbia marine waters exacerbates risks to public health, wild ecosystems, cultures, communities and economies along North America’s west coast.

 Technology

is available to efficiently raise Atlantic salmon for human consumption in land-based feedlots.

 Wild

salmon and their fragile ecosystem will never be able to co-exist with the problematic, open pen salmon feedlot industry.

B.C.Salmon Farms

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 VISIT

LANGSAND SALMON IN DENMARK - THE FUTURE OF SALMON FARMING March 16, 2014

Last week I was visiting Langsand Salmon in Vide Sande in Denmark. On the trip were also representatives from Fred. Olsen & Co. , HeidelbergCement , Dr.techn.Olav Olsen AS and Construction Without Limits r The visit was very successful, and we got one good look at the technology and how they plan and built this facility. Constructor and CEO Thue Holm, deposed all day with both pickup at the airport in Billund, and the visit ended with a nice dinner in the evening.

My travel companion, which consisted of persons with high professional competence in both the construction side and the technical area, concluded that there are great opportunities ahead. I currently has little requirement to enter and assess the technical area, but several of those who were with concluded that this is what one can characterize as "some advanced plumbing."

Land-based salmon production is going to revolutionize the whole area. Farming industry has always argued that this is a moon landing, too space-and energy-intensive, not to mention too expensive. This whole argument can today refuted strongly.

The recirculation system (RAS) are the natural environment recreated on land in one bio-secure facility. The fish are bred from the egg, and in every phase of life becomes living conditions optimized for growth with temperature and salinity level at any time is controlled. The water is continuously recycled and purify h by means of filtration and UV radiation before returning to the fish tanks course consists of concrete material. The tanks have strong water currents that give one's living environment, where salmon are in counter-current and growing stronger and healthier without great risk from predators, viruses, bacteria and parasites. (It is otherwise with the salmon as humans, exercise is one good) This technology provides a salmon that is both brighter and more slender with a lower body fat percentage, in addition, the firmer the flesh. Salmon similar ekstreriørmessig on a wild, and the sum of all these qualities contribute to a quality that surpasses significantly Norwegian farmed salmon produced in open cages.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

The salmon will be branded under a separate brand, and already today it is demanded in the restaurant market where the willingness to pay is about 40% above the current market price. Langsand Salmon have already harvested their first batch. Production is of course far greener where the fish as well be considered to have far better quality, also the market has appreciated. There was general fun to record the state research institutions Nofimas initiatives and report on Aqua Nor in Trondheim, where they went out to said landbased aquaculture is no threat to conventional farming in Norway. Langsand Salmon went out in the media right after this report, and concluded that "the report is already obsolete before it is published."

Nofima missed among others eyesore on land use, and found that it required 33,000 sqm to produce 1 million pounds to the country. Langsand produce 4,000 square meters, ie about one eighth part of what the government policy and for academic institution claimed. If we are to produce 1 billion kg which is about 20% below the current production volumes at home, it requires four square buildings / locations.

The only cost component at EBITDA level that is higher than the open cage production is energy / power. In Denmark uses Langsand Salmon about 2 kWh of wind generated energy per kilogram of salmon produced. That means lower energy costs than eg. logistics and export duties constitute the Middle Norway to Denmark. Langsand Salmon has also received 11 million in funding, respectively. 5.5 million from the EU and the equivalent from the Danish state.

Approx total investment (CAPEX + working capital) to reach 1 one million kilograms produced in the RAS system is about 50 million. What is interesting in this context is that if one starts in Norway and build the same capacity, one must first purchase a license for 50-60 million. You also need to have equipment and operating funding of 20-30 million, meaning that the capital requirement of approximately 70-80 million. Does anyone wonder how much of farmed salmon in the future will be produced?

I have in many cases said that Norwegian farmers should go beyond the borders and take positions closer to the markets. What do these players really?

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

In Denmark produced today great harvestable salmon swimming around on land in tanks at a cost of 28 NOK / kg gutted weight packaged . Had they built the plant to 8,000,000 kg would have fallen to about 24 $ / kg gutted weight packaged. This is better than several Norwegian fish farmers can, constantly facing new and greater biological challenges. Several breeders in Norway now has a production cost of over ÂŁ 30, and saved only by a high salmon prices that otherwise is going down.

It is worth noting that this is one pilot plant, and investment costs should obviously down.

It will certainly be fun to follow further developments in this area where much will be turned upside down.HeidelbergCement is a global corporation with 52,000 employees and is the third largest concrete supplier.One commercially interesting area is the production of tanks, another very interesting area deliveries to the development of infrastructure.

In addition, there is one very exciting and new business district to collect the waste feed and faeces from plants. Norwegian aquaculture industry has one feed volume today on the insane 1.6 million tonnes. To say something about this size, it is over four times the weight of the entire Norwegian population if we assume an average weight per Norwegians of 70 kg. Most going into the fish will also be out.This discharge of sewage with pollutants'd rather not talk about the industry, and I believe that the emission is pure madness that leads to massive environmental creating in our fjords along the Norwegian coast with eg eutrofieringsproblematikk and algae growth.

A week ago, President Ellen Hambro in environmental management outside and called for an effort to better present CO2 accounting. then you can start to collect the sewage Ellen - we manage to collect this waste that otherwise should not pose problems, this likely to influence this statement in a substantial positive direction.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Letters to the editor for the week of March 13th

 NOTHING BENEFICIAL ABOUT FARMED SALMON When a Norwegian research pediatrician went public with the news that women of child-bearing age risk the development of their babies brains when they eat farmed salmon, I began following the story.

This was not the first time we heard this news.

In my blog Guide to Safe Salmon I have posted a three-minute film on what happens when you squeeze a piece of farmed salmon, and I list what is known about the health risks of eating farmed salmon.

On the navigation bar you can go directly to the translated newspaper articles from Norway and see what they are saying, how the politicians have responded, what Norway did to the scientists that first raised the warnings, how Norway has lobbied to increase toxins in farmed salmon. It is a scandal.

We urgently need to decide if we are going to continue to risk our wild salmon, and health just to allow Norway to grow more and more of their fish here in B.C. It is hard to find anything beneficial about salmon farming. The only benefit to B.C. is a few jobs. We could decide to focus on much more intelligent aquaculture, work with the wild salmon to restore them and have twice as many jobs.

The only people affected would be the shareholders of these companies who would have to decide to buy shares in something different. Seems a small price to pay for a healthy coast, economy and food.

If the strong Norwegian lobby was removed I think we would see a diverse B.C. land-based aquaculture industry thrive without growing salmon at all. Salmon viruses would no longer be a federal secret. We could get to work healing this coast and using some of the incredibly powerful science now available to turn B.C. wild salmon back on!

Editorial Comment: Ms. Morton’s concerns expressed here are global in scope. These open pen feedlots are irresponsibly sited in wild ecosystems around planet earth.

You can help by: Calling your local sushi restaurants and let them know what is in farmed salmon, sign and share the petition to Premier Kristi Clark with just over 100,000 signatures, and join the Salmon Are Sacred Facebook page and help with the public outreach to supermarkets.

In the next few weeks, millions of young wild salmon will be swimming to sea past salmon farms.

They will be exposed to whatever viruses, bacteria and lice are in the farms.

There is nothing smart about bathing wild salmon in industrial feedlot waste... nothing at all!

Alexandra Morton Sointula

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Cyberspace opposition to British Columbia fish farm expansion Over 100,000 petition BC Premier to say NO to fish farms Mar 13th, 2014 Sointula, BC - As the Province of British Columbia considers two new fish farm applications, the milestone of over 100,000 signatures on a petition has passed. The petition asks BC Premier Christy Clark to not issue the new fish farm licenses. The Change.org petition is at: http://chn.ge/1fVs6GP. "BC residents are the vast majority of signators," observed the petition’s architect Alexandra Morton. Morton of Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society observed, "Exceeding 100,000 names is like having almost the entire population of a community the size of Langley, Saanich or Kelowna telling Premier Christy to just say no to fish farm expansion."

Salmon farms are floating industrial fish feedlots with 600,000 or more salmon in each location.

There are over 100 salmon farms in coastal British Columbia, 98% run by three Norwegian companies.

The harm caused by fish farms located on the wild salmon migration routes is related to the manure, waste, sea lice, viruses and drugs poured out into the most important wild salmon migration routes of BC. For more information go to http://www.alexandramorton.ca.

The two sites in the Goletas Channel (northwest of Port Hardy near the northern tip of Vancouver Island) are where Fraser river sockeye and other salmon runs migrate through. Marine Harvest, one of the Norwegian multi-nationals dominating the BC salmon fish farm industry, are involved with both new salmon farm applications.

Morton stated, "Siting fish farms at Goletas contradicts the Cohen Commission recommendation that salmon farm siting policy be revised to protect wild salmon migration routes. Yet, less than two years after Cohen the old ways continue unabated."

While the Federal government currently licenses the fish farms, the Province of BC issues the rental agreements to companies to use the seafloor where the farms are located.

Morton concluded, “Now it is over 100,000 people telling Premier Christy to keep the fish farms off the wild salmon migration routes, tomorrow it will be even more citizens asking her to do the right things and say no to the fish farms."

To learn more, please contact: Alexandra Morton, Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society alexandramorton5@gmail.com, 250-974-7086.

Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society is an organization dedicated to public awareness, legal challenges and communications relating to wild salmon in British Columbia.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Fish Farm Pesticides closer

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Fearing new fish disease Scientists fear a new and serious fish disease after the discovery of a previously unknown viruses. The virus has killed a lot of fish on several farms for sea trout on the West Coast.

March 10, 2014 Losses have partly been great, says professor and expert on salmon diseases, Are Nylund, the Department of Biology at the University of Bergen It is primarily in freshwater fish plants have died, but after transfer to salt water.

As serious as ISA This is one of the most serious viruses that are registered by the resurgence of ISA (infectious salmon anemia) in the 1980s. It is the same anemia and may look like the same severity, says Nylund.

A similar disease is also registered in Chile.

Norwegian fish farming web kyst.no writes that Veterinærinstituttet few weeks ago announced that they had become suspicious about a new disease state for rainbow trout.

The department should have started mapping the disease, but was unsure if it was talking about a new virus.

Can affect salmon Disease Expert Nylund says one cannot exclude that the newly discovered virus may also affect salmon.

Further analysis will reveal whether the virus really is to blame for fish death, and the preventive measures that could be implemented. We have seen that fish is very sick, anemic, and the kidneys and heart muscles attacked, says Nylund.

He is now working to identify the virus, and consider what measures can be implemented Probably stems virus from freshwater sources or brood.

Avoid dispersal How can one prevent further spread of the virus?

If the virus enters through the fresh water intake or from broodstock, treatment can be simple. It can happen by treating water intake or just use broodstock which is negative for the virus, said Nylund.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Millions of escaped salmon threaten wild stock.

 Sterilise farm salmon, say experts March 10, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters FARMED salmon should be sterilised to prevent them breeding with wild fish and introducing genetic weaknesses that will hamper their survival, experts have urged.

New research shows that while salmon reared in captivity to be eaten are genetically distinct from their wild relatives, they are just as fertile and pose a potential danger to naturally occurring populations if they escape and breed with them.

Millions of salmon escape from fish farms each year and can find their way into wild spawning groups, where they can reproduce and introduce undesirable traits.

Although farmed salmon which have escaped are poorer breeders than their undomesticated cousins, a new study shows their sperm and eggs are just as potent and spawning behaviour may improve after a period of time roaming free. The researchers said this means they could mate with wild fish.

“Around 95 per cent of all salmon in existence are farmed, and domestication has made them very different to wild populations, each of which is locally adapted to its own river system,” according to lead researcher Professor Matt Gage, from the University of East Anglia’s school of biological sciences.

“Farmed salmon grow very fast, are aggressive and not as clever as wild salmon when it comes to dealing with predators. These domestic traits are good for producing fish for the table, but not for the stability of wild populations.

“The problem is that farmed salmon can escape each year in their millions, getting into wild spawning populations, where they can then reproduce and erode wild gene pools.”

The new report, published today, comes just days after a salmon farm in Shetland revealed 150,000 of its fish had escaped when cages were damaged by recent violent storms.

In the past ten years more than two million farmed fish, mainly of Norwegian origin, have been reported as escaped from Scottish salmon farms. It is generally accepted that many more escapes go unreported.

Scottish Government-funded research published last year by the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland, an independent freshwater conservation charity, revealed that more than a quarter of wild salmon in the “aquaculture zone” of Scotland’s west coast are actually Norwegian hybrids. Don Staniford, director of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture campaign group, said escaping fish would lead to an “extinction vortex” in wild salmon.

“The science is in,” he said. “Mass escapes from salmon farms are killing wild salmon. The solution is simple – stop the genetic pollution of wild salmon by removing salmon farms from our stormy seas.”

Scotland’s wild fisheries are worth £134 million a year and support 2,800 jobs across the country.

In January, First Minister Alex Salmon announced an independent review into improving management of the sector.

The research, published in the journal Evolutionary Applications, was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and the Royal Society.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Editorial Comment:

   

Exacerbated impact to forage fish stocks Increased risk of escapes / ecosystem impacts Marine navigation obstruction Area contaminated (PCB’s) due to industrial waste dumping

 The giant floating robotic fish farm set to revolutionise salmon production  Huge rig can be operated entirely remotely  600 tonnes of food are stored above water  245sq m pen for salmon, where they spend their entire life March 6, 2014 It may at first glance look like an oil rig, but according to a Norwegian firm, this giant structure is the future of fish farming.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Each of the 5,600 tonne, 67-metre-high steel rigs can house eight times as many salmon as conventional cages.

They have a 245 square metre pen for the salmon, space in the offices above for 600 tonnes of feed, and accommodation for up to four people - although they can be operated remotely.

The giant structure, 67m high, is designed for salmon farming.

The Norwegian fish farmers behind it claim they are about to revolutionise fish farming after being inspired to create giant offshore fish rigs which were inspired by North Sea oil rigs.

The Norwegian company SalMar said it plans to start rearing fish out to sea using their new construction that was based on the design used for oil platforms.

The man who managed the project, Gunnar Myreboe, also oversaw the design of offshore rigs for the Snohvit oil and gas field.

Gustav Witzoe, 60, the company's founder and main shareholder, said: 'We've been working on this for almost two years. What we are now going to present is ground-breaking. It is a revolution.'

Each of the 5,600 tonne, 67-metre-high steel rigs can house eight times as many salmon as conventional cages.

They have a 245 square metre pen for the salmon, space in the offices above for 600 tonnes of feed, and accommodation for up to four people.

By farming further out to sea, the company aims to reduce problems with salmon lice, and protect wild salmon from infections.

The installation will be kept in place with eight anchors, and will be able to withstand waves nine metres high, three times as large as the waves existing salmon cages can handle The submerged facility is an anchored fixed structure, floating steady in the exposed ocean and is suitable for water depths of 100 to 300 meters, where the aqua biological conditions are more ideal for aquaculture on 'the fish's terms,' the firm says.

All of the farming operations can be managed onboard the facility without making use of service vessels and outside equipment.

This means that the fish can stay inside the net from smolt stocking to harvestable fish.

The facility is also equipped with one moveable and two fixed bulkheads that can divide the facility into 3 compartments.

During normal operation, a crew of 2 – 4 people will monitor and manage the facility.

However, it can also be remotely operated.

Risk studies performed emphasize that the facility is very secure with respect to possibilities for fish escaping.

The release of fish and start of farming will at the earliest take place during spring 2016.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Fears 150,000 salmon have escaped Shetland fish farm after storms March 5, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters As many as 150,000 farmed salmon may have escaped from a fish farm in Shetland as a result of violent winter storms.

Meridian Salmon Group said on Wednesday that its Ness of Copister fish farming site had suffered serious damage.

The company said that almost half of the 364,000 fish in the eight cages were lost, most of them presumed escaped.

The January and February storms were so bad that farm workers did not manage to get to the site on the south tip of the island of Yell for two weeks.

A Meridian spokesman said on Wednesday the company was only now able to make a statement as it taken until earlier this week to complete its mandatory report to government agency Marine Scotland.

He said of the 154,569 fish lost, most were presumed to have escaped although there had also been some mortalities in the damaged cages.

The spokesman added it was impossible to say how many had escaped and then subsequently died.

Editorial Comment: The bigger question: How many feedlot salmon escaped and survived to impact the wild ecosystem?

The Meridian statement said: “Gale force winds and large swells caused a major failure of the mooring equipment which subsequently damaged a number of the eight cages on the site.

“Staff — including diving teams — have been working in very demanding conditions during the continued extreme weather to carry out repair and salvage operations and to try to assess the impact of the incident.

“Fish from three of the cages were safely removed during the initial salvage exercise. However, after weather conditions relented to allow a thorough site assessment, it has been determined that 154,569 fish were lost. All remaining fish on the site have also been removed to new locations.”

The statement continued: “While it is widely accepted that we were dealing with exceptional weather conditions, local reports indicate the unrelenting gales that have battered the east coast of Yell are the worst in decades.

“However, losses like this are not acceptable and we will be carrying out a full review of our systems to ensure we have no similar incidents in the future.

“This will include discussions with mooring manufacturers and other mooring experts, after which, any recommendations for improvement will be implemented at the earliest opportunity.”

At Christmas 2011, twelve cages at is site near the isle of Uyea, south of Unst, broke free from its mooring and were washed out into the North Sea. In that incident Meridian Salmon Group lost 300,000 fully grown salmon with a market value of around £3m.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Campaigners claim there was a “staggering” increase in exports of Scottish farmed salmon to China during the last three years

 Call for ban on salmon to China March 5, 2014 Scottish salmon farming critics are calling today for a ban on exports of the fish to China.

The Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture (GAAIA) claims the Chinese sales are helping Norwegian salmon farming companies to profit at the expense of Scotland’s marine environment and its wild fish stocks.

It echoes concerns raised recently by a charity, the Animal Concern Advice Line, which said Norwaybased fish farming giants were getting round a four-year-old ban on direct exports to China by supplying the market with produce from their Scottish operations – and selling more of their Norwegian salmon to Scots.

READ ENTIRE PRESS AND JOURNAL HERE (once registered)

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Trailer -“Filet! Oh Fish” In the troubled waters of the fish industry Watch, Listen Learn HERE December 5, 2013

      

Everybody agrees that fish is healthy.

In 40 years, its global consumption has doubled.

Each year, the market needs to find more fishes and new ways of production.

Where does the fish of our daily sushi come from?

How is it fed?

In which water does it live?

A dramatic investigation about healthy food...or maybe not?

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Feedlot Salmon Boycott Campaign Intensifies

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Fear emissions of pollutants - requires cessation of farming February 28, 2014 In a letter sent to the County Governor of Nordland, writes Earth Norway that algae and animal species that are Storvika Sorfold municipality in Nordland is in such poor condition that several species might disappear in a short time.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters In Storvika Marine Harvest, the world's leading companies in seafood production, a fish farm where they produce salmon.

Sulfur smell in the air The plant is currently empty fish, and although it can not be proved that the pollution comes from the farm, the location of the facility and current image in the area indicate that some of the pollution comes from there, writes chairman of Friends of the Earth in Nordland, Erling Solvang in the letter to the County.

The letter refers to a beach survey undertaken by Akvaplan-niva AS, which is partly owned by the Norwegian Institute for Water Research. The company has researchers and consultants who work with environmental and aquaculture on a daily basis.

The report shows that there are pink bacterial coating on the rocks along the shoreline, strong sulfur smell in the air foam on the surface of the water and several dead periwinkles along the waterfront.

The coastal zone is characterized by high load, and there are low numbers of species of both animals and algeliv, they write on the report, Marine Harvest itself is principal for.

Sediment in decay It should be no longer than just across the bay before it is absent, writes environmental leaders on the letter.

Based on this request Solvang now County Department of Environmental implement a temporary halt to any use of the farm.

The system must be stopped at the source of contaminants are identified. When approaching the Marine Harvest salmon are moving into the facility, it is important that a decision be taken as soon as possible, write Solvang on and continues: The County treats the case As stated in the report are talking about serious pollution with heavy layers of sediment in decay. This has taken place over time and is not due to a single event, he concludes.

Roar Høgsæt is miljøvernsjef the County Governor of Nordland, he is not aware of the complaint from the Norwegian Environment Federation, but says that they treat all complaints continuously.

We do this by Administration's regulations and we want shortened possible processing time, says he an.no Questions the allegations Marine Harvest question the legitimacy of the claims of the Earth Norway and their leader in Nordland, Erling Solvang.

As Naturvernforbundet himself writes in his letter to the County, may not report or investigation, that the damage to the shoreline due to pollution from our farms, writes communications manager at Marine Harvest, Ola Weekend Hjetland in an e-mail an.no continuing: We operate under the current rules and stay within all the requirements posed to us by the authorities, he concludes.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Your Best Sushi Years Are Behind You February 24, 2014 First there was peak oil. Now there's concern that peak salmon is setting in.

If that's the case, prices for products as varied as gourmet cat food and salmon rolls might be headed higher. And it isn't as if sushi was inexpensive to begin with, especially in New York and Los Angeles.

Worries about peak oil -- the idea that all the world's crude had been found and output was bound to decline -- never materialized because of conservation and advances in extraction technology.

Increasing salmon production might not be so easy, though, which helps explain why salmon prices are at record highs. Recently a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of fresh Norwegian salmon slated for export cost about 50 kroner ($8.29). That's about 50 percent higher than a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

What's pushing up salmon prices? Although demand is increasing steadily, including from countries such as China, tightening supplies of fish food might be the bigger culprit.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Most salmon is raised on aquatic farms, usually floating net pens in the coastal waters of countries such as Norway, Canada, the U.K. and Chile. The captive fish are fed a diet that, in part, is made up of processed fish meal and fish oil. Most of that comes from sardines, anchovies, herring, menhaden and other forage fish that are ground up and fed to salmon, usually in the form of compressed pellets.

Overfishing has depleted supplies of forage species, and producing salmon feed isn't the sole reason. Forage species tend to be high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are believed to help prevent human diseases such as heart disease and arthritis.

After fish farms, pharmaceutical companies and dietary-supplement makers are among the biggest buyers of fish oil.

On their own, salmon don’t produce omega-3 fatty acids; it is stored in their flesh when they consume meal that contains fish oil, and most people find eating salmon preferable to consuming forage fish.

Agriculture companies such as Cargill Inc. and Monsanto Co. are working on producing fish meal substitutes made of everything from soybeans to algae. But there is no substitute for fish oil that packs as much omega-3 fatty acids.

Of course, there are other constraints on increasing salmon production.

Salmon farming is limited by geography -- not many places have the cold, clean water and ocean currents the fish need to thrive -- and government regulations. Although Norway is issuing new aquaculture permits, many potential locales such as Alaska have declared fish farms unwelcome.

The drawbacks of aquaculture have been well documented: Farms in which fish are concentrated in numbers far greater than in the wild cause all sorts of problems. Uneaten food falls to the seabed, where it decays along with fish waste, depleting oxygen in the water. Much like farms on land, overcrowding stresses the fish. This increases susceptibility to disease and parasites, requiring farm operators to lace feed with antibiotics and parasiticides. Diseases can also wipe out farms and spread to wild fish populations.

There is an upside to higher salmon prices, though it doesn't necessarily benefit consumers: The owners of the biggest farms see opportunities for expansion and consolidation.

There is one thing consumers can count on: No matter where salmon prices are today, they won't stay put for long. From the end of July to late September, prices fell more than 35 percent amid renewed speculation of economic weakness in developed nations.

Of course, if it's cheap salmon you want, a global economic slump isn't a price worth paying.

Editorial Comment: Open pen feedlot salmon are not cheap:

    

Taxpayer subsidization Irreversible, long term public health risks Irreversible, long term environmental risks Cultures at risk Economies at risk

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Full-scale war over Galway fish farm A full-scale war under way between the Department of Agriculture and the Inland Fisheries Ireland is likely to determine the fate of Europe’s biggest fish farm planned for Galway Bay. February 26, 2014 The European Commission is investigating why it did not receive a scientific report from the Department which showed the amount of sea lice likely to come from such a farm could devastate much of the country’s wild salmon and trout.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters This report was drawn up by Inland Fisheries Ireland, responsible for protecting and developing inland fisheries and sea angling and protecting wild salmon under the EU’s Habitats Directive.

Instead, the Department sent a different study from another state agency, the Marine Institute, that said the danger would be small: about 1% compared with the 39% suggested by the Inland Fisheries report.

The Ombudsman is also investigating the issue and was told by the Department that the Inland Fisheries report had many inaccuracies and fundamental errors and that it “would have had disastrous results for Ireland’s reputation” had they sent it to the Commission.

They put forward a report from the Marine Institute, which provides scientific advice to the Department, and which painted a very different picture, suggesting the danger from such a farm would be small.

However, this report was questioned by four independent scientists when published in Journal of Fish Diseases, forcing the head of the Institute, Dr Peter Heffernan, to defend the work, saying the scientists had not considered the entire study.

The European Commission has reopened its investigation of the matter having received the Inland Fisheries study. Their spokesperson said they were investigating, but had just received the Department’s response on Monday and needed time to assess it.

Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) want the issue of the Galway Bay farm investigated, saying the environmental impact study was largely based on the Marine Institute’s report, while the report from the body responsible for wild fish conservation, Inland Fisheries, was sidelined.

The Galway farm is part of the Department’s plan to boost the country’s food exports. Getting licences for fish farms tends to be lengthy and bureaucratic, with many environmental and social issues to be considered.

The Department asked BIM — the body responsible for developing the country’s sea and aquaculture industries — to prepare an application and seek planning permission for a fish farm that would more than double the country’s production of farmed salmon. It is expected they will sell or lease the licence to a private company.

FIE are also questioning whether it is right to have BIM looking for the licence for the Galway Bay farm and ask whether BIM will also fulfill its other role of advising the minister for agriculture on whether to award the licence.

“This all appears to be incestuous and not very healthy,” said Tony Lowes of FIE. The Department said it received the application from BIM and the environmental impact statement and was considering it. Inland Fisheries Ireland, in a submission to the application, suggested changes should be made and quoted their research that 39% of smolts (young salmon) were killed by sea lice from fish farms and warned that the planned farm and the harvesting of its fish could produce the same dire results.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Climate Change

 Marshall Islands at risk from sea-level rise March 11, 2014 The Marshall Islands are a leading advocate of international action on climate change. If you ever needed an illustration for why, this is it.

Last week an unusually high tide, sometimes called a king tide, swept through the island nation’s capital city, Majuro. Even something as modest as a swelling tide can have an outsize effect in the Marshalls, which comprises low-lying islands in the Pacific Ocean — the highest elevation in the entire island chain is just 10 meters.

“Around 1,000 people were displaced as a result of the king tide, and a number of family homes were completely wiped out by the encroaching seas,” Marshall Islands Minister for Foreign Affairs Phillip Muller told FP by email. Muller said it was the worst king tide to hit the Marshalls in decades.

The tide washed through a landfill, picking up trash and sewage, and a cemetery, jostling gravesites.

It also damaged buildings and homes.

The Marshall Islands are periodically inundated by high tides like this.

The tide last week “is a combination of a little bit of everything,” Steven Gill, a senior scientist at NOAA National Ocean Service’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services, told FP. The highest tides, like this one, are associated with the alignment of the sun and moon during perigee — the point at which the moon’s orbit passes closest to Earth.

That’s also being exacerbated by changes in sea level.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that, on average, sea levels could rise between 28 and 98 centimeters over the next century, which would put much of the Marshall Islands underwater.

“While we are doing what we can,” Muller says, “even the most conservative estimates of sea-level rise, including from the latest U.S. National Climate Assessment, suggest that RMI — …the Republic of the Marshall Islands — will literally be wiped off the map some time before the end of the century, given the appalling lack of effort by big emitters to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Bangladesh's Coal Delusion March 4, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters DHAKA, Bangladesh — Like most poor countries, Bangladesh needs a lot of energy to develop its economy, the cheaper the better. About 80 percent of its electricity now comes from natural gas. But with gas resources waning and an entrenched, inefficient subsidy system, the government has decided to promote coal instead. This shift comes with great risks: Coal power pollutes, and Bangladesh is at once the most densely populated country on earth and one of the most exposed to the effects of climate change.

Under its 2010 master plan for developing the energy sector, the government hopes that by 2030, 50 percent of Bangladesh’s power will be generated by coal, up from about 2 percent now. (Bangladesh currently has one small plant, which runs on local coal.) It expects to accomplish this by building a dozen new coal-run electricity-generating plants, including a controversial one at Rampal, in the southwest of the country. That facility alone is expected to have a capacity of 1,320 megawatts, or about one-fifth of the country’s total current production of electricity.

But the Rampal plant, which is scheduled to be completed by 2016, will be located less than 10 miles north of the Unesco-listed Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and the home to the largest population of Bengal tigers and to the endangered Irrawaddy River dolphin. The forest also acts as a buffer against the deadly cyclones that periodically funnel up the Bay of Bengal. With every storm, estimates Anu Mohammad, an economist at Jahangirnagar University, the mangroves save hundreds of thousands of lives.

Despite the Sudarbans’ designation as a World Heritage Site in 1997, waterways will be dredged through the forest to allow convoys of coalbearing ships to reach the Rampal station.

Half a million tons of toxic sludge will be emitted by the plant annually, according to a report by the nearby Khulna University, and it will flow downstream into the forest’s network of rivulets. Another problem, according to Mr. Anu, is that the Rampal project opens the way for opportunistic land grabs and the development of other polluting industrial activities in the area, including so-called ship breaking, the tearing apart of unwanted ships.

Electricity production has doubled over the past five years, but Bangladesh is struggling to keep up.

Domestic production of natural gas falls about 200 billion cubic feet, or about 20 percent, short of demand for electricity-generation every year: After decades of selling the commodity to consumers and the industrial sector at exceptionally cheap subsidized rates, the country is running out of gas, and state-owned energy companies are operating at a loss.

In a merry-go-round of fiscal irresponsibility, state-owned banks hand out bad loans to insolvent companies, which only keeps the gas flowing cheaply and wastefully. All in all, the subsidies system cost the state approximately $3.4 billion in 2012, or nearly one-quarter of the budget, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Bangladesh has gas reserves in the Bay of Bengal, but exploration has been slow. The state-owned exploration company doesn’t have the capacity or know-how to exploit those resources. And foreign multinationals don’t have the economic incentive: They wouldn’t recoup enough of their investment selling on the massively subsidized local market. At recent auctions, no companies bid on deep-sea blocks, and only two companies bid for the shallow-water blocks.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters One result is that in recent years the country has had to import liquid fuels to power stopgap plants.

This has increased the impoverished nation’s annual imports bill by around $2 billion, out of around $30 billion, according to Mohammad Tamim, a professor of engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.

This is untenable in the long term, yet there are few alternatives. Nuclear power is touted, but for a country with little of the required infrastructure, that option seems fanciful. Although Bangladesh has great potential for renewables, policymakers haven’t put in the necessary investment or planning to developing them. This is partly because of cronyism and corruption, and vested interests that are eager to maintain fossil-fuel monopolies. It is also because of basic economics: The power generated by the renewables project on Sandwip Island, for example, is still so expensive that the plant runs at only 50 percent of its capacity because locals can’t afford to buy the electricity, even when it is discounted.

And so coal it is for now, despite the risks. Coal is plentiful worldwide, and its price is relatively stable.

But since exploiting Bangladesh’s own reserves, for example in the north, would displace many people, the government has favored projects like Rampal: The area isn’t very densely populated, and the plant will run on coal imported from Australia or Indonesia.

Bangladesh seems to be caught in a bind. With demand for electricity growing by 10 percent a year, it will need to more than triple production, to over 30,000 megawatts by 2030. But that quantity isn’t so large; the United States produces more than five times as much from renewable sources alone.

And there are better ways for Bangladesh to relieve the pressure than turning to coal.

Eventually the subsidy system should be entirely reformed. Not only is it inefficient; it doesn’t help the poorest: Only 50 percent of Bangladeshis are on the grid. But reforms will raise gas prices, and in order to avoid related shocks to the economy and possible social unrest, they will have to be undertaken slowly.

In the meantime, the gas grid itself should be made more efficient. Waste is rampant, and illegal connections to gas pipes are said to cost the government at least $30,000 a day. Revamping plants and cracking down on theft would reduce total gas bills, as well as the attached subsidy bills, even if the subsidy system remains in place.

Foreign governments pump almost $3 billion in development assistance into Bangladesh annually.

Instead of financing coal plants (as Japan plans to do in Matarbari), or ineffectual projects to improve governance, donors should channel aid toward developing renewable energy. The World Bank and other foreign donors have funded projects for the sale and distribution of solar-power home systems, helping 320,000 rural households generate small quantities of electricity. But large-scale projects feeding into a national grid are needed; they would allow economies of scale. These projects could be developed with support from China, which is promoting renewables at home, perhaps in exchange for the access it covets to a deep-water port in the Bay of Bengal.

The government’s environmental-impact assessment for the Rampal coal plant assures that “the long-term concentration” of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide will not be significant because the pollutants “may periodically” be dispersed by the cyclones that hit the area. Indeed. But those emissions will only feed more winds that later disperse them, again and again — until much of the delta’s silty land is dispersed, too, by the angry rising tides of climate change.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Energy Generation: Oil, Coal, Geothermal, Hydropower, Natural Gas, Solar, Tidal, Wind

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Petroleum – Drilled, Refined, Tar Sands, Fracked

Twenty five years and counting!

Crude oil from the tanker Exxon Valdez, leaches into Alaska's Prince William Sound on April 9, 1989.

 Oil from the Exxon Valdez Spill Lingers on Alaska Beaches Boulder-strewn beaches in the Gulf of Alaska still harbor oil from the Exxon Valdez spill.

March 1, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters The Exxon Valdez oil spill is not just an awful memory. Oil from one of the most devastating environmental disasters in U.S. history still clings to boulder-strewn beaches in the Gulf of Alaska—and could stick around for decades. Researchers presented evidence of a lingering, foamy, mousse-like emulsion this week at the Ocean Sciences meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Chemical analyses find that this 25-year-old oil is from the Exxon Valdez spill, when the tanker ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound (map) in 1989. And to the surprise of the scientists, the oil still has most of the same chemical compounds as oil sampled 11 days after the initial spill.

(See "Exxon Valdez Anniversary: 20 Years Later, Oil Remains.")

The oil's presence in areas that were cleaned right after the spill 25 years ago points to the need to monitor certain environments long after the visible effects disappear, the researchers say.

It's Like Mayonnaise There are two main reasons why there's still oil on some of the beaches of the Kenai Fjords and Katmai National Parks and Preserves in the Gulf of Alaska, explains Gail Irvine, a marine ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and lead researcher on the study.

When the oil first spilled from the tanker, it mixed with the seawater and formed an emulsion that turned it into a goopy compound, she says.

"When oil forms into the foam, the outside is weathering, but the inside isn't," Irvine explains.

It's like mayonnaise left out on the counter. The surface will crust over, but the inside of the clump still looks like mayonnaise, she explains.

When that foamy oil met the boulders and cobbles of beaches in the Gulf of Alaska, it plopped down between and under the rocks, and it's still there.

Protected by Boulders The boulders on these beaches don't move very much, says Christoph Aeppli, a marine environmental chemist at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine. On their most exposed site, the boulders moved less than 3.3 feet (a meter) from 1994 to 2012.

"That stability is what has allowed the oil to persist," Irvine says, even after the beaches were steamcleaned.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Researchers aren't sure how much oil remains ensconced under these boulders—that would require a different kind of study. "We think it's low levels," says Irvine. "Quite frankly, I didn't think [oil] would be there because it's been so long."

Nonetheless, the oil is there—and is leaking out. Irvine and colleagues collected and tested mussels near these boulder fields and found low levels of Exxon Valdez oil in their tissues.

Irvine says the levels are so low that it probably isn't a cause for concern for the animals. She says the main takeaway from the study is the fact that surprisingly fresh oil can linger in certain environments long after a spill has been cleaned up.

And that means that monitoring an environment after an oil spill isn't a matter of weeks or months but of years and even decades.

Exxon Valdez oil spill area

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Petropolis - Rape and pillage of Canada and Canadians for toxic bitumen Watch video HERE

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Sacred Spirit Bears, Diluted Bitumen and Hundreds of Oil Tankers Watch, Listen, Learn HERE

Facing A Threat

Proposed Northern Gateway dilbit/condensate pipelines project Dilbit Kitimat Condensate

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 The tar sands are damaging our air

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

What If…

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 11 Million Litres a Day: The Tar Sands' Leaking Legacy (See Executive Summary Below)

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Profiling

Oil Sands Mixtures from Industrial Developments and Natural Groundwaters for Source Identification

Abstract The objective of this study was to identify chemical components that could distinguish chemical mixtures in oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) that had potentially migrated to groundwater in the oil sands development area of northern Alberta, Canada.

In the first part of the study, OSPW samples from two different tailings ponds and a broad range of natural groundwater samples were assessed with historically employed techniques as Level-1 analyses, including geochemistry, total concentrations of naphthenic acids (NAs) and synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy (SFS). While these analyses did not allow for reliable source differentiation, they did identify samples containing significant concentrations of oil sands acidextractable organics (AEOs).

In applying Level-2 profiling analyses using electrospray ionization high resolution mass spectrometry (ESI-HRMS) and comprehensive multidimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC-TOF/MS) to samples containing appreciable AEO concentrations, differentiation of natural from OSPW sources was apparent through measurements of O2:O4 ion class ratios (ESI-HRMS) and diagnostic ions for two families of suspected monoaromatic acids (GC × GC-TOF/MS).

The resemblance between the AEO profiles from OSPW and from 6 groundwater samples adjacent to two tailings ponds implies a common source, supporting the use of these complimentary analyses for source identification. These samples included two of upward flowing groundwater collected <1 m beneath the Athabasca River, suggesting OSPW-affected groundwater is reaching the river system.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Pipelines and Oil Tankers, Economic Cost and Environmental Risk Watch, Listen, Learn HERE

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 The commercial Trans Canada doesn't want you to see Keystone XL Pipeline – “Not in the best interest of the United States Watch, Listen, Learn HERE

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 38 year old Line 9 pipeline reversal approved for dilbit March 9, 2014 It seems illogical to use the most populated stretch of Canada as a transport corridor for toxic and highly volatile fuels, but the National Energy Board of Canada has approved Enbridge’s request to do just that. They have just authorized the company to flow tar sands dilbit and U.S. Bakken crude through their 38 year old Line 9 pipeline.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters The 830km long pipe runs through the largest cities in Canada and crosses hundreds of waterways throughout Ontario and Quebec, including every single tributary that drains into Lake Ontario.

The NEB has ruled that the project serves Canadians’ public interest, leaving little doubt as to which Canadians they are advocating for. Certainly, it isn’t the first Canadians, as the NEB’s approval arrives in spite of testimonies from First Nations along the line that the federal government has never consulted with them about this project.

The government bureaucrats who made this decision were Lyne Mercier, a former oil and gas sector manager, Mike Richmond, a corporate energy lawyer, and Jacques Gauthier, a former energy sector CEO who has worked closely with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

In issuing their approval, the NEB was seemingly unperturbed by Line 9’s thousands of cracks, the expert testimony of Rick Kuprewicz which pegged its risk of rupture at “over 90 percent,” the thirtyfive times and more than 3,000,000 litres of the oil pipe has already spilled, Enbridge’s history of not following regulations, their average operating record of about 73 spills per year, and Line 9’s striking similarities to Enbridge’s Line 6B, the pipeline which ruptured millions of litres of bitumen into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River because Enbridge ignored a known defect. Almost four years after the Michigan rupture, as Line 9 is being granted a green light, it remains to be seen whether or not the Kalamazoo River will ever be cleaned up.

Rick Kuprewicz, an engineer with four decades of experience in pipeline integrity management, is the source of the most widely quoted warnings about Line 9. His report to the NEB argued that there is “a high risk that Line 9 will rupture” due to cracks and corrosion “in the early years following Project implementation.” He believes that Enbridge relies too heavily on experimental pipeline monitoring technology and that their tools often miss cracks or misinterpret them.

While Enbridge has called his report “entirely unfounded and grossly unfair,” Kuprewicz’s record speaks for itself. “I’ve been here before, working on pipelines where if they were to rupture would kill a lot of people,” he said.

“When I’ve done a high risk call I’ve never been wrong. I’ve got to live with that. I have checks and balances to make sure that I’m using the science and I’m not letting emotion get into it…I don’t make these calls often, in my forty years, but when I’ve made them they’ve come true.”

As I have reported previously, there are hundreds of waterways along Line 9’s route where spilled bitumen could settle at the bottom of Lake Ontario or the St. Lawrence River, effectively poisoning the drinking water of millions of people.

Vapours evaporating off of a spill could cause serious health problems for those nearby, as both diluted bitumen and Bakken crude contain compounds like hydrogen sulphide which “may cause irritation, breathing failure, coma and death, without necessarily any warning odour being sensed.”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters When I spoke to Kuprewicz, I asked him if this was an accurate assessment of Line 9’s risk. He told me that “the worst case scenario would be a very large rupture. It would release many thousands of tonnes of hydrocarbons. Maybe it will be moving dilbit, or the worst case scenario from an impact perspective would be a Bakken crude spill or something that’s really light. And you already know what a Bakken type crude could do. Lac Mégantic? That’s nowhere near what a pipeline of this diameter could release.”

The risks of this project, industry argues, are mitigated by the pipeline’s economic benefits. These have been evaluated by Enbridge to be about $1 billion annually over a 30-year period, including upwards of 200 jobs per year and a steady supply of fuel for Quebec refineries. Kuprewicz told me that, given the pipeline’s current disuse, it makes sense from a supply perspective to reverse its flow.

But a cost-benefit analysis submitted to the NEB warned that Enbridge’s numbers are likely overstated and found that “these benefits are insignificant in the relevant context of the overall Quebec, Ontario, and Canadian economies, and even more insignificant when weighed against the cost of a major accident/spill.”

You may now be asking, “How is this even happening?” or “Isn’t Canada a democracy?” Well, in the sense that we still get to vote in increasingly fraudulent elections, yes, it totally is. But it’s important to note that hundreds of laws in Canada have changed in the last few years and that Line 9 is among the first major energy projects to be assessed in this new legal landscape.

At the request of the oil industry, Harper’s omnibus bills C-38 and C-45 have removed a number protective measures that may have stopped projects like this from coming to fruition in the past. Our waterways are no longer protected, Line 9 requires no environmental impact assessment, and those looking to testify in “public” hearings on energy projects have to provide a CV and fill out a ten-page application to do so – though many who did this for Line 9 were not permitted to speak. Additionally, this public hearings process has basically been degraded into a public relations spectacle: No matter what the NEB ruled, the federal government would be able to overturn this decision.

Regardless, given the NEB’s relatively incestuous relationship with industry, they tend to agree with our vehemently pro-oil government on most matters. Critics call the NEB a rubber-stamp organization and, accordingly, they’ve been stamping like crazy lately. Just a few weeks ago, theyquietly approved Enbridge’s request to increase the capacity of their Line 7 pipelinewithout even bothering to inform the communities and municipal leaders along its route. Similarly, after listening to 1,159 testimonies against the Enbridge Northern Gateway and only two for it, they approved the project and determined that “Canada and Canadians would be better off with the Enbridge Northern Gateway project than without it."

There are a few conditions attached to NEB's rubber-stamp of Line 9, like providing an updated engineering assessment. This does little to build confidence in the proposal. The NEB has refused to adopt the $1 billion insurance requirement that the Ontario Ministry of Energy and others asked for at their hearings. Estimates from The Goodman Group have pegged the clean-up costs of a spill between $1 and $10 billion, while Enbridge is only insured for $685 million.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters I asked Rick Kuprewicz if he thought $685 million was an adequate insurance quota. “You can’t have one high enough,” he replied. “You can drop a couple billion dollars here without even thinking. I used to think a billion dollars for these releases was a lot of money, but I’m sorry. The sad part would be this: Not trying to sound alarmist, but all that money never brings back the dead."

To Kuprewicz, this project's risk could be lessened if Enbrdige was to perform a hydrotest on Line 9, though the NEB hasn't mandated this type of test. Similarly, the company has argued that hydrotesting is unnecessary and unsafe. Kuprewicz explained that "from an integrity perspective, whether this would be sound pipe to do the due service, the hydrotest is the 100 percent proof test.

There are no assumptions, there's no guess work: Either the pipe is good or it isn't good. He clarified:"It has to be a certain kind of hydrotest—it's not something that the pipeline operator gets to decide."

Yet, despite its NEB approval, Line 9 has many hurdles to jump through before it begins flowing again. Resistance to this project, and the regulatory process around it, has been building for some time. Thousands have attended protests against the project in cities like Toronto, Sarnia, Hamilton, and Montreal, and activists have occupied Enbridge facilities and worksites in both Hamilton and Toronto. The NEB hearings were also disrupted in both of the cities that hosted them. When the hearings came to Montreal, three people were arrested and 29 others were detained, while all of them were fined $700 for protesting under the city's draconian anti-protest by-laws. In Toronto, protesters shut down the hearings by erupting into chants, prompting National Energy Board members to flee from the project's opponents.

This eruption followed the presentation of Amanda Lickers, a member of Rising Tide Toronto. Along with a coalition of other groups, RTT has organized an emergency rally in Toronto to demand an environmental assessment from Ontario's provincial government. The group is currently enlisting the support for a campaign of direct action and civil disobedience along the pipeline's route to stop construction. "Tar sands expansion poses a threat to fragile ecosystems all across the continent. It is a matter of life or death and we are calling on people to stand on the side of life," Shirley Ceravolo, a member of the group, told me.

There are also a few legal challenges in the works. Clayton Ruby, a lawyer famous for once successfully having Rob Ford booted from office, is suing the NEB to have the Line 9 hearings reopened on the basis that the application process was unconstitutional. Meanwhile, citizens in Toronto have told me that they are in the early phases of lobbying for a municipal ban of dilbit and Bakken, and that a few city councillors in Toronto have endorsed a recent community report on the risks of Line 9.

Running through communities like Sarnia, London, Hamilton, Mississauga, Toronto, Kingston, Laval, and Montreal, Line 9 passes within metres of our hospitals, schools, agricultural lands, parks, cemeteries, houses, high-rises, businesses, places of worship, highways, mass transit systems, airports, and more. It represents the new face of tar sands development in Canada, with sacrifice zones spreading outward from Fort Chipewyan and Peace River to any and all communities. With no environmental safeguards left, our populations are now expendable.

And while the future of Line 9 is uncertain, the NEB’s ruling makes one thing very clear: Nobody is looking out for the public interest, except for the public themselves.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Oil trains traveling through Idaho on way to Washington, Oregon to increase dramatically March 10, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- The number of oil trains moving through north Idaho is expected to increase in coming years, raising fears of accidents.

BNSF Railway spokesman Gus Melonas says an average of 1.5 loaded oil trains move through north Idaho each day. The trains roll through Sandpoint, Athol, Rathdrum and Hauser from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota and Montana to coastal refineries.

An oil train typically has about 100 rail cars and each car holds about 29,000 gallons, the Coeur d'Alene Press reported.

Union Pacific, the other railroad that transports commodities through the Idaho Panhandle, carries crude oil that is interspersed with cars holding other products, spokesman Aaron Hunt said.

Melonas said the volume of oil trains coming through north Idaho is expected to increase.

"It's all demand-driven, but we certainly know it's a growing trend," he said.

Only time will tell if safety measures are sufficient.

"I'll believe it when I see it," said Shannon Williamson, executive director of Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper in Sandpoint. It's one thing to make safety promises, and another to see them come to fruition, she said.

U.S. crude oil production is forecast to rise. Railroads transported more than 400,000 carloads of crude in 2013, up from 9,500 in 2008.

There have been three fiery explosions involving trainloads of Bakken crude in the past year. Last July, 47 people were killed in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec.

At least 10 times since 2008, trains hauling oil across North American have derailed and spilled crude, with most causing fires.

BNSF is planning to buy up to 5,000 new crude oil tank cars that go beyond industry standards adopted two years ago.

Melonas said 60 percent of the oil tanks on the BNSF line through north Idaho are newer-designed cars that have thicker steel than the older models, reinforced shields and improved valve design.

Melonas said BNSF has not had a fatality on its northern tier as a result of a hazmat release since 1981.

Mike Mather, training chief for the Northern Lakes Fire District that serves Rathdrum and Hayden, said local fire districts have trained with BNSF to deal with accidents.

"The rail industry can be tight-lipped about some of its operations," Mather said. "There still needs to be more discussion on this subject."

The oil boom has prompted several proposals for more crude oil unloading terminals in the region.

Williamson's environmental group is concerned about those proposals, because they mean even more oil tanks moving through north Idaho.

"We're not receiving any benefit whatsoever. We're just in harm's way," she said.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Rail carries Canadian crude while Keystone pipeline decision simmers March 6, 2014 WASHINGTON — While supporters and opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline have been busy debating the controversial proposal, the oil that it’s intended to move has found another carrier — one that didn’t require the president’s stamp of approval or several years and billions of dollars to construct.

Editorial Comment: Extracting, transporting, refining and burning bitumen from the tarsands sites in Alberta, Canada are unimaginably wrong on every level. The purported benefits of these unethical and irresponsible actions will never offset their irreversible and catastrophic long term public health and environmental damages. This government-enabled, greeddriven addiction to fossil fuels must be replaced with clean, renewable energy.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Keystone’s friends and foes alike may have underestimated the North American rail system’s ability to handle the thick, gritty oil from western Canada known as tar sands. And while rail was originally a stopgap solution to the lack of a pipeline, oil producers have discovered its advantages.

Now, transportation and energy experts on both sides of the border believe that Canadian crude shipments by rail will continue to increase, whether the pipeline is ultimately approved and built or not.

Concerns about the safety of rail shipments after a series of recent derailments won’t slow the growth, they say.

Nor will the recent State Department report that concluded construction of the $5.4 billion pipeline would not have a major impact on climate change.

The chief objection to tar sands crude is its environmental impact. Extraction of tar sands emits three times more planet-warming carbon dioxide than conventional crude oil, environmentalists say, and destroys forests and pollutes waterways. Keystone XL would move mostly tar sands oil, and opponents and their allies in Congress have mobilized against it.

But the State Department said that whether or not Keystone XL is built, the development of oil resources in western Canada would continue and the product would find ways to get to market, including by rail.

Even the pipeline companies are investing in new rail facilities, in the tar sands region of Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as the Bakken shale region in North Dakota and Montana.

Julie Carey, a Washington-based energy economist with Navigant Economics, a consulting firm, said railroads have become “tremendously nimble competitors.”

“They changed the competitive landscape forever,” she said.

Rail was long thought to be a more expensive way to ship crude oil than by pipeline, anywhere from $2 to $20 more per barrel. But Carey and others say such estimates fail to account for rail’s advantages, and when those are factored in, the price difference becomes negligible.

Rail allows for faster delivery and reaches more destinations. Moving the thicker tar sands oil in a pipeline requires it to be diluted — taking away nearly a third of the pipeline’s capacity. Shipping the crude in a rail car also requires less diluent to thin out the viscous substance, or none, if the car has heated coils.

Plus, pipelines can only move a product one way, but trains go in both directions; they can back-haul the diluent, which has to be extracted once the oil reaches its destination.

“People have always said railways are more expensive,” said Malcolm Cairns, a transportation consultant in Brighton, Ontario, and a former director of business research at Canadian Pacific Railway. “The gap is not that big.”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters In a research paper last year, Cairns said that Canada’s two largest railroads, Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railway, could move a combined 600,000 to 800,000 barrels of Canadian crude a day within two years. That approaches Keystone XL’s proposed capacity of 830,000 barrels a day.

Both railroads reach the Gulf Coast, where 45 percent of U.S. refinery capacity is located, either directly or via connecting rail lines. They also can haul the oil to East Coast refineries and barge terminals, and they are doing that now. Keystone XL couldn’t serve those markets, Carey points out.

“Rail has tremendous advantages that pipelines don’t have,” she said. “I think this has caught the pipelines off guard.”

However, the growth of western Canadian oil production is projected to outstrip rail capacity by a long shot, according to Cairns. The tar sands region in Alberta and Saskatchewan could produce an additional 3 million barrels a day by 2035.

Cairns predicts that rail will provide a “niche service” once more pipelines are built. And if the U.S. doesn’t build them, Canada will.

“Rail’s just nicely stepped into the breach,” he said.

Shawn Howard, a spokesman for TransCanada, which would build Keystone XL if President Barack Obama approves it, said that the company sees a place for rail but that refiners and customers have indicated the pipeline is their preferred option.

“There are many rail projects that have been announced as pipeline infrastructure has been delayed,” he said. “But none of that changes the fact that it is safer to move products like oil by pipeline.”

Several fiery derailments since last summer revealed that state and local officials and Washington regulators may not have prepared for massive amounts of crude oil moving in trains. U.S. railroads moved 400,000 rail carloads of oil last year, according to industry estimates, up from fewer than 10,000 five years earlier.

The bulk of those shipments involved Bakken crude oil, which regulators have concluded is more flammable than conventional kinds. The thicker tar sands crude, in contrast, is difficult to ignite.

Meanwhile, pipeline companies are ramping up their investment in rail loading facilities on both sides of the border. They’re also involved in constructing new unloading terminals on the East and West coasts to serve refineries in those regions.

Rail companies are aggressively marketing their ability to transport crude oil, even as uncertainty lingers over new safety requirements. Federal regulators have announced several initial steps to improve the safety of crude oil transportation and are writing new standards for tank car construction.

Carey said that railroads have defied skeptics and are in it for the long haul.

“I believe they will continue to be the solution even if the pipeline catches up,” she said.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 An Accident Waiting to Happen February 20, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters As oil trains derail across the United States, a windswept—and vulnerable—stretch of Montana’s Glacier National Park underscores the folly of transporting crude by rail.

The trains roll throughout the day, running east and west along the snow-blanketed tracks of northwestern Montana, dipping low along the southern edge of Glacier National Park. Boxcars, intermodal freight containers, and bulk cargo clamber up and then down the Continental Divide. Night falls, and yet another train emerges from the east, accompanied by a thin metal-on-metal shriek. First to appear are two locomotives, their headlights tunneling through the darkness, then 103 tanker cars, dull black with hymenopteran stripes. Inside the tankers are two and a half million gallons of light, sweet crude, freshly pumped from North Dakota’s Bakken shale formation.

At least one train slips off the tracks in this country every single day.

For more than a century railroads have hauled freight and people through this stretch of the Rockies.

Glacier owes its existence, in fact, to the Great Northern Railway, which back in 1910 vigorously promoted the legislation that would establish a brand new national park, to which the railroad would soon be hauling wealthy visitors. Railroads, of course, are integral to U.S. commerce, and no one blinks when mile-long trains pass through small towns, big cities, and vast stretches of prairie, desert, and forests. Or at least they didn’t blink until recently, when shippers began to fill so many of those railcars with oil. In 2009, western crude filled a mere 8,000 tanker cars; in 2013, thanks to increased production in the Bakken, it filled 400,000.

The vast majority of America’s oil is still transported via pipeline, which is a significantly cheaper means of conveyance than rail. But building new pipelines to handle the glut of Bakken crude is expensive, time-consuming, and increasingly stymied by political opposition; by landowners unwilling to grant easements; and, if the pipeline crosses federal land, by heightened environmental review.

Train tracks, on the other hand, already crisscross the nation, and freight railroads are now investing tens of billions of dollars on new locomotives, on the upgrading of track, and on so-called transloading facilities, where oil is either funneled into unit trains (which consist of 100 or more oil tankers) or pumped out of them and transferred to refineries, river barges, or ships. In 2013, 69 percent of Bakken oil traveled by rail; that percentage is expected to reach 90 percent this year.

But with that increase comes another—an increase in the risk of environmental catastrophe.

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, at least one train, on average, slips off the tracks in this country every single day. Multiply the number of train cars carrying crude oil by 50, as we did between 2009 and 2013, and you multiply the odds of a leak, a major spill, or—worse—a massive explosion commensurately. And depending on where, when, and under what circumstances such an accident were to take place, the impact could range from manageable to utterly, epically devastating.

On a snowy day in January, I follow via automobile as the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway climbs west out of the plains near the small town of East Glacier, in a part of Montana known for its wicked winds. Gusts of over 100 miles an hour aren’t uncommon here. Driving with a local resident, I note the remains of a porch that has blown off a house and into a tree, several steel posts bent 90 degrees by westerly gales, and a railroad-erected windscreen covering the train bridge over Midvale Creek.

READ ENTIRE ONEARTH ARTICLE HERE

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Trading Water for Fuel is Fracking Crazy February 18, 2014 It would be difficult to live without oil and gas. But it would be impossible to live without water. Yet, in our mad rush to extract and sell every drop of gas and oil as quickly as possible, we’re trading precious water for fossil fuels.

A recent report, Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Stress, shows the severity of the problem. Alberta and B.C. are among eight North American regions examined in the study by Ceres, a U.S.-based nonprofit advocating for sustainability leadership.

Nearly half (47 percent) of oil and gas wells recently hydraulically fractured in the U.S. are in regions with high or extremely high water stress. Map credit: Ceres One of the most disturbing findings is that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is using enormous amounts of water in areas that can scarcely afford it. The report notes that close to half the oil and gas wells recently fracked in the U.S. “are in regions with high or extremely high water stress” and more than 55 percent are in areas experiencing drought.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters In Colorado and California, almost all wells—97 and 96 percent, respectively—are in regions with high or extremely high water stress, meaning more than 80 percent of available surface and groundwater has already been allocated for municipalities, industry and agriculture. A quarter of Alberta wells are in areas with medium to high water stress.

Drought and fracking have already caused some small communities in Texas to run out of water altogether, and parts of California are headed for the same fate. As we continue to extract and burn ever greater amounts of oil, gas and coal, climate change is getting worse, which will likely lead to more droughts in some areas and flooding in others. California’s drought may be the worst in 500 years, according to B. Lynn Ingram, an earth and planetary sciences professor at the University of California, Berkeley. That’s causing a shortage of water for drinking and agriculture, and for salmon and other fish that spawn in streams and rivers. With no rain to scrub the air, pollution in the Los Angeles area has returned to dangerous levels of decades past.

Because of lack of information from industry and inconsistencies in water volume reporting, Ceres’ Western Canada data analysis “represents a very small proportion of the overall activity taking place.” Researchers determined, though, that Alberta fracking operations have started using more “brackish/saline” groundwater instead of freshwater. The report cautions that this practice needs more study “given the potential for brackish water to be used in the future for drinking water” and the fact that withdrawing salty groundwater “can also adversely impact interconnected freshwater resources.”

Although B.C. fracking operations are now mainly in low water stress regions, reduced precipitation and snowpack, low river levels and even drought conditions in some areas—likely because of climate change—raise concerns about the government’s plan to rapidly expand the industry. The report cites a “lack of regulation around groundwater withdrawals” and cumulative impacts on First Nations lands as issues with current fracking.

Ceres’ study only looks at fracking impacts on freshwater supplies, and offers recommendations to reduce those, including recycling water, using brackish or wastewater, strengthening regulations and finding better ways to dispose of fracking wastewater. But the drilling method comes with other environmental problems, from groundwater contamination to massive ecosystem and habitat disruption—even small earth tremors—all done in the name of short-term gain.

It’s important to heed the conclusions and recommendations of this study and others, but given the problems with fracking, and other forms of extraction, we must find ways to control our insatiable fossil fuel demand. That burning these—often wastefully—contributes to climate change, and our methods of extraction exacerbate the problems, should make us take a good look at how we’re treating this planet and everything on it, including ourselves and generations to come. It’s a reminder that we need to conserve energy in every way possible.

In the short term, we must realize that we have better ways to create jobs and build the economy than holding an “everything must go” sale on our precious resources. In the longer term, we must rethink our outdated economic systems, which were devised for times when resources were plentiful and infrastructure was scarce. Our highest priorities must be the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil that provides food and the biodiversity that keeps us alive and healthy.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 A Canadian Company Tar Sands Oil February 17. 2014

Is About To Become One Of The First To Extract U.S.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters The controversial oil extraction process made famous by Canada — deemed the world’s “dirtiest type of liquid fuel” — is coming to America.

According to a Sunday report in DeSmogBlog, a Canadian company called U.S. Oil Sands has received all the necessary permits to open the nation’s second commercial-scale tar sands mine, which will soon begin producing tar sands oil — a thick, hard-to-extract mixture of heavy oil, sand, and water. The Utah Unitah Basin project will be allowed to extract 2,000 barrels of oil per day. Some scientists say the unique and energy-intensive extraction process produces three times the greenhouse gas emissions of conventionally produced oil.

In Canada, tar sands are booming.

The third-largest proven crude oil reserve in the world next to Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, rapid production there has caused new pipeline proposals to pop up like daisies — most notably the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from Alberta all the way to Texas.

Editorial Comment: Canada is faced with other significant challenges regarding their vast reserves of bitumen:

  

Inability to export dilbit to ports via pipeline, rail and ships due to unresolved cultural and environmental hurdles – unable to cash in on tremendous revenue from Asian and European markets Inadequate domestic oil refining infrastructure Canada may end up “eating” their precious dilbit that taxpayers will pay for thanks to FIPA

America, however, has not yet attempted to extract its tar sands oil. According to the Bureau of Land Management there are 12 to 19 billion barrels of tar sands oil in Utah, though not all of it is recoverable. And recovering it is not easy, as DeSmogBlog notes: U.S. Oil Sands’ water-and-energy-intensive extraction process involves first digging up congealed tar sands, then crushing them to reduce their size. The company then mixes the crushed sand with large amounts of hot water (at a temperature of 122-176°F) to loosen up and liquefy the tarry, oilcontaining residue and separating it from the sand.

Next, coarse solids sink, are subsequently removed and considered waste tailings. Air is then bubbled through the remaining water-oil mixture, which makes the oil float to the top in what’s referred to as “bitumen froth,” in industry lingo. The froth is then de-aerated, meaning all the air molecules are removed.

After this, as BLM notes, it takes approximately four tons of sand and four barrels of fresh water to make a barrel of oil, which is the equivalent of about 42 gallons. The amount of water the process uses is of particular concern in Utah, where water is scarce. Still, U.S. Oil Sands has received permits from the Utah Water Quality Board despite questions about the ongoing water crisis in Utah and the American southwest.

Extracting and burning tar sands oil also produces a byproduct called “petcoke” — a coal-like, highsulfur, high-carbon solid that burns dirtier than coal. It also tends to get stored in huge piles that can release huge, dirty dust clouds on unsuspecting residents.

Meanwhile, in Alberta, federal scientists have found that the area’s large tar sands deposits are now surrounded by a nearly 7,500-square-mile ring of mercury.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 National Energy Board under fire for approved changes coming to Line 9 March 7, 2014 The National Energy Board is coming under fire for the approved changes coming to Line 9.

The board gave energy giant Enbridge approval Thursday to reverse the flow of oil in Line 9 and to increase the amount of oil.

Line 9 currently runs from Sarnia to Montreal, and the pipe line travels through the southern edge of Waterloo Region.

Adam Scott, Environmental Defence’s Program Manager for Climate and Energy tells 570′s Gary Doyle show this pipeline was designed in 1975 to carry 240,000 barrels of light oil. That’ll now be increased to 300,000 barrels of heavy tar sand oil, “It’s an old beat up pipe line, it’s been around for 38 years. These things do fall apart over time. Enbridge has a track record of big spills, they had the huge Kalamazoo spill, 3 million litres into the Kalamazoo River in 2010, that pipeline was nearly identical to this one.”

“We’ve already seen studies, I mean it crosses every single river that flows into Lake Ontario, as well as the St. Lawrence river and it’s quite close to the lake, so there’s already spill modelling that shows a spill into any one of those rivers could end up in Lake Ontario and it could affect the drinking water supplies of millions of people.”

In addition to the reversed flow, the pipeline will now carry a heavy tar sand oil, as opposed to the light oil it currently carries which Scott says is very dangerous, “There’s carcinogens in them. And also the heavier oil is harder to clean up, so you end up in a situation where we could have persistent toxic chemicals in the environment for years if there was a spill. The long term damage would be massive, there’d be big liabilities for local municipalities and governments that wouldn’t be covered by the company.”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Coal

 Probe

to be conducted into health risks of proposed Metro Vancouver coalhandling facility February 19, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters A decision regarding the proposed $15-million Fraser Surrey Docks coal-handling facility will likely be delayed several weeks because Port Metro Vancouver requires more information about its potential health risks.

“We’ve identified areas we want to see more information,” said Jim Crandles, PMV’s director of planning and development.

“We’ve asked for an update on the air quality assessment, on the analysis of the coal composition, including what’s in the coal, some baseline information on background soils, as well as an assessment of the risk to human health for the components in the coal dust and diesel emissions.”

But Crandles said he didn’t think it would be a “huge delay.”

“All in, I think it will take a couple of months. It depends on how quickly they complete the work.”

PMV — which is now reviewing a permit application by FSD for the development of a coal-handling facility to handle up to four million metric tonnes of coal at its Surrey facility — said Wednesday that as part of the ongoing technical review of the project, PMV has reviewed all comments received to date from all levels of government, First Nations, public and other stakeholders.

However, it said that as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment submitted by FSD in November 2013, PMV has identified areas that require further information, particularly around the assessment of the potential effects on human health.

“Once PMV receives the final documentation from Fraser Surrey Docks, we will take this information, in addition to comments received to date and all other documents received, into consideration as part of the Project Review Process,” said PMV in a statement released Wednesday. “A decision on the project permit will be made once this project review is complete.”

Public comments have been overwhelmingly negative over PMV’s assessment of the proposed coal-handling facility, with environmental and community groups fighting the export of thermal coal through the terminal, in part, because it will contribute to global warming.

Kevin Washbrook, director of Voters Taking Action on Climate Change, called PMV’s Wednesday announcement a “step forward in that they’re acknowledging the previous study was inadequate.

“Now they’re saying it wasn’t good enough,” he said. “That’s what we were saying from the get-go.

“For this further assessment to be credible, it has to involve the health authorities and it needs to be transparent.”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Coal quandary: Avista uses cheap power, but Inslee wary February 24, 2014 COLSTRIP, Mont. — On Montana’s eastern plains, there’s a town that was built to burn coal and produce electricity for the Northwest’s largest cities.

Smokestacks loom over Colstrip, a company town with 2,300 people, a coal mine and a coal-fired generating plant. The plant produces enough electricity to power 1.6 million households, energy that’s consumed hundreds of miles away in Spokane, the Puget Sound region and even Portland.

“This little community here helps you keep the lights on in Washington state,” Colstrip Mayor Rose Hanser said.

Colstrip’s low-cost megawatts are a source of pride for Hanser, but they’ve become a political target in Olympia.

Gov. Jay Inslee, a renewable energy proponent, wants to end “coal-by-wire” imports by Washington utilities, including Spokane-based Avista Corp. and Puget Sound Energy, which are part-owners of the Colstrip plant.

Calling coal-fired electricity “dirty and dangerous,” Inslee said replacing coal should be the first step in eliminating carbon dioxide emissions from the Northwest’s energy supply. About 14 percent of the electricity consumed in Washington comes from coal, but it produces about 80 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions from electricity, according to a recent report.

The warming climate is threatening Washington’s economy and its quality of life, said Inslee, who’s also floating the idea of a state cap on carbon emissions.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Higher atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide mean smaller snowpacks, bigger forest fires and acidic, corrosive ocean waters, he said. Though Washington contributes less than 1 percent of global emissions, it has the technology, innovation and moral imperative to be a leader in reducing greenhouse gases, Inslee said.

Nationally, coal-burning plants are also under scrutiny, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency developing plans to regulate carbon emissions at new and existing coal plants.

Colstrip produced nearly 13 1/2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in 2012, according to EPA data. Among Northwest power plants, Colstrip by far is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases and it ranks 15th nationally.

“This is a huge plant in the middle of nowhere that has that kind of carbon footprint,” said Anne Hedges, deputy director for the Montana Environmental Information Center.

The Colstrip Steam Electric Station is operated by PPL Montana, but its ownership represents six of the Northwest’s largest utilities. Other utilities with a stake in Colstrip are Portland General Electric; NorthWestern Energy LLC in Montana; and PacifiCorp, whose Portland-based subsidiary serves parts of Oregon, Washington and California.

Environmental groups describe Colstrip as a liability for utilities and their ratepayers, given the uncertainty surrounding future carbon costs.

Utilities, however, view Colstrip as a well-run plant that contributes to the Northwest’s low electricity rates.

Avista owns a 15 percent share in the newest two of Colstrip’s four coal-fired generating units, which were built in the 1980s.

Colstrip represents a good value for Avista’s 358,000 electric customers in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, said Jason Thackston, the utility’s senior vice president of energy resources.

After hydropower, Colstrip is Avista’s lowest-cost source of electricity. The utility won’t reveal figures, but Thackston said Colstrip beats electricity costs from Avista’s natural-gas-fired turbines, wind farm contracts and biomass plant in Kettle Falls.

During a week in late January, Avista didn’t get any energy from the Palouse wind farm south of Spokane because the wind wasn’t blowing. Colstrip, which is designed to operate continuously, helped keep industry running and lights on in the Inland Northwest, Thackston said.

In a 20-year plan submitted to Washington’s Utilities and Transportation Commission last year, Avista said the company intends to keep its stake in Colstrip for the foreseeable future. Replacing the power from Colstrip would cost Avista customers about $50 million more each year, the utility said.

Carbon regulations, however, could change Avista’s approach.

Avista officials said they can make other environmental upgrades to the plant and still produce costeffective electricity for customers. But reducing or capturing greenhouse gases from coal plants isn’t commercially viable at this time, Thackston said. Using the current technology for carbon capture or reduction at Colstrip would result in electricity costs that are triple or quadruple current market prices.

“Where we sit today, it’s not clear what the future of coal generation is,” Thackston said.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Colstrip represents the energy quandary facing the United States. The nation is home to the world’s largest estimated coal reserves, a supply that could last 200 years at current production levels. But coal-fired electricity ranks among of the country’s top sources of carbon emissions. In Washington, it follows vehicle emissions as the second-largest source of greenhouse gases.

Colstrip’s future is a discussion that should involve the entire Northwest, said Grant Ringel, a Puget Sound Energy spokesman.

“You can’t downplay the contribution Colstrip makes to the reliability of the electric system in the whole region,” Ringel said. “It saves our customers millions of dollars every year.”

Nearly a fifth of Avista’s electricity comes from coal In the hydro-friendly Northwest, where nearly half of the electricity comes from dams, residents might be surprised by how much of their power is coal-based.

Coal-fired generators produce about 17 percent of the electricity used in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. At Avista, 19 percent of the utility’s electricity comes from coal. Puget Sound Energy, better known for its wind farms, gets 30 percent of its electricity from coal.

Coal’s contribution to the power grid gets downplayed, said Doug Howell, senior representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in Seattle, noting that utility websites are more likely to feature shots of wind turbines and water spilling over dams than smokestacks.

Colstrip and the region’s two other coal plants date to the 1970s, a time of rapid population growth in the Northwest. With no sites left for big hydroelectric dams, utilities looked to other types of electrical generation, including coal.

By 2025, however, less of the Northwest’s electricity will be coal-based. Legal challenges over emissions have led to an announced closure of one coal plant and a fuel conversion at another.

Portland General Electric’s coal plant in Boardman, Ore., will close by the end of 2020, 20 years ahead of schedule. The utility negotiated the early closure to avoid spending hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrades to reduce emissions responsible for smog, haze and mercury in the Columbia River Gorge.

At its plant in Centralia, Wash., TransAlta Corp. will convert two coal-fired boilers to natural gas by 2025. Natural gas produces about half of the greenhouse gas emissions that coal does.

Both plants were targets of lawsuits by environmental groups including the Sierra Club, which is also suing Colstrip over emissions.

The EPA’s requirements for reducing regional haze from Colstrip are being challenged by the Sierra Club and the Montana Environmental Information Center, which said the agency should enforce stricter pollution limits at the plant. In addition, the groups sued Colstrip’s owners last year over alleged federal Clean Air Act violations, saying that Colstrip’s pollution controls weren’t upgraded as required when the plant went through major expansions.

The utilities wouldn’t comment directly on the lawsuits, but said they’ve spent $97 million on new air pollution controls since 2000.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Colstrip was built after passage of the federal Clean Air Act in 1970, which gives it an advantage over older coal plants, said Gordon Criswell, the plant’s environmental compliance director. Colstrip emits less soot, mercury, and smog- and acid rain-causing pollutants than most U.S. coal plants, he said.

Avista owns a share of two Colstrip generating units built in 1984 and 1986. Company officials said the newer units have better pollution controls, which reduce the utility’s future costs for environmental compliance.

Puget Sound Energy, however, has a 50 percent ownership in Colstrip’s two older units, which has raised questions from state utility regulators.

Given the likelihood of carbon costs and tougher environmental regulations, Puget Sound Energy needs to conduct a thorough analysis of whether those units should be part of the utility’s future energy supply, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission said in a statement last month.

Northern Pacific first to use coal mined in Colstrip When Mayor Hanser looks around Colstrip, she doesn’t see a big polluter. She sees a clean, well-run community with family-wage jobs.

Colstrip lies east of Billings, a two-hour drive through a stark landscape of sagebrush-covered hills and scattered ranch houses. It’s a true company town, designed and built in the 1970s by the owners of the coal mine and the generating plant.

About 80 percent of the local labor force works at the mine or the plant, which together account for more than $100 million annually in taxes to the state, school districts and local governments.

Wages at the two facilities are the envy of other Montana communities. At the Colstrip generating plant, most workers earn between $25 and $40 per hour. At the coal mine, the average wage is $34 per hour.

“When you’re threatening the energy industry, you’re threatening the jobs of families,” Hanser said.

“Coal is the anchor investment in our energy portfolio in the United States. I think we really need to ask hard questions instead of just getting rid of any energy sources.”

The Rosebud Mine that feeds Colstrip’s boilers is part of the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming, which accounts for most of the nation’s coal production.

Millions of years ago, lakes and swamps covered this area. Carbon-rich vegetation was buried, heated and eventually transformed into coal.

Southeast Montana’s coal outcroppings are so distinct that even the Lewis and Clark expedition took note of them, said Kent Salitros, president and general manager of the Rosebud Mine, which is owned by Western Energy Co., a subsidiary of Westmoreland Coal.

The Northern Pacific Railroad was the first to mine the Rosebud deposit, using the coal for steampowered locomotives. After the railroad switched to diesel in the late 1950s, the town sat idle until new owners purchased Colstrip and rebuilt it for power production.

The Rosebud is a strip mine, encompassing 80 square miles. Blasting loosens the soil covering the coal; one of the mine’s engineers created a video of the exploding dirt set to AC/DC’s heavy metal hit “Thunderstruck.”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Then, the enormous claw of a dragline excavator scrapes away the earth, revealing the 24-foot-thick seam of coal underneath. After the coal is removed, the land is recontoured to its original topography.

Coal from the Rosebud Mine is low in sulfur, which reduces the output of acid rain-forming emissions when the coal is burned. Colstrip residents actually use it in their fireplaces. “It’s easier than chopping wood,” Salitros said.

Part of Colstrip’s favorable economics comes from the mine’s proximity to the generating plant. A 4-mile-long conveyor belt hauls the coal from the mine to the plant, where it’s crushed to the consistency of talcum powder.

The pulverized coal is blown into the boiler, where it’s burned, producing superheated steam. The steam — 1,000 degrees and under 2,500 pounds per square inch of pressure — turns the turbines that generate electricity.

Editorial Comment: Colstrip’s favorable economics also come from:

  

Government subsidization Relaxed health regulations

and

environmental

Captive workforce

Each year, Colstrip’s four generating units burn about 10 million tons of coal from the Rosebud Mine.

Every five minutes, the boilers consume a rail car worth of coal.

Even at that pace, the Rosebud has enough coal to supply the generating plant for at least another 30 years, said Salitros, the mine manager.

High-voltage transmission lines whisk the electricity across Montana’s sparsely populated plains and over the Rockies. Nearly 500 miles later, the lines tie into a transmission grid near the Idaho border, en route to the Northwest’s population centers.

‘All coal plants … are on the defensive’ How much would it cost Northwest ratepayers to close Colstrip? That analysis should be available next year.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council in Portland is preparing a regional energy blueprint, which looks 20 years into the future. The plan will be out in late 2015, when federal action on carbon costs should be clearer.

“I think all coal plants, including Colstrip, are on the defensive on this point,” said Tom Karier, Washington’s representative to the four-state power council, which is tasked with ensuring an affordable and reliable Northwest energy supply.

Editorial Comment: The question that must be addressed instead is how much will it cost citizens around planet earth to keep Colstrip open?

 

Irreversible, long term public health impacts Irreversible, long term environmental impacts

Extracting, transporting and burning coal is terribly expensive to this and future generations!

“People anticipate higher and higher costs for carbon, and current market prices for natural gas are very low,” Karier said. “Those factors are really challenging the economics of coal.”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters In addition to producing fewer greenhouse gas emissions than coal, natural gas is more versatile, Karier said. Gas-fired turbines can be quickly fired up or ramped down to respond to spikes or dropoff in wind generation.

With the growth of Northwest wind farms, that’s become a valuable asset, Karier said. Coal plants don’t have that flexibility.

In evaluating a Northwest future without coal, “it’s important to get the economics right,” Karier said.

The council determined in 2010 that the Northwest would need to retire some of its coal plants to meet carbon emission goals, Karier said. That analysis also indicated that the lost electricity could be replaced with a combination of energy efficiency, natural gas generation and some renewable energy.

Unlike the TransAlta plant in Centralia, Colstrip isn’t positioned to convert to natural gas generation.

Colstrip isn’t near a major gas pipeline, and even if it was, utility officials said it would be technically difficult to convert the boilers, resulting in an inefficient operation.

But Colstrip is near some of Montana’s “wind-rich” areas, Karier said. Development of wind farms at those sites has been hampered by the lack of transmission to bring the electricity to population centers on the coast, he said.

Last year, Inslee told the power council he’d rather see Washington import solar or wind energy from anywhere in the West than rely on coal.

“We need action,” he said in an interview last week. “(Carbon pollution) comes out of the smokestacks of coal-fired plants by the megaton.

“It’s changing the climate we live in,” Inslee said. “This isn’t just the polar bears at risk, it’s our children’s health.”

Rosebud Mine

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Chinese commuters wear face masks as heavy air pollution continues to shroud Beijing on February 25, 2014. China's cities are often hit by heavy pollution, blamed on coal-burning by power stations and industry, as well as vehicle use, and it has become a major source of discontent with the ruling Communist Party.

 Don’t blame ports for growth in coal shipments March 3, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters There it was, buried on page 17 of a 23-page report released last week by Port Metro Vancouver: In 2013, Canadian shipments of thermal coal to China grew by — get ready for it — 1,019 per cent.

That’s not a typo. Such shipments to China — 1.7 million metric tonnes of the black stuff — reflect, by far, the biggest jump in growth in any natural resource commodity shipped anywhere by the port.

Thermal coal shipments to South Korea (6.8 million metric tonnes) and Japan (nearly 1.9 million metric tonnes) also saw growth — up 23 per cent in each case.

But thanks to a significant drop last year in thermal coal bound for Chile, overall net growth in tonnage was limited to 22 per cent.

Port CEO Robin Silvester says Canada’s increased shipments of thermal coal represent “no more than a rounding error” for China — that country’s total annual coal consumption is three billion metric tonnes, mostly thermal.

But for environmentalists, Canada’s ever-larger thermal coal exports to China are incendiary.

“Thermal” is the dirty stuff, burned by power plants to generate electricity, a climate change culprit.

They frown on Canada aiding and abetting China’s destructive carbon habits.

And the numbers come after a week when Beijing and northern China’s air quality was so hazardous, the elderly and children were warned to remain indoors.

Metallurgical coal is less environmentally damaging, deployed for steel fabrication.

But many, including Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, don’t want even metallurgical coal transported through the city.

Of course, port officials have no desire to reignite a debate about coal shipments. The port was simply releasing — as it does annually — its Statistics Overview, detailing 2013 cargo activity.

The overview was meant as a good news story. An accompanying press release states that 135 tonnes of cargo were handled — “a record for the Port, and an overall increase of nine per cent over 2012”.

Additional positive news — cruise passenger numbers have rebounded from a severe dip in 2009, and were up 22 per cent last year.

What’s behind the robust numbers?

“Increased demand for Canadian products, an ongoing transition to a consumer-based economy in China and recovery in Asia have fuelled the continued growth of Canadian trade through the port.”

The news release notes the port supports 76,000-plus B.C. jobs and more than 57,000 direct and indirect jobs in the Lower Mainland, jobs that provide above-average wages.

Port Metro Vancouver, which works hard to amicably coexist with numerous government, business and residential neighbours along an extensive waterfront, clearly does not like being controversial.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters In an information document released last September, port officials point out B.C.’s increasingly controversial coal industry is a key economic driver, generating $5 billion annually in economic activity. And the average coal industry job pays $107,000.

Coal is the port’s biggest export, accounting for one quarter of total tonnage. And shipments are poised to increase with the port’s proposed Fraser Surrey Docks project.

The new development would handle an additional four million metric tonnes of thermal coal annually, with one additional trainload of coal moving through the area daily, along with movement of two barges a day to transfer coal to Texada Island, from where it would be shipped overseas.

“Can Port Metro Vancouver restrict the type of things that can be exported through the port?” asks the document, answering: “Port authorities do not make international trade policy decisions defining what can and cannot be exported — that’s the role of the elected representatives in our government.”

In other words, if you don’t like the commodities being handled, don’t blame the port.

Editorial Comment:

   

More and more thermal grade coal is exported by the USA via terminals in Vancouver, BC Washington state and Oregon citizens oppose export of this hazardous material via our public ports.

Port authorities are not forced to handle increased coal exports - this is all about the revenue expected to be generated via port expansion Public health and environmental risks be damned!

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Investigation Into NC Coal Ash Spill Widens February 19, 2014 Federal prosecutors widened their investigation triggered by a massive coal ash spill in North Carolina, demanding reams of documents and ordering nearly 20 state environmental agency employees to testify before a grand jury.

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters The subpoenas were made public by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Wednesday. They also ordered state officials to hand over any records pertaining to investments, cash or other items of value they might have received from Duke Energy or its employees.

Charlotte-based Duke also confirmed it was served with a new subpoena, the second received by the nation's largest electricity provider. Company spokesman Tom Williams declined to discuss it.

On Feb. 2, a pipe running under a coal ash pond collapsed at Duke's Dan River Steam Station in Eden, coating the bottom of the Dan River, near the Virginia border, with toxic ash up to 70 miles downstream.

Meanwhile, state officials said Duke successfully contained "about 90 percent" of the flow from a second pipe at the dump spewing arsenic-laced groundwater into the river.

Public health officials have advised residents not to touch the river water or eat the fish.

State environmental Sec. John Skvarla refused to answer when asked at a media briefing if he had been served with a subpoena.

Skvarla was appointed last year by Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican who worked for Duke Energy for more than 28 years. Josh Ellis, McCrory's spokesman, confirmed the governor had not been subpoenaed.

Among those ordered to appear before the grand jury next month is Tom Reeder, the Division of Water Quality director who oversees the state's enforcement of environmental violations at Duke's 31 coal ash dumps located at 14 coal-fired power plants spread across North Carolina.

The 20 subpoenas disclosed by the state agency follow two Feb. 10 subpoenas, which were issued the day after a story by The Associated Press raised questions about a proposed deal between state officials and Duke that would have fined Duke $99,111 to settle violations over toxic groundwater contamination at two facilities.

The settlement came about after a coalition of citizen groups tried to use the U.S. Clean Water Act to sue Duke in federal court last year. The state agency intervened three times to use its authority to issue violations over the pollution and take the case to state court, where the agency quickly negotiated the proposed settlement that included no requirement Duke actually clean up its past pollution or prevent further contamination.

The citizens groups opposed the deal, saying it shielded Duke from far harsher penalties it might have faced in federal court had the state not intervened. The state put the settlement on hold last week, the day after the AP reported on it.

Skvarla said he briefed McCrory before intervening, but he never discussed the specific terms of the settlement. Environmental groups have suggested Skvarla shepherded a "sweetheart deal" with Duke to shield the governor's former employer from far harsher penalties.

Since his first unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2008, campaign finance reports show Duke Energy, its political action committee, executives and their immediate families have donated at least $1.1 million to McCrory's campaign and affiliated groups that spent on TV ads, mailings and events to support him.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

North Carolina's Dan River was polluted with toxic coal ash that leaked from a coal plant earlier this month. The spill is under investigation.

 Toxic Leak Taints North Carolina Coal Plants, And Regulators Listen HERE February 20, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters A broken pipe funneled 30,000 tons of toxic coal ash into the Dan River in North Carolina earlier this month, turning it gray. The pipe has been plugged, but the spill has reignited a fight over storage of coal ash, and scrutiny of the state regulators responsible for monitoring it.

The U.S. Justice Department began a criminal investigation into North Carolina's coal ash ponds and the state's environmental officials last week. The inquiry widened Wednesday, The Associated Press reports, as federal prosecutors called for 20 state employees to testify before a grand jury.

A Statewide Concern One-hundred-thirty miles south of the Dan River spill, Mark Levi walks to a dock at the back of his house in Charlotte, on the bank of a different river, the Catawba. About a mile away is the Allen steam plant. Its coal ash ponds are six times the size of the ones that leaked at the Dan River plant.

"To us, the worst-case scenario is the dams on those ash ponds break, and it all dumps in the river right here. And, our backyards — what we chose to live on the lake for — is dead," he says.

Around the Nation How Industrial Chemical Regulation Failed West Virginia Duke Energy is the nation's largest electric company. It owns the Allen and Dan River coal plants, as well as 12 others across North Carolina. All have coal ash ponds built decades ago.

The ash is a byproduct of the coal burned to produce electricity. It contains toxic chemicals such as arsenic. The United States generates more than 100 million tons of the waste per year, but it's not yet regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency.

On any given day, some amount of polluted water seeps from the ponds through earthen dams into groundwater and nearby lakes and rivers.

"The obvious solution is that you can't stop the leaking until you line the holes, so you've got to remove the ash and put it in a lined landfill," says Frank Holleman, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Legal Action The law center has reached settlements with South Carolina utilities to remove coal ash from their riverbanks. But Holleman told state lawmakers Monday that the North Carolina environmental agency has blocked similar efforts.

"They took action to try to prevent us from enforcing the law as effectively as we could," he said.

North Carolina officials have tested the groundwater near Duke ash ponds and found high levels of toxic metals since at least 2010.

Officials didn't act until early last year, just in time to prevent a suit from Holleman's organization.

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters Two months later, the state proposed a settlement. Duke would pay less than $100,000 in fines and conduct studies of the water, which could take years. Resident Mark Levi says that's not enough.

"I think big business has a lot of pull on what happens and how things happen, and let's be honest, Duke Energy is a big player here in Charlotte. They're a big player here in Charlotte and the Southeast," Levi says.

Regulators are re-evaluating that settlement after this month's spill. But Levi distrusts how the current administration has protected water quality. Gov. Pat McCrory worked for Duke for 28 years, and the company has been a major campaign donor. McCrory told reporters earlier this week he's given Duke no special treatment.

"I'm very proud of the job we've done as governor, in that regards, to any company in North Carolina," he said.

He cut off further questions.

Questioning The Regulators Since McCrory took office last year, the state environmental agency has changed significantly under its new secretary, John Skvarla. Amy Adams spent nine years working for that agency.

"There was this big emphasis put on customer service, but at the same time as the customer service push came about, Skvarla also redefined who our customer was and said that the customer would be the industries and the businesses that we regulate," she says.

Combined with budget cuts, Adams says, that mission statement hurt regulators' ability to enforce the law. She quit and joined environmental group Appalachian Voices last year.

In response, Skvarla says he shares the goal of protecting the environment. He points out that his Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or DENR, is the first in the country to sue a power company over coal ash.

"DENR stepped up to its responsibility and brought four separate actions on 14 coal ash plants in the state of North Carolina," he says.

Duke Energy says water around its coal ash ponds remains within federal limits, although it's reevaluating its storage.

Still, with the Justice Department's investigation, there's new federal scrutiny of both the company and regulators.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Geothermal

 Canada’s high temperature geothermal reserves are in British Columbia

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Hydropower

 Battle lines being drawn in diplomatic water wars B.C. seeks to maintain 50-year-old Columbia River Treaty against U.S. interest to claw back payments March 12, 2014 VANCOUVER -- B.C. will take a stand on maintaining and modernizing the 50-year-old Columbia River Treaty against the position of American interests to claw back some of the generous payments that come back to the province under the water management deal.

Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett is scheduled to unveil B.C.’s official position today on keeping the treaty under its existing terms and laying out 14 principles on which the province sees room for “improving” the cross-border agreement to address interests that weren’t envisioned when it was first signed in 1964.

The treaty pays the province between $100 million and $300 million per year from electricity generated downstream of the border in exchange for building dams to control water upstream of the border to provide flood control.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters It will stay in place indefinitely, unless one side serves notice by this September that it wants a new deal. In that case, the original treaty would expire in 2024, and in recent years U.S. interests have indicated the payments have become too rich.

“Their position is that the $100 million to $300 million per year is more than what they should pay,” Bennett said in an interview.

However, he argues that the U.S. isn’t paying for all of the benefits it receives outside of the deal’s basic flood-control measures, which is something that needs to be addressed.

Canada’s ambassador to the United States told Postmedia News last month that Canada must prepare for diplomatic water wars with the U.S. as demand on both sides of the border grows for the vital but limited resource, and there are signs that battle lines are being drawn already.

While the treaty is an international agreement between Canada and the U.S., the federal government has delegated responsibility for negotiations to B.C. with BC Hydro as its operating partner. === Facts on Columbia River Treaty as it nears the half-century mark:

         

Amount of provincial revenues generated in last 15 years: over 3 billion.

Average annual revenues for B.C.: $220 million.

Percentage of B.C.’s electricity production provided by Columbia River: 40%.

Percentage of the Pacific Northwest’s electricity production provided by Columbia River: 30%.

Percentage of Columbia’s water volume from B.C.: 30%.

Percentage of Columbia basin area in B.C.: 15%.

Year that Canadian and U.S. governments asked the International Joint Commission to investigate potential for hydroelectric development and flood control on the Columbia River system: 1944.

Date of treaty’s ratification: Sept. 16, 1964.

Earliest year that changes to the treaty would take effect: 2024.

Size of Columbia River: fourth-largest river in North America and largest hydroelectric generating capacity of any North American river.

=== On the American side, the U.S. State Department is the responsible authority but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bonneville Power Administration are the treaty’s operating entities.

The U.S. position is essentially that the dams built on the Canadian side have been paid for.

And in a U.S. Senate committee hearing last November, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden argued that electricity ratepayers in the Northwest states would save hundreds of millions of dollars if the benefits were recalculated based on the electricity B.C. actually receives.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters “Striking a new power-benefits-sharing deal with Canada based on the actual benefits to both nations is the way to proceed,” Wyden told the committee.

Stephen Oliver, vice-president of Bonneville Power and coordinator of the treaty review for the U.S. side, told the committee: “We’re presently paying about 90 per cent more than we should be.”

However, Bennett countered that the U.S. receives more benefits than are accounted for under the original terms of the treaty, which are items that B.C. would like to discuss with its American counterparts in an agreement to keep the treaty.

Bennett said that beyond basic flood control, B.C. has cooperated with American agencies to coordinate water releases to provide fish flows for endangered salmon, for recreational use and for irrigation that supports a lucrative agricultural and winery industry downstream that weren’t part of the original deal.

“They have come to rely on the flows of water that have been reasonably predictable,” Bennett said, “and they’ve built their economy based on that, so it’s our position they’re benefiting considerably more than what is the value of the downstream power benefits they pay back to us.”

There are also Aboriginal and conservation groups that want to use the Columbia River Treaty to reopen discussions about restoring salmon runs in the upper Columbia system that were wiped out with the construction of Washington’s Grand Coulee Dam, which was completed in 1942.

Bonneville Power and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers both stated that the U.S. should pursue a joint effort with Canada to investigate the possibility of restoring salmon passage and if warranted pursue implementation, with costs to be shared.

Bonneville Power reports that it spends $750 million per year mitigating the impact of its dams on fish and wildlife.

However, that is another non-starter for B.C., which argues that the since the dam was built 26 years before the treaty was negotiated, it shouldn’t be dragged into the treaty.

“It is certainly a legitimate discussion for Canada to have within Canada,” Bennett said about the issue of salmon restoration, “and for the U.S. to have a discussion in the U.S., but it’s not a Columbia River Treaty discussion.”

Fears of possible water shortages in the U.S. have grown in recent years with more than half of all states anticipate experiencing water shortages even under non-drought conditions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Bennett added that B.C. has ecological issues it wants to address and has included incorporating adaptation to climate change as a principle for future negotiations. B.C. must also include consultation with First Nations as part of its role in the talks.

“We’ll wait for the U.S. State Department to state its final position, and hopefully it’s a matter of sitting down over the next year or two, or however long it takes, to figure out how we can perhaps tweak the treaty in a way that benefits us all.”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 “Damnation” Watch movie trailer HERE

Sam Mace Inland Northwest Director Save Our Wild Salmon “Congratulations. I am so excited for this film!”

Editorial Comment: “Congratulations. Thanks to Patagonia and project partners for Damnation”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 No Flood Money Included in State Budget March 15, 2014 Local lawmakers had high expectations this year from Chehalis Rep. Richard Debolt’s proposed Flood Hazard Reduction Act of 2014. In its original form, it would have allocated $1.5 billion to flooding and water management issues throughout the state.

However, that bill and others seeking to provide financial assistance for flooding failed. Therefore, no flood money was provided by the Legislature this year.

“That bill fell, but also there was another resolution that (Sen. John) Braun had to just study the bill and that one failed to get passed,” Ron Averill, Centralia’s representative on the Chehalis Basin Flood Authority, said. “In (the Legislature's) attempt to get out on time, those are some of the things that fell through.”

The Flood Authority had $5 million proposed in the state’s capital budget, but when the capital budget failed, the Flood Authority lost that opportunity as well. DeBolt’s legislation would have authorized the issuance of about $750 million in general obligation bonds to finance flood hazard reduction projects and $750 million in bonds to finance stormwater projects.

DeBolt said he will take the dissenting votes as a learning experience and bring back the flood hazard reduction proposal at the next session.

“We will get it in next time,” DeBolt said.

Editorial Comment (As published in Chronline.com):

  

Flood damage reduction priorities must effectively protect residents, businesses and natural resources; especially those federally listed as either threatened or endangered.

Wild Game Fish Conservation International collaborates with like-minded conservationists and Washington state taxpayers concerned about the growing costs and effectiveness associated with proposed, flood-related damage reduction projects.

Flood-related damage reduction projects that don’t first address irresponsible land use practices will continue to be vigorously opposed by a growing number of concerned citizens. Among these practices that must be effectively addressed:

 

Floodplain development (filling, paving, building) Logging practices (steep slope clearcuts, road construction/road maintenance)

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Dam-safety bill clears legislative committee February 19, 2014 RICHMOND – Sen. Tom Garrett’s bill to reevaluate the criteria used to assess dam safety easily cleared a House of Delegates committee today.

Garrett, R-Louisa, and Del. Kathy Bryon, R-Bedford County, are sponsoring mirroring bills on the dam issue. Both cleared their respective chambers, and are now working their way through the other side of the General Assembly.

Garrett’s bill, SB582, was unanimously passed by the House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee.

The bill, as amended, directs the Department of Conservation and Recreation to develop an updated storm-based methodology for assessing dam safety. Existing criteria was based on weather studies from more than 30 years ago, according to an impact report.

Garrett and Byron hope an updated methodology will result in less severe standards and lower repair costs for dam owners.

The new analysis must be ready for review by December 2015. Dam owners can get a provisional license in the interim to avoid having to make the costly repairs that have been causing heartburn in many parts of the state.

Locally, Ivy Lake dam in Bedford County has been a high-profile example of that anxiety.

DCR estimates it will cost about $485,000 to conduct the study. The pending legislation authorizes the department to spend up to $500,000 in unobligated money from funds for dam safety.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Liquefied Natural Gas

 A Big Fracking Lie If you want to know just how bad an idea it is for America to ship “fracked” natural gas to overseas

markets, travel the 65 miles from the White House to a place called Cove Point in southern Maryland.

There, right on the Chesapeake Bay, the Obama administration wants to give fast-track approval to a $3.8 billion facility (12 times the cost of the NFL Ravens stadium) to liquefy gas from all across Appalachia. The new plant, proposed by Virginia-based Dominion Resources, would somehow be built right between a coveted state park and a stretch of sleepy beach communities, with a smattering of Little League baseball fields just down the road. Along the Chesapeake itself, endangered tiger beetles cling to the shore while Maryland “watermen” hunt crabs and oysters in age-old fashion.

Right here, Dominion wants build a utility-scale power plant (130 megawatts) just to power the enormous “liquefaction” process for the fracked gas. The company will then build an industrial-scale compressor, a massive refrigeration system and an adjacent, surreal six-story-tall “sound wall” to protect humans and wildlife from the thunderous noise.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters The facility as a whole would chill the gas—extracted from fracking wells as far away as New York— to 260 degrees below zero so it can be poured onto huge tankers (with Coast Guard escort due to terrorism risks) and then shipped more than 6,000 miles to India and Japan.

Sound good yet? There’s more: The Cove Point plant in Maryland is just one of more than 20 such “liquefaction” plants now proposed—but not yet built—for coastal areas nationwide. They are intended, as an emerging facet of U.S. energy policy, to double down on the highly controversial hydraulic fracturing drilling boom across the country. But like the Keystone XL pipeline for tar sands oil and the proposed export of dirty-burning coal through new terminals in the Pacific Northwest, this liquefied gas plan is bad in almost every way.

Simply put, this gas needs to stay in the ground. If it’s dug up and exported, it will directly harm just about everyone in the U.S. economy while simultaneously making global warming worse. How much worse? Imagine adding the equivalent of more than 100 coal plants to U.S. pollution output or putting 78 million more cars on our roads. Yes, supporters say, but this gas would be replacing a lot of coal use overseas. And they’d be right. The only problem is we’d be replacing that coal with aggregate “life-cycle” emissions from gas that are almost certainly worse than coal, creating new net damage for the global atmosphere (more on this later).

Ironically, a recent sea-level rise report commissioned by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, reportedly a presidential hopeful, shows that climate change could soon wipe out the peninsula of Cove Point itself. The very point of land next to Dominion’s proposed facility—the whitewashed lighthouse, the country roads and homes and forests—would all drown if the world continues to combust oil, coal and natural gas at current rates, according to the Maryland report.

The “inconvenient truths” on liquefied gas also come—in different forms—from the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and elsewhere. On the economic side, a study commissioned by the DOE last spring found that exporting U.S. gas would raise the fuel’s price here at home. It’s basic supply and demand. More buyers overseas will drive up our domestic price by as much as 27 percent, according to the DOE. And that increase will reduce incomes for virtually every sector of the U.S. economy, from agriculture to manufacturing to services to transportation. No wonder manufacturers like Dow and Alcoa are resisting this emerging U.S. export policy for gas, forming a coalition called “America’s Energy Advantage” to push back.

The DOE found that only one economic sector wins from gas exports. You guessed it: the gas industry! This one special interest wins so big—hundreds of billions in profits—that the DOE now basically argues that it offsets the pain for everyone else, creating a perverse and tiny net bump in the nation’s GDP. If you’re a farmer or wage-earner, too bad. Dominion’s profits at Cove Point are more important than the financial lives of already-struggling average Americans.

The gas export calculations grow even more insane when you factor in climate change. The industry bombards the public with ads saying natural gas is 50 percent cleaner than coal. But the claim is totally false. Gas is cleaner only at the point of combustion. If you calculate the greenhouse gas pollution emitted at every stage of the production process— drilling, piping, compression—it’s essentially just coal by another name. Indeed, the methane (the key ingredient in natural gas) that constantly and inevitably leaks from wells and pipelines is 84 times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2 over a 20-year period, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 B.C. environmental groups in court to argue against water use for fracking March 16, 2014

VANCOUVER — A coalition of environmental groups will be in a Vancouver court Monday arguing against the use of river and lake water for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas.

The Western Canada Wilderness Committee and the Sierra Club of B.C. have taken court action against B.C.’s Oil and Gas Commission and energy company Encana Corp. (TSX:ECA).

The coalition alleges the commission has allowed up to millions of litres of fresh water annually to be drained from lakes, streams and rivers, where it’s then mixed with chemicals and sand and injected under high pressure into the ground to release natural gas.

The coalition claims the practice is a violation of the Water Act and is asking the court to rescind several short-term approvals the commission has issued to Encana.

At the heart of the matter is how water withdrawal permits are issued.

Morgan Blakley, a lawyer who represents the coalition, says his clients believe repeatedly granting short-term water withdrawal permits to the same company for the same reason is illegal.

“The commission grants short-term water rights to oil and gas companies over and over again,” he said. “If these oil and gas companies want water for more than two years they have to get a water licence.”

The Water Act allows the gas commission to grant water withdrawal permits for up to 24 months at a time without issuing a licence.

Blakley says his clients contend that granting successive permits to the same company for the same reasons is no different than exceeding the 24-month time limit.

The coalition alleges that the commission has repeatedly granted the energy company short-term approvals, with the earliest starting from December 2006 and the latest ending in May 2014.

Encana spokesman Jay Averill says that what the company is doing is legal.

“Encana believes there is no proper basis to quash the subject approvals given the proper interpretation of section 8 of the Water Act,” he wrote in an email statement.

The B.C. Oil and Gas Commission declined comment, citing the fact the case is before the courts.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Where will all the water come from for LNG? February 24, 2014 One glaring problem with the provincial government’s strategy to turn B.C. into a LNG-exporting juggernaut is that it scuttles any chance B.C. has to be a climate-change leader.

But equally problematic is how our government’s economically dubious fixation with liquefied natural gas exports jeopardizes our irreplaceable water resources.

In Alberta as well as numerous U.S. states where natural gas companies operate, there is a growing public backlash against industry operations. Gas-drilling and hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” — a process where immense quantities of water, chemicals and sand are pumped down gas wells to break up rock and unleash trapped gas — has contaminated water supplies.

Documented problems include poisoned water wells, “containment” ponds that leaked their deadly post-fracking contents into rivers, killing fish, and municipal waste water plants damaged by the industry’s corrosive waste water.

With nearly 90 per cent of all new gas wells in B.C. fracked, how much water might be used and contaminated as natural gas drilling escalates? Between them, multinationals Shell, Chevron, Exxon and British Gas and Malaysian state-owned Petronas each have plans for LNG plants in Kitimat or Prince Rupert and have been granted export approvals by the National Energy Board.

With combined investments of $70 billion, this group will need years to recoup investments and generate profits. So let’s assume they build the plants by 2020 and operate them through 2040. How many new gas wells would need to be drilled between now and then and how much water would have to be sucked out of our rivers, lakes or from wells and rendered toxic?

One underappreciated aspect of fracked gas wells is that gas production can be spectacular initially but declines rapidly. To maintain gas flows, then, it’s drill baby drill.

The largest five of seven LNG projects currently approved would export 14.2 billion cubic feet of gas per day, not including gas used to power the liquefaction process itself. B.C. currently produces 3.5 bcf/d, all of which is committed to current customers. So B.C. would have to ramp up production roughly five-fold to meet these export requirements.

Let’s assume that only 70 per cent of this capacity gets built. Based on known gas-production rates and declines in fields like the Horn River and Montney, where most of this new gas would originate, roughly 39,000 new wells would be required by 2040.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Assuming that nine of ten wells were fracked, a very conservatively estimated 582 billion litres of water would then be polluted and removed from the hydrological cycle.

But the likely number is far higher. Minor increases in the percentage of wells drilled in the Horn River, a major gas source for proposed LNG projects, would push water use sky high. In 2012, it took on average of 77 million litres of water to frack just one gas well in the Horn, compared to 17 million litres of water elsewhere in B.C. Currently, the industry pays nothing or virtually nothing for that water, while taxpayers foot all downstream environmental and human health costs.

With Premier Christy Clark vowing to make B.C. the “lowest cost jurisdiction” for LNG, don’t count on government heaping higher water management responsibilities on the industry — just the opposite.

In April, the government granted the energy industry regulator — the OGC — authority to issue longterm water licences to natural-gas companies, making the fossil fuel industry the only entity in B.C. with its own dedicated water regulator, a regulator established by the province to speed approvals of industry development applications.

Meanwhile, natural-gas industry operations in B.C. have already resulted in isolated incidents of contamination and misuse of water.

Recently, a leak of contaminated fracking water occurred at a massive double-lined pit maintained by Talisman Energy near Hudson’s Hope. Outside of Fort St. John, a pipeline ruptured in 2011, spilling toxic waste water onto a field, killing cows.

Gas companies have also jeopardized water flows by overdrawing during low-water periods and been forced to halt water takings after drawing down lake levels too far.

In the midst of this, the government promises a new Water Sustainability Act. Perhaps, then, it’s time government explained how it intends to square its LNG agenda with sustaining our most precious of natural resources.

Where, exactly, will all the water come from to meet an unprecedented drilling program? How will environmentally safe water flows be maintained? Will water-use fees be high enough to ensure that public servants can adequately monitor and enforce environmental regulations and protect the public interest — hopefully at arms length from the OGC?

It’s time for answers before another 39,000 gas wells are drilled.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Nova Scotia LNG plant wins conditional approval March 7, 2014 HALIFAX – An environmental panel has given conditional approval to a proposed liquefied natural gas plant on Nova Scotia’s east coast.

The panel says the plant planned for Goldboro by Calgary-based Pieridae Energy Canada can proceed.

The panel assessed a number of environmental and socio-economic factors including the effects on groundwater and air quality, local marine and terrestrial habitat, the fishery, property values and employment.

The report says the project would increase the province’s greenhouse gas emissions by about 18 per cent above 2010 levels, while a number of fisheries in its general area would be compromised.

However, it says there would be “extremely significant” economic and employment benefits to Guysborough County and the province.

The report was submitted to Environment Minister Randy Delorey, who has until March 24 to issue a final decision on the project.

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Solar

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Sonnenschiff: Solar City Produces 4X the Energy it Consumes July 27, 2011 Although net-zero projects have been creating a lot of buzz lately in the field of green building, the Sonnenschiff solar city in Freiburg, Germany is very much net positive. The self-sustaining city accomplishes this feat through smart solar design and lots and lots of photovoltaic panels pointed in the right direction.

It seems like a simple strategy -- but designers often incorporate solar installations as an afterthought, or worse, as a label. Designed by Rolf Disch, the Sonnenschiff (Solar Ship) and Solarsiedlung (Solar Village) emphasize power production from the start by smartly incorporating a series of large rooftop solar arrays that double as sun shades. The buildings are also built to Passivhaus standards, which allows the project to produce four times the amount of energy it consumes!

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 California's Record-Breaking New Solar Plant Is Already Irrelevant February 18, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Last week, dozens of people, including Google energy chief Rick Needham and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, trekked out to the California-Nevada border in the middle of the Death Valley to dedicate what is believed to be the world's largest solar thermal facility in the world.

At 392 megawatts, the Ivanpah solar thermal plant will be able to power 140,000 homes — the equivalent of all of Newark (averaging two people per household).

We covered the project when BrightSource, the main developer behind the project, first put up a stunning 3-D tour of the site.

But for all its scale and beauty, in terms of the future of renewables, Ivanpah is already irrelevant.

Solar thermal creates electricity by using mirrors to direct intense amounts of heat at a centralized collector, which is used to heat a substance like water to create steam power. Solar photovoltaic, meanwhile, directly converts solar energy into electricity through semiconductors.

If solar thermal sounds unnecessarily complicated, you're right. Solar photovoltaic has seen explosive growth in the past few years thanks to plummeting material costs, state incentives, and ecoconscious homebuyers putting up panels on their roofs. But solar thermal growth has stalled, and is expected to continue to do so. Ivanpah cost $2.2 billion. Warren Buffett paid the same amount for the world's largest photovoltaic plant just up the road outside Bakersfield. That plant will generate 1.5times as much power as Ivanpah.

As the New York Times' Diane Cardwell and Matt Wald wrote Friday, Ivanpah probably represents an end, not a beginning.

"When BrightSource and other companies asked [investor] NRG to invest in a second thermal project, said David Crane, NRG’s chief, he responded: 'We’ve got $300 million invested in Ivanpah — let me see that work for a few months and then we’ll decide whether we want to be involved in more.' " And here's what Lux Energy analyst Matthew Feinstein told them: “I don’t think that we’re going to see large-scale solar thermal plants popping up, five at a time, every year in the U.S. in the long-term — it’s just not the way it’s going to work... Companies that are supplying these systems have questionable futures. There’s other prospects for renewables and for solar that look a lot better than this particular solution.”

It's not that Ivanpah itself won't be cost-effective. BrightSource locked in a 20-year power purchase agreement with local utilities that includes fixed pricing, and the vast majority of costs were borne up front, according to Shayle Kann, director of GTM Research. That means the Energy Department, which lent the project $1.6 billion, and Google, which put up $168 million, will likely see a decent return.

"So it's not so much an issue for Ivanpah as it is for any future solar thermal project," he told us in an email.

But it's a sign of how fast renewable energy technology is moving these days.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Tidal

 Nova Scotia and UK team up to study tidal power March 4, 2014 HALIFAX – Nova Scotia and the United Kingdom have agreed to work together on research aimed at generating electricity from high tides like those in the Bay of Fundy.

Energy Minister Andrew Younger and Corin Robertson, the acting British deputy high commissioner to Canada, announced a memorandum of understanding today in Halifax.

Under the agreement, the Offshore Energy Research Association of Nova Scotia and the United Kingdom’s Technology and Strategy Board will each contribute $250,000 towards research.

Younger says the agreement will increase the province’s research capacity and create business opportunities in Nova Scotia and the U.K. The agreement will also result in joint proposals being issued for research projects in both Canada and the U.K.

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Wind

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Forest Management

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Sen. Murray: Wild Olympics bill likely won't pass this year February 22, 2013 Wild Olympics legislation has little chance of passage during the 2014 congressional session, the bill's sponsors in the House and Senate say.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Seattle, sponsor of the legislation in the Senate, sat down Wednesday for a brief interview with the Peninsula Daily News during a visit to Port Angeles to dedicate an expanded veterans clinic at 1114 Georgiana St. Murray also discussed federal banking regulations related to Washington state's new marijuanalegalization law, pledging to monitor the impact of the law before she considers proposing legislative changes in banking regulations.

She introduced her Wild Olympics legislation as the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 2014.

Logging curbs A reincarnation of her 2012 bill that never made it out of committee, it would prohibit logging on 126,554 acres of the 633,000-acre Olympic National Forest.

It also would designate 19 rivers and seven tributaries in Olympic National Forest, in Olympic National Park and on state Department of Natural Resources land as wild and scenic.

The bill, which lacks co-sponsors in both chambers, has a 2 percent chance of passage by the House and a 3 percent chance of passage by the Senate, according to www.GovTrack.us, an unaffiliated, legislative-transparency website.

Only 3 percent of all bills introduced in Congress from 2011-13 were enacted.

Murray, who introduced the Wild Olympics bill Jan. 16, said Wednesday it probably will not be passed out of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, its first stop.

“This is probably highly unlikely,” she said, adding that there has been turnover on the Senate committee.

Wild Sky legislation Murray, who has announced her intention to seek a fifth term in 2016, recalled that it took eight years for Congress to pass her Wild Sky Wilderness Act of 2007.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters The bill designated 106,577 acres of national forest in east Snohomish County as wilderness.

“It takes awhile to educate other members of Congress,” Murray said.

In an email Thursday to the PDN, Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, blamed “dysfunction” in Congress for his bleak prognosis on companion Wild Olympics legislation that he introduced in the House on Jan. 17.

It, too, lacks co-sponsors and likely will stay mired in the House Committee on Natural Resources, he predicted.

Kilmer's 6th Congressional District includes Clallam and Jefferson counties.

“This bill, like many other good ideas, will have a difficult time even being considered in committee,” the Port Angeles native said.

“That being said, I continue to have productive conversations with [committee] Chairman [Doc] Hastings on the legislation, and I'll keep working to move it forward.

“In the meantime, I'll also continue dialogue about the bill as well as efforts to increase harvest levels in a responsible way.”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Genetically Engineered Atlantic Salmon: aka FrankenSalmon

 FDA: We don’t want FrankenSalmon!

Wild salmon are a keystone species, which means that the entire ecosystem depends on their survival. Would you threaten wild populations just for GMO Salmon? Please share!

Tell the FDA: No GMO Frankenfish! :http://orgcns.org/19kUlXk

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Health Canada: we don’t want FrankenSalmon on our dinner plates Sign petition HERE

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters There is one last step before Canada becomes a live laboratory for the first GMO animal grown for human consumption.

Environment Canada let AquaBounty clear a crucial hurdle when it allowed the American company to produce genetically-modified salmon eggs on a commercial scale. Now, there is only one step left before mutant fish hits our dinner plates -- approval from Health Canada to allow GMO salmon for Canadian consumption.

You can bet that AquaBounty will now use all its resources to push for the sale of an organism that US agencies have refused to approve for Americans to consume for the last 18 years.

If Health Canada approves GMO salmon, a new breed of farmed fish will soon be at your local grocer or seafood restaurant without you even recognizing it. Let’s tell Health Canada to reject mutant fish for human consumption in our country.

Tell Health Canada to listen to what Canadians have been saying for years: we don’t want GMO fish in our stores and restaurants.

Mutant fish is a danger to our fish stock. Decades of commercial fish farming have shown that no matter how salmon is raised, they will escape. And when the GMO salmon gets out in the wild, it will have considerable risks to our native fish population as well as our coastal economies.

Health Canada needs to reject GMO salmon now, to ensure these GMO salmon don't imperil our wild fish stock.

Once these GMO fish are in our grocery stores, consumers won't be able to avoid the genetically modified organism -- because corporations have fought tooth and nail against GMO labelling rules, pouring millions of dollars in lobbying in recent years. This is why we need to fight to stop GMO salmon from hitting stores in the first place.

There's still so much we don't know about GMO salmon. Community concern means that the American government has rejected mutant fish for the last 18 years. Canadians should not be the world's first guinea pigs for the first GMO animal grown for human consumption.

Environment Canada’s approval process of AquaBounty’s commercial production of salmon eggs was done without consultation. Let's send a message to Health Canada so it can hear Canadians opposition to being the world’s first guinea pigs for mutant fish.

Health Canada: do not approve the sale of mutant fish that could harm Canadian wild fish stock. ********** More Information: Genetically Engineered Salmon. Ocean Conservancy.

Genetically modified salmon eggs approved commercially . CBC, November 25th, 2013.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 GMO salmon may soon hit food stores, but will anyone buy it?

March 11, 2014 It’s taken almost two decades, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration may be close to a ruling on the world’s first genetically modified animal protein.

AquAdvantage salmon is a product of the Massachusetts-based biotech firm AquaBounty Technologies. Designed to reach market size in about half the time of standard farmed salmon, the fish would be the first genetically engineered animal approved for human consumption. Producers say the salmon is safe to eat, environmentally friendly and can feed more of the population with less resources, compared to other farmed fish.

Editorial Comment:

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 

Even with all of the risks posed to public health and wild ecosystems, domestic and foreign consumers will buy this inferior product. Tobacco use, with its life threatening public health risks, is a prime example Most consumers blindly trust governmentenabled, corporate marketing tactics.

FrankenSalmon, if approved, will be raised worldwide in open pen salmon feedlots and sold internationally to the highest bidders.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters But last week two major store chains, Kroger and Safeway, joined a growing list of supermarkets that say that they will refuse to sell the salmon -- dubbed “frankenfish” by critics -- raising questions about whether consumers will buy it, even with the FDA’s approval.

The issue is highly controversial. Environmentalists, consumer watchdogs, select supermarket chains, Alaskan fishermen and various other groups have been voicing strong opposition to the potentially game-changing product since AquaBounty applied for approval in 1996.

“Before we say we’ve come up with a way to feed the growing population, what are we putting at risk in exchange?” says Dana Perls, a policy campaigner at the environmental organization Friends of the Earth.

“We really need to know what we’re doing. We want to make sure we’re taking the right steps in the long run as opposed to wishing we’d done something later.”

The technology to build a better salmon has been around since 1989. Essentially, AquaBounty took an Atlantic salmon and added a growth gene from the Chinook salmon and a promoter gene from the ocean pout (an eel-like species) to create AquAdvantage.

AquaBounty CEO Ron Stotish touts the product’s benefits, including fresher product due to reduced travel distance, a lower carbon footprint and sustainability.

“This is a new way of growing salmon,” he says. “It’s land-based; it reduces the cost of transportation.

Ninety-one percent of seafood we consume is imported. With this product we could grow these fish here in the U.S.” Based on the FDA’s preliminary finding that an approval of AquaBounty’s application “would not have a significant impact (FONSI) on the U.S. environment,” many believe an approval is pending. But even if approved, it may take some time before GMO (genetically modified organism) salmon is available in stores, due to the growth of the fish and other commercial issues, Stotish says.

While the FDA has remained mum on the subject, environmental groups have been ramping up lobbying efforts to keep stores from stocking it if it is approved. More than 60 retailers have stated they won’t carry the product, totaling more than 9,000 stores nationwide.

The million-dollar question is, do consumers want to eat genetically altered fish?

“Public perception is not necessarily negative, but suspicious,” says Jon Entine, the author and founder of the Genetic Literacy Project who wrote an investigative piece for Slate in 2012 arguing that the science behind AquAdvantage is sound, and that the extended FDA delays are political maneuvers.

He believes AquaBounty will eventually overcome the naysayers.

In 2010 the FDA stated in a Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee briefing that AquAdvantage salmon was indistinguishable from standard Atlantic salmon. “We have found no biologically relevant difference between food from ABT salmon and conventional Atlantic salmon based on the criteria evaluated,” it wrote.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters And, according to Stotish, the GMO salmon tastes just as good. He testified in a 2010 FDA hearing that AquAdvantage won out over Canadian and Chilean salmon varieties in blind taste tests.

“I think consumers, once they have a chance to see these products and touch them and taste them, will say, ‘Gee, what was all the fuss about?’” Stotish says.

But groups like Friends of the Earth and the Center for Food Safety say consumers don’t want the product and have called the FDA’s initial scientific assessment flawed and incomplete. Opponents argue that, although they have been designed to be all female and sterile, the fish have the potential to escape containment, breed and decimate wild populations. (AquaBounty says its data debunks these claims.)

According to the CFS, during the FDA’s public comment period last year, 1.8 million people sent messages to the FDA opposing the approval of AquAdvantage.

“At the level of response that we’re seeing from grocery stores and consumers, I don’t think there is enough demand for this genetically modified salmon to make it onto the market. There’s no room for it on the market. Nine thousand stores have already said, ‘We’re not going to sell this,’” Perls says.

Already on the anti-GMO salmon bandwagon are Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Safeway, Kroger and Target, among others. But other chains remain silent. Walmart, for example, said it had “nothing to add at this time” when contacted for comment.

“There is the potential for a total rejection of GMO salmon and also for broad acceptance,” says business research analyst Howard Waxman, who wrote a 2013 report for MarketResearch.com on non-GMO foods that addressed the growing market and labeling trends. “There will be a public relations war if the FDA gives approval.”

The FDA has said it likely will not require that GMO fish be labeled, so if retailers carry it, consumers may not know the difference.

“Consumers want to know what they’re eating and what the impact of what they’re eating has on their bodies and the environment and their families and children,” Perls says.

“This is a marathon, not a sprint,” Entine says. “Ten years from now the educated public is going to look back with a great sense of embarrassment at how fiercely groups that call themselves 'progressive' whipped up emotional concerns about whether GMOs are safe or sustainable. This opposition is based on ideology trumping science, at least in the short term.”

Perls disagrees, and thinks consumer demand will drive market behavior – straight to the rejection of genetically modified fish and other meats.

But Stotish thinks the market will bear out the opposite result.

“American free enterprise has always worked well and it will continue to work well,” he says. “If you have a good product, you will be successful.”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Genetically

Modified Salmon Court Case Prompts Federal Government to Publish Vague Notice of Waiver for Toxicity Information March 13, 2014

The Ecology Action Centre (EAC) and Living Oceans Society (LOS) spoke out today against the cloud of secrecy obscuring federal government approvals of genetically modified (GM) organisms in Canada – including what may be the world’s first GM food animal to hit supermarket shelves: AquAdvantage™ salmon.

In December of 2013, EAC and LOS brought a legal action against the Ministers of Environment Canada and Health Canada, as well as AquaBounty Canada Inc., asking the Federal Court to decide if the Canadian government violated its own law when it permitted the manufacture of genetically modified salmon to proceed.

Since EAC and LOS filed suit, on February 8, 2014 Environment Canada published an after-the-fact notice of a government information waiver granted to U.S. parent company AquaBounty Technologies Inc. Under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, the Minister of Environment has the power to exempt applicants from providing all the information the law normally requires.

The Canada Gazette notice, however, only says what information requirement the Minister of Environment waived: “Data from a test conducted to determine its pathogenicity, toxicity or invasiveness”. It does not indicate to what organism the waiver relates, or the specific legal basis for granting it.

Environment Canada continues to refuse to provide a copy of the full waiver or reasons for the decision – although the government’s lawyer recently confirmed that the waiver notice does relate to AquAdvantage™ salmon.

“We can’t challenge the issuance of this waiver, because we don’t know the basis for the government’s decision. Environment Canada has found a perfect Catch-22,” said a clearly frustrated Joanne Cook, Marine Toxics Co-ordinator at EAC and a passionate advocate for wild Atlantic salmon.

On March 10, 2014 the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network disclosed that an investment filing at the London Stock Exchange confirmed that AquaBounty is now also seeking approval for human consumption of its GM salmon here in Canada. In contrast, Health Canada has consistently refused to confirm or deny that AquaBounty had made any application for approval to sell the genetically modified fish in Canada.

“Every aspect of the assessment of this GM salmon has been shrouded in government secrecy,” said Karen Wristen, the executive director of LOS. “We’re going to continue to fight this case, and to challenge Canada’s lack of transparency and denial of public scrutiny.” After being denied information from the government’s lawyer, LOS filed requests through the Access to Information Act. Wristen also noted that “EAC and LOS are crowdfunding part of the legal costs through Indiegogo to give everyone who’s concerned about the manufacture of GM salmon and the lack of procedural transparency the chance to contribute.”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Safeway and Kroger say "No" to GMO salmon March 3, 2014

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has yet to say yes or no to genetically modified salmon, but the two largest grocery stores in the country have made up their minds.

Kroger and Safeway announced today that they will not carry "AquAdvantage" salmon, should the FDA approve it.

The genetically engineered fish developed by AquaBounty is set to become the first genetically engineered animal approved for human consumption. Dubbed the "Frankenfish" by opponents of GMO foods, the salmon has come up against fierce opposition.

The FDA received over 1 million letters calling for the agency to not approve AquAdvantage during 2013, in response to an Environmental Assessment open to public comment.

AquaBounty recently overcame a regulatory hurdle in Canada, where it has been approved to massproduce AquAdvantage eggs.

The U.S. currently has no requirement for labeling foods containing GMO ingredients, so it will be difficult for consumers to avoid AquAdvantage salmon if it is approved. One could argue that rejecting GMO salmon allows grocery stores to capitalize on anti-GMO sentiment, while continuing to carry many foods with GMO ingredients. However, it seems that producing a genetically engineered animal is more troubling to many than genetically engineered plants.

Should the FDA green-light the fish, opponents of the salmon hope to block AquaBounty's channels to the market. In that regard, today's announcement seems like a major win. Kroger and Safeway join dozens of other grocery stores that have already promised to not carry the genetically engineered fish, including Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Meijer and Aldi.

"Today's announcement by major grocery retailers makes it even more clear that there is no demand for GE salmon," Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, said in a statement.

"It's time for the FDA to deny the application for this unsustainable and unnecessary new genetically engineered food."

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Young Atlantic salmon swim in a tank at a U.S. fish hatchery.

 Feds face salmon egg lawsuit Action targets Ottawa’s approval for production of fast-growing fish in P.E.I. January 21, 2014 A lawsuit is expected to force the federal government to explain, step by step, its decision to allow genetically modified salmon eggs to be produced on Prince Edward Island.

In November, with little warning, a hatchery near Souris got Ottawa’s go-ahead to start commercially producing eggs for AquAdvantage salmon, which grow twice as quickly as regular salmon.

AquAdvantage fish are made with a growth hormone gene from the chinook salmon and other genes from an eel-like species.

Developed mostly in Canada by AquaBounty Technologies Inc. of Massachusetts, the fish are poised to be the first genetically modified animals sold as food, if approved.

They haven’t yet been permitted to enter food markets anywhere. But producing the eggs required a separate review meant to look largely at whether the genetically engineered eggs could threaten other salmon stocks.

That review was incomplete, allege environmental advocates who last week finished formally serving the Environment and Health departments, and the company producing the eggs, with legal documents.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters “If those eggs got out somewhere, … what could they do to the natural environment?” said Susanna Fuller of Halifax’s Ecology Action Centre, one of two groups behind the lawsuit.

“If they were viable eggs, could they then grow out? There’s all these questions that just have not been answered.”

A spokesman for Environment Canada declined to comment, saying the matter is before the courts.

An AquaBounty spokesman could not be reached Monday.

AquaBounty has spent two decades developing AquAdvantage salmon. It has received more than $2 million in taxpayer support from various agencies, said Fuller.

Only the eggs are to be produced in Canada. The company will then fly them to Panama and grow them there in a closed-containment facility.

What’s legally required for the government to make a decision about the eggs is not obvious, but how it did so in this case is even more unclear, said Tanya Nayler, an Ottawa lawyer working on the case.

Organisms new to Canada must be assessed for the risk they pose to the environment, but companies responsible for the organisms can apply to waive that process if the organisms are deemed to be sufficiently separated from the environment.

AquaBounty applied for a waiver, citing the closed-containment facility in Souris, but it appears to have been turned down, said Nayler. Any granted waivers must be published in the Canada Gazette, and the legal team could not find one for AquaBounty.

Federal fisheries scientists completed a review of the eggs in November. The scientists were uncertain on some points, but Environment and Health ministers made their decisions so quickly that the company could not have followed up with tests and new data, said Nayler.

The scientists wrote that “the potential hazard of (the fish) to biodiversity in Canada is unknown.”

Overall, the Souris facility and transport methods to Panama inspired their confidence that the eggs would be secure.

But the government’s final approval did not limit AquAdvantage to one company or to just the Souris facility, said Nayler.

“What we’re seeking is a judicial review of their decision,” said Fuller. “All the information that went into their decision should come out in court.”

Before the omnibus bill of 2012, environmental assessment law would likely have triggered a public consultation, she said. Without that option, a lawsuit seemed the best way to achieve transparency.

Another motivator was the involvement of Panama, she said.

“Even if there were really good regulations in Canada, we’re exporting the first (genetically modified) food to a developing country.”

The case is unlikely to see a courtroom before summer.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Government action

 I have to stop saying “How stupid can you be”

Sabra Woodworth EXPANSION OF BC'S SALMON FEEDLOTS: Be advised that neither the Harper Government nor the Minister of Fisheries will speak of SUSTAINABLE SALMON FARMING: neither the word salmon nor "salmon farming" appear in their announcement.

Instead, obscuring and confusing meaning, the term SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE is used, which is wholly MISLEADING. SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE refers to oysters, scallops, clams, mussels, lobsters, tilapia, carp, and all species farmed in closed system aquaculture (seaweeds, shellfish, crustaceans, and other invertebrate species as well as finfish -- Arctic char, Atlantic halibut, barramundi, seabream and sea bass, eel, catfish, trout, and turbot). Total world aquaculture, with China producing 60+%, is in the vicinity of 60 million tonnes (including 25 million tons of carp, 4 1/2 tons of oysters, million of tons of tilapia, crab, clams, mussels, scallops. Additionally, even 20 million tons of farmed aquatic plants count as AQUACULTURE, quite likely SUSTAINABLE. Salmon feedlots produce under 2 million tonnes world-wide, 108,000 tonnes in Canada.

SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE no doubt will help feed the world, but to speak of SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE and farmed salmon in the same breath is outright contradiction. They are not to be equated, and are falsely referred to as one-and-the-same matter. Clarity is everything: adopt this clarifying motto: "Sustainable Aquaculture? Of Course! NOT Farmed Salmon"

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Still

in Bed Together: BC Salmon Farmers and Department of Fisheries and Oceans Nearly twenty months since $26 million Cohen Inquiry recommended actions Beyond Corruption!

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 In Committee from the Senate of Canada - Fisheries and Oceans Watch, Learn, Listen HERE (select Fisheries and Oceans) February 25, 2014 Fisheries Minister Gail Shea discusses the government's measures to strengthen the aquaculture sector in Canada. The sector is the fastest growing food production sector worldwide and supplies approximately half of the global demand for fish and seafood. Aquaculture refers to the farming of fish, shellfish or aquatic plants in fresh or saltwater. Senior department officials David Bevan, Trevor Swerdfager and Dave Gillis respond to questions from committee members.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Letter: Fisheries minister’s claim lacks facts March 3, 2014 Dear Editor, With reference to recent letters from Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea claiming science-based decision-making, transparency, and “actions consistent with Cohen recommendations” [Feds prepare to exploit aquaculture benefits, Feb. 24 Letters, www.mrtimes.com], it is necessary for the protection and conservation of BC’s aquatic environment to point out that these statements simply are not supported by the facts.

An alarming and very recent example of the absence of science-based decision-making, and where in fact the courts had to intervene, is that Minister Shea overrode the recommendations of her own scientists and opened a herring fishery on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

Legal action by First Nations overturned the decision, revealing DFO scientists had recommended maintaining the herring fisheries closure for conservation reasons, and that Minister Shea had nonetheless recommended opening the fishery in three disputed areas.

Transparency? Despite DFO committing to making the data available to the public, Canadians have not seen fish health and disease data from open net salmon farm monitoring since the last quarter of 2010.

With regard to the management of salmon aquaculture, for almost two years the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, the SOS Marine Conservation Foundation, the David Suzuki Foundation, and the Pacific Salmon Foundation have engaged with DFO to express concerns about the proposed terms of reference for the Marine Finfish Aquaculture Management Advisory Committee.

The key concerns are: over-representation on the committee by the aquaculture industry and under-representation by other stakeholders; no agreement for a mechanism for selection of an independent chairperson; and the overall lack of a plan to include independent science in the decision-making process.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

DFO’s response to those concerns has been to proceed with the committee without resolving the issues.

The result is a planning process without the inconvenience of independent science and participation of conservation and environmental organizations.

Were DFO to be truly undertaking action “absolutely consistent with Justice Cohen’s recommendations,” it would adopt the recommendations and adhere to the deadlines. It is inescapable that 18 recommendation deadlines have lapsed without action from DFO. Within his final report, Justice Cohen explicitly called for DFO to resolve its conflicted mandate regarding promoting aquaculture on one hand and protecting wild fish resources on the other, and stressed the importance of the reliance on non-biased scientific expertise from outside of DFO when making decisions, and the need to increase transparency in the regulatory amendment process.

Attempts by DFO to convince the public that all is well come with great risk. Wild salmon are the lifeblood of the British Columbia coast.

Rather than effort going into creating a smoke-screen for inaction, DFO needs to get down to the work of implementing the Cohen recommendations.

That is why Watershed Watch and the SOS Marine Conservation Foundation have filed environmental petitions with the Auditor General of Canada.

The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans must reply to the 36 questions filed in the environmental petitions within 120 days of receiving them, so that the public can have fact-based information as a basis for action to protect and conserve BC’s keystone species.

Dr. Craig Orr, Watershed Watch Salmon Society Eric Hobson, The SOS Marine Conservation Foundation

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 City of Burnaby: Kinder Morgan Pipeline Expansion Application Incomplete Burnaby Advises National Energy Board that Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project Application is Incomplete and does not meet Legal Requirements for Hearing and Public Evaluation March 17, 2014 For Immediate Release Today, the City of Burnaby formally requested that the National Energy Board find that the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project Application is incomplete and reject it on the basis that it contains neither the information needed for the NEB to make an informed decision nor sufficient information for the public to understand and analyze the impacts of the Project and does not comply with NEB rules.

“We are extremely concerned about multiple aspects of this proposal that we know will have very negative impacts on our City,” says Mayor Derek Corrigan. “This concern is compounded by the fact that Kinder Morgan’s application is incomplete, which makes it impossible to know the extent of the impacts the pipeline would have on our City. Their application does not meet the requirements set out by the National Energy Board for such an application.”

To express the City’s concern about the incompleteness of Kinder Morgan’s application, the City of Burnaby’s legal counsel submitted a letter to the National Energy Board detailing the multiple shortcomings of Kinder Morgan’s application and their potential negative impact on the ability of the citizens of Burnaby to fairly and appropriately participate in the hearing process.

The NEB requires, for example, that Kinder Morgan describe plans and measures to address potential effects of accidents and malfunctions during the operation of the proposed facilities, but Kinder Morgan has not done so.

Kinder Morgan states that they do not have the resources to respond to all emergencies, but they do not provide required information on how such emergencies could be addressed.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters “They seem to assume that the city will be able to manage these emergencies,” says Mayor Corrigan.

“In fact, however, the city has neither the capacity to nor information on how to respond to such emergencies for these new facilities. Kinder Morgan is proposing to almost triple – to 890,000 barrels per day – the amount of oil coming into our city. That’s enough oil each day to fill 56 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

“Then they propose to bring five times as many tankers into Burrard Inlet to load that oil for export from Burnaby, and to triple the storage-tank capacity on Burnaby Mountain to 5.6 million barrels and increase the number of storage tanks from 13 to 26, all stored on a hill below Simon Fraser University – in the heart of our populated city -- and near streams and drainage systems that flow into Burnaby Lake and beyond. They’re telling our citizens that they have operated the pipeline safely for 60 years, in spite of the fact that there has been more than one spill in Burnaby -- the most recent of which, in 2007, devastated a Burnaby neighbourhood and damaged Burrard Inlet habitat with a mere 1,500 barrels of oil.

We do not ever want to have to deal with the consequences of the kind of spill this new pipeline and the new storage tanks could cause.”

In addition, the Application proposes two possible new routes through Burnaby, and Burnaby has advised the Board there is insufficient detail in each route to allow for any proper analysis of the disruptions and potential threats to Burnaby. “Contrary to what Kinder Morgan has told the public, more than 90% of the pipeline route proposed for Burnaby is new, and does not follow the existing right of way. If Kinder, Morgan doesn’t know yet where it is going, and hasn’t done the necessary studies, it is simply too soon to go to the NEB, and unfair to Burnaby’s citizens to require us to guess,” says the Mayor.

The letter to the NEB lists Kinder Morgan’s application shortcomings in the areas of: Proposed Route; Infrastructure Conflicts; Environment Effects; Valued Components; Safety and Security; Plans to Address Accidents and Malfunctions; and Consultation. It also makes clear that Kinder Morgan’s application does not meet the requirements of the National Energy Board’s Filing Manual: “It is the responsibility of Trans Mountain to provide the NEB and the public with the information that they need to evaluate and respond to the Project.

The burden should not be placed on potential participants in the hearing to go through multiple information requests to supplement the information provided in the application. In light of the deficiencies in information in the application, we submit that the NEB should consider the application to be incomplete.”

The result of a ruling that the application is incomplete may require the NEB to return the application to Kinder Morgan for amendment and possible resubmission, and would delay the process and any hearings until those amendments were made.

To offer residents and businesses information about the proposed expansion, community meetings are being planned by the City of Burnaby.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Norway’s Atlantic salmon, sea trout and rainbow trout feedlots Interactive map HERE (updated daily)

Dr. Claudette Bethune:

Editorial Comment:

“All those open feedlots dumping sewage and feed laden with persistent organic toxins and heavy metals onto the delicate marine life below.

While this density of open pen feedlots in Norway’s waters may be “normal” and acceptable in Norway, it is not and never will be acceptable along North America’s uniquely productive west coast.

It's no wonder their crabs next to the farms are full of cadmium (fish don't accumulate much, but crabs do, approx. 40% from feed) and the reef ecosystems are now gone.”

Our wild Pacific salmon and their fragile ecosystems will continue to be protected from this government-enabled, corporate madness.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Can destroy "the world's most important wild areas» The government will have more farming in Finnmark. This can destroy the "world's most important wild areas," the organization Norwegian Salmon Rivers.

March 13, 2014 Finnmark is pointed out as the main focus area for aquaculture in Norway. Store unused spaces, and a favorable water temperature, does the government want more farms in the county.

The clean marine environment and cooler sea makes it beneficial to farm in northern Norway. But first and foremost this is about creating new activities and new jobs. And we see that the industry has many jobs in itself, but also creates ripple effect, says Fisheries Minister Elisabeth Aspaker.

"The World's main wild area»

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters However long the basis of all applauds plans for a major investment in aquaculture in Finnmark. A number of municipalities, including Alta and Nesseby, has already said no to the planned facilities.

In the organization Norwegian Salmon Rivers is believed it is particularly important to protect wild salmon in Finnmark, because the county is among the places where wild fish are the least pressure.

- Finnmark is the world's most important wild areas. We fear conflicts with wild salmon interests in the county where the aquaculture industry to grow further in Finnmark, says Technical Manager Erik Sterud.

READ ALSO: It flows into money READ ALSO: Can be farmed in protected fjords Wary of western conditions While in Hordaland almost used up the relevant areas of farming, one in Finnmark only utilized around ten percent.

But having breeding density in western aims in Finnmark, there is no reason, according to Norwegian Salmon Rivers.

- Raising problems are currently relatively small in Finnmark, it is clear that it is related to small production. Increases to production, environmental problems will also increase, says Erik Sterud.

- Then, it is difficult to know how much they can increase production before receiving increasing environmental problems with your purchase, adding he added.

READ ALSO: Suspected highly infectious salmon virus in Kvænangen READ ALSO: Given the government's procrastination Dismissing criticism Fisheries Minister denies however claim from Norwegian Salmon Rivers that a breeding efforts would threaten the important wild salmon stocks in Finnmark.

- If that's what we should do, I agree that there had been alarming. I think we have a lot of free space along the coast of Finnmark that we must exploit. But it is certainly important for me to emphasize that further growth of the aquaculture industry must be sustainable and must take into account the wild salmon population, says Aspaker.

- Occupies trapping field Also from fisheries hold meetings plans for an increased aquaculture initiatives resistance. In the Norwegian Coastal Fishermen's Association believes the idea that there is plenty of free space available to the industry in Finnmark is wrong.

For although the county has a long coastline, it is only in the fjords conditions are favorable for farming. And there are competing breeding cages for space with coastal fishermen.

- We can happily coexist, but right now, for example, in the Varanger Fjord, they occupied hunting grounds. In addition, they are very close in on spawning grounds. It inhibits spawning and coastal cod is already highly charged, says CEO Arne Pedersen.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 US aquaculture industry expects breakthrough year February 25, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters The recent appointment of Sean O’Scannlain, a vocal supporter of the domestic US aquaculture, to the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) chair position shows that the country’s seafood industry is ready to embrace a change in mindset, sources told Undercurrent News.

The appointment of the Fortune Fish CEO represents a great opportunity for the NFI to speak out about produce more seafood domestically, said Neil Sims, owner of Kampachi Farms.

“Most of the NFI membership are importers, distributors, brokers, or foodservice trade members. For them to speak up and say we should produce more domestically, that’s a very powerful message,” said Sims.

“They see where the future of the industry lies. The NFI sees supplies being curtailed internationally through competition, so they have a great role to play.”

Sims described O’Scannlain as “the guy to do it. As a major distributor, he understands, sees both ends – the consumers, restaurateurs, retailers – and also sees he is facing difficulty obtaining supply”.

O’Scannlain himself hopes to use his year-long term as NFI chair to develop the US regulatory framework for farming, an issue which has been getting up the noses of aquaculture practitioners for years.

“I think we have to change the regulatory environment, and get the regulators to see the value of aquaculture and what can be done,” O’Scannlain told Undercurrent.

“We’ve got to change the mindset, to get the opposition working with us, and to get the government to be less of a regulatory burden,” he said.

“It’s hard to do everything in one year, but if we can begin to have government and the regulators knock down some of the barriers, to make it easier for aquaculture entrepreneurs to get the permits – if we can get that, it’ll be a great step and I’ll be very happy.”

NFI and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will meet in March and April, when O’Scannlain hopes to open a dialogue about raising the profile of aquaculture and looking into the permit issuing process.

He aims to create initiatives within NFI to make aquaculture a known priority for years beyond his term, and hopes to put some of its permanent staff to work laying the groundwork for future developments in the field, he said.

The US seafood nutrition partnership is another initiative he’d like to promote as doing good work, and he also plans to encourage NFI members – many of the largest seafood firms in the country, be they importers, processor or distributors – to be more active in the political side of things.

“We need to be politically active. NFI does a very good job in Washington, but I want to get our members to take it one step further.”

O’Scannlain himself has nurtured connections with congress people, and even shown his own around Fortune Fish’s plant in Chicago. “I want our members to do the exact same thing. Hopefully it means they’ll listen to us more,” he said.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Red tape restrictions At present, the regulatory red tape for those wishing to embark on an aquaculture project in US waters is something of a headache.

To carry out aquaculture of a federally-managed species within federal waters (between three and 200 miles offshore) requires three different permits: one from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), one from the US Army Corps to allow the structure in US waters, and one from NOAA. The first two are “readily available” according to sources, but NOAA’s has long been hard to come by, as fish farmers such as Kampachi Farms and aborted cobia project Snapper farms can attest to.

Kampachi Farms, owned by Neil Sims, had so much difficulty expanding its Hawaii site that eventually the firm moved to Mexico – a country which is highly supportive of entrepreneurial fish farming projects, Sims said.

“What’s needed is for NOAA to sort the fisheries management plan for aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico,” he told Undercurrent. “They say aquaculture is the key element in the responsible development of fisheries in the US, yet haven’t moved on that in five years.”

However, according to the head of NOAA’s office of aquaculture, Michael Rubino, this plan is soon to be moved on to the office of management and budget, which will check it before passing it on for public comment. It is now hoped the plan will have passed before the end of the year, and could act as a model for other regional fishery councils to emulate.

Brian O’Hanlon, founder of offshore cobia producer Open Blue, was another entrepreneur who found life easier outside of US waters. The New Yorker first set up a company in Puerto Rico, Snapperfarm, to try farming cobia in offshore waters. However, O’Hanlon gave up after 11 years, citing prohibitive US regulations that made growth impossible.

“We really hope to see some advancements,” said Joe Hendrix of Aqualine Americas, whose parent company provides farming equipment worldwide.

“The US now, the bottom line is the government does not issue permits. The demand and interest from the private sector, and the seafood industry, has been there for some time. Any amount of the country’s seafood consumption, which is 90% imports, we can offset is a direct boost to the US economy,” he said.

“The NFI getting behind it can only be a good sign. At times wild fisheries have been active in blocking aquaculture activities, but there’s no reason for that now. Seafood companies are waking up to the realization that they need a new source, because wild fisheries cannot provide for US demand.”

Forging ahead There has been some progress in the US aquaculture industry over the past few years, believes Rubino. The salmon industry, a prime example of which is Maine’s, and a booming east coast oyster business, show certain species delivering on their potential.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters “We’re a wealthy country, that likes its unspoiled views,” said Rubino, considering why offshore aquaculture has floundered.

“The same as other countries with coastal tourism. But increasingly seafood companies are looking at the growing middle classes of Asia and realizing the imports might not be available as we’ve been going on – certainly not at the same cost,” he said.

“Our equipment and feed industries are growing too. The US soybean industry sells a lot of China and would love the opportunity to sell domestically.”

The difficulty has been coordinating regional, state and federal jurisdictions, something NOAA and O’Scannlain agree needs to be streamlined.

“It’s a challenge, because you’ve got federal policy overlapping with state policy, and we’ve got all these regional councils. I think it has to start at the federal level, trying to create an environment that cuts some of this red tape,” he said.

While this year may or may not see a political tipping point, there are generational changes being seen in fishing industries, said Rubino.

On the east coast, where cod quotas have been cut, younger fishermen are adapting their boats to cater to shellfish farming as well – the conversation is less about farmed versus wild, and more about applying a range of technologies to different trades.

After O’Scannlain’s term Rubino predicts ten years of experimental aquaculture development, as the industry looks to catch up with those countries which have really pushed on, spurred by what he hopes will be a new, easier process to acquiring permits.

Recirculation aquaculture systems, which are already gaining interest as pioneers look for ways to carry out the very clean farming methods at lower costs, will be one focus, he predicts.

One benefit of playing ‘catch-up’ is that the US can learn from other countries – Denmark has been practicing RAS for some years already, and Canada’s supportive legislative environment is one O’Scannlain thinks the US could learn from.

Offshore net pens, mussel farms, and using catfish ponds in “smarter ways, and for other species”, are other likely routes for US aquaculture to go down, said Rubino.

Aquaponics too – using one system to grow, for instance, seaweed, mussels and fish – is another area likely to be explored.

“All the largest companies are looking into aquaculture already. The west coast pollock fishers – Icicle Seafoods is invested in the Puget Sound salmon farms, Pacific Seafood has steelhead trout on the Columbia River – they are behind domestic farming,” he said.

“The big, vertically integrated companies see the potential for farming, and they are the NFI board of directors. They’re all behind O’Scannlain, the potential is great.”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Alberta Tarsands NAFTA: 63% of Canada’s oil is exported to USA Watch, Listen, Learn HERE

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

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 Senators

Warn Keystone Report 'Woefully Inadequate' In Evaluating Health

Risks February 26, 2014 WASHINGTON -- Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) are calling on the Obama administration to evaluate the potential health impacts of tar sands development before deciding whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters The State Department on Jan. 31 issued its final environmental impact statement, which looks at the potential hazards the pipeline poses to waterways, soil, air quality and wildlife, as well as its contribution to climate change. But in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Boxer and Whitehouse call that report "woefully inadequate" in its consideration of the potential human health concerns related to the proposed 1,660-mile pipeline, which would carry as much as 830,000 barrels of oil per day from the Alberta oil sands in Canada to refineries in Port Arthur, Texas.

The senators asked Kerry to "complete a comprehensive human health impacts study" before deciding whether the pipeline is in the national interest, which is the next step in the decision process.

The pair held a press conference on Wednesday to highlight concerns about the health impacts on communities near extraction sites in Canada, as well as in communities near the Texas refineries that would process the crude. The senators and pipeline opponents worry those communities could face higher rates of certain types of cancer and respiratory disease.

"I don't believe that the EIS that was done has given a through look at the health impacts to people who will feel it, and that is just plain wrong," said Boxer at Wednesday's press conference. "I don't think it's been looked at, and I don't think this public health issue has been brought to the American people ... It's a tale of horrors."

The event featured Dr. John O'Connor, a family physician who works in a community near oil extraction sites in Alberta, who said he has seen high rates of cancers that he believes are linked to tar sands development. "This is an ongoing tragedy," said O'Connor, who worried that the pipeline will increase the amount of oil extracted.

The event also featured Hilton Kelley, an environmental justice activist from Port Arthur who is concerned about the air quality and health impacts should the tar sands oil, also known as bitumen, be refined there. Port Arthur, he said, already has three major refineries, four chemical plants and an incinerator -- it doesn't need a bitumen refinery, which is heavier and contains chemicals not found in conventional crude.

"Once this pipe is built and this bitumen or tar sands is pumped in, we already know it's laced with heavy metals. We already know it has a huge amount of benzene and other dangerous toxins," said Kelley in an interview with The Huffington Post. "This would increase the emission levels in the city of Port Arthur.

We should not be increasing the emissions. We should be looking at ways to decrease these levels."

Whitehouse also raised concerns about the contractor that created the EIS for the State Department.

That group, Environmental Resources Management, has been accused by other Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups of having a conflict of interest due to a prior relationship with TransCanada. Whitehouse said that while he does not know if the analysts had a technical conflict of interest, the EIS "certainly brings with it the point of view and the worldview of the oil industry," he said.

Whitehouse said he hoped Kerry would consider the potential health concerns as he weighs the project. "It's very important that fresh eyes take a look at this and consider all of the impacts of tar sands," Whitehouse said.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 ‘We lost part of our soul’ in train disaster, mayor of Quebec town says March 12, 2014 WASHINGTON — The mayor of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, where 47 people died in a massive inferno following a train derailment last summer, came to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to push lawmakers and regulators for rail safety improvements.

Colette Roy-Laroche, whose picturesque lakeside town became the scene of one of the worst rail accidents in decades, was joined by a group of mayors from Canada and the U.S. All were united by the concern that the rail lines in their towns have become pipelines for a North American energy renaissance, and bear the risks that come with it.

The federal government regulates rail safety, but the group told lawmakers and regulators that local governments are the ones that pay the ultimate price in a disaster.

“It’s the mayors, like me, who end up living with the life-shattering consequences of such a terrible tragedy,” Roy-Laroche said in prepared remarks translated from French.

In addition to the high number of fatalities, Lac-Megantic has to rebuild its destroyed town center, a process that’s already cost $400 million. About 50 buildings burned down, Roy-Laroche said, and “a river of burning oil” seeped into sewers and basements.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters The fire burned with such intensity that it rendered many of the surviving homes and businesses uninhabitable. The remains of five of the 47 victims have not been found.

“We lost a part of our soul,” Roy-Laroche said, “but we’re strong and we’re going to try to make it through.”

The July 6 derailment forced the U.S. and Canadian governments to confront safety problems that have surfaced as a surge of oil production in North Dakota’s Bakken shale region has taken to the rails.

North Dakota is producing 1 million barrels of oil a day, and the bulk of it is moving on trains. However, it’s moving largely in a fleet of tank cars that federal safety officials have long warned could puncture or rupture easily in derailments. Regulators in both countries have also concluded that Bakken crude oil is more flammable than conventional kinds.

The Department of Transportation is writing new standards for tank car construction, but that could take another year.

On Monday, the mayors met with Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, acting Deputy Transportation Secretary Victor Mendez and the heads of both the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

“They were very receptive to what we had to say,” said Karen Darch, the village president of Barrington, Ill., who’s a vocal advocate for rail safety improvements.

The Senate and House of Representatives have held hearings in the past couple of weeks, though lawmakers didn’t hear testimony from local officials.

“Our perspective is one that needs to be there,” Darch said.

The Department of Transportation, working with the railroad industry, has instituted voluntary safety measures that involve train speeds, track inspections and hazardous material routing. But the mayors and other safety advocates said they were looking for swift, decisive action from regulators.

“It’s great if it gets done on a voluntary basis, but we know that’s not enough,” said Vicki May Hamm, the mayor of Magog, Quebec.

The mayors said none of their towns could afford the emergency response capabilities needed for disasters. They also can’t shoulder the cost of cleanup.

Rebuilding Lac-Megantic will cost more than $1 billion, according to estimates, and so far Canadian taxpayers are footing the bill, not the companies that produce, transport or refine the oil.

The mayors described the Lac-Megantic derailment as a “perfect storm” of human, mechanical and chemical factors. However, subsequent fiery accidents in Alabama, North Dakota and New Brunswick have shown that it could happen again in other communities.

“What happened in Lac-Megantic can happen anywhere in both countries,” said Roger Doiron, the mayor of Richibucto, New Brunswick.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Douglas Channel at Kitimat is the proposed terminus for the Northern Gateway pipeline

 Saskatchewan passes motion to support Northern Gateway pipeline March 12, 2014 REGINA — The Saskatchewan legislature has passed a motion supporting construction of the Northern Gateway pipeline, but the vote was not unanimous.

Premier Brad Wall says the pipeline would help get oil to port in a safer way than by rail or truck.

The 1,200-kilometre line would transport 525,000 barrels a day from Alberta's oilsands to a marine terminal on the British Columbia coast for export to Asia.

The Opposition New Democrats did not support the motion.

NDP Leader Cam Broten, who supports the Keystone XL pipeline to Texas, has concerns about Gateway.

Broten says the mountains present different challenges for Northern Gateway and there are precarious shipping routes on the West Coast.

He notes that the B.C. government has said it's not prepared if there is an oil spill.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Tanks of unrefined oil in Cushing, Oklahoma, where there’s a glut of crude in storage

 Give Me One Good Reason Obama Should Approve Keystone XL March 7, 2014 Really, there could be two: 1. President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and economic growth-focused Washington want China as America’s new BFF and plan to let Beijing know by offering up an energy supply from our friends to the North.

2. Obama, Kerry, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper have worked out a quid pro quo. The Yanks will accept a pipe carrying toxic sludge through America’s bread basket so long as Canada takes over counterterrorism in Afghanistan, sends peacekeepers to Ukraine, and Harper himself places Justin Bieber under house arrest so he can’t tour in the lower 48.

STORY: Did the State Department Fail Obama on Keystone XL? Some American teens might not find that last measure in the national interest, but some version of these realpolitik rationales—overture to China, huge favor to Harper—are about the only ones left to explain why Obama hasn’t killed the proposed 875-mile final leg of pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico.

A number of strong arguments appeared to be in favor of Keystone XL when it first became a national story, beginning with jobs. Several U.S. representatives and senators testified that the pipeline would yield 20,000, 40,000, or even 100,000 new jobs.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters The recession made those prospects extra compelling. Turns out they were extra optimistic, too. Now we know the pipeline might generate about 3,900 temporary (two-year) construction jobs and about 50 permanent ones. (Should we really be surprised? The whole point of a pipeline is that it’s automated.)

The other big case for Keystone—also given full voice by pols who received campaign help from oil and gas lobbies—was the chance to rely on a friendly neighbor for oil rather than on an unstable Middle Eastern regime. But now, due in part to fracking and the Bakken reserve in North Dakota, U.S. oil inventories are at a 21-year high; a glut of unrefined oil is sitting in Cushing, Okla., and the U.S. is expected to become the world’s leading oil producer next year. Moreover, the sweet crude pouring out of the Bakken is of far finer quality than bitumen, the sour, thick oil sands extraction that is effectively steamed out of the soil beneath Alberta’s former boreal forest. What’s more, Keystone XL isn’t really designed to serve the U.S.; it’s meant to get Alberta’s tar sands to Texas refineries and ready for export. The Keystone XL would better serve China’s energy “independence” than America’s.

STORY: The Petro States of America Oh, but surely a $5.4 billion infrastructure project would provide the U.S. economy a welcome boost and added tax revenues? Yes, more than $3 billion over its lifetime, according to the market analysis in the Jan. 31 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the Keystone XL prepared by the U.S. Department of State [pdf]. Yet before the U.S. collects taxes from refiners, resellers, and exporters, it will first spend hundreds of millions on subsidies so these companies can invest in the technologies needed to make usable fuels out of bitumen. One example: Houston-based Motiva, which operates major storage facilities and scores of Shell gas stations and is slated to receive between $680 million and $1.1 billion from U.S. taxpayers so it can deal with tar sands oil. So in the near term, economic stimulus related to Keystone XL will come from Washington, not be paid to the IRS. None of these arguments should particularly matter, though, as Obama has indicated that impact on the earth’s climate is his pass/fail for approving the project. This has led to a ridiculous effort to prove that the pipeline itself will not lead to a great deal more carbon entering the atmosphere. That’s a feint. The real question isn’t how carbon-intensive the 3-foot diameter pipe is but how much carbonpolluting oil it brings to market.

Presuming the tar sands will be developed with or without the Keystone XL, State’s estimates of carbon emissions were modest in its Jan. 31 report. Even so, the report acknowledges that the project will accelerate climate change. Hence, says Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, international program director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, “President Obama now has all the information he needs to reject the pipeline.”

STORY: Keystone Pipeline Would Be too Little, too Late for Ukraine Crisis A new report this week, using some of the same forecast formulas, is more damning yet. It suggests that State massively understated the consequences of the Keystone XL. According to Carbon Tracker’s analysis, by facilitating tar sands oil production the proposed pipeline will result in carbon emissions equivalent to 46 new coal burning power plants.

STORY: Yet Another Oil Tanker Derailment May Help the Keystone XL Pipeline

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Editorial Comment: These aging, problematic pipelines will certainly fail more than they currently do once higher pressure is used to move massive quantities of corrosive and hazardous, dilbit through them – a recipe for irreversible catastrophe!

 Big Oil’s new strategy: If you can’t build a new pipeline, just overload the old one March 7, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Yesterday, Canadian pipeline behemoth Enbridge won government approval for its plans for 9B, one of the most contentious pipes in pipe business. While it doesn’t get much press, 9B is important because it’s part of a hot, new trend in trans-national pipe dreams: Skirting environmental review, and public scrutiny, by pumping dirty crude through existing pipelines rather than building new ones.

Enbridge wants to use 9B to carry up to 300,000 barrels of tar-sands oil per day to Quebec for refining and export. And it is determined to not repeat the mistakes of TransCanada, the company behind the much-maligned (and very publicly held-up) Keystone XL pipeline. Thus the tactic of reusing old lines, a game that it has already played with several other pipes.

One of those pipes was 6B, which dumped a million gallons plus of freshly harvested tar-sands crude into Michigan’s water supply in 2010. Another is Line 5, whose capacity was expanded 10 percent recently, despite the pipeline’s being over 60 years old, and despite its running through the Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, also known as a hell of a lot of fresh water.

The effects of the dilutant that is mixed with tar-sands crude to help it move through the pipe are not well understood and are at least equal to, if not more corrosive than, conventional crude.

Line 9, of which 9B is one part, is a 38-year-old stretch of pipeline that runs along the northern part of Lake Ontario. It was originally built to get Canadian crude out to Quebec. In 1998, the flow was reversed to bring in cheap oil imports from West Africa and the Middle East. Now, the National Energy Board has given Enbridge the go-ahead to reverse it again, to funnel tar sands to Quebec.

It is not a huge surprise that 9B was approved. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has proclaimed an ardent desire to mitigate climate change — but only if that does not in any way involve stopping, or even slowing, the geyser of money issuing from the Alberta tar sands.

Just to be on the safe side, his administration has cut funding for scientific research involving things like air quality, water quality, emissions, and oil spills. It has also set up an $8 million fund to audit nonprofits (i.e. environmental groups) and make sure that they aren’t engaging in “partisan” political activity.

The Energy Board, a federally appointed three-person panel, was operating under a new set of rules put in place after 1,500 people showed up during the public comment period for another pipeline, the Northern Gateway. In order to comment to the panel directly, opponents of 9B had to fill out a 10page application and prove that they would be directly impacted. Even writing a letter of protest to the panel required pre-approval.

The green light for 9B came with 30 conditions, so the reversal won’t happen immediately.

Meanwhile, pipeline opponents are reacting in different ways. Groups like Rising Tide are calling for a direct action. Others are pushing for an Environmental Impact Review.

A group called ForestEthics Advocacy filed a lawsuit arguing that the new rules around comments are unconstitutional, and that the scientific evidence given to the panel to make its decision was unsound. If the suit succeeds, then oddly enough, the new rules surrounding pipeline approval could be 9B’s undoing.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Prime Minister Stephen Harper attends a question and answer session Monday at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada in Toronto.

 Harper comes down hard on Taseko mine proposal PM cites environment, aboriginal issues among reasons to not approve project March 3, 2014 Prime Minister Stephen Harper sharply criticized Taseko Mines Ltd. and its controversial New Prosperity project Monday, stating to an audience of prospectors and mining executives in Toronto that an environmental report on the British Columbia project was “damning.”

It was the first time a sitting prime minister had spoken at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention. While he talked mostly about what the federal government is doing to support mining, he was clear in his defence of his government’s decision last Wednesday to reject Taseko’s project.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters “(The environmental assessment) said very clearly that the project, as previously and presently conceived, would not address the long-term destruction of (the local water system). And that our experts said they could see no proposed plausible mitigation measures for that,” he said during his speech.

Harper’s comments drew a sharp rebuke from Taseko, which disagreed with virtually everything he said. “At least he’s aware of this project,” said Brian Battison, the company’s vice-president of corporate affairs.

However, Harper said, the harsh findings of a federal environmental review panel, along with the legal advice his government received, made the decision to reject the project an obvious one.

“It is also in an area where there’s unresolved land claim issues, and local aboriginal groups … do not approve the project,” he said.

It is the second time the proposal has been rejected, and in this instance Taseko maintains that the latest environmental review was badly flawed. It said that putting a proper liner in the proposed $1.1billion mine’s tailings pond would prevent seepage, and the report somehow missed this fact.

“They had the information in front of them. That system was saved and protected,” Battison said.

He also clarified the prime minister’s comments about the unresolved land claims, saying the dispute is the only instance in British Columbia in which the court said the First Nations did not meet the test of title. That case is now before the Supreme Court of Canada.

“All of this will roll out in front of a court some day,” Battison said of this dispute with Ottawa.

Notwithstanding the dispute over Taseko’s proposal being played out on the convention floor, B.C.’s government delegation, led by Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett, was bullish about the province’s prospects in what has been a tough market for raising new financing.

The PDAC convention, with an estimated attendance of more than 30,000, is Canada’s biggest mining and exploration convention and one of the world’s key events for promoting investment in mining.

“Governments matter to these people,” Bennett said, and in contrast to the federal decision, he travelled to Ottawa twice lobbying in favour of approving New Prosperity.

The province approved Taseko’s original proposal on the basis that the mine’s economic benefits outweighed the possible environmental damage, and Bennett believes Taseko should have been given the chance to prove its revised project would have mitigated those concerns.

Bennett’s primary concern at the convention was helping the companies with mine projects in the province to keep capital flowing, particularly in B.C.’s northwest, where some $15 billion in mine proposals are under some form of review or development.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Censored:

Anti salmon farming activist must pay up after Supreme Court dismisses appeal

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea (on left) joined National Revenue Minister and MP for DeltaRichmond East Kerry-Lynne Findlay on Monday to talk about her visit to B.C. to follow up on recommendations made from the Cohen Commission.

 Fisheries minister visits Ladner for roundtable talk February 20, 2014 Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea visited the West Coast this week to sit down with fisheries groups and First Nations and listen to their concerns about the industry. The minister is following up on the 2012 Cohen Commission Report which made 75 recommendations, most of which apply to her portfolio. The commission was formed in 2009 following a sockeye run of only 1.5 million fish, although those numbers rebounded to 26 million last year.

She also met with about a dozen local fishermen and representatives from the fishing industry in Ladner on Monday, facilitated by fellow cabinet member and local MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay.

Shea said the federal government took steps to help the salmon industry in the new budget by dedicating all revenues collected from the Salmon Conservation Stamp to the Pacific Salmon Foundation. This is expected to increase the contribution by roughly $1 million per year and allow the foundation to fund additional projects to improve Pacific salmon habitat in partnership with communities.

She also spoke about the new Canadian-European trade agreement, which will allow seafood exports to increase without tariffs in the 11-25 per cent range.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters “We’re definitely diversifying the seafood industry,” said Shea.

Chris Acheson, executive director of the Sablefish Association, praised Findlay for setting up the meeting with local fishermen.

He said the Department of Fisheries and Oceans [DFO] has to go back to a percentage harvest rate of the annual salmon run instead of a fixed farming rate. He said all the fish left in the water is a “waste” and a loss to B.C.’s economy.

“The problem is that commercial fishermen haven’t been able to get that message across to [DFO],” he said.

Although Acheson said sablefish is a stable industry, it’s important to help support other fisheries like salmon.

“We need a complete industry out here, we can’t just be sablefish fishermen, we need the backbone of the salmon industry,” he said.

Local fisherman Stewart McDonald, who catches crabs, prawns, herring, and salmon, was just happy the meeting took place.

“The other ministers sure never met with the fishermen, I never heard of it before in 30 years,” he said.

McDonald said due to restrictions set by DFO, chum salmon were only available for one day in 2013.

“There’s fish available but we don’t get to catch them,” he said, adding commercial fisherman weren’t able to harvest a single pink in 2013.

But McDonald said First Nations groups aren’t impeded by the same laws. And although they have the right to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes, he said it’s an open secret that almost all of it winds up at market.

“Read the Cohen Commission Report, it said 95 per cent is sold. It’s an illegal business.”

One recent move welcomed by local fishermen is the start of a $10-million dredging project to clear the silted secondary channels of the Fraser River around Ladner and Steveston. The one-time joint commitment is funded in part by Port Metro Vancouver, DFO, the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, the Corporation of Delta, and the City of Richmond.

Although small craft harbours like Ladner do receive federal funding for dredging, there has been no financial commitment from any level of government beyond 2015.

“Maintenance dredging will have to be a topic for another day,” said Findlay.

Shea also talked about ongoing environmental protection for fish, including the moratorium around the Discovery Islands. Although critics have accused the Harper government of watering down environmental protection in the Fisheries Act, Shea rejected the notion.

“We’re not going to protect habitat for the sake of habitat, we’re going to protect habitat for the sake of fish,” she said.

The minister said the wording of the Fisheries Act treated minnows spawning in farmers’ ditches in the prairies as protected fish habitat and was not the intention of the act.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Greenwashing (aka: Pure Bovine Excrement)

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Fish farm licence delay ‘costing 2,000 jobs’ IFA report says 600 applications ‘in the system’ for up to seven years March 17, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Delays in issuing fish farm licences have cost an estimated €60 million in investment over five years, according to a report published today by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA).

As a result, the Scottish Orkney islands are farming more salmon than the “entire country” of Ireland, the IFA report submitted to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney says.

IFA president Eddie Downey has warned that “job and export targets in peripheral coastal areas cannot be met” without a “radical streamlining” of what he terms the “bureaucratic bottlenecks” hampering the industry’s development.

Farmed salmon The report says that the Irish farmed salmon sector would “only fill a corner” of one Norwegian fjord, yet gives vital employment in coastal areas of Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Cork and Kerry.

“Despite Government inertia, Irish farmers have carved a niche at the high end of the organic market,” the IFA says.

However, it says that licensing delays are costing the economy “tens of millions in unfilled orders for fish and shellfish, as well as 2,000 skilled and semi-skilled jobs with a huge impact on peripheral local services and infrastructure”.

Under the current system, two divisions of the Department of Agriculture, Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), the Marine Institute, Sea Fisheries Protection Authority and National Parks and Wildlife Service are involved in determining aquaculture licence applications.

Agencies which must be consulted include Údarás na Gaeltachta, Bord Fáilte, Commissioners of Irish Lights, Department of Transport, Department of Communications and Natural Resources, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Marine Survey Office, Inland Fisheries Ireland and the relevant local authority and harbour authority respectively.

Decisions can be appealed to an Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board.

‘Vested interests’ IFA Aquaculture chairman Jerry Gallagher said that the six State agencies, nine statutory consultees, four Government departments and appeals board can take “endless months and years arguing their own vested interests”.

The IFA report says some 600 licence applications have been in the system for up to seven years.

“Irish aquaculture has the potential to be a significant employer in coastal areas hardest hit by job losses and emigration,” the report says, adding that the sector can sustain up to 2,000 new jobs and an additional half a billion euro in export-led growth.

“Irish advantages include our excellent marine sites, 40 years of farming experience and expertise in food exports that can launch aquaculture into a new phase of expansion and innovation, capturing an important share of growing world markets for seafood,” it says.

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

ď ś Loblaws first to offer new responsibly-farmed certified Atlantic salmon March 10, 2014 TORONTO - Grocery giant Loblaws (TSX:L) will be the first retailer in North America to sell a new type of responsibly-farmed salmon, an offering it hopes will differentiate itself amid intense competition from its grocery rivals.

Shame on Loblaws for their intentionally deceptive promotion of unsustainable seafood products

Loblaws, which is also the country's largest biggest buyer and seller of seafood, said the decision to stock Atlantic salmon certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) will give customers more choice when selecting responsibly farmed fish.

The ASC is an independent, not-for-profit organization based in The Netherlands that certifies responsible seafood farms, processors and distributors around the world that produce Atlantic salmon, Arctic char, shrimp, mussels and oysters.

Melanie Agopian, senior director of seafood sustainability with the supermarket chain, said only one Atlantic fish farm in Norway has been approved by the group, which introduced the standards late last year.

"We are excited to bring this market to Canada," she said.

Currently, ASC-approved farmed Atlantic salmon is only sold in Japan and Europe.

The B.C. Salmon Farmers Association says a number of Canadian farms have achieved sustainability certification through other agencies, with three fish farms aiming to achieve ASC standards by 2020.

"It shows the feasibility and that the industry is moving in that direction, but it is a rigorous standards," said Agopian.

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters ASC-certified farms address social and environmental concerns, such as waste production, precautions to manage and stop the transfer of disease and how the feed is sourced and used.

Agopian said the Atlantic salmon will be sold at fresh fish counters at select Loblaws and Zehrs stores in Ontario and Quebec, beginning in early April.

It already sales ASC-approved tilapia, and says it only sells seafood at its stores from sustainable sources.

About 60 per cent of all fish sold in Loblaws is farmed, it says.

Like other Canadian retailers, Loblaw is losing market share to domestic and foreign competitors â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including Sobeys (TSX:EMP.A), Metro (TSX:MRU), Walmart and the newcomer Target, which entered the food business in Canada about a year ago.

The retail chains have consolidated in the past year, cut prices and tried to differentiate their offerings in a bid to lure in more customers.

Kevin Grier doesn't think this latest move by Loblaws is necessarily due to consumer demand for responsibly-farmed fish, but an attempt by the food giant stand out against its competitors.

"Store after store, it's about differentiation of the product and differentiation about the store," said Grier, senior market analyst with the George Morris Centre, an independent economic research centre in Guelph, Ont., focused on agriculture and food.

He said that consumers are more concerned about the safety of their food, and price point, rather than whether farming practices meet any globally-accepted standards.

"It's not due to consumer demand. (The industry) keeps on telling them its something to worry about, and they will, eventually," Grier added.

Rick Routledge, the acting director of environmental science at B.C.'s Simon Fraser University, said grocery stores and restaurants tend to stock fresh farmed salmon because of its abundance compared to wild salmon, which is only available in summer and early fall season.

He noted that there are concerns about salmon fisheries, such as the spread of viruses and sea lice, and the potential impact on wild salmon stocks.

"There are good reasons for people to take a careful look at whether they want to eat any farmed salmon, especially produced on the Pacific Coast here," said Routledge, who is also an ecological statistician.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Launching of ASC standards receives criticism WWF has launched new Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) standards and was accused of selling out to industry with this.

Some environmental groups and local based community activists have condemned WWF’s effort to launch Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) as a sellout to the international aquaculture industry.

ASC clearly mentioned the standards for tilapia, pangasius, abalone and bivalves which is nothing but a crude attempt that perpetuated unsustainable production systems. The activists dismissed WWF's claim that the standards were developed in consultation with local communities and indigenous peoples who are affected by aquaculture farms.

The critics alleged that WWF's plans to certify the export-oriented, industrial production of such species as shrimp, pangasius and salmon were developed specifically to promote the interests of the aquaculture industry.

According these standards were being diluted under pressure from the industry so that the business won’t get affected. Natasha Ahmad of Asia Solidarity Against Industrial Aquaculture (ASIA), said that WWF is wrong to claim their standards include inputs from local “stakeholders” when the main body of those stakeholders- the local resource users, who are directly affected by the industry- did not have any voice in determining these ‘standards'.

Alfredo Quarto, of Mangrove Action Project, said that these WWF/ASC standards are just one more ‘pie-in-the-sky' attempt to justify and expand the profits of an unsustainable and destructive industry, resulting in further loss of mangrove forests and displacement of local communities.

Gudrun Hubendick of the Stockholm Shrimp Action Group in Sweden, said that WWF continues to ignore the risk that their shrimp certification scheme may result in actually increasing demand for shrimp, thus increasing the expansion of the bad practices that certification was supposedly trying to address through these standards.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Salmon farming is built on science February 21, 2014 Editor: We wanted to respond to Ms. Chadwick’s letter regarding concerns about aquaculture (Coast Reporter, letters, Jan. 31).

We are proud to report that science, research and innovation are in fact the very foundation on which salmon farming is built and that, using her words, there is a ‘mountain of scientific evidence’ that our operations are sound, progressive and in fact, helping to conserve the world’s oceans.

The Cohen Commission, after three years of investigation found that there was no evidence salmon farms were negatively affecting Fraser River sockeye (Final Report Volume 3, p. 24). Justice Cohen recommended that data continues to be collected at salmon farms for the next decade — and we’re confident this data will only further confirm his findings that we are causing no harm.

There is no major expansion of salmon farming underway — only a return to processing amendments and applications by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Most applications now being reviewed were submitted years ago.

This is good news — because we feel the responsible growth of salmon aquaculture is a great opportunity for British Columbians.

Salmon farming employs thousands of residents in BC’s coastal communities and generates millions in economic activity. Along with the local opportunities it offers, aquaculture helps supplement a limited number of wild salmon, which helps provide a healthy food to a growing demand.

Colleen Dane BC Salmon Farmers Association

Colleen Dane

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

ď ś Fish feed breakthrough lifts salmon profits February 18, 2014 Tasmania's Atlantic salmon companies are saving on the cost of fish food and increasing their profits from a breakthrough in fish nutrition.

Tasmania's Atlantic salmon companies are saving on the cost of fish food and increasing their profits from a breakthrough in fish nutrition.

Fish feed manufacturer, Skretting Australia, has introduced 'metabolic activators' to the 70,000 tonnes of feed it produces in Tasmania each year.

Skretting says the change is allowing Atlantic salmon farmed in Tasmania and New Zealand to utilise more of the energy in their rations and grow much faster.

"It's combining the right balance of micronutrients and increasing the energy density of those," Skretting nutritionist, Dr Rhys Hauler says.

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters "We're quite excited.

"We've seen increases of growth performance, but most importantly a reduction in food conversion ratios.

"Reductions in the order of 10 to 15 per cent."

Skretting Australia is a subsidiary of the global fish feed group Nutreco, that produces 1.7 million tonnes of fish feed world-wide.

The change to its Tasmanian manufacturing process was introduced in August 2013, after Skretting commissioned a new plant at Cambridge near Hobart.

Since then, in the six months to the end of December, Tasmania's biggest salmon company, Tassal, increased its operating profits more than 25 per cent, despite a slight drop in revenue.

Marketing manager with Skretting, Rhys Hauler says the change to the premium feed has brought a significant step-up in performance.

"Typically the industry here would be running around 1.3 to 1.4 tonnes of feed per tonne of fish produced," he said.

"A 15 per cent gain means that reduces by 200 grams of feed for every kilo of salmon produced."

Skretting sustainability and communications officer, Dr Jenna Bowyer, says the breakthrough also gives salmon farms an environmental edge.

She says feeding trials run by the Skretting Aquaculture Research Centre in Norway have lowered the amount of imported fishmeal in their salmon grower feeds.

Jenna Bowyer says Skretting Australia is using more vegetables, grains and meat by-products sourced from within Australia. "[Salmon] are the most efficient domesticated species," she said.

"Compared to the chicken or the lamb or the pig, it is a very efficient converter.

"So we have a lot of vegetable based ingredients; vegetables and grains.

"We source a lot of those from mainland Australia, as much as we can as possible.

"But we also use land animal co-products.

"That is using the co-product from, say, the poultry industry "So whatever part of the chicken isn't used for human consumption, is rendered into a high protein meal.

"We can then use that as an ingredient in our fish feeds.

"So a lot of products that would be either thrown away or not used, we can incorporate into our fish diets."

In November Skretting had its feed certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, and Dr Hauler says that is assisting its key customer Tassal to fulfill its ambition of becoming one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first salmon

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Mining

 Beyond Pebble: Protect the entire watershed February 9, 2014 The Alaska Independent Fishermen’s Marketing Association (AIFMA) applauds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its watershed assessment of impacts of potential large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay drainages of Alaska. The assessment is thorough, peer-reviewed and comprehensive. It describes the risks of unavoidable, adverse, cumulative effects of potential large mines, including Pebble mine, on fish, wildlife, and subsistence, commercial and recreational fisheries in the region.

AIFMA especially appreciates Sens. Mark Begich of Alaska and Maria Cantwell of Washington for their strong support of Bristol Bay. In May 2010, six federally-recognized tribes and AIFMA requested the EPA to initiate a public process under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to protect fish, wildlife and fisheries from the effects of potential mines at acid-generating metallic sulfide deposits in the Kvichak and Nushagak drainages, including the Pebble deposit. The tribes and AIFMA asked EPA to prohibit or restrict discharges of dredged or fill material, including mining wastes, into “waters of the United States,” meaning those under federal regulatory jurisdiction and wherever the discharges would be associated with acid-generating mines at such deposits. In response, EPA’s assessment describes the unavoidable adverse impacts certain or likely to occur if large-scale mining, including at metallic sulfide deposits, is allowed.

Although most public discussion to date has focused on Pebble, EPA’s assessment addresses all potential large-scale mining in the Kvichak and Nushagak drainages, uses Pebble as an example, and identifies fifteen other deposits where significant exploration has occurred. These include ten other metallic sulfide “porphyry copper” deposits, which are the same acid-generating type of lowgrade deposit as Pebble. The Pebble deposit, of at least several billion tons, is the largest identified so far. The others, such as the Humble and AUDN deposits claimed by Millrock Resources, Inc., and the Big Chunk claims of Liberty Star Uranium & Metals, are not fully explored. Therefore, the assessment uses the worldwide average size of mines at porphyry copper deposits, about .25 billion tons, to assess impacts of mining the other porphyry deposits.

On its website, Millrock describes its claims as “giants” and the Humble prospect as “drill-ready”. The company says it is “currently seeking potential partners” to develop this deposit 50 miles northeast of Dillingham.

EPA’s Assessment says that Pebble and similar mines in the Kvichak and Nushagak drainages would unavoidably destroy many miles of stream habitat for salmon and other fish and many acres of wetlands associated with that habitat.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters EPA regulations require self-sustaining, compensatory mitigation of unavoidable adverse impacts.

The assessment concludes that proposals for compensatory mitigation, such as fish hatcheries, pumping water upstream to replace lost water, removal of beaver dams (an idea long rejected by fisheries scientists), manipulating water chemistry and reconnecting old stream channels Mother Nature abandoned, will not provide self-sustaining mitigation of lost productivity and genetic diversity of salmon and other fish.

That conclusion applies to Pebble and all potential large mines which would affect fish in the Kvichak and Nushagak drainages. For this and other reasons related to likely unavoidable adverse effects, the EPA should and probably will adopt a Section 404(c) determination.

EPA’s 404(c) determination should apply prohibitions and restrictions, as facts warrant, to all potential large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay watershed, including all deposits identified in the Kvichak and Nushagak drainages. EPA should prohibit discharge of dredged or fill material associated with large-scale mines into federally regulated waters, including wetlands and tributaries, wherever:

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Waters are used by salmon or other fish, or support subsistence, commercial or recreational fishing or hunting.

Mines, including tailings facilities and waste rock piles, would require water treatment forever or long term storage of toxic or acid-generating wastes.

Compensatory mitigation will not be self-sustaining and cannot maintain the productivity and genetic diversity of salmon and other fish upon which the commercial, subsistence and recreational fisheries ultimately depend.

David Harsila is President of AIFMA, a commercial fishermen’s association formed in 1966 whose members own salmon fishing businesses in Bristol Bay.

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Wild fish management .

 Missing fish farms offer clue to anticipated 70 million sockeye return March 11, 2014 Expect big salmon numbers this summer. The Fraser sockeye run may be as high as 70 million. Yes, 70. And the most important sport angling species, chinook and coho, seem to be on the same meteoric route in 2014.

Fraser sockeye numbers peaked in the early 1970s and then declined, most particularly in the 20 year period from 1990 to 2009. This was the year the Cohen Commission was sent in to figure out why only 1.6 million sockeye returned to the Fraser, and just as it was getting rolling, 2010 returned more than 28.3 million Fraser sockeye (see video here).

The 2014 range is: 7.2 million to 72.0 million, with an average of 22.8 million, with expectations at the high end.

Method in DFO’s madness While DFO has significant issues (including almost completely ignoring the Cohen Report), it has to be admitted it does a stellar job of sockeye science, and I have the approved pre-season estimate of the more than 100 subcomponent sockeye run from early May into late September for anyone who wants to immerse themselves in this science heavy process (download .pdf DFO 2014 sockeye forecast).

They have patchy data back to 1913, with better stats from the ‘50s to the present day. DFO uses four different models and puts out estimates based on five different levels of possible return from 10% to 90%. The 2014 range is: 7.2 million to 72.0 million, with an average of 22.8 million, with expectations at the high end.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Then DFO follows fry down rivers, for example, the Chilko counting fence, passing Mission and a seine fishery in the Strait of Georgia, with acoustic arrays in Queen Charlotte Sound as well as Juan de Fuca.

On the way back, test gillnetting is typically done in Port Renfrew as well as Johnstone St. Fish are counted crossing the Mission fence, and samples from all fisheries are sent for real-time DNA testing twice per week, with announcements on run timing, composition and fishing opportunities for commercial, sport and first nations coming every few days as summer progresses. Impressive.

Removal of fish farms may have contributed to big return Why are the fish in good numbers? Good question. The 2010 high year contributes mostly to the run this year as sockeye are typically four year old fish on returning. It looks like the taking of fish farms producing chinook out of the water in the Discovery Islands (near Campbell River) in 2008 that were getting salmon leukemia virus (SLV) is one main reason – do note DFO followed this disease for years until they terminated research.

Doctors Kristi Miller and Brian Riddell will be ramping up Miller’s science lab, that you will remember showed a ‘viral signature’ disease that contributed to as high as 90% pre-spawn mortality in returning Fraser sockeye.

But the 2010 fish were not infected, and thus returned and successfully spawned, resulting in, we hope, prodigious numbers, in 2014.

In addition, fish farms reduced their own fish numbers, particularly Marine Harvest, in 2011 to 2013 by 30% or 6- to 9-million smolts in the narrow Quadra Island to Sayward salt waters. So there were trillions fewer viral particles when the fry migrated.

Virus tests to continue You will be happy to know that Miller/Riddell will be testing a lot of fish this year, including those from fish farms. But you won’t be so happy to know that DFO, and the fish farms will be parsing news releases – if you followed the convoluted, non-transparent, fish farm refusal to allow BC diseasetesting results to come out during the Cohen Commission, you will understand why.

Of note, is one subcomponent that has done well – the Harrison. Its long term average escapement, i.e. sockeye on the spawning beds is 13,500, but both 2010 and 2011 returns were 30 times higher than the long term average at 400,000. The Harrisons are the only subcomponent that migrates out Juan de Fuca Strait where there are no fish farms. They could not get sick, so they returned in healthy numbers. The rest of the Fraser sockeye migrate through Johnstone Strait.

Chinook and coho could see monster year too But there is more to this story than fish farms. That is because – other than the Fraser 4-2s that DFO, in the Salmon Outlook, said further 2014 non-retention would be likely – around Vancouver Island, the fish return numbers of coho and chinook will be records, too.

First, the sockeye story. The largest run is the Alberni Inlet, Henderson, Nahmint, and Somass (Stamp and Sproat) rivers which typically returns 350,000 to 600,000 fish, with a high of 1.8 million.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Sport and commercial fishing begins when it is established 200,000 fish are coming down the Inlet. I have seen years the run has not struggled up to this level.

As with all runs, there are always some younger, sexually precocious male fish, called Jacks. In the past, as three-year fish, the Alberni run had an average of 40,000; however, last year, there were, get this, 400,000 mixed in with the run. That implies a 2014 run ten times larger than the average, perhaps 4 million this year.

From volcanoes to Pineapple Expresses While the fry do pass a couple of fish farms on the way out, the huge number of Jacks implies that ocean survival has been terrific. Perhaps the Alaska volcano that blew in 2008 showering the Bering Sea with iron oxide heavy dust was the reason, but the more likely event is the winter storms we now call Pineapple Expresses contribute to the Aleutian low-pressure cycle. The wind pushes surface waters aside, bringing nutrients to the sun-penetrating level, starting huge plankton blooms that feed the food chain. Sockeye eat plankton and krill.

Higher marine survival typically means more three year old Jacks. As chinook, these return as roughly 15 pound fish. The West Coast Van Isle hatcheries at Conuma in Nootka Sound and the Nitinat in Juan de Fuca returned Jacks up to 50% of their runs – this was common among other counted rivers. I can tell you from fishing the Nitinat in late November – nursing five fractured ribs, which kept me from fishing earlier – I landed four Jacks one day, some six weeks after the run had spawned and gone. Some years I catch zero in the entire season, even though these fish will beat all other fish to whack a lure.

There are no fish farms on either of these routes. And then there are the Cowichan chinook. As 1- to 2-year fish, they circle Georgia Strait before migrating out to the open ocean. Last year 7,000 returned – this run was down to the unheard of level of 1,068 spawners circa 2010, with, previously, a run average of 12,000 to 15,000 chinook with a high of 25,000. Last year 4,000 of the returnees were 3-year old springs! This points to a return in 2014 of higher numbers than the highest ever recorded. Van Isle chinook typically return 90% at four year old fish, which implies 40,000 chinook for the Cowichan alone in 2014.

Mysterious coho raise more questions And then there are coho. Last year WCVI wild coho returned in the Salmon Outlook’s highest measured category – 4. And those Georgia Strait coho, that crashed in the mid-80s, with 1- to 2-% return measured against parental spawners, are forecast at 15% – that means 15 fish for every fish that spawned in 2011, rather than 1. Many of these fish migrate past fish farms in the choked waters of Johnstone Strait. As farm numbers were down 30%, and ocean survival high, these two factors may explain the inside high coho numbers in 2014.

But it doesn’t explain high coho numbers on the WCVI. And they are expected to continue in high numbers in 2014. They don’t pass fish farms, hence, the return is based on higher marine survival.

There is great potential for inside coho fishing, now and in years to come. Brian Riddell, CEO, Pacific Salmon Foundation, is emphasizing rehabilitation projects to increase Georgia coho. He has estimated such a fishery could be worth $400- to $500-million additional sport fishing revenue, added to the $1 billion sport fishing creates in BC annually…Time to fish!

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

The gold rush of the sea in 1976. Herring boats cluster around Barkley Sound before deciding on where to head next, while skiffs (at right) unload into packer ship.

 DFO assessment of herring fishery based on broken ecosystem, study finds February 17, 2014 Archeological records showing widespread and consistent Pacific herring abundance on B.C’s coast suggest fisheries officials are massively overestimating the current health of the fishery and misinterpreting spawning patterns, according to a Simon Fraser University study released Monday.

Dwindling and inconsistent spawning returns characterized in Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) analysis are in stark contrast to the picture of herring abundance and consistency over the past 2,500 years, shown in nearly half a million fish bone samples collected from 171 First Nations archeological sites ranging from Washington State to Alaska.

The authors, Iain McKechnie, Dana Lepofsky and Ken Lertzman, argue the data should be used in fisheries management to set a new “ecological baseline” for herring populations.

The data used for science-based fisheries management dates back only 60 to 80 years, decades after the large-scale harvest of herring was underway.

“The baseline (data) that is used to assess biomass of herring and the allotment to the commercial fishery only begins in 1951,” said McKechnie. “The data doesn’t go back far enough, and it conveniently limits the goal of recovery as well.”

Accurately assessing the impacts of climate change, overfishing and predators on herring is only possible with information on the abundance and distribution of herring before its depletion, the study says.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Herring is an important food source for Pacific salmon and sea mammals, and is the first or second most common fish found in 80 per cent of First Nations archeological sites in the study.

Although the archeological record cannot say with accuracy what happened in an individual year, “wherever we look within a site and across sites, they always seem to have an abundance of herring,” said McKechnie.

The researchers identified 34 B.C. locations that show evidence of thousands of years of herring processing by First Nations people, places that are now so bereft of herring that the DFO doesn’t even monitor them for spawning.

The researchers used the DFO’s own data to determine where herring have been spawning since the late 1920s and compared that to the archeological record, which spans 10,700 years up to the 1860s, just before to the beginning of the industrial fishery.

“Where we see lots of herring today, we see lots of herring in the past, but also we show that there are places that have a lot of herring archeologically, where little herring is recorded today,” said McKechnie. “We used to have a much broader spawning population.”

The archeological data suggest that herring returned to spawn in the same locations very consistently over millennia. DFO data collected beginning in 1928 — about 50 years after the start of the industrial herring fishery — reveal a different pattern.

A 2013 DFO review of herring spawning areas in B.C. notes that roughly 19 per cent of the coastline has been used for spawning in the past 75 years, most of it sporadically. Only one to two per cent is used repetitively over a number of years.

The existence of so-called “resident” herring stocks that consistently return to spawn in a specific location has long been a source of conflict over herring fishery management between First Nations and the DFO, which asserts that genetic and tagging studies do not provide evidence of such populations.

The west coast herring fishery was closed for four years between 1968 and 1971 after a complete collapse of the population. DFO documents note that even after numbers rebounded, “some previously-favoured spawning locations were no longer utilized on a regular basis.”

Oral histories from fishermen and First Nations people describe spawning areas and fishing grounds that were productive over generations, with native place names such as Ch’axa’y (Sizzling Water) and Teeshoshum (Waters White With Herring Spawn). Bone samples collected at Teeshoshum are composed of 90 per cent herring over 800 years, but no spawning has been recorded there since 1998.

“We are seeing the lights blinking out on these local populations compared with what we know from oral tradition and the archeological record,” said Lepofsky.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Commercial boats fish for herring in Baynes Sound south of Courtenay on Vancouver Island

 Judge overrules minister’s decision to open herring fishery B.C.’s First Nations declare victory over Department of Fisheries in fight to conserve fish February 21, 2014

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters B.C. First Nations won a major victory Friday when a Federal Court judge granted an injunction blocking the opening this year of a herring fishery on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

The decision came after an internal memo revealed Fisheries Minister Gail Shea overruled recommendations of scientists in her own department.

The DFO memo revealed that department experts had recommended maintaining the herring fisheries closure for the 2014 season, and that Shea had nonetheless recommended opening the fishery in three disputed areas.

The memorandum to the minister, written by the federal herring co-ordinator in Vancouver, and signed by David Bevan, the DFO’s associate deputy minister, was based on recommendations of scientists and B.C. herring managers, but ultimately rejected by Shea. In a hand-printed note alongside her signature, Shea wrote, “The minister agrees to an opening at a conservative 10-percent harvest rate for the 2014 fishing season.”

The decision to open the commercial herring fisheries was a surprise. Shea announced her approval of the reopening on Dec. 23. Legal action was brought by five Nuu-chah-nulth Nations on Feb. 9, and heard Feb. 21 by Judge Leonard S. Mandamin.

The commercial roe herring fisheries on the west coast of Vancouver Island have been closed over conservation concerns since 2006. The fishery was also closed between 1968 and 1971 after a complete collapse of the herring population.

The memorandum for the minister, included as an attachment to affidavits filed by the DFO in defence of reopening the herring fisheries “was a total surprise,” said Don Hall, Uu-a-thluk program manager for the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council Fisheries, and was a key factor in the judge’s decision not to grant the commercial opening.

“The entire government’s own experts were recommending not to fish, but (the Minister) overruled that, not once referencing these recommendations.”

Hall added, “It is important to make clear Nuu-chah-nulth do not oppose commercial fisheries, but do not want to see them unless there is sufficient herring to support them.”

Hall also said the judge was receptive to arguments that there is plenty of herring available for commercial fishing in Prince Rupert and the Strait of Georgia. However, Hall cautions that there could be broader implications to the minister’s decision.

“The federal government is saying they are going to listen to scientific advice, they’ve said that with the fisheries, they’ve said that with Enbridge Northern Gateway, but here we have a clear indication that the government is choosing to ignore such advice.”

The minister has not commented on Friday’s ruling and the judge’s written ruling has not yet been made available.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Proposed salmon fishery changes will harm independent fishermen January 29, 2014 VANCOUVER- The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is considering changes to the BC salmon fishery that will wipe out independent fishermen and reduce proper oversight, says the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union (UFAWU-Unifor). Fishermen rallied downtown today at a meeting of the Commercial Salmon Advisory Board to voice their opposition.

"Selling off Salmon to the highest bidder will be a disaster for independent fishermen and small coastal communities," said Kim Olsen, President of UFAWU-Unifor. "We're proud to be independent fishermen, and we're not going to let the government decimate our fleets."

Under the current Open Fishery model, a fisherman's catch is determined by skill. Fishery managers closely monitor the stock and make adjustments to the Total Allowable Catch throughout the year to prevent over-fishing.

But under Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs), a fisherman's catch is determined by wealth. Quota prices rise with higher demand, allowing only large corporate fleets to purchase licenses. A quota system may allow too many salmon to be caught before fish managers realize the year's stock was lower than they predicted.

"All British Columbians have a stake in a healthy fishery and good jobs. ITQs accomplish neither," said Olsen.

The DFO is in the process of meeting with commercial salmon fishers' representatives to discuss the ITQ proposal. A decision is expected in the coming months.

ITQs are already in place in the halibut and bottom trawl fisheries where the majority of the resource must be leased by fisherman. Lease holders reap the majority of the profits while crew members are left with the risk and expenses but poor pay.

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Gilnetters on the Fraser River off Surrey toss freshly caught sockeye salmon onto ice during the summer of 2010, when 30 million fish returned.

ď ś Massive sockeye salmon run forecast for Fraser River March 6, 2014 Another huge sockeye salmon run is forecast to return to the Fraser River this summer, potentially even bigger than the modern record of 30 million that unexpectedly came back in 2010.

The fish that are now on their homeward migration back to B.C. waters are the spawn of that massive run four years ago, which was the best in a century.

Pre-season estimates of this summer's run size from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans range from a low of 7.3 million to a high of 72.5 million, with the more probable mid-range forecast set at 23 million.

Until the salmon begin appearing off Vancouver Island, however, there's little way to know with certainty what proportion of fry that went out to sea survived and thrived in the marine environment.

Much depends on ocean conditions, such as water temperature and the amount of food and predators they encountered.

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters It's been theorized that iron-rich ash from the eruption of an Alaskan volcano in 2008 caused a plankton bloom that increased the food supply, contributing to the 2010 sockeye run.

No volcano fertilized the North Pacific waters since then, but salmon watchers are waiting to see if a rogue geoengineering project had any similar effect.

A Haida-led team controversially dumped 200 tonnes of iron dust in the ocean in 2011 with the aim of trapping atmospheric carbon and boosting salmon returns. A 10,000-square-kilometre plankton bloom was later detected by satellites.

Commercial harvesters, sport fishing operators and aboriginal fishermen, meanwhile, are all buzzing with anticipation over the potential run.

But processors caution a huge record run could overwhelm fish packing plants that were pressed to their limit in 2010.

"It was a large challenge and I'm not sure we could have handled very much more fish," recalled Rob Morley, vice-president of production and corporate development at Canadian Fishing Co. (Canfisco).

He noted the range of 2014 estimates is broad and salmon forecasting is notoriously inexact.

But Morley said other signs coming in point to a very good year for sockeye all along the coast, including runs to Barkley Sound and the Skeena River.

"We've seen very good returns of three-year-old fish this past summer," he said, referring to sockeye that come back a year early and are called immature jacks.

Strong coho returns also suggest good ocean survival for sockeye.

Morley said processors hope a strong run can be verified soon enough for fishery managers to approve early and steady openings, rather than a later, more compressed window.

"If we are, in fact, seeing a lot of fish and get started sooner, it will help everybody handle more fish."

Sto:lo Tribal Council fisheries advisor Ernie Crey warned against allowing intensive commercial fishing too soon this summer without solid justification.

"Everyone's getting excited," he said. "It's great the forecast is looking that good. But we can't forget that we've had three inquiries into failures of Fraser sockeye salmon runs. Things can go terribly wrong and people can be very disappointed."

If errors are made and managers decide mid-season they've allowed too much fishing, Crey said, the only place to compensate and ensure enough salmon spawn is to then curtail the aboriginal catch upriver.

"It's hard to be definitive about salmon. We only know enough to know that we don't know enough."

Some commercial sockeye fishing was allowed last year, when about four million salmon returned to the Fraser, after a shutdown in 2012.

DFO officials say Fraser sockeye appear to be gradually rebuilding since the disastrous 2009 run when just 1.6 million sockeye returned, triggering the Cohen Inquiry.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 First Nations push to restore Columbia River salmon runs February 24, 2014 When salmon runs were cut off to the upper reaches of the Columbia River, the loss to native communities was culturally devastating, says the head of a native group that wants the restoration of fish stocks to become part of a renegotiated Columbia River Treaty.

“The loss of salmon is equal in cultural impact to the residential schools … I think that gives you an order of the magnitude of cultural loss,” Bill Green, director of the Canadian Columbia River InterTribal Fisheries Commission, said Monday.

Mr. Green said his organization, together with the Okanagan Nation Alliance in B.C. and 15 tribes in the U.S., are now pushing to have the restoration of salmon runs become a key part of talks between Canada and the U.S. over the Columbia River Treaty.

The 50-year-old international agreement, which deals with how the river is managed for flood control and power generation, is up for either renegotiation or cancellation by either side this year. Mr. Green said when the dams were built on the Columbia, First Nations weren’t consulted – and he argues that is an oversight that should be corrected in a new treaty.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters Mr. Green said an extensive review of historical literature has shown that salmon were caught by tribes far upstream, in southeast B.C., before runs were cut off by the dams.

“We found historically, Chinook salmon went all the way to the headwaters at Columbia Lakes, so that’s 2,000 kilometres upstream from the ocean,” said Mr. Green. “We found sockeye used to be in very large numbers in the Arrow Lakes … an annual average return of around six million. … So it was truly a breathtaking resource. And all [of those salmon runs were] totally wiped out.”

Mr. Green said governments on both sides of the border have a legal obligation to restore those salmon stocks so native communities can resume harvests they traditionally relied on.

The Columbia, which once had runs of 17 million salmon each fall, now sees only about two million fish return. And none of those fish make it to the upper Columbia.

Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams, in the U.S., and the Keenleyside, Brilliant and Waneta dams in B.C., were built without fish passageways, completely cutting off salmon from upstream spawning grounds.

A joint paper recently released by U.S. and Canadian tribes states that salmon can be brought back through a variety of techniques, ranging from building fish passageways to catching migrating salmon and then barging them past dams, before releasing them to continue their journey. “[Salmon] reintroduction is critical to restoring indigenous peoples’ cultural, harvest, and spiritual values,” states the proposal.

“Reintroduction is also an important facet for ecosystem function.”

The paper states the number-one goal of the project should be to “restore naturally spawning and hatchery-based runs of sockeye and Chinook,” but coho and steelhead stocks should also be included.

The First Nations proposal states that potential donor stocks need to be identified from which extirpated runs can be restored, disease threats have to be identified and specific methods for getting salmon past dams have to be worked out.

“There are technical solutions, but you’ve got to do it a step at a time,” said Mr. Green.

Paul Lumley, executive director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, said U.S. tribes have made the restoration project “a high priority issue” and are holding a salmon conference in April to which government officials and others are invited.

“It’s going to take contributions from both sides of the border,” he said of the restoration project. “But I’m absolutely convinced this can be done.”

Mr. Lumley said if planning work gets under way this year, salmon could be returning in significant numbers to the upper Columbia River in 20 years.

“I’m 50 years old. I want to see this happen in my lifetime,” he said.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

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Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Attention Conservation-minded Business Owners Many businesses around planet earth rely on robust populations of wild game fish.

This is true for fishing guide/charter services, resort and hotel owners, fishing tackle and boat retail stores, clothing stores, eco/photo tours, grocery stores, gas stations and many more. In fact, wild game fish are the backbone of a multi-billion dollar per year industry on a global scale.

This is why we at Wild Game Fish Conservation International offer complimentary space in each issue of “LEGACY” for business owners who rely on wild game fish populations to sustain your business. An article with one or more photos about your business and how it relies on wild game fish may be submitted for publication to LEGACY PUBLISHER. Please include your business website and contact information to be published with your business article. Selected submissions will be published each month.

Robust wild game fish populations and the opportunities to fish for them provide family wage jobs and balanced eco-systems while ensuring cultural values. They also provide a unique, natural resources-based lifestyle for those fortunate to have these magnificent creatures in our lives.

Conservationists working together with the business community effectively protect and restore planet earth’s wild game fish for this and future generations to enjoy and appreciate. This is our LEGACY. WGFCI endorsed conservation organizations:

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

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Featured Artists:

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Dan Wallace: Passionate adherence to indigenous design

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Diane Michelin: "Estuary Essence" See more of Ms. Michelin’s uniquely-beautiful work at Fly Fishing Fine Art

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Ta'Kaiya “Special Waters” Blaney Singer, Songwriter, Actor, Environmental Activist Learn more about Ta’Kaiya HERE

Ta’Kaiya Blaney on her work Hi, my name is Ta’Kaiya, I feel that as humans, as participants and beings that walk upon this earth, it is our responsibility to help the earth. We all need to take steps towards a clean and healthy future regarding animals, humans, plants, and the various ecosystems. Our earth is our home. Over the past four years I’ve been an advocate for providing better qualities of living in Indigenous First Nations territories, and ending the oppression, racism, and corruption we face from our government and within our community.

I’ve spoke at UN meeting across the globe, including The TUNZA UN children and youth conference on the environment in Bandung Indonesia, and the Rio+20 UN conference on the environment In Rio de Janiero. I advocate to change not only the human condition, but also in the condition of our planet.

In my culture it’s a fact, and an understanding of life, that everything is connected, and we were put on this earth to be stewards and caretakers of the environment. In my culture, it’s a teaching to do more than connect the dots, to see the picture as a whole. I feel that advocating, and speaking at mere conferences isn’t enough. Actions speak louder than words.

I’m inspired by the work you are doing, and the message of protection and change that you are broadcasting to the many generations. I would like to do the same.

Emot (Thank you)

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Anissa Reed Designs and Art

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Jason Bordash: Fine Art America – “The Morning Rise”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Featured Fishing Photos, “Funnies” and Not so Funny:

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 George Davis: Cubera Snapper

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Denny Clemons: Lahontan Cutthroat - Lake Lenore

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Gašper Konkolič: Sava River, Slovenia

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Anissa

Reed: “Dozens of eagles are getting a fill from a herring ball at this very moment.”

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Vanessa Trainer’s Dorado (mahi mahi, dolphinfish) Los Barriles, Mexico

Photo credit: Ben Trainer – Professional guide at Great River Fishing Adventures

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Nikola Novović: Moraca River, Montenegro

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Mandi McDougal: Westcoast Fishing Adventures “Snow on the ground, Steelhead in the water & Rod in Hand, Ass in the water, add that all up ~ and you get Smiles all around! “

Photo credit: Gill McKean - Westcoast Fishing Adventures

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Lesly Janssen: Tolminka River, Slovenia Fishing guide at Soca Fly

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Honoring Sacred Waters

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Recommended Reading

 Steven Callan: Badges, Bears, and Eagles Badges, Bears, and Eagles Selected as Finalist for “Book of the Year” Award

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 “Wild Steelhead—The Lure and Lore of a Pacific Northwest Icon” by Sean M. Gallagher

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Alexandra Morton: “Listening to Whales”

Watch orcas up close HERE

In Listening to Whales, Alexandra Morton shares spellbinding stories about her career in whale and dolphin research and what she has learned from and about these magnificent mammals. In the late 1970s, while working at Marineland in California, Alexandra pioneered the recording of orca sounds by dropping a hydrophone into the tank of two killer whales.

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Farmageddon:

The True Cost of Cheap Meat" - with a chapter on the "environmental catastrophe" of factory fish farming!

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

 Terry Wiest: Float Fishing for Salmon and Steelhead

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Video Library – conservation of wild game fish Aquaculture Piscine Reovirus in British Columbia: (14.36) Salmon Confidential: (69:15) The Fish Farm Fight; (6:51) Salmon Wars: Salmon Farms, Wild Fish and the Future of Communities (6:07) The Facts on Fish Farms (60:00+) “Algae culture fish farm” (6:40) Vegetarian Fish? A New Solution for Aquaculture (7:32) Everyone Loves Wild Salmon – Don’t They? - Alexandra Morton (2:53) Atlantic salmon feedlots - impacts to Pacific salmon (13:53) Farmed Salmon Exposed (22:59) Salmon farm diseases and sockeye (13:53) Shame Below the Waves (12:37) Occupy Vancouver, BC - Dr. Alexandra Morton (6:18) Farming the Seas (Steve Cowen) (55:53) Farming the Seas (PBS) (26:45) Cohen Commission – Introduction (9:52) Deadly virus found in wild Pacific salmon (1:57) A tribute by Dr. Alexandra Morton (5:35) Green Interview with Dr. Alexandra Morton (6:06) Closed containment salmon farms (8:15) Don Staniford on 'Secrets of Salmon Farming' (7:50) Greed of Feed: what’s feeding our cheap farmed salmon (10:37) Land-based, Closed-containment Aquaculture (3:14) Hydropower Undamming Elwha (26:46) Salmon: Running the Gauntlet - Snake River dams (50:08) Mining Pebble Mine: “No Means No” (1:15) Locals Oppose Proposed Pebble Mine (7:23) Oil: Extraction and transportation Tar Sands Oil Extraction: The Dirty Truth (11:39) Tar Sands: Oil Industry Above the Law? (1:42) SPOIL – Protecting BC’s Great Bear Rainforest from oil tanker spills (44:00) H2oil - A documentary about the Canadian tar sand oil (3:20) From Tar Sands to Tankers – the Battle to Stop Enbridge (14:58) Risking it All - Oil on our Coast (13:16) To The Last Drop: Canada’s Dirty Oil (22:31) Seafood safety Is your favorite seafood toxic? (6:06)

Legacy – April 2014 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2014 – Honoring Sacred Waters

Final Thoughts:

 Inconvenient Truth