Legacy - April 2016

Legacy

…………………..

IIssssuuee 5544 | A Apprriill 22001166

Matching the Hatch Since 2011

Cover photo: Svend Erik Albertsen “Salmonid Passion” About Svend: Photographer at Sea Sight Studios and works at Gartner at Strandlund and Fisherman at Fly fishing

Photo credit: Mark Wengler

o Contents: o Passing of Dr. Peter Bergman o Game Fishing Planet Earth o Opinion o Special o Activism o Climate o Habitat o Harvest o Hatcheries o Salmon Feedlots oo Cleaner Electricity

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

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

LEGACY – Journal of Wild Game Fish Conservation: Complimentary, nononsense, monthly publication by conservationists for conservationists LEGACY, the WGFCI Facebook page and the WGFCI website are utilized to better equip fellow conservationists, elected officials, business owners and others regarding wild game fish, their unparalleled contributions to society and the varied and complex issues impacting them and those who rely on their sustainability.

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

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

Wild Game Fish Conservation International Founders

Bruce Treichler

Jim Wilcox

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

Contents Passing of a beloved fisherman _____________________________________________________________________ 6 Game Fishing Planet Earth – Then and Now _________________________________________________________ 8 What a cracker! (Scotland) _______________________________________________________________________________ 8 Redtail Catfish___________________________________________________________________________________________ 9

Special ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 10 Here’s The New Study The Fracking Industry Doesn’t Want You To See ____________________________________ Congresswoman Proposes Bill to Help Prepare Emergency Responders for Oil Train Derailments ____________ Company preparing feasibility study to ship oilsands crude by rail to Alaska _______________________________ Jeff Rubin: Oil Sands Are 'Hemorrhaging Red Ink,' Doomed to Shutter______________________________________ Mark your Calendar – October 1, 2016 ____________________________________________________________________

10 13 14 16 20

Opinion __________________________________________________________________________________________ 22 Op-Ed: We can have our cake and eat it too! ______________________________________________________________ A Treaty Canada Wants To Forget _______________________________________________________________________ Foreign-Owned Fish Farms Are Devastating B.C.'s Wild Salmon ___________________________________________ Aquaculture analyst: Industry needs more contact with D.C. lawmakers ____________________________________ B.C. can learn hard lessons from Norway's salmon farming disaster _______________________________________ Sport Fishermen: More marine farms at the expense of the environment ____________________________________ While they may need their investors and insurance... ______________________________________________________ Chilean salmon disaster highlights potential threat to Scottish fish farmers _________________________________ What is wrong with humanity that we see the oceans as a garbage bin _____________________________________ Sernapesca monitors dead salmon movement ____________________________________________________________ Chile salmon, coho mortalities linked to red tide hit 103,000t _______________________________________________ Chile's salmon farms losing up to $800 million from algal bloom ___________________________________________ Op-Ed: Greed-driven irresponsibility leads to salmon feedlot loss __________________________________________

22 23 32 35 37 39 41 42 43 43 45 47 49

Community Activism, Education and Outreach ______________________________________________________ 50 Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register____________________________________________________________ 50 Stop Site C – Don’t Dam Our Food _______________________________________________________________________ 51 Site C protest hits streets of downtown Fort St. John ______________________________________________________ 52 Site C protesters set up camp at BC Hydro headquarters _________________________________________________ 129 Leave Fossil Fuels in the Ground ________________________________________________________________________ 55 BACK BOUNCING AND HOVER FISHING FOR SPRING CHINOOK __________________________________________ 56

Climate___________________________________________________________________________________________ 57 The World Is Hemorrhaging Methane, and Now We Can See Where _________________________________________ 57

Habitat ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 60 The fall and triumph of the Connecticut River salmon _____________________________________________________ 60 Value of the Salish Sea revealed in new report ____________________________________________________________ 66 The Train Derailment That Gushed Oil Into A Quebec River Has Spawned Freaky Fish _______________________ 68

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels LNG project would impede fishing, impact fish____________________________________________________________ Feds reject Jordan Cove LNG terminal ___________________________________________________________________ Cocaine, Prozac, other drugs found in Puget Sound salmon from tainted wastewater ________________________ Washington turns up heat for Victoria sewage plant, eyes travel curbs _____________________________________

70 73 76 79

Harvest __________________________________________________________________________________________ 81 Dismal coho runs may shorten fishing seasons ___________________________________________________________ Fishery managers consider closing ocean salmon seasons due to projected poor coho returns ______________ Cap on aboriginal fisheries has to go, says Sto:lo rep _____________________________________________________ Commercial Bycatch – Government-enabled raping and pillaging __________________________________________

81 83 85 87

Hatcheries________________________________________________________________________________________ 88 WDFW sites last steelhead gene bank planned for the lower Columbia River ________________________________ 88

Salmon Feedlots – Weapons of Mass Destruction, Floating Cesspools _______________________________ 90 Farmed Salmon is FULL of Antibiotics and Mercury. Here’s How to Tell If Your Salmon is Safe! ______________ 90 Ocean-based salmon feedlot experiment – an epic failure__________________________________________________ 92 LUSEMEDISIN DUMPED IN NORWEGIAN FJORDS (translated) _____________________________________________ 93 Unwanted species in Etneelva (translated) _______________________________________________________________ 101 More troubles for Cooke Aqua: Product recall, "Do not buy" notice for farmed salmon, loan demands ______ 103 Video (15 min): The Case for Fish Farming ______________________________________________________________ 105

Renewable Energy: Geothermal, Waves, Tidal, Solar, Wind, Hydropower_____________________________ 106 Renewable energy _____________________________________________________________________________________ 2015 a record-breaking year for renewables—everywhere but Canada ___________________________________ Geothermal ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Uganda, Tanzania in Geothermal Projects to Plug Power Deficit ________________________________________ Marine Hydrokinetics __________________________________________________________________________________ Sweden deploys 120-ton subsea generator switchgear _________________________________________________ Laminaria set to test wave device in Scotland _________________________________________________________ US$21 million bioWAVE deployed in Australia _________________________________________________________ Atlantis, ORE Catapult announce tidal turbine tests in advance of MeyGen deployment __________________ Solar _________________________________________________________________________________________________ First solar powered airport in South Africa opens ______________________________________________________ France Wants To Build More Than 600 Miles of Solar Roads ____________________________________________ Wind__________________________________________________________________________________________________ Texas wind power set a new record late Thursday _____________________________________________________ Denmark reaching its goal to be fossil fuel free through renewable energy ______________________________ Hydropower ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Feds seek ways to avoid another Columbia Basin fish kill ______________________________________________ DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO DESTROY FARMLAND THAT COULD SUSTAINABLY FEED OVER 1 MILLION PEOPLE? THE SITE C DAM ________________________________________________________________ Pacific Lamprey Long In Decline, But ESA Listing Avoidable ___________________________________________

107 107 109 109 111 111 111 112 112 113 113 115 116 116 117 121 121 123 125

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

Forward The April 2016 issue of “Legacy” marks fifty four consecutive months of our complimentary eMagazine; the no-holds-barred, watchdog journal published and distributed by Wild Game Fish Conservation International.

Wild game fish are our passion. Publishing “Legacy” each month is our self imposed responsibility to help ensure the future of these precious gifts that have been entrusted to our generation for their conservation.

Please read then share “Legacy” with others who care deeply about the future of wild game fish and all that rely on them.

Sincerely,

Bruce Treichler James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International

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

Passing of a beloved fisherman

Dr. Peter K. Bergman 1933 - 2016 We are sad to announce the death of Dr. Peter Bergman, and are grateful to have known this gentleman, a man passionate about his work, his family, and his friends.

Pete was always an avid sport fisherman, and carried that enthusiasm right into his work. In high school shop class, he built a 16 foot wooden boat, towed it to Neah Bay at the NW tip of Washington's Olympia Peninsula and launched both the boat and his professional career with a summer of commercial salmon fishing. He was part of the "kelper" fleet - a band of small boats powered by outboard motors that fished with rod and reel near the shore, where the kelp grew. Pete never tired of fishing, and he continued kelping in the summers while pursuing a Bachelor's Degree at the University of Washington's College of Fisheries.

As a kelper, Pete had firsthand experience with the conflicts between user groups, and wanted to work towards resolving those fishery management issues.

In 1958, after serving in the US Navy, he went to work at the Washington Department of Fisheries (WDF) as the biologist in charge of management studies for the ocean troll fishery, the same one he had participated in as a kelper. At that time, little was known about which stocks were contributing to the troll fishery, and stocks could only be identified by fin clipping - a method wholly inadequate to the task of reliably distinguishing between hundreds of different groups of hatchery fish.

Frustrated over the inadequacy of methods for evaluating survivals, contributions, and migrations of salmon, Pete began to search for an alternative method of identifying juvenile salmon. He began collaborating with his great friend and physicist, Keith Jefferts, to develop a new tagging method.

The result was the invention of the Coded Wire Tagging (CWT) system, which revolutionized the coastwide management of Chinook and Coho salmon, and grew to be the biggest tagging program in history.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels More was learned about Pacific salmon in the first 12 months of using the CWT than in the previous 12 years combined, and hatcheries now had a tool to evaluate their programs. While Pete went on to many other significant contributions, the development of the CWT was certainly a career and personal highlight, and earned him a Ph. D. from the University of Washington in 1968.

Pete loved to travel, and even until his recent illness, he was visiting other countries. Some of his most enjoyable field work was in Iceland in the early 1970's as an FAO consultant, where, using CWT technology, he teamed with local scientists to implement experiments that quickly improved productivity of Atlantic salmon hatcheries. Some of those scientists became lifelong friends.

In 1975, Pete was appointed as WDF's Chief of Salmon Management and later Assistant Director. At this time, fisheries management was in complete turmoil due to the implementation of the "Boldt Decision" that guaranteed the treaty fishermen 50% of the harvestable number of fish in their usual fishing areas. Pete's motivation to work through this difficult period was a desire to improve fish management for both sides. As part of that, Pete led successful efforts to create critically needed computer models for hatchery analyses and harvest management.

Following retirement from WDF in 1982, Pete served as Executive Director of the Salmon and Steelhead Advisory Commission, under the NMFS. He spent much of his time working on the US-Canada Treaty negotiations and their implementation. Not surprisingly, the negotiations were difficult and neither side could reach agreement, especially on the issue of fish interceptions. Given the available data on fish migrations, Pete felt that the US was treating Canada unfairly, and his letter to President Clinton saying as much helped to move the matter forward to eventual resolution.

In 1984 Pete was hired by Northwest Marine Technology to develop new fish marking methods and work with fish managers. While thus employed, he was a member of the NMFS Snake River Salmon Recovery Team and the key member of a small group that worked with Senator Slade Gorton and Congressman Norm Dicks to initiate the now widely adopted hatchery reform program that is consistent with wild salmon recovery.

Pete had four patents and twelve publications all dealing with tagging systems and their use in fishery management. He received many awards for his work, including the AFS Western Division's Award of Excellence. At the time of his death, he was putting the finishing touches on a manuscript detailing the critical need and use of fishing gear capable of targeting harvestable salmon while protecting ESA listed and other weak stocks.

Pete's ethical standards were off the charts; as was his brilliance. When he was taking his Ph. D. exam, one of the requirements was for a second language. Pete chose Russian and, as he never actually took the course, he acquired only a rudimentary knowledge of the language at best. However, he easily passed by cracking the code on his multiple choice exam. Still, believing that this was an unethical way to learn Russian, he subsequently confessed what he had done. Pete was a very kind, respectful, and generous person, and, with no expectation of reprisal or eternal reward, tenaciously adhered to the golden rule.

When Pete died on January 20, there was a flood tide and fresh snow blanketing Mt. Rainier. He leaves Patricia, his loving wife of 50 years, daughters Kristin and Robin, and four grandchildren. A memorial service is planned for the spring.

(by Frank Haw and Geraldine Vander Haegen)

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

Game Fishing Planet Earth – Then and Now  What a cracker! (Scotland) The uncompromising raw power of a wild Atlantic salmon hooked on the fly. Now that's why we do it! (credit: Scottish Salmon Fishing Surgery)

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

ď‚Ź Redtail Catfish Trombetas River (Amazon / Brazil).

Photo credit: Nelson Lage - Owner Trombetas River Jungle Lodge

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

Special

In areas where shale-drilling/hydraulic fracturing is heavy, a dense web of roads, pipelines and well pads turn continuous forests and grasslands into fragmented islands

 Here’s The New Study The Fracking Industry Doesn’t Want You To See February 17, 2016

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Though fracking industry proponents scoff at any intimation their so-called vital industry poses even scant risks to the public, a new study published in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology just proved those critics right — fracking wastewater causes cancer.

Using human bronchial epithelial cells, which are commonly used to measure the carcinogenesis of toxicants, researchers confirmed fracking flowback water from the Marcellus Shale caused the formation of malignancies.

After conducting further tests on live mammalian subjects, researchers found five of six mice “injected with cells transformed from well water treatments developed tumors as early as 3 months after injection,” including a tumor in one mouse that grew to over 1 cm in size in just five months. A control group did not develop any tumors for the six months of the study period.

According to the study, performed by scientists from the Department of Environmental Medicine, as well as Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmaceutical at New York University, the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers, and esteemed partners from universities in China — results indicate fracking flowback water causes cancer.

Implications of the report’s findings would be difficult to overstate considering how fracking wastewater is generated, stored, and treated, and how often spills, leaks — and even the wastewater injection process, itself — can lead to contamination of the potable supply. A concise but thorough explanation of the fracking process can be found in the introduction to the report, “Malignant human cell transformation of Marcellus Shale gas drilling flow back water,” which states: “Natural gas is believed to possibly be a bridge to transitioning from coal dependence.

Currently natural gas fuels nearly 40% of the U.S. electricity generation, and the Marcellus Shale formation in the Appalachian Basin is on the forefront of gas-shale drilling for natural gas production in the United States. Mining natural gas is not new, but the volume has soared in recent years because the new technique of high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing (HVHHF). The concern surrounding the environmental, public health, and social impacts of this method has increased accordingly. HVHHF is an advanced technology that injects water, sand, and other ingredients at very high pressure vertically into a well about 6000 to 10,000 feet deep. The high pressure creates fractures in the rock that extend out as far as 1000 ft away from the well. The pressure is reduced after the fractures are created, which allows water from the well to return to the surface, also known as flow back water [or flowback]. The flow back water contains complex proprietary chemical mixtures, but also naturally occurring toxins such as metals, volatile organics, and radioactive compounds that are destabilized during gas extraction. On average, 5.5 million gallons of water is used … to hydraulically fracture each shale gas well, and 30% to 70% of the volume returns as flow back water.”

Options for dealing with this flowback are somewhat limited. The report continues: “Currently discharge options of flow back water are: inject underground through an onsite or offsite disposal well; discharge to a nearby surface water body; transport to a municipal wastewater treatment plant or publicly owned treatment works;” or other treatment, transport, and/or reuse options.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels But concerns about the contents and impacts of wastewater are the reason researchers studied its effects: “Metal pollution is a serious problem as they are taken up readily in the digestive tract and exhibit harmful effects on many tissues. Barium and strontium are abundant in the Marcellus Shale formation, and are easily dissolved and transported in wastewater after gas drilling activity, which could potentially pose a threat to drinking water.”

In fact, in 2014, environmental consulting firm Downstream Strategies diligently attempted to track fracking water from Marcellus Shale drilling — both water withdrawn from sources for use in the process, as well as wastewater — but found it to be a nearly impossible task.

“We just couldn’t do it,” said staff scientist Meghan Betcher, according to Yale’s e360.

Regulatory requirements that would otherwise divulge where these massive quantities of water end up are simply not in place. According to the Downstream Strategies study, “gas companies use up to 4.3 million gallons of clean water to frack a single well,” and “more than half of the wastewater is treated and discharged into surface waters such as rivers and streams.”

Additionally, in 2013, Duke University geochemists published a study that found “dangerous levels of radioactivity and salinity at a fracking disposal site near Blacklick Creek, which feeds into water sources for Pittsburgh and other western Pennsylvania cities.” Even more disturbingly, after studying soil samples for two years, between 2010 and 2012, “After wastewater was treated at the plant to remove dangerous chemicals, radiation was detected far above regulated levels.”

“Each day, oil and gas producers generate 2 billion gallons of wastewater,” Duke Professor Rob Jackson stated, as Business Insider reported. Though the disposal site near Blacklick Creek has since ostensibly agreed to stop storing or treating Marcellus Shale fracking waste, the industry is far from clean — or transparent.

“They produce more wastewater than hydrocarbons,” said Jackson of the natural gas industry. “That’s the broader implication of [the Duke] study. We have to do something with this wastewater.”

Considering the Marcellus Shale study and the now-proven cancer link, fracking wastewater just became enormously important to millions of people living near thousands of wells in the United States, as well as other countries.

As the Downstream Strategies researchers found, due to lack of regulatory reporting requirements for the fracking industry — aided greatly by its exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act by law in 2005— “the fate of 62 percent of fracking waste is unknown.”

Researchers for the carcinogenicity study of flowback claim progress with their findings, identifying barium and strontium as traceable fracking contaminates, which they say should now be designated for further study. As the study concludes: “Research to determine whether fracking-associated pollutants can migrate to private or public drinking wells, to identify early warning indicators of exposure and effect, and to identify suitable remediation approaches are urgently needed.”

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

 Congresswoman Proposes Bill to Help Prepare Emergency Responders for Oil Train Derailments Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., on Wednesday introduced a bill to better equip emergency responders to respond to oil train incidents.

The Fire Department Proper Response and Equipment Prioritization Act would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency to categorize training and equipment acquisition for oil and ethanol trains as a “high priority” within the agency’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, according to a press release.

The grants are supposed to give local fire departments resources to improve public safety and protect firefighters and emergency responders. The bill will make resources more available, according to the congresswoman. Right now, the grant program doesn’t make preparation for oil and ethanol train wrecks a priority.

“Public safety needs to be a top priority as train traffic increases in Southwest Washington — and that starts with properly equipping our firefighters and first responders,” Herrera Beutler said. “Let’s close the loophole in this funding program that considers rail incident response lower priority so that we’re equipped to handle hazardous materials like crude oil already being shipped through our region, and on any future rail traffic.”

Vancouver Fire Chief Joe Molina said being prepared for threats to the community is one of the most important parts of saving lives and property.

However, the current funding restriction in the grant program prevents fire departments from getting needed resources, he said, adding that Herrera Beutler’s act will open up the program.

“While we hope to never need the specialized HAZMAT planning, training and equipment, we can't ignore the threat that already exists today,” Molina said. “The federal government should be a partner in this endeavor and we hope the Congress will act quickly to reprioritize grant funding and ensure our first responders have the capabilities to plan and respond.”

Editorial Comment: Given the nature and history of oil spills and associated explosions, prioritization of FEMA is little more than a band aid approach to a major health and safety issue exacerbated by greed at the expense of planet earth.

Time is now to transition from fossil fuels.

Wayne Senter, executive director of Washington Fire Chiefs, said the organization supports the act.

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

Editorial Comment: The ongoing game of high-stakes poker involving transportation of Alberta’s asphalt-like, diluted bitumen (dilbit) to Asia via west coast ports is insane as it further risks human health and ecosystem integrity.

This madness must end!

 Company preparing feasibility study to ship oilsands crude by rail to Alaska March 17, 2016 A rail company is getting ready to launch a feasibility study this spring into its plan to send trains full of oilsands bitumen from Fort McMurray, Alta., to Alaska.

From Delta Junction, in the Alaska interior, the oil would move in an existing pipeline — currently running well below its capacity — to the port of Valdez, where it would be loaded onto tankers and shipped to Asia. The railway would run about 2,400 kilometres.

Under the proposal from G Seven Generations Ltd., First Nations would hold a 50 per cent equity ownership stake in the project.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels G Seven Generations CEO Matt Vickers, who has northwestern B.C. First Nations roots, said consulting with indigenous peoples along the railway’s proposed route early in the process is key.

So far, support has been strong and the Assembly of First Nations has endorsed the concept, he said.

"If you don’t have early engagement with the indigenous people — whoever’s land you’re on, wherever it is in the world — I don’t believe the project is going to work," he told the Arctic Oil and Gas Symposium on Thursday.

Last month, a preliminary study by the Van Horne Institute — backed by a $1.8−million grant from the Alberta government — found there’s merit to the idea. It estimated a project with a capacity of up to 1.5 million barrels a day could cost as much as $34 billion.

The next step will involve doing a detailed feasibility study that will narrow down the railway’s precise route. Vickers said he wants that work to get underway before leaves return to the trees this spring so that the company can do survey work from the air.

The trains would carry raw bitumen in heated railcars. In the event any of that spills from one of the company’s specially designed cars, cleanup would be relatively straightforward, said Vickers.

"It’s going to come out like molasses and you’re going to be able to clean it up with a shovel," he said.

Editorial Comment: Clean-up won’t be nearly this easy, especially when derailments result in explosions and fires and/or massive spills into wetlands and water bodies.

Which port and methods will be utilized to transport condensate to Alberta?

Assuming a two−year regulatory review process, trains could be shipping about a million barrels a day by 2020. That would be about the same capacity as the proposed Alberta−to−Atlantic Energy East Pipeline, which has been contending with stiff political opposition.

It would undergo a different regulatory process than the one for Energy East and other interprovincial pipelines — with Transport Canada reviewing the proposal, not the National Energy Board.

Like the Keystone XL pipeline that U.S. President Barack Obama nixed in November after seven years of political wrangling, the G Seven Generations proposal would need U.S. permission to cross the border.

Vickers said the Alaska governor and Valdez mayor are keen on the proposal, so he’s not expecting politics to be as much of a headwind.

Yukon Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Scott Kent said he also expects the permitting process to be less complicated than it was for Keystone XL. "There’s not as many landowners as you’d find as a project like Keystone XL," he said.

"But that said, all of these projects would require environmental screening and have to undergo that scrutiny so that we manage the environmental risk as best we can."

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

Former CIBC world markets economist Jeff Rubin at SFU's 'Carbon Talks' panel. On the right is Vancity's mutual fund manager Dermot Foley.

ď‚Ź Jeff Rubin: Oil Sands Are 'Hemorrhaging Red Ink,' Doomed to Shutter Former CIBC chief economist outlines latest predictions at 'Carbon Talks.

March 18, 2016 The oil sands are downsizing. Alberta's Big Oil CEOs are talking to environmentalists. And proposed oil pipelines are in serious trouble.

Those were the takeaways from a trio of experts who spoke in Vancouver Wednesday at a "Carbon Talks" event hosted by Simon Fraser University with the David Suzuki Foundation and the Centre for International Governance.

And the reasons for them have a lot less to do with vocal activist opposition or the Trudeau government's climate commitments than they do with the brute forces of the global marketplace for oil.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels It was Jeff Rubin -- former CIBC World Markets chief economist and now energy futurist -- who declared some of Canada's largest oil sands operations doomed to be shuttered.

"Hanging over the oil sands industry like the Sword of Damocles," Rubin said, "is the fact that they are hemorrhaging red ink. At today's prices, the oil sands are not commercially viable."

The problem, he said, isn't that the industry "has been targeted by sanctions or by environmental groups. The problem has been that oil imports in the United States have been halved over the last five years."

The world is awash in oil. The so-called "shale gas revolution," using fracking technology in the U.S., has brought cheap shale oil to the surface in abundance in North Dakota and Texas. That, plus the actions of Saudi Arabia and its OPEC partners to flood the market with low-cost oil, has crashed benchmark global oil prices from highs above $100 a barrel two years ago, to prices today in the high $30 range.

Worse, the discounted price that Alberta oil producers get -- the so-called "western Canadian select" price -- is now around $15 per barrel.

"At those prices, not only does the planned expansion of the oil sands, from 2.5 to four or five million barrels per day, have no economic context," Rubin asserted, it "could not be funded by any financial institution in Canada."

Instead, he said, "the question becomes: how long can this sector [survive] when it's losing $15 to $25 a barrel?"

Aerial of Suncor refinery operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels As a result, investors are dumping Canadian oil sands stocks, he said. "Invest in the oil sands?" he mocked. "They are going bankrupt."

"We've been hearing CEOs of the major banks emphasizing to shareholders their limited exposure to the [oil sands] sector," Rubin said.

The valuation of Canadian Natural Resources and Canadian Oil Sands has shrunk 60 to 80 per cent, he said. Imperial and Suncor are down 30 to 40 per cent. And once giant oil companies -- Encana and Cenovus -- have been downgraded to junk bond status.

The industry is also shedding jobs: more than 100,000 in Alberta alone in 2015, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP).

The companies promoting the Energy East (TransCanada Pipelines), Trans Mountain expansion (Kinder Morgan) and Northern Gateway (Enbridge) pipelines will feel the pain too, Rubin predicted, since "there's no economic context for any of the pipelines being proposed."

Rubin, the author of Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller and The End of Growth, correctly predicted the $100 price of oil, and then got it spectacularly wrong when he forecast $200.

Truce in a 'full-out civil war' Rubin's panel companion was anti-oil-sands-expansion campaigner Karen Mahon. She stood shoulder to shoulder in November with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and several oil sands CEOs when the province announced its Climate Leadership Plan. But getting there wasn't easy, she said.

"If you think back about a year and a half ago, before the Notley government was elected and in the Harper days," recalled the Canadian director of ForestEthics, an environmental advocacy group soon to be renamed 'Stand.' "We were having a full-out civil war. There were only two sides: [the] 'we must do something' side, and the Harper and industry denial side."

Alberta's new NDP government scolded both sides. "The government said, 'You environmental groups with all your opinions and you companies with your big PR budgets, you go into that corner over there and fight it out amongst yourselves. Stop taking up all the public air space.'"

Ultimately, Alberta's 100 megatonne per year cap on oil sands emissions, on which both sides agreed, was crucial to the "progressive" positions that Canada late took at December's Paris climate summit, Mahon said, including the push to restrain temperature increases to 1.5 degrees globally.

Even so, she says that the cap could still allow for another pipeline. "Which will it be? My great fear is it will be Kinder Morgan," Mahon said. Enbridge has conceded that its Northern Gateway project across central B.C. is unlikely to be built soon. Energy East would carry more oil than the cap allows.

Instead, she said, "We have many signs from Ottawa that they will approve the Kinder Morgan pipeline when it goes to cabinet in December."

A national poll by Forum Research released Thursday showed Canadians are evenly divided on the whether the nation should approve the three major Alberta bitumen pipeline proposals.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Mahon said she was wary after hearing Prime Minister Trudeau suggest two weeks ago that Canada needs oil development to fund a clean energy revolution.

"You're like, 'Whaah?' That would be like saying we need more coal, to phase out coal," she laughed.

"No we don't. That's a dangerous narrative."

She'd like to see Canadians embrace a national conversation about a "managed decline" of the sector, with a "just transition" for workers.

A third panelist, Vancity's manager of socially responsible investment funds, Dermot Foley, pointed out that Canada's climate pledges in Paris will put even more pressure on the oil industry -- and soon.

To stay "within that 1.5 to 2 degree limit," Foley said, "means that over the next five years we're going to see emission reduction targets, regulations, and carbon taxes becoming common throughout the global economy."

"We believe climate risk is manifesting as a business risk," he added. "It's time for government to come up with a transition plan for a low-carbon economy."

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

 Mark your Calendar – October 1, 2016

Hello Wild Salmon lovers!

Without our independent scientist, Alexandra Morton, chances are, we would not know about Norwegian strain viruses in our BC waters, or the drug resistant sea lice epidemic! To keep her research ongoing, would you/could you donate an item or adventure for our raffle tickets or live auction for her fundraiser?

The Sierra Club-Quadra Island chapter, and friends, are happy to present an evening with internationally acclaimed salmon biologist and renown environmentalist, Alexandra Morton, at the Quadra Community Center, October 1st, 2016 The evening will highlight some of her latest findings of an imported Norwegian strain of the globally feared Infectious Salmon Anemia virus, now in our BC waters. The study, done in collaboration with world renown scientists has been peer reviewed and published in Virology Journal just a few weeks ago-you may have heard about it on the news as it went nationwide. The evening will also feature a spotlight on our horrendous out-of-control salmon farm sea lice problem, the poisonous chemicals they use to combat them, and how those are affecting our fragile waters and eco system.

Alexandra has been relentless and heroic in her efforts to move the salmon farms out of our wild salmon migration routes and onto land. Land based farms are already having great success such as Namgis First Nations Kuterra facility near Port Hardy. Because she is an independent scientist, she relies on the kindness and goodwill of others to support herself and carry on her good work. To help her with that, we are planning on selling raffle tickets and are also hosting a live auction fundraiser on the evening of October 1st.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels We understand so many projects are in need of funding right now, however, if you feel as we do, that this one is too important not to deal with, then please be generous and donate to this event-either to the raffle tickets, the live auction or a cash donation If you are going to donate something for the raffle tickets, please let us know what that will be before the 30th of March, as we will need all donations and their values for the gaming commission. Please let us also know of any blackout or restriction dates. We will be advertising this event in our local papers and would like to list the donors and prizes, so if you have any photos to represent your business, please let us know which one you'd like us to use to help us advertise this event.

Thank you for your time and support. We hope you will be able to join us for this special evening.

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

Opinion  Op-Ed: We can have our cake and eat it too!

Jim Wilcox (Wild Game Fish Conservation International) March 18, 2016 It’s truly a complex, if not an insane, world we find ourselves living in. We know full well that planet earth’s wild game fish and their unique habitats are precious and sensitive to our changing ways. We also know that they are in trouble due in large part to greed-driven, human activities.

Like these magnificent fish, we are precious and sensitive to changes to our ecosystems. In fact, we rely on wild fish that share our ecosystems to warn us the same way miners for many decades relied on their canaries in mineshafts to warn them of unhealthy changes in air quality. Miners knew when to “stop digging and get out of harm’s way” thanks to the life saving canaries. Our generation has yet to learn to stop doing what we’re doing when our wild game fish warn us of life-threatening trouble Unfortunately for us and the wild game fish that so many rely on, government-enabled corporations continue to “dig deeper” while ignoring the increasingly-obvious warnings surrounding all of us.

Wild game fish and their ecosystems are unable to survive the ongoing raping and pillaging of our planet’s mighty oceans, rivers, lakes and wetlands. They cannot tolerate the childish, short-sighted destruction of her lands or the pollution of the very air we breathe.

This madness must end.

We can have our cake and eat it too – in moderation and in season.

The earth’s water bodies and land masses, with wise use, are more than capable of providing us with our requirements. Our current, and yet to be implemented, technological solutions will provide a better, sustainable quality of life for all of us – if these issues are seriously addressed now with effective solutions.

We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International, like so many of our neighbors on this rock we call home, are excited about ongoing conservation efforts and new technologies we present each month in Legacy. We believe there is hope for us, for future generations, and for the flora and fauna that have supported life here from the beginning.

The old ways, “quick and dirty, take no prisoners, spare no expense, speak when you’re spoken to”, are not (and never have been) sustainable. These must drastically change.

At the same time, today’s waste, neglect, self-indulgence, impossible debt, disrespect, quick-fixes, short term thinking and lack of thoughtful planning are unforgivably immature and unacceptable.

These also must go by the weigh side.

It’s up to each of us, if our desire is to have everything (CAKE) through mature implementation of effective conservation, restoration and protection efforts, in order to enjoy (EAT) the rewards of our efforts in moderation and in season for generations to come.

My unborn grandson (July 3) is counting on each of us...

Jim

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

 A Treaty Canada Wants To Forget February 29, 2016 Chief Roland Willson, of West Moberly First Nation, said his people celebrated the 100th anniversary of Treaty #8 in 2014. One of the provisions is that they will be allowed to use the land about to be submerged by the Site C Dam “as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the river flows.” This appears to be a Treaty Canada wants to forget.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels A Treaty Canada Wants To Forget There were several references to Canada’s failure to honour its’ treaty obligations in the Peace River Valley, during Question Period in the House of Commons last week. Despite their rhetoric about a new relationship with First Nations, both Catherine McKenna, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, and Jim Carr, Minister of Natural Resources, answered questions without mentioning “Treaty 8” or the “Site C Dam” by name. However McKenna did indicate the project is going forward: “The project is now at construction phase and B.C. Hydro must meet the requirements set out in the environmental assessment decision as well as other regulatory requirements…,” she said.

Premier Christy Clark, of British Columbia, recently promised to fulfill the late Premier Bill Bennet’s vision to build the Site C Dam. “Premier Bennett, you got it started and I will get it finished. I will get it past the point of no return,” she said at his memorial.

Her Government also appears reluctant to talk about Treaty 8. (There was not a single reference to it in the email from the Ministry of Energy and Mines that I quote throughout this article.)

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Before The United Nations The West Moberly and Prophet First Nations have contacted the United Nations about perceived BC and Canadian government treaty infringements and, in a press release state: “Canadian diplomats are in Geneva this week to be questioned by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on Canada’s compliance with this international human rights treaty. The Committee has specifically asked how Canada is ensuring free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples in regard to resource development projects.

“West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations called on the Canadian government to live up to their stated commitment and its obligations under Canadian and international law to respect Aboriginal and Treaty rights, especially the standard of “free, prior and informed consent” when it comes to major resource projects such as Site C dam.

“In its written response Canada has so far merely reiterated its stated commitment to a renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous Peoples,” Chief Willson said. “With BC Hydro’s bulldozers operating in the Peace River Valley this is no longer good enough….”

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels “We Have A Treaty” Chief Wilson said he is constantly reminding Canadian and British Columbian officials of the Treaty.

“We have to point out, quite often, that there is a significance difference between treaty rights and aboriginal rights. In order to get a treaty you have to prove aboriginal rights. We’ve already done that, that’s why we have a treaty,” he said .

“The treaty promises no forced interference with our way of life. The issue we are having is that neither B.C. or Canada, have no done a regional a regional strategic environmental assessment or a cumulative impact assessment in regards to site C and shale gas development that is happening in northeastern B.C,” said Chief Willson.

“Working With Aboriginal Groups” In defence of his government’s conduct, B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines spokesman David Haslam emailed: “We’re working with Aboriginal groups to address their concerns and identify opportunities for them to benefit from the project. We’ve been consulting and engaging with Aboriginal groups since 2007, focusing on those most affected by the Site C project.

“The Site C project received federal and provincial environmental approvals on Oct. 14, 2014, which included the release of a Federal/Provincial Consultation and Accommodation Report.

“The conclusion of the report stated: “The Agency and EAO (Environmental Assessment Office) are of the view that there has been meaningful consultation with the potentially affected Aboriginal groups, to understand the potential impacts of the proposed Project on Aboriginal Interests, and to develop substantive accommodation measures that are intended to reduce, mitigate or offset these impacts.”

“The report also concluded: “that consultation has been carried out in good faith and that the process was appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances.”

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels “Their Definition Of Consultation And Ours Are Completely Different” “Their definition of consultation and ours are completely different. We believe consultation is a dialogue, where they listen and we listen. They take into consideration, and make accommodations, for our rights,” said Chief Willson.

“What happened in this process is they let us blow off steam and then went and made their decision.

Actually, they had already made their decision and then they came to talk to us and told us what their decision was. We asked them to amend it and they said ‘No.’ Then they went on to go forward with their decision.”

“We offered them reasonable accommodation measures. We told them we would work with them with a geothermal plant; we would work with them on a gas fired power plant. Anything to save the valley, but they refused.”

Wilson said the province had already made its’ decision in 2007, when Premier Gordon Campbell was at the W.A.C. Bennet Dam. [1. First Nations Vow to Stop Site C, By 250 News Friday, October 05, 2007 03:58 AM: ” Last week Premier Gordon Campbell announced the province will be getting serious about the development of Site C .”]

“They invited us the afternoon that he showed up. They called us up and asked if we wanted to attend. They had planned it for a month and waited until the last minute to call us. We went out there and they said they are moving forward on Site C,” he said. .

“They had already made their decision they were building that. That is not consultation, that is information. They were informing us of their decision.”

BC Hydro & The Province “Are Committed”

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Ministry spokesperson David Haslam maintains that BC Hydro and the Province “are committed to working hard with Aboriginal groups to address their concerns and identify opportunities for them to benefit from the project”: “BC Hydro has provided over $14 million in capacity funding to Aboriginal groups to support general engagement, traditional land use studies and baseline reports.

“Many Aboriginal contractors and employees are involved in the construction of the project, including clearing work, and work on the temporary construction bridge.

“BC Hydro continues to have many positive discussions with the majority of the First Nations it is engaged with.

“Offers of accommodation have been made to all of the First Nations significantly affected by the project.

“While specific agreements are under negotiation, they could include elements such as lump sum payments, annual payment streams over a period of up to 70 years and adjusted for inflation, the transfer of provincial Crown lands to First Nations, the implementation of land protection measures or special land management designations to preserve values and areas of importance to First Nations, and significant work and contract opportunities.”

“Not Even Worth Talking About

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels In response, Chief Willson said “The lump sums of money are not even worth talking about” and the problem with the offered lands is: “There is no other land in Northeastern BC that represents what this valley represents. It is the last chunk of this type of ecosystem that we have. There is no other river like the Peace River and there is no other valley like this. It is irreplaceable land. It is the only class one and two agricultural farmland in northeastern BC.” Despite shortages in California and the looming onset of Climate Change, the B.C. government does not appear to recognize the importance of preserving agricultural land.

“With the cost of cauliflower at $8 a head now, you would think they would take that into consideration.”

Only Two Nations Still Oppose The Province

Haslam pointed out that the West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations are the only Aboriginal groups still opposing the Site C project in court: “The Mikisew Cree First Nation, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Doig River First Nation and McLeod Lake Indian Band have withdrawn from or discontinued their legal challenges.”

“None of them have signed agreements with Site C or BC Hydro. You would think that if they are in favour, they would all be signing agreements. Not one of the Nations has signed an agreement,” Wilson responded.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels “The problem is that it costs money to go to court and, because of the economic downturn, I believe these Nations have decided they cannot afford to fight.”

“My community and the Prophet River community, we can’t afford to fight either, but we can’t just roll over.

Power Not Needed “There is no need to expend this amount of resources to build Site C. You know the Joint Review Panel said it is not necessary, they haven’t proven the need for the power. They ignored that. The British Columbia Utilities Commission previously turned down Site C twice, saying that the power is not needed,”[2. BC Hydro submitted a development plan to the British Columbia Utilities Commission in 1982 and was turned down. After their second attempt to start a project, in the 1990s, BC Hydro CEO Marc Elieson issued a public statement saying “that Site C would not be developed in the future by BC Hydro.”] he said.

Premier Clark’s government refuses to submit their plans to the B.C. Utilities Commission for review.

“This is a $12 billion project, probably largest project in Canadian history and definitely the largest project in B.C. history. They’re flooding 8,500 hectares of land, 80 kilometres of the last functional piece in the Peace River , inundating the Mobrey River and the Halfway River. – You’d think someone would have done an infringement assessment,” “They could double the amount of energy they want to create with two gas powered plants at about three billion dollars.”

The Federal Government’s Failure Wilson also pointed to the Federal Government’s failure to do carry out its’ duty.

“There’s court cases that state they have to do a … it’s called a Sparrow justification. [3. The name comes from a Supreme Court case in which Ronald Sparrow defended his aboriginal right to fish.]

When they propose a project of this magnitude, they have to be able to justify the impact and the Federal government has not done that. They’ve admitted that they did not do it,” he said.

There are also questions about the legality of the permits issued so that construction on Site C could begin. This was done AFTER the election writ was called.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May alluded to this in Question Period last week: “In the dying days of the Federal election campaign 14 permits were issued from Fisheries and Transport Canada to allow the Construction of Site C Dam in Northern BC on the Peace River.

“This is highly a controversial project. It’s manifestly opposed. Its’ sole purpose is to provide electricity for LNG development, and the federal Joint Review Panel found the project directly affects Treaty 8 treaty rights of area First Nations. The Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs should commit to not allowing further permits to be issued while treaty rights for indigenous people remain outstanding.”

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Though Environment Minister Catherine McKenna did not acknowledge the irregularity of these permits in her reply, she pointed out that the Harper administration had already approved the project: “In the fall of 2014, the former government approved the project and set legally binding conditions with which the proponent must comply. The project is now at construction phase and B.C. Hydro must meet the requirements set out in the environmental assessment decision as well as other regulatory requirements…”

“The Conservative Government made their decision after the writ fell in Ottawa, for the Federal election. They’re not supposed to make big decisions like that,” said Wilson.”

“The Liberal Government, once they came into office stated they are going to review and change parts of the Environmental Assessment Act. They know it was flawed. They know the process was flawed. They know that the Conservative Government signed off on a bunch of stuff after the writ fell.

The whole process is a sham.”

“They are running roughshod over the First Nations, which they are not allowed to do and that is why we are in court with them.”

Watch “Peace for a Valley” HERE

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

ď‚Ź Foreign-Owned Fish Farms Are Devastating B.C.'s Wild Salmon The salmon farming industry has long been banned in Alaska, where it's believed to be a threat to the state's healthy wild salmon populations.

But that's not the case in Canada, where Norwegian-owned aquaculture multinationals have done a terrific job of winning over the federal government.

These controversial corporate citizens are largely to blame for the gradual dying out of Canada's most famed fish. So says the Canadian scientist, TV personality, and leading environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki.

Editorial Comment: Ocean-based salmon feedlots sited in Pacific salmon migration routes within the Salish Sea (Washington state and British Columbia) adversely impact defenseless, USA and Canada-origin salmon during their outmigration as babies and again when they return as adults to spawn in their natal rivers.

These weapons of mass destruction must be removed. They will never be able to co-exist with robust wild Pacific salmon populations.

During the Harper administration, Suzuki bluntly referred to the federal government as "corporate cheerleaders" for the aquaculture industry in a conversation with this article's author. And nothing has really changed since the swearing-in of Canada's new Liberal government.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels It's hard to argue that Dr. Suzuki is wrong, especially since Canada's federal government and its B.C. provincial counterpart actively promote salmon farming. They even go so far as to use Canadian taxpayers' dollars to subsidize the business operations of Norwegian-owned fish farms in B.C. This unholy alliance may help explain why it's still legal for salmon farms to unintentionally become ambush sites for juvenile salmon migrating out to the open ocean.

By way of explanation many open-net pens are located directly within the narrow aquatic pathways used by these wild salmon. This exposes passing wild salmon to devastating lethal threats -- ones they've historically never encountered before.

First, these unnecessarily close encounters can infect wild salmon with exotic diseases that overwhelm their immune systems, leading to a slow death.

By the federal government's own estimates, a diseased salmon farm containing one million fish can shed as many as 650 billion viral particles an hour. And these deadly pathogens become biological booby traps for wild salmon.

Second, these defenseless fish can also be exposed to hoards of blood-sucking, flesh-eating sea lice (see the image above) as they pass by fish farms. Such hazards have been linked by scientists to the unnatural deaths of millions of wild salmon each year.

Even B.C.'s aquaculture industry has grudgingly conceded that sea lice from salmon farms can be harmful to wild populations.

But this multibillion-dollar industry continues to downplay this problem, as well as the ugly implications of contagious disease outbreaks at its 130 or so floating farms.

In fact, there's absolutely nothing to worry about, according to Canada's federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. It, too, refuses to acknowledge that infestations of sea lice originating from open-net pens play any significant role in the demise of wild salmon.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels In spite of this, some of Canada's most iconic salmon runs have been decimated in recent years while Canadian politicians look the other way. In fact, as few as 15 per cent of the predicted numbers of salmon returned to their spawning grounds in 2009. And some subsequent years have been nearly as dismal.

As recently as 2015, there was even a ban on commercial and recreational fishing on Vancouver's Fraser River due to alarming low salmon numbers.

Such realities attest to the fact that this river's once-prolific sockeye numbers have for the past two decades experienced a sustained decline.

Canada's federal government and the B.C. provincial government have largely ignored the inquiry's 75 recommendations for change.

Notably, the beginning of this precipitous downward trend coincided with an ominous development: It was the introduction in the early 90s of large-scale salmon farming to the migratory coastal routes used by wild Fraser River salmon. So says internationally-acclaimed salmon biologist Alexandra Morton.

The gradual disappearance of so many sockeye from the Fraser River eventually led to a three-year federal government judicial inquiry. Known as the Cohen Commission, this $25 million (ed. now estimated $37 million) investigation involved several months of hearings in 2011, involving testimony from 179 salmon experts and stakeholders. It subsequently involved the assessment of three million pages of evidence.

A final 1,000-page report was published in late 2012 by Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen, the head of the inquiry. It conceded that salmon farms may indeed be playing a role in the wild species' crisis. And it asked for a freeze on any new salmon farming operations along the migratory routes of wild salmon until 2020.

Commissioner Cohen's chilling reasoning for his request for a moratorium on increasing the salmon farming industry's footprint in an ecologically sensitive waterway was explained as follows: "I therefore conclude that the potential harm posed by salmon farms to Fraser River sockeye salmon is serious or irreversible."

Cohen also joined Dr. Suzuki in questioning the loyalties of the federal government.

Cohen concluded, "As long as [the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada] has a mandate to promote salmon farming, there is a risk that it will act in a manner that favours the interests of the salmon farming industry over the health of wild fish stocks."

As of early 2016, Canada's federal government and the B.C. provincial government have largely ignored the inquiry's 75 recommendations for change.

Will our new government choose to act on Cohen's findings? Will Justin Trudeau's commitment to greater environmental stewardship lead to more protection for our wild salmon? Only time will tell.

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

 Aquaculture analyst: Industry needs more contact with D.C. lawmakers February 25, 2016 LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The US aquaculture industry must increase its presence in Washington D.C. in order to create a regulatory environment that will promote the growth of fish farming in the US, according to George Lockwood at the World Aquaculture Society's Aquaculture 2016 conference.

The increasingly complex regulatory system when it comes to fish farming in the US has worked to push out many potential fish farmers, he said.

During his talk, Lockwood described three major difficulties highlighting regulatory burdens, but also mentioning a negative public image of aquaculture in the US and the economic downturn that has created capital unavailability, saying that "there must be substantial relief from each before aquaculture can emerge".

Lockwood cited an article titled Coastal Agriculture Law and Policy written by Gerald Bowden in 1981 which highlighted the convoluted nature of the American aquaculture regulatory system stating that "even a peripheral exposure to the industry brings one into contact with a constant stream of persons who decide not to enter to fray when the bureaucratic obstacles are made known to them".

There are about 1,300 laws that apply to US aquaculture as of 2013, and “the multifaceted regulatory environment for aquaculture is a major barrier to entry for entrepreneurs,” Lockwood said.

Lockwood discussed the lack of direct contact between the industry and lawmakers in Washington D.C., something other protein industries, like beef, have had for many years.

Editorial Comment: The ocean-based salmon feedlot industry remains risky to ecosystem integrity and human health.

Impossible to clean-up with legislation and additional money.

A filthy industry at best

Lockwood offered several recommendations both at the federal and the state level, flagging up the importance of a presence in Washington D.C. "How can you expect aquaculture to succeed in the US if you don't have friends in congress?" he said.

For the US, he said the industry should form a privately funded advocacy group located in Washington D.C., which would give the industry contact with lawmakers and regulators. The group could also manage public relations between the industry and consumers and form a Congressional Aquaculture Caucus.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels For individual states, Lockwood said the aquaculture industry should work to be placed under the Department of Food and Agriculture, conduct a comprehensive review of all constraints to entry for new farmers and organize a governor's conference on aquaculture.

Editorial Comment: On-going litigation in Washington state to remove ocean-based salmon feedlots from the Salish Sea to help restore wild salmon and all that rely on them.

He also said states should create a sufficiently-staffed Aquaculture Development Office positioned under the Secretary of Agriculture with a clear mandate to develop aquaculture in that state, A negative public image of aquaculture among the American public is another major hurdle for the industry. Although Lockwood said that "negative press has decreased" in the past decade, a "hangover" from that time remains strong and creates resistance to facilitating the process to enter into aquaculture.

"Aquaculture has been defined in the eyes of the public by our adversaries," he said, rather than promoted from within.

Lockwood also highlighted the current economic situation which has made it difficult for aquaculture entrepreneurs to attain capital investment.

"Most forms of innovative and small business are no longer being funded in the US, and that includes aquaculture," he said.

Part of this comes from the many uncertainties in the US, including healthcare costs, regulation, politics and commodity prices.

The annual GDP growth has also slowed to 2%. "People are excited to invest in good ideas when the economy is growing at at least 4%," Lockwood said. "There is virtually no good money available to finance innovation, including aquaculture."

Lockwood concluded by saying he thinks if these improvements are made there could be a "renaissance in aquaculture".

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

ď‚Ź B.C. can learn hard lessons from Norway's salmon farming disaster Dan Lewis March 2, 2016 Norway's salmon farming industry is hitting a wall. Because salmon farming began earlier there than in B.C., I wanted to get a glimpse of where we might be headed if our industry continues on its current path.

This is the reason I organized the Wild Salmon Delegation to Norway, which spent two weeks in the Scandinavian country earlier this month. What we found is an industry beset by problems such as disease outbreaks, sea lice infestations and farmed salmon escapes. The situation in Norway is dire - one headline we saw read "Five years left to save wild salmon."

Norway's fisheries minister Per Sandberg spoke at the Wild Salmon in the North conference in Alta, acknowledging "the mid-Norway situation has been very serious since end of December." The crisis is so bad that the Norwegian industry is making headlines by beginning to shift to closed containment. Will a shift to closed containment in Norway lead to a similar shift here?

The place where I live -- Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve -- is renowned for old growth forests and the battles to protect them. But not many people know there are 20 salmon farm tenures in the Sound, with 15 of them held by Cermaq, a Norwegian-based company. The global salmon-farming industry originated in Norway in the 70s. By the 80s Norwegian salmon farming companies began to move into British Columbia. Today, B.C.'s salmon farming industry is over 90 per cent Norwegian owned.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels While overseas, we learned about the similarities and differences between British Columbia and Norway, heard the emerging Norwegian consensus that open-net pen salmon farming is a dinosaur technology and witnessed the tide change unfolding daily in major Norwegian media.

Norwegians were surprised to learn about the nitrogen pump in B.C. -- wild salmon transport oceanbased nitrogen up rivers and fertilize the growth of ancient temperate rain forests. This connection between wild salmon, monumental cedars and the bears, wolves and eagles was novel to them.

They also wanted to learn about the importance of cedar and salmon to Indigenous cultures throughout B.C. Delegate John Rampanen, a citizen of Ahousaht First Nations, met with Sami Indigenous people of northern Norway, who have depended on reindeer and wild salmon for millenia, learning that they are also negatively impacted by industries such as salmon farming and mining.

Some things are different in Norway, where for example the biomass of farmed salmon is 1,000 times bigger than the biomass of wild salmon and the wild salmon economy is a thing of the past. In British Columbia, the wild salmon economy is eight times bigger than salmon farming -- supporting Indigenous, commercial, recreational and sports fisheries, as well as a $1.4 billion ecotourism industry. Salmon farming puts this pre-existing economy at risk.

A clear consensus emerged over the two weeks in Oslo, Bergen and Alta, through meetings with wild salmon advocates, academics, and journalists. When asked "how can Canada avoid the problems Norway is experiencing with open-net pen salmon farming?"; without hesitation, every single person replied: "Shifting to closed-containment production is the only way forward."

Dagbladet, the country's second biggest paper, ran a story pointing out that catches are plummeting in the Alta, "the world's best salmon river" as the amount of farmed salmon in the nearby Altafjord increases. The production manager of Grieg Seafood's operations in Alta was quoted saying: "The only solution is to get the fish into closed containment."

The following day the front page of the Bergen paper read: "CEO of Marine Harvest prepared to invest US $100M: if everything works as planned, closed-containment systems will replace open-net pen salmon farms." It has taken decades for this industry to acknowledge that their problems will only be solved by isolating farmed salmon from wild salmon.

The question for Canada is, do we wait another couple of decades before acknowledging that salmon aquaculture has undesirable side effects?

While B.C. salmon runs are greatly diminished from historic levels, what is left is world class and worth fighting for. Wild salmon face a multitude of challenges, but aquaculture is one that is entirely within our ability to regulate.

Moving salmon farms out of the ocean into closed containment will allow wild salmon populations to rebound and continue to support cultures, economies and ecologies throughout the province as they have for millennia.

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

Food and agriculture package growth plan for aquaculture to the detriment of both nature and the environment, writes Verner W. Hansen, president of Danish Anglers Association.

 Sport Fishermen: More marine farms at the expense of the environment DEBATE: Food and agriculture package growth plan for aquaculture ignores all respect for the natural environment and to the directives which Denmark is bound. It writes Verner W. Hansen, president of Danish Anglers Association.

March 10, 2016 (translated) The last weeks debate on food and agriculture package has primarily focused on the negative consequences for nature and the aquatic environment as a result of the coming year merudledning of nitrogen from agriculture.

But the package also contains another element that would have extremely damaging natural and environmental consequences - namely a new growth plan for aquaculture, based on the assumption of a violent merudledning (“more shit”) of nutrients and other pollutants directly into the water.

It is in an opinion piece in parliament on March 3 Liberal Alliance environment spokesman Carsten Bach, to cheer about the growth opportunities it supposedly gives the aquaculture sector, while at the same time the best Eva Kjer Hansen-style trying to paint a green beautification of the environmental consequences. But it is increasingly clear that the green discretion paintings of food and agricultural parcel of nature and environmental impacts does not hold.

Merudledningens consequences It also applies to the announced growth plan for aquaculture, based on a merudledning of nitrogen at 1,223 tonnes directly to the aquatic environment, of which 380 tonnes from freshwater fish farms and 843 tonnes from aquaculture. In addition, large amounts of phosphorus, medicine and auxiliaries as well as large quantities of sludge around mariculture.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels The environmental impact of these merudledninger there are no assessments. For example, a merudledning of 800 tonnes of nitrogen from the new mariculture simultaneously cause a merudledning of about 100 tonnes of phosphorus.

It is in this context noteworthy that the additional straining from the growth plan for aquaculture will carry 423 tonnes of nitrogen in the former minister's creative nitrogen accounting , while additional straining with 800 tonnes of nitrogen from new aquaculture are not included. It was alleged that the new marine farms should be located outside the areas covered by a River Basin Management Plans.

But it just means that they must be placed in the sea areas covered by the Marine Strategy and environmental goals set by the Regional Seas Conventions.

And here is therefore not goal attainment and thus not a so-called environmentally scope for more pollution. We must not further back than in November last year when the Environmental Protection Agency had to ask four applications for environmental approvals of new mariculture in the Belt Sea and the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm in abeyance because Nature Agency estimated that there were environmental leeway in these areas to merudledning of nitrogen and phosphorus relative to the water plan and with the Marine Strategy.

Doubling of production Total Danish aquaculture production has over the last 25 years remained steady at 40 to 45,000 tons per year. Of which constitutes production in freshwater fish farms around 28,000 tons and production in mariculture about 13,000 metric tons.

According to Danish Aquaculture , the agreement on food and agriculture package basis for production in fish farms can be increased by 15,000 tons, and production in aquaculture can be increased by 35,000 tons. Overall, there will therefore be a doubling of the current production - of which almost a quadrupling of aquaculture production.

By comparison, adopted the previous government in 2014 Strategy for sustainable development of the aquaculture sector in Denmark from 2014 to 2020 . The strategy has been prepared as part of the EU Regulation on the common fisheries policy and forms the basis for marine and fisheries development program for the period 2014-2020. This strategy is laid for a production expansion of the aquaculture sector at 25 per cent. from about44,000 tons in 2012 to 55,000 tons in 2020.

Looks great on Denmark's obligations It is in this context, provided that production expansion to be done within the current environmental flexibility and environmental objectives of the Water Framework Directive, the Habitats Directive, the Marine Strategy Directive, etc. must be observed.

In contrast, the growth plan for aquaculture, as the parties behind the food and agricultural package now sets the stage for completely override any consideration for nature and the environment and to the directives which Denmark is bound.

There are many good reasons to support growth in the aquaculture industry. But it must happen on a sustainable basis, and its continued establishment of new fish farms in the inner Danish waters do not. Conciliation parties' commitment to an outdated form of production at the expense of the environment is not only shortsighted. It is also unambitious in relation to creating better conditions for companies that focus on sustainable solutions to develop technology for land-based recirculating facilities.

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

ď‚Ź While they may need their investors and insurance...

Alexandra Morton Re: Natural catastrophes a threat for salmon farmers 'anywhere', warns Marine Harvest exec Ongoing algal bloom in Chile raises concerns in aquaculture across the world.

While they may need their investors and insurance companies to believe this is "natural" they don't take responsibility for loading the water they use with nitrogen and phosphorous, which feeds these blooms. This industry is master at crying the blues, oh poor us, but seem incapable of seeing what they are doing to themselves. I recall an east coast lobster fisherman lamenting the industry going to sh-- themselves an island - where here they appear to sh-- themselves a disaster. Grow up guys, take responsibility and realize the free sh-- is over. It is over six ways to Sunday!! With Chile collapsing, watch out beautiful BC, they are coming for you.

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

 Chilean salmon disaster highlights potential threat to Scottish fish farmers March 5, 2016 A salmon farming catastrophe in Chile has highlighted the potential for disaster to strike the industry anywhere in the world, producers in Scotland warned yesterday.

Global giant Marine Harvest – the world’s largest fish farmer – has lost 2.7million of its Chilean salmon stock across three locations as a result of an algal bloom, where a rapid build-up of algae makes the water toxic.

The remaining 200,000 fish are “most likely also lost”, the Norway-based company announced yesterday.

Marine Harvest said it was fully insured for the fish deaths but the incident has highlighted the kind of environmental threat which could hit farmers anywhere at any time.

Steve Bracken, business support manager at Marine Harvest Scotland, said: “Algal blooms are a phenomenon that occur in many parts of the world and potentially could affect aquaculture anywhere.”

Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation chief executive Scott Landsburgh added: “Jelly fish and algal blooms can be influenced by environmental conditions and under certain circumstances, may cause challenges for salmon farmers.

“Satellite imagery is used to monitor for algal blooms on a national scale and this helps farmers respond to any potential problems.

“In addition, farmers continue to make significant investment in research and embrace new technology as it is developed.”

The more pressing problem for the industry in Scotland is the prevalence of sea-lice infestations, which remain the biggest threat to the welfare of farmed Atlantic salmon and the future of fish farming globally.

Treatments to protect salmon from the parasite, which can kill, vary but are costing the industry hundreds of millions of pounds a year worldwide.

Marine Harvest’s problems in Chile come as the £2.3billion-a-year turnover group, employing 11,700 people globally, restructures its operations in Scotland.

Communities across the north were left reeling earlier this week after it axed 80 jobs in the region.

The cuts will be made at Marine Harvest’s salmon farms, hatcheries and processing plants in the Highlands and islands, and Argyll.

A total of 44 posts are to go at Marine Harvest’s operations across sites in Lochaber, along with 12 in Mallaig, 11 in Skye and Lochalsh, four in Wester Ross and three in Lewis.

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

 What is wrong with humanity that we see the oceans as a garbage bin Alexandra Morton March 8, 2016 Re: Intrafish “Chile could dump dead salmon out to sea”

“Oh my, what is wrong with humanity that we see the oceans as a garbage bin, when in fact they are essential to keeping us alive.”

Sernapesca staff performing inspections.

 Sernapesca monitors dead salmon movement March 8, 2016

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels The director of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service, JosÊ Miguel Burgos, conducted on ground inspections of fishing vessels, fishmeal plants and farming centres in order to monitor and supervise actions being carried out by companies affected by massive algal blooms. This phenomenon has affected Los Lagos Region for two weeks and has caused salmon death significant increase since last Monday.

Until Friday March 4 the number of affected companies totalled 12, with 29 farming centres having mortalities that exceeded 13 million fish, which has meant the movement of 26,000 tonnes of dead salmon.

The fish die from suffocation produced by microalgae, which maintains high levels of concentration due to mass bloom caused by rising water temperatures, lack of wind and rain associated with climate phenomenon El NiĂąo.

Editorial Comment: Ocean-based salmon feedlot industry never takes responsibility for their adverse impacts on wild ecosystems.

In this case, their nutrient imbalance promotes algae explosion.

We can only imagine the impacts these tons of rotting salmon will have on marine wildlife

Burgos highlighted the efforts being made by several of the companies involved to remove the dead fish from the cages at appropriate times in order to prevent a health emergency. For this purpose, the entire fleet of the region of Los Lagos and further eight boats of Biobio region are operating so as to increase the capture and processing capacity of mortalities.

In the case of those mortalities whose advanced level of decomposition makes it impossible for them to be processed into fishmeal, the elimination in the ocean outside 60 miles is being evaluated with the Chilean Navy. This move is intended to avoid any risk to human health, as indicated in the London Protocol governing the disposal of waste at sea at international level.

"Our intention is that this does not happen, we will do everything possible and therefore the control is important, so that only what effectively offers no other alternative is destined for disposal in the ocean, it must be remembered that Chile is member of the London Protocol allowing this possibility under strict conditions, but it must be absolutely justified," pointed out the national director of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

Sernapesca last week published a resolution of force majeure in order to provide all the facilities to streamline procedures associated with the movement of living fish from the affected centres to other centres with better conditions as well as to authorize requests for early harvests.

Editorial Comment: Whatever happened to ethics?

Harvesting and selling feedlot salmon that have lived in cesspools filled with dead and decomposing salmon.

In addition, mortalities are being derived to fishmeal plants in the Region of Los Lagos, and on Friday two plants in the Biobio were added to increase the processing capacity.

Dead salmon have also been taken to places authorized by the Health Service, with which approximately 14,000 tonnes have been caught out of the 26,000 tonnes of mortality recorded to date.

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

More regarding Chilean feedlot salmon die-off

ď‚Ź Chile salmon, coho mortalities linked to red tide hit 103,000t March 9, 2016

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Chilean Atlantic salmon and coho mortalities caused by the ongoing algal bloom have hit 103,000 metric tons based on a projected harvest weight, according to the latest update from the industry body SalmonChile.

Chilean salmon producers have reported a loss of Atlantic salmon of 23.9 million fish, equivalent to 96,200t, if they had been harvested at the suitable weight for sale.

That is 7% up from the previous update of Atlantic salmon mortalities linked to red tide, which accounted for 15% of Chile's salmon production.

The loss for coho, on the other hand, represents the equivalent of 7,098t lost if the fish had been harvested for sale, which would have been mostly for the second half of 2016 and first quarter of 2017, SalmonChile said.

Mortalities so far indicate Chile's Atlantic salmon production would reach about 500,000t in 2016, down from 600,000t projected for this year.

This means supply will not be disrupted, but a shortage of fresh salmon to the US will be noticed by May, several Chilean salmon producers said at this year's Boston trade show, from which Undercurrent reported live (see our blog here).

Thus, contract prices for Atlantic salmon are expected to increase by then. Spot prices, however, have already shown an increase.

Spot prices are now ranging between $4.40/lb-$5/lb, with two sources saying prices might go as high as $5.50/lb, from $4.05/lb seen in week 9, according to Salmonex.

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

Chilean workers process farmed salmon in a plant in Puerto Ibanez near the town of Aysen, in the Chilean Patagonia region, some 1660 km (1031 miles) south of Santiago, in this May 24, 2006 file photo.

ď‚Ź Chile's salmon farms losing up to $800 million from algal bloom March 9, 2016 Editorial Comment: A deadly algal bloom has hit the world's second biggest salmon exporter, Chile, where nearly 23 million fish have already died and the economic impact from lost production is seen soaring to $800 million, industry and government sources told Reuters.

Atlantic salmon raised in ocean-based salmon feedlots sited in Washington state and British Columbia marine ecosystems likely to be impacted by deadly algal blooms in the not too distant future

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels There are so many dead fish, they could easily fill 14 Olympics-size swimming pools, said Jose Miguel Burgos, the head of the government's Sernapesca fisheries body.

Unusually high ocean temperatures, due in large part to the El Niño weather phenomenon, have fueled the algal bloom that has affected 37 of the nearly 415 salmon farms operating in southern Chile. Most of the farms are in ocean enclosures or in estuaries.

"Temperatures are 2 to 4 degrees (Celsius) above average for this time of the year, there's a lot of sunlight, a lack of rain and very mild winds, all of which are conditions for the micro algae to appear," said Burgos.

El Niño leads to hotter sea temperatures in the west Pacific Ocean, which means more rain falls on South America and less in Australia and South East Asia.

But for Liesbeth van der Meer, who heads the Oceana environmental group in Chile, runoff from neighboring livestock creates concentrations of nitrogen that when mixed with the above-normal temperatures, create the ideal scenario for the algae to grow.

Editorial Comment: No mention of increased nitrogen and other concerns associated with fish feces, excess feed and chemical cocktails directly associated with ocean-based salmon feedlots.

Salmon farms near the southern city of Puerto Montt and the Chiloe Island have borne the brunt of the toxic algal bloom.

Producers Marine Harvest, Australis Seafoods, Compania Pesquera Camanchaca, Blumar, Multiexport Foods, Cermaq Group AS and Empresas AquaChile have all seen some of their salmon farms affected, according to data provided by the Economy Ministry and company filings with Chile's SVS securities regulator.

"The loss is likely equivalent to somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of Chile's total production for the year ... the forecast for 2016 was around 750,000 to 760,000 tonnes but now that's reduced to around 650,000 tonnes," said Burgos.

The 100,000 tonnes in lost production, which includes Atlantic salmon, Coho and trout, is equivalent to some $800 million in exports, he added.

Chile, the second largest salmon producer after Norway, last year exported $4.5 billion of farmed salmon, on 800,000 tonnes of shipments.

Additionally, the situation will likely lead to job losses in the sector, according to industry group SalmonChile.

Cutting their losses, producers convert those fish that can be saved into fishmeal, while the fish killed by the algal bloom are not destined for human consumption, the group added.

The latest blow to the local industry comes as Chile's salmon farmers are using record levels of antibiotics to treat a virulent and pervasive bacteria, driving away some U.S. retailers.

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

 Op-Ed: Greed-driven irresponsibility leads to salmon feedlot loss Jim Wilcox (WGFCI) February 28, 2016 Also: Do you remember this from May 2015?

The article below regarding yet another escape of invasive, Atlantic salmon from foreign-owned, ocean-based salmon feedlots sited in the waters of the Pacific Ocean is why these weapons of mass ecosystem destruction must be moved from marine waters to land-based facilities.

Marine Harvest, as enabled by Canada and British Columbia, is permitted to site this feedlot in waters unsheltered from storms where its structural integrity was compromised by a Pacific Ocean storm.

Additionally, Marine Harvest is permitted to operate these feedlots without predator fencing – effectively designed to protect their products from consumption by marine mammals as well as to prevent marine mammals from drowning in the feedlot nets.

As a result of these and other irresponsible, government enabled actions, thousands more adult (likely diseased) Atlantic salmon are swimming freely, competing with wild Pacific salmon.

Ocean-based salmon feedlots must be moved to land-based facilities as wild salmon and ocean-based salmon feedlots cannot co-exist in the same ecosystem.

P Pootteennttiiaall ffiisshh eessccaappee rreeppoorrtteedd ttoo D DFFO O FFeebbrruuaarryy 2266,, 22001166 M Maarriinnee H Haarrvveesstt C Caannaaddaa hhaass rreeppoorrtteedd aa ppootteennttiiaall eessccaappee ooff iittss ffaarrm m--rraaiisseedd ssaallm moonn ttoo FFiisshheerriieess aanndd O c e a n s C a n a d a ( D F O ) .

S e v e r e w e a t h e r a n d s e a l i o n p r e d a t i o n c r e a t e d Oceans Canada (DFO). Severe weather and sea lion predation created sseevveerraall hhoolleess iinn ttw woo nneett ppeennss aatt D Dooyyllee IIssllaanndd ssaallm moonn ffaarrm m.. N Neett rreeppaaiirrss w weerree ccoom mpplleetteedd bbyy ssccuubbaa ddiivveerrss..

TThhee ttw woo nneett ppeennss hheelldd 115511,,000000 ssaallm moonn w weeiigghhiinngg aabboouutt 66..55 kkiillooggrraam mss,, aanndd hhaavvee nnoow w bbeeeenn hhaarrvveesstteedd aanndd eem mppttiieedd.. TThhee ffiinnaall iinnvveennttoorryy ccoouunntt ffoorr bbootthh nneett ppeennss w waass sshhoorrtt 22558811 ffiisshh ((11..77% % ooff ttoottaall ppooppuullaattiioonn)).. TThhiiss iinnvveennttoorryy ddeevviiaattiioonn hhaass bbeeeenn rreeppoorrtteedd ttoo D F O .

DFO. TThhee llaasstt ffiisshh eessccaappee iinncciiddeenntt aatt M Maarriinnee H Haarrvveesstt C Caannaaddaa ooccccuurrrreedd iinn D Deecceem mbbeerr 22001122 ((77 ffiisshh))..

TThhee rreem maaiinniinngg nneett ppeennss aatt D Dooyyllee IIssllaanndd ffaarrm m aarree sscchheedduulleedd ttoo bbee hhaarrvveesstteedd iinn tthhee nneexxtt ttw woo w weeeekkss aanndd hhaavvee bbeeeenn tthhoorroouugghhllyy iinnssppeecctteedd bbyy ssccuubbaa ddiivveerrss ttoo eennssuurree ccoonnttaaiinnm meenntt iinntteeggrriittyy..

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

Community Activism, Education and Outreach

ď ś Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register

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

 Stop Site C – Don’t Dam Our Food Watch video HERE Vancouver, BC, Canada

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

ď‚Ź Site C protest hits streets of downtown Fort St. John March 7, 2016

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

 Site C protesters set up camp at BC Hydro headquarters March 13, 2016 It’s been two weeks since the BC Supreme Court granted an injunction to BC Hydro, allowing it to remove protesters from the Site C dam project area.

But that hasn’t discouraged opponents, about 50 of whom gathered in front of BC Hydro headquarters on Dunsmuir Street today in to protest the project.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels “I’m scared for a world that has a Site C dam, that has LNG, and that does not have salmon and wildlife… and I’m willing to put my life on the line to stop that from happening.”

Kristin Henry is not just demonstrating today, she is camping in front of the building and engaging in an indefinite hunger strike.

“I will not be having a bite of food, and I will not be leaving this property unless there’s a halt to construction and the Treaty 8 are properly consulted.”

Activist Audrey Siegel says it was the injunction itself that brought her out to protest in the rain.

“It’s an example of the ongoing criminalization of protesters. Even just using the word protesters shows a very slanted view of who the people are and what they’re doing.”

In addition to the demonstration, three tents have been set up in front of the building and some activists are staging a hunger strike.

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

ď‚Ź Leave Fossil Fuels in the Ground Climate Rally: Vancouver, BC, Canada

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

OLYMPIA CHAPTER OF TROUT UNLIMITED MARCH 23, 2016, 7:00PM NORTH OLYMPIA FIRE STATION 5046 BOSTON HARBOR ROAD NE  BACK BOUNCING AND HOVER FISHING FOR SPRING CHINOOK

Elite Guide Service photo

Elite Guide Service photo

Program: The public is invited to the March 23, 2016 meeting of the Olympia Chapter of Trout Unlimited for a presentation on “Back Bouncing and Hover Fishing for Spring Chinook”. The guest speaker is Nic Norbeck, owner of Elite Guide Service. His presentation will cover some different ways to determine, “read”, back bouncing or hover fishing water and how to get at the fish in those areas. He will demonstrate some basic examples of typical rigs and gear for fishing these particular methods.

His presentation will also deal with questions from participants and providing them with outstanding answers. Understanding all Nic’s valuable fishing information should make you feel like you learned something. Be sure to bring a note pad and pen or pencil to write down notes that you will find productive towards your next fishing trip for Spring Chinook.

Refreshments will be served and a fishing equipment raffle will be conducted following the presentation.

Bio: Nic Norbeck lives in Olympia and has been fishing for many years all over the Northwest and in Alaska. He has learned many different ways to catch steelhead and salmon. His favorite fishing is for King Salmon. In particular, Spring Chinook has become a “niche” within his fishing methods and techniques. He owns Elite Guide Services, and fishes rivers all over the Northwest with his clients.

Nic has spent a long time learning how to teach others how to fish the rivers for salmon and steelhead, and helping people to become proficient at catching those prized fish in the Northwest.

You can contact him at his webpage www.eliteguideservice.com or by phone at 360 459-4134.

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

Climate

 The World Is Hemorrhaging Methane, and Now We Can See Where The Aliso Canyon breach is accidental, but thousands of other sites are flaring off methane intentionally, as waste.

January 13, 2016 For more than two months now, a ruptured storage well has poured thousands of tons of gas into the Porter Ranch section of Los Angeles. The Aliso Canyon leak is huge—California’s largest known source of methane emissions at this point—but not compared to another font of wasted gas miles away in Venezuela. (Editor’s note: This leak was plugged February 12, 2016) Punta de Mata is home to the world’s largest gas flare, one of the flaming chimneys used to burn off excess natural gas at oil wells and other energy sites. In 2012, it incinerated about 768,000 metric tons of natural gas, almost 10 times the amount given off so far from the Southern California Gas Company’s facility at Aliso Canyon.

Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is 84 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over two decades. As countries seek to comply with the new UN climate accord by slashing emissions, both gas flaring and leaks remain persistent problems. Though widespread, they can be difficult to track, given that methane gas is invisible and odorless.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Now, high-tech cameras and satellites are capturing those releases better than ever, putting pressure on companies and officials to take action. Flaring gas has a much lower impact on the climate than a vent directly into the atmosphere—the flame converts gas into an amount of carbon dioxide that will have 30 times less warming potential in the near term. Still, the methane hotspots spanning the globe add a hefty sum to its greenhouse gas pollution.

Night Beacons of Gas Waste The Punta de Mata flare was measured in a new study that offers the most comprehensive look so far at gas being burned off around the world. The paper, written by researchers at NOAA and cofunded by the World Bank, attracted little notice when it was released on Christmas. But it’s the first set of results in a four-year effort to use new infrared imaging technology to map out where, and how much, natural gas is being flared. (See related story, “Space View of Natural Gas Flaring Darkened

by Budget Woes.”)

The researchers estimate that 143 billion cubic meters of gas was flared worldwide in 2012, equivalent to 3.5 percent of all that was produced. “Because flaring is a waste disposal process,” the paper notes, “there is no systematic reporting of the flaring locations and flared gas volumes.”

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels VIIRS is designed to operate during the daytime, monitoring land and water cover. At night, its “operators would tell you, well, there's nothing to see," says Christopher Elvidge, a NOAA scientist and the paper’s lead author. But the researchers “lucked out,” he says, when an engineer thought to use the equipment at night, when it could isolate flaring activity.

As a result, researchers were able to assemble the most complete view yet of the world’s gas waste, one that departs from previous assessments. In the latest VIIRS-driven ranking, Iraq flared the second largest volume of gas, followed by Iran and Nigeria.

It was “a little bit surprising,” Elvidge says, “that Iran and Iraq have as much gas flaring as they have.

We were expecting Nigeria might be second or third.”

Flaring often occurs because oil producers don’t have the pipelines or the market for the gas that sometimes comes up along with oil; it can also happen for safety, to avoid an explosive buildup of methane during emergencies or maintenance, for example. Last year, the World Bank launched an initiative aimed at ending all routine flaring by 2030. So far, several energy companies and governments have signed on.

Having a way to monitor flaring will be key to the effort. Elvidge’s research team plans to keep finetuning its methods, releasing results sometime this spring for subsequent years to see how they compare with the 2012 data.

"We're going to be able to track these mega-flares through time," he says.

Focus on Mega-Sources The new paper notes that 90 percent of the gas flared is coming from just 30 percent of the sites.

Likewise, when it comes to leaks from U.S. sites, “a small number of facilities are responsible for a large percentage of the emissions,” says Mark Brownstein, vice president of the climate and energy program at the Environmental Defense Fund, which supports stronger methane regulations.

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed rules aimed at reducing leaks, but they would only cover new wells and facilities, not existing ones. Some companies are already taking steps to find and fix problems, participating in a voluntary EPA program. But as ongoing leaks in L.A. and elsewhere show, many sites are still vulnerable. Aliso Canyon is among than 300 similar storage sites across the country, and it’s one of the largest.

Two key factors helped highlight the Aliso Canyon leak: One, the gas was stored at the end of the supply chain and contained mercaptans, the odorous additives used to make leak detection easier in homes. Two, EDF and the environmental group Earthworks released infrared footage of the leak that got more than 1 million views on YouTube. (See the video above.)

The footage was made possible with special cameras developed over the past decade that can transform transparent plumes of gas into vivid, dark clouds. Alan Septoff, strategic communications director for Earthworks, says the group was able to acquire its $100,000 camera because of “one very interested and supportive donor.”

Septoff says its camera is now traveling all over the country. “Everywhere we go, we find air pollution from oil and gas development,” he says. “When invisible pollution becomes visible, regulators and decision makers start paying attention to community complaints.”

High-tech eyes on the sky ultimately could help snuff out all those invisible methane clouds and hardto-detect flares, which threaten to undermine countries’ Paris commitments. In the U.S., so dependent on natural gas as a means of weaning itself off coal, the issue goes far beyond the immediate crisis in Los Angeles.

Both in the United States and globally, Brownstein says, “California is just a little microcosm of the kind of challenge, but also the opportunity, that exists.”

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

Habitat

An incredible discovery! This past November, Inland Fisheries biologists discovered three redds (name for a ‘nest’ in the streambed where trout or salmon lay their eggs) made by wild returning Atlantic salmon. This marks the first documented wild spawning of Atlantic salmon in Connecticut since 1991 (in the Salmon River) and before that around the time of the Revolutionary War. Connecticut had participated in a multi-State/federal restoration program from 1967 to 2013, when the program was terminated. During this time the returning adult salmon were captured and retained in order to produce millions of fry (juvenile fish) that were stocked into streams within the Connecticut River watershed. Connecticut has since shifted to a “legacy” program, in which relatively few fry are stocked in selected portions of the Salmon River and Farmington River. The goal is to keep this important native species part of our natural resource.

With the end of the restoration program in 2013, adult fish were no longer being retained but instead, tagged and released to continue their upstream migration. In 2015, three adult salmon were captured and tagged while two others were seen on video but eluded capture. All five fish continued their upstream migration, which culminated in some of them spawning successfully. We are very excited to announce confirmation of this milestone fisheries event. The termination of the restoration program is regrettable, but the fact that wild Atlantic salmon have once again spawned in our state gives us reason to celebrate and it underscores the value of our ongoing legacy program.

 The fall and triumph of the Connecticut River salmon February 24, 2016

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels This is, ultimately, a success story. But in order to have success, you've got to have challenges.

If you're a wild Atlantic salmon, these last few hundred years have definitely been challenging.

The Connecticut River had been dead for over 200 years.

Dead to wild salmon, at least. Atlantic salmon used to spawn in the river, nearly 40,000 of them each year. Though salmon spend most of their adult lives out in the ocean, they always return to streams and rivers to breed — not just any stream or river, either, but to the exact streams or rivers where they were born.

In the 1700's, pollution and damming had essentially killed off all the salmon who called the Connecticut River home. The pollution made them sick, the dams physically stopped their migration in its tracks. The combination of those two obstacles ensured that no salmon would ever be able to return to the Connecticut River.

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

By the time this postcard was made, circa 1900, the salmon had long disappeared. Image from The New York Public Library.

Unfortunately, this is a common problem throughout the Atlantic. Many historic salmon runs in places like Scotland are seeing salmon disappear, no thanks to overfishing in both fresh and salt water.

Losing the salmon isn't just sad for people who like to eat them, it's sad for the river's ecosystem as well.

When a salmon's finished laying eggs, it dies. That might seem like a raw deal, but that's how it goes for salmon. But when that happens it does something marvelous for the ecosystem. That salmon's body is full of nutrients that are stored up from its life in the ocean, you see. When it dies, those nutrients are released back into the stream and surrounding environment.

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

The entire river benefits from what the salmon bring.

Salmon are, effectively, a pump moving nutrients from the ocean into the forest. In the Pacific Northwest, where salmon runs are common, one study estimated salmon provide as much nutrients as a layer of commercial fertilizer.

So yeah, it's important that we keep our salmon populations alive.

For years, people tried to revive the Connecticut River salmon... and failed.

There were programs in the 1800's, then one started again in the 1960's to revive the salmon population. People cleaned up the river. Passageways were built around dams to allow the fish to migrate again. But the salmon were gone. And, because wild salmon only return to the river of their birth – and no wild salmon had been born in the Connecticut River for years – no salmon returned.

Instead, biologists focused on stocking the river with salmon eggs, hoping that the fish would be able to find their way back once they had grown up. There was some success, but budget cuts and a devastating hurricane put that program in danger and, in 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stopped participating in the program. A few legacy projects hung on, but it looked like the end.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels ...But remember how I said this was a success story?

In November 2015, biologists discovered THREE salmon nests, complete with eggs, in the Connecticut River!

This is huge news for salmon, people, and the environment!

It means that not only are salmon returning the river, but the water is clean enough that they're able to successfully breed as well.

Juvenile salmon live in freshwater rivers and streams before migrating out to the ocean as adults.

This is great news! Salmon have been an important food supply for people for millennia, and they're an important species for anglers, too. Not to mention all that work keeping that nutrient pumping cycle in the river's ecosystem going.

Now, three salmon nests isn't a lot, but it might be the start of something beautiful.

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

Maybe a return to something like this?

This is something that hasn't happened in over 200 years.

"It's the first time since probably the Revolutionary War," Peter Aarrestad director at the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection told the Hartford Courant.

A lot of people have worked hard for a long time to make the Connecticut River home to those three little nests. And it goes to show that, despite it seeming this way — we don't just have the capacity to hurt the planet – we can help heal it as well.

Hopefully those three little nests are the heralds of a time when we can return to seeing a Connecticut River filled with 50,000 salmon.

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

 Value of the Salish Sea revealed in new report Holistic examination needed of coastal energy and shipping projects January 20, 2016 Raincoast Conservation Foundation released a new report today encouraging federal, provincial/ state, local, and indigenous governments, and residents, of the Salish Sea to fully consider what is at stake from a host of proposed coastal energy and shipping projects. The report demonstrates how the value of the region’s biological diversity –its plants and animals- reflect our values, have shaped our cultural identity, and are linked to economic benefits in the billions of dollars.

Yet many of the habitats that provide these benefits are under significant stress. This situation will only be exacerbated by the combined effect that proposed energy and shipping projects have, including oil spills. No one is examining these proposals from the perspective of their cumulative impacts, and how they affect our economies, cultures, and values of the Salish Sea. “As governments and citizens across the Salish Sea line-up to recommend the National Energy Board reject Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain proposal, we urgently need to start a broader conversation about the true value of this unique ecosystem – and that’s much bigger than 50 jobs from Kinder Morgan,” said Raincoast’s Misty MacDuffee, lead author on the report.

Unlike federal risk and environmental assessments, this report considers the cumulative effects of proposed coastal energy and shipping projects, and identifies numerous failings of existing assessments concerning increased vessel traffic and oil spill risk. The report concludes that purported economic benefits of fossil fuel export projects, such as Trans Mountain, are insignificant when weighed against a more holistic examination of the Salish Sea’s value.

The report details the importance of Salish Sea tourism to the BC and Washington State economies as a provider of thousands of jobs and a billion dollars in visitor spending. Nature based tourism is highlighted as just one growing sector that already employs thousands through the region and is directly reliant on the region’s ecological health.

The report profiles different recreational pursuits and their distribution throughout the Salish Sea as one proxy for values attached to the natural environment. Widely distributed recreational pursuits with high levels of participation include half a million licensed saltwater anglers, 1.8 million birders, 200,000 kayakers, and thousands of surfers.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels “This study demonstrates an ecosystem of global significance with a range of natural benefits, or ecosystem services, that fundamentally support our environment, economy and society. At a time in which the Salish Sea’s non-human residents face a myriad of pressures, we are encouraging everyone to consider how they, personally, value the Salish Sea, and to share this with the decision makers empowered to protect it, “ said Raincoast executive director Chris Genovali.

-30The full report and executive summary are available at: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6cxz27xe7a0ooj9/AAAyNJ3pqtfa3rOCb3SpJLR0a?dl=0

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

 The Train Derailment That Gushed Oil Into A Quebec River Has Spawned Freaky Fish February 11, 2016 Two-and-a-half years after a train carrying millions of gallons of crude oil derailed and exploded in the small Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic, scientists are finding deformities in the fish living in nearby rivers.

That's led the government to a revelation: crude oil is bad for fish.

No shit.

What is shocking, however, is the extent of the problem: the rate of the deformations in one sample was found to be ten times higher than normal.

The 2013 derailment of freight train carrying oil intended for a New Brunswick refinery kindled a blaze that claimed 47 lives in the eastern Quebec town and dumped an estimated 26,000 gallons of crude into the nearby Chaudière River. It was revealed this week that a government commission studying the contamination has found the fish in the Chaudière — which flows into the Saint Lawrence — to have "unprecedented" levels of deformities.

In its second report, issued in November but first reported Wednesday by Le Devoir, the Quebec government's scientific panel found that oil is still lingering in sediments on the riverbed and that the years since the disaster have seen a dramatic increase in the presence of lesions, fin erosion and other deformities in many species of fish.

Normally such abnormalities are found in fewer than five percent of fish and back in 1994 their occurrence was even lower in the Chaudière, the report states. But in the year following the oil spill the river's fish showed much higher rates of deformity — with two samples reaching 35 and 47 percent. The study also noted a significant drop in river's fish biomass, or collective weight.

"In addition to being much higher than in 1994, the rate of anomalies in the Chaudière River in 2014 significantly exceeded what is generally observed in all other waterways of Quebec," the report states. "These high rates are attributable, in all likelihood, to the July 2013 oil spill.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels "Although the spilled oil still seems to be affecting the fish, the waters of the Chaudière are largely free of it and the scope and concentration of oil in the riverbed has fallen significantly since 2013. The persistent impact on the fish didn't surprise Isabelle Picard, an aquatic biologist, who said toxins in the sediments where fish spawn are a major driver of deformities.

Picard pointed to the high rate of deformities, especially among less susceptible small fish, around Lac-Mégantic as a sign of the enduring and alarming environmental impact of the tragedy. "When there's a spill most people look at short term effects: water quality and how many fish die," she said "But you have to look at the long term. There's still contamination there."

Other scientists point to Lac-Mégantic as a reminder that oil spills can dangerously pollute drinking water. In the immediate aftermath of the 2013 train crash all of the communities along the Chaudière were forced to temporarily find alternative source of drinking water. And in recent years, the flow of oil passing through Quebec has grown, Sarah Dorner, Canada Research Chair in source water protection at Polytechnique Montréal, told VICE News.

Whether by pipeline or rail moving oil comes with risks. As in Lac-Mégantic, rail has the potential for catastrophic crashes but spills are relatively small compared to leaks from high volume pipelines like Energy East. The Union of Quebec Municipalities, which includes Lac-Mégantic, opposes the nearly 3,000 mile pipeline and Dorner explained this in terms of the risk the the province's largest city's water supply.

"If you look at Montreal...it's an island," she said. "It's not like you can quickly get water from a different source."

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

ď‚Ź LNG project would impede fishing, impact fish Oregon LNG's wetland mitigation plan is 'unproven and unverified from a biological or ecological perspective,' a hearings officer concludes.

March 7, 2016

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels WARRENTON — Oregon LNG has so far failed to prove that a liquefied natural gas terminal would not irreversibly damage the ecology of the Lower Columbia River Estuary, or that the company’s proposed mitigation measures would soften the impact of the development project.

What’s more, the terminal would likely disrupt recreational fishing and unreasonably interfere in people’s right to use the area by harming fish habitat, a state-recognized public resource.

These are the conclusions reached by Portland-based land use attorney Daniel Kearns, who denied the company’s applications for the bidirectional terminal on behalf of the city of Warrenton last week.

Though he approved the company’s separate applications for a 2-mile stretch of LNG pipeline, Kearns’ decision details why Oregon LNG’s plans to build a terminal appear to run afoul of the city’s development code.

Fishing The attorney found that Oregon LNG “has not adequately characterized and quantified the impact of its operations on commercial and recreational fishing, nor has it demonstrated that these impacts will not be unreasonable.”

Oregon LNG has acknowledged a “500-yard exclusion zone for LNG vessels while in transit, a 200yard exclusion zone for LNG vessels moored at dock, and a 50-yard exclusion zone from the dock facilities with no vessels present,” Kearns’ decision states.

“The applicant also discusses possible impacts to popular Buoy 10 fishing and offers vaguely to minimize impacts by ‘restrict(ing) LNG marine carrier arrivals and departures to nighttime periods or when the number of fishermen has decreased during the Buoy 10 fishing season,’” he continues, quoting Oregon LNG’s hearing submissions.

Pointing out that the Youngs Bay Control Zone already restricts recreational fishing access, the company has argued that its own exclusion zones won’t further impact recreational fishing in the area.

However, the Youngs Bay Control Zone “only restricts angling for a portion of the year, while the proposed security zones are effective the entire year,” the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement.

“The existing restricted fishing areas and periods are intended to help endangered and diminished fish populations recover to the point that fishing can again expand,” Kearns wrote.

He added, based on comments from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, that “the agency either believes that the LNG terminal operation will work against those recovery efforts by causing unacceptable habitat impacts, or that the applicant has not provided enough detailed information for ODFW to determine that it won’t have that adverse effect.”

In addition, “recreational vessels will be periodically prohibited (about 250 times each year) from movement in and out of the Skipanon River during the times that the LNG marine carriers travel between the berth and the federal navigation channel,” the department wrote. “These safety closures will permanently prohibit recreational fishing and crabbing from a 100 acre area at the marine terminal, and will prohibit transit through the turning basin area over a period of about 125 hours each year.”

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Kearns concluded that Oregon LNG’s sufficient to prevent unacceptable unacceptable degradation or reduction project, all of which affects public trust

mitigating measures are “not losses, irreversible damage, in estuary resources from this rights.”

Fish As designed, the terminal would create a 109-acre dredge footprint in the estuary and require filling in roughly 35 acres of wetland.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has written that the terminal could, among other concerns, “potentially impact salmonid rearing and migration habitat, lamprey migration habitat, eulachon rearing, spawning and migration habitat, and green sturgeon feeding habitat” within the estuary.

Meanwhile, the 35-acre wetland habitat is “critical for rearing habitat for several (Environmental Species Act-listed) salmonids and is also used by a variety of other estuarine-dependent species,” the department wrote.

For the wetland area, the Fish and Wildlife Department recommended that the project result in zero net loss of wetland habitat quantity or quality, that Oregon LNG avoid impacting the area altogether by finding another development action or that the company find some way to mitigate the impact.

However, Oregon LNG’s wetland mitigation plan is “unproven and unverified from a biological or ecological perspective.”

Oregon LNG has also claimed that “the mere presence of ESA-listed fish in the vicinity of the proposed project does not necessarily imply negative impact” — a statement that Kearns wrote “defies logic.”

He said that a permanent wetland impact of 35 acres is a “significant loss of habitat in the context of the Lower Columbia River Estuary, which has seen big wetland losses since pre-settlement times.”

Kearns said he cannot credit the applicant’s attempts to minimize the impacts of the dredge footprint or the impact on the wetland, “which state and federal environmental agencies regarded as significant.”

Although it is theoretically possible the company could meet the criteria for Warrenton’s development code by submitting more or different evidence, “that seems unlikely based on the fundamental nature of the project and the estuary and shorelands that will be impacted,” Kearns wrote.

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

The proposed site of the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal in Coos Bay sits in a tsunami inundation zone. Backers plan to excavate a shipping berth in the foreground, and use the resulting dredge spoils to build an 80-acre mesa behind the shipping berth that would elevate the facility's massive storage tanks and gas liquefaction equipment to a height of 46 feet above sea level. With the addition of a storm surge barrier, backers say the facility will be safe from even the largest run -up in a post-earthquake tsunami.

ď‚Ź Feds reject Jordan Cove LNG terminal March 11, 2016 In a decision that stunned supporters and critics alike, federal regulators Friday rejected plans for a massive liquefied natural gas export terminal in Coos Bay, saying applicants had not demonstrated any need for the facility.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission denied applications from the Calgary-based energy company Veresen Inc. and its pipeline collaborator, the Williams Partners, to locate the Jordan Cove Energy Project in the Southern Oregon coastal town, as well as a feeder pipeline that would have stretched halfway across the state.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Regulators said they were required to balance the need for any project against any adverse impacts it would have on landowners or the environment. The need for Jordan Cove was based entirely on demand for natural gas from customers in Asia, and with those markets in upheaval, Jordan Cove's backers have yet to demonstrate that the demand exists.

Regulators noted that Veresen and Williams had signed no formal contracts to sell the terminal and pipeline capacity, and had not even held a successful "open-season" process to demonstrate informal interest in the facility.

Meanwhile, the companies had been unable to negotiate easements with more than 90 percent of 630 landowners along the 232-mile pipeline route, and would have required the widespread use of eminent domain to secure the necessary rights of way. The commissioners noted the landowners' concerns with land devaluation, loss of revenue and harm to business operations, including timber, agriculture and oyster harvesting.

"Because the record does not support a finding that the public benefits of the Pacific Connector Pipeline outweigh the adverse effects on landowners, we deny Pacific Connector's request...to construct and operate the pipeline," the commission's order said.

Without a pipeline, it was impossible to demonstrate any public benefit to the LNG terminal, so the commission denied that application. too.

Friday's rejection came with a caveat: The two companies are free to reapply in the future, and the commission would consider their plans if they can demonstrate "a market need" for their product.

The decision was a stunner for all involved, from the project's backers to property rights and environmental groups who have fought the plan since it was it first proposed as a gas import facility more than a decade ago.

"Clearly, we are extremely surprised and disappointed by the FERC decision," said Don Althoff, chief executive of Veresen, which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the project. "The FERC appears to be concerned that we have not yet demonstrated sufficient commercial support for the projects. We will continue to advance negotiations with customers to address this concern."

The company said Jordan Cove LNG and Pacific Connector will file a request for a rehearing of the decision.

Even Gov. Kate Brown's office received no early word about the rejection. Brown has taken no formal position on the controversial project, though her predecessor had expressed support.

"We are currently reviewing the denial order internally and with the Oregon Department of Justice," a spokesman told The Oregonian/Oregonlive when asked about Brown's reaction.

Opponents, meanwhile, were thrilled. They have fought the project since 2004, when it was proposed as an import facility to supplement what were supposedly dwindling domestic gas supplies. Backers switched the project to an export facility after North American gas production soared with the advent of hydraulic fracturing.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels "This has been 12 years of my life," said Jody McCaffree, a North Bend resident who formed the advocacy group Citizen's Against LNG to take on the. "It gives you a bit of faith that sometimes the people can win with perseverance and hard work, even though you're up against astronomical odds and deep pockets."

"I'm ecstatic," said John Clarke, a landowner in Winston whose rural property was bisected by the pipeline route. "I don't know what to do. Jump in the air?"

The LNG terminal, its 232-mile feeder pipeline and a natural gas-fired power plant were expected to cost some $7.5 billion. Supporters expected thousands of construction jobs, 150 permanent positions and an ongoing flow of taxes and fees to a corner of the state that has been down on its luck for decades.

Building the pipeline would affect nearly 160 miles of private lands and the more than 600 landowners.

A proposal for a separate LNG terminal at the mouth of the Columbia River also hit a new stumbling block last week, when a lawyer for the city of Warrenton denied the Oregon LNG company's application for a permit to build the facility.

Clatsop County has also denied permits for the feeder pipeline proposed to serve that project, which throws into doubt its ability to secure state land use approvals. And the project is mired in a dispute over its lease with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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

Alexandra Morton: Might want to rethink farming in Puget Sound.

salmon

ď‚Ź Cocaine, Prozac, other drugs found in Puget Sound salmon from tainted wastewater From Prozac to caffeine to cholesterol medicine, from ibuprofen to bug spray, researchers found an alphabet soup of drugs and other personal-care products in sewage-treatment wastewater and in the tissue of juvenile chinook in Puget Sound.

February 24, 2016 Also: Seattle-Area Salmon Are Loaded With Anti-Depressants and Other Drugs Thanks to Human Waste

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Puget Sound salmon are on drugs — Prozac, Advil, Benadryl, Lipitor, even cocaine.

Those drugs and dozens of others are showing up in the tissues of juvenile chinook, researchers have found, thanks to tainted wastewater discharge.

The estuary waters near the outfalls of sewage-treatment plants, and effluent sampled at the plants, were cocktails of 81 drugs and personal-care products, with levels detected among the highest in the nation.

The medicine chest of common drugs also included Flonase, Aleve and Tylenol. Paxil, Valium and Zoloft. Tagamet, OxyContin and Darvon. Nicotine and caffeine. Fungicides, antiseptics and anticoagulants. And Cipro and other antibiotics galore.

Why are the levels so high? It could be because people here use more of the drugs detected, or it could be related to wastewater-treatment plants’ processes, said Jim Meador, an environmental toxicologist at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle and lead author on a paper published this week in the journal Environmental Pollution.

“The concentrations in effluent were higher than we expected,” Meador said. “We analyzed samples for 150 compounds and we had 61 percent of them detected in effluent. So we know these are going into the estuaries.”

The samples were gathered over two days in September 2014 from Sinclair Inlet off Bremerton and near the mouth of Blair Waterway in Tacoma’s Commencement Bay. The chemicals turned up in both the water and the tissues of migratory juvenile chinook salmon and resident staghorn sculpin. If anything, the study probably underreports the amount of drugs in the water closer to outfall pipes, or in deeper water, researchers found.

Even fish tested in the intended control waters in the Nisqually estuary, which receives no direct municipal treatment-plant discharge, tested positive for an alphabet soup of chemicals in supposedly pristine waters.

“That was supposed to be our clean reference area,” Meador said. He also was surprised that levels in many cases were higher than in many of the 50 largest wastewater-treatment plants around the nation. Those plants were sampled in another study by the EPA. The findings are of concern because most of the chemicals detected are not monitored or regulated in wastewater, and there is little or no established science on the environmental toxicity for the vast majority of the compounds detected.

Meador said he doubted there would be effects from the chemicals on human health, because people don’t eat sculpin or juvenile chinook, and levels are probably too low in the water to be active in humans. But one of the reasons the wastewater pollutants studied as a class are called “chemicals of emerging concern” is because so little is known about them.

However, “You have to wonder what it is doing to the fish,” Meador said. His other recent work has shown that juvenile chinook salmon migrating through contaminated estuaries in Puget Sound die at twice the rate of fish elsewhere.

The drugs detected in the study could be part of the reason, as they have the potential to affect fish growth, behavior, reproduction, immune function and antibiotic resistance.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels The drugs selected for testing were chosen on the basis of their widespread use by people, the likelihood of their continued use and the potential for higher levels of contamination in the future as the human population in the Puget Sound region continues to grow.

The results represent only a snapshot, and levels could be higher or lower, seasonally, depending on people’s use of drugs and volumes of treatment-plant discharge. For instance, levels of DEET (an insect repellent) and antihistamines are probably even higher in summer.

Some regional differences were detected.

Substantially higher concentrations of DEET, caffeine, ibuprofen and female reproductive hormone were found in Bremerton effluent, compared with the Tacoma site, which researchers concluded could be due to differences in usage.

The Puget Sound area contains 106 publicly owned wastewater-treatment plants that discharge to local waters.

The amount of drugs and chemicals from all plants into Puget Sound could be as much as 97,000 pounds every year, the study found.

Unexplored were the presence and effect of drugs in predators that eat the fish, and in other contaminated organisms that the fish eat, such as algae or invertebrates.

The Nisqually estuary was more contaminated than expected with drugs, including cocaine, Cipro and Zantac. The source of the drugs there was unknown, the researchers reported. However, the Nisqually River, Nisqually Reach and McAllister Creek do not meet water-quality standards for fecal coliform. That makes leaking septic systems a possible source of the drugs.

Treatment plants in King County are effective in removing some drugs in wastewater, but many drugs are recalcitrant and remain. Seizure drugs, for instance, are very hard to remove, and ibuprofen levels are knocked down — but not out — during treatment, said Betsy Cooper, permit administrator for the county’s Wastewater Treatment Division.

“You have treatment doing its best to remove these, chemically and biologically, but it’s not just the treatment quality, it’s also the amount that we use day to day and our assumption that it just goes away,” Cooper said. “But not everything goes away.”

Jessica Payne, spokeswoman for the state Department of Ecology, said the agency needs more research funding to monitor the presence and examine the impact of chemicals such as those identified in the study.

“Ongoing research is really our best tool to understand these chemicals,” Payne said.

The study was not concerned with drinking water. Seattle Public Utilities customers receive first-use water from the high Cascades, above any wastewater discharge and remote from human populations and septic tanks.

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

At Clover Point, the Capital Region's wastewater is screened then discharged into the ocean through two outfalls.

 Washington turns up heat for Victoria sewage plant, eyes travel curbs February 28, 2016 VANCOUVER ISLAND — The lack of sewage treatment in the capital region has the Washington state Senate considering travel restrictions to Victoria for state workers. Under the proposal, costs for travel to Victoria would not be reimbursed unless a catastrophe or other serious situation is involved.

The self-described “prime instigator” is Rep. Jeff Morris, whose district includes the San Juan Islands opposite the Saanich Peninsula.

“We want to send a clear message that we’re not happy with the progress on primary sewage treatment,” he told the Times Colonist Friday.

He said he has followed the sewage controversy for more than 20 years and finds the “backsliding” on the issue very frustrating.

Morris said he’s well-versed in cross-border issues, and has gone to bat several times to keep the Sidney-Anacortes ferry running.

On Thursday, the Washington House of Representatives voted 50-47 in favour of restricting travel to Victoria. The state’s 49 senators will now have until March 10 to make amendments.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels If passed by Washington’s Senate, the measure would be in effect until the completion of a primary sewage treatment system for Victoria and region, according to the state’s budget deliberation documents.

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said Washington state is “not threatening a tourism boycott, but they’re doing something that I consider to be a little bit more serious that I think we should pay attention to.

“This is our No. 1 trading partner and our No. 1 partner in terms of diplomatic relations,” said Helps, who was chairing Friday’s meeting of the core-area liquid waste management committee when she made her comments. “It does seem funny, it does seem like we’re in a reality TV show and these weird things are happening.”

Environment Minister Mary Polak released a statement referring to the 2020 federal-provincial deadline for sewage treatment saying that “Washington state residents can rest assured that Greater Victoria will have sewage treatment in the near future.”

A letter to Capital Regional District directors from Tourism Victoria underscored concerns about a decline in travel by Washington state residents resulting from media coverage of such a ban.

“This action puts the destination, our 900 business members and the 19,000 private sector [tourism] employees in a difficult position,” wrote Tourism Victoria chairman Bill Lewis. There are “tens of millions of dollars in private-sector investment in place,” he said. “While this action is symbolic and related to Washington state employees, it is clearly intended to inspire other organizations to follow suit.” Tourism Victoria would like to protest the legislation “and argue that Victoria is making progress and that this tactic is unnecessary.”

Tourism Victoria CEO Paul Nursey said the number of state employees coming to Victoria to do business is small and, in general, boycotts don’t have a big impact on numbers. “But they take a lot of management — it’s time for the CRD directors to make a decision and build a sewage treatment plant.”

Sewage treatment deliberations are still at the stage of deciding on a site.

In the measure’s current form, the state would reimburse travel to Victoria only for emergencies involving a “catastrophic event that requires government action to protect life or public safety,” for court orders, critical work by an agency, judicial work approved by the chief justice of the Washington Supreme Court and agricultural commissions, boards and inspection programs.

If the Washington Senate does not pass the budget-related bill, it will be up to Gov. Jay Inslee to convene a special legislative session to reach consensus.

Editorial Comment: If the issue of healthy oceans was not so vitally important, this action by the Washington State Legislature would be laughable.

Primary treatment is never enough for all of the human waste and other pollutants that flow through the system.

Washington state has its own waste treatment issues when it comes to Puget Sound – chemical laden salmon and other marine life – pot calling the kettle black.

And then, there’s the matter of ocean-based salmon feedlots sited in Washington and British Columbia – Talk About Untreated Waste!

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

Harvest

 Dismal coho runs may shorten fishing seasons March 1, 2016 Critically low returns of wild and hatchery coho salmon to Puget Sound rivers, including popular South Sound fisheries, could result in shortened fishing seasons, closures or reduced bag limits.

That is the assessment after the state Department of Fish and Wildlife Tuesday released and discussed its initial run forecasts for Puget Sound rivers, the Columbia River and salmon abundance for the Pacific Ocean.

“There are some winners and losers out there. There are some fisheries we’ll want to take advantage of, and others that are of concern,” department Director Jim Unsworth said.

“Coho are down across the board,” said Ryan Lathrop, Puget Sound recreational salmon manager.

“It’s just going to be a tough, tight year.”

Most Puget Sound rivers will be at or below escapement levels — the number of fish that avoid being caught during recreational and commercial fisheries. Minimum levels are set to ensure enough salmon are able to reach their spawning grounds.

Such low runs could result in rivers with time or area closures, as well as in reductions in how many fish anglers can keep. The impacts also might include the marine waters of the Sound as fish make their way from the ocean back to their natal waters.

The Nisqually River is showing some of the biggest declines. In 2015, the forecast was for a return of 7,840 hatchery fish. This year’s forecast calls for just 735 fish, a 93 percent decline. For wild coho, last year’s run was forecast at 15,368 fish. This year’s run is expected to be 90 percent lower at 1,486 coho.

The outlook is nearly as bad for the hatchery returns to the Green River and Squaxin net pens, and wild runs on the Puyallup and Deschutes rivers.

The run projections are calculated by agency and tribal fishery biologists, and will serve as the scientific basis for setting salmon fishing season lengths and catch quotas.

Tuesday’s meeting served as the kickoff to six weeks of meetings and negotiations, known as the North of Falcon process, which will conclude April 8-14 in Vancouver, Washington. At those meetings, the state and tribal co-managers will finalize fishing seasons for Puget Sound and the Columbia River, while the Pacific Fishery Management Council will establish seasons in ocean waters 3-200 miles off the Pacific coast.

Concerns over the small coho returns are shared by treaty tribes that work with the state as comanagers of the Puget Sound and Columbia River fisheries.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels “Western Washington treaty Indian tribes are calling for greater caution in fisheries management planning this year and more equitable sharing with the state of the responsibility for conservation,” Lorraine Loomis, chairwoman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission said in a prepared statement. “It is important that we have agreement on in-season management methods and actions before the season starts.”

State and tribal biologists are blaming warm ocean water temperatures for the poor coho return.

With temperatures above normal because of El Nino and in the warm water blob in the northern Pacific, copepods (a form of plankton) have less fat, which means a less productive food chain for salmon. That has resulted in fewer salmon surviving, the average coho size being smaller and females having fewer eggs than normal, said Aaron DuFault, a salmon specialist with the department.

It all translates into likely season reductions or closures.

“It’s not good,” said Frank Urabeck, a recreational fishing supporter, “and it’s definitely not going to be good for Puget Sound.”

SOUTH SOUND FORECASTS: CHINOOK Puyallup: The hatchery forecast is 3,708 fish, down 32 percent from the 2015 forecast of 5,415 fish.

The wild forecast is 353 fish, down 16 percent from the 2105 forecast of 422 fish.

Nisqually: The hatchery forecast is 17,995 fish, down 47 percent from the 2015 forecast of 24,502 fish. The wild forecast is 762 fish, down 22 percent from the 2105 forecast of 977 fish.

Skokomish: The hatchery forecast is 22,502 fish, down 39 percent from the 2015 forecast of 36,995 fish. The wild forecast is 1,835 fish, down 34 percent from the 2105 forecast of 2,775 fish.

Green: The hatchery forecast is 8,158 fish, down 23 percent from the 2015 forecast of 10,549 fish.

The wild forecast is 2,228 fish, up 36 percent from the 2105 forecast of 1,634 fish.

COHO Puyallup: The hatchery forecast is 7,606 fish, down 60 percent from the 2015 forecast of 18,949 fish.

The wild forecast is 1,576 fish, down 93 percent from the 2105 forecast of 21,3875 fish.

Nisqually: The hatchery forecast is 735 fish, down 93 percent from the 2015 forecast of 7,840 fish.

The wild forecast is 1,486 fish, down 90 percent from the 2105 forecast of 15,368 fish.

Skokomish: The hatchery forecast is 24,112 fish, down 4 percent from the 2015 forecast of 25,186 fish. The wild forecast is 3,959 fish, down 37 percent from the 2105 forecast of 6,302 fish.

Green: The hatchery forecast is 8,012 fish, down 87 percent from the 2015 forecast of 62,681 fish.

The wild forecast is 958 fish, down 83 percent from the 2105 forecast of 5,768 fish.

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

WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE NEWS RELEASE 600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091 March 14, 2016 Contact: WDFW contact: Kyle Adicks, (360) 902-2664 NWIFC contact: Tony Meyer, (360) 528-4325, cell (360) 951-9341

 Fishery managers consider closing ocean salmon seasons due to projected poor coho returns OLYMPIA – Poor forecasts for returning coho salmon are prompting state and tribal fishery managers to consider closing all salmon fisheries in Washington’s ocean waters this year as part of a federal season-setting process for the west coast.

State, tribal and federal fishery managers have developed three options for non-treaty ocean salmon fisheries that reflect the anticipated low coho returns. Two options would permit some salmon fishing this year, but one would close recreational and commercial ocean fisheries for chinook and coho salmon.

Those alternatives were approved Sunday for public review by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), which establishes fishing seasons in ocean waters three to 200 miles off the Pacific coast. A public hearing on the three alternatives for ocean salmon fisheries is scheduled for March 28 in Westport.

Jim Unsworth, director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), said he hopes fishery managers can provide some ocean salmon fishing opportunities this year, but must place a higher priority on protecting the diminished number of wild coho expected to return this year.

“Fishery managers face many difficult decisions in the weeks ahead as we move toward solidifying salmon-fishing seasons for the state,” Unsworth said. “We know that severely limiting opportunities will hurt many families and communities that depend on these fisheries. But conserving wild salmon is our top priority and is in the best interest of future generations of Washingtonians.”

Lorraine Loomis, chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, said tribal and state comanagers must have a full range of options – including no fishing at all – in working to shape possible fisheries over the next month.

“We hope it doesn’t come to that. Our cultures, treaty rights and economies depend on salmon. But the resource must come first,” she said. “We face an extraordinary conservation challenge this year.

In many instances returns will likely be far below minimum levels needed to produce the next generation of salmon. Conservation must be our sole focus as we work to rebuild these stocks.”

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Chinook and coho quotas approved by the PFMC will be part of a comprehensive 2016 salmon fishing package, which includes marine and freshwater fisheries throughout Puget Sound, the Columbia River and Washington's coastal areas. State and tribal co-managers are currently developing those fisheries, which will be finalized at the PFMC’s April meeting in Vancouver, Wash.

The non-treaty recreational fishing alternatives include the following quotas for fisheries off the Washington coast:

Alternative 1: 58,600 chinook and 37,800 coho. This option includes early season fisheries, from June 18-30, for hatchery chinook in Washington’s ocean waters (marine areas 1-4). This option also allows hatchery coho retention in all four marine areas during the traditional summer fishery.

Alternative 2: 30,000 chinook and 14,700 coho. This option does not include early season fisheries for hatchery chinook, but provides summer chinook fisheries in all four marine areas.

Hatchery coho fishing would be allowed only in Marine Area 1 (Ilwaco).

Alternative 3: No commercial or recreational salmon fisheries in Washington’s ocean waters.

For more details about the options, visit the PFMC webpage at http://www.pcouncil.org/. Last year, the PFMC adopted recreational ocean fishing quotas of 64,000 chinook and 150,800 coho salmon.

This year, forecasters expect 380,000 Columbia River hatchery coho to return to the Washington coast, which is about half of last year’s forecast. Only 242,000 coho actually returned last year to the Columbia River, where some coho stocks are listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. Poor ocean conditions, such as the Pacific Ocean “blob” and warmer water temperatures, contributed to last year’s lower than expected return of coho.

Meanwhile, a robust return of Columbia River fall chinook salmon is expected back this year, including about 223,000 lower river hatchery fish, which traditionally have been the backbone of the recreational ocean chinook fishery.

In addition to the March 28 public hearing, several other meetings will take place later this month and in early April to discuss regional fisheries issues. The public can comment on the proposed ocean alternatives as well as on other proposed salmon fisheries through WDFW's North of Falcon webpage at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/northfalcon/ A schedule of public meetings, as well as salmon run-size forecasts and more information about the salmon-season setting process can also be found on the webpage.

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

A policy under the Harper government that placed a cap on aboriginal fishery allocations is a still a sore point among some Sto:lo who fish the Lower Fraser River

 Cap on aboriginal fisheries has to go, says Sto:lo rep March 8, 2016 A policy under the Harper regime that placed a cap on aboriginal fishery allocations is a still a sore point among First Nations who fish the Lower Fraser River.

A policy known as "End Point" first came to light during the Ahousaht court case over fishing rights, said Ken Malloway, a Sto:lo member of the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance, and First Nations Fisheries Council of BC. "We had been negotiating in good faith with federal Fisheries for years trying to secure a bigger allocation for pinks and chum salmon," he said.

They had a niggling feeling there was some foot-dragging going on when they tried to negotiate allocations for economic opportunities — or for food, social and ceremonial reasons.

"They'd make all kind of excuses. It always seemed like there was an obstacle in the way."

The existence of the policy came to light when the Ahousaht fishing trial reached the Supreme Court.

A judgment in that case cemented First Nations' rights to fish in traditional territories and to sell that fish into the commercial marketplace.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels "That's when we heard about this policy from the Conservative caucus, that placed limits on the catch for fisheries allocation under FSC (food, social and ceremonial) and economic opportunity fisheries.

"One of the things DFO has been told is that when they negotiate with First Nations, the honour of the crown is at stake. Well, we've been negotiating for 10 years in good faith. And all the while we find out they had the End Point policy in place and never told us."

It was a big problem a couple of years ago when there was a huge run of pink salmon, which are not a valued fish stock by the commercial industry, but they offered economic opportunity fisheries for the Japanese market. There was a huge surplus of about eight million pinks that year, and would have been very lucrative for struggling aboriginal communities, Malloway said.

Thankfully, under the new Trudeau regime, the government seems to be more receptive.

Asked to comment on the existence of a cap for First Nation fishery allocations, MP Mark Strahl would not address, confirm or deny a policy called "End Point."

“The Conservative government really replicated what the previous Liberal government had done — we established a fisheries management plan to ensure the fishery was sustainable," MP Strahl stated in an emailed statement.

“For First Nations fisheries, we were careful to respect court decisions regarding the constitutional rights to salmon for food, social, and ceremonial purposes and extended a commercial allocation to First Nations as well.

"We worked with aboriginal, commercial and recreational fishers to manage the fishery for the use and benefit of all Canadians today and for future generations," the MP continued. “Whatever the current government might say in private, I hope they will do the same and develop and implement a fisheries plan that is sustainable and fair for all Canadians.”

Hearing there is a cap on aboriginal fisheries allocations was not a surprise to Doug Kelly, president of Sto:lo Tribal Council.

"It's nothing new," Kelly said. "They've always minimized the right of First Nations to fish, while maximizing the benefit to the commercial fishing industry, and recreational fishers. The stripe of the government might change but the government stays the same."

But Malloway said despite all the hurdles, he's been able to raise specific concerns about End Point multiple times with Hunter Tootoo, the new minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Coast Guard.

"We've had a lot of face time, and he's super aware that it's a concern," Malloway said about meeting with the new Fisheries minister. "End Point is something they have to get rid of. There is just no negotiating in good faith if there's a cap like this in place."

They're hoping for substantial change, and are feeling more optimistic.

"We still have a ways to go but we've been feeling better with the new government," Malloway said.

Kelly gets it, since Minister Tootoo, who is of Inuit ancestry, also "gets it."

"I can see why Ken is hopeful about the minister, and the Trudeau government, but until they move from rhetoric to action, and until we actually see the change, I'm still skeptical."

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

 Commercial Bycatch – Government-enabled raping and pillaging

Paul Nicklen Taken while on assignment for @natgeo and @sea_legacy.

Massive factory trawlers drag their nets on the bottom of the ocean, 40 miles offshore from Vancouver Island. We approached to within a safe distance to look at the various species of birds around the ship and noticed hundreds of rockfish being discarded as bycatch.

In less than 15 minutes, we scooped up over 50 and could have easily collected hundreds. Other species were sinking and we were not able to identify them. The fish were de-scaled but we believe that they were Shortraker Rockfish which is one of the oldest living marine species on Earth with one fish being aged at 157 years old.

Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada managed our Atlantic Cod stocks to a complete crash, they allow fish farms on both of our coasts and they allow bycatch as acceptable waste.

As Canadians, we must demand better management of our species and ecosystems. Through SeaLegacy and @natgeo we will be shining a bright light on these types of issues in the coming years. With @cristinamittermeier, @aprilbencze and @oren.lawson. — with Oriana Kalama and Jay Go.

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

Hatcheries

 WDFW sites last steelhead gene bank planned for the lower Columbia River March 16, 2016 OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will no longer release hatchery-reared steelhead in the Grays River to help preserve the wild steelhead population near the mouth of the Columbia River.

The Chinook River, which flows into the Columbia 15 miles farther downstream, will also be off-limits to the release of hatchery steelhead now that WDFW has designated the Grays/Chinook wild steelhead population the state’s newest wild fish gene bank.

That designation, announced today, is part of a statewide policy to protect self-sustaining populations of wild steelhead by reducing the risk to them posed by hatchery fish, said Cindy Le Fleur, WDFW regional fish manager.

“This is the last of four gene banks currently planned for wild steelhead in the lower Columbia River Basin,” Le Fleur said. “The department remains committed to producing hatchery fish for harvest, but we also need to protect wild steelhead against interbreeding, disease, and competition from hatchery fish.”

Since 2014, the department has also established wild steelhead gene banks on the East Fork Lewis River, the North Fork Toutle/Green River, and the Wind River.

WDFW first identified wild steelhead gene banks as a recovery strategy in the Statewide Steelhead Management Plan, adopted by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission in 2008.

Le Fleur said WDFW’s final decision to site a gene bank near the mouth of the Columbia River came down to a choice between the Grays/Chinook rivers, or an area including Mill, Abernathy and Germany creeks.

In 2015, a 16-member citizen work group advised against siting a gene bank on the Elochoman and Skamokawa rivers, but did not reach a consensus on a final option. However, about 85 percent of the comments later received from the public supported the Grays/Chinook option, Le Fleur said.

“Those rivers have a number of advantages over the three streams, including a higher abundance of wild steelhead and more spawning habitat,” she said.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels In recent years, WDFW has raised an average of 140,000 winter steelhead smolts at the Grays River Hatchery from broodstock collected at Beaver Creek on the Elochoman River. About 40,000 of those smolts were released into the Grays River, while the rest were transported to the Elochoman and Coweeman rivers for release.

This year, however, the number of steelhead smolts raised at the Grays River Hatchery was severely reduced by the effects of last summer’s drought. Le Fleur said 130,000 juvenile steelhead died last July as a result of high water temperatures, low water levels and Ichthyophthirus, the deadly fish disease known as “ICH.” In mid-March, the 10,000 smolts that survived will be transported to the Elochoman River, where they will be acclimated then released in mid-April, Le Fleur said.

“Survival rates at some other hatcheries in the region were actually higher than expected, which help to offset the losses at Grays River,” she said. “Even so, total production for the area is about 80 percent of the goal, and we plan to reduce our releases by an average of 20 percent at six sites this spring.”

Those sites include the Washougal, Elochoman, Coweeman and Kalama rivers, as well as Salmon Creek and Rock Creek.

Despite the gene bank designation, hatchery managers plan to continue producing 140,000 winter steelhead smolts per year at the Grays River Hatchery or at the Beaver Creek facility. WDFW will also continue to produce coho and chum salmon at Grays River.

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

Salmon Feedlots – Weapons of Mass Destruction, Floating Cesspools

 Farmed Salmon is FULL of Antibiotics and Mercury. Here’s How to Tell If Your Salmon is Safe!

February 16, 2016 Salmon is not just a delicacy, it’s also one of the healthiest foods you can eat. The fish that belongs to the Salmonidae family is rich in several important nutrients among which there is omega 3.

It’s very tasty when cooked, and can be even consumed raw if it’s high quality wild salmon. Yet, you should be aware that not all salmon is healthy to eat. Its fat content, flavor and nutrients composition depend on where and how the salmon was raised.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels You can tell a lot about the quality of salmon by the color of its flesh. Take a look at the above example.

Both salmons are Alaskan sockeye, but the one on the right is wild salmon, and the one on the left comes from a fish farm. The color of the wild-caught sockeye is red, while the farmed is pale. This is a clear sign that the fish is sick.

This difference in color is due to astaxanthin – a red molecule present in plankton and algae.

Astaxanthin is a powerful antioxidant and has anti-inflammatory properties. It is known to boost the mitochondrial energy production, and improve the circulation of blood. It protects your mitochondria, strengthening their cell membranes. When used as a supplement, astaxanthin can increase your strength endurance by more than half.

Wild salmon, particularly the sockeye, has a high concentration of astaxanthin, as a result of consuming planktons and algae. In the contrast, salmons raised at farms feeds on food pellets, which contain only the synthetic version of asthaxanthin. The synthetic asthaxanthin is derived from petrochemicals, and is very different from the natural version.

Farmed salmon also consumes fodder that can put you in danger of dioxin and mercury poisoning.

As a result of this discovery, some salmon farmers have tried to replace the artificial fodder with corn and soy protein, thus avoiding the contamination. However, since the fish don’t like eating soy and corn, the quality of this meat is very low. To compensate for that, farmers use antibiotics which keep the fish healthy, but these antibiotics end up in our bodies when we consume them. The vegetable oils found in this food also have negative effect on the omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon meat, and can infect them with mold toxins.

According to FDA and EPA who have both studied the mercury content in fish, the meat of wild salmon does not contain any mercury traces. Having all this in mind you should avoid eating farmed salmon, and stick to the wild-caught. They’re good source of nutrients, and should be found at your table as often as possible. There are several varieties to choose from at the market. Each has a specific taste, so find which one suits you the best.

Salmon varieties Sockeye salmon is one of the safest choices at the market, because it’s difficult to farm it as a result of its unique eating habits. Because it primarily feeds on planktons it has a high concentration of good cholesterol, vitamin D and astaxanthin. It also abounds in omega-3 acids and has a strong flavor. It’s especially tasty when smoked.

Chinook salmon (king salmon) has the highest concentration of omega-3 acids, measuring almost three times more than the other varieties. This is a consequence of living in deep, cold waters.

Namely, the omega-3 fats keeps them warm, protecting them from freezing. Unlike the previous species, this variety of salmon can be farmed. That is why you should be careful when buying it.

Pacific coho salmon is extremely rich in vitamin D, with good concentration of omega-3 acids.

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

 Ocean-based salmon feedlot experiment – an epic failure Jim Wilcox – Wild Game Fish Conservation International March 12, 2016

The Right Honorable Justin Trudeau, I am writing on behalf of Wild Game Fish Conservation International and fellow wildlife conservationists around planet earth to urge you and your administration to remove ocean-based salmon feedlots sited in wild salmon migration routes along Canada's east and west coasts.

The ocean-based salmon feedlot experiment has failed miserably. This industry's reliance on free waste disposal (including feces, excess feed and multiple chemicals) and free water circulation via the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is shameful. Caring industries pride themselves in protecting our lifegiving oceans.

As documented via many peer-reviewed scientific reports, Canada's iconic wild salmon and all that rely on them are adversely impacted by these weapons of mass destruction. Many leading scientists understand full well that ocean-based salmon feedlots and wild salmon cannot coexist in the same ecosystems due to increased sea lice, diseases and pollution associated with ocean-based salmon feedlots.

The mostly foreign-owned, ocean-based salmon feedlot industry sited in Canada's marine waters is a rapidly growing international issue as Canada, several states within the USA, sovereign Indian Nations within the USA and First Nations located in Canada fish for, eat and sell wild salmon that are directly impacted during their migrations through Canada's marine waters Similarly, potential consumers around planet earth are educating themselves regarding the ecological atrocities and human health risks associated with ocean-raised feedlot salmon - We are turning to other options for our nutrition.

This trend of foreign-owned salmon feedlots devastating Canada's uniquely-productive marine ecosystems while producing sub-par products that are linked to serious human health risks for the world's consumers must end.

Your effective leadership regarding the removal of ocean-based salmon feedlots from Canada's precious marine ecosystems will be appreciated, Mr. Trudeau.

Thank you, sir.

James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International

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

ď‚Ź LUSEMEDISIN DUMPED IN NORWEGIAN FJORDS (translated) Every year the Norwegian aquaculture industry millions of kg of delousing agents in Norwegian fjords. Environmental impact can be catastrophic, warn experts.

March12, 2016 Millions of kilos of hydrogen peroxide and several thousand kg of medicine dumped to kill the lice. Its use is highly controversial, and no one knows the consequences. Bureaucrats are also disagreed about who really has the responsibility to investigate this.

2015 was another record year for the use of anti-lice medication in Norway. Neither the FSA, the Environment Agency or other regulatory authorities may give NRK answers on exactly how much lusemedisin used, how it was used, and the consequences thereof.

But all agree that we use too much:

See how much medicine used in your area: Due to large amounts of data, it may take some time to download the result.

- We must stop using drugs as the main strategy Tonje High's technical director in veterinary medicine in the Norwegian Medicines Agency.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels - It is extremely important to find new effective methods to combat lice. History shows that parasites develop resistance to drugs over time. Resistance is now developing much faster than we are able to develop new drugs. Therefore, the industry has increased the use of existing treatment lotions to try to gain control, says High.

According High now has lice have developed resistance to most agents used for delousing in fish farming.

- It is simply not possible to use medicine as a general strategy for combating lice anymore. This must stop, says High.

Technical director believes that lusemedisiner only exceptional cases should be used, and that the industry must find a solution.

- It is simply not possible to use medicine as a general strategy for combating lice. This must stop, says High.

TONJE HIGH IN NORWEGIAN MEDICINES AGENCY This is delousing agents aquaculture industry uses Slice. The active substance emamectin benzoate.

Emamectin benzoate (EB) has high affinity for organic materials and low water solubility. EB that spread through feed waste into the environment, is strongly bound to the organic components in the feed, but will gradually be released into the water.

Fish have relatively good tolerance for EB, but the substance has a high acute toxicity by several marine organisms, especially some species of crustaceans.

Read more about Slice: Azasure. The active substance azametifos This product contains azametifos. Azamethiphos is a organofosfatforbindelse. Repeated use of the same class chemotherapeutic agent can lead to development of resistance.

The product should be used as part of a comprehensive plan to combat sea lice, so as to reduce the risk of developing resistance to the product.

The product is very dangerous for shellfish and dangerous to fish and other aquatic organisms. The product should not be used in farms where crabs or lobsters are held captive near the cages being treated. Frequent use and / or use on a wider scale can lead to increased environmental risk.

Read more about Azasure Para Move. The active substance hydrogen peroxide Harmful to aquatic organisms. Lakes and rivers must not be contaminated with concentrated product, since high concentrations may be harmful for some marine species.

Read more about hydrogen peroxide

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Salmosan- Virkesoff azamethiphos Azamethiphos is very dangerous for shellfish besides being dangerous for fish and other aquatic organisms. The product should not be used in farms where crabs and lobsters are held captive near cages being treated. Frequent use and / or use on a wider scale can lead to increased environmental risk.

This product in concentrated form is dangerous to fish and other aquatic organisms. Avoid contamination of ponds, streams, ponds or lakes, with the product or packaging.

Read more about Salmosan Releeze / Lepsidon. The active substance diflubenzeron Diflubenzuron belong to a group of substances benzoyl urea. This group of compounds destroys / disrupts the synthesis of chitin. Chitin is a substantial part of the exoskeleton ( "shell") to arthropods that f. Ex crustaceans.

For growth and development must animal switch exoskeleton. If absorption of diflubenzuron in the target organism is adequate in terms both concentration and time in relation to the next molt, the new shell could not provide adequate protection for the animal so that it dies.

Extensive use of Lepsidon in aquaculture could provide unacceptable results in Norwegian fjords. See Section 5.4 cautions.

Read about Releeze Ektobann. The active substance teflubenzeron The composition may affect molting of marine crustaceans in sediment. Teflubenzuron can be present in the sediment beneath the plant a longer time.

The feed to the environment is mainly done by that teflubenzuron is bound to particles in the form of excess feed and faeces.

It is proven concentrations that could affect the environment in sediment samples up to 50 meters from the plant. Low concentrations were found in the organic material at a distance of 1000 meters.

Extensive use of the product in aquaculture could provide unacceptable results in Norwegian fjords.

Read about Ektobann Alpha max. The active ingredient deltamethrin Lack of power and reduced sensitivity to deltamethrin is observed. Substance is toxic to crustaceans and should not be used in systems where it is stored crabs and lobsters are in close proximity.

More frequent use and / or on a larger scale could pose a greater risk to the environment.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Read more about Alpha-max Betamax. The active substance cypermethrin Betamax does not prevent reinfestation lice after treatment. Lack of power and reduced susceptibility to cypermethrin is observed.

Substance is toxic to crustaceans and should not be used in systems where it is stored crabs and lobsters in the immediate vicinity when the local current conditions the likelihood of exposure.

Read more about Betamax Isoauginol A sedative to calm down the fish. Isoeugeol can be harmful to organisms living in water. By concentrated discharges into water have sufficient dilution in the recipient ensured.

Read more about AQUI No one knows the environmental impacts NOMA is also concerned about environmental impacts indiscriminate use of drugs in aquaculture can result. In the Directorate of Fisheries biomassestatiskk makes it clear that in Norwegian fjords is 3444 cages distributed in 534 localities.

These figures are updated in January 2016. A large proportion of these are in need of debugging, and many receive multiple treatments over a year.

This used industry in 2015: Drugs azamethiphos

146237 kg

diflubenzuron

18846.26 kg

emamectin benzoate

731.55 kg

Hydrogen Peroxide

67588500 kg

isoeugenol

992 060 ml

teflubenzuron

561.76 kg

- These are drugs that can have big potential for damage to nature. The problem is that we have very little information about the consequences of use to a greater extent.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels - We cannot require manufacturers to document the environmental consequences with higher doses than prescribed causes. We need independent research on the consequences of such an extensive use of medicine as we now have on the environment, and including other living organisms in the ocean, says High.

High receive support from a professor of biology at the University of Bergen, Are Nylund.

- There has not been any good studies on the effect such treatment lotions have on local ecology. We know that many of the drugs affecting shellfish. But there is very little evidence of this, says Nylund.

Several of the medicines used are very difficult to detect in samples because it occurs in small concentrations when they are scattered.

- But we know that these funds kills lice. We also know that they take the lives of others larvae, crustaceans and zooplankton, says Nylund.

Nylund is clear that Norway lacks knowledge about this.

- We know too little about the consequences. This should we acquire knowledge. But this is information that is very costly to obtain, says Nylund.

It goes very much money for lice treatment that provides very little effect, says Professor Frank Nilsen.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels The medication does not bite on lice anymore Professor of Parasitology Frank Nilsen believes that aquaculture currently pumps massive amounts of delousing agents in the fjords of little use.

- What has happened is that the industry has tackled resistance issues with the use of even more treatment lotions to kill lice. They have escalated the use of medicine in line with the development of resistance. Then lice even more resistant in the long term, says Nilsen.

- What has happened is that the industry has tackled resistance issues with the use of even more treatment lotions to kill lice.

FRANK NILSEN, A PROFESSOR OF PARASITOLOGY Nilsen believes that the use of medicines is an unnecessarily high cost for the industry.

- For farmers, this also means huge expenses. It goes very much money for lice treatment that gives very little effect.

The state must take responsibility Nilsen also believes that the environmental impacts of the widespread use of delousing agents are not sufficiently investigated.

- There is now an enormous use of delousing agents. This we have never seen before. Meanwhile, nobody knows the environmental consequences of its use.

According to Nilsen, the costs of such investigations be very large.

- I think it is the government that must take responsibility to ensure thorough environmental studies, says Nilsen.

Read also: Sea lice cost farmers 5 billion in 2015

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) dominates Sea lice are today the biggest problem for the Norwegian aquaculture industry. Lusa have become resistant to treatment lotions and industry sets new records in drug use.

Hydrogen peroxide is basically product that is often used for disinfection. It has also proven effective relative to the lice lip to the fish, if one bathing the fish in water with hydrogen peroxide. But here is an uncertain which effects this has on the environment.

Also read: Reviewer farming giant There are two things that worry me. One is the survival of lice and nits after delousing, where a slepper hydrogen peroxide into the fjord system again AUD SKRUDLAND, FSA. Lusa has also developed resistance to H202. Reports suggest that many lice survive such treatment. Today wellboats lip lice and hydrogen peroxide directly into the sea after delousing. This often takes place in the vicinity of the plant are deloused.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Aud Skrudland is a senior adviser at the Food Safety Authority. She is responsible for fish health, pointing out that she did not want to comment on the environmental impact of extensive drug use. Skrudland believes there is reason to shout a cry that.

- There are two things that worry me. One is the survival of lice and nits after delousing, where a slepper hydrogen peroxide into the fjord system again. This may lead to new infection of lice. In addition, there is a risk also spread by other salmon diseases like ISA and PD by the discharge of water from delousing, said Skrudland.

She believes that in the long term must eliminate the factors leading to disease and sea lice infestation.

- We need to get other options, both to protect fish health. We cannot continue like now, says Skrudland.

Cecilie Kristiansen is director section for local pollution Environment Directorate. She confirms that well boats currently do not have discharge permits under the Pollution Control Act. According Kristiansen going well boats follow rules and regulations on emissions from ships.

- Regulations concerning emissions from ships is complicated, and we see that there are differing interpretations of the OSPAR Convention (Oslo-Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Northeast Atlantic) and whether regulations where applicable dumping from ships applies to emissions of delousing water from a well boat, says Kristiansen.

Authorities now working on assessments of new rules for lusemidlerinkludert preparation of new regulations for emissions from wellboat, says Kristiansen.

The directorate has sent a proposal to the Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Fisheries on measures to mitigate the adverse environmental effects associated with the anti-lice treatment. They describe four measures to reduce environmental damage.  Prohibitions emissions using not approved combination methods.  only allowed to use kitinsyntesehemmarar the plant that meets the best environmental standards.  introduction of drop zones for the discharge of treatment lakes from well boats.  document about lice treatment is environmentally safe.

Source: Directorate of Fisheries.

- Do you have full visibility and control of emissions from this sector?

- Construction of Aquaculture also requires permission by the Pollution Control Act. The County Governor is the competent authority, and considers applications for licenses and supervises the requirements of the permits observed. In the permissions set conditions, including the maximum allowed biomass on the locality and environmental monitoring, says Kristiansen.

Kristiansen admits it is very difficult to check the aquaculture industry.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels - The aquaculture industry differs from many types of industry by fish farms in the sea do not have a discharge pipe or similar, which means that we cannot set specific emission limits. This is challenging also for the use and discharge of chemicals, such as agents against lice, says Kristiansen.

- We do not check the impact of medicine use Environment Directorate is therefore uncertain about who should supervise and check the consequence of millions of gallons of water containing hydrogen peroxide dumped in Norwegian fjords As regards other pollution from aquaculture shows Environment Directorate County Governor's Office.

Also at the County they admit that they do not supervise or check the consequences of pollution for medicine use in the aquaculture industry.

- Our task is to assess emissions from waste feed and feces. We must ensure that plants receive emission permits that are adapted to the location and amount of fish in the facility. We are not giving discharge permit for well boats. Therefore we have no overview of the environmental impacts of such emissions says lecturer in environmental protection department in More og Romsdal, Anne Melbø.

Melbø says that the industry itself has a responsibility to ensure that all rules and regulations are followed.

The industry claims they have full control - What emerges here is not new to us. Those statements emphasize quite different issues and that all justifies their concerns that they lack knowledge. there is reason to point out that there is more knowledge than the defect as a whole pointed out by those who here have spoken, says the director of environmental health in Seafood Norway, Henrik Stenwig.

- Can you guarantee that the use of medicines does not lead to environmental pollution / consequences for the rest of your life in the fjord systems?

- Surveys show that dilution around the cages are very large and the distance from the site before effect on other species could be considered small, only a few hundred meters. Within such distances it is usually very small percentage of sensitive populations that are, say Stenwig.

Environment Director recalls that possible environmental effects of delousing agents are included in the assessment in connection with the approval of drugs to prevent the use shall have unacceptable environmental effects.

- Against this background, we believe that unacceptable environmental impact of delousing agents cannot be commonly occurring, says Stenwig.

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

Svineriet continues, said chairman Vidar Børretzen (right) in riverine own team in Etne after large quantities of escaped rainbow trout have been observed in the river in recent days. Here from a previous out escaped farmed salmon.

 Unwanted species in Etneelva (translated) Regbueørret from the Great Escape in February from farming company Sjøtroll is now heading up the national salmon river Etne to spawn. - Svineriet repeats itself, said chairman of river own team, Vidar Børretzen.

March 12, 2016

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels In February escaped near 50,000 rainbow trout with an average size of 3.7 kg from Sjøtroll farms in Ålfjorden in Sveio municipality. It was iumiddelbart once set recapture the sea and about half are now trapped.

Likely to increase But now some of the escaped trout found their way into the fjord to the national salmon river Etne.

- Just off the river mouth is taken about 20 pieces with a rod in recent days. And now the fish observed on the way up the river, said chairman of elveeirlaget, Vidar Børretzen.

- Tuesday this week observed divers from the Advisory Biologists ten pieces in the bottom two zones. There is reason to believe that this figure has now increased significantly and will increase further in the coming days, he said.

Unacceptable Rainbow trout is an undesirable species in the Norwegian fauna. And there is a spring-spawning species as opposed to wild salmon. That means there may be a risk that rainbow trout digs up spawning pits wild salmon made in autumn and thus may reduce the production of wild salmon fry into the river.

- Besides, we are afraid that rainbow trout can carry diseases that can infect wild salmon, says Børretzen.

Divers have observed nearly 500 wild salmon, so-called winter fish, in the lower part of the river. These are salmon that have spawned last autumn and which will soon be swimming offshore.

- These fish are weak after a winter without food in the river and that could be easily susceptible to diseases, he said.

- Rainbow trout taken so far have been sexually mature. It is totally unacceptable that this filth repeats itself year after year, believes Børretzen.

Etne has for years struggled with a lot of farmed fish in the river and has recently had a fish trap at the bottom of the river in order to weed out the escapees. But this trap is not installed until later in the year.

Monday, divers from the Advisory Biologists commissioned by farmer Sjøtroll swim down the river again and try to kill as many as possible of the escaped steelhead with a harpoon.

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

ď‚Ź More troubles for Cooke Aqua: Product recall, "Do not buy" notice for farmed salmon, loan demands March 1, 2016 Fish farming practices harm environment New Brunswick-based multi-national farmed salmon producer Cooke Aquaculture had nothing but bad news during the past month, including yet another product recall from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), a voluble complaint from the mayor of the town housing Cooke's Nova Scotia headquarters and a notice to consumers to avoid eating Cooke's primary product, Atlantic salmon grown in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland.

Government product recalls In late January, CFIA issues a recall notice for salmon products produced by subsidiary True North Salmon, based on evidence that the fish might contain particles of a foreign substance. In 2012, CFIA issues a recall warning when Cooke distributed framed mussels which were alleged to contain marine biotoxins. Also in 2012, three Cooke executives - including CEO and founder Glenn Cooke faced federal felony charges for dumping gallons of deadly insecticides near their salmon cages in the Bay of Fundy.

Avoid this salmon The most recent issue of the Seafood Watch consumer guide cited farmed Atlantic salmon grown by Cooke and others in "feedlot" conditions in open net pen cages as food to avoid. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program creates science-based recommendations that help consumers and businesses make ocean-friendly seafood choices. More than 1,000 businesses across North America use Seafood Watch's science to inform their purchasing decisions, the organization says.

The Seafood Watch report breaks down its seafood rankings into three categories: best choice, good alternative and avoid.

The "red" label - or "avoid" - from Seafood Watch means it recommends consumers shouldn't buy a product because it's caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment.

Susanna Fuller, marine coordinator for Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre, said Atlantic Canadian fish farms use far too many chemicals and antibiotics on their fish and there's a risk that farmed fish will escape and pass diseases to wild salmon. Cooke Aquaculture owns and operates the majority of salmon farms in the Atlantic Region and has feedlot farms in Maine, Chile and Scotland.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Cooke salmon farms in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Chile have had many instances of sea lice epidemics and virulent outbreaks of infectious salmon anemia (ISA), resulting in the enforced slaughter of millions of market-ready salmon.

Show us the money This week, Cooke was also in the news throughout Nova Scotia and in international fish business journals as a result of the mayor and Council in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, pushing the province to spend millions originally intended to fund Cooke Aquaculture's new processing plant for economic development. The headquarters for Cooke operations in Nova Scotia are in Shelburne. Nova Scotia The minister of Business for the province said recently, that the province would be calling in an $18 million loan to Cooke due to the firm's failure to perform its obligations under the loan agreement.

The province had committed to making $25 million available to the company to build the plant that would have employed more than 300 people, but the company said in January that it was abandoning those plans. The council said it wanted to see some of that money stay in Shelburne to create more jobs.

Editorial Comment: As was published in the March issue of Legacy:

“Cooke Looking to buy all of Icicle” Given their criminal, greed-driven, irresponsible practices around planet earth, Cooke Aquaculture must never be permitted to own ocean-based salmon feedlots sited in USA waters

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

ď‚Ź Video (15 min): The Case for Fish Farming

Editorial Comment: To ensure maximum sustainability of finfish feedlots, 1. Feedlots must be land-based 2. Feedlots must be closed containment 3. Feed must not be derived from wild forage fish

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

Renewable Energy: Geothermal, Waves, Tidal, Solar, Wind, Hydropower

No Alternative to Water

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

Renewable energy

The Sun Mine solar plant outside Kimberley B.C. Now the largest solar installation in Western Canada, the project was one of many to be brought online last year.

 2015 a record-breaking year for renewables—everywhere but Canada Global economies pumped $497 billion into clean energy last year, but in Canada, spending declined by almost half February 29, 2016 OTTAWA—Canada is dropping behind its major trading partners in renewable energy investment, according to a study from a clean energy advocacy group.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Merran Smith of Clean Energy Canada suggests government-set targets and goals for wind and solar power in regional energy grids is the best way to spur that investment and keep Canada in the game.

“Clean energy is taking off around the world and in the countries that we consider our markets,” she said. “This is really a wake-up call for Canada.”

Clean Energy Canada, in a report released Monday, found 2015 was a record-breaking year for investment in clean energy such as solar and wind power.

Using figures from international agencies and business databases—predominantly Bloomberg New Energy Finance data released last week—the group found a total of $497 billion was invested in 2015. That’s a seven per cent increase from the previous year despite competition from low-priced fossil fuels.

The largest chunk of that money—$226 billion—was spent in developing countries, the study found.

About $218 billion went toward solar energy and about $150 billion was spent on wind power, the two largest types of investment.

The list of countries and regions that increased spending on renewable energy is long.

U.S. spending was up seven per cent. In the U.K. and India, it went up 23 per cent. China spent 17 per cent more on renewables and Mexico increased its investments by 114 per cent.

Meanwhile, spending in Canada actually declined by about half, even though the country remains ranked eighth in the world in terms of absolute dollars.

The reason, said Smith, is the lack of new government targets and regulations for the use of renewable energy. “(Clean energy) doesn’t need subsidies, it needs policies that commit to targets,” Smith said.

Most of the investment that resulted from Ontario’s decision to purchase more renewable energy has already happened, she said. Provinces such as British Columbia haven’t made such promises yet and those that have, such as Alberta and Saskatchewan, have yet to come up with the details.

Alberta has promised to get just under a third of its power from renewables by 2030. Saskatchewan said by that year, half its electricity is expected to come from clean sources.

“We need to see that translated into policy this year,” Smith said. “That will help boost Canada’s investment.

“What we know is that good targets and good policy really help.”

The first ministers’ meeting on climate to be held this week in Vancouver could also help.

“One thing they could commit to is a clean energy plan for Canada that makes real, tangible clean energy commitments,” she said.

Smith said that wind and solar power are becoming cheaper and more competitive with fossil fuels.

They’re already cost-competitive in 30 countries, she said, adding that in a place such as Alberta, with large wind power potential, renewables can already compete with fossil fuels.

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

Geothermal

ď‚Ź Uganda, Tanzania in Geothermal Projects to Plug Power Deficit February 20, 2016 Uganda and Tanzania are set to begin generating electricity from geothermal resources to plug the supply deficit.

In East Africa, Kenya is leading in power generation using underground steam.

Green Impact Development Services (GIDS) is carrying out exploration and evaluation of geothermal resources with aim of developing a 100MW power plant at Buranga in western Uganda.

The Tanzania Geothermal Development Company (TGDC) is expected from June to start drilling three wells near Lake Ngozi in the southwestern the country as a first step to tap into underground geothermal steam.

Kenya, in 2014, commissioned at least 280MW from the Olkaria geothermal fields. This month, Ormat Technologies Inc commissioned the 29MW Plant Four at Olkaria III geothermal complex near Naivasha town, some 90km west of Nairobi, which increased the company's generation capacity to 139MW. Ethiopia's installed capacity of 7MW geothermal power is set to rise to 70MW with a $30 million project to expand the Alutho Langano field.

Uganda's Energy Ministry said the government is promoting the use of renewable sources such as geothermal energy, as alternatives to hydropower and fossil fuels generation.

Uganda's geothermal potential areas are in the Western Rift Valley while Tanzania hosts the Western Rift Valley and Eastern Rift Valley arm of East African Rift System. The two countries have not yet tapped into their geothermal potential.

GIDS said pre-feasibility studies at the Buranga project showed that subsurface water temperatures of 150 to 200 degrees Celsius are suitable for electricity production for direct use in industry and agriculture.

"The company is planning to drill three deep exploration wells at the prospect and develop 30MW well-head geothermal power plant units at each successful well," said the firm. This will require at least $42 million.

Direct supply Geothermal is a versatile energy form that can be used for a wide variety of direct applications such as spas, swimming pools, baths, heating greenhouses and dehydrating agricultural products.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels By the end of 2013, Uganda had granted geothermal exploration licences to Ascot Associates Ltd, Clean Source Energy Partners Ltd, FCN Energies Ltd, Cozumel Energy (U) Ltd, GIDS, the Katwe Geothermal Power Project Ltd, Pawakom International Ltd and Moberge Finance Ltd. Uganda and Rwanda have signed a memorandum of understanding with Kenya to help expedite geothermal development.

They are expected to benefit from the financial advice of the Kenya Electricity Generating Company and Geothermal Development Company.

Uganda and Tanzania are now at exploration stage.

Tanzania's Energy Minister Sospeter Muhongo has directed TGDC to commence drilling of three geothermal wells near Lake Ngozi by June this year.

"We cannot continue waiting due to the shortage of power the country has been experiencing," he said.

Tanzania wants to produce 200MW of geothermal power by 2020.

Studies have shown subsurface water temperatures of 230 to 250 degrees Celsius. The government will help TGDC to find funds for the Lake Ngozi project, including inviting in investors.

TGDC has identified 50 potential sites from where 5,000MW of geothermal electricity can be produced.

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

Marine Hydrokinetics

February 23, 2016

 Sweden deploys 120-ton subsea generator switchgear A significant step to begin generation at the Sotenas Wave Energy Plant off of Sweden’s west coast took place in December when a 120-ton subsea generator switchgear was deployed and connected to the Swedish national power grid via a 10 km-long subsea cable.

According to a press release from Seabased AB, a number of wave energy converters were also connected to the subsea switchgear.

In 2011, Fortum and Seabased signed an agreement to construct a wave energy park in Sotenas.

Once it begins generating power, according to Seabased, the park will be the world’s largest fullscale demonstration project of its kind.

“This is a very significant step for us. As soon as the buoys are connected to the generators we can start to produce electricity for our customers,” said Heli Antila, chief technology officer at Fortum.

 Laminaria set to test wave device in Scotland The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) signed Flemish wave energy developer Laminaria to test a wave energy device at EMEC’s grid-connected wave test site at Billia Croo, off the west coast of Orkney, Scotland.

A press release from EMEC said, “The official signing took place Dec. 15, in Edinburgh, coinciding with a visit by the Minister-President of Flanders, Geert Bourgeois.”

Laminaria’s technology is a surge operated attenuator that has a built-in storm protection system to enhance its survivability, according to the release.

Scale sea trials are in progress in Belgium that will have an effect on how the full-scale device will be constructed prior to performance testing at EMEC in 2017.

Laminaria will be the first Belgian company to test at EMEC’s test sites, and the company has been gaining experience in Scotland for nearly 10 years.

“By combining the expertise built up in Scotland during the last decade and Laminaria’s novel approach, we can put wave energy on the road to success,” said Laminaria Chief Executive Officer Steven Nauwelaerts.

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

 US$21 million bioWAVE deployed in Australia Marine hydrokinetics (MHK) company BioPower Systems (BPS) reports it deployed its 250 kW bioWAVE pilot demonstration unit, Dec. 16, in the Southern Ocean off the southeastern coast of Australia near Port Fairy, Victoria.

The bioWAVE device is a 26 m-tall oscillating structure designed to sway back-and-forth beneath the ocean swell, capturing energy from the waves and converting it into electricity that is fed into the grid via an undersea cable. The design was inspired by undersea plants and the entire device can lie flat on the seabed out of harm’s way during bad weather.

The US$21 million project was funded in part with $11 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and $5 million from the Victorian government.

Acting ARENA Chief Executive Officer Ian Kay said, “This is a major achievement for Australia’s emerging wave power industry and represents another ARENA-supported breakthrough in renewable energy innovation.”

Kay said the MHK device will be tested and monitored throughout its operation to produce an independent performance assessment that will be shared with the energy industry in line with ARENA’s knowledge sharing agenda. The bioWAVE device installation marks an important company phase.

 Atlantis, ORE Catapult announce tidal turbine tests in advance of MeyGen deployment Tidal energy developer Atlantis Resources is using a six-week test program at the National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) in the UK to validate the reliability and performance of its AR1500 tidal turbines.

The review, being conducted in partnership with Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, is intended to help finalize the turbine’s design before deployment later this year at the MeyGen tidal array in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth, the body of water that separates the north Scottish mainland from Stroma Island.

ORE Catapult is designing a power train test rig that will be used to simulate real-life forces the tidal turbine will experience during operation.

“We work collaboratively with innovators such as Atlantis to help develop their ideas into marketready technologies,” said Tony Quinn, ORE Catapult operations director. “Our range of testing assets and methods help to reduce risk in new innovative designs and generate confidence in their performance, ultimately tackling some of the industry’s major technology challenges to drive down the cost of offshore renewable energy.”

Atlantis Resources did not specify when Narec testing would begin, although the Edinburgh-based company expects MeyGen’s first units to come online by the end of 2016.

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

Solar

 First solar powered airport in South Africa opens February 29, 2016 The first solar powered airport in South Africa has officially been opened making it a first of its kind in Africa.

Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa congratulated the Department of Transport as it is one of the key departments paving way for South Africa’s Green Economy Strategy.

Majority of the airport’s energy needs will be supplied through 200 square meters of photo-voltaic (PV) panels. PV technology generates electricity from solar radiation providing a renewable and clean energy source.

The first phase will involve generation of 750kw through this clean energy source sufficient to meet the airport’s daily needs. This is however expected to increase with plant capacity in future.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels The minister said the government is on track in transitioning South Africa to a low-carbon, resource efficient and green economy. Green transport initiatives form part of government’s strategy to shift the economy towards sustainable industries with low environmental impact.

“The achievement at George Airport is the result of successful collaboration between government, entities and the private sector in developing the green economy.

The new solar-powered airport will operate on cost-effective and renewable sources to generate energy. It is also expected to simultaneously support South Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets,” says Molewa.

This is in alignment with South Africa’s National Climate Change Response Policy whose objective is to effectively manage climate change impacts through interventions that build and sustain South Africa’s social, economic and environmental resilience and emergency response capacity.

South Africa has continued to invest heavily in the green economy, as highlighted recently in the 2016 Budget.

Molewa added that South Africa has made a significant headway in the uptake of renewable energy, thus making green the public transport system and promoting energy efficiency in government facilities.

Other initiatives that are underway in the transport industry include shifting freight from road to rail and introduction of electricity regenerative braking in locomotives.

In addition, 14 000 taxis are being converted to compressed natural gas, with an expected emission reduction of 23 – 27 per cent per vehicle.

Minister Molewa therefore urges other private and public sector entities to reconfigure and retrofit their existing infrastructure in support of more sustainable energy consumption patterns.

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

 France Wants To Build More Than 600 Miles of Solar Roads The solar-panel roadways could generate power for up to 5 million people, or 8 percent of the country's population.

February 9, 2016 The French Minister of Ecology and Energy, Ségolène Royal, has announced that the country plans to cover 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) of roads with solar panels, according to the Global Construction Review. A 1-kilometer segment of the surface, called Wattway, can generate enough power for a town of 5,000 people, according to Colars, the manufacturer of the panels. This means the energygenerating road surfaces could provide power for as much as 8 percent of the French population, or about 5 million people.

Installing the solar-panel surface over the 621 miles of existing roads is expected to take five years.

The surface is 7 mm thick, or about a quarter inch, and has photovoltaic cells arranged like tiles in a polycrystalline silicon layer that is applied directly to the road. The panels should be strong enough to support fully-loaded trucks and provide the same amount of traction as asphalt. Testing on the solarpanel road surface is expected to begin in the spring.

The Netherlands built a 70-meter (230-foot) solar-panel bike path in 2014, though the scope of the French plan dwarfs that project. Japan is also working to construct innovative solar plants, though theirs float on reservoirs and other bodies of water.

What we don't know now is how much the solar road surface will cost, how it will stand up to inclement weather, and how long it will last until stretches of road need to be replaced. But if the surface truly is as sturdy and reliable as asphalt, covering roads with something that can make use of all that sunshine seems like a no-brainer.

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

Wind

 Texas wind power set a new record late Thursday February 19, 2016 Wind power in the Texas grid set a new record at 9:20 p.m. Thursday evening when it generated 14,023 megawatts of power.

Wind turbines accounted for more than 45 percent of the grid’s overall load at certain points late Thursday as Texas increasingly relies more on renewable power. February has proven a particularly windy month thus far.

The previous peak wind record was set Dec. 20 at 13,883 megawatts, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages about 90 percent of the state’s grid load. One megawatt is typically enough to power 200 homes during peak demand.

The new record may not last for long as more wind farms are constantly being built in West Texas, the Panhandle and the Texas Gulf Coast.

More than 20 percent of ERCOT’s electricity capacity of 80,000 megawatts now comes from wind.

And more wind is on the way. About 5,000 more megawatts of wind power are being built in Texas.

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

ď‚Ź Denmark reaching its goal to be fossil fuel free through renewable energy March 5, 2016 The small country of Denmark is making a big commitment to renewables, aiming to be fossil-fuel free by 2050, writes Laurie Guevara-Stone. A large expansion of mainly offshore wind power features large, along with moves to a 'smart grid', high vehicle taxes and energy conservation initiatives.

Denmark is well on its way to becoming the energy leader of the EU. To reach its goal of 50% wind power by 2020, Denmark plans to deploy an additional 1,000 MW of offshore and a further 500 MW of nearshore wind turbines, while replacing old onshore wind turbines with new higher-capacity ones.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels In the early 1970s imported oil supplied 92% of Denmark's energy. Today Denmark's electric grid is over 40% renewably powered, and the country is aiming to reach 100% renewable electricity by 2035 and 100% renewable energy in all sectors by 2050.

Denmark also plans to reduce its domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2020 relative to 1990 levels-without the use of carbon credits-ten years ahead of the proposed EU target.

Denmark is fortunate to have extremely good wind speeds-averaging 7.6 meters per second (California's Altamont Pass wind farm sees 5.3 to 7.1 m/s, and power output rises as the cube of wind speed).

The country has a goal for wind power to supply 50% of electricity consumption by 2020, and it is well on its way. In 2015, wind power supplied 42% of domestic electricity consumption.

Denmark was the first country in the world to build massive offshore wind farms, installing a 5 MW wind farm two kilometers from the coastline in 1991. Since then the country has installed four other offshore wind farms bringing offshore wind capacity to 1,271 MW. The country also has over 300 onshore wind turbines bringing total wind capacity as of January 1, 2016 to 5,070 MW. To reach its goal of 50% wind power by 2020, the country has an initiative to deploy an additional 1,000 MW of offshore and a further 500 MW of nearshore wind turbines, while replacing old onshore wind turbines with new higher-capacity ones.

In order to avoid any potential local opposition to the onshore wind farm, the Danish government implemented various regulations to help with public acceptance. For example, residents are compensated if a property loses value due to wind turbines, the local community receives a payment per megawatt-hour of power generated, and at least 20% of the shares in a wind farm must be offered to local residents.

Energy consumption can be decoupled from economic growth Over the past 30 years, the country's energy consumption has remained relatively stable, while gross domestic product has doubled.

"Our continued efforts on energy conservation have greatly reduced our electricity demand", says Henning Parbo, Chief Economist for Energinet, the country's electric and gas transmission system operator. "And Denmark is not characterized by high energy-intensive industry."

In fact, Denmark is one of the most energy-efficient countries in the EU and the OECD, partly because many Danish companies have optimized their industrial processes, facilities, and equipment. Denmark's goal is to reduce its final energy consumption by 7% in 2020 compared to 2010.

The different energy sectors in Denmark - oil, electricity, natural gas, and district heating - are each assigned a share of energy savings to reach depending on their market share. The trade associations for those sectors then delegate responsibility for those savings to its member companies, also based on market share.

The country also quadrupled new buildings' thermal efficiency from 1977, and forbade oil- and gasfired heating of new buildings from 2013.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels CHP good - but biomass?

Twelve percent of all power in Denmark is generated from biomass and organic waste in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants, and more than 80% of Danish district heating is cogenerated with electricity. Today, there are 670 decentralized CHP plants around the country.

Most of the biomass being used in Denmark today is from straw and biodegradable waste, and 30% is imported from Eastern European countries and Canada in the form of wood pellets and wood chips.

Biomass proponents claim that burning wood pellets is a carbon-neutral form of energy because the plants that are the source of biomass capture as much CO2 when growing as they emit when burned. However, many others believe harvesting wood for biomass is anything but carbon-neutral and threatens many diverse ecosystems throughout the world.

In December 2014, the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy, and Building announced that only sustainably produced biomass would be purchased. The agreement includes requirements for the entire biomass supply chain and requires that forests that supply biomass for energy production be replanted.

However, the debate continues, as some argue that planting is no guarantee of healthy maturation about as much biomass belowground must also be protected in its volume and biodiversity, and although the biomass may be sustainably produced, the magnitude of the biomass material harvested may be unsustainable.

Denmark's CHP plants, in combination with the wind turbines, make Denmark one of the countries with the highest percentage of distributed generation in the world.

In 1990, the country had 15 central power plants. It now has 20 central power stations (4,200 MW), 45 electric boilers (550 MW), 5,300 wind turbines (5,070 MW), and 94,000 solar PV panels (785 MW), in addition to the 670 local combined heat and power plants (2,300 MW).

Long distance grid connections create network stability While the variability of wind power can be challenging, one advantage Denmark has is its proximity to other countries to which it can export wind power. When Denmark has an excess of wind power, as happened last July when the country's wind turbines produced140% of the electricity demand, it exports electricity to Sweden, Norway, and Germany.

Sweden and Norway import the electricity to save water in their hydro reservoirs, and use their hydropower during periods of low wind. Germany uses German windpower to save coal, though Germany's own renewables are so robust that with their legal (and economically rational) dispatch priority, they often limit Denmark's ability to export to Germany.

Denmark is also looking into establishing new connections to farther countries such as Holland and England.

Denmark is hoping to build a smart grid, and embarked on a full-scale smart grid pilot project in 2005, by reorganizing its grid in a cellular architecture. The Cell Controller Pilot Project(CCPP), which lasted for seven years, used advanced computers to jointly control wind turbines, CHP plants, and other distributed generation sources in a 1,000 square kilometer region

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels This allows them to operate as a single integrated virtual power plant that can intelligently ramp production up or down depending on wind conditions and power consumption. This not only helps with grid reliability, but also provides ancillary services such as power balancing, import and export of power, and voltage control.

A study conducted by Energinet showed that implementing a smart grid would provide gross socioeconomic benefits of $1.2 billion.

Most importantly, Danish grid operators, who 15 years ago would have considered it impossible to run the grid stably with 60% renewable supply, now achieve this routinely. They have become among the world's most adept at integrating diverse, distributed, often variable, renewable resources.

As a result, Danish electricity supply is the most reliable in Europe, slightly ahead of Germany's, and about ten times more reliable than US electricity supply.

Being fossil fuel free by 2050 means a big change in transportation. Yet Denmark has already made great strides. To discourage gasoline consumption, Denmark has a 180% tax on new cars, waived if one buys an electric car; a 95% surtax on cars weighing over two tonnes; and an annual tax on cars' inefficiency.

There is also free parking for EVs in all cities. It is estimated there are more than 4 million bicycles in Denmark and more than 10,000 kilometers of separated bike paths and bike lanes. And one-third of all commutes to work and school are done by bicycle.

A fossil-fuel-free future In its 2014 report, the Danish Energy Agency laid out four scenarios on how to be fossil fuel free by 2050: Wind scenario: primarily wind, solar PV, and CHP deployment, including massive electrification of the heat and transport sectors Biomass scenario: CHP for electricity and district heating.

Bio+ scenario: Replacing coal, oil, and natural gas with bioenergy. Wind energy remains at 2020 level (50% of electricity).

Hydrogen scenario: Highest wind deployment of any scenario along with hydrogen production.

The country does face challenges ahead. "The continued governmental support around Europe to renewable energy with zero marginal costs drives conventional units out of the market and will make the pricing of electricity a strange business", Parbo told RMI. "This also means that the ability to supply enough electricity in periods with no wind and no solar production will become the main future challenge."

But the main conclusion of the Danish Energy Agency's report is that it is technically feasible for the Danish energy system to be 100% fossil fuel free. And it's well on its way.

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

Hydropower

ď‚Ź Feds seek ways to avoid another Columbia Basin fish kill March 6, 2016 BOISE, IDAHO Northwest fisheries managers are creating a response plan should there be a return of warm water conditions that scientists say was a main factor in killing 90 percent of the adult sockeye salmon returning to the Columbia Basin last summer.

The report expected this spring will also suggest ways to cool water temperatures that became lethal in June and July for most of the 510,000 adult sockeye that entered the Columbia River to spawn.

But Ritchie Graves with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said options are limited when an extended heat wave coincides with low flows in rivers as in 2015, pushing water temperatures above 70 degrees.

"If the tributaries are all pouring hot water into the main system, then the system is going to be hot," he said, noting the high temperatures in the basin last year had not occurred since at least the 1950s.

In a separate action, a coalition of environmental groups in a February letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the agency needs to implement emergency measures or risk violating the Endangered Species Act should more massive fish kills occur. Thirteen species of salmon and steelhead are listed as endangered or threatened in the Columbia River basin.

Kevin Lewis of Idaho Rivers United said the Clearwater and Salmon rivers supply cold water to the system that's negated by the four dams on the lower Snake River where the water warms. He said removing those dams would cool the Columbia.

"It's unacceptable for myself and many others that hundreds of thousands of our fish our dying in the Columbia and Snake and the only response from the federal government is a shrug of the shoulders," he said.

Graves said early suggestions in the plan include putting in new temperature sensors that update faster and would give managers more advance warning about warm water conditions.

Last summer, cold water releases from Dworshak Dam was used to cool the Snake River, and Graves said examining how that could be done more effectively will be considered.

Some physical changes are also being made, including drawing cooler water from deeper in the pool behind Lower Granite Dam this year to be used in the dam's fish ladder. Managers say fish previously halted migrating due to warm water in the ladder.

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Another aspect would be to set criteria for when emergency actions would go into effect, such as emergency captures of Snake River sockeye.

Graves said the basin's sockeye salmon were the hardest hit by last year's warm water conditions, mainly because of the June-July timing of the migration run.

The Columbia basin at one time had up to 10 runs of lake-spawning sockeye, but now has three. Of last year's 510,000 fish that entered the Columbia River, about 400,000 were headed for the Okanogan River and Okanagan Lake in British Columbia. Graves said about 5 percent of them made it.

More than 100,000 were headed for the Wenatchee River and Lake Wenatchee in Washington state.

About 10 to 15 percent of those fish arrived.

Counts at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River showed 4,000 endangered Snake River sockeye salmon passed through on their 900-mile river journey to high-elevation Sawtooth basin lakes in central Idaho. Managers counted 55 that arrived.

When the severity of the fish kill became apparent, workers set up a trap at Lower Granite Dam and captured another 35 Snake River sockeye. Of the 90 total fish, 85 went to a hatchery for artificial spawning. Five were released into Pettit Lake to spawn naturally as part of efforts to rebuild a wild run.

Idaho managers say a captive breeding program for Snake River sockeye means the fish kill in 2015 is not a disaster for efforts to rebuild the run.

"What it did do, though, is set us back a little bit with the overall goal of slowly moving them more and more toward natural reproduction," said Russ Kiefer of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

He said workers released about 500 hatchery-raised adult fish into Redfish Lake last fall, and about 100 into Pettit Lake.

Graves said salmon and steelhead have life histories that spread the risk so one bad year won't wipe out an entire population. The big question for biologists now, he said, is how often warm-water events like last year are likely to occur.

"Once in 10 or 20 years, it's a setback," he said. "If it's a one in two- or three-year event, it's going to be a problem."

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

 DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO DESTROY FARMLAND THAT COULD SUSTAINABLY FEED OVER 1 MILLION PEOPLE? THE SITE C DAM March 2, 2016

Watch: This is what the Peace River valley looks like before Site C dam

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

Ever wonder what the fuss is about when people talk about Site C dam? Maybe being able to see what is at stake will touch people's hearts. Anyone who sees this incredible area knows how important this magical place is.

Most areas in this video will be buried underwater forever by the dam's unneeded construction.

The energy from Site C is not needed.

After 28 days of hearings and review of 28,000 pages of documentation, the Joint Review Panel concluded that BC Hydro has failed to prove that we need Site C. Further, they emphasized that because there are significant adverse effects, justification for the project must rest on an unambiguous need for the power.

Site C is going to cost you money - a lot of money.

"BC Hydro currently estimates that Site C Dam will cost $8.8 billion and “projects losing $800 million in the first 4 years of operation.” (Report of the Joint Review Panel, Site C Clean Energy Project, BC Hydro, May 1, 2014)" Alternative sources of power would be more cost effective.

"Energy economist Dr. Marvin Shaffer conducted significant research on the viability of Site C and has concluded that there are far less expensive alternatives to Site C." Send us your concerns about this unneeded project at realsitechearings.org

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

Pacific lamprey.

ď‚Ź Pacific Lamprey Long In Decline, But ESA Listing Avoidable March 7, 2016

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Regional fish managers and dam operators are rooting for the underdog Pacific lamprey, hoping it makes a comeback.

Long a priority for Northwest tribes as a traditional food and cultural resource, its numbers have dwindled because of the loss and degradation of its natural habitat.

The lamprey was rejected for listing under the Endangered Species Act in 2004, largely because too little was known about it, although the 2012 Pacific Lamprey Conservation Agreement--signed by 12 tribes, five states and seven federal agencies--aimed to create consensus around the need for national attention, better regional coordination and continued funding to be directed at lamprey restoration throughout the western Pacific states.

However, if current conservation measures fail to make progress in rebuilding populations, the lamprey could again be a candidate for listing.

Like salmon, Pacific lamprey are anadromous--they live part of their lives in freshwater and part in saltwater.

At Columbia River dams, the passage success of adult lamprey ranges from 40 to 70 percent, said Nick Ackerman, senior scientist at Portland General Electric, during a session at this year's Northwest Hydroelectric Association conference, held Feb 16-18 in Portland.

In contrast, the adult passage rate for salmon at Columbia River dams is now nearly 98 percent, according to BPA data.

"Lamprey passage is becoming a priority," Ackerman told the conference, noting that Pacific lamprey are a federal species of concern.

Although lamprey are not listed under the ESA, FERC hydro licenses are requiring "safe, timely and effective passage," he said.

FERC relicensing and Clean Water Act certifications are compelling beneficial conditions for lamprey as well as salmon in the Columbia River Basin and elsewhere.

He said lamprey are important to Columbia basin tribes as a source of food, medicine and ceremony.

In fact, tribes of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) could be considered the defenders of this once-neglected species. The tribes set their sights on rebuilding lamprey populations decades ago and included them in their first anadromous fish recovery plan in 1995.

Then in 2011, the CRITFC tribes developed a plan specifically for lamprey restoration in the Columbia basin and most recently co-produced the documentary "The Lost Fish," describing the place of lamprey in the ecological community.

They noted, for instance, that large lamprey populations of the past may have buffered salmon and steelhead predation.

Rich in oil nutrients, lamprey provide a more concentrated source of calories than salmon. "Seals would have found lamprey a more appealing food source than salmon," a BPA background document says, and "traveling in schools, the lamprey would have been easier to catch."

April 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Research shows that gulls and terns feast on juvenile lamprey, and scientists hypothesize that bird predation on large populations of these fish could also buffer the number of juvenile salmon and steelhead taken by avian predators.

Meanwhile utilities such as Portland General Electric are retrofitting dams with passage systems that accommodate lamprey, Ackerman said.

Unlike salmon and steelhead, lamprey are not strong swimmers. They ascend rivers in short bursts, using their mouths as suction cups to attach to rocks (or barriers) to climb and rest.

Fishways built for adult salmon have entrance velocities, sharp-cornered weirs, wide diffuser gratings and other features that don't accommodate passage of the slender, 15- to 25-inch adult lamprey.

"Solutions to lamprey passage are widely varied and site-specific," Ackerman said. He reiterated that to gain regulatory approval, lamprey fixes can't detract from salmon passage.

While less is known about juvenile lamprey passage, studies show juveniles are being killed when they become impinged on turbine intake and other barrier-related screens.

"It's been a salmon-centric world for 100 years," he said. "But that's changing."

He showed examples of lamprey passage improvements at McNary and Bonneville dams, PGE's Willamette Falls Hydroelectric Project, and new passage construction at Eugene Water and Electric Board's Walterville return channel and PGE's River Mill Dam, where, he said, about 90 percent of adult lamprey attempting passage are succeeding.

At BPA's recent Focus 2028 workshops, Senior Policy Analyst Lydia Grimes said the agency was "working on lamprey to see that it's not listed" under the Endangered Species Act, which she said "gives us the most flexibility."

Many parties are working to bring back lamprey populations and keep the species off the list. In addition to signatories of the Pacific Lamprey Conservation Initiative, supporting organizations of the agreement include PGE and Chelan and Grant PUDs. The initiative's goal is to achieve long-term persistence of lamprey populations.