Legacy: May 2012

Issue 7

May 2012

L e g ac y Journal of Wild Game Fish Conservation by

Wild Game Fish Conservation International Follow us on Facebook Š 2012 Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Wild fish know no borders

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

LEGACY features wild game fish conservation projects, fishing adventures, accommodations, equipment and more. Your photos and articles featuring wild game fish from around planet earth are welcome for possible inclusion in an upcoming issue of LEGACY. Your “Letters to the Editor” are welcome.

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

Wild Game Fish Conservation International founders: Bruce Treichler

Co-editor “Legacy”

Jim Wilcox

Publisher and co-editor “Legacy”

Legacy Journal of Wild Game Fish Conservation

By Wild Game Fish Conservation International Celebrating Seven Consecutive Months of Wild Game Fish News

Contents Planet Earth .................................................................................................................................................................6          

Human harm to oceans comes with staggering price tag: study .............................................................................. 6 New school of worry at sea: small fish ........................................................................................................................ 8 Let 'forage fish' multiply, scientists say..................................................................................................................... 10 Immunohistochemical detection of piscine reovirus (PRV) in hearts of Atlantic salmon coincide with the course of heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) ...................................................................................... 11 Closed Containment ..................................................................................................................................................... 12 A SERVING OF FARMED SALMON: HOW THE RISKS OUTWEIGH THE BENEFITS FOR NORWEGIANS .......... 14 Which Salmon Should I Buy? ...................................................................................................................................... 15 Where we shop makes a difference for your family’s health and for our environment ........................................ 16 The seas lie empty ........................................................................................................................................................ 18 Pants on Fire Recognition ........................................................................................................................................... 19

Africa ..........................................................................................................................................................................20  Is the EU taking its over-fishing habits to west African waters? ............................................................................ 20  President Says No to the Plunder of Africa's Waters ............................................................................................... 21

Canada .......................................................................................................................................................................22  Are Canada's federal scientists being 'muzzled'? .................................................................................................... 23  AgriMarine Announces First Salmon Harvest From Canadian Demonstration Site ............................................. 24  Harper government drops green pretences with majority budget .......................................................................... 26  Atlantic Salmon............................................................................................................................................................. 27  Feds should listen to critics ........................................................................................................................................ 28  Don't ease fish protection rules, PM urged ............................................................................................................... 29  Clues to wild salmon deaths surfacing ...................................................................................................................... 30  TransCanada looks east as Gateway pipeline gets bogged down .......................................................................... 32 Alberta ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 33  Northern Alberta’s tar sands are home to an estimated 173 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen .................. 33 British Columbia ........................................................................................................................................................................ 34  Native-led oil pipeline protest draws hundreds to Vancouver Art Gallery ............................................................. 34  Asian energy giant Petronas seeks $5b natural gas deal that could spark new drilling in B.C. ......................... 36  New Norwegian virus in supermarket farm salmon .................................................................................................. 37  Cohen Commission Update: ....................................................................................................................................... 38  Chinook Collapse and Salmon Feedlot viruses ........................................................................................................ 39  License to Kill ............................................................................................................................................................... 40  Can John Cummins and B.C. Conservative MLA John van Dongen agree on fish farming? .............................. 41 Nova Scotia ................................................................................................................................................................................ 42  Cooke Aqua taking ISA case very seriously .............................................................................................................. 42  April Fools’ Day Hoax: ................................................................................................................................................. 45 Quebec ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 46  Minnow ban to halt spread of fish virus would cripple Quebec bait shops: owners ............................................ 46

Ireland ........................................................................................................................................................................48  Concern continues over salmon farm ........................................................................................................................ 48  Angry scenes at Glengarriff meeting about salmon farm ........................................................................................ 49

New Zealand ..............................................................................................................................................................50  Something fishy is going on out there ....................................................................................................................... 50  Final word on salmon application............................................................................................................................... 52

Russia ........................................................................................................................................................................53  Russia may restrict salmon imports from Norway ................................................................................................... 53

Scotland .....................................................................................................................................................................54     

“Armour-plated” salmon released to protect wild fish stocks ................................................................................ 54 Gartmorn Dam fishery closed by killer lice ............................................................................................................... 56 Torridon fish farm given go ahead ............................................................................................................................. 57 Fining salmon farmers ‘to cost 1,000 jobs’ ................................................................................................................ 59 Salmon farming set to expand after record £489m haul .......................................................................................... 60

USA.............................................................................................................................................................................61  From US Senator Maria Cantwell (Washington State): Net pens and ISA .............................................................. 61  Nation's Commercial Fishermen Unite to Protect Bristol Bay, Alaska ................................................................... 62  Fred Meyer Salmon Promotions: Farmed and Wild .................................................................................................. 63 Alaska ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 64  Robert Redford Leads Charge against the Disastrous Pebble Mine ...................................................................... 64  Trout Unlimited Issues Call to Action to Save Bristol Bay ...................................................................................... 65  Bristol Bay Native Corp. leaders oppose Pebble ...................................................................................................... 66  Saving Bristol Bay for future generations ................................................................................................................. 67  New Halibut Cove pink run hits incompatibility snag............................................................................................... 68 Hawaii ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 70  The big blue: Can deepwater fish farming be sustainable? .................................................................................... 70  Hawaii company wins permit for tuna farm ............................................................................................................... 71 Maine ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 72  Hard Part Still Ahead for Corea Aquaculture Facility ............................................................................................... 72 Oregon ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 73  Judge Allows (Limited) Sea Lion Killing to Save Salmon ........................................................................................ 73 Washington State ...................................................................................................................................................................... 74  Battle over building in Puget Sound flood plains ..................................................................................................... 74  New Columbia River purchases benefit Idaho salmon ............................................................................................ 75  Corps launches 2012 Fish Plan ................................................................................................................................... 76  The Chronicle: Reaction to Critical Fish Study Mixed .............................................................................................. 77  Proposed site for Chehalis River dam near Pe Ell .................................................................................................... 80

Featured artist: Anissa Reed (British Columbia) ....................................................................................................81 Youth Conservation News ........................................................................................................................................82  Students Gather at Centralia College for Water Congress ...................................................................................... 82

Featured Fishing Photos from Around Planet Earth ...............................................................................................83 Featured Wild Game Fish: ........................................................................................................................................85 Featured Fishing adventures:...................................................................................................................................86 Conservation Video Library – “Why we fight” .........................................................................................................87 Attention Conservation-minded Business Owners .................................................................................................88 WGFCI endorsed conservation organizations.........................................................................................................88

Legacy Forward We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International understand full well that it is our responsibility to share with our on-line audience current and planned actions by Big Oil, Big Aquaculture, Big Timber, Big Fisheries Harvest, Big Hydropower Dams and other multinational conglomerates that directly impact the future of wild game fish and their ecosystems around planet earth.

Additionally, we take tremendous pride in sharing the countless hours spent by volunteers in efforts to protect and restore wild game fish and their fragile ecosystems around planet earth.

These efforts often require decades of dedication, usually by a handful of passionate folks who often put conservation ahead of their personal and professional gains.

We fully expect that those who read Legacy month in and month out will come to understand that what is good for sustainable wild fish is also good for humans. The opposite is also true!

We understand the passion that recreational anglers such as ourselves have for wild game fish and their continued availability for this and future generations to enjoy and appreciate. You’ll find an increased number of pages in this issue of Legacy committed to pictures and articles associated with wild game fish and fishing for these magnificent creatures.

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

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

Bruce Treichler

James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Planet Earth ď ś Human harm to oceans comes with staggering price tag: study April 1, 2012

Killer whales in the Hudson Bay. A Canadian researcher is at the centre of a provocative new international study that puts an eyepopping price tag on the damage being done to the world's oceans and fisheries - a cost that could reach $2 trillion a year by 2100 - from carbon emissions, over-fertilization, over-fishing and other human impacts.

University of British Columbia fisheries economist Rashid Sumaila, a leading critic of international fishing policies, is co-editor of the 300-page Valuing The Ocean report released last week at the highprofile Planet Under Pressure environmental conference in Britain.

The study, touted as a "unique," monetary assessment of global ocean health and threats, is the latest attempt by ecosystem-conscious scientists to affix financial value to planetary resources taken for granted in traditional models of economic activity.

The idea, the researchers say, is to have citizens and policymakers experience a kind of sticker shock when "the actual monetary value of the critical ocean services that we stand to lose" is revealed through a scientific-economic calculation.

"By stressing the links between multiple marine stressors and the huge value of the vital services that the ocean provides to humankind," Sumaila told Postmedia News, contributors to the report "hope to help kick-start decisive, integrated action to strengthen ocean governance and management across all scales, from local to global."

The report, co-edited by Sumaila with Robert Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, encompasses studies from an international team of economists, ocean scientists and others who attempt to "tally the costs and savings associated with human decisions affecting ocean health," according to a summary of the publication.

Diaz said in a statement that the report provides an overview of "the state of the science for six threats to the global ocean, what can happen if all these threats act together, and the economic consequences of taking or not taking action."

Overall, the researchers estimate that eroding ocean health will translate - unless environmental reforms take hold - into a $428-million annual loss to the global economy within 40 years. That cost will rise to $1.979 trillion per year by the end of this century if nothing is done to curb detrimental human impacts on the oceans.

But the report also offers a glimmer of hope, concluding that aggressive measures to reduce harm to the oceans could constrain the yearly cost to about $600 million by the year 2100 - saving the global economy more than $1.4 trillion compared with the status-quo scenario.

"The cost of inaction will rise with every year we delay. Planning and acting now will save money and livelihoods - in the future," Sumaila said in an email. "These potential costs, and the actual value of the services the ocean currently provides - from food (think fish) to storm protection to tourism and transport - must be fully integrated in broader economic and development plans, and incorporated in the intricate business of climate change accounting (including in Canada with its three oceans)."

The project was coordinated by the Swedish-based Stockholm Environment Institute, which said in a statement that "the ocean is the victim of a massive market failure," and that "the true worth of its ecosystems, services, and functions is persistently ignored by policy-makers and largely excluded from wider economic and development strategies."

Sumaila said that "the combined global and local threats to the ocean are unprecedented in human history. Incremental change and business-as-usual will not suffice."

But the global ocean crisis "can be rectified," the UBC researcher added, "if the ocean and the services it provides are placed at the heart of global efforts to build a green economy for the future."

 New school of worry at sea: small fish March 21. 2012

As ocean scientists probe what ails some of the largest creatures in the sea, a wave of new research is urging them to look at the little things — specifically the tiny schooling fish that make up the cornerstone of ocean food webs.

Species like herring, smelt, sardines and squid are the food of choice for many of the ocean’s top predators. But there is increasing pressure globally to harvest marine “forage fish” for everything from hog feed and fertilizer to fishmeal in tuna pens or as bait for recreational or commercial fishing.

And these creatures are often the fish scientists understand the least.

“The idea that forage fish are important isn’t new,” said Phil Levin, a biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle. “But if you take the fish out of the system ... what are the costs if those fish are no longer there to be eaten by birds or mammals or other fish? That’s what we’re talking about now.”

Take the discovery late last year by an international team of scientists who tracked what happens to birds when the small fish they eat vanish.

Those researchers stumbled upon a remarkable pattern: Every time populations of ocean forage fish — small schooling creatures like squid or anchovies — dipped below a third of their peak, seabird births also plummeted, according to the study published in late December in the journal Science. It happened with terns and gulls and auklets and puffins. It happened in the Atlantic, the Arctic, in Europe and off the U.S. West Coast.

Then, late last month, another pair of scientists determined that sardine populations from California to Washington appeared likely to collapse in coming years, just as they had during the “Cannery Row” days of the middle 20th century.

Other experts disputed the finding, but the debate highlighted an emerging conflict in marine science.

Resilient but vulnerable These tiny fish, while resilient, may be especially vulnerable to overfishing, climate change, habit loss and shifting ocean chemistry. And their loss could have profound impacts throughout marine ecosystems — far more than the loss of some well-known predators.

“In the big picture, there are growing concerns globally that some forage fish stocks are unhealthy and the way we harvest them is unsustainable,” said Bill Sydeman, a marine biologist with California’s Farallon Institute who worked on the bird study.

There’s no clear pattern off the coast of Washington and Oregon. Fisheries for anchovies and herring are relatively small, and researchers say while sardine populations have declined, there has also been a recent rebound and fishing pressure remains a fraction of what it was a half-century ago.

But some other species — such as the tiny endangered oceangoing smelt called eulachon found in the Columbia River and its tributaries — are facing dramatic reductions from habitat loss, climate changes and other factors. And the big battle shaping up is what to do next — whether to study and protect the important tiny schooling creatures we don’t really fish yet at all.

Some see potential protein in the voluminous, glowing lanternfish that occupy deep waters in the Pacific, or the slender eel-like sand lances that feed larger fish. But others see the future stability of a food chain already in flux.

“We know that predator species, marine mammals and seabirds are very dependent on forage species,” said Paul Shively, with the Pew Environment program that is working to prevent expansion of commercial forage-fish harvests. “We know that the demand for forage species is growing. But most of our laws exist to promote fishing — not to make sure we’re considering impacts on the entire ecosystem.”

READ ENTIRE SEATTLE TIMES ARTICLE HERE

ď ś Let 'forage fish' multiply, scientists say April 02, 2012 LOS ANGELES – The catch of small, schooling fish such as sardines and anchovies should be cut in half globally and the amount left in the ocean doubled to protect the ecologically vital species from collapse, scientists say in a new report.

The silvery species known as forage fish are harvested in huge numbers worldwide and are easy for fishermen to round up because they form dense schools, or "bait balls."

But wide fluctuations in their numbers make them especially vulnerable to overfishing, according to the report released Sunday by the Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force, a 13-member panel of scientists from around the world.

The report urges wildlife managers to take more precautions to prevent future declines.

The analysis estimates that small fish such as herring and menhaden are twice as valuable in the water as in a net because so many larger fish, including tuna, salmon and cod, rely on them for food.

"As the forage fish decline in abundance, so go their predators," said Ellen Pikitch of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at New York's Stony Brook University, the head of the panel, which is funded by a nonprofit grant.

The findings are the latest to raise concerns about the harvest of the little, oily fish, given their role as food for the ocean's bigger fish as well as dolphins, whales and seabirds.

Forage fish account for more than one-third of catches globally, the report says, with most of the yield ground into meal and fish oil to feed farmed fish and livestock and to produce nutritional supplements.

And although their large schools suggest the supply of such fish is vast and limitless, Pikitch said, "demand and price is increasing while their crucial ecological role has largely been ignored."

The scientists conducted a worldwide analysis of the science and management of forage fish, studying an assortment of fisheries including anchovettas in Peru and California's sardines.

California's booming sardine fishery famously collapsed in the mid-20th century. Although it has since rebounded, scientists are still studying exactly what combination of overfishing and shifting environmental conditions brought the decline.

The report's recommendations, likely to face resistance from the $5.6 billion industry, echo a recent push by environmental groups for new protections on forage fish.

A bill before the California Legislature would require the state to leave more small fish in the water for natural predators to feed on. Last year, the conservation group Oceana sued the federal government to tighten protections for anchovies and sardines fished off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington.

Still, the U.S. West Coast is ahead of other parts of the world in how it manages some forage fish, scientists on the panel said. The sardine catch, for instance, is subject to stricter monitoring and more conservative limits that could serve as a buffer against future crashes.

California's most valuable catch, squid, is also considered a forage fish but was not included in the analysis.

ď ś Immunohistochemical detection of piscine reovirus (PRV) in hearts of Atlantic salmon coincide with the course of heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI)

Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector in the world. However, the increased production has been accompanied by the emergence of infectious diseases.

Heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) is one example of an emerging disease in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L). Since the first recognition as a disease entity in 1999 it has become a widespread and economically important disease in Norway.

The disease was recently found to be associated with infection with a novel reovirus, piscine reovirus (PRV). The load of PRV, examined by RT-qPCR, correlated with severity of HSMI in naturally and experimentally infected salmon.

The disease is characterized by epi-, endo- and myocarditis, myocardial necrosis, myositis and necrosis of the red skeletal muscle. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of PRV antigens in heart tissue of Atlantic salmon and monitor the virus distribution in the heart during the disease development.

This included target cell specificity, viral load and tissue location during an HSMI outbreak. Rabbit polyclonal antisera were raised against putative PRV capsid proteins mu1C and sigma1 and used in immunohistochemical analysis of archived salmon heart tissue from an experimental infection.

The results are consistent with the histopathological changes of HSMI and showed a sequential staining pattern with PRV antigens initially present in leukocyte-like cells and subsequently in cardiomyocytes in the heart ventricle. Our results confirm the association between PRV and HSMI, and strengthen the hypothesis of PRV being the causative agent of HSMI. Immunohistochemical detection of PRV antigens will be beneficial for the understanding of the pathogenesis of HSMI as well as for diagnostic purposes.

ď ś Closed Containment

Fresh Water Institute closed containment tank.

Photo: Andrew S. Wright Closed System Aquaculture (CSA) is defined as: “Any system of fish production that creates a controlled interface between the culture (fish) and the natural environment.� 1 Closed containment is a proven, viable technology, and is currently used to raise species such as tilapia, trout and salmon in Canada, the US and China. Whether sited on water or land, closed containment systems can: eliminate or significantly reduce water column pollution from feed, feces

and chemical waste and contamination of the seabed under farms; eliminate escapes from the rearing facility; eliminate marine mammal deaths due to interactions with farmed fish and nets; eliminate or

greatly reduce the risk of disease and parasite transfer to wild salmon; and significantly reduce the need for antibiotics and chemical treatments in raising fish.

Because of these advantages, as well as advances in the technology itself over the last several years, closed containment has become widely regarded by scientists, conservationists, some salmon farming companies and the public as a more responsible alternative to net-cage aquaculture.

Unfortunately, only a small percentage of salmon is currently farmed in closed containment due to industry’s overall resistance to change and the profitability of externalizing costs. Externalized costs are currently borne by society or the environment and not by salmon producers, such as ‘free’ waste disposal from open net-cage farms into the marine environment.

Closed containment technology not only enables salmon farming companies to be better, more responsible corporate citizens by minimizing or eliminating externalized impacts, it also eliminates or reduces costly problems inherent to net-cages.

For instance, closed containment provides protection against the loss of fish through mass escape events or algae and plankton blooms that can kill farmed fish by the thousands as well as protection from sea lice infestations and disease.

CAAR works with government and industry to foster change and advocates for a shift to closed containment technology for all salmon aquaculture in BC. CAAR is also working with the BC division of the largest salmon farming company in the world, Marine Harvest Canada (MHC) on a proposed closed containment pilot project.

Currently in the planning stages, the pilot will be a land-based system that will initially produce about 200 tonnes of Atlantic salmon. By being able to control the temperature all year round, reduce and potentially eliminate diseases and parasites, control oxygen and carbon dioxide, the fish can grow to harvest size six months sooner than it takes in an ocean net pen. Almost all the water needed to grow the fish will be treated and reused with recirculation rates as high as 99%.

The goal of the pilot is to develop the technology to such an extent that the higher investment and operation costs of a land-based recirculation system would be compensated by more efficient feed use, less external risk to fish and faster growth rates. Marine Harvest is working with CAAR to develop high-level environmental performance standards for the pilot.

MHC has hired a major engineering firm to look for suitable sites on Vancouver Island, ideally the North Island, and to come up with design recommendations. The company is still awaiting the final go-ahead and approval for pilot funding from headquarters in Norway. Given the mounting evidence concerning the negative impacts of net-cage technology coupled with public demand in BC for more sustainable aquaculture practices, CAAR expects that Marine Harvest in Oslo will be supportive of this project. An announcement is expected in the first quarter of 2011, with construction scheduled to begin in the second half of 2011.

More on Closed Containment Technology: » Economic Case for Closed Containment Technology » Containment Technology » Closed Containment & Energy Consumption » Closed Containment in BC » Examples of Closed Systems » Closed Containment Q&A » Castrophic Events » Blog Post on Closed Containment Salmon on the Market

ď śA

SERVING OF FARMED SALMON: HOW THE RISKS OUTWEIGH THE BENEFITS FOR NORWEGIANS Claudette Bethune, PhD1 1Bergen, Norway

Introduction In Norway and the United States, cancer is currently the leading cause of death for those under 80 years of age, with mortality in Norwegians from heart and circulatory diseases being the lowest recorded in over 100 years.1,2 Recent research on the human genetic variability with the enzymes responsible for the disposition of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds indicate that women with a variant of the cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP 1A1) gene called m2 are at a greater risk for breast cancer when exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).3 Currently, women living in North America have the highest rate of breast cancer in the world, and this cancer is the most frequent type found in Norwegian and European women.4-6 There are significant risks associated with fatty fish consumption. It has been concluded that fatty fish intake is the major source of dioxin, PCB, and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) exposure in the Norwegian population.7,8 Studies by Hites and co-authors conclude from global assessments that Norwegian farmed salmon contain some of the highest concentrations of organohalogen contaminants, and that such farmed salmon should not be eaten more than once every five months due to increased cancer risk.9-11 Such advice stems from both the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as they have classified polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) as known human carcinogens, and PCBs as probably carcinogenic. The potential cancer risk from food borne brominated flame retardants, mixed chloro-bromo dioxin and furan derivatives, or their metabolites, remains to be evaluated.

Organohalogen uptake in farmed Atlantic salmon from fish feed also shows that a selective enrichment exists for the most toxic congeners of PCDDs, PCBs, and PBDEs.12,13.

Major differences of opinion exist within the scientific community over whether the doseresponse curve for dioxin and dioxin-like compounds is best represented as non-linear (incorporating a threshold) or linear. The World Health Organization (WHO) and others strongly support a non-linear dose-response relationship for dioxin-like compounds and cancer, whereas U.S. EPA characterizes the curve as linear. In the recently completed U.S. EPA risk assessment for carcinogens, there were extensive discussions of approaches for extrapolations of risk for these compounds to low dose exposures.14 As the German Federal Environmental Agency has commented, there is further confusion with regards to whether the tolerable intake and exposure of these contaminants should be described on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

15 Fatty fish consumption is generally thought to be beneficial in the diet as they are a significant source of omega-3 fatty acids. Accordingly, the WHO and a number of countries (Canada, Sweden, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan) have made formal population-based dietary recommendations for omega-3s. Based on the assumption that the health benefits outweigh the risks, the current advice from national and international authorities is to increase fish consumption.16-18A potential way to quantitatively evaluate the risks versus the benefits of a particular food item, that is understandable to consumers, is to examine the contents in a recommended serving size relative to the established tolerable daily intake. Such a comparison for selected contaminants and marine omega-3 concentrations is presented here for farmed Norwegian salmon.

Results and Discussion

READ DR. BETHUNE’S ENTIRE PAPER HERE

ď ś Which Salmon Should I Buy? March 13, 2012

I went to two dinner parties recently and guess what was served at both? Salmon. It made me wonder: is salmon the new steak? If so, great! I LOVE this fish and am perfectly fine with that. My doctor probably is, too: the new U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend Americans eat two servings of fish a week. There are so many different types of salmon, which is loaded with heart-healthy, brainboosting omega-3 fats, and ways to serve them that it would be hard for me to get bored with this fish.

Recipes to Try: Easy Salmon Cakes and More Delicious Salmon Recipes But that said, there are certain types of salmon that I try to stay away from and certain questions I always ask before I buy. Here are 7 tips to help you buy the best salmon, which I reported on with Rowan Jacobsen in the March/April 2012 issue of EatingWell Magazine: 1. Wild or farmed? The first choice you should make is whether to buy wild salmon (and all Alaskan salmon is wild-caught) or farmed Atlantic salmon. In most instances, I opt for wild salmon. Why? Environmental groups such as Seafood Watch and the Environmental Defense Fund, have put nearly all farmed salmon on their "red" or "avoid" list. The reason: many farms use crowded pens where salmon are easily infected with lice, may be treated with antibiotics and can spread disease to wild fish (one reason Alaska has banned salmon farms). In addition, it can take as much as three pounds of wild fish (and fishmeal) to raise one pound of salmon. However, there's some good news. Salmon farmers are currently in talks with environmental groups about improving their practices and there is a proposal before Congress to set standards for aquaculture. Already some farms, such as Sweet Spring in British Columbia, are raising coho in closed pens, that reduce the impact on wild fish. Others, such as Verlasso in Patagonia, are using feeds fortified with the omega-3 EPA, which helps cut back the ratio of pounds of fish needed to feed the salmon to 1-to1.

READ ENTIRE SHINE YAHOO ARTICLE HERE

ď ś Where

we shop makes a difference for your family’s health and for our environment

Editorial Comment: Wild Game Fish Conservation International maintains an open-ended invitation for farmed salmon and retail market industry representatives to publish their policies and future plans regarding rearing and marketing salmon raised in open pen salmon feedlots in an upcoming issue of Legacy.

Source for above Safeway promotion for farmed Atlantic salmon: http://safeway.ca.inserts2online.com/I2O_MainFrame.jsp?pageNumber=1&drpStoreID=185&adId=41785&adPath=Safe waySafeway03232012Canada

 Salmon, Alaska Wild Fishery management is especially important for salmon as these fish require freshwater and ocean habitats to survive. Wild-caught salmon from Alaska is considered a "Best Choice" and is certified as sustainable to the standard of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)

.

Consumer Note Buyer beware! Different species of salmon are sold under many market names - and several are now available from both farmed and wild sources. Be sure to use your pocket guide to find the "Best Choices." Salmon is known as sake when prepared for sushi.

Summary Pacific salmon in Alaska is among the most intensively managed species in the world, with excellent monitoring of both the fish populations and the fishery.

Alaskan salmon dominates the West Coast salmon market. Over the past 20 years, Alaska has landed roughly 10 times as much salmon as California, Oregon and Washington combined.

Freshwater habitats in Alaska have remained relatively pristine, and salmon originating in Alaska does not face the same damming, deforestation and development challenges as those in California and the Pacific Northwest. The current abundance of Alaska salmon and its habitat reflects the success of the state's management practices.

For these reasons, wild-caught salmon from Alaska is ranked as a "Best Choice."

Recipe Alternatives Seafood Watch recommends wild-caught salmon from Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington as these are ocean-friendly choices. “Avoid” salmon farmed in open net pens. Salmon farmed on land in “closed” or “contained” farms is a viable alternative that points the way to a more environmentallyfriendly future for salmon farming.

Scientific Reports About Our Ratings US Pacific Salmon Seafood Watch Report

ď ś The seas lie empty March 25, 2012

"Some 40% of the seafood we consume will have been farmed in some way": a worker at salmon farm in Scotland. Photograph: David Cheskin/PA

Rather than eating weird types of fish that I don't really like (as seems to be the sustainable advice), wouldn't it be more ecologically sensible for me to eat farmed fish of a species I do like, that is plentiful because it is farmed?

The phrase "there are plenty more fish in the sea" is obsolete. There just are not. In my own lifetime (I was born in 1974) global consumption of fish has doubled – 84% of all wild fish stocks are overexploited or depleted. Fishing vessels are so huge they scoop up their entire seasonal quota in just six weeks. Quotas have proved to be as effective as clowns transporting water in leaky buckets.

You probably already eat more farmed fish than you imagine. Some 40% of the seafood we consume will have been farmed in some way. Farmed salmon, tilapia, trout and mussels are extremely common in the UK. By 2020, the UN says, we will need to farm half the fish we consume globally.

So far so logical. Except that conventional fish farming typically feeds its progeny on wild fish. To produce 1kg of healthy farmed salmon requires 4kg of wild caught fish. You see the catch? Far from rescuing precious wild stocks, it has the capacity to put the boot in to an even greater degree.

Conventional fish farming has also become famous for the transfer of disease and parasites, both among its farmed creatures and on to wild fish through escapees, antibiotic and chemical use, and pollution.

According to Don Staniford, the wild-salmon activist who set up the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture, this is an entirely accurate depiction of industrial fish farming. And yet that venerable eco organisation, the WWF, which instigated the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) tick for wildcaught fish from sustainable fisheries is slowly introducing the ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council) tick for farmed fish. Right now a tilapia farm in Indonesia is being audited with a view to winning the first ASC tick.

According to the WWF and others, farmed fish has the potential to provide sustainable protein free from land conflict, chemical and oil use and greenhouse-gas emissions.

Breakthroughs are reported in feeding farmed fish on yeast and, according to the industry, on developing medicines and vaccines to tackle sea lice and other pests. While I appreciate that I'm making it sound as if a trouble-free, ethical source of your favourite fish could be around the corner, I suspect it will take a while until this particular boat comes in. In the meantime are you sure you can't develop more of an appetite for less popular wild-caught varieties, such as pollock or red gurnard?

 Pants on Fire Recognition

Many fellow wild game fish conservationists believe that some things we hear and read from natural resources agencies and elected officials might not reflect reality. In fact some have associated these “leaders” with those who wear burning pants.

The first of these “leaders” to be recognized with this dubious honor is:

“Canadian Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield for lying about Infectious Salmon Anemia in British Columbia”

Africa ď ś Is the EU taking its over-fishing habits to west African waters?

April 2, 2012 The UN says EU trawlers are out-muscling 1.5 million fishermen, who themselves warn west Africa could 'become like Somalia' Mauritania's waters are crowded. Twenty-five miles out to sea and in great danger from turbulent seas are small, open pirogues crewed by handfuls of local fishermen, taking pitifully few fish. Also here within 50 miles of us are at least 20 of the biggest EU fishing vessels, along with Chinese, Russian and Icelandic trawlers and unidentifiable pirate ships.

We are closest to the Margaris, a giant 9,499-tonne Lithuanian factory trawler able to catch, process and freeze 250 tonnes of fish a day, and a small Mauritanian vessel, the Bab El Ishajr 3. Here too, in the early mists, its radio identification signal switched off, is Spanish beam trawler the Rojamar. The Arctic Sunrise, Greenpeace's 40-year-old former ice-breaker, is shadowing one of Britain's biggest factory trawlers – the 4,957-tonne Cornelis Vrolijk. Operated by the North Atlantic Fishing Company (NAFC), based in Caterham, Surrey, it is one of 34 giant freezer vessels that regularly work the west African coast as part of the Pelagic Freezer Association (PFA), which represents nine European trawler owners.

The ship, which employs Mauritanian fish processing workers aboard, is five miles away, heading due south at 13 knots out of dirty weather around Cape Blanc on the western Saharan border. By following the continental ledge in search of sardines, sardinella, and mackerel, it hopes to catch 3,000 tonnes of fish in a four- to six-week voyage before it offloads them, possibly in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

But, says NAFC managing director Stewart Harper, while most of its fish will end up in Africa, none will go to Mauritania, despite the country facing a famine in parts. "Unfortunately Mauritania does not yet have the infrastructure to handle cargoes of frozen fish or vessels of our size," he says.

The west African coast has some of the world's most abundant fishing grounds, but they are barely monitored or policed, and wide open to legal and illegal plunder. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, all west African fishing grounds are fully or over-exploited to the detriment of over 1.5 million local fishermen who cannot compete with them or feed their growing populations.

Heavily subsidised EU-registered fleets catch 235,000 tonnes of small pelagic species from Mauritania and Moroccan waters alone a year, and tens of thousands of tonnes of other species in waters off Sierra Leone, Ghana, Guinea Bissau and elsewhere.

A further unknown amount is caught by other countries' vessels, but the individual agreements made between west African countries and foreign companies are mostly secret.

Despite possible ecological collapse, and growing evidence of declining catches in coastal waters, west African countries are now some of the EU's most-targeted fishing grounds, with 25% of all fish caught by its fleets coming from the waters of developing countries.

READ ENTIRE THE GUARDIAN ARTICLE HERE

ď ś President Says No to the Plunder of Africa's Waters SENEGAL - Greenpeace has been campaigning for sustainable fisheries in West African waters for years now, pushing for the European plunder of African livelihoods to come to an end.

This campaign reached a critical point in 2012, when, in January, 6000 artisanal fishermen signed a petition for sustainable fisheries. In February, Greenpeace's ship, the Arctic Sunrise, sailed in to West African waters to help protest the emptying of the seas by enormous factory trawlers, reports AllAfrica.

Before he was elected to office, Greenpeace Africa campaigners met with the now fourth president of Senegal, Macky Sall, to discuss the dire need to institute policies on sustainable fisheries at a governmental level.

In his first message to the nation, Mr Sall addressed the state of emergency that the fishing sector is in.

"There's an urgency to act in the fisheries sector in Senegal," he said. "I pledge to review the conditions for granting authorisations and fishing licenses to foreign ships and I will fight against pirates who plunder our waters and fisheries resources."

This commitment from Mr Sall is awesome news for the seas of West Africa, that are becoming increasingly overfished, and for the people of countries like Senegal, Mauritania and Ghana, for whom it is becoming harder to survive on ever emptying seas.

Canada

 Are Canada's federal scientists being 'muzzled'?

March 27, 2012

The federal government says it is not muzzling its scientists, but others inside and outside Canada's scientific community are concerned with what they see as a alarming trend to limit the free exchange of knowledge. (iStock) (Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)

Kristi Miller would likely be able to help Canadians who don't have degrees in biology understand her groundbreaking — and complex — research into the Pacific salmon stock, which was published more than a year ago.

But so far, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans scientist, who toils in a lab on Vancouver Island, has only spoken publicly at a formal inquiry into the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River.

Media requests to speak to her have not resulted in interviews — and the decision to keep her offlimits to reporters has reached as high as officials in the Privy Council Office in Ottawa.

The federal government says it is not muzzling its scientists, but Miller's name often emerges when the issue arises, as it has more frequently of late both inside and outside Canada's scientific community.

For some, there's far more at stake here than a simple opportunity for a biologist or a climatologist to talk about viruses or the ozone layer

READ ENTIRE CBC ARTICLE HERE

ď ś AgriMarine Announces First Salmon Harvest From Canadian Demonstration Site March 27, 2012 Editorial Comment: We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International and our associates applaud AgriMarine for their ongoing efforts to protect fragile marine ecosystems from the known and unknown impacts of open pen salmon feedlots. Their closed containment systems are a vast improvement over open pen feedlots deployed around planet earth. We believe this technology is a step in the right direction as these operations will eventually be required to be sited on land.

A remaining concern is that of a sustainable feed source for feedlot-raised salmon. To date, this industry relies on wild fish (herring, anchovies, etc.) to feed carnivorous salmon in feedlots, thus diminishing populations of these smaller fish that play significant roles in ecosystems around our planet.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - March 27, 2012) - AgriMarine Holdings Inc. (TSX VENTURE:FSH)(OTCQX:AGMHF)(FRANKFURT:A2G) (the "Company" or "AgriMarine"), the leader in floating closed containment technology and production for sustainable aquaculture, is pleased to report the first commercial harvest at its Canadian demonstration site at Middle Bay on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

The Company previously announced damage to its floating, solid-wall containment tank incurred during a hurricane-grade windstorm that hit Vancouver Island earlier this month. After an initial assessment of the damage, the Company harvested its first crop of Chinook salmon and has begun the process of raising the tank for insurance evaluation and repair. The Company is proceeding with the demonstration project, which is partly funded by Sustainable Development Technology Canada ("SDTC"). Subsequent tanks which are currently being manufactured have been redesigned and will be installed on schedule, including the upgraded pilot tank.

Management feels that harvest results prove the commercial value of AgriMarine's unique technology for sustainable aquaculture. The Company has made the following early findings: The fish reached a harvestable size in 13 months, thus demonstrating excellent growth rates achievable in the AgriMarine System It appears that there was no loss of inventory, although final harvest numbers are not complete The harvested salmon were delivered under contract to our U.S. customer Only 3 sea lice were found in the entire crop of salmon, proving that the AgriMarine System effectively controls sea lice infestations No antibiotics or chemicals were used and overall fish health was excellent The processing yield was 91% The mooring system functioned as designed to help stabilize the floating tank in an extremely highenergy situation

"We are extremely proud of our team and how they managed the facilities and harvest procedures during the windstorm," said Richard Buchanan, President and CEO. "Although final harvest numbers are not complete, we have so far harvested and sold over 95% of the original stocking numbers." Mr. Buchanan added, "We have taken the lessons learned into our new tank deliveries and continuing farm research at the site."

A report was filed on March 14th with the federal authorities.

About AgriMarine Holdings Inc. Canadian-based AgriMarine is an aquaculture technology company engaged in the development, commercialization and licensing of proprietary solid-wall closed containment systems for the rearing of finfish. The Company utilizes its innovative, clean technology to rear salmon and trout in its farms in China and Canada. The AgriMarine System can be applied worldwide in warm or cold climate conditions, in oceans, reservoirs and lakes. The AgriMarine System addresses sustainability issues in finfish aquaculture, creates an optimal fish rearing environment, offers a better farm management system with added economic and environmental benefits and meets consumer and retailer demands for sustainable aquaculture.

Forward-Looking Information Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address a company's expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: risks associated with marketing and sale of securities; the need for additional financing; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers or directors with certain other projects; and the volatility of common share price and volume. Forwardlooking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NEWS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS NEWS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE SECURITIES LEGISLATION. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Marketwire Canada March 27, 2012 - 7:00 PM EDT

ď ś Harper government drops green pretences with majority budget Conservatives have identified their constituency and it does not include the Greenpeace brigade or supporters of the Council of Canadians April 5, 2012 Measures announced in last week's budget suggest the Harper government has decided to drop any and all pretence of being green.

The document's lack of environmental conscience has Green party leader Elizabeth May seeing red.

The MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands declares on her party's website that the budget is "the worst in the history of Canada.

"This is devastating," May stated. "This is a war on the environment. It cannot go unchallenged."

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, meanwhile, expresses concern the budget makes only two "passing references" to the term climate change. Two additional references to climate, the centre reports, refer to the investment climate.

Other critics predict the government's posture will be counterproductive, fuelling civil disobedience and public protest activity, as well as legal action against contentious resource developments.

Specifically, the budget: . Mandates cuts of $88 mil-lion to Environment Canada, $79 million to Fisheries and Oceans and $29 million to Parks Canada, over three years. . Slashes the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency's budget by 40 per cent, and sets clear timelines for environmental reviews to speed approvals for industrial projects. This measure will apply retroactively to the B.C. Northern Gateway Pipeline. (Its review hearing was cancelled Monday in the midst of a grassroots protest in Bella Bella.) . Adds $8 million to the Canada Revenue Agency's budget for audits aimed at stripping charitable status from groups exceeding a 10-per-cent political advocacy limit in spending. . Kills off the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy and its budget of $5.2 million, which was charged with providing policy analysis and advice to government.

"Wiping out this respected think-tank while Canada still lacks a credible plan for achieving its own 2020 green-house gas reduction targets," warns the Pembina Institute's Ed Whittingham, "will make it that much harder for Canada to do its fair share in addressing the climate challenge."

Further, "while no money is directed to energy efficiency or renewable energy, tarsands subsidies [totalling $1.4 billion annually] remain untouched," observes Andrea Harden-Dona-hue, climate justice campaigner for the Council of Canadians.

"While daunting," Harden-Donahue writes in a blog on Rabble.ca, "we must not forget the power people have when we organize collectively."

READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE

ď ś Atlantic Salmon

The topic of salmon was brought up at the nutrition talk on the weekend and I wanted to clear up the Atlantic Salmon question. Is Atlantic Salmon safe to eat? You be the judge but I know I won't be eating it. If the fish I am buying does not say "wild" than I do not buy it. When I first found out that farmed salmon were colored pink, I had to draw the line. Wild salmon is the best choice and the healthiest.

Many people think that when they buy Atlantic salmon that it comes from the Atlantic Ocean meaning that it is wild. This is not the case. Atlantic salmon is a species of salmon that is most popular for farming.

Not only that, when buying wild salmon you are supporting local fisherman and are helping keep the ocean clean. Farmed salmon threatens the runs of wild salmon and that is a very bad thing if we want to keep this source of tasty Omega 3 around for generations.

There are wild Atlantic salmon however they are close to being extinct due to human industrial development.

Here are a few links with some great information on why to purchase WILD salmon.

Marks Daily Apple Environmental Working Group The Hidden Costs of Farmed Salmon Seafood Watch Link Greenpeace I buy wild salmon at a variety of places including Billingsgate Fish Market, Sunterra Market, Blu Seafood and Market and even Costco occasionally has wild fish. If you know of any sources to buy great fish, post a comment.

ď ś Feds should listen to critics March 26, 2012 When two stalwart Tories, both former federal fisheries ministers, warn of the recklessness of removing the fish habitat protections in the Canada Fisheries Act as contemplated by the Stephen Harper Conservatives, people should take notice.

Especially given the Harper government's lack of commitment to protect the environment.

Otto Langer, a retired federal fisheries biologist, released recently leaked information spelling out planned changes to the Fisheries Act. A section that went into force in 1986, prohibiting activities that could harm fish habitat, would be replaced by a ban on anything causing an "adverse effect" on "fish of economic, cultural or ecological value."

The proposed wording included a number of exemptions permitting activity that could hurt fish of value.

Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield, confronted with Langer's assertions, said the government is concerned about overly aggressive enforcement of the Fisheries Act. "The government has been clear that the existing policies do not reflect the priorities of Canadians," he said.

The government appears to be responding to complaints from groups such as the Mining Association of Canada, which says $140 billion in potential mining projects are being stalled due to "nonsensical" decisions.

Langer, a former member of the David Suzuki Foundation, said the proposed move is likely intended to help Enbridge Inc., since the company's proposed oil sands pipeline - enthusiastically defended by the government - would cross hundreds of rivers and streams en route to Kitimat.

"To date the Harper government has shown little regard for the protection of the environment and over the past few years has supervised the almost total elimination of enforcement of the habitat protection and the pollution provisions of the Canada Fisheries Act (Sections 35 and 36 respectively)," said Langer. "During the Cohen Inquiry in 2011 data was presented to show that pollution and habitat violation investigations have been greatly reduced."

The government's plan has raised the ire of scientists, ecologists and two former federal Conservative Fisheries ministers: Tom Siddon and John Fraser.

Siddon strengthened the Fisheries Act to protect habitat under then-prime minister Brian Mulroney.

He said there's "no justifiable excuse" for removing provisions ensuring the protection of fisheries habitat, adding the new wording would turn fish into a commodity and overlook the importance of the broader ecosystem.

Fraser, fisheries minister from 1984 to 1985, said: "People who want to eliminate the appropriate safeguards that should be made in the public interest, these people aren't conservatives at all.

They're ideological rightwingers with very, very limited understanding, intelligence or wisdom."

READ ENTIRE CANADA ARTICLE HERE.

ď ś Don't ease fish protection rules, PM urged March 22, 2012

Some scientists are concerned that changes to the Fisheries Act could have a negative impact on fish stocks and the waterways that support them. (iStock)

A proposal to loosen federal fish habitat protection rules threatens Canada's water quality, fisheries and its international reputation, scientists warn.

In a letter sent Thursday to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Fisheries and Oceans Minister Keith Ashfield, a group of 625 scientists urged the government to abandon changes to the Fisheries Act outlined in an internal government document leaked late last week.

The document suggested the act is to be revised so Ottawa would be responsible for fish, but not their surrounding habitat .

The act currently requires projects such as oil pipeline and road culvert construction to show their plans will preserve fish habitat.

"Removing those provisions ‌ would basically give proponents of projects license to do anything they pleased," said David Schindler, the University of Alberta ecologist who is the lead author of the letter.

Schindler said he and his colleagues fear the changes to the Fisheries Act will be attached to the upcoming federal budget as part of an omnibus bill. The budget is set to be delivered on March 29.

The proposed changes are of particular concern now, Schindler said, because the government is trying to push big projects such as the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline "where literally hundreds of fish-bearing streams would be crossed." The controversial pipeline would connect Alberta's oilsands with the port in Kitimat, B.C. Schindler said "very cumbersome" environmental approval processes can be streamlined by focusing on the relevant science. Currently, he said, the process involves a lot of "filler."

Schindler said the signatories of his letter include many national and international prize-winning scientists and the number of them supporting the letter indicates how important habitat protection is.

"If you look at any list of endangered species and species in decline, you'll find that 80 per cent of them are declining because people have destroyed their habitat," he said.

The Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution and the Canadian chapter of the American Fisheries Society also sent letters expressing concern about the possible changes to the Fisheries Act.

ď ś Clues to wild salmon deaths surfacing April 05, 2012 Algal blooms, parasites, bacteria and viruses may be contributing to the decline of wild salmon stocks in BC, Dr. Kristi Miller, head of the Molecular Genetics Laboratory at the Pacific Biological Station, told the annual general meeting of the Qualicum Beach Streamkeepers Society Saturday.

Miller and her genomic fisheries management team are trying to understand such stock stressors so survival strategies can be implemented in collaboration with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

They look at diseases, changes in physiology and environmental factors associated with salmon migration and performance.

From left: Elena Edwards from Chilliwack, Dr. Kristi Miller and Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Director Anissa Reed from Qualicum Beach. Miller was presented with a fish by artist Lianne Hodges in appreciation of the work Miller and her team at the Pacific Biological Station have done on wild salmon.

"Dr. Kristi Miller deserves the Order of Canada and I feel relieved that Harper's budget did not chop her lab," said Anissa Reed, director of the Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society, who saw Miller testify at the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River.

"We heard her give evidence that her lab could test 200 fish for 30 pathogens in a single day. Up to 90 percent of the Fraser sockeye are dying in the river before spawning and no one could figure it out.

"In 2006," Reed said, "DFO tasked Miller to figure this out, and she discovered that the ones dying are fighting a virus and the ones that survived weren't. This is the first concrete clue we have to explain why entire runs of Fraser sockeye are dying on the river banks."

The lab's testing capabilities have since been increased.

In her talk, titled 'How do we recognize dead fish swimming,' Miller said one hypothesis is that algal blooms are smothering fish gills, causing them to suffer hypoxia or oxygen deprivation.

In 2007, the finding of toxic algae in fish gills indicated higher annual blooms than in 2008, she said.

The fish grew more slowly than in 2008, she said, and, "they didn't appear to be outright starving."

As well, she said, "in the Fraser River, they're carrying quite a few pathogens and parasites."

Parvovirus and flava bacteria are most prevalent, Miller said. "Parvovirus," usually associated with cats and dogs, "has never been shown to be in fish before," she said.

Stress likely plays a role in the presence of the fatal virus, she said.

As the fish swim upstream to spawn, she said, their energy goes towards the journey and their immune system response shut downs, which makes them more susceptible to pathogens.

In 2010, she said, tagged and radio-tracked fish showed a 9.5 percent lower probability of making it to the spawning grounds if they were carrying the parvovirus in three tissues, such as muscle, brain and liver.

"Harrison River is the only sockeye stock increasing," she said, and in that river, "we've yet to find fish that test positive for parvovirus."

As well, Harrison sockeye spend six to eight months in fresh-water lakes, while others spend up to two years in fresh water. She said there's evidence some Harrison salmon migrate through the Johnston Strait.

Fish farms in Johnston Strait have been a source of controversy, though Miller didn't mention them.

Harrison sockeye, she said, appear to spend less time in fresh water and don't migrate as quickly into northern Pacific waters as do all other sockeye.

Fish that die in deep ocean waters pose a challenge to research, she said, "because you can't see them die."

 TransCanada looks east as Gateway pipeline gets bogged down March 22, 2012 TransCanada Corp. is proposing a major shift in the way oil moves across Canada, urging the oil patch to consider a massive $5.6-billion new pipeline system that would carry large volumes of western crude to refineries in Ontario, Quebec and beyond.

The East Coast Pipeline Project, as TransCanada has dubbed it in presentations to energy companies, could do more than supply the east with fuels made from oil sands crude. It could serve as an alternative to Northern Gateway, the controversial West Coast export pipeline project from TransCanada competitor Enbridge Inc. that has faced a wall of opposition from first nations and environmental groups.

The TransCanada proposal would send 625,000 barrels a day across the country to Montreal, Quebec City and potentially Saint John, N.B., where Irving Oil Ltd. runs a large refinery. Tanker exports could then also take the crude to Europe or Asia.

The proposal is conceptual, and the company has not disclosed public details about a project that may never be built. But it comes amid a period of turbulence for the Canadian oil patch, which is confronting numerous obstacles to moving its oil to market, and is considering a large variety of novel options as a result.

“If you’re an oil shipper these days, you’re probably interested in anything that can get you to a different market,” said one person familiar with the plans.

For TransCanada, the project would help solve two of the most pressing problems facing the energy sector today. The company’s Mainline, the principal pipeline backbone that carries natural gas to heat Ontario homes with Alberta gas, has been flowing half-empty due to weak demand. That has caused numerous problems, including huge increases in the cost of moving gas cross-country.

At the same time, oil companies – especially in the oil sands – have grown fearful of being boxed in, as export projects like Gateway and Keystone XL, the proposed TransCanada line to the Gulf Coast, stumble.

The East Coast project, described to The Globe and Mail by industry sources, would involve converting roughly 3,000 kilometres of underused natural gas pipe – the Mainline is made up of a series of parallel pipes – into oil service. It would also involve building at least 375 kilometres of new pipe from Hardisty, the Alberta oil hub, to the Mainline at Burstall, Sask., and from near Cornwall, at the other end, to Montreal. Another 220 kilometres would be required to reach Quebec City.

Oil could be loaded onto ocean-going vessels either on the St. Lawrence River, or destined for American refiners via Portland, Me., through a pipeline to Montreal whose flow could be reversed.

TransCanada declined to elaborate on the eastern pipeline idea: “We will continue to look at all options to expand our business but I am not aware of any plans for TransCanada to do this kind of project,” spokesman James Millar said.

The idea of sending oil east is not without critics.

READ ENTIRE GLOBE AND MAIL ARTICLE HERE

Alberta

 Northern

Alberta’s tar sands are home to an estimated 173 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen, a tar-like substance that requires intensive processing to become synthetic crude oil.

There are serious social, environmental and economic consequences of tar sands development which prompts the question, boom for whom? Indigenous peoples rights are being overlooked, there are dramatic environmental impacts, water is being wasted and contaminated and market interests are being put ahead of Canadian interests.

The Council of Canadians continues to support the demand for no new approvals of tar sands developments and expansions as a first step to reducing further destruction. Faced with a market-based moratorium caused by dropping oil prices, there is an opportunity now to address the market-oriented energy gold rush in the tar sands and plan for more sustainable energy production and consumption. We need a Canadian Energy Strategy that puts the interests of people and the environment first based on the principles of energy security and ecological sustainability.

Yes to EU FQD, no to tar sands: Countering Canadian lobbying against European climate policy The Harper government’s foreign policy is increasingly about protecting corporate interests in the Canadian tar sands, including challenging policy that will help address climate change.

The EU Fuel Quality Directive will help reduce emissions from transport fuels. The draft policy proposes a value for tar sands, or bitumen, that recognizes that it is a high carbon fuel and discourages its use. The Canadian and Albertan governments have been lobbying fiercely against this.

The Council of Canadians is committed to countering lobbying against the EU FQD and demonstrating to Europeans that Canadians support climate action. To protect the EU FQD from future trade challenges, the Council is encouraging Europeans to reject investor-state mechanisms in CETA (Canada and European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement). Read more and learn what you can do »

READ ENTIRE CANADIANS ARTICLE HERE

British Columbia

ď ś Native-led oil pipeline protest draws hundreds to Vancouver Art Gallery March 26, 2012

Elder Edwin Newman of the Heiltsuk First Nation speaks against the Enbridge Pipeline project at the Vancouver Art Gallery. First Nations were joined by environmental groups and labour organizations to protest the planned pipeline that would stretch from Alberta to the northern B.C. coast.

Photograph by: Ward Perrin , The Province Protesters marching through downtown Vancouver Monday promised to fight big oil and big government and put a stop to proposed pipeline expansions in B.C. Chanting native elders wearing button blankets and pounding drums led more than 300 marchers to the Vancouver Art Gallery for a noon rally where they were joined by hundreds more.

Pipelines proposed by Kinder Morgan and Enbridge require First Nations support, and if Monday’s rally is any indication there is plenty of opposition in that camp.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip was one of many high-powered native leaders who said Prime Minister Stephen Harper has bitten off more than he can chew if he thinks more oil tankers will be allowed on B.C.’s west coast.

“We all know this government is a few clowns short of a circus, and that this fight will intensify,” said Phillip. “I will tell my grandchildren that you were here today, and we will win this, and we will make this a better world.”

Coastal First Nations president Art Sterritt said First Nations are not prepared to risk their ancestral homelands to deliver profits to greedy oil companies.

“We’ve been here for over 10,000 years, and we will never leave,” said Sterritt. “Democracy is alive and well in British Columbia.

“We will stop this black plague from saturating our province.

“We cannot fail . . . we will not fail.”

Bill McKibben of 350.org said the U.S. moratorium on the controversial Keystone oil pipeline shows the potential of people power.

“We had 1253 people arrested in the biggest display of civil disobedience in 30 years,” said McKibben. “Big oil has all the money in the world, so we need a different currency — passion, spirit, and creativity. “This is one of the great issues of our generation.”

Rueben George of the Tsleil-Waututh said First Nations rely on clean water as an essential part of their everyday life.

“I played in the water, I swam in the water, I canoed in the water, and I eat from the water,” said George, speaking for children from all walks of life - even the pipeline proponents’ kids.

“This is for your children, this is for my children. We’re doing it for Kinder Morgan’s children, so they can have clean air and clean water.”

The federal and B.C. governments both seem supportive of pipeline expansions as a means of building job opportunities, but persistent opposition has decried building a pipeline over the Rocky Mountains and the prospect of more oil supertankers on B.C.’s largely unspoiled coastline.

 Asian energy giant Petronas seeks $5b natural gas deal that could spark new drilling in B.C. Petronas investment in natural gas could spark new drilling in B.C. April 2, 2012

The sun sets near the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Petronas chief executive Shamsul Azhar Abbas wants to spend $5 billion securing Canadian natural gas supplies News that state-owned Malaysian energy giant Petronas wants to spend $5 billion securing Canadian natural gas supplies delivered a speculative boost to B.C.’s energy sector Monday as analysts tried to figure out what it might mean.

Petronas chief executive officer Shamsul Abhar Abbas made the comment about a $5-billion investment in Canada in a Friday interview with the news agency Bloomberg.

“This is going to be big,” Shamsul was quoted as saying in the interview, noting that Petronas’s buyers of natural gas are seeking energy supplies in stable countries that can be guaranteed for years.

Eric Nuttall, portfolio manager at Sprott Asset Management, said speculators were getting ahead of themselves, but added that it is likely Shamsul was referring to Petronas’s need for proven reserves to finance another proposed liquefied natural gas terminal on the West Coast.

And that need to acquire proven reserves, Nuttall said, is just as likely to stimulate a drilling boom in northeastern B.C. and lead to a new round of acquisitions.

READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE

 New Norwegian virus in supermarket farm salmon April 13, 2012

Dr. Alexandra Morton “Continued

large-scale

introductions

from areas of the world including Washington State, Scotland, Norway and even eastern Canada would eventually

Sointula, BC (April 13, 2012) Test results report 44 out of 45 farm salmon purchased from the Superstore and T&T markets throughout Vancouver tested positive for a newly identified Norwegian virus. The piscine reovirus weakens the fish’s heart causing Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation (HSMI).

HSMI is considered a “major challenge” in Norway infecting over 400 farms since it’s symptoms first appeared in 1999. It has spread to the U.K.

result in the introduction of exotic disease agents of which the potential

impact on both cultured and wild salmonids in BC could be both biologically damaging to the resource and economically devastating to its user groups”• (Chamut former ADM, DFO, to Sarna, Director of Pacific Rim & Trade, Policy Division, International Directories, DFO, 1990) – Above quote provided by Dr. Alexandra Morton

Scientists only recently identified the virus causing this disease making diagnosis possible. Thus no screening was possible for the 30 million Atlantic salmon eggs that entered BC for fish farming prior to 2010. Detected for the first time in Chile last year, Sernapesca, the fisheries regulator, responded with “intensified preventative measures.”

Reports of HSMI in Chile drove industry share values down.

The virus reportedly spreads easily to wild fish near the pens like “wildfire”. There is no information on how it affects wild Pacific salmon.

The Provincial farm salmon health audits released by the Cohen Commission did not report HSMI. The Cohen Commission Technical Report on Disease and Parasites did not consider HSMI impact on Fraser sockeye. Author, Dr. Michael Kent, testified if HSMI appears in BC it would come from the wild fish (Aug. 23, 2012). Dr. Miller, from the DFO Genomic Lab testified on Dec. 15 that she is detecting the virus in wild sockeye.

If these fish are not from BC, we have a breach in BC’s food security protocol. People preparing to cook these may wash them, sending the virus into the water system. If the fish were raised in BC, why didn’t anyone who testified at Cohen know about HSMI? There is something very wrong when four women with shopping carts can find this and the salmon flu virus in Atlantic salmon in BC but almost no one else seems to know anything about it. Are the industry and government really unaware of HSMI, or is no one concerned there about wild salmon? I don’t see how Cohen can ignore HSMI. Weakening the heart of a fish that has to travel 100s of km against the Fraser River seems a bad idea.

READ DR. MORTON’s ENTIRE BLOG ENTRY HERE

ď ś Cohen Commission Update: Cohen Commission to submit final report by September 30, 2012 VANCOUVER, March 30, 2012 /CNW/ - The Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River has been granted an additional three month extension by the Governor General in Council to complete its work. The commission's Terms of Reference are now revised to call for a final report to be submitted on or before September 30, 2012.

In completing his final report, Commissioner Bruce Cohen will consider all the evidence entered at evidentiary hearings and approximately 900 submissions from the public. More than 160 witnesses testified at the hearings, resulting in 14,000 pages of transcripts and 2,100 exhibits. The Commissioner requested the extension to complete the writing, translation and production of the report.

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

ď ś Chinook Collapse and Salmon Feedlot viruses March 21, 2012 Dr. Alexandra Morton If you want Chinook salmon - as uncomfortable as it is for everyone, you are going to have to address salmon feedlot viruses, there is no way around it

While this news article reports, "Root causes are habitat loss and water extraction" I cannot believe there is no mention of Salmon Leukemia and Infectious Salmon Anemia viruses.

In the 1990s DFO found a new disease in the chinook salmon farms off Campbell River, they called it Salmon Leukemia. They found it infected 100% of the wild chinook that were exposed and killed most of them. They reported it also killed up to 100% of the chinook in the farms prompting the industry to switch largely to Atlantics. However, using vaccinations for related diseases, such as BKD, chinook salmon farming continues along both sides of Vancouver Island and the symptoms of this virus persist in the farm salmon records. When Dr. Miller (DFO) found evidence that Salmon Leukemia is killing massive numbers of sockeye and also chinook, DFO muzzled her. DFO never identified the specific virus and this means it is impossible to test for.

Scientists did report the public was not keen on a potentially cancer-causing virus in farm salmon. Miller will hopefully figure it out despite DFO. It is unconscionable no one is even mentioning this disease, despite all the evidence pulled out through the Cohen Commission. I cannot possibly believe a virus infecting 100% and killing most chinook, pouring out of facilities in the narrow channels of Campbell River is not having a population affect!

READ DR. MORTON’S ENTIRE BLOG POST HERE

 License to Kill

Salmon farmers in B.C. are licensed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to kill 'persistent' predators that see thousands of penned salmon as a smorgasbord there for the taking. These targeted 'predators' are harbour seals and California sea lions. As well, DFO issues special permits to salmon farmers to kill Steller sea lions- a Species of Special Concern under Canada's Species at Risk Act. How can DFO permit the killing of marine mammals when they are mandated to conserve and protect the health of our oceans and wild species? DFO even has a 'recovery plan' in place to help rebuild the at-risk Steller sea lion population. It's crazy. Pease take a moment to tell them enough is enough

Download Google Earth map with details on each reported site, entanglement deaths and kills January - March 2011.

And as you know, marine mammal kills are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to net-cage salmon farms.  The recent suspicion of the European strain of ISAv (Infectious Salmon Anemia virus) potentially infecting wild Pacific salmon  sea lice from the farms infecting juvenile wild salmon  waste  escaped farmed Atlantic salmon  chemical, antibiotic and pesticide use on the farms All these problems are associated with net-cage salmon farming. It really is past time for the salmon aquaculture industry to get off the wild salmon migration routes, out of the paths of marine mammals and move to more responsible technology such as closed containment systems.

Please send an e-mail or write a letter to Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield. Tell him you're a voter and that you want your federal government to stop the killing, stop the polluting, stop the spread of disease and parasites and that you want him to start moving the salmon farming industry to closed containment NOW.

ď ś Can

John Cummins and B.C. Conservative MLA John van Dongen agree on fish farming?

March 27, 2012

Fish farms don't spread disease to wild salmon, according to B.C. Conservative MLA John van Dongen, but B.C. Conservative Leader John Cummins has a different view of the situation.

B.C. Conservative Leader John Cummins and his party's new MLA, John van Dongen, were very chummy yesterday in front of the media.

And why not? Van Dongen, a former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister, had crossed the floor to the B.C. Conservatives just in time for crucial April 29 by-elections in Chilliwack-Hope and Port Moody–Coquitlam.

As I watched the televised news coverage last night, I was left with a question: how will these two fast friends get along when it comes to fish farming?

In 2003 as a member of the Commons fisheries committee, Cummins wrote a dissenting report attacking the federal role in aquaculture.

Here's part of what Cummins had to say on the issue: Fish farms operations lay waste to the fish habitat in the vicinity of a farm, with food and fish wastes. Chemical therapeutants contained in the fish food are regularly introduced into the marine environment without any real knowledge of the their impact and without any regulatory framework established under the Fisheries Act. For example, sea lice are a serious problem for farm operations on the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, yet no drug has ever been licensed for general use. Emergency Drug Release procedures have been continually relied upon in the absence of an licensed drug.

The current drug of choice, emamectin usually marketed under the trade name Slice, can legally be acquired for emergency use only. In Canada the Emergency Drug Release procedures were used 156 times in 2001 and 170 times in 2002. In British Columbia alone hundreds of millions of fish have been treated under the emergency procedures by a drug that has never undergone an environmental assessment with regard to its effect on wild fish and shell.

READ ENTIRE STRAIGHT ARTICLE HERE

Nova Scotia  Cooke Aqua taking ISA case very seriously March 22, 2012 Nell Halse, a communications official with Cooke Aquaculture, said that the company is taking the outbreak of an Infectious Salmon Anaemia (ISA) at one of its Nova Scotia farms very seriously.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) began taking samples at the farm after Cooke Aqua reported a possible outbreak of ISA at the farm on February 9. The agency placed quarantine on the facility on February 10, and samples were immediately sent to the Fisheries and Oceans Canada laboratory in Moncton, New Brunswick. The lab conducted a series of internationally recognized tests for infectious salmon anaemia, which was confirmed by the lab on March 7.

Halse said, “We are working with the CFIA and the province of Nova Scotia on the continued management of this fish farm. CFIA continues to do their testing and sampling of the remaining fish on the farm which has been quarantined due the ISA positive status of the site.

“The quarantine basically means that the CFIA people have imposed heightened bio-security measures which we would have implemented anyway.”

A CFIA news release dated March 7 reads, in part: A quarantine remains on the facility to control movements of people, vessels, equipment and fish onto or off of the site. As a precautionary disease control measure, the owner of the facility chose to euthanize two pens containing affected salmon when the disease was first suspected. The CFIA will now order a third cage of salmon to be humanely destroyed and disposed of, with compensation paid to the owner.

The quarantine will remain in place until all fish have been removed from the facility; all pens, cages, and equipment have been cleaned and disinfected, and the CFIA approves all cleaning and disinfecting activities and authorizes the removal of the quarantine.

Hales said that the company has strict biosecurity measures on all its farms, and the company is completing a thorough investigation for all fish and equipment movements over the lifetime of this particular crop of fish.

She said that Cooke Aqua is very concerned about this problem at the Nova Scotia farm.

“Fish health remains a high priority for us on all our farms,” Halse said.” We have already worked proactively to prevent the spread of the ISA to other cages. The voluntary effort to cull two cages in the province after the ISA was suspected was a proactive and positive move in an effort to manage this virus and keep it from spreading.

“An average salmon farm has approximately 20 cages depending on the size, so losing three cages, while unfortunate, is not the end of the farm. This still represents only a small percentage of our Nova Scotia production.”

If more cases of salmon anaemia are discovered, the agency said more fish could be destroyed.

Virus does not affect human health The CFIA said that the ISA virus does not affect human health or food safety.

READ ENTIRE COASTER ARTICLE HERE

 Ottawa: More salmon anemia at Cooke March 28, 2012 Infected fish will continue to be destroyed, agency says Editorial comment: Clarifications regarding statements in the article below: 

Eating farmed Atlantic salmon is known to be a health risk to humans whether Infectious Salmon Anemia is present or not – the chemicals used to fight of diseases and parasites in the open pen feedlots as well as those used to artificially color these fish are bad for humans. Some such as PCB’s accumulate in humans and in other animals that consume these fish.



Infections Salmon Anemia cannot be contained and eliminated otherwise it would have been by now. Escapes of diseased salmon from open pen salmon feedlots continue to spread these deadly diseases into our natural ecosystems.

A fishing boat heads past fish farm cages in Shelburne Harbour on Feb. 21. On Tuesday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency reported more cases of the disease at the Cooke Aquaculture fish farm. (ANDREW VAUGHAN / The Canadian Press)

More confirmed cases of infectious salmon anemia at a Cooke Aquaculture fish farm in Shelburne confirm there is a serious problem there, says Herschel Specter, a member of Friends of Shelburne Harbour.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize there is something really wrong,” he said in an interview from White Plains, N.Y., on Wednesday.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which reported the outbreak on its website Tuesday, said it will continue to order the destruction and disposal of infected fish, as was done following an earlier outbreak of the virus that was reported at the same location on March 7.

The federal agency said infectious salmon anemia poses no risk to human health or food safety.

But aquaculture critics in Nova Scotia are concerned that Cooke’s ambitious expansion plans in the province threaten the environment and traditional fisheries such as lobster.

Specter, who lives half the year in Shelburne with a view of the Cooke salmon pens, said large scale aquaculture isn’t sustainable along Nova Scotia’s South Shore, where the bays and harbours tend to be shallow with slow current speeds.

He said the South Shore’s physical characteristics result in large accumulations of farmed fish feces that are creating coastal dead zones.

“Density is the problem,” he said. “You want deep water and good currents.”

Specter acknowledged that he isn’t an expert but a concerned citizen.

The federal agency said it will monitor and test the remaining salmon at the Shelburne facility and order the destruction of additional fish if more cases of the virus are found.

The facility will remain under quarantine until all fish have been removed from the site and all pens, cages and equipment have been cleaned and disinfected, a process that could take months, the food inspection agency said.

The agency noted that Cooke has co-operated fully with its orders.

Cooke spokesperson Nell Halse could not be reached Wednesday.

Provincial Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Sterling Belliveau said in a statement Wednesday that his department takes the matter very seriously and continues to work closely with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

But he reiterated his position that infectious salmon anemia is a manageable disease that can be contained and eliminated.

“While this finding is a temporary setback for one particular site and one particular operator, we are committed to growing aquaculture into an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable industry,” he said.

He said the discovery of the virus will be a factor in considering new aquaculture leases and licences.

 April Fools’ Day Hoax: New salmon marketing strategy for Nova Scotia April 1, 2012 Editorial Comment: This article is false! Note that it was published April 1, 2012.

“Thank you for your email. The information provided in the story is not true. We're not certain of the author's motive but it is unfortunate this misinformation has been presented in a public forum.

We have received other enquiries about this today. I encourage you to contact the author Tim Gillespie at 902-8752202 or 877-235-4999 or by email at editor@southcoasttoday.ca.”

Sterling Belliveau. MLA Shelburne County

CANADA PRESS - 1APR2012: According to a news release from Nova Scotia Department of Aquaculture, the Nova Scotia government has teamed up with members of the Nova Scotia Salmon Farmers Association to market salmon removed from industrial fish farms as a result of the recent harvesting of salmon affected by infectious salmon anemia (ISA).

Marketed as "ISA Certified" the new salmon brand will create opportunity to sell ISA-infected salmon in supermarkets and seafood stores in Nova Scotia, across Canada and in the USA, said the release.

The department will commit $240,000 in "promotional" monies from the Industrial Development Fund, which will be matched by $32,000 from the salmon farming industry. "We think it is important," says Aquaculture Minister Sterling Belliveau, "that the millions of pounds of salmon which will have to be harvested and slaughtered because of the growing ISA infection in Shelburne and other Nova Scotia farms not go to waste."

The senior aquatic disease specialist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced last week that there will be more fish from the Shelburne operation of Cooke Aquaculture ordered destroyed and that, as soon as Cooke can prove that a clear "bio-security path" can be created, the firm will be allowed to process and market the ISA fish to consumers.

The CFIA, Nova Scotia government and salmon farming industry spokespersons have stressed repeatedly that the disease which has killed millions of salmon in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Norway and Chile over the past decade "poses absolutely no risk to humans." The ISA Certified brand will be using the slogan "Deadly to fish - safe for you!"

The project, says Belliveau, is an example of the commitment to innovation that the current NDP government is so very proud of. He stressed that the recent announcements by the federal government of the massive reduction in funding for marine science and federal food inspectors, combined with the certainty that further ISA outbreaks are assured, creates a "perfect storm" of opportunity for this partnership between the Aquaculture Department and the salmon farming industry.

When CFIA orders the removal of fish from a farm due to ISA, the release stated, the salmon farm company is compensated for all of the slaughtered fish. "If we can then sell those same fish on the open market," added Belliveau, "then it's a win-win situation for everyone."

Quebec

ď ś Minnow ban to halt spread of fish virus would cripple Quebec bait shops: owners March 10, 2012

Daniel Rondeau (left), his daughter Cassandra, wife Annie, son Damien, and brother-in-law Luc Rondeau, show the children how to look for holes in a seine net used for capturing live minnows for the Rondeau minnow business, in St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu. Some who work in the sport fishery business worry a live minnow ban could cripple bait shops.

MONTREAL - In a bid to halt the spread of a deadly fish virus into even more Quebec waters, the Quebec Natural Resources and Wildlife Department is proposing a ban on the use of live minnows as bait.

But some who work in the province's $2.5-billion sport fishery say that would cripple them financially as live minnows are the bait of choice for most anglers - particularly when ice-fishing.

At issue is viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), a scourge that causes fish to bleed internally and which already is established in the Great Lakes and in the St. Lawrence River. The freezing of minnows kills more than 90 per cent of the virus.

VHS was first identified in the 1950s in farmed fish in Europe. By 2005, it had found its way into the Great Lakes, most likely from international vessels flushing their ballasts, say Ontario Natural Resources wildlife officials. Its spread was exacerbated by the transport and release of infected bait fish into uncontaminated waters by sports fishermen.

As it spread, VHS killed tens of thousands of fish. In 2005, 91 tonnes of freshwater drum were killed in Lake Ontario's Bay of Quinte. In 2006, there were die-offs of yellow perch in Lake Erie and muskellunge in the St. Lawrence River. In 2007, large die-offs of bass occurred in the Finger Lakes region of western New York state. There also have been confirmed die-offs of salmon, musky and walleye (pickerel), as well as numerous minnow species.

Many in the sport fishing industry say emphasis should be on existing laws on the transport of minnows from one zone to another and much higher fines for those who break them. Otherwise, they say, their businesses will not survive.

VHS is already established in the St. Lawrence River system.

"I am sure that the biologists who are pushing to pass this law have never fished. They and the ministry really don't understand what we do or how nature works," said minnow harvester, Daniel Rondeau, of St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, 43 kilometres southeast of Montreal. "If they did, they would realize that this law will kill us!"

Rondeau, who makes most of his income netting and selling minnows to fishing outfitters, bait shops and the public, says he catches most of them in seine nets in the Richelieu, St. Lawrence and Pike rivers.

"We already have rules in the books and I stand behind them, but let's see some enforcement before you shut me down. Why take away my livelihood?"

Peter Donaldson runs a shop on Ile Perrot, Que., that sells live and dead minnows. His business will be greatly affected should the minnow ban be passed. "It could be the end of an era, should the ban come into effect. It was supposed to be decided this year and implemented in 2013, but we don't really know what is going on as no one has contacted us. I have not heard one word on any decision.

We have been kept in the dark by the ministry all along," explained the shop owner.

"I had a petition in the office asking that the (Department of Natural Resources) keep the laws as they are now, but increase policing and penalties for those who break the rules and transport potentially contaminated minnows into the clean lakes and rivers in the north and south," he said.

The petition, which gathered 6,000 signatures against the ban, was started by the Federation of Quebec Outfitters, a group that represents 347 outfitters across the province. It is also supported by the Quebec Federation of Hunters and Fishermen.

The 600 signatures on Donaldson's copy include those of local gas station and corner store owners who will be affected by the possible ban. Should it come into effect, the ban will have a ripple effect in many communities where fishing is a major financial contributor to the economy.

Ireland  Concern continues over salmon farm March 22, 2012

The Save Bantry Bay (SBB) group has raised concerns that sea lice (pictured here), prolific around fish farms, may infect young wild salmon as they travel by.

A presentation prepared by a group opposing a multi-million euro salmon farm in Bantry for a closed meeting with Cork County Council is to be made public. The committee, Save Bantry Bay (SBB), which was formed in objection to the proposed €3.5 million organic salmon farm by Marine Harvest at Shot Head near Adrigole, has organised a public meeting tomorrow, Saturday at the Eccles Hotel following the Council Western Committee's decision to refrain from discussing the issue whilst the license application is being considered.

Third generation Adrigole fisherman and SBB chairman Kieran O'Shea along with local Angling Association secretary Alex O'Donovan will present the report outlining the group’s objections to the development, claiming that the 100 acre site will limit their ability to make a living along with "closing off part of an important ground for shrimp and prawn". In a statement, SBB said the group is particularly concerned with the impact of sea lice on wild salmon, with six rivers entering the Bantry Bay. “Young smoult leaving these rivers, almost all of which are still closed to fishermen because of poor stocks, have been shown to be infected by the sea lice in the caged salmon,” it read.

SBB outlined that a recent publication in the Canadian Journal of Aquatic Studies by researchers in three countries- including Ireland- showed that "salmon farms located close to estuaries and migration routes of wild salmon have severe effects on the survival of migrating salmon and trout”.

The group believes the farm would cause further problems with algae blooms in the bay. “While management and feeds have improved, based on Marine Harvest's own figures for the proposed Shot Head farm, the waste produced would be the equivalent of a town four times the size of Bantry for sewage phosphorus waste and 10 times the size of Bantry for sewage nitrogen waste- the equivalent to adding the sewage from the entire population of Bray to Bantry Bay,” it said.

The public meeting takes place tomorrow, Saturday, March 24th at 8.15pm in the Eccles Hotel, Glengarriff.

 Angry scenes at Glengarriff meeting about salmon farm March 31st, 2012 Editorial Comment: We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International and our associates applaud the efforts by Save Bantry Bay and local citizens to protect their uniquely productive marine ecosystem from known and unknown negative impacts of open pen salmon feedlots; specifically diseases, parasites, and untreated waste (chemicals, feed and feces).

Pictured at the Save Bantry Bay meeting in Glengarriff’s Eccles Hotel on Saturday night were – from left - Alec O'Donovan, secretary of Save Bantry Bay, guest speaker David Forde of Salmon Watch Ireland and Kieran O'Shea, SBB chairman.

THERE were angry scenes at the Eccles Hotel in Glengarriff last Saturday night where up to 200 people gathered to voice their opposition to the proposed Marine Harvest salmon farm in Bantry Bay. Bord Iascaigh Mhara’s (BIM) regional development officer David Millard was asked repeatedly to leave the meeting during the questions-and-answers section of the evening.

‘I wanted to point out that the information presented during the meeting was factually incorrect but I was not allowed to do this by the Save Bantry Bay (SBB) secretary Alec O’Donovan,’ Mr Millard told The Southern Star.

‘I am very surprised at the attitude of Mr O’Donovan and Mr O’Shea,’ Mr Millard said as he left the meeting.

Mr O’Donovan, who is a retired harbour master, ruled the BIM representative out of order and after numerous attempts to remove the microphone, asked Mr Millard to leave the meeting.

‘We did not welcome the presence of Mr Millard; maybe he is doing his job but he is not a neutral observer’, Mr O’Donovan said. ‘This meeting was called for supporters of our campaign, to outline our concerns and make plans for the next step in our campaign to ensure that this salmon farm will not be sited in Bantry Bay. In our opinion, Mr Millard was here to upset the meeting and we asked him to leave numerous times’. Marine Harvest Ireland has lodged an application for a foreshore and aquaculture licence to develop a 106-acre salmon farm at Shot Head in Bantry Bay. ‘We must make it clear once again that we are not against aquaculture or indeed salmon farming but this development will, in our opinion, destroy the livelihood of many pot fishermen in the area and will have, we believe, a devastating environmental effect on the waters and sea life in Bantry Bay,’ SBB chairman and local fisherman Kieran O’Shea said.

Mr O’Shea also expressed his disappointment at the complete lack of public representatives at the meeting.

READ ENTIRE SOUTHERN STAR ARTICLE HERE

New Zealand ď ś Something fishy is going on out there DANNY BOULTON March 22, 2012 OPINION: Sustain Our Sounds secretary Danny Boulton wraps up the series of opinion pieces on the NZ King Salmon application to develop another eight fish farms in the Marlborough Sounds. He raises the environmental and ethical concerns about the proposed expansion.

You have to wonder when a community process (the Marlborough Sounds Plan) can border on being overturned for industrial self interest to the detriment of our marine system, residents and existing businesses.

The proposed NZ King Salmon farms fly in the face of the Rio Declaration, to which the council is a signatory: "Polluters must internalise and not externalise [put to sea] their waste."

Tourism has always been the mainstay of the Marlborough Sounds and brings in $215 million. Nature is what people come to enjoy it is those values that give memorable experiences and a joy to living.

Our government are hell-bent on a path to a $1 billion aquaculture industry when other countries are steering well clear because they have found finfish farms eventually kill communities and the ecosystems they have been supported by. They call it "Frankenfish farming" and marine piggeries with a free dumping licence.

In Norway, parasites spread by fish farming so devastated wild fish that the government poisoned all aquatic life in an effort to reboot the ecological system.

The areas King Salmon are trying to overturn, coastal marine zone 1, have been put in place because of ecological importance, safety issues, significant landscapes and cultural or residential values.

Did the council and community get it wrong in protecting the unique Sounds environment by not giving industry total access to public space?

To me they are values well worth protecting, and the fabric underpinning our community.

Sustain Our Sounds seeks a long-term strategic integrated management plan that sustains the diverse range of users while protecting the resource and ecosystems for future generations and will work with those who support those ideals.

To secure a healthy sustaining environment, on which our life depends, we need to ensure the Sounds is resilient.

The latest ecological report covering the Sounds shows we are losing ground and confirms the need to enhance the marine environment and not pollute it. However, the latest figures from Long Island marine reserve, released last week, show how a marine environment can bounce back if given the opportunity.

Pisco, the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans, who have studied marine reserves around the world, show fish are 28 per cent bigger and 166 per cent more abundant inside marine reserves. On average, diversity increases by 21 per cent and biomass (the mass of animals and plants) by 446 per cent.

By helping nature do the work, everyone benefits.

Extra applications for aquaculture inside marine zone 1 is definitely not in Marlborough's or the nation's best interest.

The polluting effects of finfish farming are a serious concern.

Scientific evidence is very strong in supporting a link between increased nitrification from finfish farming and other polluting activities, which also lead to harmful algal blooms that cripple communities and ecosystems, once functioning and healthy.

We do it time and again overstock, overplant, collapse the market and end up being the poorer for it.

There might be a place for aquaculture, but within the natural biological capacity only.

The proposed new farms will load the marine system with nitrogen and phosphorus causing eutrophication (equivalent to half a million people's faecal waste) which can have major impacts on phytoplankton communities, resulting in threats to a range of benthic ecosystems, including seaweed, eelgrass, sponges and other sensitive underwater habitats. Eutrophication can disrupt the food web and lead to biodiversity loss.

A joint group of experts on the scientific aspects of marine pollution (Gesamp 1990) outlined biological and ecological changes that take place as eutrophication progresses. Among them were very dense, often toxic, algal blooms. (The large algal bloom in the Grove Arm had as much certainty coming from an existing salmon farm as it did not).

They also included: conditions of hypoxia (low oxygen) or anoxia (no oxygen); adverse effects on fishes and invertebrates and changes in the overall ecosystem leading to habitat degradation, alteration of food-web structure, loss of biodiversity and other detrimental effects.

The dense hydroid-dominated community bordering proposed sites in Tory Channel are found nowhere else in Marlborough and are also relatively rare nationally. Other sites throughout the Sounds are also shown to be significant.

So where does this leave us?

The NZ Coastal Policy says we are facing a decline in species habitats and ecosystems as well as wild or scenic areas along extensive areas of coast. The policy calls on us to protect indigenous biological diversity in the coastal environment and preserve natural character.

This is supported with the 2015 Tourism Strategy to enhance our environment.

Aquaculture does not pay for rental space so does not contribute to independent research. Once again ratepayers will pay for the monitoring and cleanup.

We invite you to join sustainoursounds.org.nz because there's definitely something fishy going on out there and we want to put a stop to it.

Reference websites: sustainoursounds.org.nz; latimes.com/oceans; piscoweb.org; salmonfarmmonitor.org/problems.shtml

ď ś Final word on salmon application March 23, 2012

NZ King Salmon farm To finish our opinion series this week on the New Zealand King Salmon application to develop eight fish farms in the Marlborough Sounds, we invited each of the writers to have a final say.

Peter Vitasovich, Aquaculture New Zealand chairman This debate over aquaculture has been pitched as a choice between economic growth or environmentally sustainability. But aquaculture is a means of achieving both and people shouldn't be made to feel guilty for supporting sustainable economic development in their community.

We welcome debate over aquaculture based on the facts pertinent to the New Zealand industry, not outdated information, misinterpretations or worst-case scenarios from overseas.

Sustainability is a core value of our industry and long-term economic stability, customer demands and public pressure will ensure sustainability into the future.

Our marine farmers have a proud history – a reputation earned over 40 years of strong environmental management with processes independently recognised as world-leading.

New Zealand aquaculture produces excellent food, employs 3000 Kiwis and generates more than $400 million by farming carefully chosen sites under planned and controlled conditions.

The application process for water space is robust, independent, guided by credible experts and open for public consultation. A broad array of assessment criteria, based in sound science, are measured and considered.

READ ENTIRE MARLBOROUGH EXPRESS ARTICLE HERE

Russia

ď ś Russia may restrict salmon imports from Norway April 13, 2012

(Reuters) - Russia's animal and plant health watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor may impose temporary restrictions on chilled salmon imports from Norway due to poor safety controls, the regulator's spokesman Alexei Alekseenko told Reuters on Friday.

Russia is the biggest salmon market for Norway, which is the largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon in the world.

"Our experts are currently examining this question, their work will be completed in a few days," Alekseenko said, adding it was not clear when the restrictions could be imposed.

"We expect the actions from the Norwegian side. As we understand, they are ready to introduce a new monitoring system," he added.

Norway - whose major salmon producers include Marine Harvest, Cermaq, Salmar and Austevoll exported more than $5 billion worth of salmon last year, two thirds of it to other European countries.

Scotland  “Armour-plated” salmon released to protect wild fish stocks SCOTS salmon are being dosed with chemicals to “armour plate” them and ensure more fish return from the ocean.

A three-year experiment has seen young fish taken from the wild and raised in pens.

Before being set loose they are being treated with a solution which prevents sea lice latching onto them as they begin their journey to open water.

Editorial Comment: Unbelievable! The Scots want their cake and eat it too.

Will those who pay big bucks to fish in Scotland for “wild” salmon do so if they know that these wild smolts were trapped and dipped in pesticides prior to continuing their journey past Scotland’s open pen salmon feedlots?

In the meantime, wild salmon and their marine ecosystems are negatively impacted by the practices utilized to rear feedlot salmon (aka sewer trout).

The move has already increased the numbers of fish returning to some Scottish salmon rivers As a result of the trial more mature fish are now returning to spawn in Scotland’s rivers – providing a boost for the multi-million pound industry.

The River Lochy, near Fort William and the Carron, in Wester Ross, have both benefited from the scheme.

In the Lochy and extra 400 fish have been caught by anglers, and increase of 10% and stocks on the Carron are said to have made a “phenomenal recovery” following years of dwindling numbers.

The scheme will now be expanded over the next few years, with up to 100,000 treated smolts set to be released.

The move will also help the farmed salmon industry on the West coast of Scotland to expand.

Evidence that sea lice from farmed fish have been harming wild stocks has previously held back growth in the industry.

Young wild salmon had to swim past cages of farmed salmon and were previously at risk of infestation from the variety of sea lice which affects farmed fish.

Jon Gibb, who manages a hatchery for wild fish on the River Lochy said the smolts were treated with an anti-sea lice medication called SLICE, provided by pharmaceutical firm Merck International after being raised in pens owned by a fish farming company.

The medication protects them for six weeks – long enough to swim past any fish farms and into open water.

He said: “Two weeks later, mingling with their truly wild brethren, the little treated smolts exit the river on their seaward journey – a veritable army of armour-plated young travellers.”

Future Wild salmon campaigners have long argued that breeding farmed fish in cages near salmon rivers is to blame for a decline in wild stocks, by spreading parasites among the fish.

But the farming industry has hit back, calling the campaigners ill-informed.

Mr Gibb believes the new treatment could lead to more harmony and cooperation between the two warring groups, and also help the economy.

He said: “the idea is that these fish return to the river and they not only boost the fishery potential, with the hotels, the pubs and garages that benefit from the spin-offs but it also adds to the long-term survival of the river. You have to think that for every adult female that comes back, it’s carrying about 5000 eggs with it, so that is boosting the future of the river. It’s restoration and enhancement at the same time and we are so encouraged by these trial results that the programme will now move into full production. “it is fairly early days but I am utterly convinced, as a manager of the largest west coast salmon fishery, that this is the way forward for a few rivers on the west coast. If you can mitigate the impact of the farm, then it has a better future and the jobs stay.”

But Guy Linley-Adams who heads a campaign by the Salmon and Trout Association to protect wild salmon said: “I think the question you have to ask is why the fish farms want to fund this sort of work?

They realise that fish farms, particularly those in inappropriate places at the mouths of wild salmon rivers, are very likely to have an effect on wild smolt leaving the river for the first time and swimming past lice.

He added that treatment with SLICE was a way of preventing farms from having to be relocated or for the industry to have to change its methods.

ď ś Gartmorn Dam fishery closed by killer lice March 19, 2012

The fishing season at Gartmorn Dam was due to open on 30 March A Clackmannanshire fishery will be closed for the rest of the year after lice were discovered in the water.

Freshwater lice were found at Gartmorn Dam, near Sauchie, earlier this year. Fishing has been stopped following scientific advice.

Clackmannanshire Council said the Argulus lice had the potential to "devastate" still-water fisheries.

The lice inflict wounds on fish which allow disease and fungal infections to take hold, which eventually kill them.

The lice start breeding when the air temperature reaches 8C and higher.

Experts at Stirling University will now be consulted on the best way to get rid of the problem, which has also stopped fishing at Lindores Loch in Fife.

Clackmannanshire Council said Gartmorn Angling Forum were aware of the closure decision. The fishing season was due to open on 30 March.

Garry Dallas, the council's director of services to communities, said: "It is with regret that Gartmorn Dam will not be open to any form of fishing in 2012.

"I know this news will come as a disappointment to the many people who were looking forward to fishing at the dam this coming season, but there would be no point us stocking the dam with trout, only for them to be attacked by lice.

"We will continue to work with experts from Stirling University to manage this situation with a view to re-opening next year as part of Gartmorn Dam's tri-centenary celebrations."

ď ś Torridon fish farm given go ahead

SCIENTISTS have been criticised because they refused to object to a new Ross-shire fish farm, despite fears from local residents that it could cause serious parasite problems for wild stocks.

Four full-time jobs will be created after the Scottish Salmon Company got the go-ahead from Highland Council to build 14 cages at Sgeir Dughall in Loch Torridon.

The farm had been opposed by the Torridon and Kinlochewe and Shieldaig community councils which claimed local wild trout and salmon could be infected by sea lice, spread from the influx of farmed fish into the waters.

Wester Ross councillors Audrey Sinclair and Biz Campbell tabled a motion for the plans to be rejected by the local authority north planning applications committee in Inverness.

They claimed siting the farm was a contravention of the Loch Torridon aquaculture framework because Sgeir Dughall was a sensitive area but the move was defeated by seven votes to five.

Councillors Sinclair and Campbell blasted the government organisation Marine Scotland Science (MSS) which did not object to the company’s plans – despite highlighting that sea lice levels had been found “above a critical threshold level” in nearby Loch Shieldaig, following fish farm production.

MSS carries out scientific research, policy and management work on the seas for the Scottish Government but the committee was told it could not quantify the risk to wild fish stocks because there was not enough research carried out on sea lice.

Councillor Sinclair criticised the scientists’ response to the fish farm which secured planning consent for 10 years.

“My big disappointment is in Marine Scotland Science,” said Councillor Sinclair, who noted the sea lice problems were highlighted after the second year of farmed fish production in Loch Shieldaig.

“The idea of letting it run for 10 years, it is a bit like letting the genie out of the bottle. The communities are not against fish farms per se, they have been in the area for a long time and the jobs are welcomed. But what they have been saying is enough is enough.”

Councillor Campbell could not fathom out MSS’s position when it recognised a sea lice problem on one hand but refused to intervene when another major development had emerged.

“I am not against fish farms in their proper places but not major ones on onshore lochs,” added Councillor Campbell.

Committee member Councillor Graeme Smith, a keen fisherman, said the jury was out and the scientists seemed to be carrying out their work “very, very slowly”.

The Wick councillor added granting a five-year planning consent instead of a decade long agreement was not economically viable for companies.

MSS scientist John Armstrong said last October it was “tricky” proving a link between the impact of sea lice in fish farms and wild fish.

The Wester Ross Area Salmon Fishery Board also opposed the new development and said it posed an “unacceptable” risk to wild fish.

The fish farm will take up almost 37 hectares on the north-east shore of the loch, with a 220-tonne feed barge sited near the circle shaped cages.

The committee were told by planning officer Colin Wishart the farm would be “virtually invisible” from the nearest settlement of houses at Diabaig.

Mr Wishart described the community councils’ views as a measured response and said they appreciated the economic benefit and jobs created by the aquaculture industry but did not want any more fish farms, “They seem to be unanimous in their opposition,” he said. “This view is not echoed by the statutory consultees and there are no objections from individuals.”

 Fining salmon farmers ‘to cost 1,000 jobs’ March 23, 2012

Celebrity chef Nick Nairn fears rules will harm industry CONTROVERSIAL plans to impose heavy on-the-spot fines on Scotland’s salmon farmers for minor breaches of rules could lead to nearly 1,000 job losses and lose the sector £100 million, industry leaders have warned.

The Scottish Government wants to impose “draconian” fines of up to £10,000 on salmon farmers who flout regulations such as failing to keeping records or allowing small numbers of fish to escape, according to critics of the proposals.

Scottish celebrity chef Nick Nairn, who was regular on the BBC TV show Ready Steady Cook, told The Scotsman the legalisation needed to be “looked at very closely” to avoid any risk of damaging salmon farming.

The industry employs 2,300 people in Scotland and is worth £500m to the Scottish economy, with the bulk of the sector based in the Highland and Islands area, Argyll, the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland.

However, industry leaders have warned that salmon farming firms could pull out of Scotland and take large chunks of their business to nations such as Norway and Canada, which have much less strict regulations than those proposed in the aquaculture and fisheries bill being introduced in an attempt to protect wild species.

Stirling-born Nairn, author of Nick Nairn’s Top 100 Salmon Recipes, called on ministers to reconsider the plans, which could be in force by spring next year.

READ ENTIRE SCOTSMAN ARTICLE HERE

 Salmon farming set to expand after record £489m haul April 5, 2012

Editorial Comment: The continued expansion of open pen salmon feedlots around planet earth is bad for wild fish, their ecosystems, cultures and economies. Then there are the human health risks attributed directly to consuming these mass produced, inferior products.

Two salmon workers show off a prize fish as industry continues to grow NEARLY 90 per cent of salmon-farming companies expect to take on extra staff in the next five years after the value of the industry leapt to an all-time high of £489 million last year, according to statistics published today.

The figure was up 44 per cent on 2010’s total and would be even higher when the impact on the wider supply chain is taken into account, the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO) said.

Confidence among fish farmers is also on the rise, with the report suggesting that 86 per cent are planning to increase production.

The industry created 272 jobs last year, a 13 per cent rise that takes the total number of people employed directly in the sector to more than 2,000, according to the report.

Expenditure on services and supplies rose by 22 per cent to £435m, while capital expenditure by salmon farmers hit an all-time high of £47.6m.

Scott Landsburgh, chief executive of SSPO, said: “The new economic report shows that salmon farming continues to be an expanding part of our economy.

“Direct employment is only part of the picture as there are many more thousands of jobs in the supply chain. The expenditure on the immediate suppliers and services to the sector also recorded a massive leap.

“At a time of slow growth in the global economy, the Scottish salmon sector continues to be a source of major capital investment and new opportunities.”

Landsburgh added: “From speaking to employers, it is clear that there is a desire to increase job creation. This is great news for the Highlands and Islands and the wider Scottish economy and we must work with government to maintain the high levels of confidence in our industry.”

USA

ď ś From US Senator Maria Cantwell (Washington State): Net pens and ISA April 3, 2012 Thank you for contacting me about the salmon virus known as Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA). I appreciate hearing from you on this important matter and sincerely regret the delayed response.

As you may know, Canadian scientists recently announced they have detected ISA in multiple species of wild Pacific salmon. While the virus does not pose a threat to human health, previous outbreaks of ISA in Chile and Norway did significant damage to their aquaculture industries. This virus could harm the Pacific Northwest salmon fishing industry and the coastal economies that rely on it because thousands of Washington state jobs depend on healthy, sustainable salmon populations. A 2010 Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife Study found that commercial fisheries, after processing and distributing their stocks, contributed $1.6 billion to the local economy.

In response to the recent ISA discovery in Canada, I authored a bipartisan amendment to the Fiscal Year 2012 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill (H.R. 2112) on October 19, 2011. This amendment calls on the National Aquatic Animal Health Task Force to evaluate the risk the virus could have on wild salmon off West Coast and Alaskan waters, and to develop within six months a plan to address this emerging threat. I am pleased my amendment became law on November 18, 2011, when H.R. 2112 was signed by President Obama (P.L. 112-55).

Additionally, on November 2, 2011, I sent a letter to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science expressing the need for the U.S. federal government to independently test samples of the recently detected salmon virus, rather than relying on Canadian scientists. The letter urges the Committee to commit the resources needed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to measure salmon virus susceptibility among different species, assess surveillance and monitoring, develop an essential action plan to respond to the potential salmon virus, and establish better techniques for virus detection. As we continue to learn more about the potential infectious salmon anemia virus on the West Coast, I will work to ensure NOAA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other state and federal agencies have the resources necessary to protect our wild salmon.

Since being elected to the Senate, I have committed myself to protecting the environment and natural resources, not only within Washington State but throughout the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Pacific Northwest wild salmon support tens of thousands of local jobs. I believe we need to take immediate action to protect these jobs by quickly developing a salmon virus action plan. Please be assured that I will keep your views in mind as we continue to closely track this ISA threat.

Thank you again for contacting me to share your thoughts on this matter. You may be interested in signing up for my periodic update for Washington State residents. If you are interested in subscribing to these updates, please visit my website at http://cantwell.senate.gov. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of further assistance

Sincerely, Maria Cantwell United States Senator

ď ś Nation's Commercial Fishermen Unite to Protect Bristol Bay, Alaska Fishermen across the country ask President Obama and the EPA to protect Bristol Bay and its commercial fishing jobs from Pebble Mine March 28, 2012 ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 28, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Today Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay announced that 77 commercial fishing groups from Alaska to Maine have sent a letter to the Obama Administration urging it to protect Bristol Bay, its epic salmon runs and the commercial fishing jobs that rely on them.

The groups include the Maine Lobstermen's Association, Gloucester Fishermen's Wives, Maryland Watermen's Association and Southern Shrimp Alliance. In all, they represent more than 16,000 commercial fishermen across the country.

"Today, commercial fishermen from across America stand shoulder to shoulder in support of the most valuable wild salmon fishery on earth, and the thousands of commercial fishing jobs threatened by development of the Pebble Mine," said Bob Waldrop, a leader of Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay. In a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, fishing leaders express support for the agency's scientific watershed assessment, which is investigating impacts of large-scale development on Bristol Bay's productive salmon streams and rivers. The groups urge the agency to use its authority under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to block a required federal dredge-and-fill permit for the mine, if the bay's natural resources would be harmed or compromised by large-scale mining. The mine is expected to produce and store 10 billion tons of toxic waste behind earthen dams, upstream of the bay's salmon-spawning headwaters.

"This is the first time I can remember commercial fishermen from the entire country speaking so clearly in support of a regional fishery," said Sig Hansen, a Bering Sea crab fisherman and star of The Deadliest Catch. "It's clear that fishermen and consumers across the country value Bristol Bay salmon and will not let a mega mine jeopardize it."

The direct value of Bristol Bay's salmon averages $350 million per year, and the commercial fishery is the economic engine of the region. Now 130 years old, the commercial fishery supports about 8,000 fishing jobs, and another 4,000 processing and industry positions.

Waldrop added: "Bristol Bay is a national issue. Our fishermen hail from 38 states where they spend their earnings, pay taxes and support local economies."

For more information, visit: www.fishermenforbristolbay.org Contacts: Bob Waldrop, Executive Director, Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association: 907-223-1588, bdrop@bbrsda.com SOURCE Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay

ď ś Fred Meyer Salmon Promotions: Farmed and Wild Editorial Comment: Back in the day, we trusted that our hometown grocers would utilize honest advertizing to promote quality food for fair prices.

Now, it seems that using the same photo to promote feedlot salmon as the one used to promote wild salmon is OK. Similarly, according to the promotions below: “the main difference between wild and farmed salmon is that wild salmon generally has more flavor.�

Shame on Fred Meyer for intentionally deceiving their once-trusting customers

Alaska

 Robert Redford Leads Charge against the Disastrous Pebble Mine April 6, 2012

The people of Bristol Bay, Alaska, are against the Pebble Mine. Robert Redford is standing with them against the Pebble Mine. And once you watch his powerful new video on the subject, you’ll stand with them too.

Despite overwhelming local opposition, London-based mining giants Anglo American and Rio Tinto are moving forward on the Pebble Mine project, a gargantuan, open-pit gold and copper mine above Bristol Bay. This vast open pit would be gouged out of the headwaters of one of the greatest wild salmon runs in the world. It would threaten the very last 284 beluga whales of Cook Inlet. And it would forever alter the abundant wilderness above Bristol Bay that has supported Native peoples for thousands of years.

But what really astounds is the sheer size of this project. We’re talking about a cavernous hole that would be two miles wide and 2,000 feet deep. Its operations would produce an estimated 10 billion tons of contaminated waste—that’s 3,000 pounds for every man, woman and child on Earth. Oh, and the plan is to store that mountain of waste behind colossal earthen dams—forever. And did I mention that the whole thing will sit in an active earthquake zone?

Anglo American and Rio Tinto say that they’re committed to respecting the communities where they do business. Yet polls show that more than 80 percent of Bristol Bay residents, including its Native peoples and commercial fishermen, are against it — and these companies just keep bulldozing ahead with their plans.

Later this month, both of these companies will hold their annual shareholder meetings in London.

We’re launching an Earth Day blitz that will expose Anglo American and Rio Tinto’s broken corporate promises, alert their countrymen and shareholders to their dangerous plans and reach our goal of generating ONE MILLION messages of protest. Together, we must tell Anglo American and Rio Tinto that No Means No! Join together with NRDC, Robert Redford and the people of Bristol Bay in sending Anglo American and Rio Tinto a message: “It’s Time to Take NO for an answer.” Sign the petition right now.

ď ś Trout Unlimited Issues Call to Action to Save Bristol Bay March 23, 2012 Since the active exploration of the proposed Pebble Mine area in Bristol Bay, Alaska began in 2002, the potential impacts and other issues surrounding the proposed mining project have been on the forefronts of minds across the country and across the globe. Discovered in 1986, the Pebble Mine area of Bristol Bay is home to one of the largest deposits of copper, gold, and molybdenum in the world. Bristol Bay also happens to be home to what is considered to be the largest wild salmon fishery in the world. Opponents to the proposed Pebble Mine project have warned for years about the potential disastrous consequences of the project, but the issue is likely to come to a head this year as the owner and driving force behind the exploratory project, Northern Dynasty, intends to file permit applications this year.

The shore of Bristol Bay near Naknek.

Northern Dynasty has already filed for water-use permits from the Upper Talarik Creek and the Koktuli River, in the amount of 35 billion gallons per year (about 4 times the annual water usage of the city of Anchorage). More permit applications are expected once Northern Dynasty completes its 91 million dollar pre-feasibility study some time this year. Proponents of the mining project argue that the revenue opportunities for the state of Alaska and the 1000-2000 jobs that the project is expected to create are too valuable to ignore. Northern Dynasty and its supporters also point out that the poor environmental record of mining operations similar to the proposed Pebble Mine project are the result of a lack of technology, a barrier which has since been removed.

Opposition from a groups spanning vast cultural and economic strata, ranging from native Alaskan subsistence fisherman to commercial fisherman to recreational and conservation organizations, continues with detractors warning that the risks of the project are too great. Trout Unlimited states "If built, Pebble Mine would produce up to 10 billion tons of toxic waste that will have to be treated for hundreds of years. This waste will threaten Bristol Bay's $600 million commercial and sport fishery and 12,000 fishing jobs."

Trout Unlimited is asking individuals to take a few moments out of their day to deliver a message to their elected representatives through an easy to fill out form on the web. Concerned citizens can quickly and easily dispatch a letter to President Barak Obama, their elected U.S. Senators, their elected U.S. House Representative, and officials at the US Council on Environmental Quality and the EPA. To contribute your comments and deliver your message in support of Bristol Bay's salmon fishery, visit this page.

ď ś Bristol Bay Native Corp. leaders oppose Pebble March 21, 2012 The Bristol Bay Native Corp. came to Juneau, bringing with them pickled and kippered salmon and a message from its shareholders.

They don't like the Pebble Mine, and fear it may threaten the salmon on which Bristol Bay is dependent.

"We can support renewable and non-renewable development, but there's one particular project that we don't support because of the risks it represents to the region," said Jason Metrokin, BBNC's president and chief executive officer.

Speaking at the Capitol at an informal meeting that attracted most of the Senate's top leaders, including President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, both the Majority and Minority leaders, Finance Committee co-chairmen and others, Metrokin said surveys of both his corporation's shareholders and the general Alaska public showed they were supportive of most development almost everywhere in Alaska.

But neither the state nor Bristol Bay residents support Pebble, he said.

Alaskans support oil, mining, tourism and other industries of various types around Alaska, but 54 percent oppose Pebble, he said.

"The majority of registered voters in our state are opposed to this particular project, while at the same time they support other development around the state," he said.

Same with BBNC shareholders, where opposition to Pebble is strong and has been building, Metrokin said.

A survey last year showed 81 percent opposition, leading the corporation to act, he said. A similar survey in 2007 showed 69 percent opposition, he said.

"We need to balance the benefit versus the risk," he said, and the risk of Pebble appeared too high.

The corporation supports other mining operations, including small local ones in the area and ones as large as Juneau's Greens Creek Mine, where BBNC was an early investor.

"We recognize Greens Creek, not far from Juneau here, as a good example of responsible development we do receive revenue from," he said.

So far Greens Creek royalties have provided about $4 million back to BBNC, he said.

The corporation itself isn't involved in fishing, but is representing the views of its shareholders which are interested in commercial and subsistence fisheries worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, Metrokin said.

"We feel that the negative impact of this particular project, Pebble, will adversely impact the fishery," he said.

READ ENTIRE HOMER NEWS ARTICLE HERE

 Saving Bristol Bay for future generations

By Former Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) April 16, 2012 We live in a time where jobs don’t exactly grow on trees, but in Alaska, it is fair to say that jobs grow on rivers. The Bristol Bay economy is threatened by the prospects of two foreign mining companies seeking to begin mining in the area, and it is up to Alaskans to protect their own economy.

Bristol Bay is legendary for sportsmen from across our great country. The sport fishing industry in Bristol Bay alone generates $65 million annually and supports more than 800 permanent jobs within the local community. Every year more than 60,000 visitors travel to the region for recreational opportunities. They come to absorb the scenic views, fish, hunt, and study the wildlife. These folks buy plane tickets, stay in local lodging, hire tour guides, purchase gear from local supply stores, and enjoy the local cuisine.

But all of what I have just talked about would be threatened by the creation of the Pebble Mine. The advocates for the mine suggest it will add jobs to the region, but fail to recognize that the mine’s presence could jeopardize an entire industry.

At its core, the issue is simple. The proposed Pebble Mine would be built at the headwaters of two rivers that feed Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska. The site contains a low-grade deposit of gold, copper, and molybdenum. Over its lifetime, the mine could produce up to 10 billion tons of toxic waste, which would be stored forever behind a series of dams in an area prone to earthquakes. If even trace amounts of this waste seep into the Bristol Bay watershed, much of the fishery and other wildlife could be seriously threatened.

The EPA has a rare opportunity to use its authority under the Clean Water Act to issue a narrow 404c ruling to protect local jobs and fishing habitats in Bristol Bay. The agency is currently undergoing a watershed assessment, which will be out in the coming weeks. If the EPA finds that Bristol Bay’s resources would be adversely affected by the enormous scale of the Pebble Mine, it could block the required federal dredge and fill permit.

The dangers posed to Bristol Bay are clear and abundant. Can science and engineering eliminate the risks posed by the Pebble Mine to Alaska’s economy? If the answer is yes, the mine’s backers should show how in a clear and unquestionable manner. If the answer is no, then mining companies shouldn’t be forced to throw away their capital needlessly.

I support protecting the current Bristol Bay economy and the environment at the same time. If a conservative Republican from North Carolina with a lifetime rating of 11% from the League of Conservation Voters can fight for this issue, I hope you can too!

Robin Hayes is a former Republican Congressman from North Carolina and current Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party. He is frequent visitor to Alaska’s Bristol Bay, where he stays at Brian Kraft’s Alaska Sportsman Lodges. Kraft is one of 40 sportsmen from 17 states in Washington, DC this week to express their support for protecting Bristol Bay and its watershed from the Pebble Mine.

 New Halibut Cove pink run hits incompatibility snag March 28, 2012 Idea of enhancing fishery for commercial and personal use raises questions

HOMER TRIBUNE file photo - Halibut Cove is a famed retreat for artists and nature lovers, established largely by Clem Tillion and his family.

A new pink salmon enhancement project brooding 30 million fry at Halibut Cove Lagoon could be in the works if the Cook Inlet Aquaculture gains a stamp of approval on its request.

Cook Inlet Aquaculture has applied for permission to install rearing pens in the middle of Halibut Cove Lagoon. The plan is now under a 30-day review period by Director of State Parks Ben Ellis.

Executive Director of the Aquaculture organization, Gary Fandrei, said the request was made as a cost-recovery measure for the Tutka Bay Hatchery. It also will enhance the commercial and personaluse fishery.

Pink prices were 5.6 cents a pound at the lowest point in recent years, but have now risen to 40 cents a pound.

“We’ve had a lot of interest in reopening the Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery but to do that, we had to find financial resources to pay for the project. We have some of our own, but need to look for other sources,” he said.

The Department of Fish and Game suggested using Halibut Cove Lagoon in a cost-recovery plan.

“We would temporarily access that stock until they came back to Tutka in large enough amounts. The idea is to let 100 percent be harvested,” Fandrei said. The stock work would need to continue for a minimum of four years. Once CIAA has its share of about 50 percent, other commercial fishermen could harvest the rest for profit.

Initially, Cook Inlet Aquaculture requested, and was granted, a permit from Fish and Game to raise 85 to 100 million in net pens the size of a football field.

But when the proposal came before the Kachemak Bay State Park, it was denied.

The permit was found to be incompatible with the purpose of park, said Roger McCampbell, park ranger.

Though salmon hatcheries had occurred in the 1970s-80s in Halibut Cove, when the Tutka Bay hatchery was developed, all work was moved there. Because of this current plan’s massive size, the Division of Parks asked Cook Inlet Aquaculture to reapply with a scaled back plan. That’s when they reduced the number to 30 million fry, Fandrei said.

McCampbell said the division’s position was that the plan proposed an incompatible purpose that could cause conflict for recreational users.

“It had nothing to do with the recreational, scenic and aesthetic values of the park. And it is the introduction of a non indigenous pink salmon. There was some concern, with that many pinks.”

Oyster farms are nearby, but outside of the park, McCampbell said.

Halibut Cove resident and former Legislator Clem Tillion said he is completely in favor Cook Inlet Aquaculture’s plan.

“If this project furnishes jobs, then as a whole, you are ahead. The beautiful thing is if you let in a mariculture project, then they are a real defender of keeping the water clean,” Tillion said Friday. “The idea that you don’t like to look at it, I couldn’t care less if you don’t like to look at it. Does it feeds people? It’s good. If it creates jobs, it’s good.”

Tillion objects when people who don’t live in Halibut Cove want to quash any development in the park.

“It’s baloney that this is incompatible use; they can’t dictate what goes on here when they don’t even live here,” he said.

The Kachemak Bay Conservation Society’s Roberta Highland said they are not outright opposed to the idea. But they do want be part of the dialogue, and accidentally happened upon news of the plan just days before the Kachemak Bay State Park Advisory Commission was to meet on March 21.

“One of our concerns is recognition of what a treasure Halibut Cove Lagoon is in our Kachemak Bay State Park. We also understand and support the importance of fisheries to our economic well being,” Highland said. “However, we always want to make sure there is harmony and balance between the economy and the environment, and that we error on the side of conservation.”

Since there are no baseline studies on the lagoon, there is no real understanding yet of how the water circulates or what lives on the bottom, she said. If the project does move forward, she would like to see Cook Inlet Aquaculture partner with the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve and with NOAA to get baseline studies.

The Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association was incorporated in 1976 to provide the Cook Inlet drainage with an organized, scientifically respected community, responsible for the protection of selfperpetuating salmon stocks and the rehabilitation of salmon stocks and habitat, according to its website. Goals set forth by the board of directors are to be accomplished by maximizing the value of Cook Inlet’s common property salmon resource through the use of science, education and technology.

The Association is involved in hatchery management, lake fertilization, flow control structure operation, fishway management and construction, habitat surveying, and education.

At present CIAA releases sockeye salmon fry to Hidden Lake, Bear Lake, Big Lake, Leisure Lake, Hazel Lake, and Kirshner Lake. Sockeye salmon smolts are released to Bear Lake and are slated to be release to Tutka Bay Lagoon this spring. Coho salmon fry and smolts are released to Bear Lake.

Yearly releases of coho smolts also occur at the Homer Spit. The Alaska SeaLife Center has contracted CIAA to release coho smolts to Resurrection Bay. CIAA also plans to release coho smolts in Seldovia this year.

If approved by late April, Fandrei said he would move quickly in the coming weeks to maximize the season.

“As they come out of hatchery, we would transport them to the net pens and have them in the net pens for up to two months. Then they would release the fish and remove the net pens. The pens would go up at the earliest the first of May and be taken down the latest at the end of June,” Fandrei said. “Our goal is to stabilize the returns. Some are better than others and some are poorer. We try to establish a minimum return.”

Hawaii

 The big blue: Can deepwater fish farming be sustainable?

March 22, 2012

There’s been a closely watched experiment floating and bobbing in the eddies off the Big Island of Hawaii. Since July, an unanchored pen stocked with 2,000 hatchery-born fish known as kampachi (related to the more familiar yellowtail) has been drifting in the open ocean, tended by marine biologists from the aquaculture company Kampachi Farms . Led by industry pioneer Neil Sims, it’s been dubbed the Velella Project , and it is the first and most important attempt at commercializing offshore aquaculture in the U.S. Most of today’s marine fish farming takes place close to shore, but many in the industry believe that in order to expand, they need to look further out to the open ocean. And they’re not alone.

Aquaculturists in countries like Norway, Ireland, Newfoundland, and Chile are also beginning to explore offshore options, though the technology to accomplish this remains in its infancy.

Critics of aquaculture often point to problems of pollution, inefficient feed ratios , particularly for carnivorous fish, and worries of escapement. But in the case of the Velella Project, those concerns seemingly have been addressed.

To hold the fish, Sims used a specially designed structure called the Aquapod . Its unusual sphereshaped design helps reduce fish escapes — called “leakage” by the industry — and can withstand tough ocean conditions. The kampachi are native to Hawaiian waters, and travel in schools by nature.

If fish escape, they tend to cluster near the pen, and avoid the open blue water. A native species also eliminates the risk of cross breeding .

While the project hasn’t been without its difficulties — two early trial pens were lost, and unexpected La Niña conditions have made predicting and tracking eddy patterns difficult — initial results look promising. That’s good news for those in the aquaculture industry who are hoping to overcome the technical and regulatory challenges of expanding into federal waters, 3-200 miles from shore.

“The Velella beta test showed us that the biological performance of fish in a drifter cage system is astonishing,” says Sims.

READ ENTIRE GRIST ARTICLE HERE

ď ś Hawaii company wins permit for tuna farm April 6, 2012 HONOLULU

Hawaii Oceanic Technology Inc., which wants to farm ahi in waters off the Big Island has received a federal permit.

Hawaii Oceanic Technology said Thursday that the state's Department of Health has issued it a permit under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program that regulates the discharge of pollutants into U.S. waters.

The company several years ago won approval from the state Board of Land and Natural Resources to use large underwater cages to grow the tuna about three miles off the coast of Kaiwahae (star on map above is approximate location of this facility).

The project would be nation's first tuna farm and the world's first commercial bigeye farm.

The company aims to artificially hatch bigeye at a university lab in Hilo. The company will later take the fish to grow in giant ocean pens.

Maine

 Hard Part Still Ahead for Corea Aquaculture Facility March 27, 2012 GOULDSBORO — The Planning Board took just 15 minutes March 20 to vote unanimous site plan approval for a company that wants to build a closed-loop aquaculture facility to raise Atlantic salmon on the former Navy base in the village of Corea.

Now comes the hard part.

The Connecticut company, Palom Aquaculture LLC, plans to grow as much as 2 million pounds of Atlantic salmon in tanks filled with seawater that is continually recirculated through a complex series of filters.

Land-based facilities are the aquaculture industry’s high-tech response to widespread and vocal objections from environmentalists and shorefront landowners to farming salmon, halibut or cod in net pens anchored in Maine’s coastal waters. Whether those facilities ultimately silence fish farming’s critics or prove to be just an expensive pipe dream remains to be seen.

To date, no one in North America has successfully raised Atlantic salmon in a land-based system on a commercial scale.

“Just because we’re the first doesn’t mean it can’t be done,” Bryan Woods, one of the company’s principals, said after the meeting.

At the meeting, the Gouldsboro Planning Board granted approval to a site plan calling for construction of a football field-size building that will house 10 circular steel tanks each 60 feet in diameter. The design of the project’s recirculation system has yet to be completed, but the plumbing and filtration equipment needed to keep the thousands of Atlantic salmon growing in those tanks swimming in clean seawater, storage for the hundreds of tons of feed they will consume and some office space will also occupy some of the space in what Woods said was likely to be a hoop-roofed structure. Some of those facilities could, he told the Planning Board, also be located in one or two small, attached additions to the main building The farm will use a lot of water and a lot of electricity to keep the water flowing through the system.

Each 15-foot-deep tank will hold some 20,000 gallons, about 2 million gallons in all.

Water from the system will be drawn into the system through a pipe extending some 1,800 feet into Sand Cove.

Oregon  Judge Allows (Limited) Sea Lion Killing to Save Salmon March 23, 2012

Updated: Ralph Henry Jr., a lawyer for the Humane Society, said the group was disappointed by the decision and had hoped the judge would have enjoined the entire program. However, Henry said the group was pleased the judge limited the program for now and expect to prevail in the litigation in the future.

In nature’s annual battle between sea lions and salmon returning upriver to spawn, one creature always wins: man.

In a case out of Washington, D.C., the Humane Society of the United States and others have challenged a decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service to allow the limited killing of California sea lions that prey on salmon and steelheads at a dam on the Washington-Oregon border 146 miles up the Columbia River. Both the sea lions and the fish are protected species under federal law.

On Thursday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., refused to grant a temporary restraining order in the case, but limited the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho to removing and killing 30 sea lions this year while the case is being heard. In March, the NMFS had authorized the states to remove and to kill as many as 92 sea lions a year over a five-year period. You can read a Reuters story on the decision here.

In court papers, the Humane Society had argued that sea lions eat up to 4.2% of the salmon and steelhead that spawn in the Columbia River, while fisherman are allowed to take up to 17% of the adults and another 17% a year are lost to hydroelectric dams.

“By their own admission, the federal government’s sea lion killing program is designed to address what they perceive as a long-term conservation issue, and does not present any type of emergent need to kill protected wildlife that might justify action prior to judicial review,” said Ralph Henry Jr. and Jonathan Lovvorn, lawyers for the Humane Society, in court papers.

However, the NMFS said efforts to engage in non-lethal ways to discourage the sea lions have failed, including underwater firecrackers, physical barriers and rubber bullets.

“Every other less extreme alternative, and there have been many (including non-lethal measures), has failed,” said Michael R. Eitel and Gregory Daniel Page, U.S. Justice Department lawyers who represented the agency, in court papers.

“The collective and repeated efforts among the federal agencies, states and Indian tribes over the last ten years do not reflect animosities towards sea lions, but rather the more dire need to conserve ESA listed salmon and steelhead that are presently in danger of extinction or likely to become in danger of extinction in the foreseeable future.”

Washington State

ď ś Battle over building in Puget Sound flood plains Published March 27, 2012 2 COMMENTS

SEATTLE – A national environmental group asked a federal judge on Tuesday to temporarily stop the federal government from issuing flood insurance policies for new development in certain flood-prone areas around Puget Sound.

The National Wildlife Federation alleges that the Federal Emergency Management Agency hasn't made changes to its flood insurance program in Puget Sound, as federal fisheries experts had called for three years ago, and that the program continues to harm endangered salmon and orcas.

Attorney Jan Hasselman asked U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez to issue a preliminary injunction that would effectively block new development in important habitat areas in about 70 river valley communities in Puget Sound, where building harms imperiled salmon and orcas.

In 2008, government fisheries experts with the National Marine Fisheries Service concluded that FEMA's flood insurance program encourages destructive construction in floodplains and harms critical salmon habitat. The agency outlined a series of reforms that FEMA should undertake to avoid violating the Endangered Species Act. "The evidence in this case shows they (FEMA) haven't made those changes," said Hasselman, an attorney with the public-interest law firm Earthjustice representing the federation. "It's time to take a time-out on new insurance policies," he added.

FEMA is the major underwriter of flood policies in the U.S., with about 42,000 policies in Puget Sound. It provides flood insurance generally not available on the private market.

An attorney for FEMA said the agency has made numerous changes to its program in Puget Sound and has complied with the reforms fisheries experts outlined in 2008.

"To suggest FEMA is sitting on its heels ... I couldn't disagree more," said Ethan Eddy, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney.

The federation hasn't shown that the flood insurance program in its current form is causing irreparable harm to endangered Puget Sound fish and other species, Eddy added.

A group of 16 local cities, including Port Angeles, Everett, Burlington, Puyallup and Renton, have intervened in the case, as well as the group Property Owners for Sensible Floodplain Regulation.

Attorney Bob Sterbank, representing the cities, said cities are ensuring that building does not harm endangered species and gave examples of some that have adopted it into local codes.

Construction in floodplain reduces the landscape's ability to absorb and store water, filter stormwater runoff, and provide wildlife habitat, fisheries experts said. Placing fill to elevate homes from danger, for example, destroys habitat for young fish, while dredging channels increases water flow that makes it hard for fish to swim.

READ ENTIRE OLYMPIAN ARTICLR HERE

ď ś New Columbia River purchases benefit Idaho salmon April 3, 2012

Columbia Land Trust and the Bonneville Power Administration announced the purchase of 560 acres near the mouth of the Columbia River to permanently protect riverside habitat for Northwest fish and wildlife, including threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead.

The acquisitions will benefit young salmon and steelhead from Oregon, Washington and Idaho that gain essential strength in the estuary during their migration to the ocean. Protecting habitat in the estuary helps offset the impacts of federal hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake river systems and is a central element of a federal biological opinion governing operation of the dams.

The three newly protected properties include: - 117 acres at the mouth of the Wallicut River, rich fish habitat just outside of Ilwaco, Wash. Capt.

William Lewis and his crew reportedly camped on this property shortly before voting to spend the winter at Fort Clatsop, Ore. - 378 acres at Knappton Cove on the north side of the Columbia River roughly opposite Astoria, Ore. - 65 acres of tidelands, floodplain and uplands at the mouth of the Deep River where it empties into Grays Bay on the Washington side of the Columbia River.

"These projects benefit every salmon and steelhead run in the entire Columbia River watershed, and are part of Columbia Land Trust's concerted habitat restoration effort that has already conserved a tapestry of critical habitat now encompassing more than 5,300 acres," said Glenn Lamb, executive director of Columbia Land Trust.

 Corps launches 2012 Fish Plan April 3, 2012

PORTLAND - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun implementing its 2012 Fish Operations Plan (FOP) addressing Columbia River Basin juvenile salmon and steelhead migration to the ocean.

The FOP calls for spring spill to begin at the lower Snake River projects today and at the lower Columbia River projects April 10, with summer spill planned for later this year.

The annual fish operations plans for fish migration seasons are prepared by the Corps and are coordinated with states, tribes and other federal agencies in the region.

The 2012 FOP includes operations similar to last year's for spring and summer fish passage seasons, including spill and flow to provide timely and safe passage, adjustments to river operations and transport of juvenile fish.

The Corps also will conduct performance standard tests this spring at Little Goose, Lower Monumental, McNary, and John Day dams and at Bonneville and The Dalles dams during the summer. High flows prevented summer tests in 2011. The NOAA Fisheries biological opinion calls for the eight federal dams on the lower Snake and Columbia rivers to meet performance standards of 96 percent average per-dam survival for spring migrating fish and 93 percent survival for summer migrants.

The most recent water supply forecast (Apr–Aug) for the Columbia River Basin is 109 percent of normal as measured at The Dalles Dam and 100 percent of normal for the Snake River Basin, Apr– Jul period, as measured at Lower Granite Dam. As a result, dams on the Snake and lower Columbia rivers have been spilling excess water since March 29.

"We anticipate continued high survival for juvenile fish at all dams this year," said Rock Peters, senior program manager for the Corps’ Northwestern Division. "This year's FOP reflects continued collaboration among tribes, states and other federal agencies," said Peters. "Working together and employing a science-based approach has been instrumental in determining optimal operations for juvenile passage survival."

For more information on the federal salmon and steelhead recovery efforts in the region, visit www.salmonrecovery.gov

 The Chronicle: Reaction to Critical Fish Study Mixed April 14, 2012, 2012

By Bianca Fortis bfortis@chronline.com | 0 comments Dam’s Impact: Report to Affect Future of Flood Control Anchor QEA, an environmental science and engineering firm, studied two dam scenarios and analyzed what they could provide for flood mitigation as well as what impacts they would have on three types of fish in the Chehalis River.

According to the report, both types of facilities could reduce flooding in the upper Chehalis River basin by 58 to 60 percent for 10-year to 100-year floods.

Flood Storage Only Dam Spring Chinook Salmon: 22 percent decline Winter Steelhead: 43 percent decline Coho Salmon: 43 percent decline Decline could be 60 percent if only poor fish passage survival is achieved.

Multipurpose Dam Spring Chinook Salmon: 140 percent increase Winter Steelhead: 32 percent decline Coho Salmon: 28 percent decline Decline for winter steelhead and coho salmon could be 52 percent if only poor fish passage survival is achieved.

Editorial Comment: The dam proposed for the headwaters of the Chehalis River will never be built.  It would not protect Interstate 5, Chehalis, Centralia or the ChehalisCentralia airport from flooding.  It would decimate fish and wildlife habitat (upstream and downstream)  Its design does not allow for fish passage (just like the problematic Cowlitz Falls dam). Doing so would escalate the price for this facility well beyond the point of being cost effective.

Much of the Chehalis River Fish Study is based on assumptions – not on current science. This study was ill-conceived and under-resourced from its onset. The hundreds of responses from state agencies, county and city governments, local tribes and Wild Game Fish Conservation International are undeniable evidence of this.

A crucial report that will help determine the future of flood control was released this week and it has both advocates and opponents of water retention claiming victory. If a dam were built on the upper Chehalis River, the best possible scenario for fish is that the number of spawning spring Chinook salmon in the river would increase, but the number of winter steelhead and coho salmon would decrease, according to the report by Anchor QEA, an environmental science and engineering firm.

In August 2010, the Chehalis River Basin Flood Authority contracted with Anchor QEA to determine what impacts a dam upstream from Pe Ell would have on fish in the Chehalis River.

The initial study, which cost $900,000, focused on the three species of fish, which are considered commercially, recreationally and culturally important.

Scientists analyzed two types of facilities: a flood storage only dam and a multi-purpose dam, which would also produce hydropower.

According to the report, all three fish would decrease in population if a flood storage only dam were built. But if a multi-purpose dam were chosen, the population of spring Chinook salmon could increase by as much as 140 percent, although the other two populations would decrease by as much as 52 percent each, depending on fish passage survival.

The multipurpose dam would cool the water temperature in the summer. That, along with optimized water release rates, is what scientists hypothesize causes the 140 percent increase for Chinook.

Jay Gordon, the executive director of the Washington State Dairy Federation, said he was “tickled” by the results.

“It’s better than I would have thought on both ends — for both flood control and on the fish,” said Gordon, whose family dairy is near the Chehalis River in Elma.

He said the increased Chinook population means the river could return to having a large salmon run as it did several years ago.

Despite what Gordon considers good news, he knows not everyone will be on board.

“We have to have that discussion, we have to have that family fight,” he said. “For some, the answer will be no. If that’s the decision, farmers are going to sit here until we get the next flood, turn to people that said no, and tell them: ‘You said no.’ We’ll clean out our houses, dispose of our dead cows — again.”

Jim Wilcox, of Wild Game Fish Conservation International, has been an outspoken critic of water retention on the river. He contends real flooding solutions should involve wise logging practices and wise commercial and residential development practices.

“It was real clear that the notion of this whole study was kind of a waste of money — we knew what the results would be,” he said. “The results just back up what we knew going in: there would be significant impacts to the fish and river.”

He said the dam would block fish from reaching their primary spawning grounds. And whether or not the fish survive, the study doesn’t take into account other species that are part of the ecosystem in and along the river.

“Any time you screw around with Mother Nature, it’s going to impact something else — whether it’s positive or negative,” he said. “If the population increases, that’s good for some things, but maybe not so good for other things. It will throw the balance off.”

Wilcox said Chinook have adapted to warm conditions in the river; some will die off, but some are stronger and will survive.

The study itself concludes that more information is needed: “Either type of dam would also be expected to impact other fish in the mainstem and upper watershed study area, as well as fish populations in the tributaries off the mainstem Chehalis River that may use the mainstem habitats for migration or rearing. ... Potential detrimental and beneficial impacts to other fish, as well as other aquatic organisms and wildlife species, should be evaluated in a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts of a dam on the upper mainstem of the Chehalis River.”

Now interested parties are waiting for a supplemental enhancement report, which will review ways in which negative environmental impacts can be mitigated.

For now, water retention proponents are emphasizing the flood control a dam could provide: both types of facilities could reduce flooding in the upper Chehalis River basin by 58 to 60 percent for 10year to 100-year floods.

Along the portion of the river that stretches between the Newaukum River and Grand Mound, flood levels are predicted to decrease by 1.6 to 2 feet for a 100-year flood. If the dam had been in place, the water level in the 1996 flood would have been reduced 0.7 to 1.1 feet, and in 2007, the reduction would have been between 2.6 and 3.1 feet.

Wilcox said a three-foot water reduction won’t do enough if floodwaters reach more than 10 feet, as they did during the 2007 flood.

“Even if (the reduction) is a few inches, it’s a benefit,” Wilcox said. “I can’t say there won’t be a benefit — but whether it’s worth it is questionable.”

Lewis County Commissioner Ron Averill, who represents the county on the Flood Authority, said more than one project is needed to really control flooding.

“You can’t fix it by levees alone or by dams alone,” Averill said. “But if the dams hold back enough water, with some fairly minimal to moderate improvements to levees, you can provide the necessary protection.”

Centralia Councilor Edna Fund, who represents the city on the board, echoed Averill: “Of course I'd like more (water retained),” she said. “I think we've always known that water retention structures can be a big piece, but we need to do some work within our cities to complement it. It can't do it all, but it can do a lot for us. It makes it more manageable.”

Thurston County Commissioner Karen Valenzuela, who has been far more hesitant to accept water retention as a solution to flooding, said the report hasn’t changed her mind, and she believes a number of questions have been left unanswered.

“I laughed out loud toward the end of the main report that said more data and information is needed — I need more data and information too,” she said. “I certainly don’t disagree with their conclusions there.”

The morning work session of the Flood Authority’s next meeting will be primarily focused on discussing the study and will allow attendees to ask questions of two Anchor QEA engineers.

The original contract for the just-released fish study was for $900,000. In August 2011, the Flood Authority approved the supplemental agreement with Anchor QEA for $427,500; part of the original $900,000 was used and the resulting cost was $239,015 – a total of $1,139,015 for the two studies.

However, in January, Anchor QEA told the Flood Authority it was approximately $40,000 over budget on the first study and that it needed an additional $20,000 to conduct consultation meetings with the tribes, address comments, finalize analyses and finish the report.

Anchor QEA offered to cover half the cost of the budget overage, and requested a total of $40,000.

After some initial hesitation, the Flood Authority approved the request, and the Office of Financial Management provided the additional funding.

On Monday, the Lewis County Commission will vote to approve a contract extension with Anchor QEA, giving the firm until the end of December to complete its work.

The Flood Authority’s next meeting will be held Thursday in the Lewis County Fire District #5 meeting room, 102 2nd St. N.E., Napavine. It will begin at 9 a.m. and will include a tour of the Newaukum area at 10:45 a.m.

 Proposed site for Chehalis River dam near Pe Ell

The reservoir behind the proposed dam (300’ high x 2,000’ long) in the headwaters of the Chehalis River would inundate most everything in this photo and more – prime habitat for wild salmon, trout, elk, deer, bear, cougars, eagles and more.

Featured artist: Anissa Reed (British Columbia)

Anissa’s 2012 wild salmon Easter egg

Anissa Reed, a talented artist, entrepreneur and conservationist, is absolutely committed to protecting and restoring British Columbia’s wild Pacific Salmon and their fragile ecosystems. During the past several months when not sampling adult salmon for Infectious Salmon Anemia, attending the grueling Cohen Commission, peacefully protesting against open pen salmon feedlots, maintaining SalmonAreSacred.org and so very much more, Anissa has blessed us with some of her talent in the way of politically-motivated conservation art like the recent sample below.

Thank you, Anissa for your continued dedication, unending passion and for sharing your many unique talents with others who care for wild Pacific salmon.

Youth Conservation News

 Students Gather at Centralia College for Water Congress March 31, 2012

Cleaning Creeks: 11th Annual Chehalis Basin Student Congress Comes to Lewis County The Centralia College campus was filled with 275 grade school students Thursday afternoon for the 11th annual Chehalis Basin Student Congress.

The students, third grade through eighth grade, came from 11 schools around the Northwest to share their water quality data and learn more about how to keep creeks and streams clean.

Kathy Jacobsen, who works for the Chehalis Basin Education Consortium and helps organize the congress, said the students learn that they are all connected through the creeks and streams they study in the region.

“I want kids to get to know where they live,” Jacobsen said. “And how to protect their watershed.”

After sharing their data during the “State of the River” portion of the day, students broke off into 14 different workshops, including salmon dissection, nature photography and a tour of China Creek.

Student were able to choose between two 50-minute workshops or one 100-minute workshop.

Kim Ashmore, the Centralia stormwater operations manager, took 22 students on the China Creek tour. Ashmore took the students on a trolley-style bus along the creek.

Along the tour, Ashmore showed the kids beaver dams, the outdoor learning lab and even some mallards, which Ashmore said the kids enjoyed.

“These kids are not here because they have to be,” Ashmore said. “They are here because they want to be.” The students choose to be in the congress and partake in the field testing throughout the year.

Jacobsen said the teachers incorporate the Chehalis River Basin education into their curriculum.

Over the past 10 years, the water congress was held at Grays Harbor Community College. This year, Jacobsen said the consortium chose Centralia because most of the students are from the area and the restoration to China Creek made for a good educational opportunity.

By the end of the day, delegates from each school accepted awards and shared what they learned.

The students said they learned to plant more trees by creeks to help water temperature, not to litter, wash cars on lawns or in car washes and other water quality tips. ###

Featured Fishing Photos from Around Planet Earth Wes Ower (England), like others who fish for and appreciate wild game fish, often spends considerable time and money preparing for fishing adventures. Below are a couple of shots that Wes provided for publication in Legacy. Note his attention to detail. His “Dragonfly� vice below is one that Wes designed and built himself. Thank you for sharing these photos, Wes.

Fish On!

Diane Michelin (British Columbia): “This is 2003 in New York State late October, chasing steelhead. A fun, one day trip.�

Featured Wild Game Fish:

Andrea Pellegrini (Italy) with Dogtooth Tuna – Tanzania (2011) More of Andy’s amazing pictures at http://andreapellegrini.com/

Featured Fishing adventures: Silversides Fishing Adventures http://www.silversidesfishing.ca/page/chinook-salmon.html

Louise Pauline Reynolds with her first Chinook salmon caught while fishing October 2011 on the Harrison River in British Columbia, Canada with Brian McKinley; owner operator of Silversides Fishing Adventures.

Brian, like many other business owners who rely on robust populations of wild Pacific salmon, is committed to the removal of open pen salmon feedlots from British Columbia’s uniquely productive marine ecosystems.

Give Brian a call at 604.864.5445 to book your next quality BC salmon adventure.

Conservation Video Library – “Why we fight” Is your favorite seafood toxic? (6:06) “Algae culture fish farm” (6:40) Pebble Mine: “No Means No” (1:15) Salmon Wars- Aquaculture, Wild Fish & The Future of Communities (6:25) Vegetarian Fish? A New Solution for Aquaculture (7:32) Everyone Loves Wild Salmon – Don’t They? - Alexandra Morton (2:53) The End of the Line (1:08) Sacred Headwaters - British Columbia, Canada (16:14) Atlantic salmon feedlots - impacts to Pacific salmon (13:53) Salmon: Running the Gauntlet - Snake River dams (50:08) Farmed Salmon Exposed (22:59) Salmon farm diseases and sockeye (13:53) Shame Below the Waves (12:37) Locals Oppose Proposed Pebble Mine (7:23) Occupy Vancouver, BC - Dr. Alexandra Morton (6:18) Farming the Seas (Steve Cowen) (55:53) Farming the Seas (PBS) (26:45) Cohen Commission – Introduction (9:52) Deadly virus found in wild Pacific salmon (1:57) A tribute by Dr. Alexandra Morton (5.35) Green Interview with Dr. Alexandra Morton (6:06) Closed containment salmon farms (8:15) Don Staniford on 'Secrets of Salmon Farming' (7:50) H2oil - A documentary about the Canadian tar sand oil (3:20) From Tar Sands to Tankers – the Battle to Stop Enbridge (14.58) Risking it All - Oil on our Coast (13:16) To The Last Drop: Canada’s Dirty Oil (22:31) Greed of Feed: what’s feeding our cheap farmed salmon (10:37) Land-based, Closed-containment Aquaculture (3:14)

Attention Conservation-minded Business Owners Many businesses around planet earth rely in part on sustained populations of wild game fish. This is true for fishing guide/charter services, resort and hotel owners, fishing tackle and boat retail stores, clothing stores, eco/photo tours, grocery stores, gas stations and many more. In fact, wild game fish are the backbone of a multi-billion dollar per year industry on a global scale.

This is why we at Wild Game Fish Conservation International offer complimentary space in each issue of “LEGACY” for business owners who rely on sustained wild game fish populations to sustain your business. An article with one or more photos about your business and how it relies on wild game fish may be submitted for publication to LEGACY PUBLISHER. Please include your business website and contact information to be published with your business article. Selected submissions will be published each month.

Sustained wild game fish populations provide family wage jobs and balanced ecosystems while ensuring cultural values. They also provide a unique, natural resourcesbased lifestyle for those fortunate to have these magnificent creatures in our lives.

Conservationists working together with the business community can effectively protect and restore planet earth’s wild game fish for this and future generations to enjoy and appreciate. This will be our LEGACY.

WGFCI endorsed conservation organizations

 American Rivers  Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture  LightHawk  Salmon Are Sacred  Save Our Salmon  Sierra Club – Cascade Chapter  Sportsman’s Alliance For Alaska  Trout Unlimited  Wild Salmon First