Legacy - May 2015

Legacy

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eMagazine of Wild Game Fish Conservation International

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Cover: Camille Egdorf (Dave and Kim Egdorf's Western Alaska Sport Fishing) Photo credit: Matt McCormick

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

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

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

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

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

Wild Game Fish Conservation International Founders

Bruce Treichler

Jim Wilcox

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Contents Conservationist Extraordinaire – Walking the Talk ____________________________________________________ 6  Dale “Doc” Thoemke __________________________________________________________________________________ 6

Opinion-Editorial: ___________________________________________________________________________________ 8  The Cost of Trout Fishing ______________________________________________________________________________ 8

Fishing Photos and Funnies ________________________________________________________________________ 11 WGFCI Writes to Conserve Wild Fish and Those Who Rely on Them __________________________________ 13  Maria Cantwell: Crude-By-Rail Safety Act of 2015 _______________________________________________________ 13  Susan Farlinger ______________________________________________________________________________________ 14  Marilyn Slett _________________________________________________________________________________________ 14  Fawn Sharp __________________________________________________________________________________________ 14

Seafood consumption: Public health risks and benefits ______________________________________________ 17  Warning: Eating Farmed Salmon May Affect Your Baby _________________________________________________ 17  Enjoy seasonal wild salmon dinners at these fine restaurants:___________________________________________ 18 Recommended Reading _________________________________________________________________________________ 19  “Great Bear Wild” ____________________________________________________________________________________ 19

Community Activism, Education and Outreach ______________________________________________________ 20  Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register _________________________________________________________ 20  March 22: World Water Day ___________________________________________________________________________ 21  Heiltsuk Nation occupying DFO office to protest commercial fishery _____________________________________ 23  BREAKING: Heiltsuk wins herring dispute as government agrees to close fishery ____________________________________ 25  Fraser River Rally, on World Water Day at the proposed hazardous waste site in Chilliwack _______________ 28  Wild Salmon Warrior Radio with Jay Peachy – Fridays at Noon __________________________________________ 30  PUGET SOUND SALMON FISHERIES __________________________________________________________________ 31

Salmon and trout feedlots __________________________________________________________________________ 32  Norway Take Your Lice And Go Home _________________________________________________________________ 34  Petition: Divest Dirty Salmon __________________________________________________________________________ 41  Food & Water Watch Calls on FDA to Declare GMO Salmon Unsafe to Eat ________________________________ 43  The large rescue operation for wild salmon (translated) _________________________________________________ 45  Senators continue their examination of the regulation of aquaculture ____________________________________ 47  Canada’s wild fish need to be handled with care ________________________________________________________ 48

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots  Large amounts of salmon killed and injured in the battle against lice _____________________________________ 51  Expansion of salmon farm industry questioned ________________________________________________________ 54  Pacific Seafood expanding steelhead trout aquaculture operation _______________________________________ 55  Outrage as hundreds of seals secretly slaughtered by Britain's fish farming industry _____________________ 58

Energy Generation: Oil, Coal, Geothermal, Hydropower, Natural Gas, Solar, Tidal, Wind ________________ 62 Petroleum – Drilled, Refined, Tar Sands, Fracked _________________________________________________________ 63  Petropolis - Rape and pillage of Canada and Canadians for toxic bitumen ________________________________ 63  The oil boom in one slick infographic __________________________________________________________________ 63  Swinomish tribe sues to block Bakken oil trains ________________________________________________________ 66  Cantwell, Murray, Baldwin, and Feinstein Introduce Oil Train Safety Legislation __________________________ 69  City of Vancouver alarmed it wasn't notified sooner of English Bay oil spill (with video) ___________________ 71  Botched English Bay oil spill confirms BC ‘woefully unprepared’ for more pipelines, tankers: Open letter ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 76  Petition: NEVER AGAIN. PROTECT VANCOUVER FROM OIL SPILLS _____________________________________ 79  Musqueam First Nation Concerned About Spill Response and Shuts Down Fishery _______________________ 81 Coal ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 84  Students rally against proposed B.C. thermal coal export facilities _______________________________________ 84  Save the Chuitna _____________________________________________________________________________________ 86 Hydropower / Water Retention ___________________________________________________________________________ 87  B.C. Supreme Court asked to quash Site C environmental assessment certificate _________________________ 87 Solar __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 89  Solar Power Battle Puts Hawaii at Forefront of Worldwide Changes ______________________________________ 90

Wild Game Fish Management _______________________________________________________________________ 95  Pollution Declining in Chehalis River, Says Ecology ____________________________________________________ 95  TMKey Film works to keep Puget clean and rid of Ghost Nets ___________________________________________ 97  More bad news for B.C.’s wild sockeye ________________________________________________________________ 98

Wildlife Artists: ___________________________________________________________________________________ 100  Gary Haggquist Visual Artist _________________________________________________________________________ 101  Diane Michelin - Fly Fishing Fine Art: "Wading Deep" __________________________________________________ 102  Dan Wallace: Passion for Authenticity ________________________________________________________________ 103

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots  Leanne Hodges: West Coast Wild ____________________________________________________________________ 104

Conservation-minded businesses – please support these fine businesses ____________________________ 105  Riverman Guide Service – since 1969 _________________________________________________________________ 105  Learn to fish: experienced, conservation-minded professional instructors_______________________________ 106  Cabo Sails __________________________________________________________________________________________ 107  Rhett Weber’s Charterboat “Slammer” ________________________________________________________________ 108  Fishmyster Sport Fishing Adventures ________________________________________________________________ 109  UWET "STAY-DRY" UNDERWATER TOURS ___________________________________________________________ 110  Dave and Kim Egdorf's Western Alaska Sport Fishing _________________________________________________ 111  Kingfish West Coast Adventure Tours ________________________________________________________________ 112  Casa Mia Italian Restaurant __________________________________________________________________________ 113  Spirit Bear Coffee Company__________________________________________________________________________ 114  Hidden Paths - Slovenia _____________________________________________________________________________ 115  ProFishGuide: Coastal Fishing at its Best _____________________________________________________________ 116  Silversides Fishing Adventures ______________________________________________________________________ 117

Forward The May 2015 issue of Legacy marks forty three consecutive months of our complimentary eMagazine; the no-holds-barred, watchdog journal published by Wild Game Fish Conservation International.

As recreational fishermen, conservation of wild game fish is our passion. Publishing “Legacy” each month is our self imposed responsibility to help ensure the future of these precious gifts that have been entrusted for safekeeping to our generation We continue to urge our readers to speak out passionately and to demonstrate peacefully for wild game fish and their ecosystems; ecosystems that we are but one small component of.

Please share “Legacy” with others who care deeply about the future of wild game fish.

Bruce Treichler James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Conservationist Extraordinaire – Walking the Talk

 Dale “Doc” Thoemke

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Opinion-Editorial:

 The Cost of Trout Fishing April 10, 2015

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots NEW LONDON, Conn. — WITH the long winter now behind us (I hope), I’m about to head out to the nearby Salmon River here in Connecticut to see what a season’s worth of ice has done to the place.

Now that fishing season has arrived, the river no doubt will be crowded with newly stocked fish and wader-clad fishermen who share my passion for this sleek and beautiful creature. But my rod will be collecting dust at home.

I reluctantly gave up fishing 10 years ago after I saw what a century of stocking nonnative fish was doing to the landscape I love.

Twenty-eight million Americans will buy freshwater fishing licenses this year. Eight million of them will be trout and salmon anglers. Native wild trout have mostly disappeared in the face of this immense fishing pressure. They have been replaced by nonnative hatchery fish and their river-born “wild” trout offspring. Nationwide, state and federal fisheries agencies dump some 130 million trout in lakes, rivers and streams each year. Although this stocking lures people outside, the hatcheries that produce these trout create environmental problems.

Trout aquaculture is heavily reliant on pellet feed. The federal and state hatchery production of some 28 million pounds of trout per year requires roughly 34 million pounds of feed. These pellets are derived from herring, menhaden and anchovies harvested from oceans in quantities that the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say are unsustainable. We are devastating populations of marine species simply to support a freshwater hobby.

If that’s not bad enough, hatcheries are major polluters. Each year, much of the roughly six million pounds of fish excrement, uneaten food and dead and decaying fish that I estimate are produced by these hatcheries leach nutrients into wastewater that is often then dumped untreated into the closest stream or river. This wastewater can also contain medicines and antibiotics used to limit diseases in crowded pens, and disinfectants that sterilize holding tanks. Ultimately, these hatcheries may be contributing to the proliferation of “dead zones” — biological wastelands created by excess nutrients — that are choking estuaries and coastal ecosystems downstream.

For more than a century, government stocking efforts and more recent well-intentioned but illegal introductions of fish by anglers have wreaked havoc on native trout and other fish species. Seven species of native trout are considered threatened and others have become extinct because of interbreeding and competition from nonnative trout and other game fish introduced into freshwater streams. Despite these problems, most trout stocked this year will be nonnative to the streams and rivers where they will be released.

Many of the fishermen who will revisit their favorite stream this spring are happy to release their quarry after hooking and reeling them in. Although catch-and-release might seem, logically, to help maintain high numbers of catchable fish, the science does not validate this practice. Survival rates of hatchery fish in the wild are very low, especially after hooking damage and exhaustion associated with repeated catch-and-release encounters.

Studies suggest that 75 to 80 percent of hatchery trout are gone soon after stocking. The fact that many states still routinely stock streams regulated as catch-and-release-only waters is a strong indication that catch-and-release does not ensure fish survival.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Hatcheries are breeding fish that are poorly adapted to life in the wild.

Even worse, these fish can pass on their undesirable traits to wild populations of native fish.

Although stocking trout is harmful, eating them is far better than eating native wild trout. When these native fish die, their genetic uniqueness dies, too. (Brook and lake trout are the only trout native to the entire Northeast, for instance; non-natives like brown, rainbow and golden trout are also released into Northeast streams.) Unfortunately, many states set uniformly high catch limits that draw no distinction between native versus nonnative trout. Therefore, anglers need to hold themselves to a higher standard than the rules that govern their actions.

In the end, perhaps the most ethical approach for anglers would be to catch and consume nonnative wild and hatchery-produced game fish. Huge resources go into the production of farm-raised fish, after all, and at serious environmental costs. Conversely, it is more important than ever to protect wild populations of native fish with catch-and-release practices. Many states provide trout identification materials in their angler regulations. Establishing stricter limits and mandatory releases of native species whenever they are healthy enough to survive being hooked could help preserve the genetic integrity of aquatic environments.

If we continue to ignore the impact of hatchery fish on aquatic ecosystems, we will soon regret what has been lost.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Fishing Photos and Funnies

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

WGFCI Writes to Conserve Wild Fish and Those Who Rely on Them

 Maria Cantwell: Crude-By-Rail Safety Act of 2015 US Senator, Washington State Thank you and your colleagues for introducing the Crude-By-Rail Safety Act of 2015; necessary legislation given America’s continued reliance on crude oil.

This legislation addresses several key issues in an attempt to mitigate health and safety risks associated with transporting hazardous material (particularly Bakken shale oil) via America’s aging rail infrastructure.

This act, given the volatile nature of crude oil products (fracked Bakken shale oil, diluted Canadian bitumen and drilled American crude) must result in adequate and effective protection of Americans, our property and our public resources from oil spills, explosions and fires.

This level of protection is especially challenging given that each of the above crude oil products, when spilled, rapidly pollutes our air, land and water, is impossible to restore the impacted habitat and it coats and kills aquatic and terrestrial life.

Additionally, diluted bitumen and Bakken shale oil have unique properties with unique safety challenges.

Bitumen (asphalt-like material) is mixed with condensate (kerosene-like material) and undisclosed chemicals. This highly corrosive, carcinogenic material that sinks in water is transported via pipelines and rail tank cars to refineries and export facilities.

Fracked oil from the Bakken shale deposit is especially explosive due to the high proportion of natural gas it contains (30% vs 1% in drilled crude). Not only are Bakken oil fires more explosive, they burn considerably hotter than other crude oil.

As America and the rest of the world transition away from burning fossil fuels, you and our other elected representatives must strive to effectively regulate this industry to protect us from the many risks associated with it.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Susan Farlinger Regional Director General Pacific Region Fisheries and Oceans Canada We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International commend you and your colleagues for today's internationally-important decision to discontinue the unsustainable, commercial herring fishery near Bella Bella, British Columbia.

These herring are key to restoring wild Pacific salmon and all that rely on them. Their roe is also an important protein source to the Heiltsuk Nation you met with the past two days to resolve this irresponsible fishery.

 Marilyn Slett Council Chief Heiltsuk Nation We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International thank Heiltsuk Nation Council Chief, Marilyn Slett, and the Heiltsuk Nation people for your ongoing and courageous fight to protect and rebuild local herring stocks.

Your efforts that are vitally important to your culture and way of life are equally important to rebuilding international populations of Pacific salmon and all that rely on them.

Hopefully others will realize that raping our ocean for the benefit of a few is absolute madness; a madness that must end sooner than later.

 Fawn Sharp President Quinault Indian Nation We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International congratulate you on your recent election to serve a fourth term as Quinault Indian Nation president.

Your courageous leadership is more important now than ever before when it comes to the comanagement of Washington's salmon fisheries and all that impact them.

The risks associated with the proposed Chehalis River dam, storage and export of fossil fuels (oil and coal) in Grays Harbor, irresponsible logging, poor land management policies and more impact our shared fisheries. As such, we look forward to continuing our collaborative work with the Quinault Indian Nation to protect Washington's salmon and their habitats from these risks.

Please do not hesitate to call on us when we may provide assistance/support.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Seafood consumption: Public health risks and benefits

 Warning: Eating Farmed Salmon May Affect Your Baby

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Enjoy seasonal wild salmon dinners at these fine restaurants:

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Recommended Reading

 “Great Bear Wild” Watch introduction HERE

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Community Activism, Education and Outreach

 Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 March 22: World Water Day Chilliwack, BC – Protect Fraser River from Aevitas Hazardous Material Waste Disposal Facility

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots English Bay, BC – Protect Fraser River from Crude Oil Spills

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Heiltsuk Nation occupying DFO office to protest commercial fishery March 29, 2015 Members of the Heiltsuk Nation occupied a Department of Fisheries and Oceans office and issued an eviction notice in the latest escalation of a dispute over a contentious fishery.

“You come into our waters and steal from us, unilaterally,” youth leader Saul Brown told DFO officers outside their station on Denny Island.

“You’re not here in a good way anymore. You’re not conducting yourself in a way that is sustainable for future generations.”

Brown was one of many members of the Heiltsuk who traveled by sea from Bella Bella to the island to deliver their eviction notice.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

WATCH: First Nations and environmentalists are vowing to fight a commercial herring roe fishery on the Central Coast, claiming stocks are on the verge of collapse.

Earlier this week, the Heiltsuk said they would protect herring in their territory by any means necessary, after negotiations with the government over a commercial herring gillnet fishery failed to result in an agreement.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans opened the herring-roe seine fishery near Bella Bella on Sunday, saying there is enough stock to support the harvest.

The Heiltsuk Nation is the latest aboriginal band on B.C.’s coast to speak out in a long-standing dispute over the sustainability of the herring fishery.

Listen to March 30 audio statement HERE.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Sue Farlinger, regional DFO director (center) speaks to crowd of Heiltsuk community members gathered outside the DFO office on Denny Island, to update on negotiations about the controversial herring fishery on Monday night.

 BREAKING: Heiltsuk wins herring dispute as government agrees to close fishery April 1, 2015 In a stunning reversal, the federal government caved in to Heiltsuk First Nation's demands to close commercial fishing of herring near Bella Bella in northern B.C. "It is confirmed. All commercial gill-netters are exiting Heiltsuk waters," Heiltsuk First Nation councillor Jess Housty wrote on Facebook this afternoon. "They will be escorted by Heiltsuk patrol boats and we will continue to occupy DFO until they have exited our waters."

"This victory belongs to the whole community. Grateful for our relatives from other Nations, our allies everywhere...And work is already beginning to ensure this issue is never pushed to such extremes again."

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans had been in an intense negotiation with the Heiltsuk First Nation this week, as a Heiltsuk chief councillor and several others locked themselves in the DFO office on Denny Island to protest the controversial re-opening of a herring fishery, despite fierce First Nation opposition.

After initially declining an invitation to meet the Heiltsuk, DFO’s senior B.C. manager Sue Farlinger emerged after three hours of talks with leaders on Denny Island on Tuesday, saying she needed to check with Ottawa whether the fishery would close or remain open.

Today, the First Nation community is in "high spirits" after the decision, Housty said.

"It's a hard-won victory driven by the conviction of our whole Nation and all the allies who supported us," Housty told The Vancouver Observer after the decision.

"The bottom line for us is that the stocks recover and someday thrive again. Today is an important step toward that goal and I think we've shown industry and DFO very clearly that Heiltsuk will not back down from our vision for healthy herring into the future."

The re-opening of the herring fishery last year sparked controversy, as leaked emails revealed that government scientists had recommended that the fishery remain closed.

“For the three [herring fishing] areas showing signs of recovery, it is recommended that they remain closed in 2014,” DFO scientists warned.

The e-mail became public during a recent and unsuccessful legal attempt by five coastal B.C. First Nations in federal court to close the fishery.

The DFO said its science was updated in 2015, and claim a limited catch is sustainable. Critics suggest DFO was under pressure from industry and the Harper cabinet to re-open the catch.

More updates to come. Comment from the DFO is pending.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Fraser River Rally, on World Water Day at the proposed hazardous waste site in Chilliwack Watch, Learn, Listen HERE

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Wild Salmon Warrior Radio with Jay Peachy – Fridays at Noon “Streaming like wild Pacific salmon” http://wildsalmonwarriorradio.org/

Wild Salmon Warrior Radio is happy to announce that we are moving to a new Friday onehour timeslot. The community radio program will now broadcast from Noon-1pm every Friday from the home station at Simon Fraser University on CJSF 90.1 FM. “Our new lunch time timeslot will allow us to continue the conversation around the protection of Wild Salmon and engage in outreach in the community for live remote broadcasts” states J Peachy, the show creator and host.

Wild Salmon Warrior Radio is a weekly community based radio program that focuses on topics related to Wild Salmon conservation, watershed habitat and ocean protection.

Salmon is a keystone species on the Pacific West Coast and to coastal regions around the world.

The one hour program intends to reach out and engage to all communities who depend on Wild Salmon as part of their livelihoods. The show is syndicated on community based radio networks CJMP Powell River 90.1 FM and Nuxalk Radio 91.1 Bella Coola.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

OLYMPIA CHAPTER OF TROUT UNLIMITED APRIL 22, 2015 7:00PM NORTH OLYMPIA FIRE STATION 5046 BOSTON HARBOR ROAD NE

 PUGET SOUND SALMON FISHERIES

The public is invited to attend the April 22nd meeting of the Olympia Chapter of Trout Unlimited for a presentation by Ron Warren on the North of Falcon Salmon season setting process for 2015. This process includes State, federal and tribal fishery managers planning the Northwest's recreational and commercial salmon fisheries. As part of the salmon-season setting process, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) holds numerous public meetings. This series of meetings – involved representatives from federal, state and tribal governments and recreational and commercial fishing industries – is known as the North of Falcon process.

The North of Falcon planning process coincides with the March and April meetings of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PMFC), where ocean commercial and sport salmon seasons are set.

Ron will give an overview of key issues that came up during this process and their outcomes.

Join us for light refreshments and a fabulous raffle after the program.

Bio: Ron Warren Ron Warren has over 35 years of experience with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Since December of 1979 he has worked in a variety of positions within the department’s hatcheries division, personnel office, and as a fishery manager. Ron managed Region 6 for the Department’s Fish Program for just under 10 years. This coast Region includes eight (8) counties (Pierce, Thurston, Mason, Kitsap, Jefferson, Clallam, Grays Harbor, and Pacific) and all food fish, game fish, and shellfish in the marine and freshwater areas. Ron has extensive experience in local, national and international fishery management. Ron is currently the department’s policy lead for the salmon season setting process with federal, state and tribal governments and state fishing sector representatives. His email is Warren, Ron R (DFW) [Ron.Warren@dfw.wa.gov]

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Salmon and trout feedlots

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Norway Take Your Lice And Go Home THE SEA LICE ARE BACK. WILD SALMON NEED YOUR HELP! Norway - recall this industry from Canada Help me educate consumers because government is missing in action As spring comes to the BC coast, young wild salmon are leaving the rivers where they were born and entering the ocean. Our pink and chum salmon take an exceptional gamble - they don't spend a year in fresh water, they leave their rivers right away, tiny slips of silver weighing less that 1/2 a gram.

These two species salmon are a gift to our rivers. Adult pink and chum salmon deposit tons of nutrients in the rivers when they spawn and die, but their babies don't feed on the insect life that this abundance of nutrients produces, they leave this food for the coho, chinook, sockeye, steelhead and trout that live in the rivers for part or all of their lives.

This life strategy has proven remarkably successful. Pink salmon are the most abundant salmon on our coast, and one of the cleanest foods on earth because they have such a short life-span and they feed low on the food chain. However, because they leave the rivers so young, they tiny with no protective no scales. Out of ignorance, the BC government put salmon farms on our biggest wild salmon migration routes and like everywhere in the world, these salmon farms are breeding factories for lice and these lice are attacking our pink and chum salmon to death.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots I discovered the sea louse problem in BC in 2001. BC's biggest environmental groups got involved and the industry was forced to de-louse their fish before the wild salmon left their rivers. This brought lice numbers down from an average 9 lice per tiny juvenile salmon, to less than 1 louse per fish and pink salmon survival sky-rocketed. The sense was that at least this problem with salmon farms had been solved, but this spring 14 years later the lice are back as bad as ever. No progress.

Look closely at these fish caught in Broughton a few days ago. The nearly transparent pink creatures with a black eyespot are the juvenile phase sea lice. At this stage they are tethered to the fish and so, like a horse tethered in a field eating the grass down to bare earth, these lice have grazed through the tender skin of these fish into the fish's flesh. You can see the wounds and the skin of these fish pinching towards the open wound as the life is being sucked out of these fish. Note the person's thumb for a size reference.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

These salmon will not survive. We know this - we have done the science on this. Here are my publications on impact of sea lice. http://www.alexandramorton.ca/the-science/ 80% of pink salmon in Broughton are infected with sea lice right now. This represents huge potential impact on the BC coast and I don't know what is happening in other regions of this coast. We don't know if the farmers simply did not de-louse their fish, or if their drugs don't work anymore.

The salmon farms in the Broughton have head offices in Norway and Marine Harvest - the biggest salmon farmer in the world and Broughton admits they don't know how to control their lice problem.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots While the salmon farming industry purportedly treats First Nations with respect, that appears to apply only to the Nations who have welcomed salmon farms.

The Nations of the Broughton have said "no" to salmon farming from day one - 27 years ago! But the industry remains in their territory, uninvited, in fact, a salmon farm at the mouth of Kingcome Inlet called Sir Edmund Bay has just been approved to expand nearly 3-fold, despite opposition from the Dzawada'enuxw First Nation, the people of Kingcome Inlet.

However, the impact of sea lice from salmon farms infecting wild salmon goes far beyond the Broughton Archipelago. It reaches deep into British Columbia throughout the Fraser River watershed.

A paper just published in Canada's premier fisheries journal reports that: "Highly infected sockeye were 20% less successful at consuming food, on average, than lightly infected fish"

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots This means that Nations who were not consulted are also facing impact as their salmon swim through the blizzard of feces and larval lice at salmon farms now dotting the wild salmon migration routes of BC. As if everything none of this was happening - the salmon farming industry is threatening to expand by 40% in British Columbia. The Canadian Senate is reviewing whether to change the laws of Canada to allow them to use chemicals that can kill fish, own fish in the ocean and kill wild salmon to protect farmed salmon from disease. The Harper government just gave this dirty industry 9 year licences, which will come into effect in December when their current licences expire.

There are huge unanswered questions about viruses in these open feedlots, such as the high infection rate with piscine reovirus, which Norway reports spreads easily and can damage a salmon's heart so badly it won't be able to swim up a river. Without solid evidence BC claims this virus is not a problem and thus millions of infected Atlantic salmon are currently in our biggest wild salmon migration routes. I am still awaiting a decision from the judge who heard my case 10 months ago on whether to stop transfer of farmed salmon carrying pathogens associated with disease into net pens on our wild salmon migration routes.

My sense is the door is closing rapidly on our being able to protect wild salmon from salmon farms.

People are losing this fight in Tasmania, Scotland, Ireland, eastern Canada and even Norway. The environmental groups in BC had to drop this issue because funding dried up and they could not pay their staff who were working on this issue. So it is up to us and here are two very important things you can do: Tell Norway to divest from dirty salmon. A large number of Norwegians have signed this, with very tough language, if you scroll down the petition page you can read the comments: https://www.change.org/p/to-the-citizens-of-norway-divest-from-dirty-salmon Norway is a beautiful country with high moral standard, they divested from dirty coal and oil earlier this year, they need to hear how people feel about this dirty Norwegian industry Fund a campaign to educate the consumer. Every month another food group warn us not to eat farmed salmon, but our sushi restaurants are still serving it raw straight from the farm. Click on the SAFE TO EAT? page above and learn more. The public deserves to know that eating farmed salmon is a risk to our oceans and to our health, particularly our babies. However, reaching the public is expensive. It is not something I can do without you. http://www.gofundme.com/isk8bw At this point I find it very hard to believe that our senate, federal or provincial governments will protect our wild salmon from this industry. There has been a long and shameful history of covering up the evidence and attacking the messengers. For any who have not seen it watch this film. Government is not operating in our interest on this issue www.salmonconfidential.ca I will never give up, but seeing the lethal lice loads on our tiny wild salmon today after 14 years of trying to clean up the lice and the rapid-pace changes to the laws of Canada to accommodate more salmon farms, all I can say is everyone needs to lean into this. This has to become an election issue in Canada. Wild salmon are critical to our country and clearly trying to fix this industry while it remains in the ocean and expanding is not working.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Petition: Divest Dirty Salmon

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Dear Norway, You divested from dirty oil and coal earlier this year. Thank you! Now it is time to divest from dirty salmon, your industry is too big now to be using our oceans as an open sewer.

If you agree, please sign and share this letter: Canadians and Norwegians love wild salmon, but Norwegian salmon farms are one of the greatest threats to this magnificent fish in both our countries.

I am a Canadian biologist who studied whales until your salmon farming industry moved in: Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg. Now I study sea lice and farmed salmon viruses.

As I follow your news on the escape of rainbow trout into Norway’s fjords, I see we have become mirror images of the same industrial disaster. Diseased American trout threaten Norway’s wild salmon, while diseased Atlantic farm salmon threaten Canada’s wild salmon. Why would we do this?

The world has noticed that salmon farming is a dirty industry. People are increasingly afraid to eat farmed salmon due to toxins. I described the salmon-farming nightmare on 60 Minutes. Bloomberg, the world’s leading business publication, reports on "Why You'll Never Want to Eat Farm-Raised Salmon."

The relationship between your salmon farmers and both our governments is disturbing. Norway, world champion for social responsibility, actually convinced the EU to permit 10xs more endosulfan in farmed salmon feed to increase profitability. This is one of the most dangerous pesticides banned in most parts of the world because of the horrific damage it does to babies! Is this really the same Norway, who chooses the Nobel Peace Prize laureates to reward the highest moral behavior?

Meanwhile, in Canada laws are being rewritten to legalize release of sea lice chemicals that kill wild fish, transfer of diseased farmed salmon into wild salmon habitat, ownership of salmon in Canadian waters, and 9-year licences. This is madness. Our countries are failing to live up to our standards.

Salmon farming was born in Norway, but they use Canada to satisfy their shareholders. Norway just divested from dirty oil, (thank you Norway) perhaps it is time to divest from dirty salmon?

Please tell your politicians salmon farms are feedlots, they belong on land. The salmon farmers need help learning how to grow up and behave responsibly. Wild salmon are a gift we will not be given twice. Will we rob our children of clean food? Please stop this industry before a devastating virus destroys the last wild salmon. Viral pollution is unforgiveable and our children will not understand why we did this to them.

Alexandra Morton Biologist Canada www.alexandramorton.ca

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Food & Water Watch Calls on FDA to Declare GMO Salmon Unsafe to Eat April 2, 2015

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Washington, D.C.—Food & Water Watch filed two legal petitions today asking the FDA to evaluate AquaBounty’s (ABTX) genetically engineered salmon as a “food additive,” instead of as an animal drug, and to declare GMO salmon unsafe to eat based on the food additive review process.

“It couldn’t be more clear to consumers that GMO salmon is a food, not a drug,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. “It’s also clear that there are serious food safety concerns with this fish and major scientific gaps in FDA’s animal drug risk assessment.

It’s time for FDA to step up and protect the health and welfare of American citizens rather than the economic interests of the biotechnology industry.”

Food & Water Watch’s identical petitions filed with the FDA today — one citizen petition and one food additive petition — both argue that FDA’s current animal drug review process is insufficient to protect public health, and that the agency is required by law to review GMO salmon under what should be a more rigorous food additive review process. As a food additive, GMO salmon would be presumed unsafe unless it undergoes comprehensive toxicological studies to ensure that it is safe to consume and properly labeled.

Food & Water Watch filed a similar petition in 2012, but the FDA refused to review it. The newly filed petitions include new data showing major weaknesses with FDA’s review of hormone levels and potential allergens in GMO salmon, both of which appear highly elevated. In the allergy study that FDA examined, AquaBounty only examined six GMO salmon, which showed a 20 to 50 percent increased allergenic potency.

“The agency needs to seriously evaluate this petition, as it supports what consumers, scientists, grocery retailers and even the commercial salmon industry have been saying all along: GMO salmon is totally unnecessary and highly risky,” said Hauter.

If approved, AquaBounty’s GMO salmon would be the first biotech animal ever to enter the food supply anywhere in the world. Many scientists have noted major weaknesses in the FDA’s review of food safety concerns.

“For an agency responsible for 80 percent of the food that we eat—and which often touts its commitment to science-based regulations—the FDA is shockingly lenient with the quality of science it is requiring of AquaBounty,” Hauter said.

“We can’t make science-based risk assessments based on six fish.

And we can’t declare that GMO salmon is safe to eat based on a regulatory review process that treats a food product like a drug.

The only appropriate course of action for FDA is to evaluate GMO salmon as a food and declare it unsafe.”

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

The fight will not be won with chemistry. We'll be frying good with non-drug methods, says production manager Harry Oswald Hansen Måsøval aquaculture.

 The large rescue operation for wild salmon (translated) Each spring is big scale operation along the Norwegian coast. Purpose: Wild Salmon smolt shall be protected from being killed by lice.

In the sea a few hundred meters outside Sistranda on Freya is 20 working people in turn.

Work 24 hours a day. Måsøval fish farming two plants Lamøy and Bukkholmen totaling 1, 4 million fish should be deloused.

- Do you see any lice, I hope not, says production manager Harry Oswald Hansen Måsøval aquaculture. He balances with us on the edge of the cage that is about to be filled by fully cleaned salmon.

Those around hundred thousand salmon that are in this cage, has just been aboard well Ronja Polaris and been bathed in tanks filled with water and delousing agent hydrogen peroxide. There they were for 35 minutes.

Lusa prefer «losers»

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots We see no lice, but scars after them behind the dorsal fin. And we look dull fisherman without luster. Hydrogen peroxide takes mucus layer temporarily Hansen explains.

In neighboring cage, however, flashes still. Where is the fish are not yet processed. Lice can clearly be seen where they have sucked themselves fixed on the fish, especially the "losers" which the least tumbling fishes are called. The parasites knows how to find the most accessible victims.

Drugs and clean fish Hansen & co. will hold on for five days. Then shall all the 15 cages at Sistranda be free of lice, and then well boat returned to Marine Harvest as they have rented it.

Måsøval use not only hydrogen peroxide but also other substances that pyrethroids and trident. And clean fish. The medications lice are becoming resistant to be gradually phased out.

- The fight will not be won with chemistry. We'll be frying good with non-drug methods, says Hansen. Soon Måsøval started farming of lumpfish along with a few other companies.

Dwindling wild population The company uses tens of millions on combating lice and development of new methods. But it will help wild salmon? Within a few decades, the number of wild salmon more than halved. Only in Måsøval cages at Sistranda there are around three times as many salmon as the entire Norwegian wild salmon stocks.

But it is an established fact that wild salmon should be protected. Våravl using is statutory. The purpose is to prevent and limit the harmful effect of sea lice on wild salmon and sea trout. And it is the aquaculture industry that is responsible for that purpose is achieved, according to the government.

It is possible that soon swimmer prowl past Sistranda. Get the enough lice themselves, it can die. Lusa takes appetite from smolt and can also change its behavior so that it does not come back to the river where it was born.

Brenner up lice - We are disdained, says Hansen. He has seen signs along Orkla that "lice killing wild salmon." By "lice" means farming industry believe Hansen.

But while fighting the fish in the sea, he and Måsøval the best they can. He has welcomed Adressa bit reluctant, not because there is something to hide, but because such a delousing action is stressful, he says. The brands we. Much takes place in parallel. Simultaneously with the delousing replaced nets out with new and clean. From the deck of the boat service Madeleine which lifts the huge nets into the cages, sounds Swedish, Lithuanian and Norwegian.

Hansen takes us aboard the boat well, where the chief engineer Yngve Johnsen shows off a small part of today's "catch" - a bucket of sea lice. After each bath filtered lice out of hydrogen peroxide water.

- Then they cremated, lice ends his life in an incinerator, says Johnsen.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Senators continue their examination of the regulation of aquaculture Watch entire senate committee roundtable discussion HERE (115 minutes) March 24, 2015

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Canada’s wild fish need to be handled with care March 17, 2015 Lawyers with Ecojustice have recently brought three court cases that touch on a profound problem with the aquaculture industry in Canada: Government agencies, companies, and professional bodies like the College of Veterinarians of B.C. are not doing enough to protect wild salmon and the marine environment on which they depend.

Most recently, we were part of an important victory for B.C’s wild salmon and the species and communities that depend on them. It all started in 2007, when a government veterinarian gave misleading advice to the B.C. government about threats posed by a dangerous salmon virus called Infectious Salmon Anemia virus (“ISAV”). ISAV poses such a significant threat to fish that it’s an internationally reportable disease. It has killed millions of salmon and caused huge losses to aquaculture industries in Chile, eastern Canada, and Norway.

We took on this case because wild salmon are a keystone species in B.C.’s marine ecosystems. In many communities, they are an integral part of life for both cultural and sustenance purposes.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Currently, there is not enough scientific evidence to predict the consequences of introducing ISAV to wild salmon, but based on evidence from other places, they could be catastrophic. As such, it is extremely important that veterinarians give advice that is accurate and protective of wild salmon.

In a case with such potentially serious repercussions, the College of Veterinarians of B.C. (”the College”) needs to live up to its responsibilities as an oversight body. That means conducting an investigation to determine if any misconduct occurred and, if so, what constitutes an appropriate sanction.

In this case, the government veterinarian correctly advised B.C.’s Minister of Agriculture and Lands that the import of live Atlantic salmon eggs is a high-risk activity associated with ISAV outbreaks in Chile. However, the veterinarian falsely told the Minister that the import of live Atlantic salmon eggs is prohibited in B.C. At the time, over 28 million live Atlantic salmon eggs had been legally imported to B.C. Some of those eggs grew into fish that were placed in open net pens on wild Pacific salmon migration routes. These open net pens lack physical barriers to stop fish diseases from spreading to wild salmon.

After she learned about the misleading advice, biologist Alex Morton asked the College to determine whether the false advice amounted to professional misconduct. The College twice declined to investigate, at which point she reached out to Ecojustice for help. In December 2014, lawyers with Ecojustice launched a lawsuit on Alex’s behalf. The lawsuit sought to force the College to do its job and investigate the allegation of misconduct. After Alex launched her lawsuit, the College agreed to investigate the complaint. While it shouldn’t have taken a lawsuit to get there, we are pleased the investigation is going to happen. Alex has thus dropped her lawsuit.

In June 2014, lawyers with Ecojustice were in court on another case arguing that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ (“DFO”) decision to download a very important duty to fish farm companies is unlawful. This case, also brought by Alex, challenges an aquaculture licence issued by DFO. The aquaculture license purports to allow a fish farm operator to decide if it can transfer fish carrying disease agents into open net pens in waters shared with wild salmon. Alex’s position is that the license is unlawful because fish farm companies do not, and cannot, have the legal right to decide to transfer such fish into the ocean.

In this case, a fish farm company transferred salmon into open net pens in BC’s coastal waters.

These fish were determined to be infected with Piscine Reovirus (“PRV”). PRV is thought to cause a deadly salmon disease called Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation, although scientific uncertainty remains about this causal connection. In cases such as this, government needs to take the lead and ensure we do not jeopardize the survival of our wild salmon. Off-loading oversight of the aquaculture industry to fish farm companies is a clear example of letting the fox guard the hen house – this is not a prudent approach to protecting wild salmon. We’re still awaiting the Court’s decision in this case.

As the aquaculture industry continues to grow and evolve, new threats to wild fish are emerging.

Lawyers with Ecojustice are currently representing Ecology Action Centre and Living Oceans Society in a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s decision to permit the manufacture of genetically modified salmon.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “AquAdvantage” salmon, which the manufacturer claims can grow to market size in half the time of conventional salmon, would be the world’s first genetically modified food animal to go into production.

Ecology Action Centre and Living Oceans Society do not think the risks to the environment and wild salmon were adequately addressed by the government. The government’s assessment of the risks presented by these genetically modified salmon has been done behind closed doors. Even now, Canadians do not have access to the full review. In the simplest terms, we don’t believe the government is being careful enough to protect wild fish or their ocean habitat. Ecology Action Centre and Living Oceans Society also believe that Canadians have a right to know what is going on.

Risky aquaculture practices have huge implications for everyone.

Therefore, a cautionary approach must be embraced to protect wild salmon and our marine ecosystems. Caution requires that when decision-makers have an incomplete understanding of the environmental risks associated with a project or plan, they must err on the side of caution and impose safeguards to stop harm before it happens. That has not been the approach to aquaculture in Canada and that needs to change.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

LOST BATTLE? Economic loss, suffering and death for the fish in the wake of the salmon louse emergence. Here one of the fish that were severely damaged by lusespylingen by Salmonor

 Large amounts of salmon killed and injured in the battle against lice Up to 13 percent of the salmon in Salmo's plant died of injuries they received in an attempt to get rid of lice, shows the inspection report.

The hopeless battle against lice scourge that rides a large part of aquaculture in Norway, was really put on the tip by the company Salmo's construction Geitryggen Rørvik.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Where dead up to 13 percent of the salmon as a result of attempts to get rid of huge amounts of sea lice.

It follows transparency report Aqua expertise AS has sent to the FSA, and ABC News have received.

After chemicals vain was tried here - as in many other farms - the company began trying to flush lice of fish, so ABC News reported Wednesday. It gave extensive laceration and suffering for the fish. Many of them died.

According inspections on October 31 and November 18 last year, there were wounds and injuries made with fish scales in all the cages at the facility.

These extensive damage with consequent sufferings for the fish did not FSA due to report.

Read also: The fight against lice gives grisly effects More dead fish than they could count "Deadly Truth has been increased in November. This is due to handling in connection with delousing, not disease, "said the report, which illustrates the condition by several ugly pictures.

The registered mortality was 5.4 percent, but the vet estimated that the real figure was slightly higher.

This is because mortality has been greater than the plant's own system of dead fish have had the capacity to handle, the report said.

"Cage inspection showed great presence of stressed fish with skin ulcers in almost all cages," states about the inspection in November. And when was actually damage decreased slightly from the previous month.

Read also: - We must use means other than medication also In the ten cages at Geitryggen varied mortality from 0.5 to 13 percent of all fish in November.

Many of those who were not killed by lusespylingen, received injuries. In the two feet of the upper layers, the damage was very noticeable so, as the photo shows.

But it does not end there.

AFTER LUSESPYLING: How so salmon in cages at Geitryggen out. Photo: Aqua backing Considered inspection report.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots For the salmon deeper had injuries, it proved when the vet took up apparently healthy fish under a few feet from the surface.

"It turned out that despite the fact that the fish looked to be in good condition, it was stated occurrence of shaking injuries (in fish scales-made, journ. Note.) The marked lines on the sides of most fishes.", States inspector.

Also read: Animal Protection Alliance reviewer painful flushing of salmon Had to give up After lusespylingen by Salmonor wrote holder Vibecke Bondø in an email to the FSA that they would try to harvest portions of fish in cages in the hope that it would facilitate lice pressure.

3rd December gave the FSA order that the regulatory requirements for maximum 0.5 lice per salmon, should be achieved within 15 February this year.

With the threat of liquidated damages at 273,583 per day this was not achieved by the deadline, the company chose to empty cages and put them fallow for either to stock fish in other plants.

Friday 20 March adds Fisheries Elisabeth Aspaker a white paper about increase in aquaculture production.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Expansion of salmon farm industry questioned Tasmanian waters are becoming the new environment battleground as objections raised over salmon farming expansion.

March 23, 2014

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Pacific Seafood expanding steelhead trout aquaculture operation April 6, 2015 Pacific Seafood Group is planning to expand its steelhead trout production by 50% this summer with the addition of another farming site near its existing two sites in the Columbia River, in north central Washington state.

The expansion — adding six to eight new jobs — will provide trout supply security to the company, which sells trout from suppliers in Chile as well as from its own farms, John Bielka, general manager of Pacific Seafood’s wholly owned subsidiary Pacific Aquaculture, told Undercurrent News.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots The company received government approval for the site years ago but only launched firm plans to utilize it recently, as two major factors prompt expansion: market demand and aquaculture science advancements.

First off, Bielka said Chilean salmon farmers’ shift away from trout is opening up market opportunities.

Data Pacific has gathered from Chile shows trout stocking in Chile down about 25% last year over the prior year, triggering expectations of lower supply to come.

“The Chilean trout industry has been declining, and it’s been more difficult to get their steelhead for sale,” Bielka said.

Already, he is seeing a trout shortage in the US marketplace prompting increased demand for the company's trout.

Chile’s trout exports to the US have fluctuated dramatically over the past decade, ranging anywhere from 663 metric tons in 2005 to 6,077t in 2012 to 5,947t last year; and the supply uncertainty is increasing now as companies such as Blumar Seafoods wean their way out of the business, with Pesquera Camanchaca following their lead last March, at least temporarily.

In the long term, Bielka sees supply security gains from the expansion, since it will enable Pacific to depend upon internal supply in lieu of the Chilean trout it sources.

As these market dynamics make the expansion attractive, scientific advancements in its farming have created a considerably more certain return on investment outlook.

The company has found ways to mitigate for mortalities from super saturation of nitrogen gas in the Columbia River, which during the large snowpack year of 2011 put a 30% dent in the operation’s production.

John Bielka, general manager of Pacific Seafood’s wholly owned subsidiary Pacific Aquaculture

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Now, Pacific mitigates that problem by making sure the fish stay 10 feet below the surface, creating pressure that keeps nitrogen gas from forming in the blood -- the same type of deadly phenomenon, known as "the bends", that can kill human divers who return to the surface too quickly.

This expansion will enable increased volumes for Pacific branded product’s growing list of US retail and foodservice customers once growout is complete in a couple years.

Striking the sustainable sourcing nerve Pacific’s choice to get involved in aquaculture has not always paid off for the company. Take its efforts to get permitted for farms in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which it let go in 2011 after a one-anda-half year effort to begin the permitting process proved fruitless.

Yet sticking with aquaculture may pay big dividends in the long run, as US consumers become increasingly interested in domestically produced food with a strong sustainability story, and Pacific's Columbia River operations have strong sustainability and social responsibility stories behind them.

First off, the farm actually helps the environment it is in, according to independent scientist Jack Rensel.

Because the Columbia River area Pacific farms in — near the inland town of Nespelem, in the central north Washington region of Okanagan Highlands — is nutrient deficient, the waste produced by the farm actually helps the habitat.

He did a study for Pacific Aquaculture on the fish farm's effects on the food web, which showed organisms in the area affected by the farm — downstream — performed better than those upstream, which were less effected.

“What we found was that the waste from the fish farm was creating a habitat and was creating food for invertebrates like crayfish and snails…” Rensel told Undercurrent.

Secondly, it provides economic opportunity for the Native American Colville tribe of the Pacific Northwest; many of whom do the work on the farm.

Workers at Pacific's aquaculture operations in the Columbia River

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Outrage

as hundreds of seals secretly slaughtered by Britain's fish farming

industry Seal cubs are being left to starve to death as the protected animals are being secretly shot along Britain's coast April 6, 2015 Seal cubs are being left to starve to death as their mums are slaughtered by Britain’s fish farming industry.

Hundreds of the protected animals are being secretly shot along the nation’s coast every year, yet the culling is legal.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots In Scotland alone, 205 seals were killed in 2014 as farmers looked to protect their stocks of salmon and other fish.

But campaigners claim this is the tip of the iceberg as those figures are not independently verified and kills are not recorded for the rest of the UK. Andy Ottaway, director of the Seal Protection Action Group, said: “There’s a lot of prejudice against seals and people see them as pests.

“Before we had an organised cull which was stopped by public opinion. But this is an ongoing cull that goes on all year.

“And it is leaving young pups to starve when their mothers are killed.

“People eating Scottish salmon don’t realise the price seals are paying.”

Slaughter: Atlantic Grey Seal Pup on a rocky shore in Scotland The animals are a protected species under EU law but there are exceptions for killing them to protect fish or equipment.

In Scotland farmers and waterways managers need a licence to cull seals.

They have to stick to quotas and record numbers killed, but there is no such requirement for the rest of the UK. Describing the problem of baby seals being left to die, Mr Ottaway said: “If there’s a weaning pup and its mum has been killed, it won’t go back to feed it and it starves.

“The licence in Scotland allows seals to be shot all year round which means they are shot in the breeding season.

“When the licence was introduced we asked for at least a ban during the breeding season but the Scottish government said no.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “If you’re shooting them throughout breeding season there’s a high probability you’re shooting mothers. A quarter to half of them will be with pups.”

Mr Ottaway said the scale of the slaughter was unclear in the rest of the UK. He continued: “Around the North there are salmon rivers and we know seals are being shot there.

“There was a case in South Shields when someone was shooting seals from a boat.

“People reported him to the police and when officers turned up they had to tell them it’s perfectly legal. It’s terrible.”

Holidaymakers in Scotland have been left equally shocked by the killing.

Mr Ottaway said: “People do not realise that behind the scenes wholesale slaughter is going on.

"Visitors have been left horrified when they have been on holiday and seen seals being shot at the beach in front of them and their children.”

Figures from Scotland show a decline in kills from 459 in 2011 to 433 in 2012, 274 in 2013 and 205 in 2014.

This year the Government has authorised the deaths of up to 859 – 662 grey seals and 197 common seals.

But campaigners argue none should die and demanded companies invested in nets and acoustic deterrents.

Mr Ottaway said: “The bullet is a cheap and permanent solution for those that dislike seals and blame them for fish crashes caused by over-fishing.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “Anywhere where there is salmon netting or angling there is a likelihood of seals being ‘controlled’.”

He spoke amid global outrage at the start of the Canadian seal cull, where up to 468,000 will be hunted for their pelts.

The Mirror has been historically linked to the campaign against mass culling of seals since 1967 when our iconic front page of a cub being clubbed to death became a poster image for campaigners.

There have been no organised culls in Britain since 1978 but fish farmers still insist they need to control them.

The Scottish salmon industry alone produces 155,000 tons of fish a year, has annual exports of more than £285million and employs thousands of people Scott Landsburgh, head of Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation, said: “We have championed deterrence techniques that are designed to keep seals away from our fish, and shooting is always last resort.

“When a determined seal attacks fish in our pens it can kill and damage large numbers and it is important that we do whatever we can to reduce the chances of this happening.”

But Mimi Bekhechi, of animal rights group PETA, insisted: “There is no justification for shooting beautiful animals to protect the cruel and unnecessary fish-farming industry.”

A spokesman for another campaign group, Sea Shepherd UK, added: “Typically every year over 300 seals are declared as having been shot – but this official declared number come solely from the companies and individuals who pull the triggers of the guns.

“Sea Shepherd UK is convinced the real number of seals shot greatly exceeds this official number and some conservation groups have previously claimed up to 2,000 grey and common seals are shot around Scotland’s coast.”

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

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

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Petroleum – Drilled, Refined, Tar Sands, Fracked

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

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

A view of the Tesoro refinery, as seen from Cap Sante lookout in Anacortes

 Swinomish tribe sues to block Bakken oil trains April 8, 2015 The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community on Tuesday went to federal court to block BNSF Railway from sending 100-car oil trains through reservation lands, claiming the company is violating an easement that sharply restricts rail traffic.

The easement signed by the railway’s predecessor company in 1991 permits only two trains a day of 25 cars or less from transiting the reservation. It also calls for the railroad company to get permission from the tribe to increase traffic.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle asks the court to permanently ban the railroad from shipping Bakken shale crude oil across tribal land, asserting that the railroad never sought permission for the oil trains.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “A deal is a deal,” said Swinomish Chairman Brian Cladoosby in a statement released Tuesday. “Our signatures were on the agreement with BNSF, so were theirs. So was the United States. But despite all that, BNSF began running its Bakken oil trains across the reservation without asking, and without even telling us.”

The Swinomish rail line that traverses tribal land on Fidalgo Island enables trains to reach a Tesoro refinery in nearby Anacortes.

A BNSF spokesman, in a statement released Tuesday said, “We have received the complaint and are reviewing it.”

The tribal lawsuit is part of an intensifying backlash in Washington and elsewhere in North America against shipping Bakken shale crude from North Dakota and Montana. Production from those fields has surged with the development of new fracking techniques.

Since 2013, a series of train derailments resulted in fiery explosions of Bakken crude, with four of those accidents occurring since early February. Bakken crude has a higher volatility than many other crudes, due to elevated levels of gases such as ethane, propane and butane At Seattle’s Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday, Mayor Ed Murray, King County Executive Dow Constantine and other officials joined U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to discuss threats posed by these accidents.

“In Canada nearly two years ago, a mile-long train derailed and the ensuing explosion cost 47 people their lives,” Cantwell said. “That blast leveled a half-mile radius. If that happened in Seattle, the effects would be catastrophic.”

“In Seattle, an incident of this type could impact tens of thousands of residents.”

Cantwell introduced legislation last month that would require the federal Transportation Department to regulate the volatility of crude oil shipped by trains.

The bill also would increase funding for first responders and require more disclosures from railroads about train routes. The railroads would also have to plan for worst-case derailment scenarios.

In Washington last year, up to 19 trains a week crossed parts of the state with crude oil that ends up at state or California refineries.

Some of those trains now cross Swinomish lands on the way to the Tesoro refinery. The number of those trains could rise if Shell gets approval for a rail facility at its refinery in Anacortes.

As the trains move through tribal lands, they pass close by a casino, a lodge and other development.

“Based on the demonstrated hazards” of Bakken shale crude, the tribe is “justifiably and gravely concerned” with the oil shipments, the lawsuit asserts.

The railroad’s 1991 easement across the reservation lands resulted from the settlement of an earlier tribal lawsuit that alleged that BNSF’s predecessor company was trespassing on their lands with its trains during most of the past century.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots The settlement called for periodic railroad disclosures “as different products, or commodities, are added or deleted.” It also called on the tribe not to “arbitrarily withhold permission to increase the number of trains or cars when necessary to meet shipper needs.”

The crude-oil shipments across tribal lands began in late 2011, but tribal officials said they were never informed in advance, and have never authorized that train traffic.

“We told BNSF to stop, again and again,” Cladoosby said. “It’s unacceptable for BNSF to put our people and our way of life at risk without regard to the agreement we established in good faith.”

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Cantwell,

Murray, Baldwin, and Feinstein Introduce Oil Train Safety

Legislation Bill would set new standards for crude volatility, take unsafe tank cars off the tracks, and increase fines for violations March 25, 2015 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced legislation that would set strong new safety standards for trains hauling volatile crude oil, to better protect American communities along the tracks.

The Crude-By-Rail Safety Act of 2015 requires the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to draft new regulations to mitigate the volatility of gases in crude oil shipped via tank car and immediately halt the use of older-model tank cars that have been shown to be at high risk for puncturing and catching fire in derailments.

“Every new derailment increases the urgency with which we need to act,” said Senator Cantwell, ranking member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “Communities in Washington state and across the nation see hundreds of these oil tank cars pass through each week. This legislation will help reduce the risk of explosion in accidents, take unsafe tank cars off the tracks, and ensure first responders have the equipment they need. We can’t afford to wait for ten accidents per year, as estimated by the Department of Transportation.”

“Families and communities in Washington state and across the country should be able to feel safe knowing that every precaution is being taken to protect them from oil train disasters,” Senator Murray said. “This legislation will help make sure the most dangerous tank cars are kept off the tracks and is a strong step forward in reducing the risks of oil train accidents and making sure our communities have the resources they need to be prepared for emergencies if they happen.”

“As more and more volatile crude oil moves through Wisconsin and through our country via rail it is critical that appropriate safety measures are in place to reduce the risk of deadly accidents,” Senator Baldwin said. “I’m proud to join Senators Cantwell, Feinstein and Murray in introducing legislation that takes immediate action to phase out the most dangerous tank cars carrying crude oil through our communities and I am hopeful our colleagues in the Senate will join us to prevent future oil train tragedies from occurring as we work to increase safety and efficiency along America’s railways.”

“As more crude oil is moved by train, we’re seeing a surge in derailments and explosions. Until we deploy safer tank cars and stronger safety rules, countless communities across the country face the risk of a devastating accident,” Senator Feinstein said.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “That’s why I’m supporting Senator Cantwell’s bill, which will save lives and property and ensure that railcar investments now underway will lead to significant safety improvements. We can’t wait for the next deadly accident to take the necessary steps to improve rail safety.”

The legislation would: 

Require PHMSA standards for volatility of gases in crude oil hauled by rail.



Immediately ban the use of tank cars shown to be unsafe for shipping crude oil. Those models include DOT-111s and unjacketed CPC-1232s.



Require new tank car design standards that include 9/16th inch shells, thermal protection, pressure relief valves and electronically-controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes.



Increase fines on railroads that violate hazardous materials laws and establish new fines for railroads and energy companies that don’t comply with safety laws.



Authorize funding for first responder training, equipment and emergency preparedness. Also would authorize funding for increased rail inspections and energy product testing.



Require comprehensive oil spill response plans for trains carrying oil, petroleum and other hazardous products.



Mandate railroads establish a confidential “close-call” reporting system for employees to anonymously report problems.



Require railroads to disclose crude-by-rail movements to State Emergency Response Commissions and Local Emergency Planning Committees along hazmat rail routes.

The legislation follows four fiery derailments involving oil trains since the start of February. No injuries were reported, but a July 2013 derailment in downtown Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, resulted in 47 deaths.

The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates an average of 10 derailments annually over the next 20 years as crude-by-rail shipments grow, costing $4 billion.

Five years ago, railroads hauled almost no crude oil. Now, more than 1.1 million barrels per day – with more expected – move by rail, largely originating in the Midwest. But safety regulations have not kept pace, and thousands of tank cars now in use to haul hazardous materials were not designed to carry the more flammable crude that comes from regions such as the Bakken shale.

Related: 

Senators Try To Stop The Coming Oil Train Wreck



Cantwell, Fire Chiefs Pressing For More Regulation Of Oil Trains

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

World Class FAIL: British Columbia’s oil spill response  City

of Vancouver alarmed it wasn't notified sooner of English Bay oil spill (with video) Crews recover a tonne of oil spilled from freighter in bay April 9, 2015 Watch, Listen, Learn HERE

VANCOUVER - City of Vancouver officials weren't notified of an oil spill in English Bay until 12 hours after the Coast Guard was first alerted to the problem, raising concerns about the rate of response in an emergency.

While someone from a sailboat first reported the estimated a one-kilometre long oil slick at about 5 p.m. to Port Metro Vancouver, the Canadian Coast Guard didn't start containing the area until 8 p.m., when crews in five boats from the West Coast Marine Response Corp. set up a boom around the ship Marathassa, a bulk grain carrier from Korea, and then worked throughout the night to recover some of the heavier oil around the ship and pinpoint its source.

The city, however, was not informed of the slick until 6 a.m. the next day, at which time it activated its emergency operations centre, calling on marine units from the Vancouver Police and Fire and

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Rescue officers, as well as city staff and park rangers to monitor the shoreline, and biologists and wildlife experts to assess any risks to the shoreline and wildlife.

"We're here to help and support. We need to be an integrated part of any response," city manager Penny Ballem said.

At a news conference held at English Bay Thursday morning, city Coun. Geoff Meggs also voiced concerns about the delay in alerting the city.

Meggs said while the spill may be considered a minor event by federal authorities, it is a huge deal to the people of Vancouver.

"I think a lot of councillors want to know the details of the event, how notifications occurred, who decided to make the various decisions about response time. Clearly the spill cleanup occurred promptly, but was it enough? ... I want to be cautious today because we value the good working relationship we have with the port, but at the same time we always want to strengthen it."

A total of 1,400 litres of oil has already been recovered by crews cleaning up a toxic fuel spill believed to have leaked from the freighter Wednesday afternoon. The Coast Guard estimates as much 2,800 litres escaped.

Julia Ren, spokeswoman for Port Metro Vancouver, said if the ship is found to have caused the spill, it would likely be responsible for all clean-up costs under Canada's polluter pays principle, which means a shipper is liable for costs if it causes marine pollution.

Rob O'Dea, a sailor who reported the spill, said he was surprised the response hadn't been quicker.

O'Dea was sailing in English Bay at about 5 p.m. when he noticed a half-a-kilometre section of flat water amid the windswept waves. As he sailed closer, he realized the slick wasn't just on the surface but deep beneath the water.

"There were thousands of block globules from the size of a pea up to a fist," O'Dea said. "It wasn't just an oily sheen on the water."

He called the Coast Guard, but noted there was not an emergency response on scene until at least an hour later when a harbour patrol boat appeared and went back and forth through the slick. By 8 p.m., he said, the slick still hadn't been contained. Ironically, O'Dea added, the slick had occurred in sight of the now-closed Coast Guard Station.

"If we don't have emergency response capabilities out there in the harbour, it doesn't speak well to the rest of the coast," he said. "I would have expected there would have been a boat there within minutes. There should have been a boom in there within an hour or two."

Vancouver West End New Democrat MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert said he was concerned that people and their dogs were swimming at English Bay without being informed that a toxic fuel spill had happened in the bay.

"Obviously this is a huge concern," said Chandra Herbert. "I think the federal government share some responsibility here. The fact that they didn't even tell the city about it until 12 hours after is a huge failure."

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Coast Guard spokesman Dan Bate said it wasn't until the organization took an aerial view of the site that it realized the size of the spill was much larger than first thought. Crews from five West Coast Marine Response Corporation boats used skimmers Thursday to try to recover some of the oil surrounding the ship, though Port Metro Vancouver stressed that it has not been confirmed that the oil is from that ship.

Bate wouldn't confirm the identify of the oily substance but Vancouver city officials posted a boater and watercraft alert on Twitter early Thursday, saying that the spill is believed to be bunker fuel and that it is toxic. They are warning people not to touch the fuel.

Ballem said the oil still being tested to confirm it is bunker fuel.

Bunker fuel is a type of liquid fuel used on ships which is fractionally distilled from crude oil. It is extremely crude and highly polluting.

Aerial photos show a sheen on the water out in the bay stretching to the shore, but at Kits and Sunset beaches Thursday morning, there was little evidence of an oil spill. Several residents out walking their dogs said they hadn't seen any oil on the beach.

However, several people posted photographs on social media websites showing a sticky oil residue on their hands, and one user posted a video showing what appears to be an oily substance on the water's edge at the north end of English Bay. There were no signs up warning about the spill at the beaches, though city staff were out speaking to people about the incident. All affected beaches remained open Thursday.

Bate said there are no confirmed reports that the oil has reached the shores of the local beaches.

Yet the Vancouver park board says oil has been seen on Sunset Beach as well as English Bay, while four oil-covered ducks were seen preening themselves between Second and Third Beach on the shore in Stanley Park.

Park Board chairman John Coupar said he noticed traces of the oil on the seawall when the tide came in at 8:25 a.m. but said the spill doesn't seem to have affected Spanish Banks or Jericho. The Burrard Civic Marina at the mouth of False Creek also seems to have escaped unscathed, he said.

But Craig Minielly, commodore for the False Creek Yacht Club, said there was concern that oil could be swept in with the afternoon tide, putting the marina's 115 boats at risk.

"We're right at the entrance to the creek," he said. "From what I've seen, it's a nasty bubble-gum stuff that sticks to paddle boards. If that should get into any marina or our boats, it would be a hell of a mess to clean up."

Minielly questioned why the Coast Guard or Port Metro Vancouver didn't alert the marinas of the spill, noting he could have put a notice out to boat owners before the tide came in overnight. He hopes the Coast Guard and city officials have since come up with a response plan that would protect the local marinas, especially given that oil has already been spotted on local beaches.

Steve Keenan was out for his weekly paddling practice in English Bay Wednesday night when he got a faint whiff of oil about a kilometre from Siwash Rock.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots "You could smell a petroleum product and see a sheen in the water," he said. "All around us there was just this film.

Keenan, who was in a solo kayak, didn't think much of it at first, as there were no freighters nearby and he had encountered minor spills and discharges before in English Bay. But as he and his friends, who were in a six-man boat, made the 20-minute paddle back to shore, they realized the sheen wasn't dissipating.

And the situation was about to get even worse.

"When we stopped, we saw all this brown stuff on the side of the boats. It felt like chewing gum," Keenan said. "We weren't too concerned until we realized it wouldn't wash off."

Keenan used WD40 to clean his carbon fibre boat, but the group is still debating what to use to get the oil off the six-man fibreglass kayak.

And there's also the issue of the oil itself, with the city warning it could be toxic. "We splashed it. It was all over my clothes and my hand goes in the water with every stroke," Keenan said, but added: "At least I didn't fall in."

Transport Canada officials and the Canadian Coast Guard have officials at the scene. The investigation and clean up efforts are expected to continue Thursday. Vancouver city officials and Vancouver police are also responding to the scene.

The Vancouver Aquarium and Marine Science Centre also said it would closely monitor the spill to determine whether it will affect aquatic species. Spokeswoman Deana Lancaster said the aquarium is sending a response team to ensure protection of any fish, seabirds and marine mammals that might be at risk, while Dr. Peter Ross was gathering samples at the local beaches.

The size and scope of the spill have not yet been determined, but Ben West, spokesman for the environmental advocacy group Tanker Free BC, said the spill is a reminder of a "nightmare scenario" that could happen if there is increased tanker traffic along the B.C. coast.

"It may actually be lucky that this is only bunker fuel and not bitumen," he said, in a statement. "If this were a spill of tar sands oil and this much time had passed without it being contained it likely would be game over for any kind of clean up."

Greenpeace also said any oil spill is a disaster for marine life and for those who depend on a healthy ecosystem.

"While we don't know how big this toxic spill is and the damage is still being tallied, we do know it pales in comparison with what could happen if new tar sands pipelines were built to the B.C. coast or if Shell's Arctic drilling plans were to proceed," Jessica Wilson, head of Greenpeace Canada's Arctic campaign, said in a statement.

She noted this spill occurred in sheltered waters and with good weather conditions, while proposed pipelines would draw hundreds of oil supertankers through English Bay each year — often through storms and high seas.

Fin Donelly, NDP deputy critic for Fisheries and Oceans, said the oil spill is a reminder of the Conservative government's disregard for the protection and management of oil spills along B.C.'s coast.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Donelly noted over the past four years, British Columbians have seen the closure of the Kitsilano Coast Guard base, and are witnessing the closure three of the five Marine Communication and Traffic Centres, while at the same time marine traffic is increasing.

"We are grateful for the efforts crews are making to contain this spill," said Donnelly, MP for New Westminster-Coquitlam and Port Moody. "Imagine if this had been an oil tanker spill, or an issue at the refineries in the Burrard Inlet; the situation would have been devastating."

Donelly noted Vancouver Centre is known for the jewel of the city Stanley Park, its beaches and wildlife and "it's time the Conservatives create a safety plan that will protect BC's coast."

On Dec. 23, 1988, the Sause Brothers barge Nestucca released about 87,400 litres of bunker oil off Grays Harbor, Wash. The oil drifted northward with the currents, including up to the west coast of Vancouver Island as far as Cape Scott. The oil washed up on beaches, and up to 56,000 seabirds are thought to have died. Crab, shellfish and herring were affected along with native fishing practices.

A 2007 spill of bunker fuel in San Francisco Bay was found to be surprisingly toxic to fish embryos, devastating the herring population that feeds seabirds, whales and the bay's last commercial fishery, scientists reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

About half of that spill of 54,000 gallons, about the size of a large backyard swimming pool, was recovered.

The Los Angeles Times reported on the study in 2011, quoting Gary Cherr, a study co-author and director of the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, as saying: "We didn't think there was enough oil spilled to cause this much damage."

The Times story also quoted John Incardona, a toxicologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, as saying: "This bunker oil is literally the dregs of the barrel, and it's much more toxic than crude oil.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Ocean pollution specialist Dr. Peter Ross displays an oily substance from English Bay

 Botched

English Bay oil spill confirms BC ‘woefully unprepared’ for more pipelines, tankers: Open letter April 10, 2015

The following is an open letter by Ben West of the group Tanker Free BC to Christy Clark.

Dear Premier Clark, In a 2013 interview with Peter Mansbridge, you discussed Canada’s inability to handle a major coastal oil spill now, let alone in the future should new pipelines be approved. “We are woefully under-resourced,” you said.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots In that same year your government rejected the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline and tanker project in part because of concerns around oil spills. “British Columbia thoroughly reviewed all of the evidence and submissions made to the panel and asked substantive questions about the project including its route, spill response capacity and financial structure to handle any incidents,” said then B.C. Environment Minister Terry Lake in a May 31 media release. “Our questions were not satisfactorily answered during these hearings.”

On April 9th, 2015 a oil spill took place in the Vancouver Harbour. City of Vancouver staff were not even informed until the next morning and later that day it was revealed that 6 hours went by before booms were put in place. Oil has washed up on the beaches of Stanley Park, Jericho Beach and Ambleside Beach in West Vancouver among other places. No signs were put up on beaches to warn residents and visitors. At this time it is still unknown exactly how much oil was spilled or even by whom. The apparent lack of coordination seems to prove your point from 2013, we clearly are “woefully unprepared”.

To make things worse we now know that the recently closed Kitsilano Coast Guard station could have had booms in the water within six minutes, as opposed to six hours. Next month the Vancouver Coast Guard MCTS centre that regulates shipping movements in Vancouver Harbour is scheduled to close. These are our marine traffic controllers?!?

There are also plans to close the Regional Marine Information Centre (RMIC).The RMIC notifies responders, government agencies such as Transport Canada, Environment Canada, Environmental Response and others so a proper response can be mobilized.

The Harper Conservatives will CLOSE this notification centre on May 6, 2015 as part of the larger cuts to the west coast marine safety network. The Coast Guard will also cease providing anchorage assistance to ships, including tankers when the MCTS centre closes and moved to Victoria next month. This is strongly opposed by BC Coast Pilots and Port Metro Vancouver.

Ottawa hasn’t developed or implemented any replacement system for the dissemination of these pollution reports.

Yet your government continues to allow the Harper Government to call the shots when it comes to decisions about pipelines that would lead to massive increases in tanker and other vessel traffic in BC. Please make this oil spill incident in our harbour the last straw. Please do as municipal leaders from across the province have requested via a resolution at the Union of BC Municipalities and withdraw BC from the National Energy Boards process regarding the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline project.

And please formally withdraw from the “equivalency agreement” with the Federal Government that puts the environmental assessment and public consultation process under their control.

These are clearly not world class safety standards. Please stand up for the BC coast and do not allow the discussion of increased tanker traffic to continue until the current safety issues are addressed.

Related:



Vancouver's Preview of a Spill from Hell

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Watch, Listen, Learn HERE

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Petition: NEVER AGAIN. PROTECT VANCOUVER FROM OIL SPILLS TO: CONSERVATIVE MPS IN GREATER VANCOUVER AREA

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Black tar-like sludge is washing up on Vancouver’s beaches after a toxic oil spill from a freighter in English Bay. [1] Because the Harper Conservatives closed the Kitsilano Coast Guard station in 2013, emergency responders had to come from Richmond, and it took over 6 hours for crews to arrive on the scene and deploy absorbent booms. Responders from the Kitsilano base could have been on site with the right equipment in 6 minutes. [2] Now, the Harper Government wants to turn Vancouver into a major dirty energy shipping port, with hundreds of tankers carrying tarsands oil and LNG passing through the harbour annually. With the Conservatives feeling the heat and an election around the corner, we need to act now to protect the coast.

We call on Conservative MPs in Vancouver to:

 

Reopen the Kitsilano Coast Guard Station, and restore funding for Marine Communications Centres in B.C. Ban increased tanker traffic through B.C.’s sensitive waterways.

Why is this important?

 



The Harper government allowed this relatively small spill to become a serious tragedy by closing the Kitsilano Coast Guard station, and they’re inviting even worse tragedies if they allow expanded tanker traffic on the B.C. coast.

Kinder Morgan is proposing a pipeline and tanker that would bring hundreds of huge tarsands oil tankers through Vancouver’s harbour each year -- putting us at risk of a catastrophic oil spill when we weren’t even prepared for a spill that would be considered small by industry standards.

In the wake of the Vancouver oil spill, thousands of people are looking for answers. If we raise our voices together now, we can expose how the Harper Government’s negligence turned this spill into a tragedy. With an election coming up, Conservative MPs in the Lower Mainland will be under tremendous pressure to give us a real plan to protect the B.C. coast.

Sources: [1] Fuel oil spill from freighter in Vancouver harbour triggers cleanup. http://www.surreyleader.com/news/299210961.html [2] Now-closed Kitsilano Coast Guard Base would have responded to oil spill instantly (Vancity Buzz). http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/04/now-closed-kitsilano-coast-guard-base-responded-oil-spillinstantly/ How it will be delivered If 20,000 people sign this petition, we’ll hand deliver your messages to Conservative MPs in the Greater Vancouver area, so they can’t ignore their responsibility to act to protect Vancouver from future oil spills.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Musqueam

First Nation Concerned About Spill Response and Shuts Down

Fishery April 10, 2015 COAST SALISH TERRITORY, VANCOUVER, BC, April 10, 2015 /CNW/ - The Musqueam First Nation is issuing a public notice to its fishers that the Musqueam Fisheries Department is closing all aquatic harvesting in the English Bay, .... and.... areas until further notice. This includes the removal of prawn, crab and .... Due to the bunker oil spilled in English Bay Musqueam is asking its members to take all precautions, including reporting any related oil that may be in the waters or onshore.

Chief Wayne Sparrow said, "....We are very concerned about how long it took to notify officials and Musqueam about the spill in English Bay. Musqueam is working with the Major Projects Management Office West to develop a long term Aquatic Habitat Restoration Plan, as well as creating a First Nations focused Stewardship Centre.

This recent incident in English Bay highlights the need to improve relationships between Musqueam, Coast Guard, Port Metro Vancouver and the City of Vancouver. We must put the environment and our waters at the forefront, Musqueam has the knowledge and expertise in our waters.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Editorial Comment: Ineffective CYA by Kinder Morgan to give the impression they are cleaning the recently-spilled bunker oil from City of Vancouver beaches.

Citizens are not at all fooled by KM’s continued deception tactics.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Coal

MLA David Eby (right) takes delivery of a 200-name petition from several students at his office on West Broadway in Vancouver, B.C. Wednesday April 8, 2015. Students across the province’s 21 ridings in 12 cities held simultaneous “Defend Our Future” rallies opposing proposed thermal coal export facilities in B.C.

 Students rally against proposed B.C. thermal coal export facilities April 8, 2015 Students in 12 B.C. cities met with their local MLAs on Wednesday to express their concerns about proposed thermal coal export facilities in the province.

“There’s so much that the provincial government can be doing, but they’re not and we’re calling them out on it,” said Kate Hodgson, a Grade 12 student at Kitsilano Secondary School and director of Kids for Climate Action.

The day of action, called Defend Our Future, involved students meeting with or rallying in front of the offices of 21 MLAs, both Liberal and NDP.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots They presented petitions to the MLAs and encouraged them to bring the petitions to the legislature in Victoria on Monday. They also asked MLAs to sign a pledge to stop new thermal coal exports in B.C. In August, Fraser Surrey Docks received approval from Port Metro Vancouver to build a $15-million coal transfer facility that would export four million tonnes of U.S. thermal coal to Asia each year.

Last April, the Ministry of Environment also approved a major coal terminal expansion at the Lafarge Texada Island facility.

Hodgson said the B.C. government is being hypocritical because it’s not opposing such expansions while saying that the province’s natural gas industry will displace demand for coal overseas.

“I think as high school students especially, we’re the ones who are going to have to face the consequences of our government inaction today,” said Hodgson.

“I think we have an incredible opportunity. We get to decide if we want to take action on climate change now and create an equitable, sustainable future or a path based on greed.

“I truly cannot understand how anyone can choose inaction at such an extraordinary time in history as this.”

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Save the Chuitna

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Hydropower / Water Retention

 B.C.

Supreme Court asked to quash Site C environmental assessment certificate April 19, 2015

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. - A land owner in northeastern British Columbia says he stands to lose virtually everything if the provincial government is allowed to move ahead with building a controversial dam in the region.

Ken Boon operates a farm, a campground and a log-home business in an area of the Peace River valley slated to wind up underwater if the Site C hydroelectric project is allowed to continue.

"It would all be wiped out if Site C went ahead," said Boon, estimating his land loss at roughly 130 hectares. "It would take us out of business."

On Monday, a regional land owner group headed by Boon will be in court in Vancouver in an effort to derail the $8.8-billion megaproject.

The Peace Valley Landowner Association is asking the B.C. Supreme Court to quash the environmental assessment certificate for the Site C dam, arguing the provincial government failed to properly follow the assessment process.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots "We feel they hijacked the results and issued a certificate that's not valid," said Boon, adding that the assessment brought up valid concerns and recommendations which were ignored by the government.

"Our preference is not to go to court but this was really the only path the government gave us."

This case is the first of seven legal challenges related to Site C being brought against the B.C. and federal governments from a variety of groups.

On Thursday, Treaty 8 First Nations will be in court challenging the provincial government.

Joe Foy is the national campaign director for the Wilderness Committee, a Vancouver-based environmental organization and ally of the Peace Valley Landowner Association.

Foy argues the loss of wildlife habitat and farmland is not justified by the dam's construction.

"The government hasn't proven the need for the project and therefore the project shouldn't be allowed," said Foy. "It's a heck of a way to waste $9 billion and destroy a lot of land in the process."

The B.C. government gave the project the green light late last year.

First Nations and environmental groups have denounced the Site C project, forecasting it as the most expensive mistake in the province's history.

The land owner association will return to court in July to level similar complaints against the federal government.

If built, Site C would be the third major hydroelectric project on the Peace River.

Upstream are the Peace Canyon Dam, which was finished in 1980, and its precursor, the W.A.C. Bennett Dam, completed in 1967

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Solar

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

In Hawaii, where 12 percent of the homes have solar panels, handling the surplus power is putting pressure on the state’s biggest utility, which is fighting to reduce what it pays for the energy.

 Solar Power Battle Puts Hawaii at Forefront of Worldwide Changes April 20, 2015 Watch, Listen, Learn HERE

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots HONOLULU — Allan Akamine has looked all around the winding, palm tree-lined cul-de-sacs of his suburban neighborhood in Mililani here on Oahu and, with an equal mix of frustration and bemusement, seen roof after roof bearing solar panels.

Mr. Akamine, 61, a manager for a cable company, has wanted nothing more than to lower his $600 to $700 monthly electric bill with a solar system of his own. But for 18 months or so, the state’s biggest utility barred him and thousands of other customers from getting one, citing concerns that power generated by rooftop systems was overwhelming its ability to handle it.

Only under strict orders from state energy officials did the utility, the Hawaiian Electric Company, recently rush to approve the lengthy backlog of solar applications, including Mr. Akamine’s.

It is the latest chapter in a closely watched battle that has put this state at the forefront of a global upheaval in the power business. Rooftop systems now sit atop roughly 12 percent of Hawaii’s homes, according to the federal Energy Information Administration, by far the highest proportion in the nation.

Household panels for solar power and hot water in Kapolei, Hawaii. Installing new electrical panels was blocked there until recently.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “Hawaii is a postcard from the future,” said Adam Browning, executive director of Vote Solar, a policy and advocacy group based in California.

Other states and countries, including California, Arizona, Japan and Germany, are struggling to adapt to the growing popularity of making electricity at home, which puts new pressures on old infrastructure like circuits and power lines and cuts into electric company revenue.

As a result, many utilities are trying desperately to stem the rise of solar, either by reducing incentives, adding steep fees or effectively pushing home solar companies out of the market. In response, those solar companies are fighting back through regulators, lawmakers and the courts.

The shift in the electric business is no less profound than those that upended the telecommunications and cable industries in recent decades. It is already remaking the relationship between power companies and the public while raising questions about how to pay for maintaining and operating the nation’s grid.

The issue is not merely academic, electrical engineers say.

In solar-rich areas of California and Arizona, as well as in Hawaii, all that solar-generated electricity flowing out of houses and into a power grid designed to carry it in the other direction has caused unanticipated voltage fluctuations that can overload circuits, burn lines and lead to brownouts or blackouts.

Load dispatchers monitor the electrical grid at the Hawaiian Electric Company’s operations center in Honolulu. The utility says power from household solar panels can destabilize the system.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “Hawaii’s case is not isolated,” said Massoud Amin, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Minnesota and chairman of the smart grid program at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a technical association. “When we push year-on-year 30 to 40 percent growth in this market, with the number of installations doubling, quickly — every two years or so — there’s going to be problems.”

The economic threat also has electric companies on edge. Over all, demand for electricity is softening while home solar is rapidly spreading across the country. There are now about 600,000 installed systems, and the number is expected to reach 3.3 million by 2020, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The Edison Electric Institute, the main utility trade group, has been warning its members of the economic perils of high levels of rooftop solar since at least 2012, and the companies are responding. In February, the Salt River Project, a large utility in Arizona, approved charges that could add about $50 to a typical monthly bill for new solar customers, while last year in Wisconsin, where rooftop solar is still relatively rare, regulators approved fees that would add $182 a year for the average solar customer.

In Hawaii, the current battle began in 2013, when Hawaiian Electric started barring installations of residential solar systems in certain areas. It was an abrupt move — a panicked one, critics say — made after the utility became alarmed by the technical and financial challenges of all those homes suddenly making their own electricity.

The utility wants to cut roughly in half the amount it pays customers for solar electricity they send back to the grid. But after a study showed that with some upgrades the system could handle much more solar than the company had assumed, the state’s public utilities commission ordered the utility to begin installations or prove why it could not.

It was but one sign of the agency’s growing impatience with what it considers the utility’s failure to adapt its business model to the changing market.

A technician adjusts a power meter in Honolulu.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Hawaiian Electric is scrambling to accede to that demand, approving thousands of applications in recent weeks. But it is under pressure on other fronts as well. NextEra Energy, based in Florida, is awaiting approval to buy it, while other islands it serves are exploring defecting to form their own cooperative power companies.

It is also upgrading its circuits and meters to better regulate the flow of electricity. Rooftop solar makes far more power than any other single source, said Colton Ching, vice president for energy delivery at Hawaiian Electric, but the utility can neither control nor predict the output.

“At every different moment, we have to make sure that the amount of power we generate is equal to the amount of energy being used, and if we don’t keep that balance things go unstable,” he said, pointing to the illuminated graphs and diagrams tracking energy production from wind and solar farms, as well as coal-fueled generators in the utility’s main control room. But the rooftop systems are “essentially invisible to us,” he said, “because they sit behind a customer’s meter and we don’t have a means to directly measure them.”

For customers, such explanations offer little comfort as they continue to pay among the highest electric rates in the country and still face an uncertain solar future.

“I went through all this trouble to get my electric bill down, and I am still waiting,” said Joyce Villegas, 88, who signed her contract for a system in August 2013 but was only recently approved and is waiting for the installation to be completed.

Mr. Akamine expressed resignation over the roughly $12,000 he could have saved, but wondered about the delay. “Why did it take forceful urging from the local public utility commission to open up more permits?” he asked.

Installers — who saw their fast-growing businesses slow to a trickle — are also frustrated with the pace. For those who can afford it, said James Whitcomb, chief executive of Haleakala Solar, which he started in 1977, the answer may lie in a more radical solution: Avoid the utility and its grid altogether.

Customers are increasingly asking about the batteries that he often puts in along with the solar panels, allowing them to store the power they generate during the day for use at night. It is more expensive, but it breaks consumer reliance on the utility’s network of power lines.

“I’ve actually taken people right off the grid,” he said, including a couple who got tired of waiting for Hawaiian Electric to approve their solar system and expressed no interest in returning to utility service. “The lumbering big utilities that are so used to taking three months to study this and then six months to do that — what they don’t understand is that things are moving at the speed of business.

Like with digital photography — this is inevitable.”

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Wild Game Fish Management

 Pollution Declining in Chehalis River, Says Ecology Bacteria pollution that had plagued the Upper Chehalis River watershed for years continues to steadily decrease, according to an updated report from the state Department of Ecology.

The department issued a news release Wednesday afternoon regarding the availability of a draft copy of the state’s Water Quality Assessment, in which it states a portion of the Upper Chehalis River Watershed in Lewis County has been determined to be clean from bacteria pollution.

Continued decreases in agricultural runoff coupled with increases in education and outreach efforts, monetary investments in work along the watershed and work among several government agencies and advocacy groups are all cited as reasons for the decrease in pollution.

“It was a lot of efforts from a lot of different fronts over several years,” Sandy Howard, communications manager for the state Department of Ecology, said Wednesday.

Howard said in an email to The Chronicle that the Chehalis Basin Partnership, Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis, Lewis and Thurston county governments, Lewis and Thurston Conservation Districts, cities of Chehalis and Centralia, and the Chehalis Basin Education Consortium all partnered in one form or another to contribute work to improving the quality of the water in the Chehalis Basin.

The state itself, in addition, poured $2.5 million since the year 2000 into education and outreach activities in addition to projects addressing where the bacteria comes from.

Howard’s email also noted that the Department of Ecology keeps geographical information system, or GIS, information for dairies, which indicated the number of dairies in the Upper Chehalis River Watershed had dropped between 1996 and 2012. Ecology hasn’t stated that is for sure a reason of the water’s improved health, but cites it as a possible factor.

Although the river is listed as “clean” with the state when it comes to pollution, other issues affect the watershed such as dissolved oxygen and warm water temperatures, which are major factors in several species of fish to make their habitat in the waterway.

Omroa “Harry” Bhagwandin, executive director for the Chehalis River Basin Land Trust, said he’s pleased to see the progress made on improving the health of the river. His group has been part of several collaborative efforts that aim to improve and restore fish habitat, including tree plantings at Centralia’s Discovery Trail and other riparian enhancements that aim to increase oxygen supply to the water and provide shade that cool the water temperature down.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “We haven’t had to do much restoring, but we’re doing a lot to provide conservation easements for protection of salmon habitat needs,” Bhagwandin said. “Anything from wooded debris to structures we can help build, to removing invasive species if possible — we want to protect that habitat.”

Bhagwandin said the group wants to identify people in Lewis County who own riverfront property who they could work with to apply for grant funding for more water quality projects and flood mitigation funding in the future.

The state’s Water Quality Assessment is done as a requirement of the federal Clean Water Act. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approves the results, but before it does so, the data is given to the public as a draft to review before submittal to the federal government.

The Upper Chehalis River Watershed was on what is known as a 303(d) list of waterways, including lakes, rivers and streams, throughout the state that have problems with pollution. The list is so referred to because of its correspondence with the 303(d) section of the Clean Water Act dealing with pollution.

The Chehalis River itself flows 125 miles from southwest Lewis County in a north then western direction through Thurston and Grays Harbor counties. According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Washington Water Science Center, the basin drains about 2,700 square miles.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Ghost nets like this one located in the Chehalis River keep on killing

 TMKey Film works to keep Puget clean and rid of Ghost Nets Watch, Listen, Learn HERE

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Food competition between pinks and sockeye has led to slower growth, delayed maturation and spawning, and lower survival rates for B.C.’s iconic fish, a new study finds.

 More bad news for B.C.’s wild sockeye Pink salmon populations augmented by hatchery programs hurt sockeye returns, study finds April 1, 2015 Nations around the Pacific Ocean may have to cap the number of hatchery salmon they release if sockeye salmon runs are to return to sustainable levels, according to a new study.

Record high numbers of pink salmon in the North Pacific coincided with the disastrously small 2009 Fraser River sockeye return, while the unexpectedly large 2010 sockeye return interacted with 40per-cent fewer pinks, said Brendan Connors, co-author of the article published by the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.

The findings have implications for fisheries management and hatchery programs in Russia and Alaska that produce most of the five billion hatchery fish released into the Pacific each year.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “ ... Even though overall abundance of wild pink salmon has been exceptionally high during the past 30 years, hatchery operators have proposed substantial increases in hatchery pink salmon in Prince William Sound, Kodiak, Yakutat, Southeast Alaska, and Russia,” the authors write.

But there has been little cooperation between nations about the release of hatchery salmon, even in the face of evidence that large-scale hatchery programs can have far-reaching effects, according to fisheries scientist Randall Peterman, a professor emeritus at SFU. “Getting an international agreement on who should get how much of the ocean’s carrying capacity for salmon is a major policy stumbling block, despite what is clear in the scientific realm,” he said.

According to the new research, food competition between pinks and sockeye has led to slower growth, delayed maturation and spawning, and lower survival rates for B.C.’s iconic fish.

Sockeye that mature later may return to freshwater and spawn successfully, but spending an extra year at sea means they have a better chance of being eaten by predators, said Connors, an ecologist and adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University.

“We also find that the sockeye are smaller when they are in competition and that reduces the number of eggs produced by females,” he said.

Observed increases in the number of pinks were predicted to reduce Fraser sockeye abundance by 67 per cent, Connors said.

The four leading hypotheses presented to the Cohen Commission convened to explain the decline of the Fraser River sockeye were: climate-related changes to ocean conditions, allowing too many fish onto spawning grounds, salmon aquaculture and interactions with pink salmon.

“When we looked at all four of these things together around the time of the commission, the one that had the strongest support was the competition with pink salmon,” he said. “And in years when sockeye salmon migrated past a large number of salmon farms that negative relationship was even stronger.”

Peak pink abundance — fuelled in part by the annual release of up to 1.4 billion hatchery pinks — is linked to the decline of 36 of 38 sockeye populations from Washington State to Alaska, according to Connors. Pink salmon eat many of the same foods as sockeye, especially squid and plankton, and are known to be more flexible and opportunistic about their diet than sockeye. By switching prey, the pinks may be changing the entire food web and reducing the abundance of the sockeye’s favourite foods.

Because populations of pink salmon peak every second year — in odd years on the south coast — the effect of their abundance on other fish and other sea creatures is relatively easy to observe, said Connors, who penned the study with Seattle-based fishery scientist Greg Ruggerone.

Past research has linked pink abundance to declines in Bristol Bay sockeye, chinook salmon released in Puget Sound and even seabirds such as kittiwakes and puffins in Alaska.

“We are at a point when it makes sense to have a conversation about hatchery programs while conditions in the Pacific Ocean are fairly favourable, especially in the north,” Connors said. “If that changes we could suddenly have a whole lot of fish competing for even fewer resources.”

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Wildlife Artists:

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Gary Haggquist Visual Artist “Crossing” Acrylic on panel 12’’ X 24”

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Diane Michelin - Fly Fishing Fine Art: "Wading Deep" Original watercolor 11" x 15"

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Dan Wallace: Passion for Authenticity

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Leanne Hodges: West Coast Wild “Choices: A Personal Journey”

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Conservation-minded businesses – please support these fine businesses

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 Learn to fish: experienced, conservation-minded professional instructors View our six-panel, information brochure HERE

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 Rhett Weber’s Charterboat “Slammer” Reserve your 2015 Pacific Ocean fishing adventures on Slammer through Deep Sea Charters – Westport, Washington

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Fishmyster Sport Fishing Adventures

Contact us for up-to-date information by calling 250-724-4204 or 250-720-5118 or emailing fishmyster@shaw.ca.

Your Adventures Fishing BC Start Here!

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Owner and operator Ken Myers is committed to providing quality fishing charters for a wide variety of fishing thrills.

Excursions FISHING BC and the Vancouver Island area.

Ucluelet, Long Beach, Tofino, Barclay Sound and the surrounding area are located in heart of the Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island. This region is famous for its world class Sport Fishing and abundance of wildlife. Whales, Sea lions, Seals, Bears, Eagles and many other marine specific critters are sighted regularly during our Ucluelet fishing charters.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

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Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Dave and Kim Egdorf's Western Alaska Sport Fishing Booking Now Montana: (406) 665-3489 Alaska: (907) 842-5480

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Kingfish West Coast Adventure Tours

Trophy Salmon and Steelhead fishing on the Kitimat River with driftboat, riverraft or pontoonboat, we offer as well remote streamside wading. We are specialized in fly-fishing and conventional fishing techniques for silver chrome aggressive steelhead and salmon. We give our clients the opportunity to fish our headwaters, tributaries and mainstream Kitimat River. The lower section of the Kitimat River we target with the jet boat and is considered tidal and can offer phenomenal fishing for salmon as they migrate upriver.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Casa Mia Italian Restaurant

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Spirit Bear Coffee Company

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Hidden Paths - Slovenia

We guide on Slovenia’s rivers for Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Marble Trout, Grayling and Danubian Salmon.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 ProFishGuide: Coastal Fishing at its Best

I focus on Tillamook Bay and its surrounding areas because its known for huge Salmon and acrobatic Steelhead. All of the bait, tackle and rods are top quality so when you hook a trophy it won't be out of reach. All you need to bring is your fishing license, rain gear and camera. Lunches can be provided at extra cost and come highly recommended. Not only will I ensure a great trip, it is also highly educational and fun for the whole family.

I currently guide in Oregon & Alaska for Salmon & Steelhead. I also have experience guiding in Idaho for trout as well as teaching Fly fishing & Fly casting. My certifications include US Coast Guard Certified license, CPR/1st aide, I also hold an Oregon & Alaska guide license, and I am fully insured.

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

 Silversides Fishing Adventures

Legacy – May 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots