Legacy - August 2015

Legacy

…………………..

IIssssuuee 4466 | A Auugguusstt 22001155

eMagazine of Wild Game Fish Conservation International

 IIn nT Th hiiss IIssssu uee::  C Co on nsseerrvvaattiio on niisstt E Exxttrraao orrd diin naaiirree  F Faaw wn nS Sh haarrp p  S Seeaaffo oo od dC Co on nssu um mp pttiio on n  C Co om mm mu un niittyy A Accttiivviissm m  S Saallm mo on n aan nd dT Trro ou utt F Feeeed dllo ottss  E En neerrg gyy G Geen neerraattiio on n  W Wiilld dlliiffee A Arrttiissttss  ““F Fiissh hyy”” B Bu ussiin neesssseess  M Mo orree

Cover: Quinault River (Olympic Peninsula, Washington State) – August levels in June (Note engineered log jams).

Photo credit: Jim Wilcox

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

Forward The August 2015 issue of “Legacy” marks forty six 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. .

Doing so will increase the VICTORIES for wild game fish as reported in this issue of “Legacy” Please read then share “Legacy” with others who care deeply about the future of wild game fish and all that rely on them.

Sincerely,

Bruce Treichler James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International

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

Conservationist Extraordinaire – Walking the Talk

 Fawn Sharp

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

Opinion-Editorial:

 It's the right time for river protection July 5, 2015 Big-time mining could change the face of some of our most iconic Oregon rivers. Large mines have been proposed for years in the Rough and Ready Creek area and now a foreign mining corporation proposes test drilling for nickel in the beautiful headwater area of Baldface Creek in the North Fork Smith River, and in the North Fork Pistol River and Hunter Creek watersheds in the Rogue RiverSiskiyou National Forest.

Test drilling is the first step toward production that would include new roads, surface mines and slag heaps. The North Fork Smith is a gem: a big salmon and steelhead producer and the water supply for a number of northern California communities. A big nickel mine would be an unwelcomed game changer for everyone downstream.

Like any valuable asset, our rivers and streams must be protected.

Rivers are the lifeblood of our region. They provide our drinking water, abundant salmon and steelhead, whitewater rafting and a much-needed place for the family to gather for a cool hike or swim. Their value is never more evident than during this year’s record hot, dry summer.

But the value of rivers goes well beyond these common uses and extends into another dimension.

Time seems suspended along rivers. Our frantic world slows to the pace of water moving along the shoreline. Sitting in the shade of a large pine or cottonwood along a stream is like stepping back in time. Childlike, we toss pebbles into the water and once again find joy in simple things.

Curry County knows the long-term value of these rivers and, much to their credit, the county commissioners have formally objected to the mine plans.

Oregon’s political leaders in Washington, D.C., know the value of these rivers too. Sen. Ron Wyden has introduced S. 346, the Southwest Oregon Watershed and Salmon Protection Act of 2015. Rep. Peter DeFazio has a companion bill, H.R. 682, introduced in the House. Both bills would provide long-term protection from large mining projects through withdrawal of lands for new mining operations. Neither bill would affect valid existing rights.

The bills also provide long-overdue designations for regional rivers under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Sections of the Chetco River would be designated as wild, scenic or recreational under the act, providing protection from new mining claims and mineral leasing. These bills would ensure that the Chetco runs free and clear for all Oregonians to enjoy.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots These bills deserve our support and their authors deserve our thanks. But, getting these measures through Congress and signed by the president will take time.

Federal agencies have stepped in to fill the gap. On June 29, the Bureau of Land Management published a notice of withdrawal of BLM and national forest lands along these rivers from mineral entry for up to five years. There is a 90-day window to show our support for this measure to make sure we have protection while the legislation works through the maze on Capitol Hill.

Comments are needed in support of the withdrawal and can be sent to the BLM state office in Portland. It would be a shame to lose the long-term value of these rivers for short-term economic greed.

Water is a precious resource in the West. As a fisheries biologist and former federal land manager, I can cite volumes on the importance of local rivers to our livelihood. But you don’t need a graduate degree to realize the value of clean, free-flowing water. We all depend on these resources.

When was the last time you saw local elected officials, our congressional representatives and federal agencies all come together for a common purpose? It takes something of great value, like our rivers, to bring us all together. Now, it’s our turn. Let us speak for our rivers.

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

Fishing Photos and Funnies

 Another Dandy Chinook Salmon on Charterboat “Slammer” (Westport, Wa.) These prized salmon continue to be available for recreational fishing due to conservation-based, international fisheries management practices.

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

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

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

 “The Great Fish Swap”: How America is Downgrading Its Seafood Supply July 17, 2015 One-third of the seafood Americans catch is sold abroad, but most of the seafood we eat is imported and often of lower quality. Author Paul Greenberg explains why. Originally broadcast July 1, 2014.

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

ď ś Addicted to antibiotics, Chile's salmon flops at Costco, grocers July 23, 2015 SANTIAGO - Chile's salmon farmers are using record levels of antibiotics to treat a virulent and pervasive bacteria, driving away some U.S. retailers including Costco Wholesale Corp, which is turning to antibiotic-free Norwegian salmon.

The coastal waters of Chile, the world's second-largest producer of salmon, are awash with a bacteria known as SRS, or Piscirickettsiosis. The bacteria causes lesions and hemorrhaging in infected fish, and swells their kidneys and spleens, eventually killing them.

Unable to develop an effective vaccine, Chilean farmers have been forced to increase antibiotic use. In 2014, the industry produced around 895,000 tonnes of fish and used 563,200 kilograms (1.2 million pounds) of antibiotics, according to government and industry data.

Antibiotic use had risen 25 percent from 2013.

In contrast, Norway, the world's largest salmon producer, produced around 1.3 million tonnes of fish and used 972 kilos of antibiotics in 2013. (Figures for last year were not immediately available) Chilean officials say their salmon is safe and the antibiotics have been approved by U.S. food and drug regulators.

Still, amid growing concerns in the U.S. food industry that heavy use of antibiotics in animals can spawn drug-resistant superbugs and endanger human health, Costco told Reuters in April that it would reduce imports of Chilean salmon.

"The whole industry is starting to shift," said Jeff Lyons, who oversees fresh foods at Costco, the No. 3 U.S. retailer.

"If I was to ask you your biggest concern on produce, you might say pesticides. When we ask people in protein, generally it's going to be hormones or antibiotics."

Costco used to buy 90 percent of the 600,000 pounds of salmon fillet it needs per week from Chile, accounting for about 8.5 percent of Chilean salmon exports to the United States. Costco said it intends to buy 60 percent of its salmon from Norway, cutting Chilean imports to 40 percent.

A former executive at a Chilean salmon producer said Costco's move could hurt the local industry's reputation and spur other retailers to follow suit.

In recent years, U.S. grocery chains Whole Foods Market Inc and Trader Joe's have gradually phased out Chilean farm salmon in favor of antibiotic-free fish caught in the wild.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots "This is the beginning of a change in seafood," said Tobias Aguirre, the executive director of FishWise, a seafood consultancy that works with retailers such as Safeway and Target Corp. Target has also eliminated farmed salmon from its shelves.

"Other retailers will look at their lead and try to better understand why Costco made this move, and I think they will follow," Aguirre said.

CHILE VS NORWAY To be sure, not every salmon buyer is that worried about antibiotics. Chile exported $4.4 billion worth of salmon in 2014, up 24 percent from the previous year, according to industry group SalmonChile.

For some buyers, costs are paramount. Brazil's biggest retailer, GPA SA, which buys some 3.6 million kilograms of Chilean salmon per year, said demand for antibiotic-free fish in the South American giant is small, and the high cost of importing from Norway is a deterrent.

"The greatest demand in the Brazilian market is for fresh salmon, purchased, for now, from Chile mainly due to logistics," GPA said in an email.

Chilean salmon producers said there is no reason for consumers to worry. Farmers do not administer antibiotics for months before harvesting the fish, so any traces of the drugs that remain in the salmon when it reaches consumers are within tolerance levels, they said.

"The final product consumers eat has no antibiotics," said Ricardo Garcia, chief executive of salmon producer Camanchaca , which reported nearly $500 million in sales last year.

"This is only something given to sick fish so they don't die. It's not something preventive," he said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a statement that inspections of Chilean salmon have not found unapproved drug residues this fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, and "any article of food that appears to be adulterated or misbranded at importation is refused admission" into the country.

GOVERNMENT RECOGNIZES PROBLEM In recent months, the U.S. food industry has taken an increasingly tough stance against antibiotics due to concerns that overuse may diminish their effectiveness in fighting disease in humans. WalMart Stores Inc, for instance, is pressing meat, seafood, dairy and egg suppliers to reduce their use of antibiotics.

Speaking in general terms, the FDA said it has "concerns about the improper use of medically important antibiotics in food products derived from animals, as this practice is one factor that can contribute to antimicrobial resistance in humans."

Antibiotic-resistant strains of the SRS bacteria have emerged in Chile's salmon farms, according to a November 2014 study on the government's National Fisheries website.

"The bacteria will respond for a few years to the antibiotics treatment but afterward will become stronger and resistant," said Alex Munoz, vice president for South America at the Oceana environmental group in Chile.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Salmon producers in Chile say they are aware they should reduce their dependence on antibiotics, but they do not expect a significant change since efforts to find an SRS vaccine have so far been unsuccessful.

In Norway, intensive research has produced vaccines against most bacterial infections found in salmon farms.

"We're faced with a reality in Chile, unlike Norway, where we haven't developed vaccines for the Chilean market, leading us to often correct things with the use of antibiotics," said Gerardo Balbontin, chief executive of Blumar, which exports a tenth of its salmon production to Costco.

The government acknowledges it has a problem on its hands.

"The use of antibiotics is an issue for us," said Eugenio Zamorano, head of Chile's aquaculture department. "All companies (in Chile) use antibiotics to a lesser or greater extent."

As well as working towards finding a vaccine, Zamorano said "genetic improvements" in salmon could be part of the solution. (Additional reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo, Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Brad Haynes in Sao Paulo; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Tiffany Wu)

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

 Petition: TELL COSTCO TO REJECT GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SALMON Kroger and Safeway--the #1 and #2 U.S. conventional grocery chains--have joined other major retailers like Target, Meijer, Aldi, Giant Eagle, Whole Foods and many others in protecting consumers, wild salmon, and the environment by rejecting GE salmon, but Costco--one of the largest retailers of salmon and seafood in the U.S.--is one of the last large retailers that hasn’t made a commitment not to sell GE salmon.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Sign the petition urging Costco to join its competitors and commit to keeping GE salmon off its shelves: Dear Mr. Jelinek, CEO, Costco: As you may be aware, the US Food and Drug Administration is considering approval of the genetically engineered (GE) salmon, which would be the first GE animal ever approved for human consumption. Polls show the overwhelming majority of consumers don’t want to eat GE salmon. Nearly 2 million people -- including scientists, fishermen, business owners, and consumers -- have written to the FDA in opposition to the approval of GE salmon.

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

The FDA is reviewing GE salmon for commercial production, and if the agency approves this risky fish it has indicated it would not likely require GE salmon to be labeled. That’s why CFS joined with Friends of the Earth, Food & Water Watch, Consumers Union and many others to urge supermarkets, seafood companies and restaurants to reject these fish if they come to market. We’ve had several victories so far, and with your help we can urge even more companies to avoid GE salmon.

Join us in telling the CEO of Costco to keep GE salmon off our plates! *By signing the petition, you will be automatically signed up to receive free updates from Center for Food Safety. We respect your privacy and will not share, sell, rent or trade your information. You can unsubscribe at the bottom of any email you receive from us.

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

 Enjoy seasonal wild salmon dinners at these fine restaurants:

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

 Farmed Salmon Boycott – COSTCO - Abbottsford, BC – July 29

Eddie Gardner: The last time we held a rally at Costco, they called the police. Only Costco does this, all the other big box stores cooperate with us as we are peaceful and respectful of people and property. The police did come and told us we could not conduct rallies in front of Costco as it was private property and they don't allow protests or rallies of any kind. We were told we are allowed to hold our rally on the property next door. So folks, we will be back in full force with bigger signs, bigger banners and louder voices. We will continue to sing the sacred songs to capture the attention of customers! We will never give up!

Claudette Bethune, clinical scientist, has this message for the people: "fish is safe", we lose understanding the emerging knowledge on the risk from contaminants that accumulate preferentially in farmed salmon. Reading on the consequence of high PCB exposure, which accumulates very high in farmed salmon from feeds compared to farmed land animals and wild seafood: "The epidemiological data showed an association between diabetes mellitus prevalence and elevated concentrations of PCB 153. Additionally, prenatal PCB exposure studies were associated with a smaller thymic index at birth and could adversely affect immune responses to childhood vaccinations and resistance to respiratory infections. PCB exposure was also reported to adversely affect enamel development in children in a dose-dependent manner. Because PCBs and their metabolites are potential health hazards, understanding the risk factors associated with individual PCBs, PCB mixtures, and PCB metabolites is important. PCB exposures of vulnerable populations (pregnant women, fetuses, infants, and children) are of particular concern because of heightened sensitivity during this period of brain development. © The Author(s) 2015. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26056131 Polychlorinated biphenyls: New evidence from the last decade. - PubMed - NCB1 So folks, it is more important than ever before that we educate the public about the health risks of eating farmed salmon loaded with dioxins that are harmful to human health, especially for pregnant women children.

Let's take it to them people! See you on Wednesday, July 29, 2015! Bring your love for wild salmon!

Your voice counts!

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

 Boycott Superstore and others selling ocean-based feedlot salmon

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

 Ta'kaiya Blaney at Wild Salmon Caravan, 2015 Submitted by Chris Gadsden

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

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

 Activists Stage “Die In” In Protest Of Oil Trains At Safeco Field July 11, 2015 As the gates to Safeco Field opened for the Mariners vs. Angels game, thousands of fans streamed past a rally held near Century Link Field in protest of oil trains that pass the stadiums on a daily basis. Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant spoke at the rally and joined the demonstration as they marched from Century Link to Safeco in a silent procession holding photos and names of the 47 people who died in Lac-Mégantic Quebec during an oil train explosion in 2013.

Safeco Field and Century Link Field both sit within 200 yards of a rail line that sees several trains pulling the same Baaken Crude that exploded in Lac-Mégantic. The same rails carry Baaken laden trains through a tunnel that sit directly beneath downtown Seattle, including the King County Administration Building, Benaroya Hall, and Pike Place Market, not to mention several hotels and businesses and the thousands of people downtown at any given moment.

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

Climate Change

Dead sockeyes collected at Bonneville Dam in mid-July, 2015.

 Sockeye salmon suffer infections in warm Columbia River system July 17, 2015

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots FISHING -- "Catastrophic" is a word that's being used as scientists begin to unravel the mystery of why at least 200,000 sockeye that moved over Bonneville Dam have not made it to McNary Dam fish ladders in this summer's huge salmon runs.

The sockeye woes may explain why dozens if not hundreds of 5- to 12foot-long decades old sturgeon stuffed with sockeye are going belly up in the Columbia between the Tri-Cities and The Dalles.

The Columbia system is plagued with high temperatures and low flows. This is bad news for native fish that need cool water.

Fish managers have enacted fishing restrictions in some areas, but otherwise there isn't a lot they can do about Mother Nature.

The photos above are of sockeye sampled last week at Bonneville Dam by state and federal scientists. The first dead sockeyes were noticed at the dam around June 8. This week, the fish scientists were finding dead fish, both shad and sockeye, in the Bonneville Dam fish ladder.

At the Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery, sockeye in rough shape were hanging out near the facility.

But the words scientists use to describe what's going on are freakier than the photos.

A Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist said this in an email to colleagues: We have very bad news from the lower Columbia. These pictures are just a little piece of the story.

The run is stalled, and the carnage is ugly, with conversion rates from Bonneville to Ice Harbor (for Snake River fish) 2-5%. Temperatures in the John Day reservoir approach 24 degrees, so nothing’s getting through without suffering. Looks like we’re going to lose the last 1/3rd to ½ of the run.

Fish that have passed the Snake are still moving upstream, but can’t get to into the tributaries. The fish that have entered the Wenatchee aren’t passing Tumwater Dam to continue on to Lake Wenatchee, and there’s no cold-water refugia below the dam unless they retreat downstream about 15 km to Peshastin Creek, which is a great steelhead stream but has no holding water for thousands of sockeye. Besides that, the flows are about half normal discharge, the snow’s all melted out of the cold-water source for Peshastin Creek, and they’re diverting water for irrigation, so it’s bound to heat up. For fish that passed Tumwater early, many have piled into a small tributary called Chiwaukum Creek, but it’s about the same size as Peshastin.

The Okanagan fish can’t leave Wells with the US Okanogan at 28 degrees C, and the reservoir is nearly 18 degrees C already. The rate of diseased and injured fish observed in the count windows at Wells seems to increase every day—lots of lamprey scars and descale, and we’re starting to see fungus and bacterial lesions. I don’t think the estuary provides hospitable holding, with lamprey and pinnipeds; so, I’m not sure we can count on a fall resurgence of migrants.

A British Columbia scientist commenting on this email thread among scientists wrote this: Catastrophic losses of this year’s exceptional returns of adult Sockeye Salmon have begun to occur in the Columbia River given the unprecedented severity of super-optimal temperatures and low flows encountered along their freshwater migration corridor....

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots It’s probably fair to surmise that we may lose the majority of the nearly 350,000 wild adult Sockeye destined for Canadian portions of the Okanagan if Wells Pool, where they are currently holding, warms to temperatures much greater than 18 degrees Celsius for an appreciable length of time. Regrettably, this is highly likely to occur as temperatures are currently at 17.5 degrees and increasing while the Okanagan River is well in excess of the upper thermal lethal temperature of 25 degrees.

As noted in an earlier bulletin, we are also maintaining a Somass Salmon and Climate Watch given poor environmental conditions for either migration in the Somass River or for holding at the head end of Alberni Inlet. Although some fish managed to access their lakes of origin at Great Central and Sproat in the past few days, conditions are still marginal for passage and stored water released from behind the Great Central Lake Dam to supplement flows to ease passage under high temperature conditions has now been exhausted just as we head into what is on average the driest weeks of the summer-fall interval.

It may be advisable for DFO communications to identify “talking points” and “spokespersons” very soon to get out in front of events that will likely generate intense media interest. I’ve worked on BC salmon populations for more than 40 years and cannot remember anything comparable to what were currently seeing unfold on the coast !

A fresh sockeye collected at Bonneville Dam in mid-July, 2015, shows body lesions.

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

Salmon and trout feedlots

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

 Stephanie Peacock’s epic rap: “The Fresh Fish of the Broughton” Communicates Impacts of Lice from Salmon Feedlots on Wild Salmon

Alexandra Morton: “Brilliant young scientist finds new way to communicate the problem with sea lice from salmon farms!”

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

 Fishermen Offered $20,000 Compensation for Proposed Salmon Farms Aquaculture and shrimp-by-trawl fishery can coexist, says Grieg Seafood spokesman.

July 10, 2015

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots A salmon farming company is offering 10 British Columbian fishermen $20,000 each in compensation for its plan to expand operations onto wild shrimp harvesting grounds located off the B.C. mainland, a short sail south from the Vancouver Island fishing town of Port Hardy.

In a June 16 letter from Grieg Seafood BC to the Shrimp by Trawl Caucus, the company offers to pay the cash in "compensation," in addition to a $60,000 lump sum to the caucus, an organization made up of fishermen, processors and buyers.

The offer came shortly after a June private meeting between the shrimp fishermen and Grieg concerning the two salmon farms, which are proposed within two square kilometres of an existing Grieg farm in the Clio Channel in the Broughton Archipelago. Grieg is a subsidiary of a Norwegian aquaculture company.

The fishermen are opposed to the farms because the two proposed sites occupy some of the best harvesting grounds in the region for wild side-stripe and pink shrimp, which are caught by bottom trawling along a soft-bottomed, underwater prairie unique to the upper reaches of the Channel. It's also an important harvesting area for spot prawns, an increasingly lucrative "foodie" commodity in B.C. and beyond that are sustainably caught in traps.

Lorne Clayton, chair of the caucus, says none of the 10 fishermen to his knowledge has accepted the written offer. He has personally rejected the $60,000, which Grieg intended to help fund new LED lighting technology to minimize the unintended landing of by-catch by the trawlers. The fishermen fear that the two new farms in the area, including underwater infrastructure, will limit access to the rich wild shrimp harvesting grounds and ultimately slash their bottom line.

"The overall issue at stake here is taking the income away from individual fishermen and their families, and replacing that with an opportunity for a multinational company," Clayton says.

Stewart Hawthorn, Grieg Seafood's BC managing director, says the choice of new sites was dictated in part by the existence of two pre-existing, unused shellfish farm licenses that the company holds and is now applying to convert into salmon farms. The acceptance of the locations by a local first nation was another factor.

When it comes to approving the two new farms, the final analysis should boil down to economics, Hawthorn says. The entire wholesale value of the shrimp-by-trawl fishery, including outside the channel, is about $1 million a year, while Grieg's annual landings from their single farm at Bennett Point is around $10 million. "Clearly our economic benefits are much greater," he says.

Approval process ongoing The company's offer comes in the midst of a regulatory process: for the two farms to proceed, Fisheries and Oceans Canada must sign off on the aquaculture licenses, Transport Canada must weigh the marine traffic implications, and the provincial government must approve the tenures as it owns the seabed. Fisheries and Oceans Canada refused to comment about Grieg/fisherman discussions that are "internal to those parties," and the province did not respond to calls.

Karen Wristen, executive director at Living Oceans Society, says the approval process for the two farms has been confusing from the beginning.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Grieg is attempting to convert unused shell farm licenses into salmon farms that would hold half a million fish at each site, contained in large net cages anchored to the seabed. (For a visual, that's the same collective biomass as nearly 1,000 adult elephants on land).

Clio Channel is home to at least three commercially-targeted wild shrimp species, inter-tidal clam beds, herring, and wild pink, chum and coho salmon. Living Oceans Society claims that Grieg provided no inventory of local streams that may be salmon-bearing with its initial application submissions for the new farms.

That's important, Wristen says, because stocking a million denselypacked farmed Atlantic salmon into this small area has the potential to draw together large concentrations of sea lice that in turn can infect and kill young wild salmon present outside the farms. "We know this channel is certainly used by wild salmon, because it's a popular sport fishing area," she says.

Watershed Watch Salmon Society's Stan Proboszcz, a biologist who has done field work in Clio Channel, says additional impacts could come from emamectin benzoate, the active ingredient in a product called Slice -- a neurotoxin discharged into marine waters to control sea lice parasites on farmed fish. Sea lice and shrimp are crustaceans alike, so the impacts of introducing Slice in close proximity to commercially-harvested wild shrimp and prawns are not yet clear.

Hawthorn confirmed that Slice will be used at the two new farms if necessary, but says there is no evidence that sea lice from such operations pose any risk to wild salmon. He says his company has provided detailed information on wild salmon present in the area (including natal streams), but confirmation of this was not possible because the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations webpage that houses the Grieg applications was down as of this writing.

100% Bovine Excrement

The timing of a regulatory decision for the two farms is uncertain, but it seems many more are on the way. Last year the BC Salmon Farmers Association announced plans to expand its operations off the B.C. coast by over 40 per cent by 2020. There are currently at least six new salmon farm tenure/license applications and five additional applications for tenure/license expansions in various stages of the regulatory approval process. In the last week, two more applications have appeared for an area north of Klemtu.

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

Map of the status of BC salmon farms by Living Oceans Society.

Murray Tanner, who has been fishing salmon since he was eight and shrimp for nearly 30 years (he's 65 this year), says Grieg's existing Bennett Point fish farm has already had an impact on his shrimp fishery. Anchoring lines from the farm radiate out in every direction for "a few hundred yards" in the narrow channel, he says, making the task of accessing the shrimp with trawl gear, which scours the ocean bottom, impossible in the area.

Tanner says that three farms in Clio Channel will not only take away valuable shrimp ground for the fishermen, but will impact the bottom line of their Nanaimo-based processor, which employs staff to peel and process their shrimp. He says he turned down the compensation.

Grieg has worked hard to accommodate the fishermen, says Hawthorn, including shortening the anchors which interfere with their trawling gear, providing info about where the anchors are, and offering cash compensation. "We believe strongly that both our aquaculture fishery and the shrimpby-trawl fishery can coexist side by side," he says.

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

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

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

A long train of oil cars, marked with the 1267 stickers indicating highly flammable oil, passes southward, parallel with Cedar Avenue at 1st street in Marysville earlier this month

 Crude oil moratorium in effect in Aberdeen

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots A moratorium on the storage of crude oil is in effect in Aberdeen after the City Council, in its Wednesday night meeting, passed the measure on a 9-2 vote.

The moratorium was in its second of three readings when Ward 3 Councilman Tim Alstrom moved to consider the second reading the final reading and pass it immediately. The two “no” votes came from Ward 4 Councilwoman Kathi Hoder and Pete Schave, Ward 5 councilman and council president.

Ward 6 Councilman Denny Lawrence was absent.

The moratorium’s passing came after two amendments, first from Councilwoman Alice Phelps, who moved to specify that the moratorium is specifically aimed at crude oil. The proposed change came at the request of Port of Grays Harbor officials, who had expressed concern since the moratorium’s inception that broad language could limit expansion of businesses not in the crude-oil industry.

“I believe, since the Port’s been here and talked to us about businesses and how it might offend somebody, I think that we should change the wording from what we’ve got written, and just put ‘crude oil,’ because that’s what we’re mainly concerned about anyway,” she said.

Ward 5 Councilman Alan Richrod also moved to strike the word “Bakken” from the language (a reference to a region from which much of the crude oil traveling by rail originates) and change the moratorium’s public hearing date from July 22 to Aug. 26. Both Phelps’ and Richrod’s changes were implemented before the moratorium passed.

The council has been discussing the moratorium for more than two months. Some council members Wednesday night questioned the necessity of the moratorium. Kayla Dunlap, the Port’s public affairs manager, told the council during the meeting’s public comment period that the moratorium was superfluous.

“There’s actually only two industrial properties in the city that could be potential sites for the facilities that you’re wanting to prohibit at this time,” she said, pointing to the Port’s Terminal 4 and the former site of the state Route 520 bridge pontoon construction project.

Hoder later asked the council how productive the moratorium would actually be. “I don’t’ see why we have to have this moratorium at all to be honest with you,” she said. “We have nothing coming forward at this time.”

Schave also expressed a similar sentiment, adding that hazardous substances have “been coming into this community for 100 years.”

Alstrom explained the moratorium was a legal measure to prevent the filing of applications for such facilities.

At its Aug. 26 public hearing, the council will decide to continue the moratorium or repeal it.

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

 Nexen Pipeline Spills 5 Million Litres Of Emulsion Near Fort McMurray CALGARY - A pipeline at Nexen's Long Lake oilsands project in northeastern Alberta has failed, spilling an estimated five million litres of bitumen, produced water and sand.

The company, which was taken over by China's CNOOC Ltd. in 2013, said the affected area is about 16,000 square metres, mostly along the pipeline's route.

The company and the Alberta Energy Regulator say it's too soon to say what might have caused the leak AER spokesman Peter Murchland said it's been contained.

"They've effectively stopped the source of the release, so that's good news," he said.

Nexen said the spill was discovered Wednesday afternoon.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots The company is investigating how long the pipeline was leaking before it was shut off, spokesman Kyle Glennie said in an email.

A portion of the Long Lake operations has been shut down, but Nexen did not disclose production figures.

So far, there has been no reported harm to the public or wildlife. The regulator is requiring Nexen to implement a wildlife protection plan in the area.

The emulsion has not flowed into a body of water, but it did spill into muskeg, the AER said.

Editorial Comment: 

Closing the barn door after the horses have escaped



Muskeg is swampy / watery – does not tolerate oil spills

Officials with the regulator are on site to assess the situation, start investigating and ensure Nexen meets safety and environmental requirements during the cleanup.

"As provincial premiers talk about ways to streamline the approval process for new tar sands pipelines, we have a stark reminder of how dangerous they can be," Greenpeace said in a news release about the latest spill.

"This leak is also a good reminder that Alberta has a long way to go to address its pipeline problems and that communities have good reasons to fear having more built."

Canada's premiers are meeting in St. John's, N.L., and one topic of discussion is a national energy strategy.

Long Lake, about 35 kilometres southeast of Fort McMurray, uses steam to heat oilsands bitumen deep underground, enabling it to flow to the surface.

The Nexen spill is one of the bigger ones in recent years.

In March, the AER investigated a spill of about 2.7 million litres of condensate at Murphy Oil's Seal oilfield in northwestern Alberta. Condensate is used to dilute heavy oil so it can flow through pipelines.

In 2011, about 4.5 million litres of oil leaked from a Plains Midstream pipeline into marshlands near the northern Alberta community of Little Buffalo. A year later, about half a million litres of oil spilled from another Plains pipeline in central Alberta

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

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

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

 BP to Pay $18.7 Billion for Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill July 2, 2015 NEW ORLEANS — An $18.7 billion settlement announced Thursday of all federal, state and local claims against the oil giant BP arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill would be the largest environmental settlement — and the largest civil settlement with any single entity — in the nation’s history, officials said Thursday.

The settlement, if approved by a federal judge, could bring to a close the largest unresolved legal dispute arising from the April 2010 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which left 11 dead and spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

The deal would include, in addition to the federal government, the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, as well as more than 400 local government entities along the coast, which had argued that the spill had ruined tourist seasons, crippled the seafood industry and dried up sales tax revenue.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Under the agreement, BP would pay the federal government a civil penalty of $5.5 billion under the Clean Water Act over a 15-year time frame, and would pay $7.1 billion under the Natural Resource Damage Assessment to the gulf, which is meant to compensate for direct environmental harm caused by the spill.

Why BP Is Paying $18.7 Billion Background on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the largest environmental settlement in American history.

A further $5 billion of the settlement — in addition to $1 billion for local government claims — would arise from economic damage claims made by the states. But those claims are only a part of what the states would be getting.

The settlement still must be approved by United States District Court Judge Carl J. Barbier in New Orleans, who oversaw a tremendously complex two-year civil trial concerning the spill.

BP already agreed, in 2012, to pay $4 billion in criminal fines. And claims from shareholders or individuals are not affected.

In announcing the federal government’s part of the deal in Washington, Loretta E. Lynch, the attorney general, said that the recent round of negotiations, over several weeks, had produced an agreement in principle that would “justly and comprehensively address outstanding federal and state claims” and “bring lasting benefits to the Gulf region for generations to come.”

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Robert W. Dudley, BP’s group chief executive, called the agreement “a realistic outcome which provides clarity and certainty for all parties.”

In separate news conferences across the gulf, governors and attorneys general highlighted the portions of the settlement that their states were likely to receive. They vary from state to state, with Texas estimating a final total of about $800 million, and Louisiana, which was most heavily damaged by the spill, projecting more than $6.8 billion.

WHERE THE MONEY HAS GONE BP has spent billions to settle claims and cover costs in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Among the payments are: 

$14 billion to contain and clean up the spill.



$5.4 billion to settle 60,800 claims to date with individuals and business affected by the spill.



$4 billion for criminal penalties and fines, including payments to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.



$525 million to settle civil charges with the S.E.C. that it misled investors about the flow rate of oil from the well during the spill.



$236 million to revitalize tourism in Gulf Coast states.

In 2012, Congress passed the Restore Act, which redirects 80 percent of Clean Water Act penalties — previously deposited into the federal Treasury — to the affected states. With this money and the natural resources damage payments, which also go to the gulf, the settlement is a windfall for the states, even if it is paid out piecemeal.

Negotiators tried without success in the past to reach a settlement, though they came close more than once. One failed round of negotiations, on the eve of the trial in 2013, would have produced a total amount not much less than what was announced on Tuesday, said David M. Uhlmann, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School and a former federal prosecutor of environmental crimes. But the exact mix of money within that deal was different; for instance, state and local economic damages were not a part of it.

“The problem then was that Louisiana and to a lesser extent Alabama had unrealistic expectations for how much they should receive,” he said, adding that in the years since “the states became much more realistic.”

The findings at trial put pressure on BP, as did the downturn in global oil prices. But the oil price drop also brought pressure on Louisiana, which, like Alabama, had been already facing severe budget crunches.

Garret Graves, a member of Congress from Louisiana who served as the state’s top coastal restoration official and represented the state in prior negotiations with BP, said he could not comment in detail on the negotiations. But he insisted that much had changed since the initial talks.

“Some of the earlier discussions with BP reminded me of the circuslike, disconnected response to the spill itself,” he said. The intervening years brought “significant changes within BP’s command and control,” allowing for the new agreement.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots With this deal, BP gets valuable certainty, especially as it does not include any clause that could reopen litigation. The extended payment schedule also allows it to absorb the pain in manageable doses.

And because they will receive billions in economic damage claims, money coming through the Restore Act and the natural resources damages process — far more than they would have obtained in litigation — the states, Professor Uhlmann said, “made out like bandits.”

Environmental groups had a mixed reaction to the announcement, with some welcoming it as overdue, others condemning it as too little and still others expressing a cautious optimism.

Bethany Kraft, director of the Gulf Restoration Program at the Ocean Conservancy, welcomed news of the settlement, but emphasized that this was only the beginning of the work. She highlighted $232 million set aside under the settlement that, combined with interest from other payments, is meant to address any natural resources damages that are discovered after the settlement is in effect. Such money she described as critical but possibly insufficient, as some environmental damage from the spill may not be understood for decades.

Much of the settlement money in Louisiana will go to environmental protection and restoration along the state’s ravaged and rapidly disappearing coast. The state has spent years developing a master plan for addressing environmental damage and the wetlands loss that long preceded the BP spill.

The $50 billion plan, with some projects already underway or completed, calls for extensive levee construction and for beefing up barrier islands and restoring portions of the state’s vanishing wetlands in order to provide a greater degree of natural protection from hurricanes.

This proposed agreement would end federal and state involvement in a three-phase trial that began more than two years ago in one of the most complex and closely watched civil cases in United States history. Over the course of the trial, which took place in New Orleans, the Justice Department argued that the company should pay the maximum federal penalty of $13.7 billion, or $4,300 for every barrel spilled, under the Clean Water Act in cases of gross negligence.

On Thursday, BP set the ultimate cost associated with the spill at nearly $54 billion, though there are still some unknowable expenses to come. While the settlement clears away most of the liability exposure that BP faces, it does not eliminate some shareholder claims or private claims from thousands of individuals and businesses whose efforts in court will continue. BP has settled hundreds of thousands of such claims since the spill.

Testimony in the two-year civil trial ended in February, and on Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of Judge Barbier’s liability determination of BP and Anadarko, the co-owners of the Deepwater Horizon well.

And the settlement, as some pointed out, is not yet set in stone.

“I knew nothing about it,” said Tony Kennon, the mayor of Orange Beach, Ala., a tourist town that was devastated during the summer of the spill, and which has sued BP for $50 million. Mr. Kennon insisted that the lawsuit was not over as far his town was concerned and that he now expected to seek more in damages.

However, he also expected a nice Fourth of July weekend.

“If the weather’s pretty,” he said, “we will break all records.”

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

Hydropower / Water Retention

 $700 million plan to help salmon habitat faces new challenge June 21, 2015 PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — For more than a decade, the federal government spent $700 million on habitat improvements in the Columbia River Basin.

Experts say it’s likely the largest, most intensive, and most expensive habitat restoration program in the nation. It’s the centerpiece in a federal management plan to relieve the damage that dams cause to salmon and steelhead.

The plan has been litigated in court for two decades; its latest version has also been challenged, with a hearing scheduled Tuesday.

Critics say relying heavily on habitat improvements is not enough to restore wild fish runs. Some advocate breaching dams. Others say spilling more water would help fish.

Officials say (post dam) record salmon runs show habitat restoration is helping. But scientists say sometimes restoring habitat doesn’t work as well as it should.

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

 Permits to Start Construction on Site C Dam Issued Despite Pending Lawsuits July 8, 2015 Authorizations allowing construction to begin immediately on the Site C dam on the Peace River in northeastern B.C. were issued on Tuesday by B.C.’s Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations — despite a pending legal challenge by the Treaty 8 First Nations.

This Saturday, hundreds of people in canoes and kayaks will paddle down the Peace River to protest the imminent construction of the dam and flooding of the river.

The $8.8 billion Site C dam — the most expensive public project in B.C. history — was approved by the B.C. government in December. If built, the dam will flood more than 100 kilometres of the Peace River and its tributaries, drowning agricultural land that experts say could produce fruit and vegetables for one million people.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Since the government’s decision to move forward with the project, expert voices have come out of the woodwork to speak out against the project.

Last week, the Greater Vancouver Regional District Board, representing 23 local governments and 2.5 million people, voted to ask Premier Christy Clark for a two-year moratorium on Site C. The board joins more than 30 other B.C. municipalities calling for a moratorium on the project.

“This permitting decision shows the provincial government’s disdain for B.C. ratepayers,” said Rob Botterell, general counsel to the Peace Valley Landowner Association. “BC Hydro’s own analysis shows that a two-year delay will save B.C. ratepayers about $200 million. Who benefits from the urgency to construct Site C? Certainly not those of us paying the tab.”

Dam Construction Will 'Indefinitely Scar' B.C.'s Relationship with First Nations The First Nations Leadership Council recently said moving forward with the dam before the Treaty 8 legal challenge has been heard on July 20th will “indefinitely scar” B.C.’s relationship with First Nations.

This spring, energy economist Robert McCullough said that BC Hydro has dramatically underestimated the cost of producing power from Site C and that far cheaper energy alternatives are available.

Harry Swain, chair of the panel that examined Site C for the federal and provincial governments, has called the failure of the B.C. government to investigate alternatives to the dam a “dereliction of duty.” His criticism of the B.C. government's actions was called “unprecedented” by environmental law experts.

The cost of renewable alternatives have plummeted in cost in recent years and Site C’s business case assumptions are two to five years out of date. The Canadian Geothermal Energy Association says geothermal can meet all of B.C.'s future energy needs at a lower cost than Site C with fewer environmental impacts.

Despite growing opposition from experts, BC Hydro released polling on Tuesday indicating that support for the dam has increased amongst British Columbians.

The Abacus Data poll shows 59 per cent of those polled support building the Site C dam, while 22 per cent support the dam under certain circumstances. Seventeen per cent are opposed. Provincewide awareness of the Site C dam has increased significantly: 75 per cent of British Columbians surveyed are aware of Site C now, compared to 41 per cent in 2013.

The B.C. government says Site C will provide approximately 10,000 direct jobs during construction and will generate enough electricity to power about 450,000 homes per year.

However, the panel that reviewed BC Hydro’s application to build the dam found demand for the power had not been proven on the timeline provided and called for an independent review of costs by the B.C. Utilities Commission — a call the B.C. government has ignored.

Early indications are that some of Site C’s power will be used to power natural gas operations in northeast B.C. For at least the first four years demand for the power will be insufficient so a portion will be exported at a projected loss of $800 million.

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

A drone photo of Banks Island Gold’s Yellow Giant mine site with Banks Creek in the background.

Salmon are currently migrating through the creek

 Victoria

shuts down Yellow Giant gold mine in northwestern B.C. over pollution spills Gitxaala First Nation plans legal action against small operation, but environment ministry says risk to animals, humans minimal July 26, 2015

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots The province has shut down the small Yellow Giant underground gold mine on Banks Island in northwest B.C. for spilling pollution on land and into creeks, lakes, and a wetland.

The B.C. environment ministry said the discharge reached the ocean through a creek, several beaver-dam-created wetlands and Banks Lake before entering the ocean at Surrey Bay, but it is not believed it will harm humans or animals.

The Yellow Giant incident is the latest of several mine waste spills — although much smaller in magnitude — since the catastrophic dam failure at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley gold and copper mine in August 2014. There have been small spills at the Myra Falls and Copper Mountain mines in the past year.

First Nations and conservationists are concerned about the effect of this latest spill on animals and aquatic life, including salmon, at the island located about 100 kilometres south of Prince Rupert.

Pacific Wild executive director Ian McAllister, who lives in the area, visited the island on Sunday to get a first-hand look. Although he was blocked from the mine site by company personnel, a drone flight he carried out showed migrating salmon splashing in Banks Creek on their way to Banks Lake.

There were also salmon jumping in the ocean at the mouth of the river, six to nine metres wide, he said, noting the area is rich in biodiversity, home to herring, a unique population of sandhill cranes and genetically distinct wolves.

“Whatever discharged into the system has gone into what appears to be a very productive salmon river,” McAllister said in a phone interview.

Gitxaala First Nation chief Clarence Innis said they will be launching legal action against Banks Island Gold and the province to ensure environmental damage caused by the spill is cleaned up.

The area is an important salmon area for the Gitxaala, as well as for other foods such as seaweed gathering, he said. “B.C. has to stop letting this industry essentially self-regulate themselves and start holding them accountable,” Innis said Sunday, adding they plan to carry out their own assessment of the spill.

Toxicity testing by a third-party laboratory on undiluted tailings effluent showed 100 per cent survival for rainbow trout and Daphnia magna (sometimes called a water flea), according to the environment ministry.

“Based on the toxicity test results, the distance to the ocean, the tendency for suspended sediments to settle out in wetlands, and dilution capacity of Surrey Bay, there is no reason to believe that there would be any risk to humans or animals,” ministry spokesman David Karn said in a written statement.

The environment ministry has ordered the company to clean up the spill, monitor its effects and come up with a long-term plan to ensure it does not happen again.

The Yellow Giant mine, owned by Vancouver-based Banks Island Gold, went into commercial production in January.

On July 15, the Ministry of Energy of Mines issued a shutdown order to the mine that did not become public until late last week.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “(The mine) is shut down until an updated water management plan (including all water sources from exploration sites), tailings management plan, and erosion and sediment control plans are provided and accepted by the chief inspector of mines,” mines spokesman Dan Gilmore said in a written statement Sunday.

That shutdown order followed a July 10 order from the environment ministry for Yellow Giant to stop releasing pollution into the environment.

The province said the company had “unauthorized” discharges of effluent in March and also effluent and tailings discharges in June and again in July. Tailings are the finely ground rock remaining after processing that contain potentially toxic metals.

Effluent and mine waste leaked from a pair of underground mine sites, including from a “nonengineered” containment berm and a concrete plug at an old underground site, according to the environment ministry’s July 10 pollution abatement order.

At one site, estimates from the company peg the spilled water containing tailings slurry at 240 cubic metres. That is much smaller than the 24 million cubic metres of water and tailings that was released in the Mount Polley spill. There is no estimate for the spill at the second Yellow Giant site.

The ministry of environment says the tailings spill has raised levels of suspended solids in the water, with a corresponding increase of concentrations of various metals, including arsenic, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, and zinc.

The discharge occurred approximately one kilometre from the ocean.

Banks Island Gold company officials could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

In a news release released last Friday, the company said it is in ongoing discussions with provincial officials and will continue limited activities on-site in the next few days as it works with the regulatory authorities to ensure that operations can continue uninterrupted on a go-forward basis.

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

Wild Game Fish Management Quinault Indian Nation (QIN) partnering to restore Quinault River “Bluebacks” by restoring Quinault River

Sockeye salmon - (Oncorhynchus nerka)

Fawn Sharp, President QIN

Bill Armstrong, QIN

Also called red salmon or blueback salmon, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Pacific Ocean. The same species when it occurs in landlocked bodies of water is called the kokanee. This species is the third most common type of Pacific salmon, after Pink and Chum.

Description A Sockeye Salmon can be as long as 33 inches (84 cm) and weigh 6 to 8 pounds (2.5 to 3.5 kilos). It has an elongated, torpedo shaped body, with an adipose fin, and a bluntly pointed snout. The gill rakers located just behind the head are long and closely spaced. Its colouration changes as it migrates from saltwater to freshwater in preparation for spawning.

In freshwater, its colour is bright red with a pale green head; females may have green and yellow marks or stains. Its colour in saltwater is bluish-green on top, silvery on the bottom, with uniform, shiny skin.

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

Melissa Erkel, a fish passage biologist, stands on top of a wide passageway for the north fork of Newaukum Creek under a road near Enumclaw. The wider bridge is designed to let fish pass naturally along the creek more easily than the round culverts that were previously in place at the crossing.

 State told to fix fish-blocking culverts — those pipes that run under roads July 5, 2015 SEATTLE — Washington state is under a federal court order to fix hundreds of barriers built under state roads and highways that block access for migrating salmon and thus interfere with Washington tribes’ treaty-backed right to catch fish.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots But it’s not clear how the state is going to come up with the estimated $2.4 billion it will take to correct more than 825 culverts — concrete pipes or steel structures that allow streams to flow under state roads and highways.

The state said it would need to fix an average of 30 to 40 culverts a year by 2030, spending $310 million every biennium, to comply with the 2013 court injunction.

The state has appealed the judge’s decision. But in the meantime, the Legislature last week approved millions to correct fish barriers statewide.

The 16-year transportation revenue bill includes $300 million for fish passage, dramatically more than in the past but far short of what the state estimates it needs.

The House still needs to pass two Senate-approved bills to complete the transportation package.

“I would like to have seen us put more money toward that,” said Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, ranking member of the House Transportation Committee.

“We do need to be working on this. I think it’s a good start, and I’m glad we’re doing it.”

Lawmakers have referred to this case as the other McCleary decision, which told the state to fix the way it pays for public schools.

“Ultimately, it’s something we’re going to have to address; it’s just a question of timeline for when we’re going to get done,” Orcutt said.

The injunction issued by federal judge Ricardo Martinez stems from the landmark 1974 Boldt decision, which affirmed the treaty rights of Northwest tribes to catch fish.

The judge said that fish-blocking culverts contribute to diminished fish runs.

“It is a treaty right. Tribes ceded the entire state of Washington to the federal government. In return, we asked that we have salmon forever,” said Brian Cladoosby, chairman of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.

He said he was disappointed with the state’s appeal and questioned how much money the state had spent in appealing the case that could have gone toward fixing the problem.

The Department of Transportation, which is responsible for correcting the largest number of culverts under the court order, has been working on fish passage for a number of decades, said Paul Wagner, the agency’s biology branch manager.

This year, the agency plans 13 fish passage projects across the state. It also completed 13 such projects in each of the past two years.

But he acknowledged that significantly more money will be needed to meet the terms of the injunction.

Culverts can be a problem for fish in several ways.

Stream flows running through a small pipe can be too fast, making it harder for fish to swim upstream to spawn or downstream to reach the ocean.

Perched culverts also can be too elevated for fish to jump through.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “It’s a big, big problem,” said Julie Henning, state Department of Fish and Wildlife habitat division manager.

When culverts are removed or fixed, the benefits are immediate because it opens up miles of critical habitat upstream to fish, said Henning, who also co-chairs the state’s Fish Barrier Removal Board.

That board, created by the Legislature last year, is working to coordinate with counties, private landowners, tribes, state agencies and others to get the most benefit out of projects to remove fish barriers and recover salmon runs.

“When you think about a fish swimming upstream, it goes through all these jurisdictions,” Henning said.

Counties, cities, forest owners and others have worked independently to remove fish barriers only to find that culverts elsewhere on the stream continue to block fish passage.

On the North Fork Newaukum Creek near Enumclaw one afternoon, Henning and WDFW fish biologist Melissa Erkel pointed out a project that King County did several years ago to replace two aging pipes with a large box culvert that is wide enough to allow the stream to meander.

But less than a quarter mile upstream, two culverts block access for fish.

Erkel said she has provided technical assistance to the private landowner, who plans this fall to replace them with a 35-foot span bridge to allow more water to pass under the private road.

“Fish passage is really important work. We’re not just doing it because of the lawsuit. It’s something that needs to be done,” Henning said.

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

A new survey of trout streams in southwest Alberta suggests that virtually all of them are threatened by industrial development or overuse. Bull trout like the one pictured here have lost more than 70 per cent of their historic waters.

 Southern Alberta trout streams threatened despite recovery plan, says survey July 12, 2015

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots EDMONTON — Virtually all southern Alberta streams that spawn native trout are threatened by industrial development or overuse, says a survey from a respected fisheries biologist.

That’s even though both bull and rainbow trout are protected under federal law and are supposed to be benefiting from a recovery plan, says Lorne Fitch.

“I have watched habitat and fish populations crater,” says Fitch, an adjunct professor at the University of Calgary, who spent 35 years as a leading provincial biologist. “All of our systems are under extreme pressure.”

Fitch studied 54 small rivers and streams that flow into the Oldman River and hold bull and cutthroat trout. He found nearly every one of the waterways face multiple pressures: from logging roads to energy development to off-highway vehicle trails.

The banks of Hidden Creek, spawning waters for up to 80 per cent of the Oldman’s bull trout, are weakened by clear-cuts and stream crossings and are falling in on themselves. Cow Creek, with a confirmed cutthroat population, is contaminated by feedlot effluent and is drained for irrigation.

Fitch’s survey notes everything from motorcycle races to washed-out bridges to coal mining affecting creek after creek. Again and again he concludes “long-term cumulative impacts on cutthroat trout and bull trout.”

Lorne Fitch is an adjunct professor at the University of Calgary who spent 35 years as a leading provincial biologist.

Scientists suggest land that contains trout streams shouldn’t have more than about just over half a kilometre of trail, cutline or road per square kilometre. The disturbance density in parts of the Oldman watershed is nearly 10 times that.

The reason, Fitch said, is sediment. Nearby roads, forest disturbance and stream crossings all cause soil to wash into the current.

Scientists used to believe that silt simply washed out. No longer.

“What researchers are now finding is that this sediment actually starts to get trapped into the gravels and cobbles that make up the stream bed,” Fitch said. “That stuff solidifies, so that not only is it difficult for water to permeate through, it’s very difficult for trout to build a redd (nest).

“Trout would have to come equipped with a pickaxe to break through some of that substrate.”

And those hardpack streambeds aren’t going away anytime soon, said Fitch.

“Some researchers have said this might endure for centennial time. It isn’t fleeting.”

The result is that cutthroat populations are estimated at five per cent of historic levels. Bull trout — Alberta’s provincial fish — have lost at least 70 per cent of their original range.

Biologists used to count more than 100 redds on Hidden Creek. Last fall, after the region was logged, Fitch counted 15.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Alberta’s previous Tory government completed a land-use plan for the entire South Saskatchewan River watershed, which includes the Oldman. Fitch said it barely mentions fish, contains no specific recommendations for their protection and defers most important decisions to local management bodies.

“I was underwhelmed.”

Fitch said the decline over the last generation or two in southern Alberta has been echoed all over the province.

Arctic grayling, once common in the north, are down to 10 per cent of historic levels. Goldeye have all but vanished from rivers where they formerly abounded.

The declines will continue until Alberta changes its land-use policies, Fitch said.

“We have applied too many things to the landscape for too long.”

A spokeswoman for NDP Environment Minister Shannon Phillips acknowledged trout are in decline.

But Laura Tupper defended the previous government’s plans.

“Headwaters protection, controlling industrial activity and monitoring water quality are just a few measures under the (plan) that will work to improve threatened fish populations,” she wrote in an email.

Tupper said the government is spending $10 million to restore streams damaged in the 2013 floods and to support other watershed management efforts.

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

 Gillnetters begin legal challenge to new Willapa Bay salmon policy July 2, 2015 A group of commercial gillnet fishermen filed a petition June 30, seeking judicial review of a new salmon management policy on Willapa Bay. The Willapa Bay Gillnetters Association (WBGA), represented by attorneys Ryen Godwin and Gregory Jacoby of Tacoma-based McGavick Graves, argues the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife acted outside of statuary authority when it placed restrictions on fishing times, place, manner and fishing method in the policy instead of in a rule.

The attorneys also claim the department acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” way when it used specific models to analyze justify how much harvest of salmon the new policy would allow as well as determine the current economic impacts of both commercial and sport fishermen in Willapa Bay. “The DFW determined the current economic impact in Willapa Bay based upon a state-wide study published in 2008 of all gear types, all locations, and all species of salmon,” the petition states. That study looks at ex-vessel value for commercial fishermen — the price fishermen receive for fish landed at a dock — and, for sport fishermen, the number of days available for them to fish.

“The state-wide study is not generally accepted as a reliable basis to determine economic impacts on a particular region,” the petition continues, “… There is no rational relationship between the economic impacts identified in the state-wide study and the Policy’s actual economic impacts on Willapa Bay.” The petition also took issue with the allowed impact rate to naturally spawning Chinook salmon — fish that do not return to the state-run hatcheries and spawn on their own in nearby rivers and streams. Under the policy, gillnetters are allowed 20 percent impacts; once they hit a certain number of these natural or wild Chinook, fishing must cease in that area. In coming years, this allowed impact will be stepped down to 14 percent, which could potentially further restrict commercial harvest on Willapa Bay. Local (commercial) fishermen have called that percentage a “nail in the coffin,” and said there would be little reason to continue fishing on Willapa Bay under such an impact rate. In the past, they were allowed anywhere from 30 percent to nearly 40 percent impact, and, the petition says, this impact helped the natural origin fish, keeping spawning ground from becoming overrun.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots WDFW, its commission and conservation groups, however, have argued that lowering the impact rate to 20 and then 14 percent is necessary move to restore wild salmon runs there. Fishermen and processors have countered that there are no true wild runs on the Willapa, only hatchery fish that failed to return to the hatcheries and have instead begun to spawn on their own.

“The facts found by the DFW as recently as 2013 show that a (30) percent impact rate ensured the protection of natural origin adults and removed hatchery adults that might otherwise have a negative influence on natural counterparts,” the petition argues, and later states, “there is no conservation benefit to reducing the impact rate from (20) percent and then to (14) percent after the initial transition period outlined in the Policy.”

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, whose commission passed the new management policy last month as part of a legal settlement with the Twin Harbors Fish and Wildlife Advocacy group last year, has 20 days to respond.

A spokesperson for the department said WDFW’s counsel advised the department not to comment on the petition outside of the courtroom, but sent the Chinook Observer copies of materials received from the WBGA’s attorneys

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

 Ban anglers from drought-stressed streams, groups urge Government criticized for failing to protect fish amid critically low water levels on Vancouver Island June 24, 2015

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots The provincial government is failing to protect B.C.’s prized game fish in the face of a drought crisis that threatens the survival of the very trout, steelhead and salmon upon which a billion-dollar freshwater fishing sector depends.

First Nations, professional guides, angling associations and naturalists are all pleading with an apparently deaf province to close drought-stricken Vancouver Island streams to sport fishing until they can be replenished by winter rains.

Drought conditions are so severe that the Cowichan Tribes have completely closed the Cowichan to fishing by their members — yet the province continues to permit non-aboriginal sports angling on the beleaguered river.

“When we shut the rivers down we wrote to the minister asking that the province close the river to sports fishing. We didn’t even get a reply,” says Cowichan Chief William Seymour.

The tribes have prohibited fishing until abundance can be assured, citing critically low flows in the river. This acknowledges the moral imperative. Compare it to a dithering province’s do-nothing policy.

Discharges on the Cowichan, one of Canada’s premier fly-fishing rivers for trout and steelhead, are only about five per cent of peak winter flows. The river also supports spring salmon, coho and chum.

Sharply rising water temperatures are driving the prized game fish into a few deep, spring-fed pools where conditions are cooler.

But as trout and young steelhead stack up, they become easy pickings for predators — including anglers. And guides say high water temperatures so stress the fish that they frequently die after release by anglers.

“It’s unbelievably unethical to be fishing in these conditions,” says professional guide Joe Saysell, who provides a drift boat service for steelhead anglers. “Government is just showing no leadership at all.

“I took the river temperature in front of my house and the water was 22 degrees. But there were two guys out fishing right in front of my house this morning. There are people out there fishing most days.”

The Friends of the Cowichan River, a public advocacy group, wrote to Steve Thomson, the minister of forest, lands and natural resource operations, on June 5 pleading that the river be closed to angling from June 15 to Oct. 1, when the winter rains traditionally begin.

“There is no snow pack at all and we have had an extremely dry spring with the month of May being the driest on record,” the letter warns. “Low river water flow and high water temperatures will make it extremely difficult for resident trout, young steelhead and salmon this summer.

Legacy – July 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “We believe that it is your ministry’s responsibility and that it would be logical and a conservationminded measure to close the river to all angling this summer.”

The Cowichan Valley Naturalists also wrote to the minister.

“River flows are low and water temperatures are rising. The higher temperatures place the fish in the river under stress and also restrict the parts of the river where they will be found to the cooler places.

Any fish caught by anglers are going to be further stressed when released.”

The naturalists also urged closing the river to angling until the fall rains.

“It’s a no-brainer; that’s what’s so shocking about it,” says Pat George of Victoria, who chairs the conservation committee for the Haig-Brown Fly Fishing Association, of the province’s failure to close droughtstressed streams to anglers.

He said he’s just returned from Montana, where such seasonal closures are standard and have resulted in a remarkable abundance for the resource.

“Montana hasn’t had to have a stocking program for 20 years,” George says.

Here, however, the pleas received no response from the province, Saysell says.

“I’ve been talking to the ministry about this crisis since May,” he says. “I haven’t had a reply yet. The government doesn’t seem to comprehend the damage that’s being done, particularly to trout and young steelhead.”

Bob Hooton, since retired to Nanaimo from the provincial government where he served as a steelhead specialist, says that when he began his career 37 years ago, the then-steelhead expert “told me the issue going forward is domestic water supply for the east coast of Vancouver Island.

“What are the trends, people? It’s not an unlimited resource, which is how it’s been treated. We are seeing desperately low water. It is bad.

We’re basically in unprecedented territory now. You can’t keep going the way you are and not reap the consequences.”

Do we want a legacy of barren rivers? Thomson should act. We need cabinet ministers unable to prove decisive in a policy crisis about as much as fish need bicycles.

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

Wildlife Artists:

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

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

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

 Dan Wallace: Passion for Authenticity

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

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

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

Conservation-minded businesses – please support these fine businesses

 Riverman Guide Service – since 1969 Kim Malcom – Owner, Operator Licensed and Insured Guide Quality Float Trips – Western Washington Rivers – Steelhead, Salmon, Trout

K Kiim mM Maallccoom m’’ss

Riverman Guide Service ((336600)) 445566--88442244

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

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

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

 Cabo Sails

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

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

Legacy – July 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!

Fishmyster Sport Fishing Adventures, now in its 25th year of operation Fishing Vancouver Island.

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

 UWET "STAY-DRY" UNDERWATER TOURS UWET "STAY-DRY" UNDERWATER TOURS

THE WORLD'S ULTIMATE ECO-TOUR UNDERWATER EXPLORATIONS of

SEATTLE'S PUGET SOUND

 You, Your Family, Couples, Friends, Parents/Grandparents with Children, and Groups...

Anyone can become a UWET Explorer!

 Individuals (ages 6/up) seeking interactive small group experiences...

UWET Tours are very small group (4 Explorers maximum per tour)!

 Travelers and Cruisers seeking pleasant low-stress tour experiences...

UWET Tours are 100% "Stay-Dry" underwater investigations (explorers do not even get their feet wet)!

 Everyday People who fantasize about being a "real" explorer sharing the excitement

and glory of discovery with others...

UWET Discovery Tours transform ordinary people into Genuine Underwater Eco-Explorers who have a DVD of their discoveries to share with others!

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

 Bryan Gregson Photography

“As a traveling photographer my life is carried in my pack. The world is my studio, nature is my subject, adventure and exploration are my motivation.

To me, life is about experiencing those moments first hand.”

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

 Casa Mia Italian Restaurant

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

 Spirit Bear Coffee Company

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

 Silversides Fishing Adventures

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