Legacy - August 2016

Legacy

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Matching the Hatch Since 2011

o Inside: o Game Fishing o Special Investigation o Opinion o Activism o Habitat o Salmon Feedlots oo Alternative Electricity

Cover photo: British Columbia send off of Sea Shepherd’s collaborative, international investigation into Piscine Reovirus associated with ocean-based salmon feedlots

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

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

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

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

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

Wild Game Fish Conservation International Founders

Bruce Treichler

Jim Wilcox

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

Contents Game Fishing Planet Earth – Then and Now _______________________________________ 6 A fish of a lifetime! _______________________________________________________________________________________ 6 Mongolian Taimen _______________________________________________________________________________________ 7 Another nice fish from Slovenia. __________________________________________________________________________ 8 Andy Gale landed this beautiful 25.65 pound Chinook ______________________________________________________ 9 Where have all the salmon gone? ________________________________________________________________________ 10

Special Investigation _________________________________________________________ 14 Video: Marine Snow_____________________________________________________________________________________ 14

Victory _____________________________________________________________________ 16 Northern Gateway pipeline approval overturned __________________________________________________________ 16

Breaking ___________________________________________________________________ 20 Worse Than Keystone XL? TransCanada's Terrifying "Plan B" _____________________________________________ 20

WGFCI Legislation Support ____________________________________________________ 23 HB 3630 - Save Our Sound Act ___________________________________________________________________________ 23

Opinion ____________________________________________________________________ 24 Warning to Minister Dominic Leblanc of DFO:_____________________________________________________________ 24 Decision in Newfoundland could harm wild salmon forever ________________________________________________ 26

Community Activism, Education and Outreach ___________________________________ 28 Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register____________________________________________________________ 28 Pledge to Never Eat Farmed Salmon _____________________________________________________________________ 29 Rally: Wild Salmon Are Forever __________________________________________________________________________ 30 Protest against crude oil on Grays Harbor draws hundreds ________________________________________________ 31 Residents give an earful to oil pipeline panel in Chilliwack _________________________________________________ 33

Habitat _____________________________________________________________________ 35 Appeals Court: Washington Must Fix Salmon-Blocking Culverts ___________________________________________ 35 Environment Canada opens investigation as blobs of Husky oil contaminate river ___________________________ 37 More toxic chemicals allowed in Florida waterways _______________________________________________________ 40 Fishing gear abandoned in ocean being collected in B.C. town for recycling ________________________________ 44

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

Salmon Feedlots – Weapons of Mass Destruction, Floating Cesspools _______________ 46 Operation Virus Hunter: A Salmon PSA with Pamela Anderson_____________________________________________ 46 Operation Virus Hunter -- Sea Shepherd Launches Campaign to Investigate Farmed Salmon Industry ________ 47 Celebrity activists launch B.C. salmon farm expedition ____________________________________________________ 50 Video: Salmon Farms are Poison ________________________________________________________________________ 52 Video 3: Voyage for Salmon _____________________________________________________________________________ 53 Wild juvenile Pacific salmon in salmon feedlot mort tote – Illegal! __________________________________________ 55 Dying Atlantic salmon risk to Fraser Sockeye?____________________________________________________________ 56 Video: Wild Juvenile Salmon Impacted by Dead and Dying Farmed Atlantic Salmon _________________________ 59 First Nations group urges feds to stop expansion of fish farms ____________________________________________ 61 Meet the Crew Aboard the Fish-Farm Patrolling ‘Martin Sheen’ _____________________________________________ 63 Video: Who decided that wild salmon would go the way of the American buffalo? ___________________________ 68 Fish-farm escapees are weakening Norwegian wild salmon genetics _______________________________________ 70 Video: Why Salmon is Pink ______________________________________________________________________________ 73 Quinaults join suit seeking reversal of USDA approval of genetically engineered salmon ____________________ 74 Chile's government implementing stricter norms for salmon industry ______________________________________ 76 Deadly Norwegian disease found in BC’s farmed salmon is a game-changer ________________________________ 77 West Creek Land Based Aquaculture _____________________________________________________________________ 79

Renewable Energy: Geothermal, Waves, Tidal, Solar, Wind, Hydropower ______________ 80 Hydropower ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 80 Vaughn Palmer: Site C development remains dam risky ___________________________________________________ 80

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

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

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

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

Sincerely,

Bruce Treichler James E. Wilcox

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

Game Fishing Planet Earth – Then and Now A fish of a lifetime!

Well done to Mr Stuart Lang on catching this magnificent 33lbs salmon on the River Laerdal.

Scottish Salmon Fishing Surgery

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

Mongolian Taimen Corcon Craft Ltd. European Taimen guide just before off-hooking and releasing a nice young Taimen of 102 cm length for a happy fly-fishing client.

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

Another nice fish from Slovenia.

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

Andy Gale landed this beautiful 25.65 pound Chinook Deep Sea Charters, Charterboat Slammer, Westport, Washington

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

Where have all the salmon gone?

July 26, 2016

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Once tipping the scales at over 120 pounds, Chinook salmon have always been the staple of Southern resident orca whales, according to Deborah Giles, research director and projects manager for the Center of Whale Research.

"Today we think a 30-pound Chinook is big," Giles said, pointing out an old photo of two fisherman in Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia river.

The men above are holding up a pair of fish, which appear to be more than four feet long, and easily weigh 110 pounds.

"These are what the southern residents evolved to eat," she added.

According to Giles, these salmon eaters pretty much stick to Chinook.

"They don't really know what to do with pinks or humpies [pink salmon or humpback salmon]; it's almost like they don't register them as fish," Giles said. "Calves will sort of mouth them, but they don't really eat them."

She said studies on orcas' fecal matter have backed up these observations. Only one Northern resident orca, the salmon-eating orcas in Canada, showed signs of eating a pink salmon once, she said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's website lists many salmon species, including Chinook, as threatened and endangered. As a major source of the residents' diet, this does not bode well.

Chinook are facing habitat loss, overfishing, pollution, global warming, ocean acidification, harmful algae blooms, and a general oceanic ecosystem collapse due to ocean temperature shifts, according to Rich Osborne.

Osborn is the former executive director of the Whale Museum, restoration ecologist at the University of Washington Olympic Natural Resources Center in Forks, and is the program director for the Washington Coast Sustainable Salmon Partnership.

Part of the reason for decline of the 2016 runs, according to Osborne, is a severe warm water pattern in the Pacific Ocean that lasted from 2013-2015, nicknamed, The Blob.

"The Blob moved prey and disrupted salmon routes for the ocean migrants during that period, affecting those year classes of adult salmon," Osborne said, "The fish starved those years."

He went on to explain that The Blob's impact will continue to be felt for the next couple of years.

Chinook runs were extremely low in 2012, and there were very few sightings of J, K and L pods that combined, make up the travel groups of the Southern resident population. Pods usually consist of five to thirty whales.

This year, Chinook runs are predicted to be even lower than 2012, and according to Giles, as of mid July, only a few matrilines, (mothers and their offspring) amounting to 10 individuals, have been spotted in inland waters.

According to Giles, when there are coast-wide shortages of Chinook there are more Southern residents deaths. In 2012, seven whales were lost.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels "They are breaking into smaller and smaller groups because there isn't enough salmon to share with their normal larger groups," Osborne explained, "they are not following normal patterns because they are on a desperate search for salmon anywhere they can to find them."

The infamous whale board, showing visitors when whales were last seen at Lime Kiln Park, is dotted with week-long stretches of Southern resident absences. Last year's board showed only two or threeday absences. This behavior has Ripon College Professor Bob Otis, who has lead research at Lime Kiln Park for decades, and his researchers concerned. To help educate, researchers have been giving information to park visitors about ways individuals can help.

"We love it that people come out to see the whales," said Rylee Jensen, a researcher back with Otis' team for the second year, "I wish that they would make the connection this is a special, and endangered group of whales."

She added that when the resident whales were listed in 2005, the population was 85, compared to this year's count of 83.

Traffic Mark Anderson, founder of Orca Relief, a nonprofit organization working reduce cetacean mortality rates, in 1997 due to the orcas' dwindling population. He cites studies from biologist Dave Bain and others, showing that when vessel traffic is present, orcas' metabolism goes up, they take deeper dives, and echo-locate louder to be heard over motor noise. As a result, Anderson said, Southern residents need to eat 17 percent more when they are already struggling to find enough food.

The dam In an attempt to help bring Chinook back from the brink, many researchers are calling to breach four dams in the lower Snake river, opening up more spawning ground. The Snake river, according to Giles, is ideal because it has the highest elevation and coldest water of river systems in Washington – cold water being a key feature for salmon to thrive in. The Snake also feeds into the Columbia river, which was once one of the world's largest salmon-producing rivers according to Giles.

"Historically, Columbia Chinook were probably the Southern residents' mainstay." Osborne said, adding that they are still an important part of orcas diet.

Tagging data backs this up. Giles said tagging results show Southern residents frequently loop by the mouth of the Columbia.

Anderson agrees that breaching the lower Snake's dams would be helpful, along with any Chinook restoration. He is concerned that results from those efforts could take 20 years or more, and fears the whales may not have that much time to wait.

"Requiring whale watch boats to stay further back especially along the west side [of San Juan] would have an immediate impact [in helping orcas hunt,]" Anderson said. "We could see an improvement today."

The west side is singled out, he said, because with deep water and steep rocks to trap the salmon, it is prime hunting ground.

So far this year, they are barely using that prime hunting ground; instead, an abundance of humpbacks, minkes and transients have been seen throughout the islands.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels The transients Transients are the marine mammal-eating orcas, who hunt seal, sea lions and porpoise.

"If we were to begin researching orcas today, we would think the transients were residents, the ones that lived here, and the residents were transients, only occasionally cruising through," Giles said, explaining that the baseline for orca research in the Salish Sea is shifting.

Transients, the marine mammal-eating orcas, are currently doing well, despite the fact that due to being higher on the food chain, they have a higher toxin level than the salmon-eating residents. This, according to Giles, is because seals, sea lions and porpoise are all at record population levels giving transients plenty to eat. During fasting and famine situations, when the animals are using the blubber where the toxins are stored, is when problems like suppressed immune systems occur. That, according to Giles, seems to be what researchers are seeing, "If Southern residents had enough food, it [toxins] still would not be good, but it wouldn't be as bad of an issue," he said.

Babies The recent resident orca baby boom does not give Giles much comfort.

"K pod has not had any babies since 2011," Giles said, and while eight of the calves have so far made it, one has not been sighted this summer, and neither has its mother. Giles also pointed out that 13 females were pregnant in late 2015. Two calves died almost immediately, and two more were never seen, Giles said, and possibly either miscarried, or also died soon after birth.

What can we do?

Anderson pointed out that to increase a population, it takes more than counting heads; we must look to the core viable breeding members. That core of Southern residents is getting smaller and smaller.

He is not hopeless however, saying, "We thought minkes were a goner when we began studying them. Whales can come back," Anderson said.

Osborne also believes orcas are resilient, but "they "need wild salmon that do not require humans and barges to complete their life cycle."

Hatcheries and fish farms may be a short-term solution, but really only work to provide human food. "By their existence and peripheral impacts, they only hasten the extinction of wild Pacific salmon," Osborne said.

Giles does not believe hatcheries and farms are a viable solution either. Hatcheries, she said dilute the wild salmon genes, while farms can spread disease, and cause environmental damage due to the constant close quarters of the fish.

"We know what the problems are; we need to make some hard decisions," Giles said, like perhaps opting to eat Sockeye instead of Chinook.

"We need to spend 100 percent of our energy getting fish into the mouths of these whales," Giles said.

For info visit The Center for Whale Research at whaleresearch.com, Orca Relief at orcarelief.org, the Whale Museum at whalemuseum.org or at NOAA at noaa.gov.

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

Special Investigation Video: Marine Snow

On a June day in Colvos Passage, south of Olalla, "Doc" Thoemke dropped a homemade underwater video camera over the side of his boat.

As he lowered it to the bottom of Puget Sound, flakes appeared on the video monitor.

"We're looking really good. See how thick the flakes are? They're just huge," Thoemke said.

As the camera moved to a depth of 300 feet, beyond where divers can go, the flakes became thicker.

"We're looking at stuff nobody's ever seen before," Thoemke said.

A longtime fishing charter captain, Thoemke got into underwater video 27 years ago, back when cameras were less sophisticated.

"Over the last five years, I've seen a big decline in our bottom fish, huge decline," Thoemke said.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels More and more, he's been seeing the flakes, which are about a quarter inch in size.

"Sea snow is what I'm calling it, and I'm not quite sure what it is," Thoemke said.

KIRO 7 showed the underwater video clips to Christopher Krembs, an oceanographer in the marine monitoring unit at the Washington Department of Ecology.

Turns out, Thoemke wasn't far off when he called it sea snow.

"It's called marine snow. and it doesn't sink very fast, and so basically, it gets transported with the currents over long distances," Krembs said.

Marine snow is microalgae that forms at the surface where there's light and then dies and sinks slowly through the water column.

State officials do regular flyovers of the Sound and take water samples.

They thought marine snow was at the bottom of the Sound but didn't previously have visual confirmation.

"For us, this has been a missing link, because we've suspected it, but we don't have the video footage for it," Krembs said.

Krembs said the marine snow is likely providing food for some fish and allowing others to hide from predators in murky water.

But he also said the flakes might be carrying pollutants.

While marine snow is natural, Krembs says so much of it could be a symptom of warmer temperatures in the Sound.

Even though El Nino is over and the so-called blob of warm water in the ocean has fizzled, Puget Sound, Krembs said, is three degrees warmer this year than it should be, extending all the way to the bottom.

"The large climate scenario that we're experiencing at the moment and the large impact of it is also resonating in Puget Sound," Krembs said..

What's more, the biggest contributor of fresh water to the Salish Sea, which includes the Sound, is the Fraser River in Canada, where this year's flows are low.

That means water in the Sound isn't flushing out as much and can warm more easily, leading to things like the marine snow captured on Thoemke's video.

"I'm excited about citizens recording things like that, because that's what we need. People having their eyes on the water," Krembs said.

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

Victory

The Federal Court of Appeal has overturned approval of Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline project because Ottawa failed to consult adequately with First Nations.

Northern Gateway pipeline approval overturned Federal Court of Appeal finds Canada failed to consult with First Nations on pipeline project June 30, 2016 The Federal Court of Appeal has overturned approval of Enbridge's controversial Northern Gateway project after finding Ottawa failed to properly consult the First Nations affected by the pipeline.

"We find that Canada offered only a brief, hurried and inadequate opportunity ‌ to exchange and discuss information and to dialogue," the ruling says.

Northern Gateway pipeline opponents get say at mega-hearing Northern Gateway pipeline approved with 209 conditions

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels "It would have taken Canada little time and little organizational effort to engage in meaningful dialogue on these and other subjects of prime importance to Aboriginal Peoples. But this did not happen."

Constitutional requirement to consult The majority ruling was signed by two of the three judges on the Appeal Court panel. Judge Michael Ryer wrote a dissenting opinion.

Pipeline opponents have called the decision "landmark."

"At every turn you're going, you are seeing nails in the coffin of the Enbridge project," said Peter Lantin, president of the council of the Haida Nation, one of the parties that appealed.

"I don't think there's enough room for another nail in the coffin."

"First Nations, local communities, and environmental interests said no to Enbridge 12 years ago when it first proposed the project. And now that "no" has the backing of the courts," said Ecojustice lawyer Barry Robinson.

"Between on-the-ground opposition and the federal government's promises to keep B.C.'s North Coast tanker free and demonstrate climate leadership, this pipeline is never getting built."

Northern Gateway president John Carruthers issued a statement saying Enbridge will consult with Aboriginal groups, but is still committed to the project and "protecting the environment and the traditional way of life of First Nations and MĂŠtis peoples and communities along the project route."

The federal government gave the go-ahead to the Northern Gateway project after a National Energy Board joint review panel gave its approval subject to 209 conditions.

But the government was also supposed to meet a constitutional requirement to consult with Aboriginal Peoples following the release of that report.

According to the ruling, the project would significantly affect the B.C. First Nations who were parties to the appeal: Gitxaala.

Haisla.

Gitga-at.

Kitasoo Xai'Xais Band Council.

Heiltsuk Tribal Council.

Nadleh Whut'en and Nak'azdli Whut'en.

Haida Nation.

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

The project would see the Northern Gateway Pipeline travel 1,177 kilometres and deliver bitumen from Alberta to B.C.'s coastline. (Enbridge/Canadian Press) Their traditional territory includes the waterway that would be used by tankers, the Kitimat terminal and some of the land the pipeline would cross.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels 'Undisclosed, undiscussed and unconsidered' The ruling noted that the Aboriginal groups generally availed themselves of the joint review panel hearings, submitting both oral and written testimony to the NEB. But the release of the joint review panel report was only the third step in a five-part process before the permit to build the pipeline could be issued. In the fourth phase, the Crown was supposed to consult with Aboriginal Peoples "on any project-related concerns that were outside of the Joint Review Panel's mandate."

The Appeal Court ruling says the standard for consultation doesn't have to be perfection, but rather "whether 'reasonable efforts to inform and consult' were made."

The judges found the federal government had not met that standard.

"The inadequacies — more than just a handful and more than mere imperfections — left entire subjects of central interest to the affected First Nations, sometimes subjects affecting their subsistence and well-being, entirely ignored," the ruling says.

"Many impacts of the project — some identified in the Report of the Joint Review Panel, some not — were left undisclosed, undiscussed and unconsidered."

The appeal court also pointed out that this was not a case where the proponent of the project itself had failed to reach out to Aboriginal Peoples.

"Far from it," the ruling says. "Once the pipeline corridor for the project was defined in 2005, Northern Gateway engaged with all Aboriginal groups, both First Nations and Métis, with communities located within 80 kilometres of the project corridor."

A complicated case In what the judges themselves described as a "complicated" case, the Appeal Court was also asked to consider the legal viability of the order in council which allows the government to issue a certificate for the project.

The court found the government is entitled to come to a decision by balancing the economic, cultural and environmental considerations affecting the project.

But because of the Aboriginal consultation, the panel quashed the approval of the pipeline.

In his dissenting opinion, Ryer said he found the government had adequately consulted with First Nations. He rejected the assertion that the pipeline would affect governance rights of asserted Aboriginal title.

The judge said he agreed with the Crown's assertion that it had created an extensive consultation process through means which included the joint review panel and that many of the First Nations' concerns were addressed in the NEB's 209 recommendations.

The ruling says the government can now reconsider the submissions which are already on the public record in order to consider the concerns of First Nations or they can redo Aboriginal consultation. Either way, once the process is completed, the approval of the project will go back to the federal government for consideration.

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

Breaking

Over the course of a single year, the NRDC states, tankers could carry 328 million barrels of tar sands oil down the East Coast—enough oil to fill more than 20,000 Olympic pools

Worse Than Keystone XL? TransCanada's Terrifying "Plan B" "TransCanada's Energy East proposal is truly Keystone XL on steroids," says Natural Resources Defense Council The pipeline giant TransCanada, stymied in its attempt to drive Keystone XL through America's heartland, is facing renewed opposition to its "new and equally misguided proposal" to build the Energy East pipeline across Canada and ship tar sands oil via tankers along the U.S. East Coast to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.

In partnership with a number of Canadian and U.S. environmental groups, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)—a major player in the fight to defeat Keystone XL—on Tuesday released a new report outlining how Energy East would "effectively create a waterborne tar sands pipeline with hundreds of new oil tankers traversing the Atlantic coastline, making vast areas of the Eastern Seaboard vulnerable to a dangerous tar sands spill."

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

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Indeed, the group notes that the Gulf of Maine, Acadia National Park, and the Florida Keys are all in the pipeline's "crosshairs," as well as iconic marine species and billion dollar commercial fisheries on the East Coast, including New England and Atlantic Canada's lobster and sea scallops fisheries.

And that's on top of the pipeline's climate impacts; according to the NRDC analysis, Energy East would bring a significant increase in carbon pollution—equivalent to the annual emissions of as many as 54 million passenger vehicles—and lock in high-carbon infrastructure expected to operate for at least 50 years.

"TransCanada's Energy East proposal is truly Keystone XL on steroids," said Joshua Axelrod, a coauthor of the report and NRDC policy analyst. "It's all risk and no reward for millions of Canadians and Americans, iconic landscapes, valuable fisheries and our climate."

With the report, entitled Tar Sands in the Atlantic Ocean: TransCanada's Proposed Energy East Pipeline (pdf), the NRDC joins a chorus of existing Energy East opponents.

The project is currently under consideration by the National Energy Board (NEB), with hearings expected to begin in Saint John, New Brunswick, on August 8.

In making its argument, the NRDC leans on a 2016 study by Canada's National Academy of Sciences (NAS), which found that large portions of diluted bitumen—which Energy East would transport—can be expected to sink if spilled in water. The same report found that current regulations and spill response techniques are incapable of managing the unique behavior and higher risks of tar sands diluted bitumen spill in water.

A press statement (pdf) from Greenpeace Canada notes that the NEB refused to consider the same NAS study in its Kinder Morgan pipeline analysis.

"To be at all credible, the National Energy Board must give the NAS study a central role in its review of Energy East," said Matt Abbott of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

Meanwhile, the NRDC is calling for a tar sands oil tanker moratorium in U.S. and Canadian waters until appropriate spill response techniques are developed to address a diluted bitumen spill into water.

But beyond that, many say the pipeline simply should not be built.

Pointing to the devastating pipeline leak that flooded the North Saskatchewan River with 200,000 liters of tar sands crude last week, the Council of Canadians on Monday warned that spills are "inevitable and permanent consequences of transporting oil."

"When thinking about the future we want, let us remember that the proposed Energy East pipeline crosses 90 watersheds, nearly 3000 waterways, and puts the drinking water of over 5 million people at risk along its route," wrote energy and climate justice campaigner Daniel Cayley-Daoust.

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

WGFCI Legislation Support HB 3630 - Save Our Sound Act Wild Game Fish Conservation International WGFCI supports the Save Our Sound Act (HB 3630) legislation sponsored by US Congressmen Denny Heck (10th District) and Derek Kilmer (6th District).

We can no longer treat Puget Sound as a cesspool with no regard for it and the bounty of natural resources it has supported for thousands of years – Puget Sound is at a tipping point.

WGFCI in collaboration with TMKey Film/Research produced the short YouTube video at the link below for Representative Heck to highlight a few of Puget Sound’s many treasures and the mancaused issues impacting them each and every day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Bqpb5V1jo

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

Opinion Warning to Minister Dominic Leblanc of DFO: Do not renew ocean fish farm licenses for six year terms, and do not allow Marine Harvest to put diseased salmon in their open-net fish farm pens!

“Scientific evidence suggests that HSMI — the disease scientists have found in farmed salmon — poses a serious threat to wild populations.

HSMI causes severe lethargy, ultimately robbing salmon of their ability to feed, swim upstream and spawn, and rendering them helpless against predators. In farmed fish, HSMI is not necessarily fatal. But it could be a death sentence for wild salmon. HSMI is a heart disease and wild salmon have to be supreme athletes to make a living.”

Dr. Alexandra Morton, Marine Biologist Ocean fish farms being allowed to put diseased Atlantic salmon in their open-net pens on our Pacific coast pose an unacceptable, and very dangerous threat to wild salmon.

The same fish that swim past our communities along the river are the same fish that swim past open-net fish farms, and are vulnerable to HSMI and could result in thousands of pre-spawn deaths. This is preventable, but to safeguard wild salmon will take political will and integrity of the federal government to put wild salmon first. We ask you all to write to the new Minister Dominic Leblanc to add your strong voice in asking the federal government to drop its challenge to a court decision that would disallow diseased Atlantic salmon to be placed in Marine Harvest's open-net fish pens. Below is an example of a letter sent by WSDA and we encourage you all to send your own letter to: dominic.leblanc@parl.gc.ca.

Open Letter to Minister Dominic Leblanc, It would be a serious mistake to renew fish farm licenses for six years on the BC coast in light of the algae blooms requiring fish farms to kill their fish. There was a toxic release of slime and rotting fish creating a real stench - living proof that fish farms do pollute the marine environment and threaten wild salmon. In addition, fish farms are dangerous to wild salmon because of out of control sea lice, a vector for viruses and diseases. More recently, your own scientists discovered that farmed salmon have been found to have muscle and skeletal inflammation indicative of the dreaded piscine reovirus that could devastate wild salmon.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels We understand more testing needs to be done, yet this backs up what has been long suspected.

With this backdrop, it would be irresponsible to renew fish farms licenses for six years.

Instead, plans need to be in place to transfer ocean fish farms onto land in containment as what the Namgis First Nation is doing with Kuterra. Little Falls Cedar fish farm in Nanaimo is another good example of land-based aquaculture. Instead of putting ocean fish farms above wild salmon, your ministry needs to concentrate on restoring lost protections in the Fisheries Act from the previous government.

Do not listen to senior bureaucrats in your departmental aquaculture sector who advise that long-standing opposition to fish farms can be easily brushed aside. This is not a “business as usual” situation. Real changes are needed. Thousands of new people are now aware that ocean fish farms are controversial for many reasons. Showing a crass disregard to the growing concerns will only create a backlash to the Liberal government.

The numbers of signatures to the petition E-270 that calls upon the Government of Canada to legislate the removal of caged salmon from our oceans are growing. A very large number of those signatures are from British Columbia and the numbers will increase before the petition is closed for signature July 27, 2016.

The Wild Salmon Defenders Alliance is in solidarity with the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and the First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance call to give meaning to the Liberal government’s commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People by co-managing fisheries and oceans with both river and coastal First Nations in an all out effort to protect wild salmon from going extinct due to industrial harm.

We look forward to your response soon.

Eddie Gardner, President Wild Salmon Defenders Alliance 604-792-0867

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

"Wild Atlantic salmon on Newfoundland’s south coast are already assessed as threatened and peer reviewed science shows aquaculture will make the situation worse,"

Decision in Newfoundland could harm wild salmon forever The odds of non-native fish escaping and breeding with threatened Atlantic salmon is too great a risk to take August 11, 2016 In a province with 12 per cent unemployment, perhaps the lure of a $250 million project proved irresistible for the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, which just released a major salmon aquaculture project from having to complete a full environmental assessment.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Greig NL Seafarms wants to raise 7-million salmon per year in sea cages placed in Placentia Bay. By not ordering the company to complete an environmental impact statement, the Minister of Environment and Conservation has ignored the danger this project poses to wild fish and the environment.

Wild Atlantic salmon on Newfoundland’s south coast are already assessed as threatened and peer reviewed science shows aquaculture will make the situation worse.

But it’s the plan to stock these cages with imported salmon strains from Europe that will have the greatest effect. It will alter the gene pool of wild Atlantic salmon forever.

For the first time in Canadian history, a company has been given permission to raise foreign strains of salmon in the marine environment, right beside a threatened population of native Atlantic salmon.

This is a dangerous precedent that will have horrible consequences for wild salmon and other fish on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has published a list of concerns about the Placentia Bay project. This includes the fact Grieg’s so-called escape proof net pens have not been tested in Newfoundland.

Decades of studying sea cage aquaculture has revealed one certainty: the fish get out, especially in harsh sea conditions characteristic of the area.

Grieg tells us not to worry about escapes because the farmed fish will be rendered sterile by adding a third chromosome at the egg stage. What they’ve left out is the fact this process is not 100 per cent effective, and with 7 million fish in sea cages at any time, a one or two per cent failure rate means thousands of fertile farmed fish may escape and interact with wild salmon.

While using sterile European salmon reduces the likelihood of interbreeding, it greatly increases the negative consequences when these fish do escape and breed with native salmon. The process used to sterilize the fish also makes them more susceptible to disease, which can be passed to wild salmon.

Norway, home to the parent Grieg Group, has the strictest aquaculture regulations in the North Atlantic, far more rigorous than Newfoundland and Labrador. Norway is the only country that can jail fish farmers for egregious violations. However, the Norwegian experience proves that no matter how tough the rules, there are always disease outbreaks, sea lice infestations, pollution, and escapes of farmed salmon.

The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research recently completed a survey of 147 Norwegian rivers, looking for evidence of escaped farm salmon mixing with wild Atlantic salmon populations. In 109 of those rivers the scientists found genetic evidence of interbreeding.

These hybrid offspring are less fit to migrate and survive, which contributes to the demise of wild salmon populations.

The Atlantic Salmon Federation is not opposed to aquaculture, but wild fish must be protected from its impacts. Grieg’s development in Placentia Bay poses significant environmental risk, sets an alarming precedent and has caused significant public concern.

Environment and Conservation Minister Perry Trimper should follow New Foundland’s own laws and order an environmental impact statement for this project.

Ignoring the potential harms to wild Atlantic salmon is not the action of an accountable and transparent government.

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

Community Activism, Education and Outreach

Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register

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

Pledge to Never Eat Farmed Salmon

For the ocean’s health Salmon farms are industrial feedlots in the ocean. They pollute the ocean with disease— the most dangerous pollutant there is.

Sea lice from salmon farms are eating wild salmon to death. And when salmon farms kill wild salmon, the bears and whales starve.

Salmon farming removes vast quantities of wild fish from the ocean to make farm salmon feed. They starve one ocean to pollute another ocean.

And for your health Farmed salmon is much fattier than wild salmon. Those white stripes of fat mean it is farm salmon.

Doctors and scientists warn that farm salmon fat contains high toxin levels of dioxins and dioxin-like compounds. When we eat these toxins our body holds them, storing them in our fat.

Mothers download their toxins to their babies, threatening the development of the baby’s brain.

There are solutions, but the salmon farmers say it is too expensive for them to protect wild salmon by moving farmed fish into closed tanks on land.

We say polluting the ocean with disease is too expensive for everyone.

Pledge not to eat farmed salmon and help keep our oceans alive.

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

Rally: Wild Salmon Are Forever Wall Mart - Chilliwack, BC

Editorial Comment: One of many grocery stores still selling Atlantic salmon raised in ocean-based salmon feedlots sited in fragile wild salmon migration routes within British Columbia’s precious and productive marine ecosystems.

This madness must end.

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

Protest against crude oil on Grays Harbor draws hundreds Supporters from around the region showed up in full force to protest a proposal to ship crude oil through Grays Harbor and support the Quinault Indian Nation’s Shared Waters, Shared Values Rally in Hoquiam Friday afternoon.

Hundreds gathered at the 9th Street Dock to welcome the tribe’s flotilla of traditional canoes, kayaks and boats and to band together to protest the proposed expansion of fuel storage facilities at the Port of Grays Harbor.

“No crude oil” was the chant as they embarked on a four-block march to city hall to make their stand.

“We area at a critical place here in Grays Harbor, a decision is going to be made soon,” Fawn Sharp, president of the Quinault Nation said. “The future of the harbor is going to go in one direction or the other. We need to go in the direction of no crude oil in Grays Harbor … forever!”

Sharp told supporters at the rally they needed to consider what was at stake should Westway, an existing fuel storage facility on Port of Grays Harbor property in Hoquiam, be allowed to expand its site to accommodate crude oil shipments.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels “We commissioned an economic study and concluded about 10,000 jobs are at risk … tribal and nontribal fishermen and tourism related (jobs) are in jeopardy,” she said. “The general health and welfare of all citizens in Grays Harbor County will all be compromised by this decision.”

Sharp said the Quinault Nation has an obligation to defend the salmon and natural resources that would also be heavily affected if a large oil spill occurred in local waters.

“The great Billy Frank Jr. (a now-deceased leader of the Nisqually tribe and a fierce champion for tribal fishing rights and the environment) at one point said the salmon deserve to be in healthy waters,” she said. “They can’t get out of the water themselves, so it’s up to us to stand up for them and our precious resources.”

Sharp emphatically stated to the crowd that it is also the duty of the Quinault Nation to pass on the legacy of pure, unpolluted waters to future generations, and said that is why they are taking such a strong stance in this matter.

Hoquiam Mayor Jasmine Dickhoff was on hand to welcome the protesters to city hall.

“I appreciate all the time and effort put in for this demonstration,” Dickhoff said. “I got involved in government because I felt great pride in the possibilities ahead of us as a community … not just here in Hoquiam, but with all of our neighbors. This rally is a testament of shared values and I want to thank you all for coming and sharing your voices and concerns to implement change.”

Larry Thevik, vice president of the Washington Dungeness Crab Fishermen’s Association, was also on hand to express his concerns with the proposed expansion of crude oil storage.

“As everyone knows, Grays Harbor needs more jobs, but our members have determined the benefits from the proposed oil terminals simply do not measure up to the risks they bear,” he said. “Grays Harbor is the fourth largest estuary in the nation, a major nursery area for Dungeness crab, and an essential fish habitat for many species. It is also an area particularly sensitive to the adverse effect of an oil spill.”

Thevik said an oil spill in the harbor would lead to a catastrophic loss of habitat and could potentially impact an area much larger than Grays Harbor.

“The Nestucca oil barge that was hauled off of Grays Harbor spilled about 231,000 gallons, killed 56,000 sea birds, and left a sheen that was seen from Oregon to the tip of Vancouver Island,” he said. “Tankers that would move through Grays Harbor County would be hauling up to 15 million gallons.”

Thevik said the state Department of Ecology claims Washington State has the best spill response in the nation. But he fears the response plan in Grays Harbor wouldn’t measure up.

“No matter how high the paperwork is stacked, the oil spill response plan and spill response assets are simply not going to take care of the problem,” he said. “Booming, which is the first response when a spill occurs, loses its effectiveness in strong current and rough waters. … Currents in Grays Harbor routinely exceed 3.5 knots. Fall and winter gales blow strong and often and unless a spill occurs during daylight hours, with a slack tide in calm seas, booming will offer little defense against a spill.”

He reiterated the potential for damages from an oil spill would far exceed the benefits the terminal would provide and that the profits would go elsewhere and the risks would remain.

Thevik acknowledged tribal and non-tribal fishermen often disagree on how to allocate shared waters and shared marine sources, but said both are united in their resolve to preserve those resources.

“Our survival and future depend on that,” he said. “Working together, we the citizens of Grays Harbor and others across the state must stand up against sacrifice and reclaim our destiny. We must speak with one voice, take our fate back from the hands of poorly informed decision makers and from big oil and just say no!”

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

The majority of the approximately 75 people at the Chilliwack visit of the Ministerial panel on the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project on Thursday were opposed to the project.

Residents give an earful to oil pipeline panel in Chilliwack July 21, 2016 About 75 people gathered at the Coast Hotel in Chilliwack Thursday morning to give their opinion on Kinder Morgan's $6.8-billion Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project to the federal government's Ministerial panel touring the province.

The visit to Chilliwack is part of a 10-city tour that began July 7 in Calgary to hold in-person roundtable discussions and townhall meetings to engage with communities and indigenous peoples affected by the oil pipeline expansion project.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels A number of groups opposed to the project attended the Chilliwack meeting, including members of the Council of Canadians, Pipe-Up and other individual environmental and indigenous activists.

Local resident Ian Stephen spoke to the panel about his concerns over an oil spill given the route of the pipeline is across the Sardis aquifer Chilliwack uses for its water supply.

He suggested the route should be moved to follow Highway 1 instead.

"If the expansion project goes ahead, it would be foolhardy to miss the opportunity to remove that risk from the water supply," Stephen said.

Early on a number of speakers presented their support for the oil pipeline expansion project. One landowner Robert Meredith said the pipeline goes through his property and he would rather see an expanded project rather than the more dangerous prospect of oil being transported by rail if there is a spill.

"On land you can take the soil and rejuvenate it and clean it up," Meredith said.

But the vast majority of those speaking to the three-member panel were opposed to expanded pipelines as well as oil sands extraction in the first place.

Local resident and former teacher Wendy Major talked about the dangers of diluted bitumen, and the fact that the pipeline runs near three Chilliwack schools.

Members of the Ministerial panel appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau include former Tsawwassen Chief Kim Baird, University of Winnipeg president and vice-chancellor Annette Trimbee, and former NDP Yukon Premier Tony Penikett, and their job will be to report back to Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr.

The 1,150-kilometre Trans Mountain Pipeline runs directly through Chilliwack, crosses the Vedder River and skirts a number of local Sto:lo reserve lands.

The $6.8 billion expansion project to twin the existing pipeline and triple the capacity was recommended to be approved by the National Energy Board (NEB) in a 533-page report issued in May. First Nations and other opponents of the Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion have filed court challenges aiming to overturn the National Energy Board's recommendation to approve the project.

The public was invited to the townhall-style meeting Thursday morning. Also public, a meeting with First Nations from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. is scheduled. Location is the Coast Hotel downtown Chilliwack.

Next stop for the panel is Abbotsford on July 26.

Those who can't make it to the www.nrcan.gc.ca/questionnaire/18721

meetings

can

fill

out

an

online

questionnaire

or email the panel at nrcan.ministerialpaneltmx-comiteministerieltmx.rncan@canada.ca.

The deadline for the federal government to approve the pipeline project is Dec. 19.

at

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

Habitat

Appeals Court: Washington Must Fix Salmon-Blocking Culverts Big Implications: 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Agrees With 2013 Ruling SEATTLE (AP) — In a case that could have big implications for dams and other development in the Northwest, a federal appeals court panel said Monday that Native American tribes have a right not only to fish for salmon, but for there to be salmon to catch — a ruling that affirms the duty of the United States to protect the habitat of the prized fish under treaties dating back more than 150 years.

Three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reached their unanimous decision in a case involving culverts, large pipes that allow streams to flow under roads but which also can block migrating fish. They upheld a lower court's 2013 ruling ordering Washington state to replace hundreds of the pipes with more fish-friendly structures, such as bridges that allow streams to flow naturally underneath them.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels "The Indians did not understand the Treaties to promise that they would have access to their usual and accustomed fishing places, but with a qualification that would allow the government to diminish or destroy the fish runs," Judge William Fletcher wrote for the panel, adding that territorial Gov. Isaac Stevens "did not make ... such a cynical and disingenuous promise."

The ruling, praised by the tribes, was the second major court decision in as many months concerning salmon habitat in the Northwest. In May, a federal judge in Portland, Oregon, ruled that a massive habitat restoration effort by the U.S. government doesn't do nearly enough to improve Northwest salmon runs — and that federal law may require federal authorities to consider removing four huge dams on the lower Snake River in Eastern Washington.

"These are significant rulings from courts that are saying this business about protecting salmon is serious," said Todd True, a lawyer with the environmental law firm Earthjustice, which is involved in both cases. "It's going to require some real effort."

Twenty-one Washington tribes sued the state over the culverts in 2001. The pipes can block fish in several ways, typically because the downstream end is elevated above the level of the stream, the angle is too steep for them to navigate, or because they become clogged with debris.

Seattle U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez ruled that culverts diminished salmon runs by blocking access to about 1,000 linear miles of suitable streams, and in 2013 he ordered the state to replace hundreds of the highest-priority culverts within 17 years.

The state appealed, arguing that its treaties with the tribes created no obligation to restore salmon habitat. During oral arguments last fall, a judge asked Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell if the state had the right to dam every salmon-bearing stream that flows into Puget Sound. Purcell responded that while the state would never do that, nothing in the treaties would prevent it — an interpretation the appeals court rejected.

Washington agrees that replacing old culverts is one important part of restoring salmon runs and notes that is has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to fix fish habitat. But the state called Martinez's 2013 order too sweeping and expensive, and said it would force the state to focus on fixing culverts even when salmon-restoration dollars could be spent more effectively elsewhere.

The state is reviewing the decision and did not have any immediate comment, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said in an email.

Officials argued during the case that if the tribes had a right to habitat restoration, they could conceivably sue the state for virtually anything that impairs salmon, such as state or utility districtowned dams that block salmon passage.

Fawn Sharp, president of Quinault Indian Nation on the Olympic Peninsula, agreed that the court's logic could apply to dams or other development that diminishes fish runs. She said she expected the ruling to bolster the tribe's arguments against a state proposal to dam the Chehalis River to help with flood control.

"It's always been our position that when our ancestors signed those treaties and reserved certain resources and activities, that those would be protected forever, from the beginning of time to the end of time," Sharp said.

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

Staff at the Lend a Paw Animal Rescue race to clean up an oil-covered bird affected by the Husky Energy spill on Mon. July 25, 2016

Environment Canada opens investigation as blobs of Husky oil contaminate river July 25, 2016 The federal government is investigating a Husky Energy spill in central Saskatchewan that leaked more than 200,000 litres of oil from its pipeline into the North Saskatchewan River last week, forcing two municipalities to shut down their water treatment plants as of Monday.

The drinking water of one of the municipalities, Prince Albert, could be affected for up to two months according to an estimate from a city official.

Environment and Climate Change Canada told National Observer that its enforcement officers are now determining whether there may have been a contravention of federal environmental and wildlife legislation before, during, or after the leak. Husky officials failed to contain the spill where it began on Thursday, and roughly 1,570 barrels of crude and other materials have since flowed into the waterways where Prince Albert and North Battleford source their drinking water.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels "Our environmental emergencies officers are on-site to assess the situation and to provide scientific advice to inform clean-up options," said an email statement from the federal department. "They are also collecting samples to better understand the characteristics of the spilled oil and its behavior in the North Saskatchewan River... As this is a matter under investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."

Water supplies contaminated Prince Albert joined North Battleford in enacting emergency water restrictions on Monday morning when the oil slick was visually detected upstream of the district. Both cities are now operating on reserve water supplies, supplemented by other sources, and encouraging their residents to consume water sparingly: "The City of Prince Albert urges residents and commercial businesses to restrict water usage and conserve water," said the latest statement from the municipality, released Monday. "Water is only to be used for essential purposes."

In North Battleford, all outdoor watering has been prohibited, and spray parks, car washes, and laundromats have been shut down. The spill of more than 200,000 litres was first detected in the central-western city on July 21, and reached the city's water supply on Friday.

As efforts to contain the leak have faltered, its eastern neighbour of Prince Albert has also closed all irrigation services, the municipal water crane, paddling pools, and the Kinsmen Water Park in an effort to conserve water. The city has promised residents that "safe, potable drinking water" will be provided around the clock, and on Sunday, announced construction of a 30-kilometre pipeline southeast of the city to provide an alternative source of water from the South Saskatchewan River, which has not been contaminated.

Husky Energy's oil spill seeps through waterways in Saskatchewan on Mon. July 25, 2016.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Wildlife impacted by spill Husky, a Calgary-based energy company, has set up at least five booms in the region to contain the spill, the cause of which is still unknown. An estimated 1,570 barrels of crude oil and diluent (Tar Sands diluted bitumen) were leaked from its pipeline on Thursday, which runs from its heavy oil operations to its facilities in Lloydminster.

Husky has reported that shoreline cleanup is underway near the pipeline site, surveillance by ground, air, and water continues, and water monitoring and sample testing programs remain in place. While deterrent devices are also being used to keep wildlife away from the spill, the company said that one of three birds coated in oil by the accident has died at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Society of Saskatchewan.

"Our primary focus continues to be the safety of the public and the protection of the environment," read a statement on Husky's website. "Anyone encountering an impacted animal or bird should call Husky’s 24-hour emergency line at: 1-877-262-2111."

The pipeline was installed in 1997, the company told National Observer, and has been regularly inspected under Husky's management plan. Roughly 100,000 litres of spilled oil have been collected from the land and water so far.

Cleanup continues The company is co-operating with and supporting the rehabilitation centre, and municipal and provincial authorities. The pipeline is regulated by provincial authorities rather than the National Energy Board, but Wes Kotyk of Saskatchewan's environmental protection branch told reporters on Monday that Environment Canada is working on models to predict when communities can expect the oil to pass and how long it will take to flow through.

He added that recent rain has also affected the amount of water in the river, hampering the cleanup efforts. The first of the downstream containment booms, which was located on the river near Paynton, Sask., was damaged because of debris that was flowing in the river rain upstream in Alberta, he said.

"The water is quite dirty with suspended particulates and whatnot, and in some cases you can get oil attached to those particulates," he explained. "If you run into these semi−floating blobs of mud and oil, that can be more problematic."

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

Water flows over the spillway at the St. Lucie Lock and Dam in Martin County, July 23, 2013.

More toxic chemicals allowed in Florida waterways July 26, 2016

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels TALLAHASSEE Florida regulators voted to approve new water quality standards Tuesday that will increase the amount of cancer-causing toxins allowed in Florida’s rivers and streams under a plan that the state says will protect more Floridians than the current standards do.

The Environmental Regulation Commission voted 3-2 to approve a proposal drafted by state regulators that would impose new standards on 39 chemicals not currently regulated by the state, and revise the regulations on 43 other toxins, most of which are carcinogens.

“We have not updated these parameters since 1992. It is more good than harm,” said Cari Roth, a Tallahassee lawyer who represents developers on the governor-appointed commission and serves as its chair. “The practical effect is, it is not going to increase the amount of toxins going into our waters.”

But the proposal, based on a one-of-a-kind scientific method developed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and nicknamed “Monte Carlo,” is being vigorously criticized by environmental groups. They warn that the new standard would allow polluters to dump dangerous amounts of chemicals in high concentrations into Florida waters before they trigger the limits of the new rule, and let Florida adhere to standards that are weaker than federal guidelines.

“Monte Carlo gambling with our children’s safety is unacceptable,” said Marty Baum of Indian Riverkeeper, an environmental group based in Indian River County.

Under the proposal, the acceptable levels of toxins will be increased for more than two dozen known carcinogens and decreased for 13 currently regulated chemicals. DEP, however, touted the part of the plan that will impose new rules on 39 other chemicals that are not currently regulated, including two carcinogens.

The dozens of chemicals are among those released by oil and gas drilling companies (including fracking operations), dry cleaning companies, pulp and paper producers, nuclear plants, wastewater treatment plants and agriculture. Many of these industries support the new rule but the pulp and paper producers said told the commission the measure was too restrictive.

“The department has left no stone unturned to develop science-based and legally defensible criteria,” said Tom Frick, director of the DEP division of environmental management and restoration, during the daylong meeting.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency must now approve the rules, which are required under the federal Clean Water Act, before they take effect. After the narrow vote, several members of Florida’s congressional delegation sent a letter to the head of the EPA, voicing their concerns and asking for a public comment period for them to carefully evaluate each proposed human health criteria “to ensure the utmost protection for our population, environment, and economy.”

Linda Young, executive director of the Clean Water Network, which led the opposition to the rule, said her group will urge EPA to reject the plan but, if it is approved, “then absolutely we will file suit,” she said.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels DEP aggressively defended its proposal, saying it has been developing the criteria for more than a decade and was forced to develop a consistent model that could be defended in court. Drew Bartlett, assistant secretary at DEP, said one of the most frequent questions is why the state can’t retain the current levels relating to carcinogens while adopting new levels for all the other compounds.

“What would be wrong with keeping the current levels?” he said. “We’re charged with implementing state law and federal law, and those two laws don’t make room for not basing the criteria on a scientific process because they have to be based on logic and facts.”

Agency officials also defended the use of the Monte Carlo scientific method — also known as “probabilistic analysis” — saying it is more indicative of Florida variables, helping to shield people who consume large amounts of fish from the buildup of dangerous toxins.

The approach creates thousands of variables to calculate the health effects of being exposed to a lifetime of toxic chemicals by taking into consideration average body weight, drinking water consumption rate, fish and shellfish consumption rate, and the fat content of fish — important because fat absorbs most of the toxins in seafood.

During the hearing, more than three dozen people representing the Miccosukee Tribe, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Broward County, Martin County, Physicians for Social Responsibility and others raised concerns. Many of them argued that the new rules were 80 percent to 90 percent less protective than the federal EPA recommendations for all but a few of the dozens of chemicals.

“We want this to happen but we’d like this to happen in a way that is actually going to protect human health in Florida,” said Linda Young, executive director of the Florida Clean Water Network.

Commissioner Adam Gelber of Miami, a senior scientist who represents science and technical interests on the commission, opposed the rule. He commended the department but said he was not confident that the information was based on Florida data.

“I fear there is a fatal flaw,” Gelber said. He questioned the decision by DEP to increase the allowed levels of benzene, a known carcinogen.

DEP initially proposed raising the standard on benzene from 1.18 parts per billion in Florida’s drinking water sources to 3 parts per billion but, after public outcry, the agency revised its criteria and reduced the level to 2 parts per billion. The federal standard for benzene is 1.14 parts per billion.

“If we went back and adjusted the models, how would the other criteria drop?” Gelber asked. “It would appear to me there are some tweaks in the system that could be made across the board.”

Environmentalists say they are suspicious that DEP has increased the levels of benzene, which is found in the wastewater of oil and gas hydraulic fracturing operations, in an effort to pave the way for fracking in Florida.

DEP officials, however, said that the science of benzene has changed in recent years resulting in the higher limits.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Also voting against the proposal was Commissioner Joe Joyce of Gainesville, who represents agricultural interests on the commission. He also raised questions about the unexplained rise in benzene levels and asked Bartlett if there was “any correlation between this rule and benzene and fracking?”

“We don’t see a connection between this rule and fracking,” Bartlett responded. The the audience jeered.

Commissioner Craig Varn, a lawyer from Tallahassee who was the DEP general counsel a year ago, supported the rule, saying the decision came down to whether was going to accept the new modeling method or not.

“I’m erring on the side of human health,” he said. “Is it perfect? No.” In an interview with the Herald/Times, Varn said he could not recall being involved in the development of the rule while he was general counsel.

Broward County’s top environmental scientist was among those who urged the commission to reject the new rule, warning that it will lead to dangerous concentrations of chemicals that may not be detected by testing.

DEP’s documents acknowledge that permits can be allowed to require companies to meet the water quality standard in a water body after the discharge has passed through what is known as “mixing zones,” thereby allowing for dilution and diffusion of the pollution beyond the point of discharge before it’s tested, said Jennifer Jurado, director of Broward County environmental planning and community resilience division.

By contrast, she said, Broward County water quality criteria imposes a stricter standard, imposing water quality testing at the end of the pipe where the chemicals are discharged into a water body.

“So there is a lot of flexibility, depending on how they choose to apply the standard, that creates an exposure,” she said.

The commission was scolded for not having its full complement of members while agreeing to reschedule the vote on the controversial rules from September to July. The ERC lasts met in December 2015 and two of the seven positions — the representative for the environmental community and another representing local government — have been left vacant by Gov. Rick Scott.

As the commission was about to take a vote, John Moran, who identified himself as a graduate student from Stanford University, walked to the dais and sat in an open chair.

“The governor has spat on our decision process by keeping these seats vacant for over a year,” he said. DEP security escorted him out, and the commission voted.

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

Fishing gear abandoned in ocean being collected in B.C. town for recycling July 25, 2015 Massive bags of nylon – stripped from old fishing nets – are being collected in Steveston, B.C., in an attempt to put a dent in the tonnes of gear lost and discarded in the world’s oceans every year that clog up harbours and endanger marine life.

Eventually, the material will be shipped to Europe, melted down and recycled to make products ranging from swimwear to carpet tile.

Hazardous 'ghost gear' repurposed in B.C. town (The Globe and Mail) “Part of the problem is that not a lot of people realize this is a problem,” says Joel Baziuk, the operations supervisor at the Steveston Harbour Authority in Richmond, B.C., who is piloting the recycling program.

“Because most of the stuff that’s out there is primarily beneath the water – so it’s not visible.”

The harbour authority has joined The Global Ghost Gear Initiative, an effort launched last year to remove lost and discarded fishing gear and prevent further pollution. The UN says such material amounts to 640,000 tonnes.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels The program, inspired by a similar effort in the Philippines, is designed to make use of fishing nets that are abandoned in the water, tossed into landfills or stored on land. Mr. Baziuk says the current focus is on nylon from the nets, but he is also in talks with a Danish company to find ways to recycle the rest.

In Steveston, the stripped nylon is bagged and sent in massive batches to a recycling plant in Europe – Mr. Baziuk says there is no comparable option in Canada or closer – where it is melted and transformed into a fibre that can be used in a variety of products.

Mr. Baziuk says he can keep the project going in Steveston only because the recycling company pays for shipping and labour.

But those elsewhere with nets, would need a way to move (and pay to move) them to the facility in Steveston. Mr. Baziuk says this is not feasible for many fishermen and harbour authorities.

He says the only realistic way to scale up the program will be to find outside funding to cover transportation costs.

Canada’s Fisheries department says that although some regional efforts are being made, no national program exists to remove gear from the country’s waters.

Canada’s current regulations encourage, but do not require, commercial fishing vessels to report gear that gets lost to the department. The government does not know how much has been lost.

Josey Kitson, Canadian executive director of World Animal Protection, which launched the Ghost Gear Initiative, says of all the things that can get lost at sea, nets pose the greatest threat to ocean life.

“Basically, they’re a floating death trap,” she said.

Ms. Kitson said some animals that get tangled in them drag the gear for long distances and become exhausted, while others drown. “It is really a huge animal-welfare issue.”

She says few organizations in Canada are addressing the issue and many of those that do struggle to find funds to support their efforts.

Lori Wiedeman, former president of the Queen Charlotte City Harbour Authority in Haida Gwaii, B.C., got in touch with Mr. Baziuk about a pile of old nets.

Not keen to throw them in landfill, Ms. Wiedeman liked the recycling option at Steveston – but realized transit logistics, as flagged by Mr. Baziuk, would be tricky.

Ms. Wiedeman is working with Mr. Baziuk to launch a campaign next year to raise awareness of the issue.

They hope to survey harbours around the province and maybe even other parts of the country, to get a better idea of the scale of the issue and tell people about the problems that arise from abandoned nets and other gear.

One of their goals is to attract attention and funding to the work being done in Steveston so the net recycling program and similar efforts can grow.

“I think it would be a really neat initiative for Canada,” Ms. Wiedeman said. “We also have our 150th birthday happening next year, so I’m hoping to get some federal interest in it too.”

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

Salmon Feedlots – Weapons of Mass Destruction, Floating Cesspools

Operation Virus Hunter: A Salmon PSA with Pamela Anderson

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

Operation Virus Hunter -- Sea Shepherd Launches Campaign to Investigate Farmed Salmon Industry

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

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

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

Celebrity activists launch B.C. salmon farm expedition David Suzuki gets pretty scatological when he talks about his problems with open-net salmon farming on B.C.’s coast.

July 19, 2016

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels “As a scientist, it makes no sense to grow animals in open nets where you use the ocean as a shithouse,” the famed environmentalist told reporters Monday. “Not only are you pooping in the ocean, but you’re also sharing the growth of sea lice and infections that explode in the enclosures.”

Suzuki has joined forces with actor Pamela Anderson, biologist Alexandra Morton and First Nations leaders to launch Operation Virus Hunter, a mission that will see scientists observing fish farms along the path of the Fraser River sockeye migration all the way to northern Vancouver Island. Along the way, they will be checking for diseased fish and other wildlife near aquaculture operations, searching for toxic algae blooms and looking at the waste that flows out of the marine net pens.

A key focus of the voyage will be testing for piscine reovirus (PRV), an infection that Morton claims is “strongly linked” to heart and skeletal muscle inflammation disease (HSMI) in salmon. HSMI is associated with mortality rates of up to 20 per cent in other parts of the world, and it appeared at a salmon farm in B.C. this spring.

Last year, a Federal Court judge ordered Fisheries and Oceans Canada to tighten up its rules on the transfer of fish into aquaculture pens after smolts bred by Marine Harvest Canada tested positive for PRV. But those in the aquaculture industry dispute Morton’s claims of a strong link between PRV and HSMI — as do fisheries scientists with the federal government.

“It’s important to note that this particular virus doesn’t cause disease in salmon in British Columbia,” insisted Jeremy Dunn, executive director of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association. “It’s actually very commonly found in the ocean.”

DFO research scientist Stewart Johnson confirmed there have been no reports of the virus causing illness in wild salmon here.

“It appears that it’s been around on this coast for a fair amount of time, but it’s simply gone unnoticed,” he said.

“One of the reasons why it’s probably gone unnoticed is that, unlike most other pathogens we have in British Columbia, it hasn’t caused disease that we recognize.”

The virus has been observed in all species of wild Pacific salmon, with the exception of pinks, in samples dating back at least 18 years, according to Johnson. It’s been found all the way from Washington state to Alaska, including in fish farms and in areas where there are no fish farms.

Canadian scientists have tested the possibility of a link between PRV and disease by infecting fish in the laboratory and then monitoring them for signs of illness. This research has been performed on sockeye, Chinook and coho, and each time the results have been the same.

“We have not been able to cause disease,” Johnson said. This is not uncommon for reoviruses, which are nicknamed “orphan viruses” because of the frequent lack of connection to disease.

However, he added that this is still an active area of research, and one Norwegian study has suggested an association between PRV and HSMI.

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

Video: Salmon Farms are Poison

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

Video 3: Voyage for Salmon

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

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

Wild juvenile Pacific salmon in salmon feedlot mort tote – Illegal!

Alexandra Morton When Melissa Willie, Dzawada/enuxw Band Councillor boarded the mort floats she found young wild salmon and other wild fish lying among the dead farm salmon. There is no reason that the Kingcome herring have not returned, they have not been fished for 30 years. I took Marine Harvest to court for illegal by-catch of tonnes of juvenile herring in their Arrow Pass farm and young wild salmon in their Potts Bay farm, both in Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw territory. I did not take any samples, fish were too rotten and I am not going to steal fish, but in my view this industry is eating our coast to death and to see so many wild fish in just a few totes when there are over 100 of these totes throughout the archipelago, echoes George Quocksister Jr. concerns. see the three small fish on the left and the small fish in the corner of the tote.

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

Dying Atlantic salmon risk to Fraser Sockeye?

July 28, 2016 Dear Mike Ballard Field Supervisor, Aquaculture Conservation and Protection Unit, Fisheries and Oceans Canada I am writing to recommend that you attend the Cermaq Venture Point farm and the Marine Harvest Sonora farm because of the high number of moribund and dying Atlantic salmon in the pens.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Ian Roberts of Marine Harvest wrote to me on Jul 27th: “Okisollo Channel is currently seeing levels drop below 5.0 mg/l at times, and low levels of D.O. can be stressful to fish. The top metre of the ocean is often richer in D.O. so fish know to surface to run their gills through the top layer of water. This will be seen as “finning” on the surface. At these times, we stop feeding and if required we are able to turn on air compressors to provide additional air. The staff also stay off the system during low D.O. times, so not to disturb the fish or have the fish think it is feeding time. “ Cermaq has posted on their website that they had a low oxygen event last night July 27-28.

While this may well be true I have several observations that give me cause for concern that the cause of the moribund fish in these farms may not be solely due to low dissolved oxygen.

I observed dying salmon in these farms on June 4th with chunks of farmed salmon flesh drifting out of the Sonora farm in Okisollo Channel (attached) so this fish health event appears to be ongoing for over a month I viewed fining and dying Atlantic salmon in these pens on July 25th prior to the low DO event https://www.voyageforsalmon.ca/4275-2/ The behaviour of the fish fining on the surface in these farms appears consistent with HSMI The Venture Point farm reports discovery of lesions consistent with HSMI in 2013 91% of HSMI outbreaks in Norway had a previous outbreak with the last year within a 50km radius (Kristoffersen et al 2013).

Not all the pens appear equally affected, in some pens the fish are lying on the surface with fish rolling over and dying, while in other pens the fish are leaping.

The adult Fraser sockeye passing through the Discovery Islands right now are tracking at well below average returns. Expected spawning escapement for Fraser River sockeye salmon is well below the goal for a maintaining a healthy stock (DFO Fisheries Fraser River update July 26).

Commercial fishermen are loosing income to protect these stocks by not fishing. Sportfishing on Fraser sockeye will not occur this summer. The brood for year for this year’s Shuswap return was less than 100 fish, near-extinction levels.

In short, the Fraser sockeye swimming through the Discovery Islands are in an extremely fragile state and other sectors are working to protect them. It should be expected that dying Atlantic salmon in this region are of very high concern and that DFO should not leave the assessment of risk from these fish to Fraser sockeye salmon to Cermaq/Mitsubishi and Marine Harvest.

This is why I recommend that DFO attend Sonora and Venture Point salmon farms. I feel it would be in the interests of Canadians to provide samples of these fish to Dr Kristi Miller, as the capacity of her lab to identify pathogens and impact on the health of salmon is critical.

I will remain at these farms until DFO’s visit.

Thank you and please be patient with poor cell service/internet. I will be standing by on the Martin Sheen, Channel 16.

Alexandra Morton

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

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

Video: Wild Juvenile Salmon Impacted by Dead and Dying Farmed Atlantic Salmon

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

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

First Nations group urges feds to stop expansion of fish farms July 27, 2016 The First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance is calling on the federal government to stop expansion of fish farming and include First Nations in its efforts to protect wild salmon.

Open-net pen farming threatens the health of wild salmon stocks, chairman Bob Chamberlin said, and many farms were established without adequately consulting First Nations.

“We have about one third of the total [fish-farming] industry in our territories and it’s really troubling,” said Chamberlin, who is also chief councillor of the Kwikwasutinuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation.

Some were established decades ago without the chief’s consent, he said.

“That’s been the long, sad history of the industry in our territory — a complete and utter disregard for First Nation title and rights,” he said.

Chamberlin is writing to federal Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc, requesting a meeting next month. He wants Cohen Commission principles to be implemented and the government to support a move toward land-based, closed-containment aquaculture.

The Cohen Commission into the decline of Fraser River sockeye, tabled in 2012, made 73 recommendations to protect wild salmon, including shutting down farms in the Discovery Islands that pose risks to wild stocks.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Closed-containment aquaculture prevents the chance of escaped fish and salmon-lice infestations from spreading to wild stocks.

“Wild salmon is the main source of protein for First Nations across B.C. It feeds into our traditions and cultures … so it’s a keystone resource for us,” Chamberlin said.

A University of Toronto study released last week found an epidemic of sea lice in 2015 throughout salmon farms in the Queen Charlotte Strait.

Sea lice spread to migrating juvenile wild salmon, resulting in the highest number of sea lice observed on wild salmon in a decade, the study said. Scientists observed sea lice on more than 70 per cent of fish sampled in the Broughton Archipelago.

Chamberlin is one of many voices calling for changes to the fish-farming industry. Among them is biologist Alexandra Morton, who is visiting fish farms along the Fraser River sockeye migration routes from Vancouver to the north end of Vancouver Island.

In partnership with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Morton is testing for disease in what is described as a “non-aggressive” manner, as well as checking other wildlife near aquaculture operations, searching for toxic algae blooms and looking at the waste that flows out of the marine net pens.

On May 6, 2015, the Federal Court of Canada sided with Morton and struck down aquaculturelicence conditions that allowed private companies to transfer fish infected with viruses to open-pen farms in the ocean without ministerial permission.

But at least one First Nation has said the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is not welcome to visit two small Atlantic salmon farms on the Campbell River nation’s territory. Tlowitsis Chief John Smith said fish farming is becoming a cornerstone of the nation’s economy.

Jeremy Dunn, executive director of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, said the industry’s track record speaks for itself.

“Salmon on farms are very healthy, with about 90 per cent surviving through to harvest. And every farm in B.C. has at least one audited third-party certification to back up their sustainability claims,” he said.

Seventy-eight per cent of salmon is raised in B.C. under a First Nations agreement, involving economic and social benefits for host communities.

The Kwikwasutinuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation is one of the few communities that doesn’t have an agreement, he said.

“Salmon farmers have reached out to Mr. Chamberlin’s band many times to try and establish a partnership, and have not been met with a willing partner,” Dunn said.

In 2013, 17,300 tonnes of wild salmon and 81,500 tonnes of farmed salmon were harvested in B.C. Farmed salmon was B.C.’s top seafood commodity, accounting for $475.8 million, almost 59 per cent of total seafood revenues and 95 per cent of salmon revenues, according to the province.

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Captain ‘Fanch’ helms the R/V ‘Martin Sheen,’ a research vessel currently used by biologist/activist Alexandra Morton

Meet the Crew Aboard the Fish-Farm Patrolling ‘Martin Sheen’ No ‘hippie terrorists’ here, the sailors supporting Alexandra Morton’s research mission share a passion for ocean life.

Sailing aboard the Martin Sheen for a couple of days can quickly crush every expectation one might have about the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Yes, the direct action society may be known in some quarters for ramming Japanese whaling boats, throwing smoke grenades and cutting illegal fishing nets, but the Sheen, a 24-metre ketch with an aluminum hull, doesn’t do any of that.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels It may fly a Jolly Roger, but it remains a different kind of boat with a peaceful mission.

In fact, the former 40-year-old Caribbean yacht now sailing up Vancouver Island operates much like its hardworking and respected Hollywood namesake: Martin Sheen.

(Every boat in the society’s growing armada is named after a famous society supporter — from the Bob Barker to the Farley Mowat.)

Nor can one find any “hippie terrorists” or “militant activists” on board. Like many Sea Shepherd vessels, the Sheen is staffed by a savvy and committed crew of mariners from around the world.

“The boat is a great tool for diving, for filming and for research,” explained 38-year-old skipper Francois “Fanch” Martin, a lean Britton and master mariner whose daily attire consists of shorts, Tshirt and sunglasses.

Martin, a veteran campaigner who once helped hide Paul Watson in the South Pacific after INTERPOL issued a wanted persons alert on behalf of Japan, is the kind of avid sailor who can read Richard Henry Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast and actually understand the 19th-century rigging lore.

When not taking on difficult sailing assignments for the society, Martin operates a whale sightseeing business on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar.

“My favourite part is helping the researchers accomplish as much as they can,” said Martin, and that’s what he and his tight crew are now doing with the activist/biologist Alexandra Morton.

Paul Watson, the society’s larger-than-life director and still a fugitive on INTERPOL’s Red List (he has been granted amnesty in France), loaned the scientist the boat’s services for two months this summer.

In addition to attracting the Canadian government’s attention, the goal is to “address the destruction of natural habitats and indigenous salmon species by domestic fish farms,” Watson wrote in a Facebook post.

Morton, who credits steady declines in wild salmon populations to the impact of diseases from fish farms, has not only parked the boat outside Atlantic salmon feedlots in the Okisollo Channel but documented one major fish die-off. She has also collected samples of mussels both near and far from farms for virus testing in a B.C. lab.

In response, the foreign-controlled industry has accused one of its most vocal critics of harassment along with “strange and unusual behaviour.” It has called the operation a costly PR stunt.

But Martin is nonplussed, because he said observing fish farms with cameras or drones is pretty tame stuff in the scheme of things.

Unlike other ocean campaigns that operate with military-like precision and often for TV cameras, “Operation Virus Hunter” is a fairly laid-back affair and follows the instincts of Morton.

“With Alex nothing is planned, and for me that is okay. She is fantastic,” said Martin.

The Sheen, like all Sea Shepherd vessels, is entirely staffed by volunteers from all walks of life and only the skipper is paid. The volunteers seem to share an abiding passion for ocean life, and that most basic of human desires to do something meaningful.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Take Katja Walther, the ship’s 21-year-old cook and deckhand.

Born in the Comox Valley, she recently volunteered to serve on the Farley Mowat in the Sea of Cortez to protect a small, endangered porpoise, the vaquita, from illegal gill-netters.

The Mexican campaign illuminated a typical global mash-up. Chinese market demand for the bladder of an endangered sea bass combined with local fishermen funded by drug cartels had encouraged a wholesale massacre of sea life.

Rays, hammerheads and vaquitas all perished in gill nets set for the sea bass. Poachers cut out the bladders — known as “aquatic cocaine” — and then threw the rest of the fish back in the water.

Although Walther found the campaign in Mexico rewarding (even the Mexican navy and government supported “Operation Milagro”), she prefers working on issues closer to home. “The ocean and salmon are the backbone of B.C. Everything is so interconnected. Fish farms put the entire coast at risk and people need to know that.”

One of the quirks of the society is that all Sea Shepherd vessels have been serving vegan meals since 2002. You won’t find eggs, honey or even cheese in the galley of any of the vessels, explains Walther. She even became a vegan three months prior to sailing with the society.

A Sea Shepherd blog explains that that veganism offers “powerful alternatives to eight billion human beings and their domestic animals eating the oceans alive.”

The society has its own book of recipes (Cookin’ Up a Storm), but Walther says her favorite cookbook is the profane Thug Kitchen: Eat Like You Give a Fuck.

Each volunteer seems to bring a different perspective and history to the vessel.

Ivan Alexis, a 42-year-old California software design manager, was born in Argentina and has sailed both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He volunteered to serve on the Sheen “to help give back to the ocean in a way that is meaningful.”

Whenever completing his duties as deckhand, Alexis routinely nurtured an ever-present cup of maté, a caffeine-rich herbal Argentine tea.

What surprised Alexis most about Operation Virus Hunter with Alexandra Morton was its focus on people and culture.

“If the wild salmon disappear, the culture of First Nations and a way of life disappears... here we can save a way of life and that’s what attracted me about this project.”

Mike Rigney, the 31-year-old first mate and engineer aboard the Sheen, expressed similar sentiments.

With more than 15,000 nautical miles on sailing vessels, the Michigan-born Rigney caught the conservation bug while working for an environmental NGO in Africa protecting rhinos.

When he learned about the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 2013, he felt he had found the perfect match.

The notion that “hippie terrorists” somehow operate the society is grossly outdated, explains Rigney.

“The Martin Sheen is removing that stigma. We facilitate science. We are a research vessel.”

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Rigney noted that the society, whose popularity keeps on growing, recently secured a whopping $8.3 million euros from the Dutch postcode lottery.

One of the boat’s most seasoned mariners is Matt Kimura, a native of San Francisco.

Prior to becoming a physical education schoolteacher, Kimura worked 16 years on oil tankers and barges owned by Exxon. He got his first taste of Sea Shepherd work by serving as bosun on a notorious anti-whaling campaign in 2010.

During that tempestuous outing, a Japanese whaler sideswiped the Ady Gil. (You can watch Kimura in Animal Planet’s highly popular TV series, Whale Wars).

But Kimura prefers patrolling fish farms in B.C.’s waters to battling the Japanese whaling fleet in the Antarctic Ocean.

“I’m very impressed with Alexandra Morton and her commitment and non-stop work ethic,” Kimura said.

The marine engineer is somewhat baffled by Canadian complacency about the state of the ocean given what so many people get from it.

“I’m surprised there isn’t more public outcry about the fish farms from commercial and sport fishermen.”

But to skipper Martin, the biggest surprise of the voyage so far has been the clear-cut logging around Vancouver Island.

Every time the Martin Sheen parked itself outside an Atlantic salmon feedlot, the crew found itself staring at well-logged landscapes replanted with what Martin described as tree-like matches.

“That’s terrible to see.”

As for the plight of wild salmon, Martin doesn’t understand the logical appeal of fish farms to government regulators.

“Can’t you make more money from wild salmon in terms of tourism and sport fishing than the fish farms? There is something missing here.”

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

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

Video: Who decided that wild salmon would go the way of the American buffalo?

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

Alexandra Morton Farm salmon coming out of the Cermaq/Mitsubishi Venture Point salmon farm today Tina Keely This is unbelievable and any idiot that stands in front of a camera for the fish farm companies and says there is nothing wrong, is lying through their teeth and trying to create fraud to the people of Canada and probably around the world...

Alexandra Morton I did not skin this, it came out of the water like this along with hundreds of others some freshly dead and others long dead. A couple of workers on the farm are disposing of it. What is so disturbing about this situation is that DFO won't come out to investigate.

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

Fish-farm escapees are weakening Norwegian wild salmon genetics Farmed salmon escaping from Norwegian aquaculture facilities are mating with wild salmon frequently enough to dilute their genetic stock, according to a recent paper. As a result the wild salmon have decreased genetic variability, according to the study authors, who are based at Norway’s government-run National Institute for Nature Study. Low genetic variability can make a species more susceptible to disease or even extinction.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Norway is the world’s largest producer of farmed adult Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and broodstock for salmon farms. The first salmon farms were established in Norway and Scotland in 1960.

“Escapes can happen in many ways,” statistician Ola Diserud, one of the study’s first authors, told Mongabay via email. Net pens torn open by storms can free hundreds of thousands of fish.

Thousands more get loose in rivers as a result of careless handling by technicians, and the number of smolt or baby salmon lost in “trickle escapes” is “unknown but large,” Diserud said.

The study’s finding that escapees have an “extensive” influence on the genetic makeup of wild populations is somewhat counterintuitive. Farmed salmon are bred for their meat, and the traits companies carefully select for, like size and late reproductive age, would make the fish less fit for survival and spawning in local rivers. (When salmon enter reproduction mode, their flesh turns pale, mushy and flavorless.)

However, Diserud said his research shows that, “the continuous influx of new escapees over years may result in a significant genetic introgression even in high density populations.” Introgression is a diluting of genetic stock that occurs at a population level when animals from one distinct group breed with another — in this case farmed Atlantic salmon interbreeding with wild Atlantic salmon.

Diserud’s team’s research drew on a genetic analysis of 21,562 wild-caught juvenile and adult salmon from 147 rivers — a geographical sampling that the authors say represents three-fourths of Norway’s salmon population. The team compared genetic markers from the wild-caught fish against a reference library of genotypes of farmed individuals sourced from three prominent aquaculture companies and wild individuals from all over Norway.

The researchers found that every population they tested had some intermixing. Diserud said that on average, 6.4 percent of genetic material in the sampled fish came from farmed salmon.

The levels of introgression were higher for rivers in regions with many fish farms or a longestablished aquaculture industry. In western Norway’s Hordaland County, which the authors dub “one of the two cradles of fish farming,” on average, 42.2 percent of the genetic material in sampled fish came from farmed salmon. This means that the average wild-caught fish in Hordaland County had one parent that originated on a fish farm. In all, the researchers found “significant introgression” in the wild salmon populations of nearly half the rivers they sampled.

Meanwhile, in National Salmon Rivers and National Salmon Fjords, which have protections from salmon farming and other human activities, they found lower levels of introgression: 4.5 percent and 6.4 percent respectively.

Diserud said that the ability of any individual farmed salmon to infiltrate and mate within a wild salmon population depends on the size of the local population and how much time the escapee has in the wild.

“For example, if the salmon escaped early and spent a year or more at sea before entering a river it will be more fit,” he said. Meanwhile, in low-density wild populations, “female farm salmon have easier access to good spawning sites and therefore better egg survival chances; and the farm males will have a better chance for participating in the spawning.”

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels “I think this is a really relevant paper,” said Ivan Arismendi of Oregon State University, who studies the effects of invasive species within stream ecosystems and is unaffiliated with Diserud’s team.

“There are several scientific articles about the potential influences of salmon aquaculture escapees, but not in sites where salmonids are native species.”

“The extensive genetic introgression documented here poses a serious challenge to the management of farmed and wild Atlantic salmon in Norway and, in all likelihood, in other regions where farmed-salmon escape events occur with regularity,” Diserud and his co-authors write in the paper.

They go on to say that the Norwegian wild salmon genetic stock will become further weakened “unless substantial reduction of escaped farmed salmon in the wild, or sterilization of farmed salmon, can be achieved.”

An Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), at the Atlanterhavsparken aquarium in Ålesund, Norway.

Citations Karlsson S., Diserud O. H., Fiske P., Hindar K. (2016). Widespread genetic introgression of escaped farmed Atlantic salmon in wild salmon populations. International Council for the Exploration of the Sea Journal of Marine Science doi: 10.1093/icesjms/fsw121.

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

Video: Why Salmon is Pink

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

Quinaults join suit seeking reversal of USDA approval of genetically engineered salmon The Quinault Indian Nation last week joined in a U.S. District Court lawsuit filed against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March to have the decision to approve genetically modified salmon as food for people overturned.

The major plaintiffs in the case are Earthjustice and the Center for Food Safety. The two entities along with the Quinaults helped compose a group of about a dozen plaintiffs which includes the Institute for Fisheries Resources, and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Associations that filed the class action suit in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Also cited as defendants are the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, commissioner of the U.S. Food And Drug Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“They (FDA) didn’t consider treaty rights. It didn’t even involve federal wildlife agencies. It simply did not consider how these man-created animals, engineered to grow twice as big as natural salmon, will affect the fish provided to us by our Creator,” said Fawn Sharp, president of the Quinault Indian Nation. “All they heard was very flimsy assurance from AquaBounty that their ‘Frankenfish’ would not escape—something that has been disproved many times.”

The engineered product, named AquAdvantage Salmon, brings together Atlantic salmon, Pacific salmon, and ocean eelpout. AquaBounty Technologies Inc., based in Massachusetts, designed the species to reach maturity much faster than wild salmon.

According to information on AquaBounty’s web site where the company explains why their product is of benefit, many of the world’s fisheries are being harvested at their maximum sustainable yield while some are in danger of collapse. A 2006 study published in the American Journal of Science predicted the loss of all commercially captured species of fish by 2048 if fishing practices were not altered and fisheries were not better managed. Yet fishing continues as the demand for seafood increases.

“The Quinaults bring unique perspective to the suit not only as fisherman and hatchery operators, but through their historic, cultural and spiritual connection to wild salmon and salmon runs,” said Stephen D. Mashuda, an Earthjustice attorney working on this case for the plaintiffs.

FDA officials based their decision on what the Quinaults and other plaintiffs consider out-of-date rules and say their decision will only worsen conditions for wild salmon.

“Congress never intended or provided a means for FDA to regulate twenty-first century GE animals using its 1938 authority over veterinary animal drugs,” according to the suit filing.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Mashuda said AquaBounty plans to produce the salmon eggs in a lab in Prince Edward Island, Canada, transport them to Panama to be raised and processed, and then deliver the fillets to the United States for sale. ”Doing only that doesn’t seem lucrative enough for the company to focus on indefinitely,” he said.

Mashuda added AquaBounty will eventually sell eggs to fish farmers, and that would increase the likelihood of their sterile fish becoming mixed with the wild population. He noted money is not made by having a small, narrow proposal and raising a couple of thousand fish.

“Reversing the FDA decision would only be a start because this action has set a legal framework for how these things are going to be handled,” Mashuda said. “They’re introducing a new species to the world. (The FDA) needs to look at the impact much more broadly than they did here.”

AquaBounty plans to start selling their product next year.

FDA officials approved the product in November 2015. A few months earlier, in July, it was announced by the president’s executive office that the FDA, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Agriculture would modernize their regulatory systems for biotechnology products over the next few years. It was during the Reagan Administration, specifically in 1986, when a comprehensive federal policy for regulating biotechnology products was created, Mashuda pointed out.

Telephone messages left for AquaBounty’s media contact weren’t returned on Tuesday.

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

Chile's government implementing stricter norms for salmon industry Chile's government said on Monday that it is putting in place stricter regulations for salmon farmers to combat wide-spread infections that have killed millions of fish and caused hefty financial losses for companies in recent years.

The regulatory changes are aimed at having salmon farmers in Chile, the world's second-biggest salmon producer after Norway, reduce the density of fish in pens and space farms further apart.

"This is a set of very complex measures aimed at taking care of the health of our (salmon industry)," Raul Sunico, the undersecretary for the Chilean government's Subpesca fishing and aquaculture body, told reporters.

Regulators will also require fish pens to be certified so as to avoid salmon from escaping. Escaped salmon have wreaked havoc in Chile's rivers, as the ravenous fish eat most of the native fish population.

The coastal waters 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 find an effective vaccine to treat the virulent and pervasive bacteria, salmon producers have been using record amounts of antibiotics in recent years, driving away some U.S. retailers.

They intensified their usage of antibiotics in 2015 from the previous year, government statistics showed earlier this month.

In 2007, the ISA virus devastated Chile's farmed-salmon industry, killing more than half of all fish.

Chilean companies AquaChile, Blumar, Camanchaca, Australis Seafoods, Multiexport Foods, Invermar, and the local unit of Norway's Marine Harvest have salmon farming operations in the nation.

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

Deadly Norwegian disease found in BC’s farmed salmon is a game-changer July 5, 2016 The discovery of Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation (HSMI) in BC’s farmed salmon has been couched in cautious and evasive terms by the industry and government. HSMI “might” have been found. It’s “yet another piece in the complex puzzle of salmon health on the Pacific Coast,” noted the former Minister of Fisheries, Hunter Tootoo.

Jeremy Dunn, executive director of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, also downplayed the significance of the announcement: The findings announced by the SSHI [Strategic Salmon Health Initiative] regarding a potential diagnosis of Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation in fish from one Atlantic salmon farm in B.C. are important. However, there is no consensus amongst the scientific community about the finding as the fish sampled in this farm showed no clinical signs of the disease.

But the finding of HSMI is extremely significant. Understanding why requires some additional information.

Virus causes disease HSMI is related to piscine reovirus (PRV) as HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is related to AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). Salmon don’t get HSMI unless they have PRV. Just as HIV is asymptomatic, PRV is also asymptomatic — which explains why it is not technically called a “disease”. In its early stages, HSMI may also exhibit no “clinical signs of disease”. But it can be fatal.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels HSMI is the symptomatic stage of PRV. As the degree of PRV infection increases, heart muscles are damaged, organs are impaired and muscles are compromised. Eventually fish are so debilitated by a weakened heart, malfunctioning organs and inflamed muscles that they are unable to swim.

HSMI is now the third largest cause of mortality for salmon farming in Norway. But this is the industry’s problem. The real environmental concern is the spread of PRV and HSMI to wild salmon.

A BC-raised farmed Atlantic salmon with signs of HSMI (Alexandra Morton) Virus can spread quickly PRV is extremely infectious. First identified in Norway in 1999, it spread quickly to 417 farms, and in 2010 was identified by Norwegian scientists as the cause of HSMI. On July 9, 2010, the scientific journal, PLOS One, published “Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation of Farmed Salmon is Associated with Infection with Novel Reovirus” (Gustavo Palacios, W. Ian Lipkin, et al.), linking HSMI with this “novel” piscine reovirus. PRV eventually spread to BC, probably by infected eggs imported to salmon farms from Norway.

As early as 2008 reports from BC’s veterinarian pathology lab showed “congestion and hemorrhage in the stratum compactum of the heart” in farmed salmon, symptoms consistent with HSMI. Estimates are that most farmed salmon in BC now have PRV — not a serious problem if their fish don’t die of HSMI. Wild salmon at risk But the situation is very different for wild salmon. The PRV imported from Norway is now thought to be spreading to BC’s wild fish. As early as 2011, Dr. Kristi Miller found PRV in Fraser River sockeye.

A year later, 13 of 15 Cultus Lake cutthroat trout were found with PRV. Norwegian scientists are of the opinion that HSMI may never be discovered in wild salmon because the fish would be too debilitated by the disease to survive predators and the challenging conditions of oceans and rivers.

The combination of PRV’s ubiquitous presence in salmon farms, its extreme virulence, and the fatal symptoms of HSMI could have devastating consequences for wild salmon populations.

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

West Creek Land Based Aquaculture

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

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

View of an ATCO camp to house workers building accommodation for Site C dam workers on the Peace River. Photos at or near the Site C project area on the Peace River near For St. John.

Vaughn Palmer: Site C development remains dam risky July 20, 2016

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels VICTORIA — For all the lingering controversies, B.C. Hydro continues to signal full speed ahead on construction of the giant hydroelectric dam at Site C on the Peace River.

“1,200 rooms now open at Site C worker lodge,” was the headline on the press release from the government-owned utility at the outset of the week. If calling it a “lodge” sounds like they’re putting on airs, be advised that this is not your father’s construction work camp.

“The accommodations will feature single-occupancy bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, television and Wi-Fi services,” according to the press release. “In addition, workers will have access to a fitness facility that will include cardio equipment and a weight training area.”

Nor is the price tag low budget. Hydro’s contract with the Calgary-based builder and operator of the worker accommodations for Site C is valued at almost half a billion dollars over eight years.

Though the mostly-from-B.C. workforce on the project is already nearing 1,600, not everyone needs a room. About 450 of them hail from the Peace region itself, according to a recent tally reported by the Alaska Highway News.

Several hundred additional workers are expected to swarm over the site in the fall to start building the main civil engineering works, including the concrete base for the generating station and preliminary work on diversion tunnels for the river.

All in keeping with Premier Christy Clark’s vow, voiced at the outset of the year, to get Site C “to the point of no return” before the election.

With construction underway and $3 billion worth of contracts locked in, the project is close to that point already in the B.C. Liberals’ estimation.

Still, significant risks remain, as Hydro itself acknowledged in a progress report delivered to the B.C. Utilities Commission last month. The report cites the geotechnical risks of building along that stretch of the river, a longstanding concern in the region and a factor in the collapse of the Peace River bridge at Taylor in 1957.

“Key geotechnical risks” spelled out in one unsettling passage in the report include “unexpected shears encountered during construction; deeper than expected relaxation joints; bedding planes worse than expected; larger than expected deterioration of shale bedrock once exposed during construction; and rock rebound/swell.” Sounds expensive.

Hydro says it has taken steps to mitigate those risks, conducting field trials and pressuring contractors to assume some of the financial burden. It has also given contractors leeway “to respond to unexpected ground conditions, potentially through pre-agreed pricing.” Which would put ratepayers on the hook as well.

Nor are these geotechnical concerns merely hypothetical, as the report went on to disclose: “Events associated with this risk have occurred on the North Bank gulley crossing, where unexpected slope failure occurred. B.C. Hydro has been working with the contractor to provide an engineered solution, and expects to address this issue within available funds. Once the main civil works contract is beginning excavation B.C. Hydro will have additional information about this risk.”

Considering that the latter contract is pegged at $1.75 billion, ratepayers may wish to hold their breath, pending an update.

August 2016 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2016– Transitioning from Fossil Fuels Hydro also flagged potential delays brought on by holdups in permitting, particularly arising from legal challenges by First Nations.

“Permits and licences are still required for several portions of construction activity. Delays to these permits and licences will result in delays to the associated construction work. B.C. Hydro continues to consult with federal and provincial authorities, local government and First Nations to mitigate this risk.

If B.C. Hydro is unsuccessful, this could result in a delay to the work underway and (financial) claims arising.”

The company is obliged to consult and accommodate the interests of a dozen First Nations whose traditional territories straddle the region. It has already reached settlements with some of them, the latest announced just Wednesday with the Alberta-based Dene Tha’ First Nation.

But the Prophet River and West Moberly First Nation are fighting the project in court after turning down offers that together amounted to millions of dollars in compensation and hundreds of hectares of crown land.

Their case will be heard in the federal court of appeal starting in September. Though lower courts have rejected earlier challenges to Site C — including theirs — the outcome might be different this time because of the recent federal court of appeal decision against the Enbridge Northern Gateway project.

Enbridge, like Hydro, engaged extensively with First Nations along the pipeline route through northern B.C. But the court found the federal government had failed to demonstrate that it had lived up to its primary constitutional obligations to consult and accommodate the interests of First Nations.

Similar considerations could be at play in the Site C appeal. For a federal-provincial joint review panel found that the dam and reservoir would have “significant adverse effects” on aboriginal fishing, hunting, trapping and other traditional rights. Moreover these “could not be mitigated” because the land would be flooded for all time.

Against that backdrop, comes mounting pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to respect his election platform commitments to First Nations and rescind approval for Site C. Privately, I’ve heard a concern from the B.C. Liberals that the feds may hold off further permitting, pending a clear signal from the courts.

In short for all Premier Clark’s determination, there are still some potential obstacles to her goal of making Site C a fait accompli before the next election.