Legacy - September 2015

Legacy

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eMagazine of Wild Game Fish Conservation International

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Cover: Another wild Pacific Ocean chinook salmon available for harvest due to effective conservation measures.

Photo credit: Charterboat Slammer

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

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

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

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

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

Wild Game Fish Conservation International Founders

Bruce Treichler

Jim Wilcox

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

Contents Special ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 5  Salish Sea: Seafloor Seen Through Doc’s Lenses _______________________________________________________ 5

Opinion ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 8  The Closing of the Canadian Mind ______________________________________________________________________ 8  Happy BC Day - FOUR More Salmon Farms! ____________________________________________________________ 12  Dead salmon, climate change and Northwest dams _____________________________________________________ 15  We Need Our Mighty Rivers to Save Salmon...And Whales ______________________________________________ 18

Fishing Photos and Funnies _______________________________________________________________________ 20  Fresh, wild Coho salmon - from the Pacific Ocean to the plate ___________________________________________ 20  Conservationist Extraordinaire, Sabra Woodworth - Fish On! ____________________________________________ 21  Life is grand when wild Pacific Ocean salmon are abundant _____________________________________________ 22

WGFCI Writes to Conserve Wild Fish and Those Who Rely on Them _________________________________ 23  Barak Obama ________________________________________________________________________________________ 23  Barak Obama ________________________________________________________________________________________ 23

Seafood consumption: Public health and environmental risks________________________________________ 25  Warning: Eating Farmed Salmon May Affect Your Baby _________________________________________________ 25  Listeria Recall for Kirkland, Marine Harvest Chilean Atlantic Salmon Filets _______________________________ 26  COSTCO: Farmed Salmon Has To GO! _________________________________________________________________ 27  A RENEGADE TRAWLER, HUNTED FOR 10,000 MILES BY VIGILANTES __________________________________ 29

Community Activism, Education and Outreach ______________________________________________________ 31  Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register _________________________________________________________ 31  Preliminary examination of contaminant loadings in farmed salmon, wild salmon and commercial salmon feed _________________________________________________________________________________________ 31  Tell Obama to stop Arctic oil exploration! ______________________________________________________________ 32    

Greenpeace protesters hang off St. Johns Bridge to block ship's passage________________________________ NW YOUTH CONSERVATION & FLY FISHING ACADEMY ________________________________________________ Wild Salmon Warrior Radio with Jay Peachy – Fridays at Noon __________________________________________ SPORT FISHING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST ________________________________________________________

33 35 37 38

Salmon and trout feedlots _________________________________________________________________________ 39    

The Gargoyle – Conservative ad on B.C. fishery uses photo of Atlantic salmon — from the U.K. ___________ Port Moody - Open-net Farmed Salmon Freezone ______________________________________________________ Feds Sidestep Law to Let BC's Biggest Fishery Sell Catch as Farm Feed _________________________________ State regulators break precedent with OK of Island County net pen ban __________________________________

40 44 46 49

Energy Generation: Oil, Coal, Geothermal, Hydropower, Natural Gas, Solar, Tidal, Wind _______________ 51 Petroleum – Drilled, Refined, Tar Sands, Fracked _________________________________________________________  Petropolis - Rape and pillage of Canada and Canadians for toxic bitumen ________________________________  Shipping oil by pipeline safer than rail, says Fraser Institute report ______________________________________  Fresh Oil Spill Hits Nembe River In Bayelsa State _______________________________________________________  Moscow river catches fire after pipeline bursts – video __________________________________________________  Vancouver oil spill review makes 25 recommendations _________________________________________________

54 54 55 58 60 61

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Coal ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 63  Save the Chuitna _____________________________________________________________________________________ 63  The oil boom in one slick infographic __________________________________________________________________ 63 Hydropower / Water Retention ___________________________________________________________________________ 64  Contact President Obama: Remove 4 lower Snake River dams! __________________________________________ 64  Dammed to Extinction “Teaser” _______________________________________________________________________ 66  Elwha River – The Kings are Back _____________________________________________________________________ 67  2 Of Oregon's Worst Dams For Fish Are Coming Down _________________________________________________ 68  Natural Gas __________________________________________________________________________________________ 69  South Texas Pipeline Explosion Injures 2 ______________________________________________________________ 69  B.C.’s LNG project poses threat to salmon habitat: study _______________________________________________ 70

Mining – Precious Metals __________________________________________________________________________ 72  Catastrophe on the Animas ___________________________________________________________________________ 72  Mt. Polley Mine Failure – One Year later: Shut it Down! __________________________________________________ 77

Wild Game Fish Management ______________________________________________________________________ 78  Salmon to spawn traffic tie-ups for years ______________________________________________________________ 78  Warm water puts B.C.’s Fraser River sockeye run at risk ________________________________________________ 79  Fraser River salmon fishing closes ____________________________________________________________________ 82  First Nations tribal council suspends Okanagan sockeye salmon fishery _________________________________ 84  Quinault Indian Nation Hosts Public Meeting on Quinault River Restoration ______________________________ 86

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

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

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

Sincerely,

Bruce Treichler James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International

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

Special

 Salish Sea: Seafloor Seen Through Doc’s Lenses Jim Wilcox

Dale “Doc” Thoemke, TMkey Film/Research, following underwater filming with Jim Wilcox, Wild Game Fish Conservation International Olalla, Washington – Following months of planning, the day was at hand for me to join Doc as he filmed a section of Puget Sound’s seafloor to depths of more than three hundred feet; all from the decks of his custom-built research vessel, “INTENSE”.

Doc and I have been friends and wild fish conservation colleagues for more than three decades in varying capacities as we’ve worked to educate diverse audiences regarding the need to conserve Washington state’s wild game fish and their fragile ecosystems. This has been, and continues to be, a never ending battle, one with many twists and turns.

Over the years through trials and failures, Doc and his research team have developed equipment and techniques to effectively and efficiently monitor and record saltwater and freshwater habitats in shallow and deep water.

Below are a few photos captured from video taken the day we explored a section of Puget Sound seafloor (referred by Dale as the “Dead Zone “). Note that there is very little marine life. What there is requires its conservation and restoration now more than ever before!

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

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots The photos below taken while with Dale help explain why many Puget Sound estuaries and near shore marine waters no longer provide healthy habitats required to sustain wild marine fin fish and shell fish and all that rely on them:

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

Opinion

 The Closing of the Canadian Mind August 14, 2015 Editorial Comment: The opinion below regarding irresponsible, and often irreversible, actions by governing bodies around planet Earth is but one of many examples that should give readers grave concern.

Clearly, desires by mega corporations are driving political trains resulting in short term gains by said corporations at the expense of working citizens and natural resources.

As government-enabled raping and pillaging of public assets increases worldwide, processes are in place to reduce citizens’ intelligence and involvement in public actions.

This is a lose, lose scenario that is unsustainable.

We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International encourage you to support those who will protect us and our public resources from irresponsible policies and practices.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots THE prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, has called an election for Oct. 19, but he doesn’t want anyone to talk about it.

He has chosen not to participate in the traditional series of debates on national television, confronting his opponents in quieter, less public venues, like the scholarly Munk Debates and CPAC, Canada’s equivalent of CSPAN. His own campaign events were subject to gag orders until a public outcry forced him to rescind the forced silence of his supporters.

Mr. Harper’s campaign for re-election has so far been utterly consistent with the personality trait that has defined his tenure as prime minister: his peculiar hatred for sharing information.

Americans have traditionally looked to Canada as a liberal haven, with gun control, universal health care and good public education.

But the nine and half years of Mr. Harper’s tenure have seen the slow-motion erosion of that reputation for open, responsible government. His stance has been a know-nothing conservatism, applied broadly and effectively.

He has consistently limited the capacity of the public to understand what its government is doing, cloaking himself and his Conservative Party in an entitled secrecy, and the country in ignorance.

His relationship to the press is one of outright hostility. At his notoriously brief news conferences, his handlers vet every journalist, picking and choosing who can ask questions. In the usual give-and-take between press and politicians, the hurly-burly of any healthy democracy, he has simply removed the give.

Mr. Harper’s war against science has been even more damaging to the capacity of Canadians to know what their government is doing. The prime minister’s base of support is Alberta, a western province financially dependent on the oil industry, and he has been dedicated to protecting petrochemical companies from having their feelings hurt by any inconvenient research.

Editorial Comment: The Harper Administration blatantly and consistently ignores federal judges, scientific findings, First Nation treaties, the will of the people and common sense on matters associated with wild game fish conservation.

In 2012, he tried to defund government research centers in the High Arctic, and placed Canadian environmental scientists under gag orders. That year, National Research Council members were barred from discussing their work on snowfall with the media. Scientists for the governmental agency Environment Canada, under threat of losing their jobs, have been banned from discussing their research without political approval. Mentions of federal climate change research in the Canadian press have dropped 80 percent. The union that represents federal scientists and other professionals has, for the first time in its history, abandoned neutrality to campaign against Mr. Harper.

His active promotion of ignorance extends into the functions of government itself.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Most shockingly, he ended the mandatory long-form census, a decision protested by nearly 500 organizations in Canada, including the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Catholic Council of Bishops. In the age of information, he has stripped Canada of its capacity to gather information about itself. The Harper years have seen a subtle darkening of Canadian life.

The darkness has resulted, organically, in one of the most scandal-plagued administrations in Canadian history.

Mr. Harper’s tenure coincided with the scandal of Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto who admitted to smoking crack while in office and whose secret life came to light only when Gawker, an American website, broke the story. In a famous video at a Ford family barbecue, Mr. Harper praised the Fords as a “Conservative political dynasty.”

Mr. Harper’s appointments to the Senate — which in Canada is a mercifully impotent body employed strictly for political payoffs — have proved greedier than the norm. Mr. Harper’s chief of staff was forced out for paying off a senator who fudged his expenses. The Mounties have pressed criminal charges.

After the 2011 election, a Conservative staffer, Michael Sona, was convicted of using robocalls to send voters to the wrong polling places in Guelph, Ontario. In the words of the judge, he was guilty of “callous and blatant disregard for the right of people to vote.” In advance of this election, instead of such petty ploys, the Canadian Conservatives have passed the Fair Elections Act, a law with a classically Orwellian title, which not only needlessly tightens the requirements for voting but also has restricted the chief executive of Elections Canada from promoting the act of voting. Mr. Harper seems to think that his job is to prevent democracy.

But the worst of the Harper years is that all this secrecy and informational control have been at the service of no larger vision for the country.

The policies that he has undertaken have been negligible — more irritating distractions than substantial changes. He is “tough on crime,” and so he has built more prisons at great expense at the exact moment when even American conservatives have realized that over-incarceration causes more problems than it solves. Then there is a new law that allows the government to revoke citizenship for dual citizens convicted of terrorism or high treason — effectively creating levels of Canadianness and problems where none existed.

For a man who insists on such intense control, the prime minister has not managed to control much that matters. The argument for all this secrecy was a technocratic impulse — he imagined Canada as a kind of Singapore, only more polite and rule abiding.

The major foreign policy goal of his tenure was the Keystone Pipeline, which Mr. Harper ultimately failed to deliver. The Canadian dollar has returned to the low levels that once earned it the title of the northern peso. Despite being left in a luxurious position of strength after the global recession, he coasted on what he knew: oil. In the run-up to the election, the Bank of Canada has announced that Canada just had two straight quarters of contraction — the technical definition of a recession. He has been a poor manager by any metric.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots The early polls show Mr. Harper trailing, but he’s beaten bad polls before. He has been prime minister for nearly a decade for a reason: He promised a steady and quiet life, undisturbed by painful facts. The Harper years have not been terrible; they’ve just been bland and purposeless. Mr. Harper represents the politics of willful ignorance. It has its attractions.

Whether or not he loses, he will leave Canada more ignorant than he found it.

The real question for the coming election is a simple but grand one: Do Canadians like their country like that?

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

 Happy BC Day - FOUR More Salmon Farms!

On Friday, the day before the BC Day long weekend and just before the anticipated election call, Minister Letnick announced that BC waters will get FOUR more salmon farms. The BC Liberal government just can't hear us. 110,000 people asked them not to do this. Fraser River Nations asked that the be consulted before salmon they have rights and title to were made to pass through more Atlantic salmon farm effluent and pathogens, but the BC government just plugged their ears and obeyed the four foreign companies that use the BC coast to grow salmon in pens.

Yes, all these farms have the local First Nation approval. It is tragic that some First Nations feel cornered into making the choice to become partners in the dirty practice of raising Atlantic salmon in feedlots in our ocean, but not all nations are making choices like this. The Lax Kw'alaams have set the bar, chose life over money. They are an example we should consider following if we care about our children.

One of the companies gifted with a new piece of the BC coast is Grieg Seafood, a Norwegian family.

Grieg offered the commercial fishermen of Sointula $20,000 each for the Clio Channel site, because the farm will take over a rich shrimping ground. The fishermen refused the money, but have now lost their fishing ground anyway. They have been displaced. This rich fishing ground will now become an open sewer, tons of feces from Atlantic salmon raining down from this Norwegian-owned farm.

Local people tried to fight this farm, but Letnick ignored them in favour of this Norwegian family that owns a fleet of bulk carrier freighters and the Squamish Terminals in BC. Grieg Seafood reported to the Oslo Stock Exchange that they lost 1,000 tons of fish in BC last month due to low-oxygen and has been forced to refinance due to acute mortality in BC and disease problems elsewhere. And yet the BC government has more loyalty to them than to the local fishermen who informed government that 70% of their shrimp catch comes from this area of Clio Channel. Minister Letnick has chosen this Norwegian family and their troubled fish farm endeavors over British Columbians. Happy BC Day! I feel that Letnick's Ministry is cowardly announcing this expansion on a Friday - before a long weekend - before an election call. This speaks of uncertainty and shame. 110,000 people asked BC NOT to do this and yet they went ahead anyway. See Petition.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots It sure makes a person wonder what the deal was? What did the BC government get that made them ignore 100,000 people and a beautiful viable fishery.

How sure are you Minister Letnick that BC is not going to see a viral outbreak from these salmon farms threaten wild salmon? If wild salmon were important to you would you risk them in this way? I don't think so! I see a difference in First Nation's views on salmon. Some that have jumped on with the Norwegians seem to be saying they have given up on wild salmon, "It’s not just salmon, it’s everything. It’s not coming back, the local wild stuff? People want to hang on to something that was there and is not there anymore. I fished commercial for 40 years and continue to wait for it to come back.” Ben Robinson is President of Kitasoo Seafoods Ltd. Article Other nations carry their salmon on their backs up hot, steep shale slopes because they see them as essential to their culture and diet and clearly have not given up on wild salmon. The nations who are in financial relationship with salmon farmers are making decisions for this entire coast and the Fraser River watershed. More and more wild salmon are bathed in farm salmon sewage.

Chief Michelle Lee Edwards protesting farmed salmon at Peace Arch 2014

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots It is important for people to understand that losing wild salmon is like pulling the BC hydro line out of your house. British Columbia will go dim. The living world receives massive amounts of energy from wild salmon. Wild salmon feed the trees that are making the oxygen you breath. Those trees pull carbon out of our atmosphere and so are a stabilizing force that we desperately need. Increasing wild salmon is part of the fight to stop climate instability.

Salmon farming, on the other hand, is a dirty, wasteful practice. Norway has reined this industry in because its sea lice are so drug-resistant the fish farmers can't control them. While in Chile, the industry has to use so much drugs, that COSTCO has rejected the product. This leaves BC as the go-to place to grow satisfy the shareholders with growth.

There has been stunning rapid-fire punch to British Columbians: 

Fisheries and Oceans Canada joined with Marine Harvest to fight for the right for the industry to use diseased Atlantic salmon. Federal decision appealed



July 15, 2015 Gail Shea Minister of Fisheries amends federal law permitting salmon farmers to use deleterious substances in fish habitat to try to kill the lice



The Canadian Senate, in disgrace due to phone sex with a teenager and misuse of our money, decided to ignore the science and call for a doubling of aquaculture in Canada



The Province of BC is displacing BC fishermen, ignoring over 110,000 people, including First Nations of the Fraser River and the science to approve 4 more salmon farms on our coast.

Salmon farms are feedlots. Feedlots belong in quarantine. We know this. I believe Minister Letnick's Ministry is being reckless and foolish in granting these four new salmon farm Licences of Occupation.

We cannot give up.

Wild salmon are facing extreme weather as climate change heats up the rivers. Swimming through clouds of Atlantic salmon fecal waste puts them at unnecessary risk.

Please consider making a donation on the upper right of this page to keep me in this endless fight.

The BC government has made a big mistake, thinking that British Columbians are going to ignore this. This French documentary, recently translated, gives a shocking expose on the serious risks in eating farmed salmon after minute 20. Our BC government picked this fish over wild salmon.

Happy BC Day!

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

Sockeye salmon veered off course to the Little White Salmon River to escape the heat of the Columbia River, but many died like the one in the foreground

 Dead salmon, climate change and Northwest dams Operation of the dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers must change to restore salmon and steelhead runs.

August 2, 2015

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots THIS summer, we are feeling climate change in the Northwest. Rivers and waters started hot this spring and got hotter. Fishery agencies say 250,000 to 400,000 Columbia River Basin salmon are dead or will die. Sockeye salmon are the worst hit, but chinooks are dying, too, and sturgeon.

Unrelieved hot water, at and above 70 degrees in the Columbia, Snake and many tributaries, is sickening and killing them. The best summary so far, by Hal Bernton in The Seattle Times, names the immediate causes: “Snowpack drought has salmon dying in overheated rivers.”

Water is low and water temperatures are too hot. Now comes August.

Is our warming climate a contributing cause behind the immediate causes? Even in my own climatedenying Idaho, the answer can no longer be refuted. This mass die-off may be the worst signal so far of the new abnormal in our rivers, but it’s far from the first signal.

So a question must be asked: Why has the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal agency in charge of salmon and climate science, refused since 2008 to analyze how climate change is affecting Columbia River Basin salmon, and how to reduce or buffer those effects? And why does Washington state support this inaction?

On June 23, two weeks after Columbia salmon were first found dead from hot water, NOAA’s attorneys argued in federal court that climate impacts on Columbia salmon are too speculative to usefully assess, analysis is not needed now, and measures already in place to mitigate salmon damage by dams will also cover any speculative effects of climate change. The court case centers on whether a massive federal habitat-restoration effort in the Columbia River Basin would save salmon and steelhead.

The hundreds of thousands of dead salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers are proving that NOAA is colossally wrong. But it was just as obviously wrong in 2008 and each year since.

Why so stupid a policy? The Bonneville Power Administration and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have more power than NOAA, and use that power to block changes to dam operations. Dams are the main human-caused killer of Columbia and Snake salmon, and honest climate planning would surely lead to changes at the dams. NOAA has tortured its mission, science and climate leadership to duck analysis that bigger dogs don’t want done.

Now salmon are shouting, “Mistake!”

What should be done? The federal court’s verdict, expected soon, will rule whether NOAA’s climate inaction is wrong. If the court orders climate planning for salmon and their rivers, NOAA would write it. But it would take a U-turn within NOAA and sustained White House attention to reverse the conscious lethargy behind this mistake. The Northwest needs President Obama to insist on it.

There’s a second path: Some years ago, I attended a congressional hearing on salmon. When a witness said climate change was an issue for the future — its effects on fish, rivers and people needed no attention now — then-U. S. Rep. Jay Inslee interrupted with memorable passion. How can you say that, he asked? Look at the evidence, Inslee said.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots He was right then. And, despite Washington’s support for NOAA’s climate denial regarding the Columbia River, he is right now. Inslee is a climate champion, so he should take action.

Puget Sound orcas also eat chinook salmon, and would benefit from changes to the operation of the Columbia and Snake dams. The salmon die-off is bad for orcas now, but worse for their future unless we act.

If Gov. Inslee, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock asked for honest, science-based, inclusive climate planning for salmon, people, and for the waters in the Columbia and Snake Rivers, and promised to participate, it would happen and be good for the Northwest. Whatever the court rules, I hope these three good governors will put it on their hot list.

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

ď ś We Need Our Mighty Rivers to Save Salmon...And Whales Making a Connection: Salmon as Networker August 12, 2014 I have been watching Cosmos a lot. It's got wide appeal in my house--children and adults are equally enchanted. Cosmos reminds me of our connection to all living things--all of us born of stardust. I hadn't thought about that in a long time.

Most of us don't dwell on the mysteries of the universe, but they matter. Our interconnectedness, in particular, matters for people--and for wildlife out there in those wild places. Some species are more linked than others. In Malcolm Gladwell's world, we'd call them "connectors." In science, they're called "keystone species." These animals, and even some plants, have a large impact on the creatures surrounding them--so large that the habitat would be fundamentally different without them.

Salmon are amazing connectors; they connect to more than 190 plants and animals. So when salmon go missing, it's like the life of the party has suddenly disappeared--everyone feels it. It may not surprise you to learn that salmon are an important food for orcas, sharks, sea lions, seals, otters, and bears.

But did you know that birds, amphibians, and even insects consume salmon carcasses and eggs?

Salmon are so connected that they benefit plants, even vineyard grapes.

How, you ask? It's all about their journey.

Pacific salmon are marathon swimmers--beginning in the briskly cold freshwaters of the Snake, Klamath, and Sacramento Rivers, and other rivers and their tributaries. From these rivers, they spill into the open expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Some go on to swim all the way to Japan.

Near the top of the food chain, salmon eat and absorb nitrogen from creatures unlucky enough to be lunch.

The nitrogen in these ocean-dwelling animals is unique. Scientists call it "marine-derived nitrogen," or (MDN for the techies at heart). And when salmon swim all the way back to our roaring rivers of the West, scientists can track the impact of salmon by this special marker--the MDN--in other animals and plants.

When a salmon dies, that marker works its way through the habitat--from the colossal grizzly to the little bug. Bears and wolves fish the salmon out. They carry the carcasses further upstream. Parts of the carcasses are often left behind for other animals and insects to scavenge.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots The animals that eat salmon also then do what animals do in the woods... and, as a result, this nitrogen gets absorbed by the soil and works its way into algae, mosses, herbs, shrubs, and the royalty of plants--ancient trees.

Scientists are discovering remarkable things. When more salmon reach their spawning grounds, the MDN, not surprisingly, gets more widely dispersed into the watershed. This, in turn, creates wild places that are healthier and more diverse--more bugs, more birds, more plants. And playing the role of Sherlock Holmes, scientists can track the impact of MDN from tree core samples to an otter's whiskers.

But many salmon are becoming an endangered species.

What happens when salmon disappear from these ecosystems and the ocean? Very bad things. Just ask the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales or orcas (Orcinus orca), which live in Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean from Southeast Alaska to California. These whales are going hungry, and the impacts mean life or death for individuals and for the population as a whole.

Learn more about salmon from our member group Save Our Wild Salmon and stay tuned for Part 2 of this blog, "Hungry, Hungry Whales."

Editorial Comment: Irresponsible practices impacting wild Pacific salmon and all that rely on them:

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

Fishing Photos and Funnies

 Fresh, wild Coho salmon - from the Pacific Ocean to the plate Thanks to Rhett Weber and crew of charterboat Slammer – Westport, Washington

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

 Conservationist Extraordinaire, Sabra Woodworth - Fish On!

Thanks Sabra for the million and one things you have done for this place we call home..

Alexandra Morton

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

 Life is grand when wild Pacific Ocean salmon are abundant Photos: Richard Mayer

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

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

 Barak Obama President United States of America I am writing on behalf of Wild Game Fish Conservation International to ask you to remove four costly federal dams and restore a healthy, freely-flowing lower Snake River in Washington State. The four dams on the lower Snake River are driving our nation’s irreplaceable wild salmon and steelhead toward extinction.

These dams have been killing salmon and wasting taxpayer dollars since they were completed in the 1970s. Over time, their harmful impacts have increased while their benefits have decreased. This year’s dismal snowpack has combined with this summer’s unusually warm temperatures to cause a perfect storm – weakening and killing our iconic fish populations that already teeter on the edge of extinction.

It’s time to stop throwing good money after bad and recover wild salmon. It’s time to remove the four lower Snake River dams. A smart investment package that includes transportation upgrades and energy replacement with clean, carbon-free sources can affordably replace the declining benefits these aging dams provide.

The federal agencies in the Northwest acknowledged long ago that lower Snake River dam removal is the single most beneficial action that we can take to restore endangered wild salmon and steelhead. Rather than follow the best science, however, the agencies have spent 20 years wasting billions of public dollars and imperiling the Northwest’s most iconic fish with a series of largely ineffective measures. Our most effective program short of dam removal - spring and summer spill over the dams – has only occurred as the result of court order…and over the strong and continuing objections of the federal agencies.

Removing these costly dams, restoring a free-flowing lower Snake River, and recovering abundant salmon populations is also critical for federally-endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales that rely on chinook salmon for roughly 90% of their diet. Ensuring that they have more chinook to eat is essential to their survival and recovery. A freely flowing lower Snake River and restored populations of wild salmon and steelhead will also generate many hundreds of millions of dollars annually for commercial and sport fishermen and for outdoor-based companies in the Northwest states and beyond.

Please take steps to remove the four lower Snake River dams and restore a healthy river in the heart of the best salmon country in the continental United States!

 Barak Obama President United States of America You have declared that "No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change" and showed leadership in vetoing the Keystone XL pipeline bill. Why then, would you allow Shell to drill in Arctic waters after a Nature study declared that Arctic Oil MUST be kept in the ground to prevent catastrophic climate change?

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Wild Game Fish Conservation International calls on your administration to protect the Arctic from offshore oil drilling and rescind Shell's Arctic drilling lease. The technology does not exist to clean up an oil spill in the Arctic Ocean, and Arctic oil must be left in the ground in order to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change. The risks are simply too great to allow drilling in this fragile and important ecosystem.

You began your presidency with a catastrophic oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Will you end it with an even worse disaster in the Arctic? The Obama administration should rescind Shell's current lease and make the Arctic off-limits to drilling in the next 5-Year Plan.

President Obama just gave Shell its final permit to drill deep beneath the Arctic seabed.

After $7 billion and huge global protests, this must be the most expensive oil well in history.

Shell may be drilling, but our movement is growing stronger. Your pressure is helping shine a spotlight on Shell’s reckless plans.

If we act together, we can win this.

Stop Shell. Save the Arctic. www.savethearctic.org

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

Seafood consumption: Public health and environmental risks

 Warning: Eating Farmed Salmon May Affect Your Baby

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

 Listeria Recall for Kirkland, Marine Harvest Chilean Atlantic Salmon Filets August 2, 2015 Chilean Atlantic salmon filets sold at Costco and other stores are being recalled for Listeria.

Customers who have purchased these products should not eat them as Listeria can cause serious illness and death.

Marine Harvest is recalling the raw, fresh, farmed Chilean Atlantic salmon that was distributed to California, Arizona and Nevada. The lot codes/item numbers are #700354 ATLFS00050, ATLFS00388, ATLFS00764, ATLFS20997, ATLFS20999 lot #700152, ATLFS00059, ATLFS00388, ATLFS00429, ATLFS0997, ATLFS20999, ATLFS20995.

At Costco, the recalled products were sold between May 2 and May 9. They were labeled Kirkland Signature Fresh Farmed Atlantic Salmon Fillet Product of Chile Processed in USA, sold in styrofoam trays, wrapped in plastic weighing approximately two pounds.

Dr. Claudette Bethune Deadly Consequences: "Listeria is the third leading cause of death from food poisoning. Most people who have Listeria infections require hospital care and about 1 in 5 of them die." Most at Risk: "Listeria targets older adults, pregnant women and their babies, and those with weakened immune systems.

These hard-hit groups account for at least 90 percent of reported Listeria infections." http://www.cdc.gov/.../dpk-vs-listeria-striking-hard.html

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

 COSTCO: Farmed Salmon Has To GO! Re-Member Wild Salmon

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

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

 A RENEGADE TRAWLER, HUNTED FOR 10,000 MILES BY VIGILANTES For 110 days and across two seas and three oceans, crews stalked a fugitive fishing ship considered the world’s most notorious poacher.

July 28, 2015 ABOARD THE BOB BARKER, in the South Atlantic — As the Thunder, a trawler considered the world’s most notorious fish poacher, began sliding under the sea a couple of hundred miles south of Nigeria, three men scrambled aboard to gather evidence of its crimes.

In bumpy footage from their helmet cameras, they can be seen grabbing everything they can over the next 37 minutes — the captain’s logbooks, a laptop computer, charts and a slippery 200-pound fish.

The video shows the fishing hold about a quarter full with catch and the Thunder’s engine room almost submerged in murky water. “There is no way to stop it sinking,” the men radioed back to the Bob Barker, which was waiting nearby. Soon after they climbed off, the Thunder vanished below.

It was an unexpected end to an extraordinary chase. For 110 days and more than 10,000 nautical miles across two seas and three oceans, the Bob Barker and a companion ship, both operated by the environmental organization Sea Shepherd, had trailed the trawler, with the three captains close enough to watch one another’s cigarette breaks and on-deck workout routines. In an epic game of cat-and-mouse, the ships maneuvered through an obstacle course of giant ice floes, endured a cyclone-like storm, faced clashes between opposing crews and nearly collided in what became the longest pursuit of an illegal fishing vessel in history.

Industrial-scale violators of fishing bans and protected areas are a main reason more than half of the world’s major fishing grounds have been depleted and by some estimates over 90 percent of the ocean’s large fish like marlin, tuna and swordfish have vanished.

Interpol had issued a Purple Notice on the Thunder (the equivalent of adding it to a Most Wanted List, a status reserved for only four other ships in the world), but no government had been willing to dedicate the personnel and millions of dollars needed to go after it.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots So Sea Shepherd did instead, stalking the fugitive 202-foot steel-sided ship from a desolate patch of ocean at the bottom of the Earth, deep in Antarctic waters, to any ports it neared, where its crews could alert the authorities.

“The poachers thrive by staying in the shadows,” Peter Hammarstedt, captain of the Barker, said while trying to level his ship through battering waves. “Our plan was to put a spotlight on them that they couldn’t escape.”

The pursuit of the Thunder until its sinking in April, pieced together from radio transmissions, interviews, ship records and reporting on board the Bob Barker and its fellow ship, the Sam Simon, demonstrates the anything-goes nature of the high seas, where weak laws and a lack of policing allow both for persistent criminality and, at times, bold vigilantism.

Illegal fishing is a global business estimated at $10 billion in annual sales, and one that is thriving as improved technology has enabled fishing vessels to plunder the oceans with greater efficiency. While countries, with varying degrees of diligence, typically patrol their own coastlines, few ever do so in international waters, even though United Nations maritime regulations require them to hold vessels flying their flags accountable for illicit fishing.

That leaves room for organizations like Sea Shepherd, which describes itself as an eco-vigilante group, flies a variation of the Jolly Roger on its ships and often cites the motto, “It takes a pirate to catch a pirate.” In chasing the Thunder, Sea Shepherd’s goal was not just to protect a rapidly disappearing species of fish, its leaders said, but to show that flagrant violators of the law could be brought to justice.

Maritime lawyers question whether the group has legal authority for its actions — ranging from cutting nets and blocking fishermen to ramming whaling vessels — but Sea Shepherd claims its tactics are necessary. So do some Interpol officials.

“They’re maritime skip tracers,” one Interpol official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to talk to reporters. “And they’re getting results.”

Read Entire New York Times Article HERE

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

Community Activism, Education and Outreach

 Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register

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

 Tell Obama to stop Arctic oil exploration!

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

 Greenpeace protesters hang off St. Johns Bridge to block ship's passage July 29, 2015

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) - Thirteen protesters from the environmental activism group Greenpeace rappelled over the side of the St. Johns Bridge Wednesday morning in an attempt to prevent a ship from leaving the area on its way to the arctic for an oil drilling operation.

Thirteen Greenpeace protesters rappelled over the side of the bridge in an attempt to prevent the MSV Fennica, a Shell Oil icebreaking vessel, from leaving the Port of Portland, where it has been undergoing repairs.

The protesters, joined by 13 others who were serving as anchors on the deck of the bridge, suspended themselves over the Willamette River just before 3 a.m.

The protest is an attempt to prevent the MSV Fennica, a Shell Oil icebreaking vessel, from leaving a facility at Swan Island where it has been undergoing repairs.

Greenpeace said the ship must be at the drilling site before Shell can reapply for federal approval to drill, so they planned to do their best to prevent that from happening.

"We've been planning this for about two weeks, since Shell's icebreaking vessel ran into something up in the arctic, got a 39-inch hole in its hull and had to race down here to Portland to be repaired," said Annie Leonard, executive director of Greenpeace USA. "The window for drilling is closing, because there's only a certain number of weeks that there's no ice there, so Shell is really under time pressure to get that boat up there and we're doing everything we can to delay that," Leonard said.

The U.S. Coast Guard said commercial waterway traffic was not being affected by the protesters.

The activists rigged their ropes so that they could raise and lower themselves as necessary to allow ships free passage.

The Fennica was scheduled to leave dock at 10 a.m. Wednesday, but the ultimate decision on when the ship leaves will come from Shell.

A Shell spokesman told FOX 12 the ship will leave "once we've completed final preparations."

However, it was not clear if that would happen Wednesday.

The Coast Guard said when the ship does leave dry dock, the Coast Guard will escort the Fennica down the Willamette River with a safety zone of 500 yards in front of the ship and 100 yards on either side.

Greenpeace said the activists plan to stay hanging from the bridge for as long as it takes, and they have enough supplies to last them several days.

The activists also kept their digital devices handy so they could share their exploits on the Internet.

Greenpeace said the rappellers have come from all over the country for the protest. They're joined by local activists in kayaks who plan to block the ship's passage in the water.

The protest was not affecting vehicle traffic on the bridge, but the sidewalks were blocked.

Portland police were on scene monitoring the situation, but officers told FOX 12 they didn't have any immediate plans to put an end to the protest. It wasn't clear if any of the protesters could eventually be arrested or face charges

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

 NW YOUTH CONSERVATION & FLY FISHING ACADEMY

by Mike Clancy, Co-Director One of the rewards of participating in the 2015 Academy (June 21-27) is watching the boys and girls develop their skills in casting, fly tying, ethics, etiquette and (most important) learning the value of conservation. It is the goal of the Academy to increase the opportunities for the boys and girls to learn and appreciate the sport of fly fishing and the importance of conservation.

The quality of the students was amazing. The 20 boys and girls, 12-16, conducted themselves in a mature and responsible manner. Not one Band-Aid was needed the entire week and they had one heck of a water balloon fight, on a very hot day, sponsored by our camp director – Matt Tuttle.

The Academy, which is co-sponsored by the Washington Council of TU, the Washington State Council of IFFF and supported by South Sound Fly Fishers, the Olympia Chapter of TU and the Puget Sound Fly Fishers, did an outstanding job in their performance.

This event would have not happened without the dedicated support of over 50 volunteers contributing long hours over the seven days. Jim Brosio, Tom VanGelder and I were co-chairs with support from Ron Smoryinski, Ron Holtcamp and Joe Spancic, and many other folks that assisted with the casting, fly tying and ghilling at the Nisqually Pond and the Deschutes River.

We were very fortunate with the quality of the instructors and the folks that demonstrated their skills in tying and casting. We were fortunate to have 6 great ghillies that made the staff’s life very easy. All six are alumni from previous Academies. And it goes without saying, if it wasn’t for the financial support from the TU Chapters, IFFF Fly Fishing Clubs, Washington Councils of TU and IFFF, plus the private donors, this Academy would not have taken place.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots I think everyone realizes what the life long experience and values of the Academy has on our children and their future in both their careers and sports. So now we begin to work on the 2016 Academy which will be held again at The Gwinwood Conference Center on Hicks Lake in Lacey WA., June 1926, 2016.

Thanks again everyone. We couldn’t do it without you.

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

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

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

Wild Salmon Warrior Radio is a weekly community based radio program that focuses on topics related to Wild Salmon conservation, watershed habitat and ocean protection. Salmon is a keystone species on the Pacific West Coast and to coastal regions around the world.

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

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots OLYMPIA CHAPTER OF TROUT UNLIMITED AUGUST 26, 2015 7:00PM NORTH OLYMPIA FIRE STATION 5046 BOSTON HARBOR ROAD NE

 SPORT FISHING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Jessica Weigel

Jessica and Casey Weigel

Program: The public is invited to the August 26, 2015 meeting of the Olympia Chapter of Trout Unlimited for a presentation by Jessica Weigel of Waters West Guide Service. Washington State Fishing Guides will present an overview of guided sport fishing adventures offered throughout the year in Washington and Oregon. The most popular fisheries include the following rivers: the Humptulips River for King Salmon, the Wynoochee River Steelhead Fishing, and the Cowlitz River for Salmon and Steelhead and Columbia River for King, Coho and Sockeye Salmon. Jessica will be showing several promotional videos and handing out information about these fishing trips and general fisheries information. There will be a contest to win a free fishing trip for 1 person. Bring your questions and enthusiasm for Salmon and Steelhead Fishing in the Pacific NW! Light refreshments will be provided and all attending can participate in the raffle.

Bio: Jessica and husband, Casey Weigel, have owned and operated Waters West Guide Service since 2003. The couple has two girls’ ages 1 and 3 and live in Montesano, Washington on the Wynoochee River. Jessica grew up on the Wynoochee River and met Casey while he was doing a guided tour there in 2003. Jessica is a graduate of Washington State University and is currently a Grad Student in Western Governor University's MBA program. She works day and night answering calls and emails for all of the guided fishing trips the company offers. She looks forward to sharing her excitement for the outdoors and information about fishing trips offered.

Website: www.fishwaterswest.com Phone: 253-389-0359 Email address: jessica@fishwaterswest.com

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

Salmon and trout feedlots

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

 The Gargoyle – Conservative ad on B.C. fishery uses photo of Atlantic salmon — from the U.K. August 22, 2015 In his daily policy announcement, Conservative leader Stephen Harper on Friday proposed measures that would help restore British Columbia’s salmon fishery.

If re-elected, a Conservative government would spend $15 million on protecting B.C. salmon and preserving estuaries, Harper said in Campbell River, B.C. All well and good.

Like all Conservative policy unveils, Friday’s announcement was accompanied by a page on the party website, along with social media outreach, that featured the following image:

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

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots The fish in the photograph, however, is not a Pacific salmon. The markings — particularly the black spots around the gills — and fins strongly suggest that it is, in fact, an Atlantic salmon.

UPDATE: The image on the Conservative Party website was changed and Harper’s original tweet was deleted after this post pointed out the error.

The image was snapped by Lee Sutterby, a photographer in Northern England. (Apparently, a picture of a B.C. salmon taken by a Canadian photographer was not readily available.)

Sutterby tells The Gargoyle that the fish is an Atlantic salmon he photographed in Hexham, in Northumberland county.

Of course, there are some Atlantic salmon in B.C. in fish farms, and some do escape into the wild occasionally and are considered “exotic,” though these do not seem to be the subject of the policy announcement. If you find one, Fisheries and Oceans wants you to put it on ice and call them immediately. “The department may wish to recover the fish from you.”

Not a great scandal, but one that (again) shows the perils of using stock photographs in political advertising, particularly when the issue at question is so dependent on accurate and informed marine science.

Had my newspaper published this photograph and identified it as a Pacific salmon, we’d be inundated with scolding letters to the editor and required to run a correction. And unlike this reporter, the editor who wrote it would have been unable to resist using the phrase “something fishy.”

Alexandra Morton: (Marine biologist, conservationist UNBELIEVABLE! Harper is using an Atlantic salmon to say he is protecting British Columbia...

Guess he is being honest here doesn't give a damn about our wild salmon.

There are more Atlantic salmon in BC waters than sockeye!

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

 Super Un-Natural – Escaped Atlantic Salmon in BC Waters Don Staniford If the Conservatives really want to protect BC's "natural" environment then they should read a report - "Super Un-Natural" - by Dr. John Volpe on escaped Atlantic salmon in BC Waters

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

 Port Moody -

Open-net Farmed Salmon Freezone

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

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

Hake is BC's most abundant food fish.

 Feds Sidestep Law to Let BC's Biggest Fishery Sell Catch as Farm Feed Industry asks for legal exception after Russian embargo drops bottom out of market for Pacific hake.

August 5, 2015 The economic squeeze of a Russian trade embargo has prompted Canada to sidestep its own laws by allowing B.C.'s biggest fishery to sell thousands of tonnes of high-quality fish as slurry to feed farmed salmon and chickens.

Russia is the dominant market for B.C.'s most abundant food fish, locally known as Pacific hake -- a close relative of haddock that roams the edges of the North American continental shelf in schools comprising at least a million tonnes of biomass.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots But a 2014 Russian embargo banning the purchase of many Canadian exports including seafood, imposed in response to sanctions protesting Russia's aggression in the Crimea, means that a fishery worth $40 million annually in landed value each year has lost its primary market. Ukraine has also been a big customer of hake, but can no longer afford to import it.

The lack of market diversification means B.C. fishermen and supporting industries worth an estimated $160 million annually have seen a significant slowdown since June 2014. American fishermen, who are allowed to catch three times more hake than their Canadian counterparts, are more diversified and less affected by the embargo.

Under pressure from the B.C. groundfish industry, which includes hake, the federal government announced on July 24 that it would allow about 55,000 tonnes of hake to be sold as "meal" – in spite of the federal Fisheries Act, which prohibits rendering of Canadian fish, in part to ensure it can be put to its highest value use, like human consumption.

The government said an exemption to the law would give the industry time to diversify its markets, which could entail a retooling of processors to make new products like fake crab meat (surimi) and minced hake for fish sticks and burgers.

Critics say granting exceptions in reaction to short-term demands of an industry that hasn't diversified represents a step backward, and recall a time when massive 1960s herring fisheries decimated B.C. stocks that were caught and simply ground up for lower-value, non-human uses.

"Clearly, exceptional circumstances have led to this," said Bruce Turris, a representative of hake fishermen, licence holders and processors that requested the federal exemption. "I don't believe anybody wants this to be a regular practice."

While Canada produces a lot of fish, Turris said much of it is exported because of our small population. B.C. fishermen have trouble selling even their highest-valued fish like halibut, black cod and salmon, he said, and for hake, "there just isn't the demand here."

Decades-old exemption dug up In late June, Fisheries and Oceans Canada confirmed in a private letter to the groundfish industry that it would allow the exemption.

The letter also said the government would permit a "joint-venture" fishery to allow Canadian boats to offload B.C. hake onto a Russian-flagged factory vessel at sea, in apparent contravention of the Russian embargo.

By July 17, the government had changed its mind. "Given Canada's evolving bilateral relationship with Russia," wrote Fisheries and Oceans regional groundfish manager Neil Davis in another note to the industry, "the Government of Canada has determined that it will not support a [joint-venture] that includes the participation of a Russian vessel."

Rather than follow the process required by Canadian law to create the exemption to the Fisheries Act, which could take months, the government instead found a similar exemption to the law made in 1986 that it said never expired.

Davis's letter promised the government would close the loophole at the end of the 2015 fishing season. Fisheries and Oceans ignored repeated information requests for this story.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Reduction fisheries 'outlawed': First Nations When First Nations represented by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, which claim most of the hake fishing grounds off the west coast of Vancouver Island as their own territory, learned that the B.C. groundfish industry was requesting the exemption, leaders contacted Fisheries Minister Gail Shea in writing.

They reminded of her government's duty to consult before any legal changes are made that could infringe on aboriginal rights, including the harvesting of resources within their territory. The hake decision was made regardless.

The Nuu-chah-nulth are opposed in principle to using hake solely as meal or any other reduction product, based on the past experience of large-scale fisheries that decimated species like herring in B.C. waters.

"Reduction fisheries were outlawed by the Fisheries Act for good reason: to conserve and protect Canadian fisheries for human consumption," reads the letter to the minister. "This principle should not be cast aside for the short-term economic benefit of a few."

Hake as feed 'unsustainable': Wallace The combined B.C. and U.S. allowable catch of hake each year is huge -- about 440,000 tonnes. For perspective, if that was loaded into pickup trucks lined up bumper to bumper, the ensuing traffic jam would stretch from Vancouver past Los Angeles.

Even at such extreme catch volumes, hake fisheries are considered to be within sustainable limits, repeatedly earning certification under the Marine Stewardship Council, said Scott Wallace, a marine biologist and senior research scientist at the David Suzuki Foundation.

But using hake, even in the short-term, to feed farmed salmon and battery chickens is "unsustainable," he wrote in a foundation blog in late July, particularly in a world where over a billion people live in extreme poverty. By his calculation, the total North American Pacific hake allowable catch represents more than four billion single servings of high-quality fish protein.

For that reason and more, Wallace said the hake precedent of 2015 is a red flag.

"With the price of fish meal continually climbing, the lure to simply convert fish into meal will become an increasingly attractive option for several Canadian fisheries," he wrote. "First hake, then herring, dogfish, or any other number of species having challenges being sold on the global market."

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

 State regulators break precedent with OK of Island County net pen ban August 1, 2015 Washington’s Department of Ecology is willing to let Island County ban fish farming from its waters, but only temporarily.

In a reversal of position, the Ecology Department said in June that the county’s Shoreline Master Program (SMP) can continue its ban on so-called net pen aquaculture, but added that the prohibition will likely not be permanent.

“We’re not insisting that the word ‘temporary’ be included in the SMP, but we didn’t feel comfortable making a permanent ban,” said David Pater, a shoreline planner with the state agency. “We recognize the uniqueness of Island County’s situation and we recognize the issue will be looked at again.”

The SMP is a plan for managing the county’s shoreline. The state Shoreline Management Act, adopted in 1971, requires cities and counties to create SMPs. Under a 2003 change to the Act, SMPs must be reviewed every eight years. Island County’s SMP hadn’t been reviewed since it was created in 1976, said Brad Johnson, a senior planner for the county.

The review process began in 2010. From the beginning, opposition to net pen aquaculture was strong and uniform, Johnson said.

“People simply did not want to see net pen aquaculture in Island County,” he said. “They were worried about aesthetics and the ecology.”

Not a single comment was received from the fin-fish farming industry, he said.

The Ecology Department “initially took the position that the Shoreline Management Act would require us to allow” net pen aquaculture, Johnson said. After all, the SMP is intended to deal with all waterdependent activities, which certainly includes net pen aquaculture, he acknowledged. The county has had no dispute over any other form of aquaculture, such as growing mussels.

“There was a lot of back-and-forth between the Ecology Department and Island County” in negotiating the temporary ban, Johnson said. “We did a fair amount of research in support of our position and about June 1 got written indication that we could continue prohibiting net pen aquaculture.”

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Fish farming can pose the threat of sea-lice infestations that can reach up to 75 kilometers, said Steve Erickson, of Whidbey Environmental Action Network (WEAN). It can produce major amounts of droppings concentrated in small areas and offers the potential for an escape of non-native species.

So some advocates have pushed for a permanent ban.

Using language like “temporary prohibition” or “interim measure” would “leave the county highly vulnerable to a legal challenge from, e.g., the industry,” wrote Erickson in a July 27 letter to Island County commissioners. “For this very basic reason, the words ‘temporary’ or ‘interim’ should not be used.”

The Ecology Department refused a permanent ban because “we have to recognize the issue will be looked at again,” Pater said. “Our intention is for the state to form a committee of all stakeholders to examine the issue more closely over the next couple of years, so we can come up with a more thoughtful approach. We need to gather more information on the industry — it’s still a new industry, and there are only eight or 10 operations in Puget Sound.”

The SMP will be subject to review again in 2020. At that point there may be more interest in fish farming off Whidbey Island, Dan Swecker, executive director of the Washington Fish Growers’ Association, said Thursday.

“We looked really carefully at whether there was current interest, and at the present time no one is expressing an interest in pens in Island County,” he said. “But we will come up with more guidance for counties that they can rely on next time they revisit their SMPs.”

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

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

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

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

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

Petroleum – Drilled, Refined, Tar Sands, Fracked

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

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

 Shipping oil by pipeline safer than rail, says Fraser Institute report August 13, 2015 METRO VANCOUVER — While a new study finds transporting crude oil by pipeline is much safer than by rail, pipeline opponents argue there is no safe way to transport oil and given the threat of climate change, the discussion should be how to reduce the need to transport fossil fuels.

The Fraser Institute report was released Thursday, ahead of an anticipated rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline project by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots The problem: The amount of oil and gas being transported through B.C. has rapidly increased during the past five years. At the same time, opposition to pipelines over environmental concerns has reached a fever pitch.

With stalled pipeline projects, companies are turning to rail to transport the product. But the Canadian think-tank's report contends that this method of transport is riskier.

In fact, the report found that moving oil by pipeline was 4.5 times safer than moving the same volume by rail between 2003 and 2013, according to data from the Transportation Safety Board and Transport Canada.

The study acknowledges there were more incidents with pipelines than rail during this decade — 1,226 pipeline incidents compared with 127 for rail — but states pipelines move 15 times more petroleum than railways, and are safer when volume and distance are taken into consideration.

It cites TSB data that 73 per cent of pipeline occurrences resulted in spills of one cubic metre or less (about 1,000 litres) while 16 per cent didn't cause any spill. Similar data for rail was not available, according to the study's author Ken Green.

It also states 83 per cent of the pipeline spills didn't happen in transit, but at compressor stations, processing plants and terminals. The report found a similar case for rail with only 15 per cent of spills happening in transit.

The alternative: Some see rail as a viable alternative to the leaks, high construction costs and the vast opposition to pipeline projects. But there are enormous risks. The danger of transporting crude oil by rail was highlighted two years ago with the Lac-Mégantic disaster in Quebec, when a freight train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded, destroying part of a town and killing 47 people. There have been several other fiery crashes since this time.

Green says there's more room for human error when transporting by rail, and a greater chance of spills and injury to oil transport workers.

Transport of oil by rail has sharply increased during the past few years. In 2013, a record 3,381 carloads and 262,613 tonnes of oil were hauled by rail in B.C. That compares to just six carloads containing 251 tonnes as recently as 2009, according to Transport Canada data.

The case for pipelines: Green admits the volume of a single pipeline spill could be much greater than a rail spill. However, he says the report did not look at individual cases, but rather analyzed the safety by looking at the number of accidents per million barrels of oil.

"Can a pipeline spill be bigger? Yes, but we also have to ask: 'Where does it spill? How much is reclaimed and what kind of ecosystem does it affect?' "

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Railways run through the centre of major towns and cities and if they derail or collide, there is prospect of fire and explosion, whereas pipelines are more likely to spring a leak in a remote area, says Green. Also, because pipelines are a fixed infrastructure, most of the spills happen in handling stations where cleanup can be contained.

No safe way to transport oil: Gideon Forman, a climate change and transportation policy analyst with the David Suzuki Foundation, says that argument puts urban centres above rural communities.

"Is that the choice? That we should either imperil our rural citizens or imperil our urban citizens? It's a terrible choice and fortunately we don't have to make it."

Fraser Institute's report also comes at a time when there is mounting opposition to several pipeline proposals, including Enbridge's $7.9-billion Northern Gateway pipeline. The project received approval last year, but legal challenges by First Nations and environmentalists could halt the project for years.

There is even the potential for civil disobedience by opponents who have said they will do whatever is needed to stop the project.

It's also timed ahead of the decision to go ahead with the 1,897-kilometre XL Keystone pipeline, which would pass through three U.S. states before connecting with an existing network linking it to the Gulf Coast.

Forman says he doubts the Fraser Institute report will have any sway with Obama's decision on Keystone.

He added that increasing oil and gas development and shipping greater amounts by any method will continue to mean more accidents, spills and environmental damage.

Conclusion: Both transportation methods come with significant risks. Shipping by rail leads to more accidents and spills, but pipeline leaks could cause larger volumes.

Green says some are calling for zero movement of oil, which is unrealistic. He says the best way forward is to move the product based on market demand via the safest mode of transport, which he argues is a pipeline.

Forman says the discussion should not be rail versus pipeline and that the modern economy must move away from fossil fuels. He says Canada needs to reduce the amount of oil shipped to foreign markets and incentivize the clean tech sector and create jobs in renewable energy.

"As the world moves to renewable energy, the oilsands are going to be stranded assets," he says.

Scientists say as much as two-thirds of the remaining fossil fuels need to be left in the ground, says Forman, so continuing to ship more oil doesn't make much sense.

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

 Fresh Oil Spill Hits Nembe River In Bayelsa State August 4, 2015 A large crude oil spillage from a wellhead owned by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) yesterday triggered apprehension among the nearby fishing settlements and camps in Nembe communities in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

The spillage, which occurred at a fishing settlement known as Jalingo on Monday night, has spread to the waters and creeks of the communities.

A fisherman identified as Seifagh reported that the waters along the Jalingo area have a massive “oil float” on the waters.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Confirming the spillage, the Chairman of the Oil and Gas and Action Committees of Nembe Kingdom, Nengi James, stated that the situation has further ruined the aquatic livestock in the environment, which the people solely depend on as their main source of income and their livelihood.

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

 Moscow river catches fire after pipeline bursts – video August 13, 2015 Amateur footage shows a large oil fire on the surface of the Moscow river after an underwater pipeline reportedly burst on Wednesday. The Moscow oil refinery, owned by Gazprom Neft, told Reuters it was unaffected by the fire, and did not own the pipeline where the incident occurred. Local news agencies reported that one child and two adults suffered burns from the incident

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

Oil found on Second Beach in Vancouver by Dr. Peter Ross from Vancouver Aquarium

 Vancouver oil spill review makes 25 recommendations Bunker fuel from the grain ship Marathassa spilled into English Bay on April 8 July 31, 2015 Read Full Report

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

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

Coal

 Save the Chuitna

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

Hydropower / Water Retention

 Contact President Obama: Remove 4 lower Snake River dams!

Thousands of citizens from around the country are calling on President Obama to remove four salmon-killing dams on the lower Snake River in Washington State.

These four dams have been killing salmon and wasting taxpayer dollars since they were completed in the 1970s.

And the situation gets worse every year.

The cost of maintaining these dams is growing while the benefits they provide decline.

This year, the dams are worsening the lethal effects of an unusually hot summer. The slackwater reservoirs behind the lower Snake dams are increasing water temperatures – stressing migrating salmon, spreading infection and killing fish. The situation is so dire the federal agencies are trapping Idaho sockeye at Lower Granite dam on the lower Snake and trucking them to central Idaho, a desperate measure to save a fraction of this imperiled population.

Restoring salmon by removing these dams is also important to the survival of another iconic Northwest species. Endangered Southern Resident Orcas rely on chinook salmon for roughly 90 percent of their diet, but the salmon’s steep decline has left orcas with too little to eat. Recognizing that these killer whales need more salmon to survive and recover, orca scientists and advocates have now joined the call for lower Snake dam removal.

It’s time for real action to save wild Snake River salmon, not more ineffective half-measures that have proven illegal, inadequate and indefensibly expensive. It’s time to save salmon and money by removing these four high-cost low-value dams.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Please contact President Obama today – with an email and a phone call. Urge him to remove the 4 lower Snake River dams to save the longest, highest migrating salmon on the planet, Northwest’s iconic orcas, and American taxpayer dollars.

CALL (202-456-1111) and WRITE (below) the President today! Thank you.

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

 Dammed to Extinction “Teaser” Coming soon…

For centuries, three unique pods of orcas have hunted chinook salmon along the northwestern Pacific coast.

These killer whales are top predators in one of the world's richest marine ecosystems, one that stretches from the western continental shelf to the continental divide, with the world's top producing chinook salmon river at its epicenter.

Yet wild chinook salmon here are increasingly scarce. The orcas are going hungry, their numbers dwindling along with their primary source of food.

Extinction looms for both species.

Can the dammed be redeemed?

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

 Elwha River – The Kings are Back

Forest Shomer The Kings are back in the Elwha River, shown here in the middle river on Aug 1. Part of the continuing story of the rebirth of the river after dam removal. (John Gussman photo)

Dr. Claudette Bethune It looks like it's tough going with the drought and heat: "Fulton and Beirne said the tribe and the city have been working closely to monitor the river's flow and its impact on returning salmon. The river is flowing at 340 cubic feet per second (cfs) two months ahead of schedule, Fulton told City Council members last week.

Fulton said as it approaches 300 cfs, fish habitat is compromised — and the flow is expected to hit 150 to 180 cfs by September.

Elwha Dam was fully removed by March 2012, and the last of Glines Canyon Dam was destroyed in August 2014, opening up about 70 miles of river and tributary to once-legendary fish habitat.

The low river flows couldn't have come at a worse time for Matt Beirne, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe's environmental coordinator.

“It is pretty lousy timing for drought conditions in the face of restoration,” he said last week.

Beirne said salmonids are stressed by water that's warmer than tribal fish biologists have ever seen recorded at the mouth of the Elwha, 5 miles from where Elwha Dam blocked salmon migration for a century Temperatures have been as high as 24 degrees Celsius — 75 degrees Fahrenheit — and 19 degrees Celsius last week.

“I have never seen temperatures at 18 at this time of year,” Beirne said.

“When you get down there, and the feeling is like it would feel like bath water, it's pretty phenomenal.

“It's like nothing we've ever experienced.” http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/.../2015.../NEWS/307129985

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

Demolition crews knock out first notch in Wimer Dam on Evans Creek, a tributary of the Rogue River.

 2 Of Oregon's Worst Dams For Fish Are Coming Down August 5, 2015 Evans Creek is barely a trickle. A dry summer in Southern Oregon means the important salmon and steelhead creek, a tributary of the Rogue River, disappears below the gravel bed in places.

Seemingly stagnant isolated pools are all that remain in some areas.

Normally, this wouldn’t be considered a good thing. But right now, Brian Barr, dam removal project manager for the GEOS Institute, will take it.

“Believe it or not, we got lucky from the perspective of not having a lot of water,” he said. “We’re in the middle of the second year of a really bad drought here in Southern Oregon, and it just happens to be the year that we’re constructing.”

By “constructing,” he actually means demolishing the Wimer and Fielder dams. These dams were both constructed as irrigation diversions in the early 1900s. By the 1980s, water rights associated with the dams had been abandoned, leaving the two structures sitting defunct and unmaintained on private property.

READ ENTIRE OPB ARTICLE HERE

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

 Natural Gas

 South Texas Pipeline Explosion Injures 2 August 4, 2015 Authorities say the explosion of a natural gas pipeline near the small South Texas town of Falfurrias injured two people and prompted the evacuation of about 150 homes.

An official with the Brooks County sheriff's office said the explosion occurred Monday night near Falfurrias, a town of about 5,000 located about 80 miles southwest of Corpus Christi. The families were allowed to return home about five hours after the explosion.

Chief Deputy Urbino "Benny" Martinez tells Harlingen television station KGBT a husband and wife were injured. They were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Kinder Morgan said in a statement Tuesday that they're investigating the incident on its pipeline.

The company said the impacted segment of the pipeline was shut down and isolated from the system on Monday night.

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

In the foreground is Lelu Island, site of an LNG export terminal proposed by Pacific NorthWest LNG

 B.C.’s LNG project poses threat to salmon habitat: study August 6, 2015 A new study co-authored by six British Columbia First Nations warns that a proposed terminal for exporting liquefied natural gas on the province’s northern coast poses a threat to salmon habitat in the Skeena River estuary.

The research argues Pacific NorthWest LNG’s planned terminal on Lelu Island will harm Flora Bank, where juvenile salmon are nurtured by eelgrass beds. Flora Bank, a sandy area that is visible at low tide, is next to the proposed LNG site near Prince Rupert.

The co-authors say their research found that if the project forges ahead, there would be damage to the ecosystem, including impacts on spawning locations upriver. The findings are contained in a letter published in the academic journal Science.

“The Skeena watershed is united by salmon,” said the letter, signed by nine authors, including fisheries experts from six aboriginal groups. “First Nations throughout the watershed should be involved in decisions that could damage their fisheries.”

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Last November, four First Nations argued Pacific NorthWest LNG picked the wrong place to locate an export terminal. The Wet’suwet’en, Gitanyow, Lake Babine and Gitxsan said a fresh plan for a suspension bridge poses environmental risks that were not properly evaluated. Those four groups participated in the new study. They say their views were largely ignored because their land and title is farther away from Lelu Island than other First Nations.

The Takla Lake Nation and the Lax Kw’alaams also took part in the research. In voting in May, members of Lax Kw’alaams declined to provide aboriginal consent by overwhelmingly rejecting Pacific NorthWest LNG’s $1-billion cash offer over 40 years. The consortium is led by Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas.

Jonathan Moore, a fisheries biologist who is an associate professor at Simon Fraser University, is one of the co-authors, along with two members of the aboriginal-backed Skeena Fisheries Commission.

“The Flora Bank region in the Skeena estuary is like Grand Central Station for salmon,” commission head scientist Allen Gottesfeld said in a news release.

“The key point is that we recognize the connection between the estuary, Flora Bank and the upriver salmon,” Mr. Moore added in an interview Thursday. “Pacific NorthWest LNG has changed its plans, but the project would still be a huge transformation of the area.”

Pacific NorthWest LNG proposed last October to build a suspension bridge that would extend southwest for 1.6 kilometres away from Lelu Island, which is part of the traditional territory of the Lax Kw’alaams. The suspension bridge, which would connect with a 1.1-kilometre-long jetty, is designed to vastly minimize dredging and avoid damaging the eelgrass beds for salmon in Flora Bank.

The Petronas-led consortium has said that it carefully assessed 20 sites and selected Lelu Island from a shortlist of five locations. “Lelu Island is an unused site currently designated for industrial development by the Prince Rupert Port Authority,” Pacific NorthWest LNG said in a regulatory filing in December. The filing noted that the bridge “is the preferred option due to reduced potential effects of the project on the environment.”

In June, Pacific NorthWest LNG granted conditional approval for its project, subject to ratification of an LNG bill by the B.C. Legislature and receiving clearance from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. The regulator is expected to issue a final decision some time after the Oct. 19 federal election.

The B.C. Liberal government used its majority in late July to push through an LNG bill. The bill’s passage also resulted in the ratification of a project-development agreement between the government and Pacific NorthWest LNG. Last month, five other First Nations joined forces to assess the environmental impact of B.C. liquefied natural gas exports proposed for the Prince Rupert region. The Metlakatla, Kitselas, Gitxaala, Kitsumkalum and Gitga’at are members of the newly formed Tsimshian Environmental Stewardship Authority.

In December, Metlakatla and Kitselas signed impact-benefit agreements with Pacific NorthWest LNG.

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

Mining – Precious Metals

 Catastrophe on the Animas Toxic water floods river after EPA disaster at Gold King Mine in Silverton August 6, 2015 Acidic wastewater from an abandoned mine above Silverton coursed its way through La Plata County on Thursday, turning the Animas River orange-brown, forcing the city of Durango to stop pumping raw water from the river and persuading the sheriff to close the river to public use.

Kayakers Dan Steaves, Eric Parker and David Farkas find themselves surrounded Thursday by the toxic mine waste that began flowing Wednesday into the Animas River from the Gold King Mine north of Silverton.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots A call center has been set up for the public at 385-8700. Information is available on La Plata County's website atwww.co.laplata.co.us/emergency, San Juan Basin Health Department's website atwww.sjbhd.org, the La Plata County Government Facebook page and the San Juan Basin Health Department Facebook page.

Residents lined the banks of the Animas River on Thursday afternoon to watch the toxic wastewater as it flowed through Durango city limits. But the sludge slowed as it snaked its way through the oxbow in the Animas Valley, and the murk didn't arrive until after 8 p.m.

The accident occurred about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Gold King Mine in San Juan County. A mining and safety team working on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency triggered the discharge, according to a news release issued by the EPA. The EPA's team was working with heavy equipment to secure and consolidate a safe way to enter the mine and access contaminated water, said Richard Mylott, a spokesman for the EPA in Denver.

The project was intended to pump and treat the water and reduce metal pollution flowing out of the mine into Cement Creek, he said.

The disaster released about 1 million gallons of acidic water containing sediment and metals flowing as an orange-colored discharge downstream through Cement Creek and into the Animas River.

SNAFU

River closure The Animas River was closed to tubers, rafters and kayakers Thursday as the toxic plume made its way through Durango. The closure went into effect at 3 p.m., and it will remain in effect indefinitely until the river is deemed safe, said La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith.

Government officials aren't certain what toxins and at what levels toxins are present in the river, and, therefore, decided it was best to close the river to public use.

The closure, which applies to all flotation devices, is in effect for the entire stretch of the Animas River in La Plata County.

“This decision was made in the interest of public health after consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, San Juan Basin Health Department and representatives of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe,” Smith said. “EPA test results of the Animas River are expected within 24-48 hours, and the order will be re-evaluated at that time.”

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots City to conserve water The city of Durango stopped pumping water out of the Animas River on Wednesday to prevent contaminating the city reservoir.

The Animas is an important secondary source of water for the city during the summer, and residents need to conserve as much water as possible over the next few days until the water is safe to use, said Steve Salka, the city's utilities director.

No formal water restrictions were issued.

At south City Market, Sean Lumen, who was hoisting bottled water onto emptied shelves, said if customers continued to buy water at Thursday's rate, the store would run out sometime Friday.

At Albertsons, front-end manager Shelley Osborn said she initially thought people were buying up bottled water at an unusually rapid rate because it was on sale. Aaron Memro, grocery manager, estimated Albertsons sold two pallets of water Thursday – far more than usual.

During the emergency, Salka will not send raw water to Hillcrest Golf Club or Fort Lewis College for grounds use. The city also will not water any city-owned parks for the next three days to help conserve, he said.

On hot summer days, the city can use up to 9.2 million gallons a day. But the city can pump only 5.3 million gallons a day out of the Florida River.

The city reservoir was about 4.5 feet below capacity on Wednesday, Salka said.

“This couldn't happen at a worse time for me, so I have to be really cautious,” he said.

Fish habitat The EPA downplayed the potential effects on aquatic life, saying there are long-standing water-quality impairment issues associated with heavy metals in Cement Creek and upper portions of the Animas River.

As a result, there are no fish populations in the Cement Creek watershed, and fish populations have historically been impaired for several miles downstream of Silverton in the Animas River, the release said.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife placed four cages containing fish in the Animas River to monitor what happens to them, said spokesman Joe Lewandowski. The cages were placed at 32nd Street, the fish hatchery, Dallabetta Park and the High Bridge.

“We'll see if those fish survive,” Lewandowski said. “We're also monitoring to make sure we don't get infiltration into the hatchery, because that could be a problem.”

Peter Butler, co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group and former chairman of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission, said it remains to be seen whether the toxic metal concentrations flowing downriver will impact the few fish species living below Bakers Bridge.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots But if the plume does have a negative impact on aquatic life, Butler estimated that fish would die within hours of contact with the plume.

The contaminated water made its way to Bakers Bridge in La Plata County by Thursday morning and hit town by Thursday evening. The material was expected to cross the New Mexico state line between 4 and 5 a.m. Friday and arrive in Farmington on Friday evening.

Farmington city officials shut down all water-supply intake pumps to avoid contamination and advised citizens to stay out of the river until the discoloration has passed.

Local officials asked all agricultural water users to shut off water intakes.

What's in the water?

Butler said the water being discharged from Gold King carried high concentrations of iron, aluminum, cadmium, zinc and copper.

While he didn't know precisely the metal levels in the water that surged out of Gold King on Wednesday, Butler said: “I'm sure they were really high.”

Though Gold King has no record of emitting mercury, Butler said “when old mines open up like that, mercury sometimes drains out. Possibly, some other metals might have been released, like lead and arsenic. But there's no evidence of that at this point.”

Butler said Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety scientist Kirstin Brown had tested pH levels – the telltale measure of acidity in water – in the Animas River at Trimble Lane when the toxic plume arrived.

The pH level dropped from 7.8 to 5.8.

“That's a pretty big drop,” Butler said.

Silverton does not use water from Cement Creek, so its water source remained uncontaminated, said William Tookey, the San Juan County administrator who met Thursday with EPA officials.

The Animas River was looking healthier about 24 hours after the discharge in Silverton, he said.

Gold King problems This is not the first time there has been a water-related accident at one of the mines, but it did come as a surprise to the town, Tookey said.

He was not sure if the release would change attitudes toward the EPA in town. For years, some town residents and local officials have been opposed to a Superfund listing.

“Since it was the EPA that was responsible for this, it may make people less likely to be open to them,” he said.

Butler said everyone invested in improving the Animas River's water quality wanted to get into Gold King, because, for years, it has been one of the two biggest contributors of heavy-metal loads in the Animas Basin.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “They had a plan for handling the mine pool, but something went wrong, and it all came blowing out,” Butler said.

EPA teams will be sampling and investigating downstream locations over the next several days to confirm the release has passed and poses no additional concerns for aquatic life or water users.

“This unfortunate incident underscores the very reason EPA and the state of Colorado are focused on addressing the environmental risks at abandoned mine sites,” said David Ostrander, director of EPA's emergency-response program in Denver. “We are thankful that the personnel working on this mine cleanup project were unharmed. EPA will be assessing downstream conditions to ensure any impacts and concerns are addressed, as necessary.”

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

 Mt. Polley Mine Failure – One Year later: Shut it Down!

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

Wild Game Fish Management

 Salmon to spawn traffic tie-ups for years July 31, 2015 SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. -- Mike Odenius and his brother Pat just wanted to go fishing on Wednesday.

"Low and behold we didn't make it that far," said Pat, glancing toward his awaiting tackle box.

While trying to get to Skagit County's Big Lake, they found themselves up the proverbial creek, specifically a salmon creek.

Washington's DOT is completely closing the section of Highway 9 just north of mile post 42 for two entire months. Crews are ripping up the road and tying up traffic to make the commute easier for fish.

They are tearing out an old culvert and replacing it with a brand new bridge so that salmon have an easier time spawning. Culverts often get clogged with debris, making it difficult for fish to move up and downstream. The closure is expected add about 30 minutes to commute times.

"I'm all about the fish," said Mike Odenius, "but two months is over the top."

The DOT says the project would've taken even longer and had a harsher impact on the environment without a full two month closure.

Officials add the work is due to a court ruling that sided with Washington tribes looking to protect fishing rights.

And if you don't think this will impact you, think again.

The Highway 9 project is the very first of nearly 900 similar projects all around the Puget Sound region that will last for the next 15 years.

"It will impact drivers on their commutes, but it could impact others, like businesses, as well, depending on where these projects are," said the DOT's Todd Harrison.

The fish crossing projects are expected to cost taxpayers about $150 million per year. WSDOT says it still isn't sure how it will pay for all of them.

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

The success of this year’s sockeye spawning season will depend on whether rain and cooler weather manage to lower water temperatures.

 Warm water puts B.C.’s Fraser River sockeye run at risk Fraser River temperatures hit record high as salmon get ready to spawn August 4, 2015 Record low river levels and warm water temperatures could have a devastating effect on millions of sockeye salmon headed for the Fraser River to spawn, according to a UBC biologist.

If this summer’s unusual weather conditions continue, few salmon will brave the stifling temperatures of the river, and many of those that do will die trying, Tony Farrell said.

The temperature in the Fraser River at Hope is currently edging close to 20 C and recently hit 20.5 C, a record high for this time of year and about four degrees warmer than an average year. Meanwhile, the river level was at a 25-year low by July.

“I think what most people don’t realize is that Pacific salmon have one chance to spawn and they have to go through this gauntlet of the Fraser River to make it there,” Farrell said, adding that the journey can be as long as 1,000 kilometres upstream.

“Fish will tend not come into the Fraser River or into watersheds if it’s too hot.”At 18 C, sockeye show decreased swimming performance, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada. By 20 C, they start developing diseases and dying at high rates. At chronic exposure to water above 21 C, fish suffer from severe stress and early death.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “The temperature margin for the successful migration and a failed migration is very small, just like the difference between a healthy human at 37 degrees (Celsius) and going to the hospital at 42 (C),” Farrell said.

“It’s just a matter of two, three degrees and you go from fish making it to the spawning grounds to fish not making it to the spawning grounds.”

The last really warm year for Fraser River sockeye was 2004, when temperatures peaked at 21.5 C. About 70 per cent of the spawning population didn’t make it to the spawning grounds.

“I think if the temperatures continue at these temperatures, I’d be very surprised if we don’t get quite a lot of mortality of fish making a last-ditch effort to go up,” Farrell said.

The Fraser River sockeye run is expected to begin this month; last year’s commercial opening was Aug. 11.

The success of this year’s spawning season will depend on whether rain and cooler weather manage to lower temperatures, and if the sockeye have stored enough energy before they stop feeding ahead of the migration.

Younger salmon also face big obstacles when they make their way into the Pacific Ocean. Warmer marine temperatures mean that predator fish such as tuna and mackerel are able to move farther north, allowing them to sit in wait for the salmon smolts swimming out from the mouth of the Fraser.

“They’re probably having a good chow-down on the salmon smolts going out,” Farrell said.

Taken together, warm temperatures in both the ocean and the Fraser River mean “we’re pushing the limits of our sockeye salmon,” he added.

Although it’s too early in the season to accurately predict this year’s salmon returns, federal scientists are tentatively forecasting a sockeye return of 6.8 million.

Whether any sockeye fisheries will open this year depends in part on water temperatures, which will allow scientists to predict how many fish will make it back to the spawning grounds.

The first fish to return are part of the so-called “early Stuart” run headed to Stuart Lake, north of Prince George, and DFO numbers suggest their numbers will be very low — and therefore no commercial fisheries are planned for this group.

Low stream flow levels and warm water temperatures have already prompted the B.C. government to ban sport fishing in streams through most of the south coast, Vancouver Island and the south Okanagan. About 50 major river systems are closed and 40 are being monitored, according to provincial fisheries manager Mike Ramsay.

“This is kind of unprecedented. This level has not happened before in British Columbia, but it’s turned our thinking to developing some planning around this for future years,” he said. Cooler temperatures at night should help some streams in the Interior stabilize by mid-August, he added, but Level 4 drought conditions in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island mean the situation isn’t likely to improve without substantial rain.

Ramsay pointed to the Columbia River in Oregon as a cautionary example.

“They’ve had mass die-offs of fish because of these temperature problems,” he said.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “We’re not there yet, but we’re taking a precautionary approach, not having people angle these fish and trying to leave them alone as much as possible until the conditions are OK to go fishing.”

Meanwhile, the Okanagan Nation Alliance last week cut off the commercial and recreational fisheries on Osoyoos Lake because high temperatures were leading to disease and death. Fishing on nearby Kettle River was banned earlier this year.

A poor salmon return this year could mean premium prices for sockeye in stores. UBC researchers have already forecast a possible 70-per-cent increase in sockeye prices by 2050 as stocks decline.

The Daily Catch, which has four locations in Vancouver, was selling sashimi-grade sockeye filets for $4.41 per 100 grams on Tuesday, or $11.99 per pound of whole fish.

But deals are still available for consumers who are prepared to shop around. At Thrifty Foods in South Surrey, sockeye filets were selling for $2.69 per 100 grams on Tuesday. The store is offering a buy-one-get-one-free sale on Wednesday, with the price of a filet set at $3.99 per 100 grams.

Julianna Fall, who works in the store’s seafood department, said sockeye filets have been as cheap as $1.88 per 100 grams this summer. During a one-day salmon festival on July 19, whole fish sold for 98 cents per 100 grams.

The prices for the rest of the summer will depend on the salmon returns, she added.

“If it’s a really good run, then at the end of August you’ll see really good sales. If it’s not so much, you’ll see them earlier,” Fall said.

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

Some of the six-pound sockeye salmon caught during a gillnet test fishery on the lower Fraser River on Aug. 13, 2014.

 Fraser River salmon fishing closes Record-high water temperatures prompt closure from mouth to north of Hope August 17, 2015 The Fraser River has been closed to salmon fishing from its mouth all the way to the Alexandra Bridge north of Hope, thanks in part to record-high water temperatures.

The closure came into effect Friday at midnight, according to notices from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. First Nations fisheries have also been closed.

“Current run size estimates of Fraser River Summer Run sockeye salmon combined with record water temperatures in the Fraser River have resulted in no allowable harvest and a conservation concern,” the notices say.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Recreational fishing for pink and chum salmon may be allowed later in the season.

Sockeye returns so far this year have been far below expected levels, according to the department.

Government scientists are now estimating a summer run size of 1.15 million fish, down significantly from a forecast of 4.674 million.

This summer’s hot, dry weather has resulted in unusually high water temperatures in the Fraser. On Thursday, the river hit 19.8 C, which is 1.8 degrees above the average temperature on that date.

Meanwhile, river levels are well below average.

Water holds less oxygen as temperatures rise, making it difficult for fish to swim. At temperatures above 19 C, sockeye show signs of physiological stress and slower migration. Water temperatures above 20 C are associated with high pre-spawn mortality and disease.

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

A female sockeye salmon lays her eggs in a stream north of Chase, B.C. Because of drought conditions this year, there’s a higher than normal mortality rate among the salmon.

 First Nations tribal council suspends Okanagan sockeye salmon fishery July 29, 2015 The tribal council representing eight First Nation communities in British Columbia’s Okanagan has suspended the area’s recreational and commercial sockeye salmon fishery – and says a full closing of food fishing is likely coming – as the salmon run comes in far lower than expected.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots The Okanagan Nation Alliance was set to open the fishery on Osoyoos Lake this weekend with a historic salmon run forecast for the Columbia River system. But only about 18,000 to 45,000 of the projected 375,000 fish are expected to survive the journey.

“We were ramping up fisheries and prepping for full scale fisheries on all fronts for our food needs, for the recreational and the commercial fishing, with surpluses to be had,” said Richard Bussanich, a fish biologist with the Okanagan Nation Alliance. Because of drought conditions, there’s a higher than normal mortality rate among the salmon.

“It doesn’t look good,” he said.

The Department of Oceans and Fisheries already announced the suspension of recreational fisheries in the Okanagan this week.

The decision by the Alliance to not take out a commercial fishing licence from the federal government comes as worsening drought in the province means many streams are lower and warmer than normal. Food fishing by native groups is still permitted, but a shutdown will likely follow suit. “The fish aren’t there,” Mr. Bussanich said.

Mr. Bussanich noted that the United States has also closed its fisheries along the Columbia River system.

Earlier this month, the province banned angling in streams and rivers throughout the South Okanagan, which currently has a Level 3 out of 4 on the drought rating scale. At Level 3, conditions are considered “very dry.”

On Wednesday afternoon, the province announced a fishing closing for Middle Shuswap River because of warming temperatures and low flows.

The Okanagan Nation Alliance has been working for more than a decade with native communities in Washington, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the province of British Columbia to restore the Okanagan sockeye run. The salmon stock dipped to less than 5,000 fish in the 1990s.

And they have seen remarkable success: “We saw this reversal over the last few years of seeing half a million sockeye make it back each and every year,” Mr. Bussanich said.

“We were expecting cycles for sure, ups and downs, but we were on a trajectory for good success.”

Indeed, the Okanagan salmon has adapted over time to survive in warmer temperatures. Whereas Pacific salmon usually need cold water to survive (the Fraser River run, for example, becomes increasingly weak and susceptible to die-offs whenever water temperature reaches above 18 C), the salmon swimming in the Okanagan can live in 20 C to 22 C waters.

“But even these super fish [that] … have adapted over time to warmer conditions, they even have their limits,” Mr. Bussanich said.

With worsening drought conditions, more fish than ever arrived showing signs of lesions and fungi, swimming off route in search of cooler waters, or floating dead in stream.

“At any given year, maybe one in 10 fish will go through these physical stressors, but this year we’re seeing even higher rates – anywhere between 30 and 50 per cent of the fish are showing these signs.”

“We’re not expecting good survivals,” he said.

Although Mr. Bussanich is hopeful the sockeye population will bounce back after this run, that could change if the region sees multiple years of drought.

“One year is acceptable,” he said. “If we start getting into two or three years, especially if we’re expecting lower than normal returns … then we’re going to be into some interesting times.”

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

 Quinault Indian Nation Hosts Public Meeting on Quinault River Restoration Quinault Indian Nation, Lead Entity for Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 21, hosted a public meeting regarding Upper Quinault River Restoration the evening of Thursday, June 25 at the Lake Quinault Lodge.

“This was the third annual public meeting of this kind, intended to provide information and answer questions about the restoration and protection of our coastal rivers and streams that provide habitat for our naturally spawning salmon,” said QIN President Fawn Sharp. President Sharp was a speaker, as were members of the QIN Lead Entity Salmon Habitat Restoration Team, who presented updates about Upper Quinault River and other salmon habitat restoration efforts in our coastal river systems.

“We host these meetings to help citizens learn about projects intended to restore and protect physical and biological processes that benefit naturally spawning salmonids and their habitats,” said William “Bill” Armstrong, Habitat Management Scientist and Lead Entity Coordinator for the Quinault Nation.

Legacy – September 2015 Wild Game Fish Conservation International 2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots “The salmon resource is sacred to our people and we are deeply committed to restoring the habitat it must have to return to our waters,” said President Sharp. “We are fully aware of the importance of maintaining good, positive relations with our neighbors in the process of achieving this critically important objective. We hope these meetings provide the kind of information people are interested in.

It is particularly important for us to be supportive of one another and work together on stewardship issues during the severe drought conditions we are facing,” she said.

Other speakers at the meeting included Leif Quinault Indian Nation Hosts Public Meeting on Quinault Embertson, of Natural Systems Design, who addressed engineered log jams and channel responses; Dr. Kevin Fetherston of R2 Environmental Consultants who spoke about Floodplain Forest Reforestation and Dr. Brian Winter of the Olympic National Park who spoke about Finley Creek Restoration Alternatives. Jim Sellers, QIN Councilman, also spoke. Steve Robinson, owner of SR Productions and Public Relations Coordinator for QIN, emceed the meeting

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