MOLDY CHUM

I'll have the Chilean farm raised salmon with a side of pesticides

Reason number 1,476 not to eat farm raised salmon.

The Pew Environment Group recently acquired documents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealing that three Chilean salmon farming companies, including the two largest producers of farmed salmon, used a number of drugs not approved by the U.S. government.  These chemicals include the antibiotics flumequine and oxolinic acid and the pesticide emamectin benzoate. The documents further show that the farmed salmon containing  residues of unapproved chemicals were destined for the U.S. market.

Chile is the primary source of farmed salmon consumed in the United States. LINK

B.C. loses salmon farm jurisdiction

Alexandra Morton kicks ass.

The B.C. Supreme Court ruled Monday the federal government — not the province — has exclusive jurisdiction over the management of salmon farming, a landmark decision hailed as a victory for the future of wild stocks.

“The regulation of fish farming by the province is ultra vires, beyond its power,” said a triumphant Greg McDade, the lawyer who pursued the case on behalf of independent sea-lice researcher Alexandra Morton and others.

LINK  (Via:The Times Colonist)

B.C. Fish Habitat Profoundly Impacted by Shoddy Roads

The Forest Pracrices Board board investigated 1,100 road crossings in 19 watersheds and found that only 42 per cent were designed and built in a way that allow fish to pass through. Even in streams considered "important or critical" fish habitat, more than one in four road crossings blocked fish movement.

In the Campbell-Memekay watershed north of Campbell River, the board found that almost one-third of road crossings of important or critical streams blocked fish migration.

LINK (Via: The Times Colonist)

U.S. to compensate B.C. fishermen - Still holding Terrance and Philip

As part of a newly ratified treaty, the U.S. government will hand over thirty million dollars to compensate the B.C. fishing industry for dramatic cuts to salmon fisheries.  LINK (Via: CNW Group)

Transporting juvenile salmon hinders adult migration

                                          Salmon transporter

Juvenile salmon that are transported downstream on boats can lose the ability to migrate back to their breeding grounds, reducing their survivorship and altering adaptations in the wild.  LINK  (Via: Science Codex)

Thousands of Atlantic Salmon Escape BC Fish Farm

About 2,500 Atlantic salmon have escaped from a Vancouver Island fish farm, the second incident involving a Mainstream Canada operation in a little more than a year. LINK  (Via: The Peterborough Examiner)

The problem of Atlantic Salmon escapes was serious enough that Fisheries and Oceans Canada ran/runs an Atlantic Salmon watch program. There is no information on escapes after 2002, but from 1991 - 2002 there were 452,049 reported escapes from BC aquaculture facilities.

Please report all captures of Atlantic salmon  to the toll-free ASWP Reporting Number 1-800-811-6010.

You will be asked where and when you caught the fish and if you wish to donate the fish for research purposes. Donation is not mandatory but it does provide valuable samples for our scientific study. For donation, the whole fish, including entrails, should be frozen or kept on ice. ASWP staff will arrange for transport of the fish carcass. 

LINK

No reprieve for Columbia sea lions

A federal judge says state governments can proceed with plans to kill up to 85 California sea lions a year for five years in the Columbia River at Bonneville Dam, where they gather annually to plunder the spring chinook salmon run.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers calculates that, based on observation, the sea lions have taken from between .4 percent and 4.2 percent of the run each year between 2002 and 2007.

LINK (Via: Seattle PI)

The Salmon are running in East Chicago

Salmon have been spawning in an East Chicago sewage treatment plant for 20 years.

This month marks the 20th annual return of a prized and ecologically sensitive game fish to a stream that is fed, essentially, by the toilets and drains of East Chicago.

LINK (Via: Post Tribune)

Kills Fish Dead

Farmers in Washington state and along the entire US west coast could face extensive new restrictions on three popular pesticides in the name of protecting salmon.

LINK  (Via: Forests.org)

How too much wind power could actually hurt salmon

Because of excess energy generated by wind farms in the Columbia River Gorge. dam operators are being forced to spill water which can harm salmon.  Via: KATU  LINK

Salmon study under fire for minimizing effect of dams

Kintama Research delivers an early Christmas present to the pro dam constituency.

It's a startling finding with potentially big political implications: Young salmon running the gantlet of dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers fared just as well as salmon on an undammed river.

But even before the digital ink is dry, a number of scientists — including several co-authors of the study — are questioning the results and cautioning about what conclusions can really be drawn. There have even been charges that it's little more than a promotion for fish-tracking technology in which the lead author has a financial stake.

No matter how flawed the science this study will set back dam removal efforts for years.

Via: The Seattle Times  LINK

Wild salmon keeping the lawyers happy

If builders and property rights groups have their way you can kiss the remaining stocks of wild salmon goodbye.

Lawyers for the building industry, farm and property rights groups asked Monday that the judges undo the listings of 16 West Coast salmon and steelhead populations under the act, arguing that thanks to abundant hatchery fish, the stocks are nowhere near extinction.

Another reason to Vote the Environment on election day.

Via: The AP LINK

Eco-battle emerging over fish and multibillion-dollar resort

Two other B.C. rivers share the same chemistry as the Brohm, the Dean and the Blackwater.

A classic fish-versus-development battle is heating up in Squamish at the proposed site of a multibillion-dollar ski resort and housing development.

Proponents of the Garibaldi At Squamish project at Brohm Ridge north of town are pitching their development as a financial boon for the economy of the community and the province, offering thousands of jobs, tourism activity and an estimated $8 billion in construction activity and spinoffs.

However a new environmental study obtained by The Vancouver Sun indicates that the project would devastate the Brohm River -- one of the most productive wild steelhead and salmon streams in B.C.

Via: The Vancouver Sun  LINK

Fractured Nursery Rhymes

Humpty Dumpty salmon run sat on the wall
Humpty Dumpty salmon run had a great fall
All the Army Corp horses and all the Army Corp men
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty salmon run back together again

Talkin Bout the Car Wash - No driveway carwashes, Wash. state says

"I understand this is something people have done for a long time," says Bill Moore, water quality specialist with the Washington state Department of Ecology, which is requiring the ban. "It's not something we should be doing any longer."

He says the soapy runoff is toxic to salmon and other fish and that small metal particles that wash off cars, such as brake dust, is harmful, too.

Via: USA Today LINK

We're not going to get salmon recovery unless we get lamprey recovery

A dramatic decline in lamprey numbers in the Columbia and Snake Rivers has biologists alarmed and the Corps of Engineers scrambling for solutions. High in fat content, the lowly Lamprey is an important food source for salmon and sea lions and their disappearance has profound impacts on the entire food chain.

Via: The Seattle Times LINK

Klamath Salmon Plague

Pathologist Scott Foott with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's California-Nevada Fish Health Center briefed county supervisors on Tuesday about the abnormal rate of infection in fish by two parasites that are rife in a particular stretch of the river. The infected fish die at extraordinarily high rates when exposed to the parasites in a 60-mile stretch of river downstream of Iron Gate Dam, Foott said.  Via: The Times - Standard LINK

Fraser River Sockeye Lice Infection

Atlantic Salmon Museum Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

The Atlantic Salmon Museum – Hall of Fame recognizes and honors the contributions and accomplishments of individuals and/or groups of individuals who have contributed to the Atlantic salmon, and/or Atlantic salmon angling in the Province of New Brunswick.

Via: The Miramichi Leader LINK

Salmon poaching forces Kamchatka's bears to turn to alternative food sources

Up to 30 hungry and desperate bears have attacked and eaten two men in Russia's wild far eastern region of Kamchatka, and have trapped a group of geologists at their remote site.  Via: The Guardian UK LINK

Feeding the nation's hunger for Fillet of Fish sandwiches is killing endangered salmon

In recent years, the fleet of about 100 pollock trawlers have intercepted record numbers of salmon bound for rivers in Canada, the Pacific Northwest, Asia and Alaska. Federal laws prevent them from fishing for anything but pollock, so fishermen must throw the mostly dead and dying salmon back into the sea.

King salmon bycatch - fishing jargon for the unintentional capture of a species - in the Bering Sea pollock fishery rose last year to a record 122,000, up from a previous 5-year average of 57,333. The bycatch count for other salmon species hit a record 706,000 in 2005, according to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Via: The Seattle Times LINK

Sea Lice are Suprisingly Acrobatic

Sea lice can leap from juvenile salmon to larger fish that prey on them, new research has found.
Via: The Vancouver Sun LINK

30,000 Atlantic Salmon Escape BC Fish Farm - Marine Harvest Responds with Recipe

Some 30,000 Atlantic salmon escaped from a fish farm off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, where they are thought to pose a threat to already depleted populations of wild Pacific salmon.

What do the folks at Marine Harvest have to say?

In the meantime, Marine Harvest wishes bon appétit to anyone who catches the escaped fish. “They should keep the fish, clean it, and bake in a 400-degree F. oven with a ginger and green-onion garnish,” said Mr. Backman in an e-mail to the Globe and Mail. “Then serve with fresh lemon slices.”

The Christian Science Monitor LINK

Yakamas reintroduce salmon in Yakima River Basin headwaters

Fish returning to spawn will be captured below Cle Elum Dam and trucked around it. 

Via: The Seattle PI LINK

Fish Fuss

From Joe Bogaard at Save Our Wild Salmon, watch it tonight below.

This coming Sunday evening, June 22, CBS News 60 MINUTES will feature an expose on the severely depressed   salmon populations in the Columbia & Snake Rivers. The story will spotlight the tremendous amount of taxpayer dollars our federal government continues to spend on ineffective programs that are failing to restore an endangered national treasure - wild salmon of the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

The story will raise serious questions about the billions of taxpayer dollars the government has spent - and wants to keep spending into the future - on salmon programs that aren't working, and scientists tell us are extremely   unlikely ever to work.  LINK

Can You Smell Me Now?

Pesticides in B.C.'s rivers may be partly to blame for declining salmon stocks because the chemicals are screwing up the fish's delicate sense of smell, according to a new study by researchers at Simon Fraser University.

Via: The Calgary Herald  LINK

Alaska salmon may bear scars of global warming

Anyone who has ever kept a fish tank knows that Ich is a disease that afflicts tropical fish, now it is appearing in Alaska salmon.

It has been a rare success story among exploited fisheries, but locals say much of the Yukon River population is peppered with 'white spot disease,' or Ich. A species crash could be disastrous.  VIA: The LA Times  LINK

Salmon-chanted evening…

From Scotland comes news that a fashion designer is selling bikinis made from salmon skin.

But there just may be an upside. Salmon predators also include large, persistent birds who swoop from nowhere and won’t take no for an answer. “My God, Tiffany! That condor is pulling at your bikini - for your own safety, just let him have it!”

Via:Reuters LINK

If You Can't Shoot Them....Cook Em!

Those Einsteins at the National Marines Fisheries Service did not get the, sea lions need to be in the water occasionally memo.  LINK

Salmon Safe Wine

For more than 10 years Portland-based Salmon-Safe has worked with vineyards and other farms to become Salmon-Safe certified. Via: Willamette Live  LINK

Salmon Closure 2008 - NEVER AGAIN: Ten Actions You Need to Take Now!

Dan Bacher outlines the steps you can take to help restore Central Valley salmon. 

LINK

Fishy Color: California State Supreme Court Rules on Farm-Raised Salmon

The color of farmed salmon would be a dusty grey were it not for the unnatural addition of the petrochemical-derived coloring agents canthaxanthin and astaxanthin.

The California Supreme Court just ruled that consumer groups may continue their lawsuits against big supermarkets like Albertson’s, Safeway, Trader Joe’s, Costco, Whole Foods and others—based on their claims that farm-raised salmon sold in their stores must be labeled “artificially colored.”  Via: Sierra Sun  LINK

Salmon Season Officially Closed

The Pacific Fishery Management Council virtually eliminated fishing for salmon in the ocean alongside most of Oregon and all of California, and substantially restricted fishing for coho along the Washington coast. Fishing for chinook along Washington survived relatively unscathed, though.

Oregon recreational fisherman blame California.

Via:The Seattle PI LINK

Tribes sell out to BPA for 900 million

Settlements reached Monday with four Northwest Indian tribes would commit federal agencies to spend $900 million over the next decade on improving conditions for endangered salmon, but leave intact hydroelectric dams in the Columbia River Basin that environmentalists say kill fish.

Federal officials called the agreement a landmark in the long-running dispute over balancing tribal and commercial fishing rights, protection for threatened salmon and power demands from the region's network of hydroelectric dams.

But environmentalists said the deal fell far short of what is needed to recover threatened salmon, an icon of the Northwest that is protected by the Endangered Species Act and costs the government billions of dollars to protect.

Via: Oregon Live  LINK

Oregon Governor  Ted Kulongoski refused to sign on to the deal calling it shortsighted. The Nez Perce tribe also refused to sign on saying the 4 lower Snake River dams should be removed. 

Below is a summary of the "deal" from Save Our Wild Salmon.

SUMMARY OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION-LOWER COLUMBIA RIVER TRIBES
DEAL FOR COLUMBIA-SNAKE SALMON LITIGATION

Over the past two years, the Bush Administration has been meeting with representatives from the
four lower Columbia River tribes to determine whether the two parties could come to an
agreement to avoid continued litigation by the Tribes over the operation of the federal dams on
the Columbia and Snake rivers.   In the past, the four lower Columbia River tribes – the
Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Yakama Indian Nation, the
Nez Perce Tribe, and the Confederated Tribe of the Umatilla Indian Reservation – have been
strong critics of the Bush Administration’s failure to make major changes to the dam operations.
They have pointed out correctly that under this administration the federal agencies responsible
for dam operations have politicized the science and allowed salmon and steelhead of the
Columbia-Snake River Basin to continue their spiral toward extinction.  Nevertheless, three of
the four lower Columbia Treaty tribes (i.e., Warm Springs, Yakamas, Umatillas) and the
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation recently signed an agreement with the Bush
Administration (i.e., three federal agencies: Bonneville Power Administration, the Army Corps
of Engineers, and Bureau of Reclamation) that allows past dam operations to continue
unchanged in return for major financial support for tribal hatchery and habitat programs.

Hatchery debate takes on new significance as salmon populations crash

A recent study indicates that wild salmon may account for just 10 percent of California's fall-run chinook salmon population, while the vast majority of the fish come from hatcheries. The findings are especially troubling in light of the disastrous decline in the population this year, which will probably force the closure of the 2008 season for commercial and recreational salmon fishing.  

Via: UC Santa Cruz News and Events  LINK

Seventy percent of Oregon's salmon start their life in hatcheries. LINK

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels

Patagonia is one of the sponsors of this year's Save Our Wild Salmon road show. Kicking off here in Seattle on April 10th at the Pike Place Brewery, the road show is designed to raise national awareness for endangered wild salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest.  LINK

Environmentalists lose Puget Sound salmon suit

More bad news for salmon.

Federal officials are not violating the Endangered Species Act by allowing fishing for Puget Sound salmon -- even though it kills up to three-quarters of the fish protected under the law -- U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik of Seattle said in a ruling issued Friday.  Via: The Seattle PI LINK

News from Norway

Our Norwegian Chum connection sent us these headlines and following translation.

Maximum One Salmon per Day

Massive International Pressure against Norwegian Net Fishing

Want To Release Fish

Alta River owners feel that catch and release will help future fish stock and pushes for it.  Uses examples from other countries.

Starting this Spring there will be new regulations, but they haven’t been released yet. ICES recommend Norway to reduce salmon fishing.

An Exciting Opportunity To Be Larry Craig's Summer Intern!

Our favorite Senator from Idaho is looking for some summer help.

It’s that time of year again, and the Hill is looking for 2008’s crop of ambitious, savvy whippersnappers to make up its corps of summer interns! They’ll get to organize back room deals and schmooze with the fat cats, but mostly, they’ll learn that running America isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And if you’re a summer intern for Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who knows what else you’ll be forced to do?

Our good senior senator from Idaho is an important man in Washington and wields power that reverberates nationwide. Just ask the salmon of Idaho River — they know what’s up

Via: Wonkette LINK

Bering Sea pollock fishery accidentally takes 130,000 prize chinook

DNA analysis shows about 20 per cent of the chinook caught up in the football field-sized nets were bound for the Yukon River, which runs through both Alaska and Yukon Territory.

Another 40 per cent of those salmon were destined for rivers in British Columbia and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Via: The Canadian Press LINK

Saving Salmon?

Covers the history up until 1995.

You can read the whole mess here. LINK

Mine and Money vs. Indigenous and Salmon

Karl Vick of the Washington Post weighs in on the Pebble Mine. Via: Mostly Water LINK

Dems Take Wide Stance on Larry Craig Water Flow Measure

Senate Democrats thwarted Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's bid to use a federal spending bill to dictate water flow for Northwest salmon.

A bill approved by Congress removed a Craig-sponsored amendment directing the Bush administration to go forward with a policy on Northwest fish that a judge has twice ruled illegal.  Via The Montery Herald LINK

We Have All Been Here Before

Parasites that breed in fish farms kill so many passing juvenile wild salmon that they threaten the survival of fish populations in some rivers and streams, Canadian researchers are reporting. Via: The NY Times LINK

Here Comes the Judge

A judge in Oregon said he could order federal dam managers to drain more water from Idaho, spill more water away from power-producing turbines or draw down reservoirs on the Snake and Columbia rivers if officials don't do more to protect salmon and steelhead.

U.S. District Court Judge James Redden told federal attorneys he believes proposed plans to protect salmon "fail to satisfy the biological and legal requirements of the Endangered Species Act."  Via The Idaho Statesman LINK

Attack of the Killer Jellyfish

The only salmon farm in Northern Ireland has lost its entire population of more than 100,000 fish, worth some $2 million, to a spectacular jellyfish attack, its owners said Wednesday. Via: MSNBC LINK

Until the last decade, Pelagia Nocticula, also known as the Mauve Stinger, had rarely been spotted so far north in British or Irish waters, and scientists cite this as evidence of global warming. 

Bush administration drops effort to ease salmon protections

Some good news from our backyard.

The Bush administration has abandoned efforts pushed by the timber industry to allow more logging around salmon streams on Northwest national forests.  Via: The Seattle PI  LINK

Great Scot! New campaign launched to save wild fish

A major campaign aimed at conserving wild salmon stocks in Scotland's rivers by trying to close coastal netting stations has been launched.  LINK