And what has passed this year: Click on these links:

Call for Judicial Enquiry on Missing West Coast Salmon

Salmon Farms ..Did you know?

Read the background articles below which include some the history of the campaign for action.

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Subject: "Wake up, people, and demand that all fish farms in B.C. waters be removed from the ocean and put on shore"/"Pay more attention to sea lice, group urges minister"

 

Please find enclosed a press update from B.C. including:

 

"Blame fish farms for seabed pollution" (The Times Colonist, 27th August)

 

"Don't blame fish farms for sockeye decline" (The Times Colonist, 27th August)

 

"Point missing from Chinook story" (The Westerly, 27th August)

 

"Pay more attention to sea lice, group urges minister" (Whistler Question, 26th August) 

 

"MLA fishing for a summit on salmon - North Coast MLA Gary Coons agrees that a B.C. Salmon Summit is needed to discuss dwindling salmon stocks" (Prince Rupert Daily News, 26th August)    

 

"David Suzuki: Uncovering the mystery of B.C.’s disappearing sockeye" (The Straight, 25th August)

 

"Missing sockeye salmon raising concern" (Vernon Morning Star News, 25th August)

 

 

Damien Gillis's new video report "DFO at AquaNor While Fraser Sockeye Crash" is available online now via: http://saveourrivers.ca/video-library-mainmenu-29/414-aquanor

 

The 7 minute video features: 

 

Canada's Fisheries Minister Gail Shea, the King of Norway, John Volpe, Otto Langer, Mary Ellen Walling, Alexandra Morton, the Norwegian Fisheries Minister Helga Pedersen, DFO's Trevor Swerdfager, DFO press officer Nancy Fowler and Mainstream Canada's Laurie Jensen (taking photos and waving). 

 

Watch now online via: http://saveourrivers.ca/video-library-mainmenu-29/414-aquanor

 

 

 

The enclosed press update includes from the Whistler Question:

 

"Squamish Streamkeeper Jack Cooley supports Morton’s assertions. Although Squamish isn’t normally home to sockeye, Cooley said its collapse does not bode well for other types of salmon returning to Squamish. For example, chum and coho salmon numbers were recently about 20 per cent of the norm.

“The fish farms affect us just as much as the sockeye that came out of the Fraser River because our fish will make a right turn, just like the sockeye, and go more or less on the right side of the Georgia Basin and hit farms on the east side of Quadra Island,” he said.": http://www.whistlerquestion.com/article/20090826/WHISTLER01/308269799/1030/WHISTLER/pay-more-attention-to-sea-lice-group-urges-minister

 

And in today's Times Colonist from Bob Tritschler in Parksville:

"Wake up, people, and demand that all fish farms in B.C. waters be removed from the ocean and put on shore. Don't buy the "we cannot afford it" line. The ocean cannot afford this blatant abuse by these multinational firms that have little concern other than their own corporate bottom line.":http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/Blame+fish+farms+seabed+pollution/1934581/story.html

 

Please pass on any press articles.

 

Best fishes,

 

Don

 

 

The Times Colonist, 27th August 2009

 

Blame fish farms for seabed pollution

Re: "Island fish farm has negative impact," Aug. 26.

An August 2009 Environment Ministry assessment shows that the area of ocean floor 100 metres from the centre of a studied fish farm has been degraded with copper and zinc deposits and will remain so for an unspecified time. These metals are part of the fish-rearing process and are found at all sites. Under the precautionary principle of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, those persons responsible should be charged under the Fisheries Act.

Why do we now tarp under boats when the bottoms are cleaned and repainted? Copper and zinc are in the antifouling paint. Yet a government study shows that these metals are in the sediment as a direct result of fish farm activity, and they are allowed to remain functioning.

Wake up, people, and demand that all fish farms in B.C. waters be removed from the ocean and put on shore. Don't buy the "we cannot afford it" line. The ocean cannot afford this blatant abuse by these multinational firms that have little concern other than their own corporate bottom line.

Bob Tritschler

Parksville

 

http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/Blame+fish+farms+seabed+pollution/1934581/story.html

 

The Times Colonist, 27th August 2009

 

Don't blame fish farms for sockeye decline

 

Anti-salmon farming activists protest in Vancouver last year. A letter-writer says the claim that salmon farms cause fatal infestations of sea lice in wild salmon has no scientific basis.

Photograph by: Ian Smith, Canwest News Service, Times Colonist

Re: "Action now on wild salmon," Aug. 25

The editorial first asked what is causing the decline in the Fraser River sockeye run and then answered the question: "No one knows." But that doesn't stop the editorial writer from suggesting B.C. salmon farms and sea lice on sockeye salmon might be a factor.

A few years ago, concerned citizens found sea lice on small pink salmon. They suggested that sea lice could only have come from salmon farms, that lice were not found naturally on small salmon, that one louse will kill a small salmon and all this would result in decimating B.C.'s pink salmon runs. Years of science and millions of dollars later, we now know this concern to be well overstated.

Sea lice are found naturally on small salmon, who quickly build a defence system to withstand harm, and although salmon farms could contribute to the number of sea lice, salmon farms successfully manage sea lice on their fish to prevent this amplification of numbers.

Today, many B.C. rivers are experiencing excellent returns of wild pink salmon with some at record levels.

The editorial's scientifically baseless claims of a sockeye, sea lice and salmon farm connection are irresponsible.

Serious reporting on an issue like this would look at many factors that affect wild salmon, including warmer ocean temperatures, fishing pressure while the salmon are feeding off Alaska and habitat destruction before turning to the knee-jerk charge against salmon farming.

Clare Backman

Marine Harvest Canada

http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/blame+fish+farms+sockeye+decline/1934582/story.html

 

The Westerly, 27th August 2009

 

Point missing from Chinook story

Dear Editor,

In regards to a Westerly News article reprinted in the Alberni Valley Times -- Reasons for decline of Chinook in Clayoquot Sound remain a mystery, August 20, 2009.

I am the chair of the Alberni Sport Fish Advisory Committee and sit with the area 24 (Clayoquot Sound) representative, Jay Mohl, at all Sport Fishing Advisory Board meetings. Jay represents the Tofino area well and is more concerned about the Clayoquot Chinook stocks than anyone mentioned in the article.

I am also the sport fish representative on the West Coast Aquatic Management Board and am very familiar with our area's Chinook issues.

To spend half an article talking about the sport catch affecting the Chinook returns in Clayoquot Sound is a waste of the readership's time and of paper.

The recreational fishery has negligible effect and there is catch data and stats to prove such. Recreational fishing plans have been crafted and modified each year to avoid harming any Clayoquot Chinook.

The Alaskans have been catching 50 per cent or more of our West Coast Vancouver Island Chinook for years. Why would only the Clayoquot stocks be seriously declining and not the Barkley nor Nootka Sound stocks?

For the article to not even mention the most probable cause of the continuing decline in the Clayoquot area Chinook -- open net fish farms, is more than an oversight.

With the wild and enhanced rivers and streams in Barkley Sound (with only two active fish farms and neither on migration routes) having relatively good returns despite climate change and ocean conditions and the Nootka Sound area also experiencing better than average returns, the obvious difference is the proliferation of open net fish farms in Clayoquot Sound. Twenty-seven sites and 22 active farms mostly on migration routes.

There is no doubt whatsoever that sea lice infection from wild fry having to pass by fish farms has a serious detrimental impact on their survival. The only real answer is closed containment. Cost cannot be a deterrent because the cost of losing our wild salmon is beyond measurement.

One of the potential causes being investigated of the millions of missing Fraser Sockeye this year is the Broughton area fish farms relative to out-migrating Sockeye fry.

The study done in the Dixon Sound area showed high (lethal) levels of lice from fish farms on thousands of out-migrating Chinook fry. All the enhancement and restoration work in the Clayoquot area rivers and streams is a waste of time and money if people don't face the facts and deal with the fish farms.

There are dozens of scientific study reports about open net fish farms and their effect on wild salmon stocks worldwide. When analyzed from an unbiased perspective there is no doubt of the damage and destruction to wild salmon populations these farms cause.

I would hope that your paper might look to do a follow up story investigating the effect of fish farms on your area's Chinook stocks.

Bob Cole, Port Alberni

Editor's Note: The Alberni Valley Times did not print the Westerly's article in its entirety. The full article can be found online at www.westerlynews.ca.

 

http://www2.canada.com/westerly/news/upfront/story.html?id=79a11464-0ea9-443b-ad3f-f34d9c6b7c7d

 

 

Whistler Question, 26th August 2009

 

Pay more attention to sea lice, group urges minister

 

Whistler – Sockeye salmon returns in the Fraser River system, and pink salmon in the Squamish River system, are expected to plummet this year, and a local sportfishing advisory group is concerned that federal officials aren’t paying enough attention to one of the root causes: sea lice from open-net fish farms in the Georgia Basin.

In a letter to John Weston, the Member of Parliament for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, the headers of the Squamish Lillooet Sportfish Advisory Committee (SLSAC) say recent statements by two high-ranking Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) officials appear to indicate that federal officials believe fish farms aren’t a major factor in this year’s poor early returns.

In the letter, Whistlerite Dave Brown, SLSAC vice-chair, expressed his dismay over the federal government’s failure to recognize fish farms’ contribution to the loss of sockeye, which is impacting Pemberton’s Birkenhead River.

“To see high ranking DFO representatives dismissing the impact of these salmon farms on the Fraser sockeye collapse is extremely concerning,” Brown wrote.

In a follow-up interview, Weston said he has since spoken to Brown and other stakeholders in an effort to relay information to Gail Shea, Canada’s Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.

“I’m trying to get the Minister of Fisheries to come here to talk and meet directly with stakeholders in the community so she hears firsthand the nature of the problem,” said Weston.

“Given that the priority of DFO is conservation, I’m hopeful that we can come up with some solutions.”

In an interview with The Question, Brown said there’s little question that sockeye run on the Birkenhead this year won’t even approach historic levels this year. He said there’s mounting evidence in research conducted by independent biologist Alexandra Morton and others that sea lice from fish farms are a significant part of the problem.

Sockeye normally start returning to the Birkenhead in late August, with the run peaking in September.

“We don’t know the numbers of salmon that will return, but judging by the numbers returning in other Fraser locations so far this year, it most likely be quite low, and a low return would be pretty devastating to this area,” Brown said.

“We’d like to see them give more attention to the issue of fish farms. Total containment onshore would be the ideal thing. Looking at location of fish farms relative to salmon migrations and the number of salmon migrating is another thing they could do as well.”

Weston said he’s not a fisheries expert but wants to bring Minister Shea to the riding to get the local perspective.

Pink salmon usually start making a freshwater return from the ocean to spawn in the Squamish River system in mid- to late-July every odd year, according to local angling guide and SLSAC member Clint Goyette. This year, he didn’t see his first pink salmon until Aug. 5 and the numbers are improving slowly, he said.

“It’s terrible. It’s much worse than the last cycle,” said Goyette, who has spent the last 10 years as a local angling guide.

“It’s been the toughest salmon fishing year that I’ve ever experienced.”

The numbers of pink salmon started to increase this week but nowhere near the numbers needed to lift a retention ban on freshwater pink salmon initiated in 2005 after a CN train derailment spilled 40,000 litres of caustic soda into the Cheakamus River, killing thousands of fish.

B.C. Ministry of Environment biologist Steve Rochetta said it’s too early in the season to give a final report on local populations, adding that the salmon also arrived late in other parts of the province such as Campbell River. Still, he is not encouraged by what he has seen so far.

“By the first week of September, if we don’t have pinks everywhere, then that’s a problem,” said Rochetta.

Theories for the generally low numbers of B.C. salmon have residents looking to the government for action. DFO officials have confirmed the return of 1.7 million sockeye to the Fraser River system despite expectations the run would yield more than 10.6 million sockeye.

While some theories point to climate change and rising water temperatures, others pinpoint fish farms as the culprit. Morton has sent a letter to federal Minister Shea explaining that she examined the previous run of sockeye after it left Fraser River and discovered some had up to 28 sea lice as they passed the salmon farms near Campbell River.

Squamish Streamkeeper Jack Cooley supports Morton’s assertions. Although Squamish isn’t normally home to sockeye, Cooley said its collapse does not bode well for other types of salmon returning to Squamish. For example, chum and coho salmon numbers were recently about 20 per cent of the norm.

“The fish farms affect us just as much as the sockeye that came out of the Fraser River because our fish will make a right turn, just like the sockeye, and go more or less on the right side of the Georgia Basin and hit farms on the east side of Quadra Island,” he said.

— With files from David Burke, The Question

http://www.whistlerquestion.com/article/20090826/WHISTLER01/308269799/1030/WHISTLER/pay-more-attention-to-sea-lice-group-urges-minister

 

Prince Rupert Daily News, 26th August 2009

 

MLA fishing for a summit on salmon    

   
Written by George T. Baker

North Coast MLA Gary Coons agrees that a B.C. Salmon Summit is needed to discuss dwindling salmon stocks.

The ever-acerbic MLA did not hold back on criticizing the provincial government for what he believes to be inaction at a time when something needs to be done. 
“So far the only thing the B.C. Liberals have said on the salmon disaster is ‘it’s a federal issue.’ Can you imagine a Maritime premier responding with such disinterest to the collapse of Eastern fish stocks two decades ago?

“Let’s not forget Gordon Campbell once said his fourth ‘great goal’ was to lead the world in ‘the best fisheries management, bar none.’ Now he has nothing to say,” said Coons.

“If the B.C. Liberals plan on taking the same approach to the collapse of our salmon fishery that they have shown forest resource communities, then British Columbians will pay the price through more job losses and possibly even a permanent loss of vital salmon runs in B.C.”

Earlier this week, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans confirmed there are between nine and 11 million fewer sockeye returning to the Fraser River than predicted.

The causes for the disappearance of the salmon have not yet been determined, but scientists are considering a number of possibilities, including poor adaptation caused by climate change and rising water temperatures, and the proliferation of open-net Atlantic salmon farms on the coast.

Gillnet fishermen along the North Coast were not allowed to participate in any fisheries at all this year and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs is calling for a complete closing of the Fraser River sport fishing industry.

Coons noted that, while the province has been silent on the near total collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run, B.C., it is First Nations leaders that have called on provincial and federal governments to stage a salmon summit.

 

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20090826209831/local/news/mla-fishing-for-a-summit-on-salmon.html

 

 

The Straight, 25th August 2009

 

David Suzuki: Uncovering the mystery of B.C.’s disappearing sockeye

 

By David Suzuki and Faisal Moola

The Fraser River’s sockeye salmon are in trouble. And when the salmon are in trouble, we’re all in trouble.

The number of sockeye returning from the ocean to the Fraser River this year is one of the lowest in the past 50 and follows two years of dangerously low returns. In fact, we have witnessed decades of decline for diverse sockeye populations from the Fraser Watershed, some of which are now on the brink of extinction.

Many salmon runs besides Fraser sockeye are also endangered, while others have disappeared altogether. As populations decline, so does genetic diversity. This diversity allows salmon to adapt to the challenges they face and keeps the populations strong and healthy.

The total disappearance of Pacific salmon would be devastating not just for First Nations and families that depend on the fish for food, but for all who consider salmon a healthy and tasty food source and who rely on the money salmon fishing brings to the economy. Salmon are also essential to the healthy functioning of ecosystems. They bring nutrients from the oceans to the rivers and forests and are a valuable food source for whales, bears, birds, and other wildlife.

The Fraser sockeye fishery is one of Canada’s most valuable, accounting for close to 50 percent of the economic value of all salmon caught in B.C. Their extremely low returns have been called a mystery because finding one simple cause or solution is difficult. However, even though we can’t always link an exact cause to every salmon population decline, we do know the major threats, and that gives us hope that we can change things for the better.

Sockeye have been heavily fished over the years, their spawning habitat in rivers and lakes is being destroyed, their survival is threatened by warming oceans and rivers due to climate change, and they are vulnerable to sea lice and diseases from open-net salmon farms.

While we need to invest more funding in science to understand the exact details behind saving our disappearing salmon, we can and must take precautionary actions to curtail activities that we know harm salmon. Canada’s Wild Salmon Policy provides the tools to do this, but although the government adopted this policy in 2005, it has yet to fund it and put it to work. Now is the time to do so.

Specifically, we need to work with government and industry to find ways to catch salmon from healthy stocks while avoiding catching salmon from threatened populations. Freshwater habitat needs to be conserved and rebuilt, and destructive practices such as converting fish-bearing lakes to mine-tailings ponds or destroying streamside vegetation should be stopped.

We must also make sure that seafood labelled as sustainable truly meets the necessary criteria. Third-party eco-certification, like that offered by the U.K.-based Marine Stewardship Council, must be reserved for fisheries that are well-managed and don’t further endanger threatened salmon populations.

We need to change salmon farming to remove the impacts of sea lice and disease by creating a thriving closed-containment industry that separates farmed fish from wild.

Canada must also combat global warming by committing to major reductions of greenhouse gases at upcoming negotiations in Copenhagen if the salmon are to survive their long journey from spawning grounds to the sea and back over the long term.

Fortunately, leaders are starting to emerge in the struggle to protect the salmon. Fishermen are working with First Nations in the Skeena watershed to use beach seines to selectively harvest abundant salmon runs. Commercial-scale trials of closed-containment salmon farms are underway off the east coast of Vancouver Island and at other sites around the world. Municipalities such as Maple Ridge have adopted improved development practices to protect salmon streams.

These efforts employ a holistic, ecosystem-based approach that acknowledges the many factors that affect salmon’s ability to survive and thrive.

By embracing our role as a significant part of the ecosystem and acting with the knowledge that we are connected to it for good or for ill, we have a chance to reshape the way we fish, build communities, and live our lives so that salmon remain a healthy part of this coast. We will all be richer if we succeed.

Take David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge and learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org.

 

See also

Gerry Kristianson: We need to improve our ability to predict salmon abundance

Brian Riddell: Where have all the Fraser River sockeye salmon gone?

Alexandra Morton's letter to the fisheries minister on missing sockeye

Craig Orr: What is your government doing for wild salmon?

David Suzuki: Fishing for salmon answers

B.C. tourism operators raise alarm over sea lice

 

http://www.straight.com/article-249185/david-suzuki-uncovering-mystery-bcs-disappearing-sockeye

 

 

Vernon Morning Star News, 25th August 2009

 

Missing sockeye salmon raising concern

It’s even worse than they thought. Close to nine million sockeye salmon have gone missing.

Stan Proboszcz, a fish biologist with the science-based, non-profit Watershed Watch Salmon Society, says the consensus is that something happened during the early stages of the juvenile out- migration from the Fraser River.

“One of the theories is that food was limited for these juvenile fish,” Proboszcz says.

“We have ocean conditions which are changing quite rapidly these days, so there’s a lot of variability in such things as temperature.”

Proboszcz says water temperature can affect nutrients and food availability for fish.

“Another theory is that during the sockeye out-migrations, again when they’re small, is that these fish have to migrate through approximately 30 salmon farms before they get out to the open ocean.”

Proboszcz says there is evidence in B.C. and from around the world, that there is a sea lice issue.

A study published in 2008 by Alex Morton, a biologist with Raincoast Conservation Foundation found elevated levels of sea lice on juvenile sockeye near farms, he says.

“I think that there’s enough information to link sea lice as a potential factor that needs to be considered when examining the health of Fraser sockeye,” he says.

“I don’t think it’s solely one or the other (lack of food or sea lice) and I don’t think all the answers are known.”

Proboszcz says the huge discrepancy between the original forecast and the current one puts the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ ability to manage salmon stocks in doubt.

“The comments I’ve heard question the quality of the work of DFO,” he says. “People are beginning to question the ability of this agency to manage wild salmon stocks in a sustainable manner.”

But DFO area manager Barry Rosenberger says returns are based on a predictive model derived from a data bank of 50 years of information.

Pre-season runs are estimated on what would happen this year if the stock behaved as they normally would, for example encountered the same conditions and survival rates at various parts of their life.

“The key thing now is that we have a very good in-season test fishery of northern- and southern-route sockeye and test fisheries in the Fraser River,” he says.

“From the information gathered at those three sites, we get an in-season indication of what’s actually coming back and that’s what we use in deciding whether we have fisheries or not.”

He says this year’s is the most restricted First Nations fishery ever. Some of the early runs are completed and have come in very low, says Rosenberger, noting the mid season forecast for the Adams River has not yet been set.

But, he notes, this year is the lowest cycle for the Adams River, a year in which the average return is less than 5,000. However, the brood year four years ago was 20,000.

“The marine side of the equation is what has created the big difference in returns,” he says in agreement with Proboszcz.

“But the sea lice associated with fish farms cannot account for all the reduction.”

He points to the Skeena River sockeye return that was less than half the forecast and whose fish do not encounter fish farms, and pink salmon who are returning in large abundance across the B.C. coast this year, many of them are in the areas of fish farms.

“I think we need to look at this issue further,” he says, noting that DFO’s actions to protect the all-important salmon spawn when in-season tests showed a huge reduction in fish is indication that the organization is managing the stocks in a sustainable way.

 

http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/vernonmorningstar/news/54831837.html