Judge Redden on Saving Salmon: Tear Down Those Dams

In his first interview since stepping down from the Northwest’s landmark legal case over the future of the region’s salmon and its massive network of hydroelectric dams, U.S. District Judge James Redden says four dams on the Lower Snake River should come down.

LINK (via:earthFIX)

Are salmon feedlot viruses killing Chinook salmon?

Sure seems that way.

LINK (Via: Salmon are Sacred)

Open Pit Mine Threatens Unuk River and Salmon Stock in Ketchikan Area

The Unuk River runs from British Columbia to Southeast Alaska; adjacent to the Misty Fjords National Monument near Ketchikan, Alaska. One of southern Alaska’s largest rivers in the Ketchikan area, it produces more King Salmon than any stream in the region.

A company called Seabridge Gold is pursuing the permitting of a large open pit mine 400 times bigger than the Kensington Mine. This proposed mine, Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell, would dump 2.1 Billion Tons of toxic mine and acid waste in the Unuk and Nass River watersheds.

LINK (Via: Tongass Conservation Society)

Wild B.C. salmon test positive for 'lethal' virus linked to fish farms

Fish farms, the gift that just keeps on giving.

Wild sockeye salmon from B.C.'s Rivers Inlet have tested positive for a potentially devastating virus that has never been found before in the North Pacific.

Infectious salmon anemia is a flu-like virus affecting Atlantic salmon that spreads very quickly and mutates easily, according to Simon Fraser University fisheries statistician Rick Routledge.

ISA can be fatal to Atlantic salmon, especially those confined in fish farms. Its effect on wild sockeye is unknown.

The virus detected in sockeye smolts by the Atlantic Veterinary College in P.E.I. — Canada's ISA reference lab — is the European strain of ISA, the same virus that devastated fish farms in Chile four years ago.

LINK (Via: The Vancouver Sun)

Scientists in Washington state are already working to improve testing for the marine virus as a precaution.

If the virus news was not grim enough.....

Environment Canada isn’t sure it can fully protect wild fish stocks if it approves the commercialization of a hatchery of genetically engineered salmon eggs.

Salmon and Pesticides

Just in case you needed more proof that farmed raised salmon is bad for the environment.

A drug long used by the fish farming industry to control sea lice infestations has become increasingly ineffective on the East Coast and is under scrutiny on the West Coast, according to federal government documents obtained under Access to Information.

Slice, which is administered to farmed salmon in their feed, is the only fully registered sea lice treatment in Canada. But the documents show its declining efficacy has forced the industry to seek alternatives – raising concerns that toxic pesticides are being released into the ocean under emergency authorizations.

LINK (Via: The Globe and Mail)

Alpha Max is the alternative being used in areas where Slice has become ineffective.

According to the Fisheries and Oceans Canada website:

While AlphaMax ™ is used successfully in other jurisdictions; concerns may arise about its effect on other marine species and the eco-system in the vicinity of aquaculture cage sites. With this in mind, the release of AlphaMax ™ in the region includes specific environmental requirements, such as research, monitoring, and surveillance as components of proper risk management.

Testing will take place while the pesticide is in use to efficiently observe any negative effects against other species. Should this occur the use of the pesticide would stop immediately.

Salmon in the Trees

Salmon in the Trees tells the story of the remarkable connection between salmon and trees in the Tongass rain forest of Alaska.