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Salmon
What’s causing the Taku king salmon’s decline? – Low Return Forecast Prompts King Salmon Emergency Order
H/t reader squodgy:
“No elephant in this room then.
What’s causing the Taku king salmon’s decline?
Low Return Forecast Prompts King Salmon Emergency Order
Projections indicate state salmon fisheries will again be tempered by low coho runs
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An Inside Look Into the Fish Industry Reveals Disturbing Facts That Could Threaten Your Health
– An Inside Look Into the Fish Industry Reveals Disturbing Facts That Could Threaten Your Health:
By Dr. Mercola
Nicolas Daniel’s documentary “Fillet-Oh-Fish” takes a critical look at the fish industry, featuring exclusive footage from fish farms and factories across the globe. Many still have a rather romanticized view of fishing, but when it comes to large-scale food production, the picture is actually rather grim.
Today’s fisheries are faced with a range of severe problems, from overfishing to chemical pollution and genetic mutation from toxic exposures. As noted by the producers of the film, “through intensive farming and global pollution, the flesh of the fish we eat has turned into a deadly chemical cocktail.”1
Farmed Norwegian Salmon – World’s Most Toxic Food (Video)
https://youtu.be/jH6wH1dqbwc
H/t reader kevin a.
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Report: Hundreds of millions of Pacific salmon missing, presumed dead — Gov’t issues emergency order along US West Coast — Japan suffering historic collapse, fish starving to death — All forms of ocean life dying in stunning numbers across Pacific
South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL), Mar 16, 2017 (emphasis added): The low salmon run size for the Yuba River appears to be part of another regional salmon collapse. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife point to preliminary data from the Sacramento River that indicates salmon runs have also dropped to record low levels. According to Dan Bacher’s reporting, last year’s salmon run on the Klamath River was a 38-year low… Gary Reedy, SYRCL’s consulting salmon expert reports that “A new crash for the Central Valley Chinook salmon is not unexpected.”…
The Oregonian, Mar 15, 2017: Worst Klamath chinook run on record forecast — The worst run forecast on record for the Klamath River’s chinook salmon could close all salmon fishing along most of the Oregon Coast this summer…
Mendocino Beacon, Mar 16, 2017: Returns of spawning Klamath River fall Chinook are projected to be the lowest on record in 2017… “The salmon runs this year will present a challenge for ocean fishermen and managers throughout the West Coast,” said Executive Director Chuck Tracy… “the low forecast for Klamath River fall Chinook is unprecedented”… “This year will be an exceptionally difficult year for ocean salmon fisheries, especially in Oregon and California”… said Council Chair Herb Pollard.
Salmon Tests Positive for Cocktail of 80 Drugs, Including Cocaine and Prozac
– Salmon Tests Positive for Cocktail of 80 Drugs, Including Cocaine and Prozac:
In a major waterway in Seattle, Chinook salmon has tested positive to a cocktail of 81 different drugs including cocaine and anti-depressants.
…
H/t reader squodgy.
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Alaska Salmon Forecast Predicts A 40% Dip In Catch This Summer
H/t reader squodgy:
“Move along now, nothing to see here.
Can you believe this excuse? The harvest increased every year up until two years after Fukushima, or was it Fukusalmon.”
– Alaska salmon forecast predicts a 40% dip in catch this summer:
Alaska’s 2016 salmon harvest will be down by 40 percent of last year’s catch if the fish show up as predicted. But hints of good news can be found around the edges of that discouraging forecast.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is calling for a total catch of 161 million this summer; the 2015 harvest topped 268 million fish.
The shortfall stems from a big pink salmon fall off due largely to the species’ two-year cycle in which odd-numbered years see the biggest returns. The humpy forecast of 90 million represents a drop of 100 million fish from last summer.
Read moreAlaska Salmon Forecast Predicts A 40% Dip In Catch This Summer
The FDA Just Got Slapped with a Lawsuit for Approving Genetically-Engineered Salmon
– The FDA Just Got Slapped with a Lawsuit for Approving Genetically-Engineered Salmon:
Washington D.C. — Controversy over genetically-engineered salmon intensified Thursday, as a “broad coalition of environmental, consumer, and commercial and recreational fishing organizations” filed a lawsuit against the FDA over safety and environmental concerns surrounding its approval of the fish.
Food & Water Watch, Center for Food Safety, and the Center for Biological Diversity are joined by a number of other organizations in the lawsuit coalition, which issued a statement on the litigation:
Read moreThe FDA Just Got Slapped with a Lawsuit for Approving Genetically-Engineered Salmon
Salmon Tests Positive for Cocktail of 80 Drugs, Including Cocaine and Prozac
– Salmon Tests Positive for Cocktail of 80 Drugs, Including Cocaine and Prozac:
Pharmaceutical Drugs Taken by Humans Are Found in Fish
In a major waterway in Seattle, Chinook salmon has tested positive to a cocktail of 81 different drugs including cocaine and anti-depressants.
Scientists suspect that the fish are tainted by contaminated water from a nearby sewage plant.
Read moreSalmon Tests Positive for Cocktail of 80 Drugs, Including Cocaine and Prozac
Officials: Historic crisis affecting US West Coast… We’re facing a fisheries disaster… Very never-seen-before things… Should be exclamation alarm to public — Threat of extinction of salmon runs; Loss of sardines, squid, sea urchins, kelp; Massive sea star deaths; Marine mammal strandings… more
Press Democrat, Feb 11, 2016 (emphasis added): Scientists and lawmakers foresee grim outlook for California’s ocean fisheries… the outlook is overwhelmingly grim, presenters said at an annual forum of the joint legislative Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture. “Something’s going on in the ocean, and it’s not right, and it doesn’t fit our historical understandings,” California Fish and Wildlife Director Chuck Bonham told members of the committe… Bonham noted stretches of coastline suddenly barren of sea urchins… [N]umerous anomalies… are growing increasingly apparent, Bonham said. “This should be an… alarm to the general public”… Bonham said… [S]everal witnesses Thursday forecast what most in the industry already have anticipated: a collapse, or near collapse, of key salmon runs in the state… “I cannot say this more bluntly,” [State Senator Mike McGuire] said. “We are facing a fishery disaster here in California”… U.S. Department of Commerce [is] considering a request by Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a fishery disaster…
US Food Safety Experts Sue FDA over GMO Salmon Approval for Human Consumption
– US Food Safety Experts Sue FDA over GMO Salmon Approval for Human Consumption:
Center for Food Safety today announced plans to sue the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to block the agency’s approval for sale and consumption of the genetically engineered AquaAdvantage® salmon developed by AquaBounty. The suit will be filed in coordination with other colleague plaintiffs.
“The fallout from this decision will have enormous impact on the environment. Center for Food Safety has no choice but to file suit to stop the introduction of this dangerous contaminant,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of Center for Food Safety. “FDA has neglected its responsibility to protect the public.”
Read moreUS Food Safety Experts Sue FDA over GMO Salmon Approval for Human Consumption
FDA approves experimental GMO salmon for human consumption despite lack of adequate safety studies
– FDA approves experimental GMO salmon for human consumption despite lack of adequate safety studies:
Just as we predicted, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has brazenly betrayed the public’s trust by approving the world’s first genetically modified (GM) animal in direct defiance of science – a transgenic salmon branded “AquAdvantage” that has never been proven safe for human consumption or the natural environment.
The New York Times (NYT) reports that AquAdvantage, a product of AquaBounty Technologies, has received official FDA approval after years of fierce lobbying by its manufacturer in favor of open approval. Despite repeated warnings from detractors that AquAdvantage poses serious threats to aquatic ecosystems and humans, the FDA has determined that this GM fish is completely safe for everything and everyone on the planet.
Millions Of Salmon Mysteriously ‘Just Disappear’
The Globe and Mail, Nov 3, 2015 (emphasis added): Millions of B.C. salmon mysteriously ‘just disappear’ in troubling year… [There were] very poor returns on the Fraser River, where only about two million sockeye returned, far short of the more than six million predicted in preseason forecasts. Even more dramatic was the collapse of the pink salmon on the Fraser, with only about five million fish showing up when more than 14 million had been forecast… [Dr. Brian Riddell, president and CEO of the Pacific Salmon Foundation] said it is possible at this point to paint a broad picture, and the indication is that some stocks are in serious trouble. One mystery, he said, is what happened to all those pink salmon that were supposed to return to the Fraser River. Dr. Riddell said test fisheries in the Georgia Strait in the summer showed a strong run of pink salmon coming in, but then… the fish just stopped arriving… “We had roughly 40 per cent of the run in and it was on track with the curve, and then literally within two days it disappeared. It just crashed. … I have never ever seen, nor can I explain, a test fishery like that. The fish are coming in and you are following the proper pattern as they have for years and years, and then they suddenly just disappear. And we have not accounted for them.” He said millions of fish that should have been coming in the second half of the run just didn’t materialize.
USA Today: Millions of fish dead in Pacific Northwest — Ocean conditions have ‘gone to hell’ — Salmon covered in fungus, red lesions all over, big gaping sores — Extinction concerns, “it could be the end”
USA Today, Jul 31, 2015 (emphasis added): … weather in the Pacific Northwest is killing millions of fish…
AP, Jul 27, 2015: More than a quarter million sockeye salmon returning from the ocean to spawn are either dead or dying in the Columbia… wiping out at least half of this year’s returning population… [NOAA’s Ritchie Graves] says up to 80 percent of the population could ultimately perish.
Eureka Times Standard, Jul 29, 2015: With recent fish counting surveys on two Klamath River tributaries showing alarmingly low numbers… fisheries experts are growing increasingly concerned… The South Fork Trinity River is also showing a low presence of wild Chinook salmon adults… Fisheries experts are not certain why the tributaries have such a low salmon population…
NOAA: Young herring “suddenly disappear” from Pacific, no one can find them – Millions of missing salmon raising alarms – Fishermen catching only huge numbers of jellyfish (VIDEO)
Bristol Bay Times, Jul 3 2014 (emphasis added): [T]he sluggish start to a large forecast run was making many people in the industry restless… Naknek-Kvichack district’s run total was about 434,000 sockeye – less than 2 percent of this summer’s expected run of 28.8 million… on the same date in 2014 [it] was already nearly 5 million… Elford saw just one fish hit a net all morning. They were, however, catching jellyfish by the hundreds. Elford says this is strange timing, as jellyfish… signal the end of salmon season.
Alaska Dispatch News, Jul 2, 2015: [Kuskokwim River salmon] returning to spawn is still alarmingly low… [Kings are] dramatically below last year’s count… “Mounting evidence suggests that the 2015 chinook salmon run was early and weak,” Fish and Game managers said… chum salmon also is very low, the Bethel test fishery shows… “The chum salmon run is showing so poorly” [a state biologist] said…”comparable to 1997, which was one of our crash years… It looks really bad.”
Canadian Risk Assessment Finds GMO Salmon Susceptible to Disease
– Canadian Risk Assessment Finds GMO Salmon Susceptible to Disease (Sustainable Pulse, May 30, 2015):
A never-before-seen draft environmental review of AquaBounty Technologies’ (ABTX) genetically engineered (GE) salmon reveals that Canadian government scientists disagree with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on key questions related to the safety and performance of what may be the first GE animal approved for human consumption. In light of these findings, Food & Water Watch, Center for Food Safety, Friends of the Earth and Consumers Union today called on the FDA to terminate its ongoing review of GE salmon.
Source: Friends of the Earth
The partially redacted, 400-page draft risk assessment from the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans makes startling findings about the welfare and performance of GE salmon, including that GE salmon:
Read moreCanadian Risk Assessment Finds GMO Salmon Susceptible to Disease
Salmon: More Than 50% Have Bite Marks, Chunks Missing From Their Bodies
Vancouver Sun, Aug 30, 2014 (emphasis added): Sockeye salmon… are showing up this year with chunks taken out of their bodies, raising concerns about the [parasitic Pacific] lamprey’s impact on the spawning migration. Rick Jeffries, a former commercial fisherman who is in charge of marketing a Secwepemc aboriginal commercial fishery in Kamloops Lake, said more than 50 per cent of the sockeye have bite marks, some with multiple bites cutting right to the flesh. “We’re alarmed at what we’re seeing,” he said in an interview Friday. “These are significant wounds that must adversely influence the sockeye’s probability to survive.”… Lara Sloan, spokeswoman for the federal fisheries department, confirmed that sockeye in the Thompson River system this season have been caught with circular markings that could be from lampreys, but the exact cause cannot be confirmed without testing.
Read moreSalmon: More Than 50% Have Bite Marks, Chunks Missing From Their Bodies
‘Troubling News’: Only 1% of sockeye salmon coming into US waters from Pacific — Lowest rate ever recorded, yet record high numbers were expected – Chinook salmon numbers ‘very low’, concern about pink salmon next year
The Olympian (Washington), Aug 24, 2014:
- ‘Warm blob’ keeps possible record sockeye run away from U.S. waters
- A development that has left local fishermen scratching their heads
- Data from the Pacific Salmon Commission [shows] about 99 percent of the sockeye salmon has gone through the Johnstone Strait around the northern part of Vancouver Island
- About 50 percent of the run [typically goes through] U.S. waters
- Nearly 2.9 million sockeye salmon have been caught in Canadian waters, while the U.S. fishermen had caught around 98,000
- This year’s diversion rate is unusual…, it would be the highest diversion rate on record, with data dating back to 1953… That would be troubling news
- Fishermen Pete Granger: “It could be one of the worst seasons we’ve had in a long time”
Alaska: Many Salmon With Strange Growths Inside, Concerns About Health And Safety – ‘… Never Caught Any Like This’ (Photo)
– Reports from Alaska: Many salmon with strange growths inside, concerns about health and safety — “Skin illness on white fish raise concerns… Never caught any like this” — Gov’t predicts ‘catastrophic’ king salmon run (PHOTOS) (ENENews, Jan 28, 2014):
Local Environmental Observers (LEO) Network, Updated Dec. 12, 2013 (emphasis added): Unusual growth observed in salmon tissue — Hydaburg, Alaska, August 12, 2013 (salmon) We have found strange growths in the flesh or meat of salmon. We were fishing for cohos (silver salmon) at the mouth of the Hydaburg River with line and reel. I caught about thirty fish. Most were fine but eight […] were filled up inside with strange growths that were either white or pink in color. On the outside the fish looked fine. The growths looked kind of like individual little salmon eggs, and about the same size. Other people were seeing the same kind of growths in their fish as well. We have only seen this in the cohos and not with the other fish (pink salmon, dog salmon, steel head or trout). We are seeing many coho salmon with these growths, and we are concerned about the health of the fish and the safety of the food. Brian Holter Jr, LEO […] says: this observation has been forwarded to the Fish Pathology Lab at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. According to lab staff, they may be able to determine the condition of the fish with a photograph. Lab staff are available for consultation.
Eco Groups Challenge Canadian Government In Court Over GM Salmon
– Eco Groups Challenge Canadian Government in Court over GM Salmon (Sustainable Pulse, Jan 20, 2014):
Environmental groups want a court to decide if the federal government violated its own law by permitting the manufacture of genetically modified salmon in Canada.
“Canadians expect their government to implement, not ignore, the laws that protect our ecosystems from harm,” said Tanya Nayler, one of the Ecojustice lawyers representing Ecology Action Centre and Living Oceans Society. “By granting approval for this genetically modified species without obtaining all the legally required information, the government has once again failed the environment and Canadians.”
Read moreEco Groups Challenge Canadian Government In Court Over GM Salmon
Unprecedented Decline In Alaska King Salmon
See also:
– Mystery Illness Killing Bald Eagles In Western U.S. – Wings Paralyzed, Full Blown Seizures
– Newspaper: Unprecedented declines in Alaska king salmon… related to impact from Fukushima? No comment, says NOAA biologist — Record low numbers seen in major fishery on Canada’s west coast, “alarming decrease” (ENENews, Dec 29, 2013):
Juneau Empire, Dec. 29, 2013: […] the king [chinook] salmon — has fallen from its throne. […] Alaska has seen unprecedented declines in recent years […] scientists like Joe Orsi and Jim Murphy, both fisheries research biologists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are digging deeper into […] the cause of the startling downward trend. […] When asked about the potential impact Fukushima may be having on king salmon stocks in the Gulf of Alaska and elsewhere in the state, Orsi would not comment. “I’ve been told to refer you to the (Environmental Protection Agency),” he said, “Because I’m not an expert on the topic.” Calls and emails to the EPA were not returned in time and digging on the federal agency’s site revealed no current information on radiation from the Fukushima disaster. The last posted monitoring results occurred in June of 2011.
Bellingham Herald, Dec. 5, 2013: “[…] we see from test fisheries that the Chinook numbers returning to the Fraser River system were at a record low,” explained Ken Balcomb, executive director and principal investigator for The Center for Research and a science advisor to the whale watch association. […] [An] alarming decrease of an important identified food resource […]
Islander Sound, Dec. 25, 2013: [A] dismal return of Chinook salmon to the Fraser River.
Biologist finds pink salmon that are canary yellow on Canada’s Pacific coast — Insides also yellow: Heart parts, gill arches, spines, cartilage in head — Spleens swollen, livers spotted, some with bugged-out eyes (PHOTOS)
View many photos of the salmon on Morton’s Facebook page here
– Biologist finds pink salmon that are canary yellow on Canada’s Pacific coast — Insides also yellow: Heart parts, gill arches, spines, cartilage in head — Spleens swollen, livers spotted, some with bugged-out eyes (PHOTOS) (ENENews, Oct 17, 2013):
Alexandra Morton’s Blog, Oct. 11, 2013: […] The sockeye returns to the Skeena watershed in northern British Columbia crashed this year. This was completely unexpected. Sockeye salmon returns have plunged to historic lows in the Skeena River system of northwestern British Columbia, forcing drastic, never-before-imposed fishing closures. […] massive numbers were dying before spawning. This is a Fraser sockeye problem. This is called prespawn mortality (PSM). […] Now, the Skeena sockeye appear to be exhibiting a similar characteristic. […] On the first day we came across a First Nation fishery and found pink salmon that were a deep, canary yellow […] parts of their hearts are yellow, their gill arches and spines are yellow, the cartilage in their head is yellow. Their spleens are swollen and enlarged, and their livers are spotted. In some cases their eyes were bugged out. Guys who have fished this region their whole lives told me they have seen the occasional yellow salmon over the years, but never in the numbers seen this year. […]
GMO Fail: Monsanto Foiled By Feds, Supreme Court, And Science
– GMO fail: Monsanto foiled by feds, Supreme Court, and science (Grist, Feb 15, 2013):
It’s been a good week if you enjoy a little GMO schadenfreude. The FDA has reportedly bowed to public pressure to extend the comment period on its approval of genetically engineered salmon, and Illinois, Maryland, and Iowa are the latest states to buck GMOs by introducing labeling bills into state legislature.
Even the Supreme Court has an opportunity to take Monsanto down a peg. On Feb. 19, the court will hear arguments in a patent infringement case between an Indiana farmer and Monsanto (I covered it in detail here). If Monsanto prevails, it’ll move a few more paces towards agricultural monopoly; if it loses, the company will take a couple steps back. It’s encouraging that the Supreme Court chose to hear the case over the solicitor general’s urging to dismiss it, but Monsanto could have an inside man: As in other Monsanto-related cases, former Monsanto-lawyer-turned-Supreme-Court-Justice Clarence Thomas has no plans to recuse himself.
But GMOs took the biggest punch this week from academia: Tom Philpott highlights a USDA-funded study [PDF] by University of Wisconsin scientists who found that several types of GMO seeds (including Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready varieties) actually produce a lower yield than conventional seeds. Only one seed — a corn that produces its own pesticide to combat the corn borer — offers any significant yield benefit. In other words, planting most genetically modified seeds results in less harvest per acre than planting non-genetically modified seeds.
The researchers looked at 20 years of data from test plots in Wisconsin from 1990-2010, both on research plots and on plots in participating farmers’ fields. Philpott flags a key point from the study:
Read moreGMO Fail: Monsanto Foiled By Feds, Supreme Court, And Science
Good Luck Distinguishing These 20 Frankenfoods From Real, Natural Food As They Flood Our Supermarkets
– 20 GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS COMING TO YOUR PLATE (World Truth TV):
If the need to halt GMOs were not urgent enough, this article should scare the pants off you. Here we glimpse some of the potentials for the unabated and bizarre proliferation of GMOs. Some of these developments you will already know about (hopefully), but some will come as a surprise. As I see it we are now at a crossroads where we can still dismantle this dangerous and perverted manipulation of the very fabric of life, the sacred code of nature, which will undoubtedly affect each and every one of us in profound ways now and in the future.