DFO shutting down all salmon sports fishing on Lower Fraser to protect sockeye – Vancouver Sun

Posted on August 12, 2016 by Al Bergstein

More bad news for salmon and salmon lovers.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has taken the extraordinary measure of shutting down all sports salmon fishing on the Lower Fraser River because of a lower-than-anticipated return of sockeye. The closure of all recreational fishing for salmon — including Chinook and possibly Chum when they arrive later in the year — is taking place so that sockeye aren’t inadvertently caught while other salmon species are being fished. Anglers can still fish for trout, steelhead and sturgeon. The closure was to go into effect one hour after sunset Thursday until further notice. It covers the mouth of the Fraser River to the Alexandra Bridge south of Hell’s Gate in the Interior, a stretch of about 200 kilometres of river. Gordon Hoekstra reports. (Vancouver Sun)

http://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/dfo-shutting-down-all-salmon-sports-fishing-on-lower-fraser-to-protect-sockeye

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‘Grim’ Fraser River salmon runs even worse than forecast -Canadian Press

Posted on August 9, 2016 by Al Bergstein

The neglect of the Fraser runs under the Harper Regime was legendary. Then global warming. Now this.

This year’s Fraser River sockeye return, already forecast to be below average, has turned out to be even worse. One First Nation leader described the return as going from poor to grim. The forecast run this year — which has traditionally been one of the low-run years in the four-year cycle of sockeye — was 2.27 million. That was already below the average of the past half century of 3.9 million. The latest estimates from test fisheries and through sonar counts show that only about half of the expected sockeye had returned by last Friday: 400,000 to 500,000 of the anticipated 840,000, according to the Pacific Salmon Commission, a Canadian-American agency that helps manage fisheries. The peak of the remaining summer sockeye run is expected about mid-month, but there is little expectation that the numbers will change, said Pacific Salmon Commission executive secretary John Field. Gordon Hoekstra reports. (Vancouver Sun)

http://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/grim-fraser-river-salmon-runs-even-worse-than-forecast

See also: Federal government expected to act on 2012 report examining Fraser River sockeye http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/federal-government-expected-to-act-on-2012-report-examining-fraser-river-sockeye (Canadian Press)

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Alexandra Morton launches Operation Virus Hunters with Sea Shepherd

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Al Bergstein
From Alexandra Morton:
In a stunning development Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd offered me a ship and crew to further my work protect wild salmon from salmon farms!

The launch of Operation Virus Hunter begins today with a press conference with First Nation leaders, Pamela Anderson and David Suzuki.

If you want to follow this voyage I have created a website to allow you to keep track of us and most importantly for you to help!

I don’t think the Liberal government is being properly briefed on the impact of this dirty industry and so I set sail on the Martin Sheen on a research and public awareness mission.  This will be a peaceful journey, no harassment of the workers, no disruption of the daily operations of the farms, but we will be taking a close look at these farms.  They thrive on secrecy, however they are using public waters…

Here is the web link: http://www.voyageforsalmon.ca

If you see the ship go by please photo and share.  This is our chance to speak to the world about the destruction of one of earths rare places that still makes clean water and food.

Gilakas’la,

Alexandra Morton, Gwayum’dzi

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Sea star die-off leads to kelp ‘clearcut’ in Howe Sound, scientists find – CBC

Posted on June 23, 2016 by Al Bergstein

Kelp forests to the north of us in B.C. have been reduced by almost 80%. No data yet on how much our kelp has been affected. In a world not devastated by reductions in science funding under the Harper regime, there might have been an ability to open the areas to urchin harvesting to slow this problem.

The massive die-off of sea stars in B.C.’s Howe Sound has had a domino effect on other creatures, resulting in the virtual clearcut of kelp forests in the area, scientists have found.

The mysterious wasting disease hit in 2013, killing sea stars from Mexico to Alaska in what has been described as one of the largest wildlife die-offs ever recorded.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/sea-star-die-off-leads-to-kelp-clearcut-in-howe-sound-scientists-find-1.3647536

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Diver in Victoria waters sees firsthand the need for sewage treatment

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Al Bergstein

More evidence that the willful ignorance of Victorians’ is just causing more damage each year they fail to take action.

Allan Crow opines: “I’ve spent more than 35 years fishing and diving for a living in the receiving waters of the Capital Regional District’s untreated sewage discharges, and have witnessed their degrading effects. Saxe Point, for example, was a vibrant and diverse marine environment in 1977, the first time I dove there. Like many other places around Victoria, it is a highly degraded shadow of its former self, changes I attribute to the CRD’s sewage discharges. The sewage discharges appear on the local seabed, reefs and even the marine life itself in the form of a fine, greyish brown sediment with a grotesque “adhesive” quality. Visible accumulations appear about 50 feet of depth and intensify the deeper you go. Vast areas of the local seabed are contaminated, particularly where the conditions are favourable for the accumulation of sediments. An example is illustrated in my diving video entitled: “CRD sewage outfall pollution in Victoria BC” posted on YouTube. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNR1dfcJn30]” (Victoria Times Colonist)

http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/diver-in-victoria-waters-sees-firsthand-the-need-for-sewage-treatment-1.2217353

 

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The B.C. Scallop Farmer’s Acid Test – The Tyee

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Al Bergstein

More on the emerging ocean acidification issues of aquaculture. 

Rob Saunders points a flashlight into the depths of an immense plastic tank at his hatchery, illuminating millions of scallop larvae as tiny as dust particles. “Think of these as canaries in a coal mine,” says the marine biologist turned embattled shellfish farming CEO. It is here at Island Scallops’ facility in Qualicum Beach, located just inland from British Columbia’s shellfish farming epicentre of Baynes Sound, that ocean acidification wreaked havoc. Beginning in 2011, the company’s scallop brood stock (adult shellfish bred over 25 years to be disease-resistant and exceptionally meaty), began to die. Christopher Pollon reports. (The Tyee)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/11/19/climate-change-scallops_n_8597502.html

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Wintering species are arriving – Coast Reporter

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Al Bergstein

Another low cost bit of entertainment for the weekend. Head to the beach, wetlands, lakes or estuaries and check out the winter birds now arriving. Here’s a report from the BC Sunshine Coast, which gets a lot of the same birds as us. Worth a trip up if you are looking to get away. While Pender Harbour is a long way from the Peninsula, the ferries to the Island are usually easier to get on with short notice this time of year.

The Sunshine Coast has four well-defined birding seasons, and we are now well into the fall season as our common wintering species begin to arrive for their winter residency. The most obvious of these species are Barrow’s goldeneyes and buffleheads, which return in huge numbers from their freshwater breeding lakes all across interior and northern Canada. As the interior water bodies begin to freeze over, the ducks return to the balmy waters of the Salish Sea to winter. Joe Harrison reported the first Barrow’s goldeneyes of the winter on Oct. 18 at Oyster Bay, Pender Harbour, one day later than last year. Tony Greenfeld writes. (Coast Reporter)

http://www.coastreporter.net/community/columnists/wintering-species-are-arriving-1.2092834

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‘Warm blob’ keeps possible record sockeye run away from U.S. waters – Bellingham Herald

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Al Bergstein

The story of how this year’s great hot weather has affected the salmon runs. 

In a development that has left local fishermen scratching their heads, it appears an unusually warm section of ocean water is helping send nearly the entire sockeye salmon run into Canadian fishing waters this season. According to data from the Pacific Salmon Commission through Tuesday, Aug. 19, in recent weeks about 99 percent of the sockeye salmon has gone through the Johnstone Strait around the northern part of Vancouver Island into Canadian waters. That’s made a big difference in who is catching the fish: Nearly 2.9 million sockeye salmon have been caught in Canadian waters, while the U.S. fishermen had caught around 98,000 through Aug. 19. Dave Gallagher reports. (Bellingham Herald)

 

 http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/08/24/3815002_warm-blob-keeps-possible-record.html

Support local journalism. Subscribe to the Bellingham Herald. 

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David Suzuki – Losing Hope

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Al Bergstein

They say that it’s always darkest just before the dawn.  In Monday’s edition of Maclean’s (a Canadian magazine), long time environmental leader David Suzuki,  says that environmental NGO community has failed because of their inability  in convincing people that the problems the earth faces are in need of urgent change.  Caution: Rant ahead…

“We fundamentally failed to use those battles to get that awareness, to shift the paradigm. And that’s been the failure of environmentalism.” David Suzuki

Let’s be clear,I have been a fan of David’s for a long time, but to hear that  Suzuki is claiming that  the environmental movement has ‘failed’ (somewhat old news since the original blog post this headline comes from is over a year old), is like hearing Martin Luther King denounce the freedom movement in the 60s  for not achieving more.  (Which never happened). Or Gandhi saying nonviolence is a failed strategy. It feels like the old adage of “blaming the victim” because they haven’t managed to convince the sexist or racist system that they as victim, are not to blame.

David has been around for decades.  He has done more to educate people on environmental issues than I will do in a lifetime. And to hear him  blame the NGO community, his own community to be clear, and of which he has prospered significantly over the last few decades? Does that mean his own NGO of which he asks people to donate to, is also to blame?

To be clear, we all drive too much, fly to much,  and we are more than willing to ignore the pleas of the environmental community because it’s too damn hard to actually get out from behind our Facebook pages, where we post all these wonderful pledges to causes, and actually staff the offices that work for change. It’s not ‘fun’ though Lord knows, but most of the older generation in the States had plenty of fun in the protest movement of the 60s, screwing and doping through that, when their lives were actually in risk of being shipped to Viet Nam. And aren’t our lives at risk? Not for most.

So now it’s just, “what me worry?”  Unless you live on the Jersey Shore, Louisiana, or in the Philippines,  or any of the other hundreds of places that have actually borne the brunt of our, yes our, ways. It’s the burning of fossil fuel that is causing this, and you, Canada, and us in the USA  are the main culprits. Want to change the equation? Stop electing anti-environmental leaders.  Now. Stop electing Stephen Harper and his crony’s and the likes of Ford in Toronto, Canada. Why is the outcome of that somehow the fault of the NGO community?

A program like the launch of the space program is needed, but no one in government is able to lead. And the environmental movement is not one monolithic thing.  There is no “president” of the environment. It’s a decentralized mess, thankfully. It makes it harder to co-opt.

So who’s going to do something about changing the equation? No one. Canadian voters turn out in record *low* numbers.  Why is that? Maybe David should be challenging the voters, the readers, the people who need to vote our way out of this, rather than the tiny minority trying to do something on a daily basis. I know lots of Canadians.  Most  of them pay lip service to change, (as do many of my fellow Americans), few of them seem to actually be doing anything about it. It’s very “impolite” to bring it up in any serious way in conversation up there. Especially if you are American.  Canada has been taken over by  the oil industry, much like a 3rd world country. I talk to the 30 somethings I know up there and many of them are unaware that environmental laws have been not just weakened, but eliminated.  David can feel like he is losing ground, the movement is, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to walk away from it.  It’s time to double down. More people know about the problems of environmental issues than ever before. More people are knowledgeable that they would change, if they are given a chance to and some leadership in doing so. There was a belief that Obama was that leader, he isn’t. But that doesn’t mean that we can give up. He has accomplished some good. But he demands that the people lead and he will follow. So it means a need to work locally. More than ever.

Things are getting done by the grass roots people working in their communities, not nationally.Who’s doing something?  Well there are hundreds of local groups in the Puget Sound area, including Tribes, (known as First Nations in Canada), that are actually getting stuff done on the ground.  The NW Indian Fisheries Commission seems to be actually recovering streams and salmon runs. Are they succeeding? In some cases. These groups  are spending decades making minor but significant change. Want to donate to real change? Look at the list of NGO’s on the left side of this web page!

What will change things? A “Sputnik” like event to wake everyone up to the risk? What will it take? NYC or Manila or Sydney Aus to be wiped out in an environmental disaster brought on by the once in a hundred years storm that now happens every year? The sad reality is, yes, that’s likely to be what it takes.

Without national leaders, like Suzuki, pressing in high places, the movement never gets critical mass. The power players, like Fox News, in the US, and others, just savage the movement and no one answers their criticism.

If David needs some propping up, some way to feel like we are and can make headway, then we welcome him to get out and go see what is happening. It sounds as if he needs a break. I’ll be glad to host him any old time. Maybe it’s just time for him to stand back and appreciate all the hard work he’s done in his lifetime.  In the meantime, it’s time for the rest of us to get back to work.

Rant over…

The Maclean’s Article

http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/11/18/the-nature-of-david-suzuki/

David’s 2012 “dark blog” post on the failures of the environmental movement.

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/science-matters/2012/05/the-fundamental-failure-of-environmentalism/

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ScienceDaily report on Fukushima plume.

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Al Bergstein

The real story, not the fake ones circulating with NOAA tsunamai maps mislabeled as this one.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130828092312.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+(ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News)

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Fisheries and Oceans Canada looking into claims of sick herring–Times Colonist

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Al Bergstein
Less than 100 miles or so north of us, the crisis of sick herring (and the disease vector that appears to be farmed Atlantic Salmon) is about to explode.  Can our fisheries be far behind?

Fisheries and Oceans Canada is trying to confirm reports from an independent biologist that herring around northern Vancouver Island have a disease that is causing bleeding from their gills, bellies and eyeballs.

Alexandra Morton wrote to DFO asking for an investigation and viral testing of the fish after she pulled up a net of about 100 herring near Sointula and found they were all bleeding.

Read the whole story at the Times Colonist:

http://www.timescolonist.com/business/fisheries-and-oceans-canada-looking-into-claims-of-sick-herring-1.588652

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‘Crisis time’ for B.C. waters, environmental groups say – Times Colonist

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Al Bergstein

Our friends to the north are taking the expanded tanker and population threats seriously. See if you are doing all you can do.

Two of B.C.’s major environmental organizations are launching a Save-the-Salish-Sea campaign because of looming threats to the delicate ecosystem. The groups are concerned about possible expanded coal and oil exports, which would increase the number of tankers and coal ships travelling from Vancouver, through the Gulf Islands and Juan de Fuca Strait, as well as existing problems, such as pollution and overuse. Georgia Strait Alliance and the Wilderness Committee are asking B.C. residents to demonstrate support for the water that surrounds them by pledging to become “caring kayakers, bright birders and savvy shoreline users.” Judith Lavoie reports.

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/crisis-time-for-b-c-waters-environmental-groups-say-1.562485

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New film on Salmon Piscine Reovirus Outbreak

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Al Bergstein

While Canadian officials stonewall the publication of scientific data that shows that Piscine Reovirus in net pen raised Atlantic salmon appears to be spreading to wild stocks, Alexandra Morton and filmmaker Twyla Roscovich’s keep working to get the news out. Why  is this important? Because our Department of Ecology and Department of Fish and Wildlife do not seem to have a sense of urgency on this issue, which could easily spread down here. Over 70% of the samples of store bought salmon in BC appear to be infected by the virus.

Filmmaker Twyla Roscovich traveled to Norway to ask the remaining experts who have not been forcibly silenced on this issue.  A very disturbing report from the scientists actually doing the research in Norway.

A new short film on piscine reovirus in wild salmon

 

Asking Norway about the Piscine Reovirus

https://vimeo.com/70399899

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Scientists concerned over chill in reporting of salmon virus after lab delisted – Vancouver Sun

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Al Bergstein

The fallout continues:

Scientists fear there could be a reluctance to report a deadly fish virus after the first lab in Canada to say it was detected in British Columbia salmon was stripped of a special reference status by an international agency. Marine researchers say they were stunned to hear that the World Organization for Animal Health, or OIE, recently suspended the reference status from a research laboratory at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island. Run by Fred Kibenge, who is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on infectious salmon anemia, it was one of only two labs in the world recognized by the group for the testing of the virus. Alison Auld reports.

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Scientists+concerned+over+chill+reporting+salmon+virus/8626837/story.html

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Shredded Scotch broom to help fuel Harmac pulp mill – Times Colonist

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Al Bergstein

If we are going to get forced by our legislators to have biomass plants, (which is now becoming doubtful given the latest feedback from the new PT Mill manager who said in his first interview that the economics of it was shifting and there was no guarantee that they would build the plant),  here’s a use for the new biomass plants that we can all get behind.

The City of Nanaimo has found a use for Scotch broom. The noxious weed will be shredded and burned as hog fuel to power the Harmac pulp mill near Nanaimo. This year for the first time, the city helped members of the public control the noxious weed by putting collection bins at three locations in May. Enough broom was collected to more than fill a five-ton truck. It was shredded Thursday at a ceremonial “burning of the broom” event at the fire-training yard on Labieux Road. Darrell Belaart reports.

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/shredded-scotch-broom-to-help-fuel-harmac-pulp-mill-1.317110

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B.C. government to freeze new net-pen salmon farms in Discovery Islands until 2020 – Vancouver Sun

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Al Bergstein

Huge news! BC to freeze all new net pen licenses.

VANCOUVER — A B.C. government announcement Friday that no new tenure agreements would be issued for net-pen salmon farms in the Discovery Islands until 2020 was immediately welcomed by one of the strongest critics of salmon farming.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/agriculture/government+freeze+salmon+farms+Discovery+Islands/8138579/story.html#ixzz2OIbEFoOf

 

 

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Closed-Pen Fish Farms Offer Challenges and Opportunities: Study – Times Colonist

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Al Bergstein

The evidence mounts that we can safely prohibit net pen fin fish aquaculture from being in our waters without killing the industry. It’s time to give some financial support to the industry to get them over the hump, and out of our waters. But this will also take the Department of Ecology and NOAA to get their scientists off the dime and on the same page as the rest of us. They have shown no intention of changing their industry hardened position on this. The courts likely will have to force them, and that challenge may come sooner than later.  Here’s the latest from BC, where there is a huge movement to ban net pens,based on emerging science that is very much showing problems with the industry. However the BC government has been, until recently, hiding negative science and banishing scientists who don’t tow the industry line. This is a small glimpse at the work being done there to change that. It doesn’t have to be the industry argument of “jobs or environment” . It can and should be both.

It’s technologically possible to raise salmon in closed containment pens but questions remain whether it’s financially viable for the aquaculture industry, says a parliamentary report released Thursday. The report, by members of the House of Commons’ standing committee on fisheries and oceans, was delivered Thursday and included testimony from all sides of the controversial issue of closed containment aquaculture.

Judith Lavoie reports.

Closed-pen fish farms offer challenges and opportunities: study

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/closed-pen-fish-farms-offer-challenges-and-opportunities-study-1.87276

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More on Tsunami debris coming ashore.

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Al Bergstein

A good update by a helicopter pilot who has flown on the BC Coast for many years, and what he’s seeing is quite more than what we have been told so far in the press. It’s piling up out there. Complete with video.

Again, experts seem to think that there is no threat from radiation, though we are unsure how much monitoring has been going on. Our recommendation is to *not* pickup debris, as it could have toxic contaminents or be radioactive. There likely will be more official cleanup efforts in the spring.

Tsunami debris litters B.C. beaches

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/tsunami-debris-litters-bc-beaches/article7934410/

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Native leaders plan declaration banning pipelines, tankers and oilsands–Vancover Sun

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Al Bergstein

Well, this is an interesting turn of events. Canadian native leaders decide that if the Federal Government won’t protect the waters, they will. Wonder if our tribes will follow suit.

First nations leaders are expected to sign a declaration of indigenous law banning pipelines, tankers and oilsands in British Columbia at a Vancouver press conference tomorrow. The Save the Fraser Declaration, signed by 130 first nations will be presented by National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Shawn Atleo on behalf of the Yinka Dene Alliance, several B.C. groups who have banned the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline from their territories. Mayor Gregor Robertson is also expected to attend and read a proclamation from the City of Vancouver. Mike Hager and Dene Moore report. B.C.

First Nations Ban Pipelines, Tankers and Oilsands

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Rare Fin Whale Surfaces in Strait of Georgia–Vancouver Sun

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Al Bergstein

If you see something out of the ordinary out there, you’ll now know what it is.

A massive fin whale cruised up the Strait of Georgia to Johnstone Strait this week for the first time in recorded history. “It was photographed off Campbell River and off Nanaimo. It is the first confirmed sighting of a fin whale in Georgia Strait,” said Jared Towers, a Fisheries and Oceans cetacean research technician who has spent the summer doing photo identification of the growing number of fin whales in Hecate Strait and Caamano Sound. Judith Lavoir reports.

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Rare+whale+surfaces+Strait+Georgia/7278430/story.html

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