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News & ArtsThursday, October 20, 2011
Chow / Enviro Cantwell Calls for Investigation Into Salmon Anemia
Posted by Eli Sanders on Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 10:46 AM
If you eat fish and you're not following the salmon anemia story I linked to on Monday, you should be. Washington Senator Maria Cantwell has caught wind of the problem, and along with lawmakers from Alaska she's now calling for a Congressional inquiry.
"We need to act now to protect the Pacific Northwest’s coastal economy and jobs,” said Senator Cantwell said in a statement today. “There’s no threat to human health, but infectious salmon anemia could pose a serious threat to Pacific Northwest wild salmon and the thousands of Washington state jobs that rely on them. We have to get a coordinated game plan in place to protect our salmon and stop the spread of this deadly virus."
The problem with salmon anemia—noted here—is that "no country has ever gotten rid of it once it arrives."
1
Can't they just eat iron supplements along with the red dye to make the grey farmed salmon flesh appear pink like real wild salmon?
That would help with the anemia.
That would help with the anemia.
2
This is good, but, why doesn't she get as excited about the Gateway Terminal project in Cherry point that will wipe out the largest herring run in WA. Those herring are the primary food for our Salmon.
Oh yeah, salmon don't contribute money to her like SSA, Peabody Coal, and Goldman Sacs. How stupid of me.
Oh yeah, salmon don't contribute money to her like SSA, Peabody Coal, and Goldman Sacs. How stupid of me.
3
@1, you continue to be the stupidest person on earth.
This is an absolute catastrophe, and it's largely thanks to our goddamn anti-environmentalist neighbors to the north, BC. We have a handful of fish farms here, really only one that I know of, but BC has tons of them, and they KNEW this was going to happen, and they did it anyways.
If this inquiry doesn't lead to a trans-national commission it will be worthless, as the poison continues to spread out of BC into Alaska and Washington. BC needs to SHUT DOWN THEIR FISH FARMS NOW. And so do we, of course.
This is an absolute catastrophe, and it's largely thanks to our goddamn anti-environmentalist neighbors to the north, BC. We have a handful of fish farms here, really only one that I know of, but BC has tons of them, and they KNEW this was going to happen, and they did it anyways.
If this inquiry doesn't lead to a trans-national commission it will be worthless, as the poison continues to spread out of BC into Alaska and Washington. BC needs to SHUT DOWN THEIR FISH FARMS NOW. And so do we, of course.
4
Bailo dropping by to brag that he buys only "wild Atlantic salmon" in 3... 2... 1...
("...and it's so affordable, too!")
("...and it's so affordable, too!")
5
F the state jobs that rely on harvesting wild salmon. Outlaw the practice entirely for 30 years you idiots and take a baby step towards restoring the historic stocks. If someone wants to eat fish they should be required to go out and catch it themselves. The entire puget sound shoreline should be buffered by an active re-wilding zone 100 ft wide. If the fickle and short-sighted dems, libs and stranger journos weren't such slaves to fashion and the establishment they would take up this cause.
We're sitting on top of the equivalent of the grand canyon here and we yoke it w/ private castles and use it as a toilet.
We're sitting on top of the equivalent of the grand canyon here and we yoke it w/ private castles and use it as a toilet.
6
@5 interesting.
We'd be better off with micro-dams, actually. Total hydro generation of micro-dams is about 1 GW, and the Hoover Dam generates about 2 GW.
@3 suck it. You'd suck the life out of a Chia Troll.
We'd be better off with micro-dams, actually. Total hydro generation of micro-dams is about 1 GW, and the Hoover Dam generates about 2 GW.
@3 suck it. You'd suck the life out of a Chia Troll.
7
@5 I agree, but good luck with that. The only reason anybody with any power is even interested in saving salmon in the first place is because of the economics. No one really gives a shit about species no one's making money off of, especially with so much unemployment. Leveraging economics is the really the most effective way to get protections in place and enforced.
8
@5, you are absolutely correct. But it's not about the Dems; it's about the citizens of this state who want to "protect the salmon" but also demand their private property rights without limitation. These people are both D and R; but it's the Rs, especially in outlying counties, who fight every land use regulation tooth and nail.
There already is a 50-foot zone, but it's so riddled with loopholes and historical exemptions and just flat-out unenforced non-compliance that it doesn't always mean anything. Who's to say whether that logjam was broken up by landowners or the last storm?
I know a little bit about some of this development pressure. I've seen it in action along the Stillaguamish, where competing interests from home-builders and people trying to protect and restore the river habitat and shorelines is extreme. I've worked with the tribes and the state agencies and some good private landowners who want to do the right thing, but it's really, really hard and time-consuming. Bulldozing it all out and building houses is easy. I fully expect to see crappy new houses all the way from Arlington to Darrington in my lifetime, which sucks.
In addition, the damage isn't just along the stream edges. Plateau development miles upstream causes normal streams to turn into speeding culverts that sweep streambeds clear, and in mountainous areas clearcutting miles away from the rivers causes mudslides that destroy habitat. The Stilly was destroyed for fish forever at Deer Creek by such a slide about fifteen years ago.
The Stilly used to be a world-famous fishing river for steelhead, appearing in the books of Zane Grey and Roderick Haig-Brown, but now you can fish that river for years and never see one, not even the hatchery fish. Still plenty of chum and sockeye, but for how much longer?
More...
There already is a 50-foot zone, but it's so riddled with loopholes and historical exemptions and just flat-out unenforced non-compliance that it doesn't always mean anything. Who's to say whether that logjam was broken up by landowners or the last storm?
I know a little bit about some of this development pressure. I've seen it in action along the Stillaguamish, where competing interests from home-builders and people trying to protect and restore the river habitat and shorelines is extreme. I've worked with the tribes and the state agencies and some good private landowners who want to do the right thing, but it's really, really hard and time-consuming. Bulldozing it all out and building houses is easy. I fully expect to see crappy new houses all the way from Arlington to Darrington in my lifetime, which sucks.
In addition, the damage isn't just along the stream edges. Plateau development miles upstream causes normal streams to turn into speeding culverts that sweep streambeds clear, and in mountainous areas clearcutting miles away from the rivers causes mudslides that destroy habitat. The Stilly was destroyed for fish forever at Deer Creek by such a slide about fifteen years ago.
The Stilly used to be a world-famous fishing river for steelhead, appearing in the books of Zane Grey and Roderick Haig-Brown, but now you can fish that river for years and never see one, not even the hatchery fish. Still plenty of chum and sockeye, but for how much longer?
9
Source for the Cantwell quote?
If you talk to her, mention that tere's something else Cantwell can do: push to include farm management and biosecurity considerations in the renegotiation of Chapter 4 of the Pacific Salmon Treaty, which covers Fraser River Sockeye and Pink Salmon. This renegotiation is currently on hold pending resolution of the Cohen Commission inquiry into the collapse of the Fraser stock.
For more info, see the document "Overview of the Pacific Salmon Treaty ..." (Exhibit PPR4 or the Cohen Commission accessible at cohencommission(dot)ca
If you talk to her, mention that tere's something else Cantwell can do: push to include farm management and biosecurity considerations in the renegotiation of Chapter 4 of the Pacific Salmon Treaty, which covers Fraser River Sockeye and Pink Salmon. This renegotiation is currently on hold pending resolution of the Cohen Commission inquiry into the collapse of the Fraser stock.
For more info, see the document "Overview of the Pacific Salmon Treaty ..." (Exhibit PPR4 or the Cohen Commission accessible at cohencommission(dot)ca
10
Wow, congress is going to investigate. Yeah..that'll solve everything given the level of professionalism in that body of government these days.
13
Commercial animal protein production is doomed to failure. Industry just grows it bigger and bigger until there's a collapse.
14
Whatever solution they pursue in trying to fix this issue, I hope it doesn't come down to salmon vaccines. I don't want my salmon to get salmon autism from all the salmon mercury the evil salmon biotech firms (FOLLOW THE MONEY) are putting in the shots.
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