Deadly virus appears in Washington state salmon farm – Pacific Fishing

Pacific Fishing, 25th May 2012 A virus has infected a Bainbridge Island salmon farm, forcing the owners to begin culling and destroying infected fish. It’s the same disease – infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus, or IHNV – that caused a British Columbia salmon farm to destroy 560,000 fish last week. The fish ended up in a [...]

Island fish farm gets rid of all its quarantined fish – Vancouver Sun

Tofino is not that far away as the water flows… ———————————————— A Vancouver Island salmon farm says it has now emptied a site that was quarantined because of a virus. Mainstream Canada announced last week that tests confirmed the presence of an infectious virus known as IHN at its Dixon Bay site, north of Tofino. [...]

New Research: Hatchery Salmon Posing Problems For Wild Stocks

As if we need more damning research into the problems of hatchery stocks, as our Jefferson County Commissioners continue to fight the WA State Dept of Ecology on net pens in our county waters. ———————————————– A special issue in the journal Environmental Biology of Fishes looks at how hatcheries are affecting wild fish populations. Research [...]

Human fishing shown to have little effect on orcas – Kitsap Sun

Fishermen who catch chinook salmon in the Salish Sea probably are not depriving killer whales of a meal — at least not to the extent that some people believed. That’s the preliminary conclusion of an independent panel of seven U.S. and Canadian scientists. The group was convened to figure out whether the endangered Southern Resident [...]

Marine Anemia Cover Up in B.C.

This just in from Alexandra Morton, the leading scientist opposing net pen aquaculture. If you have any question about the safety of net pen aquaculture, or the lengths that entrenched bureaucracy will go to support the unsupportable, then not only read the info below, but follow the link to Morton’s web site and read the [...]

Virus causing salmon deaths in BC?

Virus causing salmon deaths? By ROB HOTAKAINEN; Staff writer WASHINGTON – In Canada’s Fraser River, a mysterious illness has killed millions of Pacific salmon, and scientists have a new hypothesis about why: The wild salmon are suffering from viral infections similar to those linked to some forms of leukemia and lymphoma. For 60 years before [...]

What’s good for Orca is good for fishermen – Billy Frank

A great opinion piece by Billy Frank Jr. the chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. He makes some excellent points. Read the whole piece, it’s pretty short. Tribes and orcas have a lot in common. Together, we have always depended on the salmon for food. The last 100 years have been hard on the [...]

Canada, U.S. may restrict chinook salmon harvest to benefit killer whales

2/3/11 Vancouver Sun Canada, U.S. may restrict chinook salmon harvest to benefit killer whales By LARRY PYNN, Vancouver Sun Fishermen in Canada and the U.S. may have to give up part of their lucrative chinook salmon catch to help the recovery of endangered resident killer whales. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in [...]

BC Sea Lice Records to become public

As reported in the “Island Tides” newspaper out of BC, the government of BC has been forced to release records of sea lice infestation in salmon farming. A lawsuit by two environmental groups that took four years to adjudicate has been won in their favor. As the information is released, I’ll publish it here, as [...]

Restoring Snyder Cove

What does it take to undo an old fashioned culvert keeping endangered salmon from going a mile or more upstream? Take a look at the three minute time lapse video from near Olympia, where a coalition of environmental organizations pushed for and achieved the reclaiming of a salmon stream. Now only a few thousand more [...]

Looking to fish? Head east!

Looks like, due to a good fresh water runoff year in 2007, humpy (pink salmon) runs are up. Unfortunately their up over on the east side of the Sound. No mention if the runs from over here are at similar strength. Full story at http://www.bellinghamherald.com/outdoors/story/1019031.html 8/6 Bellingham HeraldBanner Puget Sound pink salmon runs expectedDOUG HUDDLE [...]

Orcas not present in Sound, concerns grow…

Watching our Waterways has an interesting piece today on the lack of both salmon and Orcas in Puget Sound.  Our lack of rain so far this summer could be making this situation worse, as salmon seem to come in when the rain helps them find their home streams.