Salmon farms harming wild salmon 60 minutes - cbs

I watched a 13min segment online. Was there more? First few min was farmers opinion then Alex Morton then guy from commission. Last little bit sure made farmers look bad and the risk look immense
 
I went on the website to watch there are few more after show segments ..It looked like it was pretty much neutral from reporting.... The big takeaway was Alaska has zero framing they don't want it all, and the fact our own government rejected the findings of the cohen commission for a expansion.

The recommendation didn't stop all farming it did say they had a fixed number of years ( I think 7) to prove there was no diseases being passed to wild stocks....If they passed that time period they could expand. But Ottawa discarded findings and went ahead anyway and allowed expansion anyway. I think more people should be pissed they spent all this money to look into this. They give there finding to Ottawa and Shea and they do nothing...Why even have a hearing? That circus costed tax payers millions. Millions that could have been spent elsewhere ....
 
F I missed it. Did anyone watch this? How did it make the salmon farming industry look? Like a bunch of guys that will get away with whatever they can? I wonder how shows like this really affect public opinion.
 
I think it made it clear that it will be too late once it's figured out and that government doesn't care. I also thought the fish farm rep did a good job though, as did Alex. Anyone who watched it who didn't know anything would be concerned for wild salmon in bc due to fish farms tho. It definitely made the issue clear enough to understand for avg joe to get that in their head
 
Thanks for the link.. just watched it.

The Salmon farming brings in money for sure.

I have seen a lot of stats that show the Norweigns as the 90+ % owners of the farms that operate in BC waters, with DFO consent and promotion. Is Canada's revenue picture really at the point where it is willing to risk the coastal balance for export tax revenue? Offset by wild stock devastation? Shameful.

I would love to know the deal the Norweign fish farm operators made with the Canadian government. What info is there on contract duration and remediation? If we are exporting that much farmed meat, and gaining that many tax dollars (which I assume is the governments motive) surely the investment in sustainable above ground tanks and filtration would be a fair compromise?

The thing that gets me the most is the farm operators that look into the camera and say everything is wonderful, look at our beautiful surroundings and all the whales. How could anything be wrong?.

There are a couple very basic things we can do to improve our wild salmon stocks. As a province we should value our resources a little better and do a better job of educating the average bc resident about what is going on before its too late.
 
"I would love to know the deal the Norweign fish farm operators made with the Canadian government. What info is there on contract duration and remediation? If we are exporting that much farmed meat, and gaining that many tax dollars (which I assume is the governments motive) surely the investment in sustainable above ground tanks and filtration would be a fair compromise?"

You can check out the links that Norwegian Investors have to the Alberta Tar Sands. They have provided $ for tar sands development before Asia came on strong. That and most likley some hefty donations to the Conservative party is the your scratch my back I'll scratch yours situtation playing out here.

There are previous posts on this forum that shed some light on this Norwegian connection. Pretty damn shameful if you ask me! The foreign corporations get richer and Canadian citizens get left with the pollution from and tar sands, the fish feedlots and threats to wild salmon and the lifestyle and postive sustainable contribution they bring to local economies.

Like others have said here we the people should tell our federal govt. no more of this BS! At the very least we need to remember to vote Harper out in the upcoming election if you care about wild salmon and the environment we love to live in. My 2 bits.
 
So, did anyone else think it strange Dr. Gupta interviewed a lawyer regarding ISA on the Pacific coast? Imo, CBS dropped the ball here; at the very least a panel of fish disease experts should have had the opportunity to answer those questions. More appropriately, the lawyer should have been asked how much money he made from this Cohen farce.
 
So, did anyone else think it strange Dr. Gupta interviewed a lawyer regarding ISA on the Pacific coast? Imo, CBS dropped the ball here; at the very least a panel of fish disease experts should have had the opportunity to answer those questions. More appropriately, the lawyer should have been asked how much money he made from this Cohen farce.
I think that is a fair question - as long as that question is also asked to the fish farm lawyers and PR firms. Maybe even to some of our elected representatives over who contributed to their campaigns. Mulrooney's Schriber affair was the norm in Ottawa - except they got caught. Harper is far slicker.
 
That lawyer looked like he just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Typical, no straight answers, we are taking the wait and see approach. he must work for DFO.
 
Great read, thanks Cuba. Those studies go against what the feedlot workers who come on here say. They are always looking for evidence....it's sitting right there ^^
 
Alaska is doing very well without feed lot fish troughs. None there. Wild salmon fishery in Alaska is seeing a return to the old days of great abundance... wild and hatchery raised released to the wild. Nothing is going to happen here without change of government unless a salmon killer viral outbreak happens. The corporation folds up.. no consequences for them. However, for us.....
 
^^^ True of Coho to an extent and definitely for Pinks...but their Chinook returns are the worst in history!

The Alaskan chinooks are doing well this year...

The Alaska Department of Fish & Game reports that trollers landed a total of 55,000 kings between October and April, which is their best season since 2005.

But it was that last week of April that re-wrote the record books.

Pattie Skannes is a troll fish management biologist for the state.

“It was impressive to see. Right now, 12,500 fish were harvested during the last full week of this year’s fishery. That’s higher than anything we’ve seen going back to ‘86.”

The winter troll fishery became its own established season in 1981.
The guideline harvest level for the fishery was 47,000 kings. It’s not certain at the moment if that target has been exceeded, since fish produced in Alaska’s hatcheries don’t count against that total.

Skannes says that salmon abundance is so high this year that exceeding the harvest level in the winter is not likely to affect summer fishing.

“I think we’ll be looking at a couple of long openings in July and August. July is likely to be two weeks — maybe three. I don’t think we’ll be hearing too many people bemoaning the fact that we caught a few extra in the winter, if that happens.”

Prices for kings also hit a record this year, averaging over $10 per pound for 2-and-a-half months. Toward the end of the winter fishery, that dropped to around $6 per pound. Averaged over the season, the winter king salmon fishery this year was worth $4.7-million.

Spring fishing opened on May 1, but Skannes says the spring fishery is not an extension of winter fishing. The boundaries shift to inside waters to target salmon returning to the region’s hatcheries.

Skannes says many trollers use the spring to stand down.

“Usually what we see in the spring, at least in the first couple of weeks is a drop in effort and harvest. People usually use the time to do some boat work. Regroup. We’ll get some people venturing out, testing it out, but generally it doesn’t roll right from winter into spring. It will gradually build. Late in May we’ll start seeing a good amount of effort, and the harvest will pick up.

Commercial trollers are allocated the lion’s share of king salmon. They’ll land over 325,000 kings by the end of the summer season. All other gear groups, including sport fishermen, will land about 110,000 fish.

All told, this is about a quarter-million more king salmon this year than last.

One question mark for the fishery is size. Skannes says this year’s winter kings averaged one-pound lighter than fish caught over the last five years. They were one-and-a-half pounds lighter than fish caught over the last ten years.

No one is sure exactly why it’s happening.

“We’ve seen a trend toward decreasing size over a number of years recently. The reasons? There’s speculation about all sorts of reasons.”

Skannes say research biologists are studying the question. There’s evidence that the fish are maturing sooner, and returning to spawn before reaching larger sizes.
 
Those aren't Alaskan chinooks necessarily. Alaskan rivers are the worst they have been in history with COMPLETE shutdowns of any fishing, never mind c and r, on several including the Kenai and Yukon rivers
 
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