The Food Warehouse

Columbia River

Millions of Salmons did not show up this fall in Canadian rivers - The cause is to obvious to see?

 

I wrote an article the other day about the Sockeye in Canada. Apparently no one knew why the red salmon did not appear as usual this fall.

However, information given to me after i wrote this article mentioned above, states something else, and should maybe be taken into consideration to a cause for this absence.

First a little background for you who did not read my previous article.

Millions of the red salmon called Sockeye Salmon has gone missing from its traveling through the river Fraser this year. The river is located in the province of British Columbia.

Department of fisheries states that around 6 to 10 millions of this species was expected on its travels into the river Fraser this month. A counting performed shows that only around 600.000 sockeye's have taken the trip this year. This vanishing act will have enormous consequences for the fishing industry.

Local fishermen tells that the situation is chocking and a catastrophe and even says it is critical. CBC believes this will be the worst year in history for the catching of the pacific salmon.

Speculations around this disappearance has been done all from  that the salmon has suffered from warmer sea waters, food shortage, increased amount of predators, salmon lice from some of the local fish-farms in the strait of Georgia.

Another possibility is that the fish is late this year, and will come at a later stage. The biologists do not believe this is a plausible cause at all.

The red salmon spends from one to four years out in the Pacific before it migrates back to the fresh waters to breed and die. This happens quite regularly in late summer times. No one has proper knowledge of what the fish spend its time on out in the ocean. This fact is rather astonishing, that the scientists at this time has no knowledge of what this red salmon spends its time on when its not in the rivers of Canada.

As a consequence of this situation, the Canadian authorities have cancelled the season for red salmon catching this year. Only the natives will be allowed to do the fishing for its own consumption only.

The red salmon count has dropped with almost 90 percent over the last twelve years in most of the Canadian lakes.

The three other species of salmon migrating through the rivers of Canada during the summer and fall season does not seem to be affected by the same amount of decrease as the red salmon has.

So what makes us draw some conclutions to why the Sockeye salmon is not showing up in the streams of Canada this year?

In January 2007 scientists gave an alert to the British Colombian authorities that sea lice could be the cause of the decline in the amount of salmon in Canadian rivers and lakes.
For the first time in Canada, scientists have used data from the world's largest aquaculture company to draw a link between sea lice from Atlantic salmon on British Columbia fish farms and soaring infection rates in wild salmon migrating nearby.

This alert was published in Toronto Globe and Mail in 2007. So one can say that the solution to the absence of this delicate fish was found already back then, and the cause for the fish was infected was identified as well.

Then in February 2008 the Vancouver Sun published a study from a Government-funded group switches sides on risks of fish farms .
Pacific Salmon Forum at this time agreed sea lice are killing salmon. In a major blow to British Columbia's salmon farming industry, the government-funded research group says it now accepts a recent scientific study that warns of mass extinctions of wild pink salmon on the central coast due to salmon farming.
In an uncirculated "communiqué" obtained by The Vancouver Sun, the Pacific Salmon Forum acknowledged that sea lice infestations contributed to plummeting pink salmon populations in the Broughton Archipelago from 2001-2005 - as noted in a recent article in Science, a leading international research journal.
The article written by Martin Krkosek, co-researcher Alexandra Morton and others, drew international attention. It warned that wild pink salmon could be extinct within four years on the B.C. central coast due to sea lice infestations arising from salmon farms in that area.
In 2007, a provincial legislature committee studying fish farming also recommended the industry switch from open-net sea pens to closed-containment pens that would prevent lice infestations at farms from spreading to wild fish migrating in the vicinity.
Both recommendations have been ignored by the province.  

One can say, the signals were there, and causes were outlined, however no action was taken. Who is to blame on this issue, neglecting authorities not follow up with regulation and control to avoid a disaster on the coasts of Canada. It is therefore no mystery any longer to why the salmon does not appear as expected (by some). It is human interference with its effects on environment.

Human contribution to the global warming and pollution sets parameters for how our wild life develops and response accordingly.

There is no excuse to be ignorant anymore, there has to be a change in human behavior before it is too late. We have already too many signs in our food chain that we need to clean up our act and become more environmental concerned when making the economics of a project or industry. Industry should be responsible for paying the cost their activity has on the environment, and the consumer has to accept the price tag that comes along with it. But I guess this will be to much to ask for – at least today.

 

About the Author

He has a background as civil engineer and geoscientist. He has worked mainly within the oil and gas industry from the mid 1980s. He has written a few fictional novels as well as being the author of some professional litterature within oil and gas sector, he is now an editor of some web sites.

Does anyone know any random facts about Lewis and Clark's exploration on the Columbia River?

thxx.

Lewis and Clark trivia:
Just before they made Vancouver (Washington) they stopped at what is now Beacon Rock.
In the small meadow to the east of the rock at the base they made camp where sacajawea had her baby.
The expedition rafted on down the river without her to Fort Vancouver. She walked down to the fort a few days later.
Later the expedition went on to present day Astoria where they encountered the Siwash Indians.
They described them as the dirtiest tribe they had encountered.
The entire tribe died out not many years after the encounter.
As an addendum:
Today you can easily climb the rock. There is a trail starting west of the parking lot.
It is the second largest single rock formation in the world. Gibralter is larger. The view from the top is spectacular.
In the 1950's through 70's there was a beacon light on top of the rock . Hence it's name.
We, as teenagers, would climb the rock at night with a case of beer. Sit on top of the beacon and ride it around then come down the trail at night.
Surprisingly we all survived.