Anyone seen 9 million missing Sockeye salmon?
It seems that 90% of the Fraser River’s sockeye have vanished in a single season, with locals completely mystified as to the cause.
Salmon farms and their sea lice infestations are among the explanations – but no one suspected an issue until the meager return.
Alexandra Morton, who several years ago correctly predicted a collapse of pink salmon runs in the Broughton Archipelago because of sea lice infestations, in March warned the same thing could happen to Fraser sockeye.
If true, then farming operations will take on the aspect of the Exxon Valdez, sinister – responsible for an ecological disaster of enormous magnitude.
It’s much too soon to point fingers, but an international summit is being called with the US and Canadian governments to hash out issues and identify potential causes (if any).
Tags:Fraser River, salmon farms, sockeye salmon, Exxon Valdez, sea lice infestation, US and Canada summit,
16,000 people have signed a letter I wrote to the Minister of Fisheries asking simply that she apply the laws of Canada, The Fisheries Act, to fish farms. She has not. If you want wild salmon you will have to take a stand and be counted. Join us on the letter at http://www.adopt-a-fry.org
Thanks for the additional information, Alexandra.
If fish farms prove to be the culprit for the collapse of the sockeye fishery and nothing is done then the present Gov is without a doubt stupider than any previous Fisheries.Can anyone dare to argue this point?
I can’t argue the point, but our past history suggests we have a pattern of despoiling the wilderness, killing everything commercial to the point of extinction, then paving the remainder.
Fish don’t vote so it’s preordained they’ll suffer harshly.
…and once the wild fish are gone, it frees us to build little ticky-tack McMansions along the bank – and crap fry out of a truck at the bridge pool.
Most of which die as parr from the phosphate rich runoff from our lawn.
Then we bemoan the fate of the wild salmon – wondering how others can be so insensitive to their plight.
It’s a tired old pattern. People vote, fish don’t – fish take it in the shorts.