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[chris gadsden]

 Vancouver Sun Article today.
PROJECTING CHANGE FILM FESTIVAL

Thursday to Sunday

Fifth Avenue Theatre

See projectingchange.ca

- - -

'I'm all about fish. I'm made of fish. Fish are part of who I am," says David Suzuki, looking decidedly non-scaly on a Saturday morning as he sits in his Vancouver kitchen.

"Fish are essential to human life in all kinds of ways, but we're losing them at such a rate that they'll never recover. I used to go fishing with my dad all the time and sit in a rowboat and catch cutthroat trout, we'd jig for halibut, and we could drop a line anywhere at the mouth of the Fraser and catch sturgeon," he says.

"I grew up with fish. But the big fish are gone now, and they're never coming back. And if we don't act soon, and treat this with the same focus and intensity of fighting a war, we're going to be looking at a much different world than the one we live in now." The worst-case scenario approaches science fiction, he says, because as commercial over-fishing and climate change begin to change ecosystems, the quality of the oceans begins to change as well.

Acidity levels are rising and carbon dioxide levels are at the point of maximum saturation. If we continue on the same track, Suzuki says within 50 years waterfront homes will be as desirable as a yurt on a garbage dump as the water becomes slick, acidic, stinky and laden with jellyfish.

"It's already happening in different parts of the world . . . so it's not even science fiction. It's here now," he says.

In the hopes of raising public awareness about the crisis facing the world's oceans and fisheries, Suzuki will present a sneak preview of the new documentary End of the Line on Thursday at this year's launch of Projecting Change, Vancouver's environmental film festival.

Though Suzuki is a near-ubiquitous presence on the Canadian environmental and scientific scene thanks to his long-running and highly respected TV show The Nature of Things -- and myriad other pursuits including several books and a forthcoming film with B.C.-raised filmmaker Sturla Gunnarsson -- he says he's a "grumpy old man" these days and doesn't have the time, or the desire, to play rhetorical games about what's actually happening to the world around us. Presenting a film such as End of the Line isn't something he'd normally do, but like he said: He's all about the fish.

Suzuki says he remembers when John Crosbie announced the moratorium on the northern cod fishery in Newfoundland in 1992 -- a scene that forms the introduction for End of the Line, Rupert Murray's adaptation of Charles Clover's bestseller, which garnered big buzz at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

"We really did think that if we stopped fishing, the stocks would recover. But here we are . . . close to 20 years later, and there is no sign of recovery. Things are actually worse than they were before. We know what happened: Cod swim like a giant whale, with the younger, smaller fish in the middle for protection and the larger fish outside. They move as a whole, but without the older, bigger fish who knew the behaviour, the schools don't form properly and can't function the same way. The species disappears."

End of the Line takes a long, hard but frequently beautiful look at the current decline in fish stocks as Murray and Clover criss-cross the globe to examine the near-primal relationship between humanity and fish. From the Mediterranean to Canada's East Coast, the data is troubling as close to 90 per cent of the world's big fish approach extinction. One of those threatened species is bluefin tuna -- affectionately called Toro on any sushi menu. The fish is officially endangered, but the world's most sophisticated fishing fleets are fishing it out -- apparently on purpose -- in order to increase the value of the tonnes now sitting in cold storage in Japan.

"You can find Toro on any menu in Vancouver," says Suzuki, offering up his famously stoic smile. "The politicians don't care. The media doesn't understand. Here we have a prime minister who says he's all about law and order, but when we signed Kyoto, we ratified international law. Stephen Harper is actually breaking the law -- even though he says he respects it. We never hear about that angle."

End of the Line will have its national premiere at Hot Docs documentary festival in Toronto in May. Suzuki will take part in a special panel featuring marine scientists and commercial fishers.

- - -

[Folkboat]

  A response to Dr. David Suzuki.

An open letter to Dr. David Suzuki published here by request.
"I recently attended your presentation to Campbell River Chamber members on March 6th, 2009, the first talk in a series entitled “Inspiring Success”. I find it necessary to comment and question a few statements you had made in regards to salmon farming in British Columbia.

You made a very good point about the importance of wild salmon that return to their streams to fertilize the coastal ecology. I agree that we need to increase public awareness of this and ensure we conserve wild salmon stocks.

You also acknowledge that “aquaculture is absolutely necessary”, but that salmon isn’t a species that we should be farming because we shouldn’t be “growing carnivores in the water”.

But while you seem to condemn farming salmon, you actually promote Alaska salmon ranching (”David Suzuki Reader”, page 368). Ranched salmon are raised in hatcheries and net pens and then released into the ocean basin to compete for food with wild salmon. Few of these fish get to streams to fertilize the west slope watersheds. Even worse, the general public is being deceived into thinking wild Alaskan salmon stocks are flourishing due to a large commercial harvest. They’re not!

When ranched salmon return to their hatchery of birth, they are taken by commercial fishing vessels, sport fishers and the hatchery itself. These fish are not wild.

To be clear, neither salmon ranching nor salmon farming is meant to enhance natural stocks of wild salmon. Both farming and ranching grow salmon for the same purpose - for human benefit. So if you take issue with “growing” salmon, why do you attack one producer and promote another?

It’s important to note that salmon farmers in BC have made great strides to reduce the amount of fish meal and fish oil used in salmon feed. In fact, these improvements may be due in part to pressures from ENGOs like the David Suzuki Foundation. A past criticism was that it took three pounds of wild fish to produce one pound of farmed salmon. This may have been true 10-15 years ago, but not today. Thanks to efficient feed management and new diets, including vegetable proteins and oils, it now takes less than 1.7 pounds of wild fish to produce one pound of salmon. It’s expected that within two years, new diets will be a “net producer” of fish. In other words; less than one pound of wild fish needed to grow one pound of salmon.

But instead of acknowledging this achievement, you stated on March 6th, “The Japanese have shown that by the time you get up to 15% of (feed) pellets being vegetables, those salmon don’t taste like salmon anymore.” This statement is completely false and isn’t based on science, but on subjective taste.

I am disappointed that you continue to express your opinions, while omitting important information that may help your listeners create their own views. I look forward to your response to my concerns"
   http://alaskasalmonranching.wordpress.com/

[chris gadsden]

You forgot the editor's comment.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The impression is given here that in ocean ranching the salmon are actually kept in net pens for a long period of time. "Ranched salmon are raised in hatcheries and net pens and then released... Actually they are only kept in net pens for a short period of time and then released into the wild as smolts. Similar ocean ranching efforts in Campbell River with pinks and chinooks have proved the program can be a good one.

[Sam Salmon]

One thing the author of the article is wrong about-Toro just means belly meat- I know I eat it at least once a week.

Here in BC we have lots and lots of Albacore so that's most of what we see sometimes we see Yellowfin and occasionally Bluefin.

Yellowfin  on Vancouver-area menus usually comes from Hawaii and long-line taken Bluefin from all over the Pacific.

It's true that giant Bluefin from the Atlantic and Med are in trouble but we don't see any of that product here-too rare/expensive.

Folkboat-if you want to talk to David Suzuki then  try contacting him here I doubt he has time to read FWR.

The man is quite busy his office is a few blocks from my house that's how I know-the movie festival is a few blocks away too I'll have to head over.

[Folkboat]

 So what would you say about B.C. Farmers letting their salmon escape after a short period of time in open nets? And yes Chris I have donated my time to feeding smolts in nets and letting them go in the wild. "Salmon enhancement". So I do know what you are talking about and yes it does work at times. However I believe over stocking the ocean can cause over grazing and the starvation of wild stocks by salmon with a head start which can out compete the wild salmon. Something Alaska does yearly with over 1.5 billion hatchery/open net/pellet fed salmon.

[troutbreath]

"So what would you say about B.C. Farmers letting their salmon escape after a short period of time in open nets? "


I'd say they were releasing Atlantic Salmon into the Pacific. Partly because the Salmon farmers are using techniques developed long ago in Europe. Because there not concrned with negative outcomes of escapements or disease from introducing foriegn fish. More over their about profit, and paying to try to raise native species would hit them were the good lord split them.

[Folkboat]

 Not all farms raise Atlantics in B.C Troutbreath. What about the ones that raise Chinook? As for Atlantic farms in the Pacific.
 Do Atlantic salmon compete for habitat over wild stocks?  "One of the arguments made by fish farming opponents is escaped Atlantic salmon can result in established Atlantic salmon populations, competing with Pacific salmon for habitat. This is simply not true. Washington State was actively stocking Atlantic salmon in their waters until 1990 with no success. There have been attempts to stock Atlantic salmon around the world and to date no anadromous or sea run populations have been established.

Early this century, Atlantic salmon were introduced to many British Columbia watersheds in a deliberate attempt to establish runs for sport fishing. All attempts to establish runs of Atlantic salmon on the BC coast have failed. Nearly 200 introductions were made into 52 different water bodies all over the coast of BC. A total of 13.9 million eggs, alevins, fry or smolts were introduced. Not a single introduction was successful, and only three adult Atlantic salmon were ever recovered from these efforts. Similar results have occurred with Atlantic salmon introductions in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Washington State and many other countries. There has never been a successful introduction of sea run Atlantic salmon outside of their natural territory where other native salmon species were present".
  http://www-comm.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/publications/factsheets/aquaculture/atlanticsalmon_e.htm

[chris gadsden]

Found it interesting in the FOC fact sheet on aquaculture there was no mention of the problems sea lice are causing to the pinks smolts.

Typical of course.

[troutbreath]

"Early this century"


2001 or 2002? or some other century Or are you referring to a clandistine covert operation by those pesky fish farmers.

[Folkboat]

      It could be because they have followed studies from the early 1900’s and know that up to 70% of smolts do not make it past 40 days in the marine environment from studies in the 1960’s. Or am I just taking this as a presumption?  Smolts under 10 grams are weak and susceptible to disease and lice when they enter salt water. The question show be, why are they in a weak state before they enter the marine environment? Lice are part of the marine environment, always have been and always will be.
 All in all I appreciate the chat. 
     Early 1900's Troutbreath. I was talking about the info I found on this site.
http://www-comm.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/publications/factsheets/aquaculture/atlanticsalmon_e.htm   This is info that comes well before salmon farming and I can fully understand why well funded anti-salmon farm crusaders simply refuse to acknowledge the hard work of scientists from years gone by.

[IronNoggin]

... However I believe over stocking the ocean can cause over grazing and the starvation of wild stocks by salmon with a head start which can out compete the wild salmon. Something Alaska does yearly with over 1.5 billion hatchery/open net/pellet fed salmon.

This problem has been occurring for quite some time now. While Alaska is notably opposed to fish "farming", they literally saturate the feeding/rearing grounds with "ranched" clones to support their ever hungry commercial operations. The problem with this approach is two-fold. First, those feeding grounds that are utilized by their ranched fish also happen to provide the same to a wide spectrum of salmon from points south. The competition for survival for the wild fish is directly threatened by this manoeuvre, and has had very noticeable impacts since it's inception. Couple that with aggressive commercial fishing operations that cannot delineate between their ranched clones and wild fish, and you have a double-edged sword working against the very survival of many runs from a great many systems outside of Alaska's jurisdiction. These two factors have contributed largely to the decline of various salmon stocks along the Pacific Northwest to date, and if continued (likely) may just be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.

Of course Washington DC is more than a little reluctant to bring it's Renegade State back into line in this regard. The oil and gas money it brings in is apparently worth the loss of a few pesky salmon runs...

Nog

[Morty]

Not all farms raise Atlantics in B.C Troutbreath. What about the ones that raise Chinook? As for Atlantic farms in the Pacific.
 Do Atlantic salmon compete for habitat over wild stocks?  "One of the arguments made by fish farming opponents is escaped Atlantic salmon can result in established Atlantic salmon populations, competing with Pacific salmon for habitat. This is simply not true. Washington State was actively stocking Atlantic salmon in their waters until 1990 with no success. There have been attempts to stock Atlantic salmon around the world and to date no anadromous or sea run populations have been established.

Early this century, Atlantic salmon were introduced to many British Columbia watersheds in a deliberate attempt to establish runs for sport fishing. All attempts to establish runs of Atlantic salmon on the BC coast have failed. Nearly 200 introductions were made into 52 different water bodies all over the coast of BC. A total of 13.9 million eggs, alevins, fry or smolts were introduced. Not a single introduction was successful, and only three adult Atlantic salmon were ever recovered from these efforts. Similar results have occurred with Atlantic salmon introductions in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Washington State and many other countries. There has never been a successful introduction of sea run Atlantic salmon outside of their natural territory where other native salmon species were present".
  http://www-comm.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/publications/factsheets/aquaculture/atlanticsalmon_e.htm

Thanks for the research Folkboat -
It now seems totally clear that whether it's: attempts at intervention by man, evolution, or creation by God - Atlantic salmon don't belong in Pacific waters !

[Folkboat]

  I agree with you Morty. But only on the point of trying to introduce Atlantics into Pacific water ways for the purpose of sport fishing. We sport and commercial fisherman care about our waters. On the other hand we also have to look at what the pacific can provide as a sustainable food source. I feel I am a working environmentalist. It appears to me that the oceans can not keep up to our greedy demands.
  For growing protein and taking the least from the worlds recourses to do it, Atlantic salmon comes in second at about 1.2lbs to grow 1lb of protein. First place comes to 1lb of grain to make 1lb of bread. 3rd place goes to chicken at about 3lbs to 1 lb growth. 4th place are pigs at 5lbs. and cattle are in 5th place at 8lbs. And yes the Alaska ranched/ farmed 1.5 billion escaped salmon come in around 9 lbs that our west coast wild salmon have to compete with.
  Now pretend you are a environmentalist. Knowing that farmed Atlantic do not pose a threat to Pacific salmon. Pretend that you cared about the worlds population, farm land, forests, oceans. Not just your back yard. Say you had to feed 100’s of people, not just a family of 4. How about caring about coastal communities that could sustain themselves. Think about what it takes to grow food and the energy it takes to do it. If we think that way then we  are all environmentalists.
  I feel we have been to polluted from environmental groups that benefit from funds from the U.S. telling us canadians that if it is not caught by U.S fisheries it is not safe to eat or perhaps it’s the salmon treaty between the U.S. and Canada that has closed most of B.C.s processing plants and taken away from coastal community income.
  Please don’t get me wrong Morty, but I believe we can all benefit from salmon farming and get closed processing plants back up and running while at the same time putting sustainability back into the coastal communities that once depended on them.
  Lets keep our commercial, sport and farming industry and tell the U.S. dollars to stay home.

[dereke]

  Great read and good points made from both sides.

[Morty]

    For growing protein and taking the least from the worlds recourses to do it, Atlantic salmon comes in second at about 1.2lbs to grow 1lb of protein. First place comes to 1lb of grain to make 1lb of bread. 3rd place goes to chicken at about 3lbs to 1 lb growth. 4th place are pigs at 5lbs. and cattle are in 5th place at 8lbs. And yes the Alaska ranched/ farmed 1.5 billion escaped salmon come in around 9 lbs that our west coast wild salmon have to compete with.
  Now pretend you are a environmentalist. Knowing that farmed Atlantic do not pose a threat to Pacific salmon. Pretend that you cared about the worlds population, farm land, forests, oceans. Not just your back yard. Say you had to feed 100’s of people, not just a family of 4. How about caring about coastal communities that could sustain themselves. Think about what it takes to grow food and the energy it takes to do it. If we think that way then we are all environmentalists.

So?  The ends justify the means?

This world already produces more food than is required.  And it's capable of even more.  bear with me here - e.g. if ALL the corn grown in the USA was processed into ethanol, it would effect the US gasoline supply by 2%.  2% gas savings could be accomplished if all the US drivers had their tires properly inflated  All that corn, and/or the alternate crops that could be grown/raised on those vast acreages, could be going into the human food chain. The real challenge with human food is distribution. 

Is this site about justifying the existence of open pen salmon farms, or recreational fishing in natural habitats?