Do Alaskan salmon hatcheries affect Canadian salmon returns?

Posted by Sean Holman at Public Eye Online:

Last week, (Canadian) federal Liberal parliamentarian Ujjal Dosanjh called for an cross-border conference to address the collapse of the Fraser River’s sockeye (2009) salmon run.

But, in an interview on Public Eye Radio, former (Canadian) fisheries and oceans minister David Anderson said, “If we want successful salmon summits, we have to start bringing in the Russians, the Japanese, the North Koreans and others.” “We have about five billion artificially-raised Pacific salmon going into the ocean from hatcheries from mostly on the Western side – in Russia, Japan, North Korea – on the other side of the ocean,” he explained. “So we don’t know what those artificially-raised fish do to the natural populations of fix they mix with on the other side of the ocean.”

Correct David and well said. By “others“, we assume you’re referring to Alaska. It’s OK, don’t be afraod to say it!  Afterall, of the 5 billion ranched salmon, Alaska is responsible for 1.5 billion of the little suckers.

If wealthy U.S. Foundations won’t talk about it, then we’re glad Canadian politicians are!

The King is Dead : What Happened to Alaska’s Chinook Salmon?

The King Salmon (commonly referred to as Chinook) has disappeared from many rivers in Alaska in 2009. No one is sure exactly why, but here are some possibilities, as reported at redorbit.com;

• availability of food
• predator/prey imbalance
• changing river conditions
• changing ocean currents
• plankton blooms
• incidental capture of Kings in pollock trawl nets

Any other ideas? Oh yeah, we’ve got one!

Alaska’s salmon ranching program pumps out billions of salmon (mainly Pink and Chum species)that compete with wild salmon in the ocean for food, but only produces minimal amounts of King salmon. Could ranched salmon, given the head start in a hatchery, be outcompeting wild King salmon for food? It’s seems a little too coincidental that the one species not heavily enhanced is the one not returning at historic levels.

Please welcome the elephant that just entered the room.

I’ll Scratch Your Back, You Pay Me.

This blog has featured Vital Choice Wild Seafood and Organics a couple of times. We’ve exposed the fact that this company promotes its products by attacking the competition. You know, the ‘ol “only eat wild, don’t eat farmed” rhetoric.

It’s obvious why – by attacking your largest competitor you can sell more of your product. Hey, it’s how politicians get elected and governments are formed!

But, someone the other day challenged us – do you have proof? So, we went looking…it didn’t take us long.

Here’s a quote from their website:

“Vital Choice contributes a portion of its net profits to the Weil Foundation, Raincoast Research Society, the Live Strong Foundation, The Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and other causes devoted to improving the health and well being of people and the planet that sustains us.”

So let us explain the significance of three of these “payouts” – and it ain’t because they improve the health of people and planet.

The Weil Foundation: Dr. Andrew Weil (Nutritionist for clients such as Oprah Winfrey) is paid to endorse Vital Choice products. Fair enough. Simply endorsing is one thing BUT this is the guy that appeared on Larry King Live in January of 2004 and pleaded for people to stay away from unhealthy foods which included pop, chips and…..farm-raised salmon. Come on Andrew, can you be any more obvious?

Raincoast Research Society: This Society is being paid by commercial fishing interest groups to attack farm-raised salmon. The latest study produced by this Society claimed up to 95% (the low number in the range was 9%, but no one uses that number!) of out-migrating juvenile salmon were perishing from farm produced sea lice (sea lice are found naturally on wild juvenile salmon by the way). The study was ripped apart by no less than twenty of the world’s leading fisheries scientists as a completely unfounded claim.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium: Ok, these guys produce the Seafood Watch pamphlets. So, MBA gives wild salmon a “green light” (the main product for Vital Choice) while it’s main competitor, farm-raised salmon, gets a “red light”. Vital Choice smiles and hands over the dough. A match made in heaven.

WARNING! All this back scratching is going to leave a mark.

Who is Neil Zevnik?

It seems as though a fellow named Neil Zevnik is a fan of Alaska salmon. His latest article entitled, Pursuing Salmon: It’s Gotta Be Wild, sure smells fishy.

It’s the typical, farmed salmon bad / wild-caught salmon good rant. Of course, little fact to back up his opinion.

The fact that he carefully uses the term “wild caught” does suggest that he may understand that not all ‘wild’ salmon was born naturally in a river bed (The term “wild-caught” covers the fact that the salmon may be caught with a “wild method” but could be a hatchery raised replicate).

More interesting than his promotional article is his response to a comment posted below the article. One poster named ‘BannedNBoston’ recommends getting healthy Omega 3 fatty acids from hemp seeds and not salmon and links to a hemp seed website.

Mr. Zevnik’s response:

“As I acknowledged, hemp seed oil is certainly a good source of omega-3’s. I feel obliged to point out that the site you are quoting (and promoting) is one that sells the product, and therefore may not be an entirely unbiased source of information, don’t you think?”

Good advice Neil! But look at us square in the eye and say you aren’t just doing the same thing. Don’t blink now. Ohhh, you blinked…