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Issue 11 September 2012

Wild Game Fish Conservation International (WGFCI): Established in 2011

to advocate for wild game fish, their fragile ecosystems and the cultures and economies that rely on their robust populations.

LEGACY The Journal of Wild Game Fish Conservation: Complimentary,

no-nonsense, monthly publication by conservationists for conservationists

LEGACY, the WGFCI Facebook page and the WGFCI website are utilized

to better equip fellow conservationists, elected officials, business owners and others regarding wild game fish, their contributions to society and the varied and complex issues impacting them and those who rely on their sustainability.

LEGACY features wild game fish conservation projects, fishing adventures,

accommodations, equipment and more. Your photos and articles featuring wild game fish from around planet earth are welcome for possible inclusion in an upcoming issue

of LEGACY. Your Letters to the Editor are welcome.

Successful wild game fish conservation efforts around planet earth will ensure existence of these precious natural resources and their ecosystems for future

generations to enjoy and appreciate. This is our LEGACY.

LLeeggaaccyy

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Wild Game Fish Conservation International founders:

Bruce Treichler Jim Wilcox

Co-editor Legacy

Publisher and co-editor Legacy

LLeeggaaccyy TTThhheee JJJooouuurrrnnnaaalll ooofff WWWiiilllddd GGGaaammmeee FFFiiissshhh CCCooonnnssseeerrrvvvaaatttiiiooonnn

By Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Celebrating Ten Consecutive Months of Wild Game Fish News

SalmonAreSacred.org

LLeeggaaccyy

Contents Global issues

Feature: Human Health Impacts of Open Pen Salmon Feedlot Practices 7

Salmon Aquaculture and Transmission of the Fish Tapeworm ................................................................................ 7 Family eats HEB salmon covered in worms ................................................................................................................ 9 Just say no to farmed salmon ................................................................................................................................. 10 Woman talks about her allergic reaction to antibiotics in Farmed Salmon ........................................................... 13 Diabetes study suggests link to viruses and toxins ................................................................................................. 14 Dead-fish-like smell raises stink ................................................................................................................................. 15 n3 Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Dysglycemia ..................................................... 16 Salmon Aquaculture and Antimicrobial Resistance in the Marine Environment .................................................. 17 Selections from: The role of persistent organic pollutants in the worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes

mellitus and the possible connection to Farmed Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar). (Altern Med Rev

2011;16(4):301-313) ...................................................................................................................................................... 18 First-Ever U.S. Tests of Farmed Salmon Show High Levels of Cancer-Causing PCBs ........................................ 20 First Global Study Reveals Health Risks of Widely Eaten Farm Raised Salmon .................................................. 21

Planet Earth 22

Sustainable Floodplains Through Large-Scale Reconnection to Rivers ............................................................... 23 Enjoy wild Pacific salmon dinners at these restaurants: ......................................................................................... 24 Say NO to Farmed Salmon .......................................................................................................................................... 25 Sign petition here: COSTCO, Safeway & Loblaws: Please stop selling diseased farm salmon! ......................... 27 NWF: Risk of coal exports outweigh gains ................................................................................................................ 28 Pants on Fire Recognition: Glenn Cooke, CEO of Cooke Aquaculture .............................................................. 29 How Tar Sands Extraction Is Destroying the Planet and What you can do to Stop it ........................................... 30

Contents National and local issues Canada 31

Canadians are saying no to tar sands pipelines: risks outweigh the benefits ...................................................... 31 Canada needs energy diversity: federal documents ................................................................................................ 32 J'Accuse!...Fish Farmers and Our Governments ...................................................................................................... 33

British Columbia ........................................................................................................................................................................ 34 Christy Clark toughens pipeline stance as Enbridge announces safety upgrades .............................................. 34 First Nations outraged by Clark's Enbridge pipeline 'sales pitch' .......................................................................... 35 Enbridge stirs up controversy with depiction of waterway ..................................................................................... 37 Video: Northern Gateway Pipelines and Tankers - Whats at Stake? ..................................................................... 39 Northern British Columbia Tourism Boycott ............................................................................................................. 40 Five years after Burnaby oil pipeline rupture, residents rally against Kinder Morgan expansion ...................... 43 No choice but to go forward to the Supreme Court of Canada to protect wild salmon ........................................ 45 Walter Cordery: Protecting wild fish must be made a priority ................................................................................ 48 Sampling Salmon on the Mighty Fraser ..................................................................................................................... 49 Anissa Reed: Such an honour ................................................................................................................................. 50 Stop Norwegian Fish Farms from Killing Wild Salmon ............................................................................................ 51 Agency orders cull of Atlantic salmon at two farms ................................................................................................. 52 Second B.C. salmon farm quarantined after tests .................................................................................................... 53 Compensation Culture ................................................................................................................................................. 54 Fish farm flap ................................................................................................................................................................ 55 Fatal virus found in more B.C. salmon farms ............................................................................................................ 56 BC Salmon Farms Provide IHN Update ...................................................................................................................... 57 Unprotected salmon farming - Blame it on the wild salmon .................................................................................... 58 Letter to Sue Farlinger (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) ............................................................................... 60 Nanaimo-based conservation group campaigns for enclosed-container farms ................................................... 61 B.C. sockeye salmon fishery likely closed again ...................................................................................................... 62

Newfoundland and Labrador .................................................................................................................................................... 63 Gray Aqua could receive $13M for salmon ................................................................................................................ 63 ASF concerned about virus outbreak......................................................................................................................... 64

Nova Scotia ................................................................................................................................................................................ 65 New fish farms will help environment - Cooke .......................................................................................................... 65 VOICE OF THE PEOPLE ............................................................................................................................................... 66

Chile 68 Salmon cages floating in the National Reserve Guaitecas, Chile ........................................................................... 68

New Zealand 69 The Sounds are for All say NO to nine new salmon farms ................................................................................... 69 Salmon farm cleared of known disease ..................................................................................................................... 70

Scotland 71 Will wildlife have to pay the price for salmon farming? ........................................................................................... 71 Holyrood denies greenwash over salmon deaths ..................................................................................................... 73

USA 74 Hydro bill energizes debate over the nations dams ................................................................................................ 74 Help stop the worst dam bill ever. .............................................................................................................................. 75 Thousands of fish die as Midwest streams heat up ................................................................................................. 76 US bid to return salmon to Connecticut River ends ................................................................................................. 78 Seafood Species Substitution and Economic Fraud ................................................................................................ 79 FDA's Examples of Substituted Seafood ................................................................................................................... 80 Conservation Update: Some in House Want Bristol Bay, West Coast Opened to Drilling ................................... 81

Alaska ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 82 EPA Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment Generates Widespread Applause, Intensifies Opposition to Pebble

Mine ................................................................................................................................................................................ 82 Protect wild Alaskan salmon Oppose proposed Pebble Mine .............................................................................. 84 Alaska's King Salmon Disappearance Leaves Locals Wondering .......................................................................... 85 A banner king salmon run on Nushagak River in Alaska's Bristol Bay ................................................................. 86

Maine ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 87 Atlantic salmon return to the Kennebec River .......................................................................................................... 87

Washington State ...................................................................................................................................................................... 88 US Senator Maria Cantwell : Salmon virus action plan ............................................................................................ 88 US Senator Patty Murray: perform a thorough cumulative impact assessment - export of coal via

Washington state and Oregon .................................................................................................................................... 89 Washington congressman seeks coal production tax ............................................................................................. 91 Northwest Tribes Fight for Treaty Rights in Face of Coal-Transport Plan ............................................................. 92 Coal train victory: One less hazardous route in Washington .................................................................................. 93 Businesses want more coal in Washington, neighbors not so sure ...................................................................... 94 National Wildlife Federation Report: Less Coal, More Salmon ............................................................................... 95 Strip Mining Would Imperil Water Quality .................................................................................................................. 96 Our Views: Failure on Flooding Would Be a Great Tragedy .................................................................................... 97 What makes us think we can control a river system better than nature can? ....................................................... 98 THE WILD OLYMPICS EFFORT: New legislation will create a legacy for generations ....................................... 100 THE WILD OLYMPICS EFFORT: Wilderness myth threatens roads, tax base, good jobs .................................. 101

Community outreach: Free salmon fishing seminar 102 Conservation Video Library Why were involved 103 Attention Conservation-minded Business Owners104 WGFCI endorsed conservation organizations: 104

LLeeggaaccyy

Forward

The September 2012 issue of Legacy features articles associated with the growing global concerns regarding known and unknown impacts to human health due to unsustainable open pen salmon feedlot industry practices. The objective of publishing Legacy each month is to share current and planned actions that impact the future of wild game fish and their ecosystems around planet earth with our on-line audience. Impact to human health due to the expanding open pen salmon feedlot industry is but one of the issues addressed in the September 2012 issue. Please feel free to share this publication with others. Our hope is that those who read Legacy will come to understand that what is good for sustainable wild game fish is also good for humans. Similarly, what is bad for wild game fish is also really bad for humans! Its exciting that a growing number of recreational anglers and conservationists around planet earth are passionate about conserving wild game fish and their continued availability for this and future generations to enjoy and appreciate. Just as exciting is that growing numbers of consumers are paying close attention to the impacts each of us have on global resources through our daily purchases. We continue to urge our global audience to speak out passionately and to demonstrate peacefully for wild game fish and their ecosystems; ecosystems that we are but one small component of. As recreational fishermen, conservation of wild game fish for future generations is our passion. Publishing Legacy each month is our self imposed responsibility to help ensure the future of these precious gifts that have been entrusted to our generation.

Bruce Treichler James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Feature: Human Health Impacts of Open Pen Salmon Feedlot Practices

Salmon Aquaculture and Transmission of the Fish Tapeworm June 2007

Aquaculture of salmon constitutes a rapidly growing worldwide industry with an expanding globalized market (1,2). Although this industry has several economic benefits, according to recent reports it is also accompanied by effects that are detrimental to human and animal health and the environment (1,2). Aquaculture has been implicated in the transmission of infectious diseases. For example, in caged fish aquaculture, bacterial and parasitic diseases can be transmitted to wild fish (1,2). Furthermore, aquaculture-raised fish may be susceptible to the microorganisms and parasites of wild fish (1,3). However, in spite of the accepted fact that parasitic worms can be transmitted to humans by free-ranging fish (4), until recently, few examples have been reported of pathogens that could be transmitted to humans directly by the products and subproducts of salmon aquaculture. I discuss here information indicating that salmon aquaculture is involved in expanding the range of fish tapeworm infections in nature and to humans.

Several recent publications report outbreaks of human cases of infection by the fish tapeworm Diphyllobothrium latum in Brazil (59). These infections have been epidemiologically linked to consumption of raw salmon produced by the aquaculture industry in southern Chile, thousands of miles away (59). Infections by D. latum have been detected in several cities in Brazil (59), and in 1 tourist who traveled there from Europe (10). These cases of diphyllobothriasis are noteworthy because this parasite was totally unknown to clinicians and parasitologists in Brazil, where it does not appear to have an endemic life cycle (59).

D. latum is transmitted to humans by plerocercoid larvae present in fish meat and visceral organs (http://www.dpd.cdc.gov/dpdx). D. latum and the closely related sea gull tapeworm, D. dendriticum, have well-established endemic life cycles in a series of glacial lakes that dot Region XIX and Region X in northern Chilean Patagonia. Infections with these parasites have been detected in this geographic area since the 1950s in persons who ingested uncooked fish from these lakes and also in animals (1114). The link that closes the epidemiologic chain between the Brazilian outbreak of fish tapeworm infections and the aquaculture of salmon in southern Chile is that some of the freshwater lakes where D. latum and D. dendriticum are endemic are used to grow the freshwater stages of juvenile salmon, or smolt, in cages (15). Smolt are temporarily grown in these lakes to accelerate their growth before they are transported to cages in the sea where the salmon will reach adult stages. The practice of growing smolt in freshwater lakes appears to be unique to Chilean salmon aquaculture; in other salmon aquaculture settings, smolt are grown in tanks containing filtered water.

During the past 55 years, work by Chilean parasitologists has demonstrated that native species and introduced salmonid fish are infested with Diphyllobothrium plerocercoids in these lakes (1114). Moreover, the other intermediary hosts of the fish tapeworm, the calanoid copepods Diaptomus diabolicus and Boeckela gracilipes, are also abundant (16). Native and introduced fish ingest copepods containing procercoid larvae that develop into plerocercoids (16). The fish tapeworm life cycle is subsequently closed in these lakes when humans and animals, the definitive hosts of these fish tapeworms, ingest infested fish (1116). The persistence of the cycle of D. latum in these lakes is facilitated by the release of untreated sewage, which deposits stools of infected humans containing high concentrations of fish tapeworm eggs in the water (1117).

The Brazilian studies did not detect Diphyllobothrium plerocercoids in several samples of Chilean salmon tested after the first human cases of diphylobothriasis appeared (7). However, this failure may have resulted from limited sampling or temporal and spatial variability in the infestation of the salmon with plerocercoids (1117).

Nonetheless, recent work in Chile has demonstrated the presence of Diphyllobothrium plerocercoids in rainbow trout raised in aquaculture, which suggests that aquacultured fish can become infected with these parasites (18).

In Chile, infestation with Diphyllobothrium plerocercoids has also been detected in coho salmon living in the wild, a nonindigenous species raised originally in aquaculture that escaped from pens (19). Larvae of another fish tapeworm, D. pacificum, whose definitive hosts are large marine mammals such as sea lions and fur seals, have been detected in marine fish in Chile (20). Salmon aquaculture sea cages attracts these large mammals, creating the possibility for the parasite life cycle to occur in the environment around the salmon cages (20). However, this is an unlikely scenario for the spread to human populations, because the fish tapeworms identified in the patients in Brazil had the morphologic characteristics of D. latum, which as discussed above is one of the diphyllobothrium endemic in the lakes of southern Chile (59). These findings suggest that the aquaculture of salmon in southern Chile has expanded the species range of infestation by diphyllobothrium to nonindigenous salmonid fish species introduced by the aquaculture industry (18,19) and that the escape of infected fish from aquaculture sea cages has probably resulted in the expansion of the geographic range of the disease in Chile (19). In turn, the marketing of Chilean aquacultured salmon in Brazil has expanded the range of this human disease to a geographic region where this pathology was until now absent (59).

Traditionally in Europe and North America, infections with fish tapeworms were incurred during the preparation of gefilte fish by Jewish women who tasted bits of uncooked freshwater fish and thus ingested plerocercoids (21). In Chile, infestation of humans with the fish tapeworm in the D. latumendemic area results from ingestion of raw and smoked fish, and in the Brazilian outbreak all the case-patients had previously eaten salmon sushi. Marinated ceviches may also be able to transmit infecting plerocercoids (59,1117). The disease in humans can be prevented by cooking the fish at a temperature of 54C to 56C for 5 minutes (21). Alternatively, the plerocercoids can be destroyed by blast-freezing the fish at 35C for 15 hours and by regular freezing at 20C for 7 days before consumption (22).

Thus, to avoid new human outbreaks of fish tapeworm in other geographic areas where this parasite does not exist, salmon originated from aquaculture should not be eaten raw, at least not until it has been frozen under the conditions discussed above. Assuming the epidemiologic information presented here explains the appearance of the fish tapeworm outbreak in Brazil, it would be preferable, in terms of sanitation, for the Chilean aquaculture industry to stop growing salmon smolt in the lakes in the areas where diphyllobothriasis is endemic in humans and animals (1117).

This epidemiologic event may also be understood as cautionary tale, and 1 more example of the dangers entailed by the globalization of food supply and of the rapidly changing global eating habits that facilitate the distribution of human and animal pathogens worldwide. The expansion of diphyllobothriasis-endemic areas in Chile may, in turn, facilitate the appearance of future outbreaks of this disease as the aquaculture industry expands to these new infested areas and the market for Chilean salmon enlarges worldwide. The increased popularity of eating uncooked fish in sushi and ceviche will also be a factor in the emergence of future outbreaks of this disease (4,21). As has been the case with other human infectious diseases disseminated by the industrialization of animal husbandry, this outbreak of diphyllobothriasis could have been prevented by use of existing information, including that concerning the endemic nature of diphyllobothriasis in the lakes of southern Chile and its transmission by raw fish

Family eats HEB salmon covered in worms Health department is investigating the case

KXAN video: Report of Bad Salmon

June, 19, 2012

ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) - The Pham family is trying to forget what happened at their large Father's Day celebration Saturday.

They prepared their own sushi with raw salmon purchased the same day at the H-E-B in Round Rock at State Highway 45 and Greenlawn Boulevard.

"My niece came in here, and she was eating one of the few pieces of sushi we had left on the plate and said, 'Ew, something feels funny,'" said Nichol Pham. "She pulled something out of her mouth, and it looked like a string."

When they looked closer, the string was moving. When they looked at the rest of the salmon, they could see more tiny worms covering the fish.

Pham said 23 people ate the salmon and felt sick the next day. Half of them were children, all cousins, ages 2 to 12.

"We've vomited, have diarrhea, stomach aching," said Pham. "My stomach is still aching today."

She said they went back to H-E-B that night to talk to a manager who offered a refund.

"We explained to him: 'We don't want a refund. We've already ingested this into our bodies,'" said Pham. "Common sense to me: You pull it off the shelf until you find out what's wrong with your fish."

Then she contacted the Williamson County Health Department. A spokesperson for the department told KXAN News they are investigating and will be looking into how the product was handled at the market and how it was handled after the purchase.

Carol Huntsberger, owner of Quality Seafood Market , said salmon carries a lot of parasites and worms -- though they are rarely seen at a store.

There are only two ways to kill them: cooking the fish thoroughly or freezing raw salmon through a process mandated by law at minus 4 degrees for 168 hours, which is about seven days.

"It kills the parasites. It kills the worms, and it makes sure it's safe to eat," said Huntsberger.

H-E-B emailed the following statement:

"H-E-B is committed to absolutely safe food. We discourage the consumption of raw or undercooked seafood unless it is prepared and handled according to FDA specifications.

"We encourage all consumers to practice safe food handling when preparing sushi with raw fish. For additional information, refer to the FDA website."

Just say no to farmed salmon April 5, 2012

Twenty years ago, a lead article in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that men in a Danish fishing village who ate at least 30 oz of salmon a week had half the risk of getting a heart attack as their bovine-consuming neighbors.

Since heart disease had been, until very recently, the leading cause of death in this country physicians have been recommending that everyone eat fish at least once weekly. In addition to its benefit in reduction of cardiovascular mortality, fish oils have also been found to be of benefit in reducing arthritis and other inflammatory disorders and to improve cognition (particularly in the offspring of fish consuming moms). The NEJM article was published in May of 1985 and between 1987 and 1999 the annual salmon consumption in the United States increased by 23%. During the same time period it increased by 14% in Europe.

This increase in fish consumption has unfortunately not proven to be a boon to the hardy fishermen and women of Alaska. In fact, since the Exxon Valdez disaster these hard-working folks are getting far less per pound for their fish than they were prior to the disaster (which is still not cleaned up). Close to 60% of the salmon now sold is raised in farms located around the globe (British Columbia, Washington State, Chile and Northern Europe) in which Atlantic salmon (genus Salmo) are crowded into pens and fed fish meal pellets. If you are looking at salmon in the grocery store or the restaurant and it says just salmon or Atlantic Salmon, it is farmed. The presence of these pens in the Pacific Northwest pose a serious threat to the native runs of pacific salmon (genus Oncorhyncus) in those areas.

While the potential health benefits of wild salmon are well known, the potential toxicity of the farmed salmon needs to be highlighted. Several studies have now been done measuring the levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, and other persistent chlorinated contaminants in farmed salmon. A study done by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland found that farmed salmon had an average of four times the amount of PCBs and Dioxins as wild salmon. In the United States, the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org) did a small study of farmed salmon that were purchased at stores in Washington DC, San Francisco, and Portland, OR. They found that seven of the ten farmed salmon purchased had levels of PCB that should raise health concerns. The EWG researchers found an average PCB level of 27.3 ppb in the ten fish studied with highest levels in the salmon that was farm raised in Scotland. This was over 5 times higher than the level of PCBs found in a sampling of wild salmon.

These studies, done on relatively small numbers of fish, had their findings confirmed in a subsequent study done on over 700 salmon (totaling approximately 2 metric tons of farmed and wild salmon) from around the globe. Thirteen persistent chlorinated chemical pollutants were found in significantly higher levels in farmed salmon than in wild salmon. The only compound that did not reach statistical significance was lindane which was still higher in farmed than wild salmon. The four compounds with the greatest differences were PCBs, dioxins, toxaphene and dieldrin. The least contaminated fish samples came from Washington State and Chile still had significantly higher levels of PCBs, dioxins and dieldrin. The most contaminated farmed salmon came from Scotland and the Faroe islands.

The researchers were wise enough to also test the fish pellets that these farmed salmon were fed. They tested samples of salmon feed from global suppliers that account for 80% of all salmon feed sold world-wide, and found the source of the salmons contamination. The levels of these toxins in the fish were directly related to their presence in their feed. These pellets are made from smaller fish which have been contaminated with these pollutants. PCBs then build up in the salmon at levels about 20-30 that of their environment and feed.

Proponents of aquaculture (fish farming) are ready to point out that these levels are not necessarily a health hazard. However, studies that have looked at the effect of PCB intake on offspring appear to contradict that stance. There have been a number of studies that have measured maternal levels of PCBs and then followed the offspring for a number of years. Their findings are consistent that the higher the serum levels of maternal PCBs the greater the neurological deficits in the offspring.

In 1979 rice bran cooking oil that was contaminated with PCBs was used for a number of months in Taiwan. Children born to exposed mothers (including children born up to 6 years after the exposure) were then followed for persistent neuro-psychological problems. At 6 years post exposure the offspring scored an average of 6 IQ points lower than their older siblings who were themselves exposed to the PCBs. In addition they exhibited 23% greater rates of problem behavior and 15% greater levels of activity than their controls. By age 17 these children still showed significantly greater problems with behavior and had a persistent IQ reduction averaging 3 IQ points. This was true even in children born to mothers up to 6 years after their exposure.

A study done in Michigan followed the development of children born to mothers who had consumed fish from Lake Michigan which were polluted with PCBs. These were not farm-raised fish with 4-16 times the level of PCBs found in wild fish. Even though the average maternal serum levels of PCBs were only mildly higher than US averages, these children did show persistent effects. By age 11 these children showed reduced total IQ, and especially verbal IQ, that became more pronounced as the maternal levels of PCBs increased. IQ drops in the group with the highest maternal serum level averaged 6.2 IQ points. This reduction in IQ is similar to that found in children with elevated blood lead levels. The children with in-utero exposure had poorer verbal and reading comprehension, poor freedom from distractibility, reduced short and long-term memory, and decreased ability to organize and plan. These children were more than three times likely to perform poorly on testing and were at least two years behind their controls in reading skills. Fortunately levels of PCB in maternal breastmilk had absolutely no association with these neurotoxicity effects. It appears that these defects are developed secondary to PCB exposure in utero, not after delivery.

The alarming point of the ongoing Michigan study is that the mothers only had blood PCB levels slightly above the US average. It would not be hard to have much higher than normal PCB levels if one were to be eating farmed salmon on a regular basis. Even though no federal agency has put out a warning, I think it would be prudent to let all women for whom pregnancy is possible know that they should avoid all exposure to farmed salmon. Fortunately every grocery store seems to have cans of Alaskan Salmon that are readily available for use. With the highest EPA/DHA levels of any fish and a very low mercury and PCB levels, it provides one of the best sources of fish in the diet.

But what does one do if they have elevated PCB levels in their blood. As was found in the Taiwan study, children born up to 6 years after moms exposure still had problems. Since PCBs are fat-soluble, they tend to stay in the body for a long time and redistribute throughout adipose stores. Since the human body is not designed to easily get rid of fats or oils these compounds tend to bioaccumulate. Supplementation that helps to produce and dump bile (cholegogue and cholerectic actions) and have that bile be excreted from the body would be beneficial. Psyllium is still the only fiber that is known to actually increase the fecal bile content.

But having patients undergo a program that combines low temperature sauna and colonic irrigations may be the best protocol to reduce levels of PCBs.

PCBs have also been associated in the medical literature with different cancers. One of my cancer patients had his PCB levels tested prior to going through our intensive cleansing program for a period of four weeks. He was retested twice as he continued to do a maintenance cleansing protocol. His initial program included 3 hours of low temperature sauna five days weekly for 20 session, that were followed by constitutional hydrotherapy and colonic irrigations. Supplementation was included as part of his cleansing program along with dietary changes. After the initial 20 sessions he did one colonic irrigation weekly for the following 18 months. Prior to starting his cleansing program he had 3 (out of 10 tested) PCBs present in his blood totaling 2.5 ng/ml (ppb). Eleven months later only 2 were present for a level of 1.4 ng/ml. Seven months after that none were detected! This rate of decline far outpaces the normal glacial reduction of PCBs in the serum (as highlighted in the Taiwan spill studies), showing that this cleansing method was clearly effective for this individual in reducing his body burden of PCBs.

While such cleansing programs are available to reduce the body burden of persistent chemical pollutants, it would be wiser to avoid exposures to them in the first place. For the sake of the children-to-be, the intake of all Atlantic salmon should be avoided

Woman talks about her allergic reaction to antibiotics in Farmed Salmon

Dont eat it; its farmed salmon! (Unidentified Vancouver, BC chef)

Diabetes study suggests link to viruses and toxins August 13, 2012

More than 87,000 Australians have been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. A new study attributes an

environmental cause to the disease.

MINI-EPIDEMICS of type 1 diabetes appear to be occurring among Australian children every five

years, a landmark study that points to an environmental cause of the autoimmune disease shows.

The study found that type 1 diabetes, a condition that occurs when the body's immune system seems

to spontaneously attack and kill the cells that produce insulin, has also been inexplicably increasing

by more than 2 per cent every year.

The researchers reviewed every new case of type 1 diabetes in Western Australia over 25 years,

finding that while the illness was on the rise, it was doing so with an even flow of peaks and troughs.

In some cases there was a difference of up to 20 per cent between the peak and low years, the

study, published in the journal Diabetes Care, says.

One of the co-authors, Professor Tim Jones, said that while there must be some reason for both the

increase and the cyclical pattern of the condition, it was not yet understood.

"We don't really know what the triggers are. There are probably multiple triggers, including

environmental factors such as viruses and toxins," he said. "There have been increases in allergies

at the same time [as type 1 diabetes has increased], so it may reflect similar underlying causes."

When his team compared the pattern in West Australia with similar research done overseas, they

found it to be "almost identical" to a pattern found in northern England, despite the two areas having

very different demographic and climatic conditions. The data suggests another peak beginning this

year, with previous ones occurring in 2007 and 2002.

More than 87,000 Australians have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, the most recent figures

from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show.

Professor Jones said the peaks could be caused by cycles in which viruses are dominant, similar to

those with cold and flu viruses, where different strains are common each year.

He said research was now being done to monitor babies who could be at risk of the condition

because their parents have it, to try to track what made them develop it.

However, it is complicated by the fact that about 80 per cent of children whose parents have type 1

diabetes will not develop the condition.

The national policy adviser for Diabetes Australia, Greg Johnson, said people often mistakenly

believed that type 1 diabetes was an inherited condition. "There is not a common understanding that

there are clearly environmental factors at play," he said.

But he cautioned that further studies would be needed before it was clear that viruses were the

cause.

"It's complex. Viruses could be implicated but there might be factors such as chemicals and

environmental pollutants or who knows what else," he said.

Claudette Bethune:

Another reason, beyond the known cancer and cognitive impairment, on why

kids should never eat farmed salmon that is choked full of viruses and toxins!

Dead-fish-like smell raises stink Stench from east-side rendering plant triggers complaints, demands for action

August 15, 2012

A big stink is brewing in Vancouver's east side.

Lenore Newman, a University of the Fraser Valley professor and east Vancouver resident, normally fights to keep farms

and food sources close to home.

But the stench that has taken over east Vancouver is just too much, she said, and has spread too far from the source, the

rendering plant West Coast Reduction in the 100-block North Commercial Drive.

"I'm thinking something must have gone wrong in the plant because you should not be able to smell it [30 blocks] away,"

said Newman.

"It's this dead-fish kind of smell," she said. "You spend $1 million on a house, you don't want it to smell like fish.

"[The city] would never let a rendering plant keep operating on the west side of the city."

Newman's argument is that this summer has been exceptionally bad for a problem that is normally limited to a few blocks.

"A lot of people are suddenly learning there's a rendering plant in the neighbourhood."

Newman was correct about a problem at the plant - a breakdown at West Coast Reduction on Thursday forced a buildup

of unprocessed animal waste and an extra day of rendering Sunday, said West Coast Rendering president Barry

Glotman.

But residents shouldn't hold their breath for action against the company. Without any agreeable way to measure the

smell, there's no way to prove West Coast Rendering broke any law.

Neither has Harvest Power, formerly called Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre, which Ray Robb, Metro Vancouver's

manager of regulation and enforcement, said triggered the majority of this summer's odour complaints.

The summer heat and one-time breakdown are to blame for the recent stench, but there's more at play - gentrification

and increased awareness, thanks to a proposed bylaw that will effectively improve air emissions.

Metro Vancouver's complaint line has been ringing off the hook with more than 50 calls this past weekend, well above the

weekly average of 30.

"You have people with expectations that are higher than the old days where . . . people were struggling to survive and

odours were the least of their concerns," said Robb, who monitors the area's air quality with Metro Vancouver.

The proposed bylaw drafted by Metro Vancouver is set for community consultation in the fall.

Its model would charge for permits by high-risk odour producers. It doesn't measure the amount of odour because a

March 2010 decision by a provincial Environmental Appeal Board ruled that the European standard of measurement,

odour units, wasn't acceptable.

Without a measurable unit, there's no way to measure odours. All Metro Vancouver can do is impose more means to

clean the air through technology requirements.

"If we throw enough technology at it, [the smell] will improve," Robb said.

Claudette Bethune: Ah, the rendering of diseased farmed salmon into concentrated

dioxins, PCBs, and other temperature resistant pollutants into farm fertilizer, it's a stink

that just keeps on smelling bad!

n3 Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Dysglycemia July 26, 2012

BACKGROUND

The use of n3 fatty acids may prevent cardiovascular events in patients with recent myocardial infarction or heart failure. Their effects in patients with (or at risk for) type 2 diabetes mellitus are unknown.

METHODS

In this double-blind study with a 2-by-2 factorial design, we randomly assigned 12,536 patients who were at high risk for cardiovascular events and had impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, or diabetes to receive a 1-g capsule containing at least 900 mg (90% or more) of ethyl esters of n3 fatty acids or placebo daily and to receive either insulin glargine or standard care. The primary outcome was death from cardiovascular causes. The results of the comparison between n3 fatty acids and placebo are reported here.

RESULTS

During a median follow up of 6.2 years, the incidence of the primary outcome was not significantly decreased among patients receiving n3 fatty acids, as compared with those receiving placebo (574 patients [9.1%] vs. 581 patients [9.3%]; hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.87 to 1.10; P=0.72). The use of n3 fatty acids also had no significant effect on the rates of major vascular events (1034 patients [16.5%] vs. 1017 patients [16.3%]; hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.93 to 1.10; P=0.81), death from any cause (951 [15.1%] vs. 964 [15.4%]; hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.89 to 1.07; P=0.63), or death from arrhythmia (288 [4.6%] vs. 259 [4.1%]; hazard ratio, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.93 to 1.30; P=0.26). Triglyceride levels were reduced by 14.5 mg per deciliter (0.16 mmol per liter) more among patients receiving n3 fatty acids than among those receiving placebo (P

Salmon Aquaculture and Antimicrobial Resistance in the Marine Environment August 8, 2012

Alejandro H. Buschmann1, Alexandra Tomova2, Alejandra Lpez1, Miguel A. Maldonado1, Luis A.

Henrquez1, Larisa Ivanova2, Fred Moy3, Henry P. Godfrey3, Felipe C. Cabello2*

1 Centro imar, Universidad de Los Lagos, Puerto Montt, Chile, 2 Department of Microbiology and

Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, United States of America, 3 Department

of Pathology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, United States of America

Abstract:

Antimicrobials used in salmon aquaculture pass into the marine environment. This could have

negative impacts on marine environmental biodiversity, and on terrestrial animal and human health as

a result of selection for bacteria containing antimicrobial resistance genes. We therefore measured

the numbers of culturable bacteria and antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in marine sediments in the

Calbuco Archipelago, Chile, over 12-month period at a salmon aquaculture site approximately 20 m

from a salmon farm and at a control site 8 km distant without observable aquaculture activities. Three

antimicrobials extensively used in Chilean salmon aquaculture (oxytetracycline, oxolinic acid, and

florfenicol) were studied. Although none of these antimicrobials was detected in sediments from either

site, traces of flumequine, a fluoroquinolone antimicrobial also widely used in Chile, were present in

sediments from both sites during this period. There were significant increases in bacterial numbers

and antimicrobial-resistant fractions to oxytetracycline, oxolinic acid, and florfenicol in sediments from

the aquaculture site compared to those from the control site. Interestingly, there were similar numbers

of presumably plasmid-mediated resistance genes for oxytetracycline, oxolinic acid and florfenicol in

unselected marine bacteria isolated from both aquaculture and control sites. These preliminary

findings in one location may suggest that the current use of large amounts of antimicrobials in Chilean

aquaculture has the potential to select for antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in marine sediments.

Citation: Buschmann AH, Tomova A, Lpez A, Maldonado MA, Henrquez LA, et al. (2012) Salmon

Aquaculture and Antimicrobial Resistance in the Marine Environment. PLoS ONE 7(8): e42724.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042724

Copyright: 2012 Buschmann et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the

Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction

in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

READ ENTIRE PLOSONE ARTICLE HERE

Selections from: The role of persistent organic pollutants in the worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes mellitus and the possible connection to Farmed

Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar). (Altern Med Rev 2011;16(4):301-313)

Abstract Rates of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), both in the United States and worldwide, have been rising at an alarming rate over the last two decades. Because this disease is viewed as primarily being attributable to unhealthy lifestyle habits, a great deal of emphasis has been placed on encouraging increased exercise, better dietary habits, and weight loss. Recent studies reveal that the presence of several persistent organic pollutants (POPs) can confer greater risk for developing the disease than some of the established lifestyle risk factors. In fact, evidence suggests the hypothesis that obesity might only be a significant risk factor when adipose tissue contains high amounts of POPs. Chlorinated pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls, in particular, have been strongly linked to the development of metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and T2DM. In addition to reviewing the evidence associating POPs to these conditions, this article explores the possible contribution of farmed Atlantic salmon a significant and common dietary source of POPs with blood sugar dysregulation conditions.

Farmed Atlantic Salmon Consumption as a Source of Exposure to POPs In 2009 the global production of farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) topped 1.4 million tons, with commercial sales of $6.5 million.27 Salmon has been called a functional food, because of its content of omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs) and their potential benefits for cardiovascular disease risk reduction.28,29 Despite the potential benefit of EFAs, farmed salmon is also a significant, and possibly the greatest, source of dietary POPs, including PCBs. A pilot study compared levels of POPs in farmed and wild salmon. Total PCBs were found to average 51,216 pg/g wet weight in farmed Atlantic salmon, versus an average of 5,302 in wild Pacific salmon a 10-fold difference. The farmed salmon also had far higher levels of OC pesticides and PDBE (brominated flame retardants) than their wild counterparts.30 Two larger studies compared farmed Atlantic salmon from around the world and wild salmon from the Northeast Pacific. The studies used close to 600 whole salmon and filets (totaling about 2 million metric tons each), along with samples of the feed used in the farming operations for these fish. Concentrations of POP contaminants, especially certain PCB congeners, were significantly higher in farmed Atlantic salmon than in wildcaught salmon. European-raised farmed salmon had significantly greater contaminant loads than those farm-raised in North and South America. Although Chinook salmon (also known as King salmon) had the highest PCB content of any of the wild fish, levels were still far below those found in farmed salmon.31,32 An earlier study also reported that the mean concentration of total PCBs in farmed salmon was 41.5 ng/g wet weight, while the wild salmon only averaged 3.2 ng/g wet weight.33 The PCB congener profiles detected in wild salmon were significantly different from those in farmed salmon.

Upon investigation, the PCB congener profiles found in farmed salmon often closely corresponded to samples of commercial feed purchased in the same region. In other words, evidence indicated that feed was the likely source of some of the characteristic PCBs found in the farmed salmon.31 While the wild fish had PCBs with fewer chlorine molecules, making the POPs more water-soluble (which helps explain why they might be more likely to be consumed in the ocean), the farmed salmon had PCBs with more chlorine atoms,31 consistent with the types of PCBs that have been detected in some samples of fish food.31,33 Interestingly, it was PCB congeners containing more attached chlorine molecules that were most strongly associated with T2DM in the CARDIA cohort study conducted by Lee et al.13 Utilizing data from these studies and from the Environmental Protection Agency calculation for cancer risk, it has been recommended that no one should eat more than one meal of farmed salmon a month.32,34

Persistent Organic Pollutants Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are organic compounds that are resistant to environmental degradation. Because of this, they persist in the environment, bioaccumulate in human and animal tissue, and biomagnify in food chains. The United Nations Environment Programme Governing Council (GC) originally created a list of 12 POPs known as the dirty dozen. These were aldrin, chlordane, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD or dioxins), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF or furans), and toxaphene. In recent years, this list has been expanded to include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), and tributyltin (TBT). The groups of compounds that make up POPs are also classed as persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBTs) or toxic organic micro pollutants (TOMPs). These terms are essentially synonyms for POPs.

First-Ever U.S. Tests of Farmed Salmon Show High Levels of Cancer-Causing PCBs

Analysis of Fish Consumption Data Shows 800,000 U.S. Adults Eat Enough PCBs From Farmed

Salmon to Exceed Allowable Lifetime Cancer Risk 100 Times Over

July 30, 2003 WASHINGTON The Environmental Working Group (EWG) today released results of the most extensive tests to date of cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) levels in farmed salmon consumed in the United States. EWG bought the salmon from local grocery stores and found seven of 10 fish were so contaminated with PCBs that they raise cancer-risk concerns, relative to health standards of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Salmon farming has made salmon the third most popular fish in America and comprises 22 percent of all retail seafood counter sales. However, EWG analysis of government data also found that farmed salmon are likely the most PCB-contaminated protein source in the current U.S. food supply.

EWG analysis of state-of-the-art fish consumption data derived from 20,000 adults from 1990 through 2002 shows that roughly 800,000 US adults are 100 times over their lifetime allowable cancer risk by eating this contaminated salmon.

PCBs were banned in the U.S. in the late 1970s and are among the dirty dozen chemical contaminants slated for global phase-out under the UN treaty on persistent organic pollutants. PCBs are highly persistent, and they have been linked to cancer and impaired fetal brain development.

Farmed salmon are fattened with ground fishmeal and fish oils that are high in PCBs. As a result, salmon farming operations that produce inexpensive fish unnaturally concentrate PCBs and have a higher fat content. Farmed salmon contains 52 percent more fat than wild salmon, according to USDA data.

Wild Alaskan salmon eat Pacific Ocean fish that are naturally lower in persistent pollutants, and they carry less fat than farmed salmon.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has control over store-bought fish, uses PCB safety standards set in 1984. For recreationally caught fish, the EPA employs a more recent standard that reflects current scientific concerns about PCBs and is 500 times safer than the FDA's.

FDA could not have predicted the rise of the farmed salmon industry when it set its PCB safety standard decades ago, said EWG Vice President for Research Jane Houlihan. The industrys growth has been rapid and unexpected, but it is having a real public health consequence.

EWG called for more resources to be given to the FDA so it can move quickly to conduct a study of PCB contamination in farmed salmon - and make all the results public. This testing is critical, because FDA will be unable to act to lower public exposure to PCBs in farmed salmon until they conduct these studies. Congress should also pass a funding increase for FDA to support this testing.

In the meantime, EWG recommends that consumers choose wild instead of farmed salmon, and they should eat an eight-ounce serving of farmed salmon no more than once a month. Consumers should also trim fat from the fish before cooking - and choose broiling, baking, or grilling over frying, as these cooking methods allow the PCB-laden fat to cook off the fish.

Wild salmon dominated the market just ten years ago. Now, six of every 10 salmon fillets sold in stores and restaurants are from fish raised in high-density pens in the ocean, managed and marketed by the salmon farming industry. Before salmon farming, PCB exposure was declining, but the trend is now being reversed due to farmed fish.

When Congress banned PCBs in 1976, no one contemplated that 20-odd years later we would have invented a new industry that re-concentrates these toxins in our bodies, said Houlihan.

READ ENTIRE EWG ARTICLE HERE

First Global Study Reveals Health Risks of Widely Eaten Farm Raised Salmon Science Study Suggests Sharp Restrictions in Consumption

Albany, New York A study published this week in a leading scientific journal found significantly higher levels of cancer-causing and other health-related contaminants in farm raised salmon than in their wild counterparts. The study, published in Science and by far the largest and most comprehensive done to date, concluded that concentrations of several cancer-causing substances in particular are high enough to suggest that consumers should consider severely restricting their consumption of farmed salmon.

The majority of salmon served in restaurants and found on grocery store shelves is farmed rather than wild. In most cases, as detailed in the study, consumption of more than one meal of farmed salmon per month could pose unacceptable cancer risks according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methods for calculating fish consumption advisories.

The Pew Charitable Trusts, one of the U.S.s largest philanthropies, sponsored the study. Pew has sponsored major research on fisheries including a number of widely reported recent studies on the deterioration of the marine environment.

Whereas earlier studies have analyzed anywhere from 8 to 13 salmon samples from individual salmon farming regions, the current study analyzed fillets from about 700 farmed and wild salmon produced in eight major farmed salmon producing regions around the world and purchased in 16 large cities in North America and Europe. The studys authors, six U.S. and Canadian researchers representing fields from toxicology to biology to statistics, selected salmon samples to be representative of the salmon typically available to consumers around the world.

The researchers found significantly higher concentrations of contaminants in farmed salmon versus wild. In particular, four substances that have been well studied for their ability to cause cancer PCBs, dioxins, dieldrin, and toxaphene were consistently and significantly more concentrated in farmed salmon as a group.

Geographic Differences

Among the studys conclusions, salmon farmed in Europe were generally more contaminated than farmed salmon from North or South America. Farmed salmon purchased for the study from supermarkets in Frankfurt,

Edinburgh, Paris, London, and Oslo were the most contaminated and triggered consumption recommendations

of one-half to one meal per month based on U.S. EPA consumption advisories for these contaminants. A meal was considered to be an eight-ounce portion.

Farmed salmon purchased from supermarkets in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Chicago, New York,

and Vancouver triggered a recommendation of no more than two meals per month.

There was slightly more variation in fish purchased in North America than those purchased in Europe. While farmed salmon purchased for the study in New Orleans and Denver were generally least contaminated triggering a recommendation of about 3 meals per month farmed salmon purchased in Boston, San Francisco, and Toronto triggered the more stringent consumption recommendations of the European-purchased fish.

"Ultimately, the most important determinant of risk has to do with where the fish is farmed not where it is purchased," said Dr. David Carpenter, an author of the study and Director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany. "And because its a global market, its hard to be sure what youre getting."

READ ENTIRE ALBANY.EDU ARTICLE HERE

Planet Earth

POLICYFORUM

Sustainable Floodplains Through Large-Scale Reconnection to Rivers LAND USE If riverside levees are strategically removed or repositioned, the result can be reduced flood risk and increased goods and services. The Yolo Bypass while flooded

Summary Flooding is the most damaging natural disaster worldwide, and the flood-vulnerable population is

expected to grow in coming decades (1). Flood risks will likely increase because of both climate change (1) and shifting land uses, such as filling of wetlands and expansion of impervious surfaces, that lead to more rapid precipitation runoff into rivers. In the United States, annual river flood losses

continue to rise (2), punctuated by major events in the Midwest (1993, $30 billion in total costs; 2008, $15 billion) and California's Central Valley (1995 and 1997; $4 billion each event) (3). Meanwhile, pressure to develop new housing in floodprone areas near rivers (floodplains) continues (4), even as levee-system maintenance is chronically underfunded (5).

Enjoy wild Pacific salmon dinners at these restaurants:

Say NO to Farmed Salmon

By bringing together animals from different continents and habitats, they create breeding grounds for new viruses

Sign petition here: COSTCO, Safeway & Loblaws: Please stop selling diseased farm salmon!

Elly Edwards

Well, just got back from my 3rd trip to Superstore's seafood dept this month to inquire about the failure to label

farmed salmon as farmed. The seafood person smiled big when I told her who I was and why I was there, walked

me over to the farmed salmon, pointed down and said, "We'd been meaning to get back to you. Word just came

down this morning to change the labels and it was because of you. See, one person can make a difference." All

farmed Atlantic salmon at Mission Superstore are now labeled "Farmed Atlantic salmon". No excuse for consumers

to say they didn't know it was farmed!!! People, get out there and keep putting pressure on supermarkets to get rid

of farmed salmon and at the very least label them as farmed!

NWF: Risk of coal exports outweigh gains August 1, 2012

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- With coal declining as a U.S. power source, the subsequent increase

in exports to Asian markets comes with major risks, an environmental group said.

A report from the National Wildlife Federation said that U.S. coal exports from the Pacific Northwest

would threaten public and environmental health.

"Sending more coal to Asia carries almost no benefits for the United States but we pay the price,"

said Felice Stadler, who directs the energy campaign for the NWF, in a statement.

"Degraded fisheries, damaged communities, medical costs, harms to wildlife and a continued burning

of high carbon fuel will cost us dearly for decades."

The report states there are at least six coal ports under consideration for the western U.S. coast.

Combined, they could send at least 150 million tons of coal to Asian markets.

U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said last

week that tighter regulations on coal production "could result in the loss of thousands of jobs and

economic harm to over 20 states."

The NWF counters that an increase in the use of coal would cause environmental harm no matter

where it's burned.

Pants on Fire Recognition: Glenn Cooke, CEO of Cooke Aquaculture

Wild game fish conservationists around planet earth believe that some things we hear and read from

corporate representatives, natural resources agency professionals and elected officials might not

reflect reality. In fact, some associate these leaders with those who wear burning pants.

The September 2012 recipient of the Wild Game Fish Conservation International Burning Pants

honor is: Glenn Cooke, CEO of Cooke Aquaculture.

The following are quotes by Mr. Cooke from Why we need to farm the oceans (July 21, 2012):

There is no such thing as open pen salmon farming. Our ocean farms, where our salmon

spend the latter half of their lives in their natural habitat, are not open

our track record of containing our fish has been exemplary.

Our farms have not caused widespread pollution, escaped fish or disease outbreaks

The well-financed anti-salmon-farming lobby has been promoting a false concept that salmon

farms can and should be moved from the ocean

we know the benefits of mirroring nature by moving salmon to the ocean when they are

physiologically ready to move from fresh to salt water

There is nothing unnatural about using a small part of our working waterfront to grow fish to

feed the world.

How Tar Sands Extraction Is Destroying the Planet and What you can do to Stop it

July 27, 2012

Its a hideous, enormous, unimaginable sight. If you were to fly over the Canadian boreal forest, youd come across an environmental manmade disaster that stretches for hundreds and hundreds of miles, and is large enough to be visible from space.

Bituminous sands, also known as tar sands or oil sands, are found naturally occurring in the Earth. They are mixtures of water, sand and clay that are saturated with extremely thick bitumen petroleum, and they have become commonly known as tar sands due to the thick, tarry appearance, smell and color of the bitumen.

The Environmental Impact

Extracting tar sands requires vast amounts of energy, and is extremely carbon-intensive, significantly more so than conventional oil extraction. As the tar sand extraction industry expands, there are growing concerns that initial estimates of the emissions released through extraction processes have been grossly underestimated.

READ ENTIRE ONEGREENPLANET ARTICLE HERE

Canada

Canadians are saying no to tar sands pipelines: risks outweigh the benefits July 23, 2012

We have long heard threats from the tar sands oil interests that if America wont allow tar sands

pipelines to cross our communities, theyll just send the oil across Canada to Asia instead. But

Canadian communities dont like the idea of risking their fishing rivers, farms and coastal waters to a

tar sands oil spill any more than U.S. communities do. In fact, pipeline company Enbridges proposal

for the Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline that would cross British Columbia is in real jeopardy.

After refusing to take a stance on the Northern Gateway project, just this morning, the Globe and Mail

reported that the Premier of British Columbia said that the risks of a tar sands oil spill outweighed the

economic benefits of a tar sands pipeline across the province. And the British Columbia government

has outlined a series of concerns and minimum requirements. Yet, given the deep concerns of First

Nations, municipalities and others in British Columbia, what is needed is a clear message to echo

what we hear coming from Canada: no tar sands pipelines and no tar sands oil tankers.

These are the same concerns that are driving opposition to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline that

would cross the U.S. to the Gulf Coast and the Trailbreaker project that would bring tar sands east

through the Great Lakes and New England. Bringing dirty and expensive Canadian tar sands across

our rivers and through our communities brings us the risk of climate change and tar sands oil spills all

to benefit the oil industry. We can do better for our communities.

READ ENTIRE NRD BLOG POST HERE

Canada needs energy diversity: federal documents August 4, 2012

Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press Canada is becoming vulnerable to a planetary mega trend

toward low-carbon energy, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver was told in newly released internal

briefing notes.

OTTAWA A dependence on fossil fuel resources is making the country vulnerable to a planetary

mega trend toward low-carbon energy that will affect the whole of Canadas economy, Natural

Resources Minister Joe Oliver was told in newly released internal briefing notes.

While Canada has an enviable energy resource advantage, its future success cannot be taken for

granted, said the briefing notes. It must make smart decisions now in order to get ahead of

emerging challenges. The country will need to further diversify its energy sources, ensure that it has

secure access to global markets and find ways to meet the growing demand for energy at home in

ways that are environmentally sustainable and publicly acceptable.

Noting that Canada was last among G8 nations in terms of clean energy investments, the briefing

notes prepared by bureaucrats at Natural Resources Canada for Oliver after he was appointed to

cabinet in May 2011, explained that the growth of emerging economies such as China and India was

one mega trend influencing the economy and demand for resources and energy.

But the documents also suggested that other countries were getting ahead of Canada in a new

market, estimated to be worth $6.5 trillion in 2007-2008, for green products and services aimed at

lowering carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that trap heat in the atmosphere and

contribute to global warming.

READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE

J'Accuse!...Fish Farmers and Our Governments July 20, 2012

Alexandra Morton laid out the case against salmon farms and their diseases to an audience of 200 at the

Royal Vancouver Yacht Club on Monday

In 1894 a French army officer, Alfred Dreyfus, was convicted of treason and sent to Devils Island prison. In 1896 a Paris journalist, Emile Zola, printed an article called "JAccuse!", which tore apart the case and led eventually to his pardon which he accepted because he was dying on the vicious tropical Devils Island and he was exonerated to serve, gallantly though sick and old in combat in World War I. An Alsatian Jew, Dreyfus was seen by the military establishment.

Last Monday night, along with 200 others, I listened to Alexandra Morton outline the loss of our salmon and carefully and surgically weave together the case against the fish farm industry, the provincial government and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

The case goes back 12 years and mirrors the Campbell/Clark administration.

First it involved escapees from fish farms crowding native salmon on their spawning grounds, something that continues but became less relevant as Alexandra discovered that hundreds of thousands of wild salmon smolts were being slaughtered by lice from fish farms sited on their migration routes. Lately Alexandra has concentrated on diseases imported into our waters by farmed fish. Jaccuse both senior governments of deliberately avoiding this issue.

Before going further let me stress a fact that is of great importance but overlooked.

When I started helping Alex, my veterinarian, the estimable Moe Milstein, took me aside and said Rafe, I dont know anything about particular issue but I can tell you that when you take huge numbers of animals and coop them up, disease on a massive basis is inevitable.

READ ENTIRE COMMON SENSE CANADIAN ARTICLE HERE

British Columbia

Christy Clark toughens pipeline stance as Enbridge announces safety upgrades July 20, 2012

B.C. Premier Christy Clark called the Northern Gateway pipeline 'a very large risk to British Columbia

for our marine and terrestrial environment' with 'a very small ... benefit to our province."

Photograph by: Glenn Baglo , PNG

Premier Christy Clark toughened her stance Friday on the Northern Gateway oil pipeline, saying the

controversial proposal poses too much environmental risk for British Columbia while not offering

enough economic benefits.

Clarks comments came the same day Enbridge promised to add $500 million in safety improvements

to its proposal, which the company said is meant to address concerns raised by first nations and the

public. First nations in northern B.C. were quick to say the additional safety measures would not alter

their opposition to the 1,150-kilometre pipeline between the Alberta oilsands and Kitimat, however.

Clark spoke one day after she held extraordinary face-to-face meetings with the premiers of Alberta

and Saskatchewan as well as a phone call with Prime Minister Stephen Harper giving all three a

warning that her government will next week lay out its demands on the Gateway project.

I was giving them the heads up on what were going to be talking about next week because I dont

want my colleagues, particularly our neighbours in Alberta and Saskatchewan, to be surprised, Clark

told The Vancouver Sun Friday.

Clark said that as early as Monday she will provide a little bit more detail about what British

Columbians need to see out of the proposal in order for it to work for us.

British Columbians want to have our environment protected and they want to know that were going

to be looking out for their best interests when it comes to jobs and economic benefits, she said.

READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE

First Nations outraged by Clark's Enbridge pipeline 'sales pitch' July 28, 2012

Douglas Channel, the proposed termination point for an oil pipeline in the Enbridge Northern Gateway

Project, is pictured in an aerial view in Kitimat, B.C., on January 10, 2012.

First Nations opposed to the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project are accusing B.C.

Premier Christy Clark of selling out British Columbians and putting a price tag on the future of

aboriginal people.

The Yinka Dene Alliance, a group of five First Nations in the B.C. Interior, issued a statement

Saturday, saying it rejects Clarks sales pitch.

The B.C. government said earlier this week it wont support the $6-billion Enbridge project until five

environmental and fiscal conditions are met, including B.C. getting a much larger share of economic

benefits such as resource royalties or other tax revenue.

Another one of the five conditions was that legal requirements for aboriginal and treaty rights must be

addressed and first nations be allowed to benefit from the project.

However, the aboriginal groups claim the premier is bargaining with land that they say will never be

for sale at any price.

It is absolutely unacceptable for our premier to play a game of the Price is Right while putting our

lands, our waters and our futures at risk to devastating oil spills, said Terry Teegee, tribal chief of the

Carrier Sekani Tribal Council.

This is our lives, the well-being of our families that she is playing with. We wont let her sell our lands

out from under us.

Chief Martin Louie of the Nadleh Whuten First Nation said the government cant put a price tag on

our future, adding that the alliance is committed to fighting the project.

Clark has admitted that B.C. will take 100 per cent of the risks from tankers and most of the pipeline

risk. For her to turn around the next day and start bargaining for royalties thats knowingly trying to

sell all British Columbians out, said Louie.

On Friday, Clark refused to sign onto any national energy strategy until B.C.s dispute with Alberta

and the federal government over the Northern Gateway oil pipeline is resolved.

The Enbridge project would carry oilsands crude, or bitumen, from northern Alberta to Kitimat, for

shipment to Asia.

The Enbridge Pipeline Project Proposal and the potential impacts of a spill from the pipeline

and or a Super Tanker have far reaching implications beyond the Northwest Coast of BC!

Imagine 225 Ultra Crude Carrier (Super Tanker) of over 1000 feet long, 160 feet wide, 110 feet

deep and 1.4 Billion pounds when fully loaded, going at 16 knots, traveling into our water

ways, meandering through narrow and potentially treacherous channels. Keep in mind that it

takes up to 3 kms long (a full 15 minutes) to go from full speed ahead to full reverse. Now

imagine it hitting a rock, spilling up to 2 million barrels of bitumen (unrefined highly toxic

tar/oil). That is 10 times the volume of Exxon Valdez.

Enbridge stirs up controversy with depiction of waterway Critics say video an attempt to mislead public

August 15, 2012

Enbridge Inc. says its video, which depicts Douglas Channel as an open waterway, is meant to be

"broadly representational."

Enbridge deleted 1,000km of BC's islands off of its public videos and maps to convince the public its pipeline and oil tanker plan is less dangerous than it really is.

About 1,000 square kilometres of islands have disappeared from Douglas Channel in an animated

depiction of Enbridge Inc.'s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker route.

The project would send bitumen by pipeline from Alberta's oilsands to Kitimat, where it would be

loaded onto tankers for export to Asia.

A video on the Enbridge website shows Douglas Channel as a wide open funnel leading from Kitimat

to the Pacific, omitting the narrow channels, islands and rocky outcrops that make up the potential

tanker access route.

The view of Douglas Channel sprang to public attention after Lori Waters, a Vancouver Island

researcher and owner of a biomedical communications company, created overlays and maps

showing the real Douglas Channel and posted the images on Facebook.

Reaction against Enbridge - which is fighting an image problem because of recent pipeline spills -

was swift.

"I find the pictures shocking. It's reprehensible behaviour," said University of Victoria climate scientist

Andrew Weaver.

"These images are disturbing enough to make me no longer trust anything coming from Enbridge. It's

utterly shameful," he said.

However, Enbridge said the video is an obvious animation and contains a disclaimer that says it is

"broadly representational."

"That video is meant to be for illustrative purposes only. It's not meant to be to scale. It's meant to

illustrate the pipeline route, not the marine aspects of the operation," said Enbridge spokesman Todd

Nogier.

"There's a disclaimer at the end because it's really clear this is meant to be illustrative," he said.

The video is meant to be pleasing to the eye, but viewers would not mistake it for a detailed map,

Nogier said.

A tanker safety video showing Douglas Channel in detail and to scale, together with technical

reports on every aspect of the marine route, are on the Enbridge website, he said.

"If they are trying to conclude that we are trying to mislead people, nothing could be further from the

truth. There's lots of information there. It's all there and it's all for public viewing," Nogier said.

However, groups opposed to the proposed pipeline and tanker project believe the video is an attempt

to mislead.

The Enbridge view of Douglas Channel would make anyone who knows the area chuckle, said Eric

Swanson of the Dogwood Initiative.

"In reality, it's a twisting path through rocky islands and granite outcroppings, including 90 degree

turns, but it's shown as a sparkly, open channel," he said.

"They are certainly painting a rosy picture of a very complicated and dangerous waterway."

The video fits with recent Enbridge advertising campaigns, Swanson said.

"It's more hyper-positive imagery because they know they have a problem because of the spills," he

said.

READ ENTIRE TIMES COLONIST ARTICLE HERE

Video: Northern Gateway Pipelines and Tankers - Whats at Stake?

Northern British Columbia Tourism Boycott March 31, 2012

Like many of you we are extremely concerned with what is going on in the press these days. Thus the urgent letter below, please read it, if youre local call your mayor, if youre not, please help us because the deck is really stacked against our pristine lakes and rivers.

Support our boycott on all business in communities which are not willing to protect our environment in hopes of getting a financial handout from Enbridge. Let us send a clear message to communities who dont respect our environment enough to protect it.

Please DO NOT BOYCOTT small fishing businesses that reside outside of any community boundary, because they are as much a victim of those who support oil for greed.

_ _ _ _

Greetings fellow sport fishing enthusiasts, I am writing this to all of you, all over the world because we desperately need your help on two major fronts, both could permanently extinguish fishing as we know it for our generation and that of our childrens and possibly much longer.

The first and foremost problem is the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project which the Prime Minister of Canada appears to be declaring a project that will go ahead regardless of the National Energy Board Hearings.

The second is Fish Farming, and its unregulated ability to hide scientific facts, its attacks on free speech and attempts to silence those who dare to speak out against them.

First Nations have done their part, they stood up and spoke, all against Enbridge and Albertas need to cash in on the horrific oil sands that are killing the Athabasca River, and sending this toxic mess into the Arctic Ocean. Read what the Swan River First Nation and the Dene Nation and the Driftpile First Nation have testified in the link below.

Parts 6, 7 and 8 of their testimony refute what Alberta is admitting, and refutes what Ottawa is admitting in regards to toxic pollution and killing of fish and wildlife.

Here is where we have a problem, the cities, towns and villages appear to want it both ways, they want your tourist dollar, and they also want any dirty Oil Dollar they can get as well.

We need you; the people of the world to write to the mayors of each community and ask them why tourists could come to a community that wont protect its natural resources. Why should tourists come and spend their money if the leaders of these communities dont take a stand in protecting our lakes and rivers from the worst threat ever in the history of British Columbia.

Ask these mayors how many people will come to visit if we end up with a mess like they did on the Kalamazoo River.

Imagine what this will look like if there is an oil spill like in the image below. This is the Bulkley River near Quick.

This will extinguish all salmon and steelhead stocks, and in particular it will extinguish the almost extinct remaining two sockeye strains that are now listed as endangered species. A spill like this will kill not only the Morice Bulkley watersheds, but it will contaminate the entire Skeena River watershed.

This is not a political issue, it simply a fact, you either are willing to protect the environment or you will not, why is almost irrelevant, it does boil down to which communities tourists should visit, namely those who are willing to protect our environment.

As of today we are not aware of many that are willing to stand up and say No to Enbridge, so it would be fair to say they do not support our environment until they make a public declaration stating otherwise. If you want your status changed, then tell the world you oppose the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline.

Please note this list is only the communities, not attached aboriginal communities. All aboriginal communities along the pipeline are on record as opposed to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. If we are wrong, please send us an email at webmaster(at)bcfishinreport.com

Prince Rupert Supports our Environment (Visit this great community)

Terrace Supports our Environment (Visit this great community)

Kitimat Does not support our environment. (Boycott)

Kitwanga Supports our Environment (Visit this great community)

Hazelton Does not support our environment. (Boycott)

Kispiox Supports our Environment (Visit this great community)

Moricetown Supports our Environment (Visit this great community)

Smithers Supports our Environment (Visit this great community)

Telkwa Does not support our environment. (Boycott)

Houston Does not support our environment. (Boycott)

Granisle Does not support our environment. (Boycott)

Burns Lake Does not support our environment. (Boycott)

Fraser Lake Does not support our environment. (Boycott)

Vanderhoof Does not support our environment. (Boycott)

Prince George Does not support our environment. (Boycott)

We would like to extend a challenge to all fishing websites to publicly post a list of the communities above as to their support or lack of support for our environment and encourage tourists not to vacation in locations who care so little for our environment that they do not have the courage to defend it and stand up and say no to any further construction of any pipelines that carry that toxic sludge through our ever more vulnerable lakes, rivers and mountains.

Likewise we ask that every environmental website in the world also joins us in a boycott to end this fence riding by municipal councilors.

_ _ _ _ _ _

Anyone wishing to share information in regards to rivers or lakes is asked to please CLICK HERE

We are always in a state of construction, because we keep finding more information we feel would be helpful to you.

From the folks at Pacific Northwest Fishing Report, thanks youre your support.

Let us never let our guard down in protecting this heritage that we borrow from our children, so that they to might share in the excitement we treasure so much.

Five years after Burnaby oil pipeline rupture, residents rally against Kinder Morgan expansion August 16, 2012

Five years after a construction mishap covered a Burnaby neighbourhood with oil from a ruptured pipeline, residents are still dealing with its aftermath. Pictured is Mary Hatch, who lives in the 7200-block of Inlet Drive.

The oil that slicked trees and blackened lawns has long been cleaned from the homes hardest hit by the rupture of Kinder Morgans Trans Mountain pipeline five years ago.

But the painful memories remain and have turned some longtime Burnaby residents into fervid critics trying to mobilize their newer neighbours to fight against its proposed expansion.

Retired elementary teacher Mary Hatch, 66, is not your stereotypical eco-warrior. Before the spill covered the property shes shared