Habitat Restoration Wild Salmon, Updated Nov 26, 2020

I will use this post to put up habitat restoration projects for wild BC salmon, and other jurisdictions. These small projects, many funded by the Pacific Salmon Foundation, should be the backbone of restoration and bringing back wild salmon:
I will put in some related news as well.

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18. $24,000 for Habitat Restoration Projects - Parksvile, Qualicum: https://www.pqbnews.com/community/24000-granted-to-parksville-qualicum-beach-projects-via-pacific-salmon-foundation/?mc_cid=3cada652f8&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.

17. Two Dams to be Pulled - US, for salmon: .

16. Sturgeon Bank Restoration Projects - group asks for council money: .

15. Habitat Restoration Funding - Haida Gwaii, 12 projects, $162K funding, PSF: .

14. New Channel - Penticton, for sockeye and chinook: https://www.castanet.net/news/Penticton/309153/More-work-to-restore-salmon-habitat-in-Penticton-to-begin?mc_cid=b0bb6c9d6c&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.

13. A List of Habitat Conservation Trust Fund Projects - BC, : https://hctf.ca/hctf-announces-2020-21-list-of-approved-conservation-projects-across-bc/.

12. Habitat Conservation Trust Fund - funds a great number of grassroots projects in BC: https://www.vancouverislandfreedaily.com/news/conservation-projects-in-b-c-receive-9-2m-in-funds-from-victoria-based-foundation/.

11. Departure Creek, Nanaimo - a good example of getting in the stream and fixing it, and the groups that come together, for years, to make it happen: https://www.vancouverislandfreedaily.com/news/nanaimo-creek-restoration-meant-to-make-habitat-more-fish-friendly/?mc_cid=b0bb6c9d6c&mc_eid=5777c92bcd .

10. DFO Should Enforce Fish Farm Regs, Not Pay for Cleanups - : https://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/column-dfo-should-enforce-regulations-not-pay-for-cleanup/?mc_cid=5dcc17bb46&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.

9. Salmon Runs Worst Ever - Alaska and BC: http://www.digitaljournal.com/business/alaska-and-b-c-s-salmon-runs-expected-to-be-worst-ever-recorded/article/576244?mc_cid=5dcc17bb46&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.

8. Four Reasons Salmon in the Tank - Narwhal, Greg Taylor: https://thenarwhal.ca/low-fraser-river-sockeye-salmon-bc/?mc_cid=5dcc17bb46&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.

7. Pilchuk Dam to Come Down - freeing up 37 miles of habitat for spawning, US: https://phys.org/news/2020-08-washington-miles-salmon-habitat.html?mc_cid=0f1f93dac2&mc_eid=5777c92bcd .

6. Nooksack Restoration Underway - WA: https://kgmi.com/news/007700-fish-habitat-improvements-underway-in-birch-bay/?mc_cid=0f1f93dac2&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.

5. Projects in the Saanich Peninsula for Salmon - : https://peninsulastreams.ca/.

4. Fish Ladder on Alouette Dam: https://www.mapleridgenews.com/opinion/along-the-fraser-fish-ladder-for-alouette-dam-would-boost-threatened-wild-sockeye/?mc_cid=0f1f93dac2&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.

3. Worst Salmon Numbers Ever - 285,000 sockeye for Fraser when it was 100 million at the beginning of the 20th century: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/2020-fraser-river-sockeye-record-1.5682765?mc_cid=0f1f93dac2&mc_eid=5777c92bcd. This is why we need tons of habitat restoration, because DFO has managed salmon into extinction.

2. Tillamook Wetland Purchase to aid Habitat Restoration - WA: https://www.tillamookheadlightherald.com/news/tillamook-river-wetlands-restoration-will-improve-salmon-habitat/article_93c71ad6-d2bd-11ea-8fb1-177b774fa4c2.html?mc_cid=c036c27217&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.

1. Project Funds for Vancouver Island Projects - Pacific Salmon Foundation: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/salmon-foundation-provides-funding-for-habitat-rehab-1.24180612?mc_cid=c036c27217&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.

Big Bar Slide - The News

This post will build a list of articles and science about the Big Bar Slide and salmon that aim for rivers above the blockage. Here are some, along with habitat resurrection in other rivers:

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5. Big Bar Passage Impoving - 151,000 salmon above the slide: https://www.theprogress.com/news/permanent-fish-passage-solutions-consdiered-at-big-bar-landslide/?mc_cid=ed8c063a21&mc_eid=2d9d06674b.
4. Big Bar Whoosh Moving More Salmon - : https://www.abbynews.com/news/salmon-arrive-in-larger-numbers-at-big-bar-landslide/?mc_cid=0f1f93dac2&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.

3. DFO's Link to Information: http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/pacific-smon-pacifique/big-bar-landslide-eboulement/index-eng.html
2. Habitat Resurrected for Chinook in Campbell River: https://www.campbellrivermirror.com/community/chinook-salmon-habitat-enhancement-returns-to-the-campbell-river/?mc_cid=a337269ada&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.

1. Hatchery Resurrected to Raise Chinook Stocks from above the slide: https://www.bclocalnews.com/news/interior-hatchery-resurrected-to-incubate-chinook-fry-caught-at-big-bar-slide/?mc_cid=a337269ada&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.

MOST POPULAR POSTS - JULY, 2020

Every month I put up a list of the posts that have received the most page-views on Fish Farm News and Science. The following received the most traffic in July, 2020.

1. BAD NEWS BITES - 5/5/17 - : https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2017/05/bad-news-bites-fifth-post.html. This is one of 12 BNB posts, each of which summarizes the enormous amount of bad news on the fish farm/seafood industry. It is shocking. Take a look. Each has 500 problems and now, the total is approached 6,000. Yes, 6,000.

2. MOST POPULAR POSTS - 7/3/20 : https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2020/07/most-popular-posts-june-2020.html. Each of these summarizes the most often viewed posts on this site, in a particular month, giving you immediate access to those that were hot.

3. DFO/SRKW/CHINOOK/FISH FARMS/DO SOMETHING: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/09/v-behaviorurldefaultvmlo.html. This post has the famous Jim Gilbert/Jack Seedhouse photo of an enormous stringer of chinook from the Nahmint River.

4. Wild BC Salmon Plan - tell your MLA: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/02/wild-bc-salmon-plan-contact-your-mla.html. This has a salmon plan, a fish farms plan and the communication's language for getting rid of fish farms and putting them on-land.

5. Fake F___king Aquaculture Kills Everything - https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/07/fake-fking-aquaculture-kills-everything.html. "Under the world's worst acronym , DFO, in its 'impartiality', is putting together a plan to manage fish farms. It's acronym is: FARM - Framework for Aquaculture Risk Management, and it is indeed FAKE." This article also has the famous Jimmy Gilbert, Nahmint photo from the early 1960s.

6. BC Stats Report 2016: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/03/mar-21-2019-bc-stats-report-2016.html. This is one of the most important posts on this site to understand the revenue and employment in the 'fishing sectors' as they call them. You must read this one to be up on the figures: sport/commercial/processing/fish farms.

7. Fish Farm Spin - if you read only one article on fish farms this year, this should be the one. It answers all the problems and has an impeccable list of references: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/01/fish-farm-spin-dc-reid-read-this.html.

Fish Farms Exaggerate Jobs and Revenue in Tasmania - Just as they do in Canada

Facebook source, an article by Rob Fletcher from The Fish Site on Tasmania:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/2052031015025722/permalink/2712333728995444/. 

"Yep Politicians “routinely exaggerate” the economic impact of Tasmania’s salmon farming sector, and are missing out on up to $2 billion of state revenue, according to new research.

A paper, published under the title Making mountains out of minnows by the Australia Institute today, notes that Tasmanian Government regularly describes the salmon farming sector as “critically important”, while trade unions have called it Tasmania’s “brightest economic prospect”.

However, the think tank notes: “With views like this, the relative cost to the environment imposed by the industry can be skewed. This is concerning, because economic data does not support the claims of the industry’s importance. Employment: The salmon industry is the 40th largest sector by employment in Tasmania, employing fewer than car repairs or child care. It employs about 1,500 people, or 0.6% of total employment in the state.”

They add that salmon aquaculture’s contribution to gross state product is a relatively modest 0.6 to 2.3 percent.

The reserchers argue that adopting a licencing process similar to Norway could increase state revenue from under $1 million to up to $2 billion a year

Production, income and taxes

The research reveals that from 2013 to 2018 the Tasmanian salmon industry sold 255,000 tonnes of fish, worth $3.8 billion. This revenue produced $416 million in taxable income, an approximation of profit. $64 million in tax was paid, equal to 2 percent of production value and 15 percent of taxable income.

They also note that “the industry has benefited from significant state and federal subsidies, with at least $9.3 million paid in the last two years,” and does not pay council rates on its marine leases, “putting it at an advantage compared to land-based industries”.

Intriguingly, the researchers also note that a change in the licencing regulation could generate up to $2 billion in additional government revenue.

The Health and Welfare of Atlantic Salmon course

It is vital that fish farm operatives who are responsible for farmed fish are trained in their health and welfare. This will help to ensure that fish are free from disease and suffering whilst at the same time promote good productivity and comply with legislation.

Find out more

The publication states: “When councils considered charging rates on marine leases, the Tasmanian parliament legislated to remove that power from them. Annual lease and licence fees are paid to the State Government, of approximately $923,000 for the entire industry. This represents 0.1% (one-thousandth) of the total farmgate production of the salmon industry in Tasmania, and 0.02% of total state revenue. Changing the current licensing regime to one similar to the Norwegian system could return between $707 million and $2 billion at government auction.”

"Tasmanian salmon companies have gone through a period of growth. This growth has not led to a commensurate growth in returns to the state government, or the communities that bare the environmental costs of the industry," they conclude.

Rob Fletcher

Rob Fletcher

Senior editor at The Fish Site"

                                                                      *******

One reference on this subject on this site about jobs and revenue in BC, and Canada is here:  https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/03/mar-21-2019-bc-stats-report-2016.html?fbclid=IwAR2FPSgQeKTTnISED0kZI4dbMkbn4XmBvhYaGX9V043Gj3mwGpfvrt9vUJc.

It has the Milewski article on the issue, which is far and away the best single article on jobs and revenue I have ever read. The link is in the above article. You should read it, as it's excellent.

And like Fletcher estimates the loss of income from licences is in the billions in Tasmania, I too did the calculation to find out that the loss in BC is $3.8- to $4.8-Billion. See: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2020/03/,

Fish farms are not about jobs and revenue for BC. They have few jobs and take the revenue home to Norway to distribute to shareholders.

MOST POPULAR POSTS - June 2020

The Most Popular Posts in June are:

1. Greg Tayulor - Holding DFO to Account on Endangered Chinook: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2020/05/reg-taylor-holding-dfo-to-account-on.html. I have made comments on where I think support for wild salmon is needed, not simply reducing sport fishing of a population facing extinction.

2. Most Popular Posts - December, 2019:  https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2020/01/most-popoular-posts-december-2019.html. Each month I make a list of those posts that have gleaned the most page views. And sometimes this list is high on the list for readers of this site.

3. Technical Information on Sewage Comparisons: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2020/06/technical-info-on-sewage-comparisons.html. This is interesting science on a slightly different view from what I have written. Do read it.

4. 320 On Land Fish Farm Systems Around the World!!! : https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2016/05/152-different-on-land-fish-farm-systems.html. This is the all time number one read post on this blog.

5. Most Popular Posts: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2017/01/january-2017-most-popular-posts-on-fish.html. And the number one post on this list is the David Miller one from 2011 where he showed how the fish farm industry conspired to destroy the science on fish farm chemicals in farmed fish, Hites et al. This is the issue - read the Miller post - that made me decide to get involved in the fight to get fish farms out of the ocean.

6. GOOD NEWS POST: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/11/good-news-post-links-to-on-land-closed.html. There has been an explosion of good news on on-land fish farms. The list is approaching 500 articles, papers, analyses and so on.

7. BAD NEWS BITES: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2017/05/bad-news-bites-fifth-post.html. The bad news in in-ocean fish farms. We are approaching 6000 problems. Hard to believe but true.

8. Atlantic Salmon Breed in BC Rivers : https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2017/09/atlantic-salmon-breed-in-bc-rivers.html. This, again, is a classic post on this site. Among other things it allows calculation of a passive, leakage escape number of 153,000 salmon per crop cycle. And DFO tried to suppress Volpe's research. But failed.

9. Wild BC Salmon Plan - Contact your MLA:  https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/02/wild-bc-salmon-plan-contact-your-mla.html. We need your voice to contact the BC government to get a move on, before it its too late for wild salmon.

Technical Info on Sewage Comparisons

Find the article here: https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/province-house/cermaqs-pr-fiasco/.

s previously mentioned, according to Cermaq, the typical impact zone from one of its fish farms is 80 ha (198 acres). This means that if there were four active farms in a bay, the impact area would be spread over 320 ha (800 acres). Cermaq estimates that one of their farms would produce 42 metric tonnes of waste per month, and when spread out over the impact area, would amount to 17 kg per hectare per day.
“For context, an average cow in the field creates about 30 kg of solid waste per day and there’s usually more than one cow per hectare.”



Fortunately, Hardy is still at the University of Idaho and now teaches in the Aquaculture Research Institute. I contacted him to see if he thought it was correct to compare the waste from salmon farms with cow manure. Hardy replied:

[A]bsolutely not. The rate of passage of food through a salmon or trout is around 24 hours, although in cold temperatures it could be up to 48 hours. There is little fermentation or microbial degradation of food in salmon guts. Nutrients are removed from food and indigestible material, mainly fiber, connective tissue and bones, plus some odd ball sugars found in soy, is excreted.
Contrast that with a cow where fermentation of fiber and other plant material takes place in the rumen. A cow is essentially a living fermenter. That’s where the methane comes from. The bacteria in cows converts plant material to bacterial protein, etc., and bacterial protein is what provides nutrients to the cow. Cows don’t actually digest hay and grass.
So, comparing cow to salmon feces is totally inappropriate and misleading.

“Is it more accurate to compare salmon feces to that of a human,” I asked. “No, still not a great comparison,” he said.
Hardy explained that humans are monogastric animals, with a single-chambered stomach, like dogs, cats, and horses. There is still too much fermentation in monogastric animals. “Maybe poultry” would be a better comparison, he offered.
Applying Hardy’s more conservative 2001 estimate to what Cermaq is proposing for Nova Scotia, where each active farm would be stocked with roughly 900,000 5-kg fish, one farm would produce the fecal equivalent (in terms of weight) of 12,000 people; five farms, 60,000 people. ⁴
Hardy said that today with “advances in feed formulation and efficiency of nutrient retention, the current values are at least 20% better than before, and maybe even higher.” So, five farms could produce the fecal equivalent of 48,000 people.

1. According to NSDFA data, total finfish production in NS in 2018 (the most recent year data were available) was 8.2 million kg. Federal data is from National Aquaculture Public Reporting Data. ↩
2. Data from Stats Canada, Fishing-Related Employment by Industry and Province, 2016-2018. ↩
3. This is Hardy’s reply in full: “Digestibility of dry matter in salmon feeds is no less than 75%; protein is 85% and fat is 95%. Feed conversion ratios for salmon are about 1.1. If you raise 1,000 mt of salmon, you will require about 1,100 mt of feed (ignoring the freshwater phase before stocking in marine pens). At least 75% of this feed is digested and absorbed by the fish, leaving 275 mt of undigested material as fecal excretion. Of this, most is starch or other non-digestible carbohydrates and some is non-digestible protein, mainly scales, skin, connective tissue and bony material. This is not the same as human fecal waste. Multiply 275 mt by 20 to get the 20,000 mt farm amount and you have 5,550 mt of fairly benign undigested nutrients of which a small amount is protein (nitrogen) and a smaller amount is phosphorus. The remainder is mainly plant material and, as I said, some bony fish tissue. ↩
4. An example of this closer to home occurred in early 2012, when Federal charges were filed against Cooke Aquaculture of New Brunswick, alleging illegal use of pesticides to fight a stubborn case of sea lice — a move that ended up killing hundreds of lobsters in the Bay of Fundy. The company eventually pleaded guilty to the charges and was ordered to pay $500,000. ↩

MOST POPULAR POSTS - MAY 2020

May has seen lots of interest in a wide variety of posts on this site:

1. MOST POPULAR POSTS April 2020: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2020/05/most-popular-posts-april-2020.html.

2. BAD NEWS BITES - 5500 PROBLEMS MOVING TO 6000:  https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2020/02/bad-news-bites-post-14-5500-problems.html. It is hard to believe the amount of bad news in the world press about fish farms/seafood.

As hard as it may be to believe:

"In one mouthful, here are the kind of stories I am finding: boom bust industry, billions made and lost, crisis in lice and disease, bankruptcy, workers fired, executives jumping company to company, dividing big bonuses, fraud, corruption, litigation, conflict of interest with government and scientists, using the ocean as a free open sewer – $10.4 Billion in BC alone, killing of whales, seals and sea lions – more than 12,000 in BC so far, slavery, unpaid labour, taxpayers paying millions for diseased, dead fish – $177 Million in Canada, dueling scientists, weakening of laws, unsustainable feed, illegal fishing, jail sentences, disasters in Norway, Scotland, Chile, Canada, bullying of scientists, governments and anyone critical of their business, cartels, collusion, price fixing, fishing down the food chain to Antarctic krill, carcinogens and persistent organic pollutants, fluoroquinolones, chicken feathers in feed, animal feces in feed, eutrophication in a time of global warming, Malachite Green fungicide in USA seafood, fake industry awards, all the wild salmon in the Pacific ocean, more than a billion, put in peril... it goes on."

3. Calculation for Sewage from Fish Farms: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/03/calculation-for-sewage-from-salmon-farms.html. Yes, the conservative end in BC is the huge $10.4B, with the other end of conservative being triple that figure.

4. GOOD NEWS BITES: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/11/good-news-post-links-to-on-land-closed.html. I have now found almost 400 articles, papers, analyses, bank figures for on-land fish farms. They are now common despite fish farms claiming the opposite.

5. Dead Zones - Oceans at Critical Crossroads: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2020/01/dead-zones-oceans-at-critical.html. Oceans are now at a tipping point and we need pollution, as in fish farms, out of the ocean. If it were not for our oceans, the Earth would be 35 degrees warmer and we would all be dead by now. Read it and weep.

6. Wild BC Salmon Plan: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/02/wild-bc-salmon-plan-contact-your-mla.html. Bringing back wild salmon requires fish farms taken out of the oceans. This post, that tells BC how to go about the process of getting them out, had big numbers of reads this past month.

7. Greg Taylor - Holding DFO to Account on Endangered Wild Chinook - from Watershed Watch: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2020/05/reg-taylor-holding-dfo-to-account-on.html.