A River Never Sleeps

Alarming Questions raised about Atlantic salmon farming

In the Currents section of this edition Alexandra Morton, a biologist and passionate protector of the environment, raises some alarming questions about salmon farming. She directs those questions to Canada’s Minister of Health, apparently having given up on the federal and provincial fisheries ministers who have so willingly promoted the spread of salmon farms on the British Columbia coast, despite the obvious dangers to wild fish in their care.

Chances are, she won’t get a reply. Or if she does, it will be a bunch of bureaucratic B.S.

Ms. Morton has for years been warning about the threats posed by salmon farms. Nobody in authority has listened. Why not? Because if they listened they’d have to launch an intensive investigation of the industry, and they don’t want to do that. The government would rather hold its breath, and hope that everything is ok, because that way they can allow salmon farms to proliferate along the Pacific Coast (which they are doing) and they can continue to pretend that British Columbia has a thriving fishing industry. That’s important, because the government might otherwise have to explain why it so badly mismanaging wild stocks that thousands of commercial fishermen have been forced out of work.

There was a time, not long ago, when people thought all you needed to do to farm salmon was to throw some net pens in the water, sprinkle fish feed on the surface, and wait for the little smolts to grow big enough for the market.

Then the wind blew out the fences and millions of Atlantic salmon escaped to swim in Pacific waters, including in spawning streams.

The crowded conditions in the net pens created disease problems.

The amount of drugs mixed with the fish feed increased.

Seals, sea lions, otters, king fishers and other creatures came calling - and were shot. How many? We don’t know. Government statistics on “predator kills” are restricted information in Canada.

Despite the alarming problems, the government has encouraged salmon farming.

You can make your own mind up about how healthy this is for the environment - and for consumers of farmed salmon.

Alexandra has reached her own conclusions. As she says in Currents, she wouldn’t feed farmed salmon to her kids.

But our government would. Without asking any questions. Kind of makes you feel sick, doesn’t it?

What do you think? Visit our online discussion area and post your views.

Letters can be sent via e-mail to: letters@ariverneversleeps.com

Top Gun’s Secret Dressing?

To: editor@ariverneversleeps.com

I have just read Bob Wyatt's story of the contest between himself using his (DHE) Deer Hair Emerger and Hans Weilenman's using the CDC & Elk. I am familiar with the waters that they fished and would be most interested to see, or get the tying details for, Bob's DHE. I used the CDC & Elk on the Elk River last fall but my greatest success came to an all-black Chernoyble ant.

Neville Gosling, Surrey, B.C.
nev.gosling@shaw.ca

Hi Neville:
My thoughts re DHE are that it is a great searching fly, like the Klinkhamer Special, and is at its best during and after a hatch. I was in the Elk Valley in mid to late summer last year, during the PMD emergence, and the DHE was spot on. The fish had been feeding heavily on green drake only a week or so earlier, so they were definitely keyed to the emergers. Earlier, in higher water and post-stonefly emergence, I'm sure the big terrestrials and stimulators, etc are a hot ticket on the same waters. The Chernobyl Ant is undoubtedly a stonefly 'close-enough'. I just found myself catching fish from places that were being pounded continually by drift boats fishing big flies - and notably, immediately after boats had fished through and blanked. During an emergence of PMD, nothing else outfished it.

Be very interested to hear of other's experience with the DHE on other waters and situations. Especially variations on the tie that made a difference.

Incidentally, Stu Farnham has a good tie for a DHE/PMD pattern. Great colour with a pheasant tail abdomen. Check it out on http://www.chefcolleen.com/Stu/index.html

Hans Weilenmann's CDC & Elk can be found on his superb site
http://www.danica.com/flytier/hweilenmann/cdcelk.htm

-Cheers,
Bob Wyatt

Update On The Pitt

The Editors:

Stumbled across this site through another's link. I read with interest the story on the Upper Pitt river, but your issue is dated March 2000. What has happened since then and who can I contact regarding my concerns? The e-mail of the two government officials at the end of the story are no longer valid.

Thank you,
Lisa Nordin
geo@telus.net

Hi Lisa:
I guess that is the gravel pit story you are referring to. Good news on two fronts: first, the e-mail addresses aren't valid anymore because that government got kicked out of office.

Second, the gravel pit proposal has been killed.

We did a news story on the gravel mine development, but didn't update the back issue.

Thanks for your concern......and visit the Pitt sometime, it's beautiful.
-Mark Hume

Cutthroat Or Rainbow?

Nick:
I was interested in the photo of the rainbow on the Pitt River. The upper maxillary appears to extend well beyond the posterior margin of the eye which would indicate it might actually be a cutthroat trout. Quite often the slash marks do not show well particularly if the fish has access to salt water hence a sea run fish. One of the ways of confirming is to check for hyoid teeth located on the base of the tongue which are not found on rainbows. I realize the fish was released and it is
not possible to confirm the species of this particular fish. Thanks for your excellent web site and keep up the good work. I live in Terrace and fish extensively. Several of our coastal rivers have cutthroat of varying colorations making identification difficult. One thing I have noticed is that most coastal systems that have rainbows are actually Steelhead. The only way to tell the difference would be a scale showing the ocean growth. Our one exception is the Lakelse River that has a small resident rainbow population that might actually be from a planting of Kootenay Rainbow that was done in the 1930's.

Mike Whelpley
Skeena Flyfishers
Terrace B.C.

Mike
Thanks for the e-mail and I am very familiar with rainbow/cutthroat differences you mention in your e-mail. The jaw looks more distended in this picture due to the wide angle lens I used in order to get a different looking photo. There seem to be two different strains of rainbows in the Pitt system, some with heavy spotting and others with a generally lighter complexion and lighter spotting. Also Cutthroat are prevalent throughout the Pitt River and Lake system and they are easy to tell them apart.
I am sure there has been some cross pollination that goes on but I haven't personally caught a fish like that yet in the Upper Pitt.
Rgds
Nick

Crowds On The Babine

Dear Editor:
As a resident of British Columbia, specifically Hazelton B.C. I am responding to your letter with the regards to the effects that human development has on our wilderness areas(BABINE RIVER). This letter is a little off topic but shares the concerns of several residents in this area.

The residents of this area share in your concerns about development around these key ecosystems. What will the future impacts have on our populations of fish, bears etc. These impacts have the potential to be severe, but what are the impacts of thousands upon thousands of anglers, mainly non-residents in their flotation devices abusing our resources. Every year I watch as the human hatch begins. An ever increasing amount of anglers flock to northern B.C. and completely disregard local people, abuse the fish and refer to this as sports fishing. The pressure that these systems receive will be one of the main reasons for the destruction of populations and wilderness areas.

The opinions expressed in this article could be considered valid if the interested parties were truly concerned about the resources and the effects from all forms of development. I am truly disappointed to see that fellow anglers that are non-residents have little if no regard for the local people and their resources.

- Jason Wiley
Hazelton, BC, Canada
Jason.Wiley@gems4.gov.bc.ca

Dear Jason:
Thanks for your letter. I have been hearing for years about the concerns of local anglers over the growing number of visitors to the Babine and other top steelhead rivers. First of all, I must say I understand why people travel, from all over the world, to visit the region you are lucky enough to call home. Secondly, I feel that a river can be just as badly destroyed by having too many anglers as by having a toxic spill.
I don’t fish on the Babine, so haven’t seen the problem first hand. If it’s as bad as you say, the government should step in and control the situation. Just off the top of my head, here are some possible solutions:
- limited entry. Let people write in and apply for a special access licence, the way hunters do for certain areas.
- restrict it to fly fishing only.
- ban power boats, or if there are too many drift boats, ban them too.
- make it illegal for non-residents to go on the river without a professional guide.
- require people to leave the river after catching, and releasing, one steelhead.
Oh, I know, people will howl about such restrictions. Most people hate rules like the ones I suggest. But I’ll tell you what I hate - seeing crowds of fishermen trampling on a beautiful river.
-Mark Hume

A Train Would Be Stupid

The Editor,

A rail line through the Upper Pitt connecting to Whistler is just about the most stupid idea I have ever heard. This rail line would be extremely challenging and costly to build. Even supposing a line could be built from Pitt Meadows up along Pitt Lake and into the upper Pitt River valley, there's an awful lot of rock between the blind end of the upper Pitt valley and Whistler. Seems to me there's an extinct volcano in the way as well.

Taxpayers in BC just got rid of a provincial government because of mistakes like the fast ferry fiasco (about $400 million as I recall)and a new Skytrain line (over a billion) that was sprung on the public at the last minute and wasn't properly planned. These costly tranportation mistakes would pale in comparison to the taxpayer dollars required to build a Whistle Poke rail line. Not my tax dollars. I'd rather put the money into saving wild salmon.

Elaine Golds
Port Moody, British Columbia
egolds@sfu.ca

PDF’s Please...But At What Cost?

To: webmaster@ariverneversleeps.com

This is a great e-zine and I always look forward to reading it. One thing that I'd like is the option to download the copy to read at my own convenience when I'm not online.

So could you look into the ins/outs of making available PDF copies of the issues? This would also enable your readers to share with their poorer relations running at speeds under 56.6 or not hooked up at all...or a real cheap gift for us that are more and more strapped for cash! [grin].

I know it's possible to 'print' a website to a PDF 'printer' [I've done it before] and generate a Acrobat readable file. It's not pretty doing from the web, though.

Richard
rweiner@paralynx.com

Dear Richard:
We when started A River Never Sleeps we had downloadable pdf's of the site and nobody downloaded them. It was extra work for nothing. I take your point, but if we did this again it would have to be a service we could offer to you and others on a pay for subscription service. But what would it be worth to individuals, if we had a subscription service area where you could download goodies like these pdf's?
I look forward to hearing from you.

Rgds,
Nick Didlick

How Bad Is The Pulp Mill Pollution Now?

To: letters@ariverneversleeps.com

Dear Sir;
I was researching the Woodfibre pulp mill on Howe Sound in British Columbia and came across a 4 year study done by Ms. Bard I was wondering if could you tell me if the two pulp mills "Port Mellon and Woodfibre are still dumping effluent, harmful pollution into Howe sound today 2/9/2002?
Best regards,
Greg Cragg
Vancouver, Canada
enamel@37.com

Hi Greg:
Both mills have done a lot to clean up their effluent in the past few years. I'm not aware if there is a problem at present, but I don't believe any mills on the coast are at zero emission levels.
You might look on the web to see if they have sites. I know they have environmental departments, and would probably respond to a request for information.
-Cheers,
Mark Hume

{E-mail letters may be edited for clarity, taste and brevity. It is understood they express the opinions of the writers, not the editors.}