The courageous and feisty Alexandra Morton of British Columbia cannot stand watching so many young salmon year after year succumb to the proliferation of sea lice that is the result of the salmon CAFOs in the vicinity.  The rivers she knows and loves are going dead; and yet the Province not only will not help her, but will punish her for trying to take matters into her own hands.

That deadly combination, though, of CAFOs, sea lice and ineffective government, is not the problem further south.  But still, something obviously is killing the salmon.

Well, ineffective government might be one constant.  We have already discussed in Grist the sad story of the deal struck between the Feds and the four Indian tribes, which will send a little money to the tribes, but will not do much to help the salmon themselves in the dam-choked rivers of Oregon and Washington.

It is rather miraculous that there have been any salmon at all lately in the Sacramento River, given the intense use of the Central Valley and the Bay.  By rights the situation should have been like what happened in the Penobscot River, in Maine, early in the last century: the numbers of salmon kept dwindling as the quality of the river ecosystems was degraded.  At least that is a glimmer of hope, that the salmon of the Sacramento River have shown surprising resilience in the past.

But I suspect people have abused it: "Let's see what else we can do to this river, and whether it bothers the salmon .... Oh look, some of them are coming back anyhow!"

What closing the CA and OR fisheries will mean in the long run for the fishers has got to be unclear.  It is nice of Arnold to ask for some emergency assistance for them from his pal in the White House.  And yet, this sentence of his, quoted in the SF Chronicle, is not exactly inspiring:

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"California's salmon runs are a treasured state resource and provide significant contributions to our economy and our environment," Schwarzenegger said.
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One wonders how he is using "environment" there.  What does he think the word means?

We should also notice, what is often the case in Andrew's weekly surveys regarding fish and fisheries, that when any fish get into trouble, the emphasis in reacting and reporting is relentlessly on the economic importance, and the effect on human beings, rarely on the animals themselves.  At least the heroic Alexandra Morton loves the salmon for themselves.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

(In fact, my husband brought me back from Seattle a green T-shirt decorated with a leaping salmon, drawn in the traditional style of the PacNW peoples.  It is so beautiful that I do not wear it, but have hung it up for display.)

As a student of Native American religions, I would be interested to know how this religious significance of salmon affects the Native Americans' decision-making among themselves, and the kinds of conservation measures that they plan to undertake.

In the case of the deal struck between the Feds and four of the tribes who had brought suit against them, it should be noted that not all those tribes went along; the Nez Perce of Idaho (the beloved Chief Joseph's people) are most prominent among those who held out.  That would suggest that the veneration of the salmon, and all that that entails, are not so clearly thought out among the Native peoples, and that there are occasions for serious disagreement.

Needless to say, to us interested observers on the outside, that is fascinating, and baffling.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/12/us/12whales.html

They will be heading north now to Cape Cod Bay, then to the Bay of Fundy and the waters off the east coast of Nova Scotia.

There are barely 400 of these animals left; and their annual cycle takes them across some very busy shipping lanes.  At the northern end, whale conservation groups have been successful at getting shipping routes to Boston and Saint John, NB, shifted, to avoid areas that the whales like to frequent.  But they apparently are having more difficulty in getting an agreement on reduced speeds for shipping, which I had not known.

There is some wonderful photography accompanying this story.  The NYTimes photographer traveled with some Wildlife Trust people in a spotter plane; and there are terrific images of mothers and calves, from both those sources.  Such images are VERY rare.  The whales themselves are rare, needless to say; and up around the Gulf of Maine, where I have gone on several whale-watch cruises, the people who run the cruises, if they are professional and truly care for whales, do not like to approach right whales.  So, it is a special treat, to be able to see them so relatively clearly.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

I thought that was some hella ocean news.

All the current mind-think agrees that Global Warming exists but the effect of spinning up a hurricane is a chaotic event, more complicated that we thought. It's more difficult than predicting polar ice melt.

As to my brothers and sisters fishing for west coast wild salmon, I feel your pain no matter if you are an Indian tribe, commercial fisher, or occasional recreational fisherman. There used to be so many it almost looked like you could walk on them. The utter and complete collapse of the Pacific salmon fishery is something of a big mystery.  -sammie

Onward through the fog

http://widemargin2000.com/

and the expanding Earth.

http://michaelnetzer.com/gu/index.php?option=com_frontpag ...

Texeme.Construct(Participant)

jabailo, you are aware that there is a difference between seas and oceans, correct?

You are also aware that receding seas aren't, in fact, as "mysterious" as that video claims to be.

The reason the seas receded is because humans diverted most of the river and runoff water that feeds 'em for irrigation purposes.  That's why some areas, such as the Red Sea and the Aral Sea have dried up.

...I'm not even gonna comment on the "growing earth" page.  Those guys are just a notch above flatearthers.