Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Saturday, April 12, 2008
The West Coast fishery managers put it to a vote; suffer now or maybe suffer forever. They voted on Thursday to ban salmon fishing for one year hoping a rest will allow the salmon population to recover along the Oregon and California coast.
Two years ago the salmon catch was only at 80% of normal and the Commerce Department estimated the losses then at $16 million. This year with the catch being 0% of normal the losses will be unthinkable.
The loss of the king salmon is being billed as the “catastrophic disappearance” of the famous fish.
6 years ago the Sacramento River and tributaries had more than 800,000 salmon spawning. The predictions for this coming fall are a frightening 50,000. The reason for the vanishing king salmon (chinook) could be a ’sudden lack of nutrient-rich deep ocean upwellings. The sudden lack is thought to be caused by ocean temperature changes.
The decline in the salmon isn’t something that happened overnight in spite of the sudden lack of upwelling. There can be problems in the ocean that affect the salmon populations, or problems in the rivers that do the same. This year there are problems in both and that spells catastrophic.
As gas reaches $4.00 a gallon in the U.S. a lovely salmon entree any favorite eatery could reach $40.00 a portion.
This has to be good news for the salmon aquaculture business. For the consumer trying to stay clear of Malachite Green, Ciprofloxacin and Enrofloxacin just to name a few known toxins in aqua-farmed fish this ban on salmon fishing is bad news.
The list of reasons for the down turn in salmon populations could be a foot long. For years juvenile salmon have been turning up in irrigation ditches and in some cases dead juveniles have turned up in fields that are irrigated by those ditches. The laws requiring screens that hold back young salmon have not been enforced and the regulations are not uniform.
Diseases that spread quickly through high density farmed salmon populations can spread to adjacent waters. Some salmon often escape and compromise nearby native salmon habitat.
This news release from the Pacific Fishery Management Council indicates just how bad the situation really is for the salmon population. It also indicates this news came rather suddenly after a very successful rehabilitation of the Chinook previously known as the “work horse”.
Labels: Ciprofloxacin, Enrofloxacin, Global Warming, Malachite Green, Ocean, Ocean Habitat, Salmon, aquaculture, upwelling
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Salmon Season Canceled; Oregon and California take steps to protect the species.
Friday, March 28, 2008
ISAV, infectious salmon anemia virus was first reported in Norway in 1984. In Norway the virus was thought to be controlled by biocontainment measures.
In January 2000 with health certifications the ban of sea water in smolt farms along with transportation vehicle hygiene and regulations on fish slaughterhouses ISAV was reduced. A paper written by Dr. Eric Anderson, at the University of Maine said, “despite these efforts, ISAV is now endemic in Norway and will pose an on going problem to the industry.”
Today the NYtimes is reporting that ISAV is killing millions of salmon being farmed off the waters of Chile. Dr. Felipe C. Cabello, at New York Medical College in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in Valhalla says,” Parasitic infections, viral infections, fungal infections are all disseminated when the fish (north atlantic salmon) are stressed and the centers are too close together.” Cabello thinks all these problems are “related to an underlying lack of sanitary controls.”
The NYtimes is reporting that high levels of antibiotics have been used in the aquafarming of salmon in recent years stemming from a rash of nonviral illnesses from which the fish were suffering. Some of those antibiotics are prohibited in use on animals in the U.S.
The Times article says 29 percent of Chilean salmon is destined to reach the U.S. in spite of those bans. In Chili there is still no registry to track the use of banned drugs on the fish landing in the U.S. or anywhere else.
Apparently the vast majority of salmon infected with the disease end up in Costco and Safeway stores as well as other major outlets in the U.S.
No one wants to hear is that the Salmon she has been buying at Costco is infected with anything. The second least favorite thing to hear is that due to sanitary conditions the fish has been pumped full of antibiotics.
Environmentalists are saying that salmon farms are contributing to the deadzones in the oceans. Salmon feces and food pellets are stripping the water of oxygen.
The O.E.C.D.,Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in a 2005 said Chile’s aquafarming needs to get a grip on approximately 1 million salmon that escape each year from aquafarms and excessive use of antibiotics and the use of fungicides like green malachite
control the use of fungicides like green malachiteand the excessive use of antibiotics.
Photo Santiagotimes
Labels: Chile, Malachite Green, Salmon, aquaculture
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
ISAV, infectious Salmon Anemia Virus. What’s in the Salmon you eat?
Monday, June 11, 2007
What’s in the fish you’re eating?
In aquaculture antibiotics have been used for therapeutic purposes and as prophylactic agents. Nearly all aquaculture operations use antibiotics in some amounts to limit the growth of fungi and bacteria.
Many bacterial species are able to double in numbers every 20-30 minutes. This gives the bacteria a huge advantage when it comes to adaptation. The results are mutations that enable them to survive therapeutic doses of antibiotics, thus becoming resistant. In turn, higher levels of these antibiotics are required to maintain the health of the farmed fish.
Catfish imported from China has been found to contain ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin. These are two powerful antibiotics banned by the FDA for use in human foods. The use of these powerful drugs is playing a major role in the transmission of resistant microorganisms from animals to humans through the food chain.
The US Department of Commerce states, 10 million pounds of Chinese catfish have been imported to the US alone in the fist 6 months of this year. This is up from 4 million pounds to date last year. It would be nearly impossible to check all fish being imported from all over the world.
According to FDA records, ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin have been found in shipments of catfish and basa from China and Vietnam. Shrimp from Vietnam, Venezuela, Thailand and Malaysia have tested positive for the antibiotic chloramphenicol.
Gentian violet and malachite green, anti-fungal or anti-bacterial agents applied to fish grown in tight quarters have also been found in shrimp from Mexico, eel from Taiwan, Vietnamese basa, Chinese eel, talapia and catfish.
A Canadian study in 1992 determined that people who eat fish contaminated with malachite green are at risk for liver tumors. Gentian violet has been linked to mouth cancer. Malachite green is used as a fabric dye as well as a fungicide. The United Kingdom and the US have denied entry of farmed salmon from Chile and Scotland after finding high levels of malachite green in their farm raised salmon.
More inspectors, better laws over imports and the aquaculture business using better practices is not going to be the answer to the growing hazards to our health and the health of our oceans.
We need to restore the health to our Oceans. We need to stop over fishing and give the species that are surviving in the wild time to rejuvenate and replenish.
Advances in commercial fishing techniques have created the unintentional catch of approximately 27 million tons of fish and sea life in the wild that never makes it a table. 27 million tons of unintentional ‘bycatch’ simply discarded.
Food for thought.
Labels: Ciprofloxacin, Enrofloxacin, Malachite Green, Ocean Habitat, antibotics, aquaculture, catfish, genetically altered fish
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Malachite Green, Ciprofloxacin, Enrofloxacin.
