Alaska fish ate tainted commercial feed

Anchorage Daily News ^ | Sunday May 13, 2007 | Eye of Unk

[Eye of Unk]

Millions of young fish being raised in Alaska's vast network of salmon hatcheries were fed food contaminated with melamine, the same substance that has triggered a massive recall of pet food following the deaths of cats and dogs.

[realpatriot]

The Chinese gift that just keeps giving, and giving, and giving, and...........

[dawn53]

The contaminated feed hasn't seemed to do them any harm, Esquiro said.
"They look perfectly fine," he said.

Famous last words, LOL!

[Eye of Unk]

Since I live here and not very far from a fish hatchery it will be a trickle down effect for several years as the hatchlings grow, go to sea, return to spawn, die and the carcasses consumed by eagles, bears and even us as I have caught many King Salmon that were just about to kick the bucket and were easy pickings, literally I have just waded out a bit from shore and just picked up a tired battle scarred veteran and took him home for a future meal.

Now it looks like if the tainted food is stopped now the cycle will continue with tainted fish for at least 5 years, thats no more Kings for 5 years, no more battling shoulder to shoulder all day and night to be the lucky few to land an occasional over 40 pound salmon and often up to 80 pounds!

What will really effect the worst is the subsistance hunters of the native indians and Eskimo tribes that rely heavily upon a fish diet through our long winter months, how many will get sick, what about nursing mothers and babies? There is no markets or stores and almost eveything is flown in to the bush and many coastal communities, they live off the ocean and the land, and now China is contributing to possible health concerns, almost all bush sled dogs live off a fish diet so again its still our animals being affected.

[mom4kittys]

[Eye of Unk]

Thanks for the ping, this is the very first time I ever posted a topic so I was unsure of the way to do it or the rules involved.

[mom4kittys]

You did great!

[Selective Fire]

The main rule is to try to be less of an alarmist.

[brityank]

Citing advice from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Nelson said any melamine the fish consume is likely to pass out of their systems in a matter of days, won't accumulate in their bodies, and poses no danger to people who might eat the salmon, which wouldn't be consumed until after returning from the sea years from now.

"We don't believe there's a human health concern, nor a health concern for the fish," she said.

Nelson said the Department of Fish and Game and other state agencies would be testing hatchery fish for melamine contamination, and Esquiro said hatchery operators plan their own tests.

Hope they're right.

[Eye of Unk]

I will say this, I really don’t know if this tainted food will be harmless in time or not but I do know this, Alaska thrives on seasonal tourism money and if the world knew that our fish stocks were tainted it would be indeed a crisis locally and globally.

[Age of Reason]

“The U.S. catfish business was booming until about eight years ago, when a wave of cheap imports from Asia pushed prices down and started putting American catfish farmers out of business.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10141686&ampsourceCode=RSS

[sweetiepiezer]

“They look perfectly fine,” he said.
____________________________________________
My dog looked perfectly fine too until he died form this crap.

[onedoug]

We'd sure better get control of our domestic food industry...FAST!

[TaMoDee]

Second after: “Hold ma’Beer and watch this!”.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

And On It Goes...

[ASOC]

LOL

these are fingerling's - tiny little fish.

I would think all the heavy pollutants in the ocean are far greater risk than a tiny bit of plastic resin. But then, that's just me.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Wonder how it will affect their eggs? IT is believed dogs and cats who are pregnant and may survive eating the contaminated food could see a rise in birth defects.