Posted on 03/31/2011 10:48:24 PM PDT by smokingfrog
VANCOUVER Canadian "superfish" are making an international splash this week.
A prime specimen has landed on the cover of one of the world's most influential scientific journals, along with a study showing some of British Columbia's fabled sockeye salmon may not survive climate warming.
Peak summer water temperatures in the Fraser River are already "near lethal" for some sockeye populations, says biologist Erika Eliason, lead author of the study that is sure to raise eyebrows at the ongoing federal judicial inquiry into the troubled Fraser River fishery.
The salmon are so finely tuned to their environment they appear to undergo "cardiac collapse" when river temperatures get too high, Eliason and her colleagues from the University of B.C. and Fisheries and Oceans Canada report Friday in the journal Science.
Fraser River sockeye, which used to support a multimillion-dollar fishery, have been in decline since the early 1990s, prompting Prime Minister Stephen Harper to appoint a judge and legal team to look into the collapse. Last year the population boomed, but the fish are widely believed to be in trouble.
More than 100 genetically distinct populations of sockeye return to the Fraser to spawn each year. In recent years the scientists say between 40 and 95 per cent of some sockeye populations have died en route to their spawning grounds.
To get a better read on the situation, Eliason and her colleagues intercepted salmon on their way up the river and put them through their paces in swim tanks. They'd "crank up" the temperatures and water current in the tanks to test the fishes' swimming performance and metabolic and heart rates, says Eliason.
Then they killed the fish and examined their muscles and hearts. The 97 fish tested came from eight genetically distinct populations.
(Excerpt) Read more at theprovince.com ...
Amazing! The fish are near death and will die after spawning but somehow putting them in a tank of hot water and forcing extra work upon them is not going to increase their metabolic and heart rates beyond normal? Really.
But it’s a BS conclusion.
I’ve caught Silver salmon that were as shiny and bright as you could imagine - mirror shiny - around Thanksgiving, which is way, way past the peak time of the normal run.
And I’ve caught salmon in the rivers at the end of June. Much earlier than most would expect.
It varies year to year, species to species, and conditions to conditions.
Fourteen thousand years ago or so there were NO SALMON in the rivers in the Pacific Northwest because there were NO RIVERS in the Pacific Northwest - Seattle and Vancouver, BC. were both covered by a mile of ice.
If salmon in BC have a problem, it has a name. You can google it.
It’s called “Hells Gate”.
I saw it many years back and how even one single fish makes it past, I can’t imagine!
I guess the Salmon are happy todaysince it is snowing in April.
don’t worry - the record snowfall throughout the West will cool the ocean water with record floods and the fish will be chilly and happy again bless their scaley little gills
Let’s let the Canadians worry about it. The Salmon die after spawning anyway, so what’s the big deal. So much for this global warming crap.
Build more dams. The water coming out of the bottom of a lake is colder than a shallow river.
Problem solved
Funny how they cannot survive a 1degree increase in temperature, but a particularly warm summer or colder winter that is 10-20 degrees outside of the normal ranges don't seem to present any problems for them. In 1998 and 1934, temps were both far more than 1 degree hotter than this year... so how did the fish survive??
—
The only other runs of sockeye south of the Fraser are a tiny run into Lake Washington on Puget Sound which is from Frazer stock, and a once major native run on the Columbia River. Both runs troubles have nothing to do with water temperature.
What the writer omits from her story is the causes of the warmer waters on the Fraser.
Cause Number 1:
There are lots of aluminum plants along the lower reaches - all of which use river water for cooling. This water, warmed by the cooling molten aluminum, is discharged back into pools along the river. Many fish following the scent go into the pools and die. The warm water from the pools flows into the river, warms the lower reaches and the fish die.
The two major Fraser sockeye runs - the Chilko and Adams runs - go far up the river, beyond human habitation, where the water is much cooler. These two runs enter the river much hardier then those that spawn in the lower reaches and so survive the warm water in better condition - usually.
Cause Number 2:
The elimination of the International Pacific Sockeye Fisheries Commission (IPSFC). Formed just after the Hells Gate Side, this was a nonpolitical body dedicated solely to the restoration of the Frazer runs.
To make a long story short, after decades of work and sacrifice, they - along with federal US and Canadian funds (and tax monies directly from the catches of commercial salmon fishermen) - restored the river to historic run sizes: in the range of 65,000,000 returning fish each year.
In 1974, during the waning days of the Nixon Administration, US funds were eliminated. The Canadians did the same. The Commission hung on into the early 80s, then in a tearful announcement, ended. The run management was turned over to the highly politicized Canadian Dept of Fisheries in Ottawa. Aluminum smelters were given the green light and discharged more hot water than ever.
Nixon Administration's action could have been reversed by Reagan, but he sold out the major fisheries for reasons unknown - the Frazer fisheries, the Tuna fisheries, the lobster and cod fisheries were virtually destroyed as American industries and major generators of new monies for the US Balance of Trade.
—
While not on topic, it should be pointed out for the younger set that the Nixon Administration fundamentally changed America almost on the same order as Obama is currently. EPA, OSHA, Tribal Sovereignty, and so on are some of the wonders brought to the American scene by the Nixon Administration and solidified under Reagan.
LOL
Well, the one thing that we don’t want to go back on, which does obstruct migratory patterns for spawning for Salmon, is hydroelectric power. However, few people want to destroy the dams, because the running water is renewable energy.
Adapt or die! 99.9% of all the species that have ever inhabited this planet are extinct.
Only sockeye salmon lovers should pay higher energy prices to be redistributed around the globe.
Me? I can survive without it, even if it tastes good.
Only sockeye salmon lovers should pay higher energy prices to be redistributed around the globe.
Me? I can survive without it, even if it tastes good.
Only sockeye salmon lovers should pay higher energy prices to be redistributed around the globe.
Me? I can survive without it, even if it tastes good.
Sorry for the triple posts. I must have gotten overexcited.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.