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Joel McKay's avatar

Great update, as always Terry. I really appreciate the salmon discussion, the Government of Canada has never taken Pacific coast fisheries as seriously as Atlantic coast. That said, I had a hand in supporting some research in in recent years and the overall cause seems to be related to a combination of factors:

1. Lack of salmon food sources at the Fraser Delta and in the North Pacific as fry transit into the ocean for the first time, resulting in a higher mortality rate

2. 100+ years of movement in gravel beds and additional deposits of rock waste in the Fraser River watershed, some of it related to prolonged placer mining (as an aside, someone should look into the impact of last year's floods on spawning beds in the Lower Fraser)

3. The usual suspects: rising temperatures, over-fishing and the presence of sea lice in key areas where salmon transit toward spawning grounds.

4. It would be interesting to know more about the impact Alaska's salmon farming methods and whether there is a correlation to their success and the decline in returns to BC rivers, particular in the Skeena, Nass and Stikine systems. This isn't an accusation, just a question as I don't think there's been any substantive research into it.

Lastly, I've repeatedly heard Pacific salmon returns in Russian rivers are apparently consistently strong. It would be nice if someone substantiated this.

Keep writing!

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Robert Newton's avatar

Enjoyed hearing about the salmon…the more we discover the less we know. Hope you had a great ride.

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