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Wild Pacific salmon don’t need another threat
Will Patric : Oct 20.2011“Pacific salmon just don’t need another threat.” So stated James Winton, a fish virologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He was quoted in a Seattle Times article (10/19/11) covering news of two wild sockeye salmon smolts in British Columbia waters recently found by researchers to be carrying a highly contagious virus. The virus killed millions of farmed salmon in Chile, and it may be connected to Atlantic salmon grown in BC fish farms. It’s not known yet if it poses a threat to wild Pacific salmon, but that concern is very high. U.S. Senators have already called for an immediate investigation.
Rivers Without Borders shares the concern. Winton’s statement hits the nail on the head relative to what our organization is about. Wild salmon need wild rivers. That’s why we advocate safeguarding wild salmon habitat by keeping it intact and productive. And some of the best salmon habitat in the world is embodied in the transboundary watersheds of northwest BC and southeast Alaska.
Unfortunately, another “threat” to salmon in this region is looming ever larger. Rivers Without Borders has been challenging proposed mining on the Taku, near the Alaska – BC border, for years. Now the threat of development has spread to the transboundary Stikine, Iskut, and Unuk watersheds. Four huge open pit mines are proposed on the Canadian side of the border, along with associated roads and infrastructure, and more mines are under serious consideration. All the development and contaminated water that could come with it would be upstream of prime salmon habitat. And what may be North America’s largest run-of-river hydroelectric power complex is slated for the Iskut. Two factors are behind this impending development boom. One is sky high metals prices. The other is BC government’s decision to build a transmission line bringing subsidized industrial power into the southern transboundary region.
For our part, we will raise awareness of what could be lost, push government to consider cumulative impacts of the development it is championing, and demand an international conversation about the future of transboundary watersheds, especially relative to wild salmon.
Because one thing is certain. Wild salmon just don’t need another threat.