salmon
In Napa Valley, a battle over wine, water, and land
“All is not well in wine country,” writes Stett Holbrook in FERN’s latest story, “Of Water and Wine,” published in Bohemian. As multi-million-dollar vineyards and $1,000-a-night resorts rise Napa Valley, California, residents are trying to stop the powerful wine industry from destroying the watershed.
Chilean court: salmon farms must come clean about antibiotics
A federal appeals court in Chile has ruled that the country’s salmon farmers have to disclose their level of antibiotic use, says Reuters. The international environmental group Oceana filed the claim for transparency in 2014, when Chilean salmon producers upped their antibiotic use by 25 percent in order to fight off a devastating bacteria known as SRS or Piscirickettsiosis.
Canada OKs GE salmon, no label required
The genetically engineered AquAdvantage salmon is cleared for sale as food in Canada, the first food animal approved for the commercial market, said Canadian health officials. The salmon, which also was the first GE animal approved by U.S. regulators, will not be required to carry a label in stores to say it was genetically modified, said the CBC.
Fish farms hurt species diversity downstream, study says
Fish farms are hurting species diversity downstream, says a study out of Novia Scotia, the first of its kind in Canada. The study found that the number of different benthic invertebrate species -- small creatures like mayflies and caddisflies that live in the silt at the bottom of waterways -- was significantly lower downstream from fish farms than previous counts, according to the CBC.
Federal judge says government plan to save salmon is a bust
A federal judge ruled that the U.S. government’s attempts to recover Northwest salmon populations, hurt by dams, have failed. “In his ruling, US District Judge Michael Simon in Portland, Ore., lambasted the federal government’s current plan to ameliorate the effects of the dams, saying it violates both the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act,” says The Christian Science Monitor.
Study: Oregon oysters laced with pharmaceuticals and heavy metals
Native Olympia oysters in Oregon's Netarts and Coos bays are loaded with pharmaceuticals and chemicals, including pain relievers, antibiotics, mercury and pesticides, says a study by Portland State University researchers, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Geological Survey and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
Voluntary limits to blame for Puget Sound pollution, law center says
“Washington state and federal government spend taxpayer money on programs designed to fix the pollution problem, but recently only two of 17 reporting regions in Puget Sound showed any improvements in water quality,” says the Western Environmental Law Center.
Largest river restoration project ever moves forward
The governors of California and Oregon are scheduled to join Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in signing an agreement today to remove four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River by 2020, said the North Coast Journal, based in Eureka, CA.
FDA approval of GE salmon is challenged in court
Environmental and consumer groups made good on their pledge, issued last Nov. 19, to challenge in court the FDA's approval of the sale and consumption of the genetically engineered salmon developed by AquaBounty Technologies.
Alaska salmon numbers forecast to fall 40 percent
The 2016 Alaska salmon harvest is expected to drop 40 percent from last year’s count, says Alaska Dispatch News, primarily due to a routine decline in pink salmon numbers that hits every two years.
Rice-growing experiment could cut water use by 50 percent
A massive farm in Central Valley, California, is teaming with Israeli water experts running the first ever experiment with drip irrigation for rice production in the U.S.
Northeast fisheries to be hit by climate change, study says
In the northeast United States, scallops, eastern oysters, the quahog clam and Atlantic salmon will be the most vulnerable to changing ocean conditions associated with climate change, a federal study says.
Dam removal plan means hope for Klamath Basin salmon
Oregon and California announced on Tuesday that they will remove four hydroelectric dams in the Klamath Basin that have been at the heart of a years-long fight between tribes, farmers and environmentalists.
California salmon devastated by drought in 2015
Only 3 percent of juvenile Chinook salmon survived the 2015 spawning season in California’s Sacramento River, said the National Marine Fisheries Service on Monday. With drought haunting the state, there wasn’t enough cold water in the river. The fish “were cooked to death,” says The Sacramento Bee.
FDA blocks import of GE salmon
Complying with a congressional directive, the FDA barred imports of genetically engineered salmon, "months after approving the first such animal as safe to eat," says the website Regulatory Focus.
GE salmon and FDA’s next commissioner
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she is willing to stall a Senate vote on the nomination of Robert Califf as FDA commissioner "until he and FDA agree to mandatory labeling requirements for the AquAdvantage salmon," reports the Washington Post.
‘Consumers deserve to know’ if they are eating GMOs
In an editorial, the New York Times says, "Congress should overturn" the FDA decision against special labels on the genetically engineered AquAdvantage salmon, the first GE food animal cleared for human consumption. "Consumers deserve to know what they are eating."
A ‘menagerie of gene-edited animals’ besides GE salmon
The FDA approval of genetically engineered salmon for human consumption raised the curtain on a "menagerie of gene-edited animals ... already being raised on farms and in laboratories around the world — some designed for food, some to fight disease, some, perhaps, as pets," reports the New York Times.