Morton Launches New Campaign

Alexandra Morton and Anissa Reed in their heroic efforts to get salmon feedlots out of B.C.'s Pacific Ocean have come up with a new plan and we are part of it!!!  The plan is to put enough pressure on our governing system as to evoke a desired response.  After all, the government is nothing without people but people are still people without the government.  The fact of the matter is, Salmon are a keystone species in West Coast ecosystems.  Furthermore, Salmon Feedlots are destoying populations of wild salmon.  We cannot allow this to happen.

Morton holds Salmon Feedlots in large part responsible for destroying wild salmon populations in her home of Echo Bay, British Columbia and is vigorously determined to do something about it.

"Wherever salmon feedlots operate world wide they kill wild salmon, because they break the natural laws that control disease.  This 92% Norwegian-owned industry uses the B.C. coast as a dumpsite, spreading diseases and parasities to the wild environment.  These companies are driven by shareholder obligation to grow relentlessly and will never be satisfied, removing food from the than they make and rapidly mechanizing to reduce jobs. We can no longer accept this business as reasonable."

-SalmonAreSacred.org


Wild Salmon Are Sacred

The New Plan

Create a picture of a salmon and title it:

"I want Salmon Feedlots to GET OUT of our ocean.  They are Killing our wild salmon!

Sign it with your name, address and email.

Finally, mail it to:

Anissa Reed (Salmon Are Sacred) 3866 Island Hwy W. Qualicum Beach, B.C. V9K 2G9.

When 100 000 fish have been collected Alexandra and Anissa will march them personally to Ottawa and deliver them to the Parlianment of Cananda!

Remember, you have the power!

Parks is Progress

Last week I was riding my bike with two great friends (fellow adventurers) down the trail in Egmont, British Columbia to view the Skookumchuck rapids during a strong flood tide which can kick up a standing wave to 12 feet high.  This tidal surge is one of the most powerful in the world, second only to Saltstraumen sound in Norway.  It is abundant in wild life and a popular recreational destination for white water kayakers.  As the tides shift they literally draw life into this shallow narrow channel and because of this it is a great place for tourists and sightseers to explore.

Photo: phodgson photography-kayaking skookumchuck narrows. Skookumchuck Narrows is a 123 hectare Provincial Park that was established in 1957.  The provincial system of parks is dedicated to the protection of natural environments for the inspiration, use and enjoyment of the public.  Parks enable long-term sustainable recreational, spiritual, environmental and economic involvement.  By protecting these natural environments we ensure that they will be around for not only us to appreciate but our children and our grandchildren as well.

“We do not inherit the land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

-Native American Proverb

Essentially parks represents a model that directly opposes that of industry.  Where parks aim to protect our environment, industry aims to exploit it.  Where parks may call an area invaluable, industry will call is a resource.  Industry is the economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacture of goods in factories.  Where there is the potential for economic gain within both models only one is long-term and sustainable.  The commercialization of our so called “resources” follows a “boom and bust” model based on short term economic gains with long term losses.  A prime example of this model in action is the East Coast Cod Fisheries.  Unfortunately, it is one of many.  In fact, every resource that is currently being commercially marketed is being done so in such a fashion.

Photo: phodgson photography-killer whales in skookumchuck narrows

I ask: “WHY?”  If we can preserve the health of our environment while selling the experience to tourism than we will experience long-term gains both environmentally and economically.  In doing so, we will be bringing two mentalities that normally oppose each other with a magnetic force together in harmony.

When we appreciate something, we understand it fully and are exercising top level intelligence.  If we don’t understand that by exploiting our environment for short-term economic gains we are destroying future spiritual, environmental, recreational and economic opportunities than we are showing a sincere lack of appreciation and therefore intelligence.

As a species that prides themselves on intelligence with a hunger for progress we should focus more of our energy on appreciation and it is in this light that parks is progress.

Thanks for reading and until next time keep on adventuring,

-Captain Quinn


B.C. Rivers and Pacific Salmon

Life Cycle

There are five species of Pacific Salmon belonging to the west coast of North America.  These species include: Chinook, Coho, Chum, Sockeye, and Pink.  One thing that all species share in common is that they anadromous, meaning that they are born in freshwater, migrate out to salt water, than return to freshwater to spawn.  The chart below can be found in any B.C. freshwater fishing regulations synopsis and acts as a guideline for anglers in fish identification.

What different Salmon species don't share in common is behavior, size, and appearance. Depending on the species, salmon will spend a couple of hours to two years rearing in freshwater after they hatch.  Once they begin their adventure at sea to become sexually mature, they will spend, again depending on the species, anywhere from one to five years there. Following this dangerous adventure they will return to the river from which they hatched and give back the gift of life by spawning.

Terms and Conditions

A Salmon will only return to a river and successfully spawn if the following requirements are met.  One, they are among the triumphant two percent that manage somehow, against all odds, to avoid the countless merciless attacks on their survival.  And two, there is an adequately functioning fresh water system for them to return to.  If these terms and conditions are not met than Pacific Salmon will cease to exist.

Implications

Salmon are in fact a keystone species.  This means that they are a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend on.  If they were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.  Species that depend on Pacific Salmon include but are not limited to: whales, seals, sea lions, bears, eagles, wolves, and yes humans.  

Now, you might say, "nope, na ah, not me, I don't eat fish." That may be true but you do breath air, we all do.  Now, you might retort, "what does air have to do with Salmon?"  Well, lets think about this for a second. We know that salmon are a keystone species.  We know that they live the majority of their lives in the oceans and then return to freshwater to spawn. What most people don't know, perhaps because it isn't as obvious, is that once they spawn, Salmon will die of natural causes and literally 100 percent of the nutrients their bodies provide will be transferred back into the ecosystem to which they belong.  This process provides nourishment on such a large scale its hard to even comprehend.  Forests bordering these Salmon bearing rivers and streams will see a very large portion of these nutrients which in turn will stimulate good health and growth.  What we may also not know is that the ocean is the largest living thing on the planet earth.  Since a Salmon's role in the ocean is as a keystone species, the magnitude of their significance is hard to imagine.  If we take Salmon out of the equation we are likely to disrupt the balance beyond the state of repair.

Now, those are the facts.  We can't change them.  And now would be the perfect opportunity for you to say, "I still don't understand how Salmon effect me breathing air." Air as we know it, is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and minute amounts of other gases.  When we breath air, we exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen.  Our body absorbs oxygen and releases carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.  We need oxygen in order to live.  However, oxygen is in limited supply and guess who supplies it?  If you answered Salmon, unfortunately you are wrong, although that would certainly simplify things for this arguments sake. Plants is the correct answer.  Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the atmosphere. Plants such as, but not limited to, trees, ferns, and microscopic algae.  Recognizing plants is easy while walking through the forest, they are literally everywhere.  Recognizing plants in the ocean, however, may be a little more difficult.  This is due to the fact that the majority of oceanic plants exist as microscopic algae.  As 75 percent of our earths surface is covered by oceans, the vast majority of oxygen on the planet can be attributed to oceans. 

In closing, we have touched on the Pacific Salmon species characteristics, the fragile dynamics of their existence, and the many issues that are and will continue to rise should Pacific Salmon meet extinction.  If we are to disrupt the ecosystems balance by removing them from the equation, we will be sure to suffer catastrophic results.

Sources

Some information gathered for this page must be credited to:

Air.  (n.d)  In Dictionary.com.  Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com

David Suzuki Foundation.  (2009).  Conserving Our Oceans.  Retrieved from http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Oceans/

Groot, C. and L. Margolis. 1991. Pacific Salmon Life Histories. Vancouver, UBC Press.

Salmon.  (n.d)  In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  Retrieved from http://www.wikipedia.org

Atlantic Salmon

Poor management leads to over-fishing and habitat destruction, which in turn leads to the extinction of an incredible species, and yet, despite all odds, there still remains hope. It’s amazing what a few good people can do! 

The following is an abstract taken from a scientific research article provided by an organization dedicated to the restoration of Atlantic Salmon. For more information visit the link provided at the bottom of this page.

Over-exploitation and habitat alteration has led to the extirpation of the Lake Ontario Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), a once abundant top predator. Reintroduction of Atlantic salmon has been actively pursued in recent years to restore waning biodiversity of the lake and provide economic benefits through recreational fishing. However, reintroduction efforts have been unsuccessful perhaps because of the presence of non-native and ecologically similar salmonids stocked in Lake Ontario. We conducted semi-natural stream experiments to examine aggressive and feeding behaviours exhibited by three stocks of juvenile Atlantic salmon when exposed to juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta), an aggressive non-native salmonid, and juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), a non-native species exhibiting considerable niche overlap with Atlantic salmon. We believe that interactions between Atlantic salmon and these non-native species are adversely affecting growth and survivorship of the Atlantic salmon during the critical freshwater juvenile stage of life.

However, the situation is not all gloomy! We are starting to see some fascinating returns on both the American and Canadian side of Lake Ontario - so much so, that New York is changing their mentality of stocking Atlantic Salmon from a put-and-take focus to restoration focus. Wihoo!!!! New York is starting to see our salmon on their side of the lake!

 

-Jessica Van Zwol, MSc. Biology, University of Western Ontario

 

For more information about restoration efforts concerning Atlantic Salmon please visit the main website concerning restoration efforts:

http://www.bringbackthesalmon.ca/index.cfm

Pacific Salmon & B.C.'s Rivers

Life Cycle

There are five species of Pacific Salmon belonging to the west coast of North America.  These species include: Chinook, Coho, Chum, Sockeye, and Pink.  One thing that all species share in common is that they anadromous, meaning that they are born in freshwater, migrate out to salt water, than return to freshwater to spawn.  The chart below can be found in any B.C. freshwater fishing regulations synopsis and acts as a guideline for anglers in fish identification.

What different Salmon species don't share in common is behavior, size, and appearance. Depending on the species, salmon will spend a couple of hours to two years rearing in freshwater after they hatch.  Once they begin their adventure at sea to become sexually mature, they will spend, again depending on the species, anywhere from one to five years there. Following this dangerous adventure they will return to the river from which they hatched and give back the gift of life by spawning.

Terms and Conditions

A Salmon will only return to a river and successfully spawn if the following requirements are met.  One, they are among the triumphant two percent that manage somehow, against all odds, to avoid the countless merciless attacks on their survival.  And two, there is an adequately functioning fresh water system for them to return to.  If these terms and conditions are not met than Pacific Salmon will cease to exist.

Implications

Salmon are in fact a keystone species.  This means that they are a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend on.  If they were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.  Species that depend on Pacific Salmon include but are not limited to: whales, seals, sea lions, bears, eagles, wolves, and yes humans.  

Now, you might say, "nope, na ah, not me, I don't eat fish." That may be true but you do breath air, we all do.  Now, you might retort, "what does air have to do with Salmon?"  Well, lets think about this for a second. We know that salmon are a keystone species.  We know that they live the majority of their lives in the oceans and then return to freshwater to spawn. What most people don't know, perhaps because it isn't as obvious, is that once they spawn, Salmon will die of natural causes and literally 100 percent of the nutrients their bodies provide will be transferred back into the ecosystem to which they belong.  This process provides nourishment on such a large scale its hard to even comprehend.  Forests bordering these Salmon bearing rivers and streams will see a very large portion of these nutrients which in turn will stimulate good health and growth.  What we may also not know is that the ocean is the largest living thing on the planet earth.  Since a Salmon's role in the ocean is as a keystone species, the magnitude of their significance is hard to imagine.  If we take Salmon out of the equation we are likely to disrupt the balance beyond the state of repair.

Now, those are the facts.  We can't change them.  And now would be the perfect opportunity for you to say, "I still don't understand how Salmon effect me breathing air." Air as we know it, is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and minute amounts of other gases.  When we breath air, we exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen.  Our body absorbs oxygen and releases carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.  We need oxygen in order to live.  However, oxygen is in limited supply and guess who supplies it?  If you answered Salmon, unfortunately you are wrong, although that would certainly simplify things for this arguments sake. Plants is the correct answer.  Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the atmosphere. Plants such as, but not limited to, trees, ferns, and microscopic algae.  Recognizing plants is easy while walking through the forest, they are literally everywhere.  Recognizing plants in the ocean, however, may be a little more difficult.  This is due to the fact that the majority of oceanic plants exist as microscopic algae.  As 75 percent of our earths surface is covered by oceans, the vast majority of oxygen on the planet can be attributed to oceans. 

In closing, we have touched on the Pacific Salmon species characteristics, the fragile dynamics of their existence, and the many issues that are and will continue to rise should Pacific Salmon meet extinction.  If we are to disrupt the ecosystems balance by removing them from the equation, we will be sure to suffer catastrophic results.

Sources

Some information gathered for this page must be credited to:

Air.  (n.d)  In Dictionary.com.  Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com

David Suzuki Foundation.  (2009).  Conserving Our Oceans.  Retrieved from http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Oceans/

Groot, C. and L. Margolis. 1991. Pacific Salmon Life Histories. Vancouver, UBC Press.

Salmon.  (n.d)  In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  Retrieved from http://www.wikipedia.org

A Species at Risk & Bill C-30

It is no secret that as our societies begin to encroach on environmental ecosystems, the species that belong to these delicately balanced circles fall victim to industry.  However, it doesn't have to be this way.  Especially when our need for industry is only as a means to provide nothing more than money to a very select few individuals. This is exactly what is presently happening throughout British Columbia, Canada.  Enabled by a series of acts carried out by corrupt politicians and money hungry businessmen such as Premier Gordon Campbell and ROR power.  The species at risk: Pacific Salmon, Steelhead, and any other creature who depends on the pristine free flowing water sheds of British Columbia.

Bill C-30: Canada's Clean Air and Climate Change Act

The first thing that I notice when scrolling through Legislative Summaries pertaining to Bill C-30 is the inaccessibility of anything straightforward and digestible.  Just to glance at this longwinded maelstrom of political jargon is enough to give any sensible human being a headache.  However, one thing that does stand out in this muddy puddle of confusion is a statement that reads as follows: "Most of Bill C-30 is made up of amendments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999".  The goal of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act was to: contribute to sustainable development - development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.  The act was also designed to encourage greater citizen input into decision-making.  With the implementation of Bill C-30, future generations ability to meet their own needs will be severely jeopardized.  Furthermore, it removes citizen input into decision-making with regards to our natural resources.  While disabling the public it enables foreign industry.  More specifically American Industry.  The United States of America is a state that has literally "consumed" itself and can no longer survive within the confines of its own borders.  Their solution: exploit foreign resources to fuel their demand for consumption.  Well, now Canada's resources are under attack.  It is time to stand up and protect what is rightfully ours: our resources, our land, our rivers.  The U.S. is not the enemy in this case, rather, they are a friend in need of help.  However, just like any friend in need of help, their solution must come from within.  The real enemy here is greed. 

As Ambassadors

Captain Quinn and the Adventure team are very passionate when it comes to Mother Nature.  In fact, we like to consider ourselves, not only as entertainers but also as ambassadors for the environment.  There are so many issues facing the world today that it is difficult to say which ones deserve the most attention. Well, to start, we choose environment.  Thats not to say that we don't care about global food shortages, civil war, or trying to find the cure for cancer.  This is just where we fit in.  Once we solve all of the problems facing the environment we will likely move on, making our way down the long list of world issues.  In the mean time we invite you to find something your passionate about and start your adventure, making the world a better place for all, one step at a time.  What will you choose?

Education as a Start

Education enables us to acquire knowledge through study or experience.  There are many ways one can choose to educate themselves from reading a book to making a mistake.  The more educated one becomes the more knowledge they possess and the more aware they are.  All these factors combine to increase the power of the mind, which in turn can lead to amazing things.  Captain Quinn and the Adventure team hope to share some of the knowledge we have acquired over the years with whoever chooses to engage themselves.  We are also open to learn from you.

Problem Solving

Captain Quinn and the Adventurers have recognized problem solving as a five step procedure.  From first to last, these steps include: becoming aware, identifying the problem, understanding the dynamics involved, offering a solution, and finally implementing the solution.  When addressing environmental concerns we hope to use this procedure to reach out to large audiences and together, start solving problems.