Canada Launching Inquiry After Collapse Of Fraser River Sockeye Run - Down 90% In 2009

[hatrack]

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canada will launch an investigation into why far fewer sockeye salmon than scientists had predicted returned to the Fraser River on the Pacific Coast this summer. Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the judicial inquiry on Thursday, saying the federal government was concerned about the declining sockeye population.

Federal government scientists had predicted that as many as 13 million sockeye salmon would return to the river this year to breed, but it is now estimated that only about 1.4 million fish actually returned.

The collapse gutted the commercial Fraser sockeye fishing season, and prompted the government of the West Coast province of British Columbia and federal opposition parties to ask Ottawa to investigate whether federal officials have mismanaged salmon stocks.

Details of the inquiry were expected to be announced on Friday in Vancouver. Salmon have long been at the center of diplomatic spats between Canada and the United States, with Canadian fishermen often accusing their U.S. rivals of taking too large a portion of the catch.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5A46CE20091106?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews

[ensho]

1. they were told this was going to happen

ignore climate change at your peril

[villager]

2. "So we're destryoing ecosystems, and fish stocks have collapsed..."

"Hunh. We're stumped. Better keep on doing what we're doing, and study the situation some more...."

[hatrack]

3. Preferably some really, REALLY detailed long-term studies lasting years or decades . . .

Kind of like they're doing with bluefin tuna.

[pscot]

4. We have met the enemy, and he is us.

Walt Kelly had it figured out 50 years ago.

[BrklynLiberal]

6. Absolutely...

[BrklynLiberal]

5. Gee...now that all the horses have left the corral..let's hurry and close the gate!!!

:crazy: :silly: :wtf: :grr: :nuke: :puke: :mad:


and what about all the other flora and fauna that the salmon feed????? This is a potential catastrophe..