Tippets: Hatchery Threat to Wild Salmon, Taking Aim at the “Fish Bill,” Mine Tailings and Fish-Bearing Streams

February 7, 2018 By: Erin Block

  • Scientists have long warned that hatchery salmon threaten wild populations through competition of resources and by mixing genetically. However, new research points to a new threat: oxygen levels. “Their presence in some streams contributes to low-oxygen conditions that culminate in die-offs before they can reproduce.” Via Alaska Daily News.
  • A new bill introduced to congress takes aim at the Magnuson-Stevens Act, often referred to as the “fish bill.” The bill “doesn’t gut Magnuson-Stevens, but it does slacken the law’s firmest requirements,” writes Ben Goldfarm in his article, “Proposed Policies Could Make America Overfished Again.” Via Hakai Magazine.
  • Seabridge Gold Inc. has been given approval to use fish-bearing streams for tailings from their planned gold, copper and molybdenum mine in British Columbia. “Two fish-bearing creeks will be used for 2.3 billion tonnes of toxic tailings from the proposed Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) mine in northwest B.C., wiping out habitat for several populations of small Dolly Varden fish.”