A record low number of Salmon returning to California and Oregon tributaries to spawn last year has raised the possibility that the Pacific Fishery Management Council, a federal agency created to manage the fishery along the West Coast, may outright cancel the entire 2008 salmon fishing season:

Such a move would jeopardize the livelihoods of close to 1,000 commercial fishermen from Santa Barbara to Washington State and would significantly drive up the price of West Coast wild salmon.

A decision to shut down the fishery also would kill recreational salmon fishing for some 2.4 million anglers in California, an activity that the American Sportfishing Association has estimated is worth $4 billion.

“This is unprecedented,” said Dave Bitts, a commercial salmon and crab fisherman based in Eureka. “The Sacramento fish are our bread and butter, and there are not even any crumbs. It’s horrible. It means half or more of my income is not going to be there at all this year.”

The reasons behind this precipitous drop are still somewhat undetermined, though its basically a game of pick-your-favorite:

The scientists, fishermen and tribal representatives at the meetings this week are trotting out various theories for the decline, including global warming, diversions of freshwater in the delta, pumping operations, a lack of nutrient rich deep ocean upwellings and exposure to pollutants. One document lists 46 possible reasons. Dygert said the death of so many salmon “is suggesting a broad-scale ocean survival problem.”

“One thing we know is that these fish had plenty of parents,” said Bitts. “Something has happened since then.”

Maybe this has something to do with it…

Society can really get to you. Sometimes you have to get a job, maybe talk to people or pay a parking ticket. This guy decided that was just way to much, so he lives with wolves. Nothing better than sitting next to an animal that can eat you in an instant, crap you out, and not think twice. And yes he has Teen Wolf Special Edition

In other animals that cause instant death news, they found a Wolverine near Lake Tahoe California. Oregon State University graduate, Katie Moriarty captured the picture while doing research in the area. Wolverines were thought to be virtually extinct in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Hopefully someone will go and try to live with the Wolverines, I give them about five minutes. Why cant people go live with turtles. I nomitate this kid (link)
First Photo

Second Photo, Much better quality I think

According to a five month long investigation by the Associated Press, the drinking water of as many as 41 million Americans contains trace amounts of pharmaceuticals, varying from sex hormones to mood stabilizers. While the amount of drugs is exceedingly small, the notion that society is ingesting unknown combinations of various compounds, even at such small dosages, is undoubtedly raising questions of potential health risks.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

Now you might be asking yourself, whose dosing up all our drinking water? Perhaps it’s a government initiative towards population control or maybe the latest in radical bio-terrorism? In actuality, it’s nothing quite that sinister. The drugs enter our water supply as a result of the assorted medications we take daily.

People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue.

As I sit here sipping the glass of ice cold H2O, I’m not exactly comforted by the fact that I could be sucking down some Viagra mingled with Ortho Tricyclen. Even if it’s only in trace amounts, that combination can’t be healthy. Still I guess we’re safe for the moment until research says otherwise. It does however make me wonder, if medications can seep into the water supply, why not more illicit drugs as well? Doc I swear I’m not on drugs, I just like to stay hydrated.

I love it when scientists find new animals they never even knew existed. Like this white killer whale that they just found near the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Here’s some quotes from people who saw it…

“I had heard about this whale, but we had never been able to find it,” said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who photographed the rarity. “It was quite neat to find it.”

“When you first looked at it, it was very white,” she said Thursday.  (Thank you, captain Obvious)

“This is the first time we came across a white killer whale,” agreed John Durban, a research biologist at NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.

It appeared to be a healthy, adult male about 25 to 30 feet (7 to 9 meters) long and weighing as much as 10,000 pounds (4,500 kilograms).

Now, where is my unicorn??

A Japanese government is claiming that activists aboard the anti-whaling vessel Steve Irwin threw acid on Japanese whalers about the ship Nisshin Maru during the recent two-day standoff between the ships in Australian-controlled Antarctic water:

Members of the campaign group Sea Shepherd threw brown envelopes containing butyric acid from their vessel the Steve Irwin onto the Japanese ship Nisshin Maru, Japan’s Vice Foreign Minister Itsunori Onodera said. “The butyric acid powder hit two crew members and two Japanese coast guard officers, who complained of pain,” Mr Onodera said.

However, the activists aboard the Steve Irwin, members of the conservation group, Sea Shepherd, are claiming that they merely through packets containing non-toxic, organic substances intended used to make the deck of the whaling boat slippery and foul smelling in order to make the processing of the whale meat more difficult:

“I guess we can call this non-violent chemical warfare,” Steve Irwin captain Paul Watson said. “We only use organic, non-toxic materials designed to harass and obstruct illegal whaling operations.”

Either way, the Japanese whalers definitely got off easy. In the US, groups like A.L.F. and E.L.F., despite their silly ass names, don’t fuck around with slippery substances or even acid. They just blow shit up.

And it’s not like it’s gonna do any good anyway. Even though most anyone with a tiny bit of compassion, common sense, or ecological conscience knows that whaling has no place in the 21st Century, the Japanese people do like themselves some whale meat. They even feed it to school children. Oh yeah and they also love to herd dolphins together and slaughter them, slitting their throats and watching them writhe in agony:

But good luck trying to convince them that this is somehow inhumane. They are known to be stubborn folks. Remember that one time we had to fight a war with them? That didn’t really go too well. But hey! Before we go hating on the Japanese folks for killing whales with harpoons, maybe we ought to take a look in the mirror and realize that we all have a little whale blood on our own hands, courtesy of the pollution and environmental damage we each cause, every day. Feel bad yet?? I know I DO! However, you can do your best to save the whales by following these 10 Tips courtesy of Savethewhales.org:

1. Volunteer with local community groups to stencil storm drains, Adopt A Beach, or monitor the water quality of local watersheds. Organize your classroom, school club, or organization to clean litter from rivers, creeks, estuaries, and beaches.Did you know? Storm water pollution (urban runoff) is the leading cause of water pollution nationwide.Pollutants such as motor oil, antifreeze, detergents, litter, paint, pesticides, pet waste, and copper (from brake pads) are flushed off streets and into storm drains which lead straight to rivers, creeks, and the oceans.

2. Participate in Save The Whales’ letter writing campaigns with your classroom, club, or church group. Invite friends over for a “letter writing” party. Print letters from Save The Whales “Action Alert” section under the Take Action. One letter from an individual to a government official represents the opinion of hundreds of people. Letters are powerful tools of influence.

3. Cut up plastic six-pac rings before recycling or disposing them in the garbage. Thousands of birds, fish, and other marine creatures die needlessly from entanglement.

4.Pick up trash while walking in your neighborhoods. Participate in National Coastal Clean Up Day (September) www.coastforyou.org to prevent pollution in watersheds and storm drains. Did you know that? One of the most common sources of beach pollution is cigarette butts. They can take up to seven years to breakdown. Last year, over one million cigarette butts were removed by volunteers during National Coastal Clean Up Day.

5. Never release balloons outside as they can travel hundreds of miles and land in rivers, creeks, and oceans. Whales, dolphins and turtles can be killed by ingesting balloons mistaken for jellyfish. See Save The Whales “Balloon Alert” flyer in English and Spanish. Educate your schools or community businesses not to participate in balloon releases. A 60 foot sperm whale washed up dead from ingesting a balloon which blocked its stomach and caused it to starve.

6. Keep your car well maintained to prevent leaks onto roadways and driveways which cause water pollution. Carpool when possible, or ride a bike. Recycle used motor oil for free. Take hazardous waste such as paint, pesticides, and antifreeze to a hazardous waste site. Call 1-800- CLEAN-UP or visit www.cleanup.org for the free drop off location near you.

7. Never discard used fishing line and hooks in the water. This can entangle birds, fish, turtles, seals, and otters and cause the death of these animals.

8.Never dump anything in the street as it goes into the storm drains which travel straight to rivers, creeks, and ultimately the oceans without being cleaned. Did you know that? One quart of motor oil can pollute 250,000 gallons of water. A drop of oil the size of a dime stuck on a sea otter can kill them. They die from hypothermia (freezing to death).

9.Recycle, Reuse and Reduce. Landfills across the nation are filling up with discarded items and refuse. Hazardous waste thrown in the garbage, ends up in landfills where it leeches into the soil and ground water causing contamination. Reduce your refuse by recycling, reusing and composting. Plant an organic garden free of pesticides.

10.Buy products that are environmentally friendly and support organic farming.