Keeping salmon eggs and dumping the fish!

[Generic Other]

Salmon eggs are worth more than $5 a pound this year, compared to about 33 cents a pound for fish — if you can find a market and get them there...

http://web.kitsapsun.com/news/2001/october/1030fish.html


This is crazy. Wish more of it could get to foodbanks. A shame. And the eggs all destined to be served as roe sushi for lots of yen in Tokyo. Why doesn't this seem right?

[Phlem]

1. GMMMMMMM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1127&pid=58449



-p

[Generic Other]

2. Well that makes it even worse!

GM salmon. And I suppose they believe releasing them in Panama will make them sound sufficiently natural? Nature's monster. YUCK.

[Phlem]

3. Your probably eating GM products and don't even realize it.

Don't get me started on what the FDA is planning for poultry, mainly chicken. A hint shipped to China for inspection, then shipped back with no labeling in between.

Start a garden and learn to preserve, that's all I can say.

-p

[Generic Other]

5. I really try to avoid them

but it means looking up the foods you buy. For example, had to switch to the organic soy sauce to get untainted stuff.

Speaking of preserves. I ran into this photo of the Kirkl;and Food Co-op, 1939, from the UW collection the other day:



The caption caught my attention: In 1939, during the Great Depression, Washington State operated four cooperative canneries, all funded by the federal Works Progress Administration. Any family with an income of less than $100 a month could bring fruit, vegetables and meat to the cannery to preserve them for the winter. The cannery kept one third of the canned fruits and vegetables and sent them to state and county hospitals and prisons.

[Phlem]

6. Beautiful!

That is the future my dear. Back to basics but with knowledge this time. I've been cataloging meals my family likes and have been making extra and freezing the rest. It makes last minute meals very easy!

Enjoy the challenge my friend, you might be pleasantly surprised!



-p

[Phlem]

4. FrankenFish!

mmmmmmm.

-p

[freshwest]

7. It's called selling off the seed corn. Life is worth more than profit. To me, anyway.

[Phlem]

9. + a bajillion!

now if everybody else can fathom this thought. This would truly be a beautiful world!

excellent freshwest!

-p

[NoOneMan]

8. Maybe the river needs the salmon carcasses as well

Just a thought, eh?

Yes, they've got their spawn run, but that meat is essential to the life of the soil and the biodiversity of the land surrounding the river (so if we were living right, it would mean more food long term). Rotting, decomposing salmon lining the shores is a sign of a healthy river, and until those conditions are met, I'm all for leaving as much salmon in the rivers as possible. In nature, nothing is wasted.

[Generic Other]

10. I see your point

I am sure the carcasses don't ultimately harm the environment (other than smelling bad) as you say. These salmon would have died after spawning upriver. But they won't be spawning, so the natural cycle has already been disrupted.

The thing is our state's salmon runs have been in decline for so long that the waste seems shocking for many of us to witness. I remember when 10 chinook salmon made it up the Columbia one year. I recall how much effort it took for the fish hatcheries to restore the runs.

And when the foodbanks don't have enough turkey this year to serve Thanksgiving meals, it seems wasteful. I just wish more poor people could have eaten the fish. To let the poor of this state starve when there is abundance is wrong.

[NoOneMan]

11. Its ok if they all don't make it up

In a natural setting, after they spawn, they normally lose strength and end up down river anyway before they die and decompose on the shore; so they basically wash up all over. Some places around here have dams and other unnatural features, so groups of volunteer stream keepers use gaffes to collect the salmon and spread them around the entire river shore like they would in a completely natural environment.

I am sure the carcasses don't ultimately harm the environment (other than smelling bad) as you say

Quite the opposite. They help it vastly. Check out:

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/healthy-oceans-blog/2012/10/-pacific-underwater-salmon-dont-grow-on-trees-but-trees-grow-on-salmon/

A forest right next to us has trees which find 80% of their nitrogen from the stinky, rotting salmon.

To let the poor of this state starve when there is abundance is wrong

You see, I think that when a country only feeds 25% of the corn it grows to humans, it has larger priorities than talking about not taking enough from the river systems (which is really robbing Peter to pay Paul). Rivers need to be healthy in order to be an abundant source of food. Until we can improve the health of a river, we need to find food elsewhere or its only going to hurt the system worse.

[ConcernedCanuk]

12. Maybe not.

.
.
.

I'll admit I haven't researched this too much, but in Canada,

our Ministry of the Environment and our Ministry of Natural Resources have made it illegal to dump fish carcasses back into the water. They must have a good reason for that methinks.

That's even after cleaning them and retaining the flesh for food.

Rule is, you leave the guts on LAND - that's ok.

From what I've read on their websites, the guts/scales etc. are not normal in the water's ecosystem.

Land animals like fox, raccoons, bears and so on will harvest the leftovers.

Crows and Ravens will also participate in the cleanup.

Remainder makes good fertilizer for the soil.

I do fish now and then, and I have a rule for myself.

If I catch it, I EAT IT.

I do like the sport,

but I do it for food.



mmmmmm!



CC

[NoOneMan]

13. I'm not sure you are right about that

I live in Canada. I dump carcasses in the water. Everyone else does too. We have a salmon head recovery program at the docks, but its optional. Otherwise all guts end up in saltwater if you don't particpate in the government program.

When I meant the river needs them, I meant river system. I wasn't differentiating shore from water BTW (as it all ends up on the shores). Maybe you can't put them in freshwaterwater directly here but I've never seen or heard otherwise (can you show me law?).


As for what I meant about the river needing them, checkout: http://www.pqbnews.com/news/232517891.html

Nearly 30,000 pounds of Chum salmon carcasses were deposited at local tributaries last week.

It was the annual salmon toss, a project of the Qualicum Beach Streamkeepers, and it involved volunteers gathering up surplus salmon carcasses from the Little Qualicum River Fish Hatchery and taking them to the headwaters of the local tributaries. The project increases the nutrient value of the soil, nourishes the aquatic environment and generally enriches the vitality of the river system.

And check out that David Suzuki article about the same river I posted above, in which 80% of nitrogen is Salmon derived. Freshwater vs shore is another debate (one I am not familiar with and may be in the wrong), but as far as I am concerned, the river system needs carcasses for its health