Sharks in Puget Sound

Jul
10
2011
Sunday, July 10th, 2011 by Express

“Not only is the water cold but it can be dangerous!”

Take a look at this video “Courtesy of the Seattle Aquarium” from the KOMO 4 News in Seattle


Sharks in Puget Sound

Looking for sharks deep in Puget Sound – Seattle News

The mysterious creature which is one of the largest sharks in the world lives in Puget Sound. It’s the six-gilled shark — a monstrosity whose lineage predates dinosaurs.

“Now that is spooky”

The creature is nearly extinct in the Northwest. But deep in the eerie depths of Puget Sound, you might be able to get a glimpse of the deep dweller.

You’ve got to dive at least 500 feet down to see the shark. The creature, which relies on its large, green eyes to see in low-light levels, can grow up to 15 feet long and weigh 1,000 pounds. Human encounters with the deep-water predator are rare. Most sharks only have five gills. It’s the sixth gill that sets this breed apart.

Travis Swanson is a professional diver who’s filmed many encounters with six-gilled sharks. “You know, people live around Puget Sound and don’t realize one of the largest sharks in the world, is in our backyard,” he said. “You have to respect them, you know. They’re not a puppy dog.” Swanson is so good at tracking down sharks that the Discovery Channel uses him as an expert guide.

Shark Bait

The adventure starts with bait — frozen pieces of rancid fish. The bait is anchored to the bottom of the Sound, along with an underwater camera. “So basically we wait and watch. And when they come in, we jump in the water,” said Swanson. And if the sharks do show up, jumping in will take some guts. And they’ve got a set of teeth in those jaws that are like serrated razors,” Rupp said. “They are a meat-eating animal and they have the ability to hurt you, no different than a bear,” said Swanson. And some past divers have witnessed their ferocity first-hand. “Divers’ cameras have been bitten. The shark has snapped at people,” Christiansen said. But despite the damage they could do, experts say the six-gilled shark is not aggressive.

Local researchers believe the sharks use Puget Sound as a nursing ground.

Dead 6-Gill Shark

When a pregnant 14-foot shark washed up near Shelton, biologists found close to 80 pups. Sadly, none survived. But tests showed that up to eight different male sharks had fertilized her eggs.

To learn more about these mysterious creatures, researchers have put tracking tags on dozens of them. “In the last year or so, we started getting reports,” said Rupp. The data shows sharks usually feed at the bottom of Puget Sound, but sometimes venture into shallow waters.

“So if you are diving in the Puget Sound just be careful, you just never know what you will run into.”

Posted in Life in Des Moines | No Comments »

Salmon or Frankenfish

Sep
27
2010
Monday, September 27th, 2010 by Express

Amazing! Is this really for our benefit or could we all eat a little less? First just a little background and then you decide.
 
The Seattle Times – September 24, 2010  … “AquAdvantage salmon is novel (i.e., totally different). The patented fish is produced by taking a portion of a gene that protects an eel-like fish called an ocean pout against freezing, transplanting it (along with other DNA to facilitate its entry and activation) into the growth gene of a chinook salmon and transferring the blended genetic material into the fertilized eggs of a North Atlantic salmon. Further manipulation has been performed to ‘ensure’ that all the females are sterile.”
 
Yahoo New! by Michael Greger M.d. – September 22, 2010 … “On September 19, 2010, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee considered the approval of the first transgenic farm animal for human consumption, the AquAdvantage Salmon. Genetically engineered for rapid growth with two stretches of foreign DNA, a growth hormone gene with an antifreeze protein promoter, these Atlantic salmon “frankenfish” hold a 20-fold growth advantage over non-genetically modified animals.

A genetically-modified AquAdvantage salmon, top,
next to a control salmon of the same age.
(Photo: AP)
 
The FDA notes evidence of “increased frequency of skeletal malformations, and increased prevalence of jaw erosions and multisystemic, focal inflammation” in the tissues of AquAdvantage Salmon.” However, the FDA dismisses these findings as “within the range observed in rapid growth phenotypes of non-genetically engineered Atlantic salmon.” In other words, the abnormalities they found were no worse than those currently plaguing farmed salmon genetically manipulated for accelerated growth through other means.
 
Up to 80 percent of factory-farmed salmon in Chile, where most of our Atlantic salmon is imported from, have suffered from what the aquaculture industry calls “screamer disease,” in which severe facial disfigurements lock their jaws permanently agape.

In Norway, another major exporter to the United States, “humpback” spinal compression deformities have been found in 70 percent of salmon operations. Twenty different types of spinal malformations have repeatedly been found in factory-farmed Atlantic salmon. These abnormalities have been linked to the physiological stressors of intensive production.

The fact that the “variety of inflammatory and degenerative lesions” found in AquAdvantage Salmon “are mostly consistent with diseases of intensively reared fish” should be recognized as an indictment of the system rather than a justification for perpetuating these problems.

Comparing the latest version of bio-engineered transgenic salmon to factory-farmed fish produced with existing reproductive technologies rather than salmon in natural environments may only further entrench these practices with serious welfare repercussions.

Ironically, the biotech company that invented AquAdvantage Salmon argues that the list of health disorders their fish suffer from could be seen as an advantage in that “any escapees from containment would be less capable of surviving.”  These genetically modified fish grow at such a rate that the metabolic demands might help preclude their survival in nature, make them less likely to create ecological havoc should they escape into the wild.”

(Comment: Well, that does not sound good! If it is not good for the fish how can it be good for us? By the time we eat enough of this fish for it to show any negative effects in our bodies we may not even be here for anyone to make the connection. But relax if they escape they won’t live long but then again neither may we.)

Reported at Institute for Health and the Environment, University at Albany… “In the most comprehensive analysis of farmed and wild salmon to date, researchers analyzed toxic contaminants in approximately 700 farmed and wild salmon (totaling 2 metric tons) collected from around the world to be representative of the salmon typically available to consumers. The study, which was sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts, examined salmon produced in eight major farmed salmon producing regions and obtained from retail outlets in 16 major North American and European cities.

The study found that concentrations of several contaminants associated with serious health risks from neurological effects to cancer are significantly higher in farmed salmon than in wild salmon.

The authors concluded that concentrations of several cancer-causing substances are high enough to suggest that consumers should consider restricting their consumption of farmed salmon. In most cases, consumption of more than one meal of farmed salmon per month could pose unacceptable cancer risks according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methods for calculating fish consumption advisories.”

(Comment: And they are comparing this to farm raised salmon results and saying it is no worse than farm raised salmon and that makes it OK ….sheeeezz, give me some improvement please or go back to the drawing board! Skeletal deformities are not an improvement.)

Please, give me a pole and let me go fishing. I may not catch one every time I go out but at least it seems better than the alternative.
 
 
 
 
 
 What do you think?

 

Posted in Life in Des Moines | 70 Comments »

What depths to troll for salmon?

Mar
9
2010
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 by Express

SalmonAfter reading the article by Les Blumenthal, McClatchy Newspapers – Sun Mar 7, 2010 – “Growing low-oxygen zones in oceans worry scientist”. It stated: ‘In some spots off Washington state and Oregon, the almost complete absence of oxygen has left piles of Dungeness crab carcasses littering the ocean floor, killed off 25-year-old sea stars, crippled colonies of sea anemones and produced mats of potentially noxious bacteria that thrive in such conditions.’

What was interesting was the bit about: ‘Most fish can swim out of danger. Some species, however, such as Chinook salmon, may have to start swimming at shallower depths than they’re used to. Whether the low oxygen zones will change salmon migration routes is unclear.’

The good news is you may not have to troll the lower depths, which means less time reeling them in. What do you think?

Posted in Life in Des Moines | 9 Comments »

Puget Sound Fishing

Mar
5
2010
Friday, March 5th, 2010 by Express

Trolling or jigging for that elusive Puget Sound Salmon is what “Life in Des Moines” is all about. Whether you are trying to catch that big 30 pound Wild King Salmon or that beautiful Bright Silver it is definitely a rush. We have many days of fishing, in the spring and summer there is the Chinook run and fall brings the Sockeye, Coho, Chums and Pinks. But wait the year is not over in the winter there is the Winter Blackmouth. But don’t get in trouble check for the fishing regulations for the right times to drop your line.

Posted in Life in Des Moines | 23 Comments »