"Matt is back from fishing. I have made a little blog for him so you can keep updated on your local fisherman. I have posted a video about sea lice. It is animated and fun for the whole family. Everyone should watch it. It is quite possibly one of the main reasons for the low abundance of Frasier River sockeye. There are masses of fish farms directly in the migratory path of small fry heading out to sea. The San Juan Island sockeye are part of the Frasier River run so we depend on healthy stocks for a commercial fishery down here. Alas, abundance is very low so we will not be fishing for sockeye in the Puget Sound this year. Matt has brought home Bristol Bay sockeye that he caught this year. This is available to you. Matt went fishing last night in Bellingham Bay and caught a couple of King Salmon, not enough for all of us yet, but there is a way to taste this fish. Matt is doing a fillet demonstration at 11:00 a.m. at the Ag Tent on Friday of the fair so that is a good time to watch and learn and hopefully taste a snippet of heaven. Madden Surbaugh will be also be serving Matt's fish in his restaurant, Steps. This provides you with a great opportunity to eat local local. Money is precious and should be spent wisely. Eating at Steps is money well-spent. Take time to go out and eat a special meal at Steps and support our community!"Madden always serves locally grown food and always works hard to support local agriculture at Steps Cafe (and Wine Bar) (directions, map). He has great new daily specials, a new happy hour with burgers and tacos (!), and serves lunch across the walkway at the Naked Bean coffee shop. (map)
More about fishing - comment period just ended to open up the Gulf of Mexico to fish farming, but you can still contact your legislators now about how this dangerous practice needs to end. As you can see from Maureen's note above, this is affecting us all. Let's take care of Mother Earth.
Read more here from Food and Water Watch.
A lot is happening in our government regarding food and water regulations including fisheries - but that's not all - while we are busy with summer. We will be posting about bills such as H.R. 2749 which just passed the House and is to go on to the Senate soon. A great blog from a CSA farmer in Texas - Home Sweet Farm - with some great links on the new Food Safety Enhancement Act (HR 2749 text).
What's happening to the Frasier sockeye is an example of what happens when we don't have a chance to pay attention.
Contacting your legislators can be crucial.
