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Climate change, Norway's hi tech salmon farms and Norton Sound, Alaska

what has happened to the kings?

Related to this initiative in Norway (see excerpt from article below): AK Dept. of Fish and Game that the commercial return of Chinook here was the lowest since limited entry began in early 1970s. What's going on, kings?? Biologists I talked to say it's probably related to the kings' adjustment (or lack of it) to climate change and the warming Pacific and its effect on their bodies and their forage. And the kings are smaller over recent years. In our Norton Sound waters (no hatcheries so far) all salmon species are doing well or great--except kings. They can't adapt as easily as the other salmon apparently. A friend in Utqiagvik (Barrow) on the Arctic Ocean says they have all species of salmon up there now.

We are also seeing a migration north of pollock and cod, but we don't have the very large vessels, or the port facilities you need to make a living on these low-priced species that require you to stay out in rough seas for large, iced hauls.

Excerpt from article:

"Norway has built the world’s biggest salmon-farming industry. But it wants to go bigger. With their lucrative oil fields now in decline, Norwegians have ambitious plans for aquaculture to power their economy far into the future.

Climate change could make those dreams harder to realize. As waters warm, more salmon farmers may have to move into the country’s Arctic regions to raise the temperature-sensitive species. And there’s another problem. Salmon feed is based on fishmeal, produced by grinding up wild-caught fish. With climate change pushing underwater ecosystems to the breaking point, Big Aquaculture is seeking ways to feed fish that aren’t hostage to increasingly unpredictable oceans.

The Norwegian cities of Bergen and Stavanger have become a Silicon Valley of the Sea as entrepreneurs and scientists look for answers. The innovators hope to find sustainable sources of feed, minimize pollution from fish farms and take new ideas to scale.." (Reuters, Nov 2018)