News: Fishkill on the Holston

Hold your breath and cross your fingers folks. Bad news from the Volunteer state. A according to an article on Timesnews.net, a spill of 7,100 pounds of diethyl ether int the river causing an "undetermined" number of fish to be killed

Valentine said diethyl ether dissolves in water, and except for the fish kill, the company doesn’t expect any additional environmental impact from the discharge

Tip of the breaking news hat to our friends from Hatch Hunters Fly Fishing Guide Service.

Leading UK Jewelers Say “No” to Dirty Gold

Leading UK Jewelers Say “No” to Dirty Gold from Alaska Mine
Pledge Support for World’s Greatest Wild Salmon Fishery

London, England—Six prestigious UK jewelry retailers and designers representing 260 stores today pledged their support for Bristol Bay, Alaska, by announcing that they will not buy gold from Anglo American’s proposed “Pebble” mine, a massive open-pit operation being considered in the bay’s headwaters. The Bristol Bay watershed supports the world’s most productive wild sockeye salmon fishery, which is critical to the state’s economy and to the livelihoods of many Alaska Native communities. The UK is the largest consumer of Bristol Bay canned sockeye salmon.

UK jewelers Goldsmiths, Beaverbrooks, Mappin & Webb, Watches of Switzerland, Fifi Bijoux and April Doubleday took this step at the invitation of local Alaskans who seek to protect wild salmon, clean water and their traditional ways of life from the damaging effects of industrial metal mines.

"We at Beaverbrooks support the protection of Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed from large scale mining,” said Mark Adelstone, managing director of Beaverbrooks the Jewellers. “We need to be mindful and respectful of the Bristol Bay salmon fishery and the communities that depend on it. We feel that the precious metals that we sell need to be mined responsibly and in environmentally friendly ways and if this means looking to other places to source gold, then so be it."

In pledging not to source gold mined at Pebble, the UK jewelers join eight U.S. retailers who endorsed the pledge last year, including Tiffany & Co. (which has seven stores in the UK), Helzberg Diamonds, and Ben Bridge Jeweler. The threat to the Bristol Bay fishery has generated an unusual and diverse array of allies, including Alaska’s commercial fishing industry, over 140 sportfishing businesses, the Alaska Intertribal Council (a consortium of 231 Alaska Tribes), and numerous conservation groups.

“The support demonstrated by these respected UK jewelers is greatly appreciated and will help us to protect the wild salmon fishery that has sustained our economy and people for generations,” said Thomas Tilden, board member of the Choggiung Native Corporation.

The proposed Pebble gold-copper mine is a project of UK-based Anglo American, one of the world’s largest mining companies, and Northern Dynasty Minerals of Canada. The mine is projected to generate an estimated 9 billion tons of waste, much of it containing acids and toxic metals to be stored on site in what is now pristine Alaska wilderness.

“Sustainable development is surely a necessary value which is core to any 21st century business,” said Vivien Johnston of Fifi Bijoux. “I am surprised that Anglo American would pursue a programme in Bristol Bay which is clearly not in the best interests of the long term sustainability of the local community or the conservation of important ecosystems. I would ask them to revise their strategy and review their CSR standards to ensure that any new mining site need not compromise their vision of environmental integrity and community consultation.”

Alaska Native communities’ way of life, and Alaska’s largest private sector employer – the fishing industry – are heavily dependent on the continued health of Bristol Bay. Bristol Bay’s commercial fishery generates $320 million a year and 12,500 jobs. Bristol Bay residents harvest and consume an average of 315 pounds (143 kilograms) of fish per person per year, making the salmon a primary source of food. Unlike many of the world’s wild salmon populations, which are in serious decline, the pristine rivers and undeveloped landscape of the Bristol Bay watershed continue to support a sustainable world-class salmon fishery that supplies healthy seafood to consumers around the world. A third of the world’s commercial sockeye salmon are harvested there, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

These UK and U.S. retailers who have signed on to the Bristol Bay protection pledge have also endorsed the “Golden Rules” of the No Dirty Gold consumer campaign spearheaded by EARTHWORKS, which has called on mining companies to meet environmental and social standards. So far, some 55 retailers worldwide have endorsed the Golden Rules. A complete list can be found on the No Dirty Gold website. More than 100,000 consumers in over 100 countries have also signed the No Dirty Gold pledge, urging mining companies to provide alternatives to “dirty” gold.

“The Pebble mine would imperil one of the world’s most pristine and productive ecosystems,” said Bonnie Gestring of international mining reform group EARTHWORKS. “We applaud the jewelry retailers for signing on to the Bristol Bay protection pledge, and demonstrating their commitment to responsible sourcing.”

Orvis to be Carbon Neutral by 2020

You probably already know that outdoor outfitter, Orvis is a major benefactor in the world of conservation. You may not however be aware of their efforts to lessen their own impact on the environment. A recent article via The Roanoke Times outlines some of those efforts.

Orvis has cut kilowatt-hour consumption of electricity by 39 percent, Rigney said, after shifting to more energy-efficient lighting.
And, its partnership with the Rescue Mission has reduced Orvis' landfill loads by "as much as 50 percent," he said.

"We have high standards for returning items to stock," he said.

Joy Sylvester-Johnson, the mission's chief executive officer, said the Orvis partnership has helped boost sales in the nonprofit's thrift store and provide clothes for its giveaway program. Donations from Orvis include clothes, fishing waders, dog beds and other products, she said.
If a clothing item is too far gone to wear, it becomes part of the mission's rags recycling business, she said.

James Hathaway, Manager of Communications and Conservation for Orvis is quoted as saying, "Our goal is carbon neutral by the year 2020."

A WDBJ7.com video about the story offers a glimpse into the Orvis shipping facility located in Roanoke.

Coffee Addicted Mayflies?

A recent study reported in the Chattanooga Times Free Press indicates that water in the Tennessee River contains enough caffeine for mayflies to ingest the equivalent of 26.6 cups of coffee each day.

Meanwhile, Dr. Richards said, that mayfly also is ingesting a cocktail of at least 12 other common drugs, including several antibiotics, antidepressants and substances designed to lower human cholesterol levels. While the amount of drugs in the water is tiny by human standards, they one day may have a serious impact on the environment — and on humans, as well, he said.

“Everyone’s worried about pesticides in the water, but the amount of pharmaceuticals that get dumped in the water via just taking them is going to equal or exceed that of pesticides,” Dr. Richards said. “You have to wonder what it’s doing to the ecosystem. If we’re upsetting the balance in any way, it can’t be perceived as a good thing.”

In addition to the obvious environmental concerns this report raises, it also gets me to thinking about the effects this might be having on on Tennessee trout. Initially trout might suffer due to the juiced up mayflies being faster and more difficult to catch. I can picture nymphs zooming to the surface, splitting their shucks and then flying space ward with hungry trout in hot pursuit.

Sooner or later the trout would catch on and figure out how to eat the leaping Leptohyphidae. The accompanying caffeine addiction would bring the trout stream its own set of problems. If the morning hatch was somehow delayed anglers might well take care wading a river full of grumpy trout who have not yet had their "morning cup of Metretopodidae."

During abundant hatches, these same jittery trout might be easy prey for anglers who camp out on the river's fabled "Starbuck's hole." Fish would be mindlessly stacked up at the river's equivalent of the barista counter, snapping at anything that comes between them and their next fix.

No doubt some trout would become "mayfly snobs" and would only consume mocha colored bugs with half the caffeine and topped off by a generous helping of skimmed cream midges. They would travel across the river to get their favorite flavors at the Starbucks hole when everyone really knows that the Service Station pool had mayflies that were just as good for a third the energy cost.

The fly tiers bench would also be impacted. Skilled tiers would develop patterns to "match the hatch. Flies with names like "the caffeinated caddis" and "Juan Valdez's deceiver" would be top sellers. Debates would erupt over weather a coffee bean glued to a hook constituted bait or a viable fly tied with "natural" materials. Unscrupulous anglers "spilling" their coffee into rivers in order to evoke a feeding frenzy could spawn an entirely new set of regulations which may even go so far as to include drug testing for hyped up anglers caught attempting to relieve themselves on area creek banks.