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Nature, not humans, key to fish fitness…It’s a lot like gambling without knowing your odds, and the result could be a further erosion of BC’s wild salmon stocks. That warning clearly comes through in a new report’s assessment of the federal government’s efforts to augment dwindling wild salmon stocks by rearing fingerlings in hatcheries and then releasing them in the wild. SFU statistics professor Rick Routledge, an expert on fish population estimation, wrote the convenor’s report, Hatcheries and the Protection of Wild Salmon. It warns that the federal government has been working blindly by trying to enhance salmon stocks with hatcheries. The report concludes, "Research on the ultimate value of such efforts "is urgently needed in light of escalating numbers of declarations of threatened and endangered salmon populations." The document was the outcome a workshop in a series of Speaking for the Salmon forums co-sponsored by SFU’s centre for coastal studies (CCS) in science. The think-tank session brought together 150 BC and Atlantic Canada participants in government, academe and industry to discuss the impact of hatcheries on wild salmon stocks. Craig Orr, one of the think-tank’s facilitators and an associate director at CCS, says, "There is hard evidence that hatchery supplementation can have adverse reproductive consequences for wild salmon. There’s a lot of evidence suggesting that nature, not humans, produces fitter salmon." Orr and Routledge can talk about the report’s findings and recommendations in the context of the federal government’s decision to cut hatchery funding and of the BC government’s decision to lift a moratorium on aquaculture.

Craig Orr, 60.-936.9474, corr@telus.net
Rick Routledge, 604.291.4478, richard_routledge@sfu.ca




Decentralization of mental health…The development and use of "the most sophisticated risk assessment instruments" is key to any successful decentralization of the Willow Clinic’s services, says SFU criminologist Ray Corrado. The expert on youth violence and violent behaviour is commenting on the provincial government’s decision to close Willow, a provincially run residential facility in New Westmiinster, for some of BC’s most disturbed mental patients . Due to their potentially violent nature, the residents are watched round-the-clock. The government says it has done the groundwork to move residents back into the community. Corrado warns, "There will have to be integrated multi-service and ministry teams assigned to plan and monitor, at least, the more problematic cases, for example, violent mental disordered offenders." Corrado is involved in the development of tools for assessing youths’ potential for violence.

Ray Corrado, 604.291.3629, raymond_corrado@sfu.ca


More surfers out West…According to Statistics Canada BC and Alberta are leading the way in terms of Internet use. Nearly two-thirds of households in each province are regular Internet surfers. Richard Smith, an associate professor in SFU’s school of communication, says British Columbians and Albertans tend to be "early adopters and users of most things new." He adds: "That’s why people call us the California of the North," says Smith, who specializes on Internet use. "He also says banking and information use have become more popular because service providers are getting better at convincing people they won’t lose money or undergo undue risk. "In a sense, there is more control at a computer in your house than at a bank machine on the street," says Smith. "It ‘feels’ safer, and for most people, that’s enough."

Richard Smith, 604.291.5116; smith@sfu.ca