Artifishal in Seattle and Orcas on Vancouver Island

After fishing none stop June and July, and crazy traveling all spring - it was time for one more long trip. I was asked to attend the big Artifishal screening in Seattle, and off I went. Seattle is a great city with a good fly fishing community and lots of great rivers close by. The Olympic peninsula, Vancouver Island and BC close gives the dedicated fisherman lots of options.

The night at Egyptian Theater was a truly great event. 800 people attending and a good positive feeling that we do good in changing people’s mind understanding what the bad hatcheries and the fish farming madness really do. Pudget sound and Washington state is badly affected. The killer whales are starving because of the lack of fish and the wild stocks are declining rapidly – we need a change here fast or the wild Chinooks and the southern resident killer whales will go extinct. As all over the world the top of the food chain is where the unbalanced ecosystem first show. It was an honor to be on stage with Josh Murphy, Dylan Tomine, Amy Cordalis and Laura Wagner, all safely handled by Nora Rothman. I shared the horrible fish farming situation of Norway, Iceland and UK. I think we did good; the Q&A was great with serious interest from the environmentally concerned audience. An important event!

After the show we were invited to join Debbie Giles to see their work with saving the wales. Killer whales, Orcas have always been on my wishlist to see. “The wolfs of the see”, fantastic creatures with a brain bigger than ours, where the different pods “speak” their own language. Intelligent and perfectly shaped to hunt the open seas. A couple of days gave close contact with two of the northern Orca pods, humph back whales, proposes, seals, sea lions and mighty eagles. This vulnerable ecosystem is remarkably diverse and needs to be kept for future generations. We need to speed up  un-damming the rivers, stop the hatchery madness, keep the greedy fish farming companies out and let the wild fish come back to fill the rivers and feed the few orcas that are left.

Please sign the petition here and show that you care about saving this magnificent part of the world!