HELPING THE MUSEUM SPREAD ITS MESSAGE

Teachers or others interested in making their own branch of the Museums of Endangered Ocean Life, get in touch. We can help you find ways of helping kids create their own works of art and science that get posted in the museum, worldwide!

More importantly, we can help kids find ways to truly make a difference, no matter where they live. There is always something to do to make the world a better place, a healthier place, and more fun too. Fred can help put smiles on faces - faces of happier kids with new purpose in a new year!

Become a FRIEND OF FRED and help spread the word about those who help endangered species. Invite Fred to your school. He will bring lots of good information and connect you with others.

More information at whalemail@waypoint.com

Facing Future Explained

EXTINCT means gone, pau, from all places. Example, the O'o is extinct from its former forests in Hawaii. They no longer exist.

EXTIRPATEDmeans gone from a given area. Example, Grizzly Bears were extirpated from California about 1925. They still exist.

ENDANGERED means that a species is nearing extinction unless actions are taken immediately to save them. It is usually a legal term associated with the Endangered Species Act, but because this is a political tool, it does not always reflect accurate science. Example: the Hawaiian Monk Seal is endangered and will likely become extinct.

THREATENED means that a species is likely to near extinction and become endangered unless actions are taken to protect it and its habitat. Example: Bald Eagles were threatened but have been removed from this list due to habitat protection and reductions in use of chemicals such as DDT.

SPECIES OF CONCERN: Many states have lists that include species not covered under federal protection as endangered or threatened. These may be species extirpated from the state, but present in greater numbers in neighboring areas.

Unfortunately, no reasonable approach has been worked out to list endangered habitats, the primary living space for all life forms. To many scientists, the entire Arctic is now endangered. Imagine, as Richard Ellis says, "If Australia were suddenly to disappear, don't you think we would wake up and do something?" Well, we are losing an area about the size and importance of Australia as the Arctic disappears, transforming due to climate change and taking with it the Polar Bears, Bowhead Whales, and Peoples dependent on that vast ecosystem.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

CHINOOK SALMON




What can I add to the chinook litany?
I was a boy catching them and releasing the juveniles
for reasons hard to explain in 1960.
Somehow, I had learned the difference between coho,
chinook, and cutthroat trout. Steelhead too.
The chinooks I loved so much for their black etching on fins
and sleek, steel sides.
It wasn't until my friend Mike Reed and I worked for the
Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe
and when friend, Jim Lichatowich and I
discovered their mysterious movements
that I truly fell in love with these fish.

Of course, there were earlier days when my wife, Brenda
landed a 42 pounder
and my father in law taught me much about catching big fish, commercially.
but those were days of plenty.

We. Mike. Jim. And I.
We tried to teach salmon as Mike would say.
Try to get people to realize these fish were disappearing.

And now, I go to the store and see them for sale.
Endangered Chinook. Smoked.

And just tonight, I walk the beach to see their home so destroyed
by cruise ships, overfishing, plastic, indifference.

When will we ever learn.
When will we ever learn.

Chinook Salmon.
Artwork by the most generous, Jocelyn Slack.

Thanks Jocelyn.

If you are the lucky person to own an original Jocelyn piece of art,
You will also be treated to a special chinook salmon field trip
to the Dungeness River
Strait of Juan de Fuca
and More!

Enter the Museum and Enter the world of salmon, orcas, and wider oceans!
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