Kayakers paddling for the plight of salmon

Pair heads to Alaska to study salmon

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

Nine kayakers lined up at Gig Harbor’s public boat ramp in the Sunday drizzle to join two special paddlers for an early morning jaunt around the harbor. Husband-and-wife team Apryle Craig and Phil Magistro invited the group to see them off at the beginning of their summer-long journey from Gig Harbor to Alaska.

The pair embarked on their “Go Wild” expedition to visit salmon farms along the coast of British Columbia and to raise awareness for the decline of wild Pacific salmon.

“Salmon are the backbone of the ecosystem here,” Craig said. “So many things depend on them. Without the salmon, there won’t be bears, bald eagles or orcas.”

Magistro said that, in eight years, there is expected to be localized extinction of pink and chum salmon in the Pacific Northwest.

“These are the two most popular salmon species here,” he said. “This is a repeat of what happened in Europe and the old-world countries. But we can change that.”

The pair has been planning the one-way, 1,200-mile trip since last summer. They plan to follow the historic Inside Passage route and end up in Glacier Bay or Skagway.

After kayaking around the San Juan Islands last summer, Craig and Magistro wanted to set off on a more challenging journey, but they wanted to make the trip meaningful.

“I absolutely, positively love animals,” Craig said. “We wanted to combine the trip with something we could promote. Since salmon is so important here, we decided to study the fish farms and get information we can soak in.”

Through their research, the couple discovered British Columbia has more than 100 open-net fish farms. The trapped environment, over a period of many months, causes parasites among the fish that flow through the nets into the ocean.

“Juvenile wild salmon heading down rivers are passing by the fish farms and picking up parasites,” Magistro said. “Leftover medications and escaped farmed fish are also being flushed into the ocean. A lot of people view fish farms as being environmentally friendly. They would be, if they changed their practices.”

The goal is not to shut down the fish farms, Magistro said, but to try to get the farms to keep the fish in an enclosed environment for the duration of their lives so their diseases are not transferred to the wild.

“We’ve been in contact with the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association and hope to tour some farms in Middle Bay. B.C. has an experimental closed containment facility we’d like to see.”

While searching for sponsors, the couple stirred up the interest of the Living Ocean Society, an environmental organization that quickly took on the expedition as part of its “Eyes and Ears of the Coast” project that gathers public reports of suspected unethical or illegal salmon farming behavior.

The society focuses exclusively on marine conservation issues and is located in Sointula, a small fishing village on the Central Coast of British Columbia.

The kayakers plan to stop in Sointula on their tour and give a presentation of their work on June 6. Anacortes, Friday Harbor and Nanaimo also are towns slated for visits during the tour.

“It won’t just be four months of total isolation,” Magistro said with a laugh. “We’d like to visit Ketchikan, if weather and time permits. We have lots of options. We’re trying to take it one day at a time.”

The couple sent several supply packages ahead to the post office general delivery along the coast. While not in town, they plan to camp out at state parks.

Magistro has a strong kayaking background and was introduced to the sport while he worked in a kayak shop similar to REI. Craig has a mountaineering background and is a long-distance runner.

While they prepared for the trip, they met many friends, like Beth Wolf of Harbor Wildwatch and Barbara Eccher and Gay McCray of Gig Harbor Rent-a-Boat, who not only organized the morning paddle but invited the two over for dinner the night before the launch.

“The folks of Gig Harbor went above and beyond what we experienced in any other town,” Craig said. “We searched high and low to get momentum behind this trip. We felt really welcome here.”

The couple also found strong supporters in Current Designs, which provided the kayaks, and Werner, who provided the paddles. Craig said what she looked forward to most on the trip was seeing the area wildlife.

“I hope we see a lot of wildlife,” she said. “I am really hoping to run into a (orca) pod.”

Get involved with saving salmon

Apryle Craig and Phil Magistro have a Web site, http://gowild.elevatedattitude.com, dedicated to their cause.

To learn more about supporting salmon, visit www.adopt-a-fry.org.