Hello, out there! This may well be the best kept secret and the hornets nest of the Northwest for the last century. After 15 years of research I have come to the conclusion to believe that the AEC in collusion with Department of the Interior acting as Big Brother sent a memo to the State of Washington fish and game department to place the white sturgeon as an endangered and protected species in the snake river drainage years ago as a cover for a more serious situation than John Q Public was ever aware of or could fathom was even possible except for those sworn to secrecy. The tip for me came many years ago (back in the 90's) when I read an article in the newspaper (I believe it was an AP small editorial) about the story of a man who did a bit of research along the snake river and came up with a very intriguing piece of information. After collecting a batch of blackberrys along the river, he took them home and made a batch of blackberry preserves. It doesn't seem out of the ordinary up to this point, but what happens next I believe starts to raise a few eyebrows in Washington D.C. Our backyard scientist owns a geiger counter. Thats right! Hold on to your seats folks. This jar of preserves went off the chart and whammed the needle to a very hard right. The thing he did was send a jar of these preserves to the secretary of the interior with this wonderful information. Now to delve into this issue in more serious parameters, I got to thinking , say this guy wasn't using super high tech equipment like is available 20 years later. So we get back the big Q ? How much? What kind? Where? When? Present day bio-risk? Well lets address a few thoughts on just how much. A very good long time friend of mine came down with severe liver cancer and died shortly thereafter, this happened just a just a couple years before the AP editorial came out in the mid 90's. We were saddened by the loss but just left it to fate. All be it seemed to me strange that a seemingly healthy, fairly young and not even middle aged person, no alcohol or drugs would go like this. But not until several years later after I read the editorial on the snake river did something my friend who had passed away, once had told me. The lights went on when I remembered from years before that my friend told me how much they loved to eat sturgeon, 30 to 40 lbs. a year from the snake river and columbia river drainage system. After doing some research and seeing how incredibly long they live and realizing that strontium 90 is active for 900 years the picture began to unfold. The berries, the cancer, the fish. But this is only the tip of the iceberg! The other half of this story that I believe is of coverup and deceit as us americans seemed to have gotten our fair share, I will deal with later, barring censorship by our beloved Uncle Sam. But for now if you know of similar circumstances of this type involving the possible effect of the ingesting of snake river sturgeon by friends and or loved oned, please email or leave a post. I would greatly appreciate your comments, as they may help reveal more truth on this serious matter. Very Sincerely yours Scotty.

Your information is almost correct. This story is not new. The berries were collected along the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, not the Snake. And yes, that guy made jam and sent it to the governor of Washington (It might have been Dixie Lee Ray, but I don't remember) to highlight the radioactivity leaking from the Hanford Nuke Reservation. Clean-up has been underway ever since. Fortunately, he also enclosed a note telling the Gov not to eat the jam.

My condolences on the loss of your friend. Indeed, I wouldn't eat any long lived fish, or anything else, from the Hanford Reach for the reasons you've just stated.

What do you expect, it is down wind from Hanford.

I think the guy's name was Norm Buske? The one who sent the jam to the Governor?

Fish on...

Todd

I grew up in the Tri-Cities and have caught/ate sturgeon (along with almost every other type of fish in the river) from the reach my whole life (no were close to 40-60lbs a year) and no problems as of yet.

That settles it then...............

http://columbiariverkeeper.org/top-stori...kshops-613-614/



Good people here who actually give a chit about the Columbia.

Eating 30-40 pounds of any bottom feeding muck dweller; sturg, cats, crayfish, etc., in damn near any waterway (especially those inland, bordered by highly developed areas and agriculture) nowdays will carry a high degree of risk.

Biomagnification of toxins is a nasty mother...

Makes me think too of the Columbia river estuary fishery. I would hope/think those fish are periodically tested for eatability by both OR & WA?? I know the fish in the above story are above dams and in a different section of river but all that "hot" water goes downhill to the estuary too.