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Fish – Catching, Canning, Eating… The Chain of Supply is Broken

The canneries and fish processing plants have help from the Canadian government.  They need people to catch the fish that they process.

Canneries & fish processing plants need (incomplete list of real needs!):

  • Fish
  • People
  • Machinery
  • Trucking
  • Markets

Let’s take this a bit further

– To commercially catch a fish one needs (incomplete list of real needs!):

  • a Boat
  • a Fishing License
  • Fishing Gear
  • Communication Equipment
  • PPE
  • Nets or Tackle
  • a Crew

– To build a Boat one needs (incomplete list of real needs!):

  • Space, preferably Light Industrial
  • Plans
  • Material – Aluminum, Steel, Wood, Fiberglass, Engine, Doors, Door Knobs, Windows,  Windshield Wipers, Steering Wheels, Hydraulics, Electronics…
  • a Crew – Welders, Carpenters, Fiberglass Specialists, Machinists, Mechanics, Electricians, Plumbers (only sometimes)…
  • Inspections
  • Certifications
  • Sales People and Office Staff
  • a Customer
  • old boats need the same thing at their beginnings

– that ‘Space’ thing (incomplete list of real needs!):

  • Light Industrial or Commercial Space
  • a place large enough to build that boat in
    • 30′ depth for a small boat
    • under cover or inside a building for those smaller boats – a shipyard works for both smaller and larger boats
    • doors or gates wide enough to allow the finished or partially finished boat to be pulled out
    • property large enough for a semi with a trailer to maneuver in

The Lists of needs to get a can of fish into a grocery store.  Areas needing support that have been missed in these lists?

  • Power Generation
  • Water Systems
  • Hospitals and Clinics
  • Mines
  • Smelters and Foundries
  • Forestry
  • Lumberyards
  • Pulp & Paper Mills
  • Plastics Producers
  • Chemical Producers
  • Schools, Trades Schools, Colleges, Universities
  • Government Apprenticeship Programs
  • Wholesalers & Distributors
  • Retailers
  • Clothing Manufacturers
  • Restaurants
  • Printers
  • Farmers
  • Truckers
  • Medical Professionals
  • Lawyers and Accounts

Not an exhaustive list by any standard.

An exhaustive list would include every industry and every large, medium and small business, run by a Canadian.  An exhaustive list would include every person in Canada, every person around the world.  We can connect every one if the list is exhaustive enough.  Consilience cannot be either ignored or done away with.  The chain of supply is consilience.  The chain of supply, is broken.

Mr. Trudeau,  with all due respect…  What do you suppose your patch for the Fish Processing Plants is going to do without the necessary support for all of the other small and independent businesses (Fishers, Farmers, Truck Drivers) that you have cut out of this chain?  All those businesses that the fish processing plants and canneries depend on.  All those, mostly small, businesses and individuals that do not qualify for any of your handouts?

We can talk about the Meat Processing Plants another day.  I am certain that you really will be getting to the individuals that you have been seeming to ignore.  It is just that those individuals who are without support are just not nearly as needy as the multi-million dollar grossing corporations that own the fish and meat processing plants. Or, maybe we should just follow your money offshore?

~~~

Further Reading:

I, Pencil by Leonard E. Read.  Introduction by Milton Friedman

 

A Precis on Pink Salmon

We enjoy watching birds in bird houses!

Bees get bee boxes

Salmon have a better chance of successfully spawning in purpose-built spawning channels.

I have written a precis.  I write very short summaries when I am doing research papers for the classes I take at the local polytechnic.  I think it might make sense to put some of them here.

It is salmon season in British Columbia and so I have randomly chosen a research article on salmon spawning.

The Article:

Cook, K.V., McConnachie, S.H., Gilmour, K.M., Hinch, S.G., Cooke, S.J., 2011. Fitness and Behavioral Correlates of Pre-Stress and Stress-Induced Plasma Cortisol Titers in Pink Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) Upon Arrival at Spawning Grounds. Hormones and Behavior, 60, 489-497.

My Precis

Aiding Pacific Pink Salmon with purpose-built spawning channels lowers stress levels and increases the chances of successful spawning.

My precis, expanded:

The hormone cortisol is produced by Pacific salmon en route to spawning grounds as a response to coping with the necessary imperative of spawning. As Pacific salmon have only a single breeding opportunity in their lifetime the natural stress effect of “natal stream homing” produces large amounts of cortisol and results in an early death.

The salmon in this study arrived in a fully monitored holding area where they were counted and examined before being released into an artificial spawning channel. Continued observation showed that the longer a female was in the spawning channel, the greater the chance she had of dropping and defending her eggs successfully. This study links reproductive success to cortisol levels and the findings are consistent with other studies and with evolutionary theory in that cortisol levels and stress response are indicators of sexual maturity and spawning success.

More variability in cortisol levels have been found in salmon spawning in the wild than in artificial spawning runs suggests that there may be factors for success other than cortisol levels to be taken into account. Comparatively, there is a greater chance of spawning success in purpose-built spawning channels than in the wild.

Find the original article here:

http://www.fecpl.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/HB-Cook-et-al-2011.pdf

If you have any trouble locating the article please contact me or, call your local college or university library for assistance.

Please leave a comment.  Whether you agree or disagree with what I have understood from this article, your thoughts are of interest to me.  All published articles are, or should be, available to everyone.  Sometimes it takes a bit of effort…