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6PPD-quinone is alone not enough to explain the salmon decline, the concentrations of 6PPD-Q mostly peak near urban areas after the start of the rainy season.

6PPD-quinone is alone not enough to explain the salmon decline, the concentrations of 6PPD-Q mostly peak near urban areas after the start of the rainy season. However, replacing 6PPD with a different anti-oxidant is a no-brainer. There are plenty of other alternatives, and this time the industry is making sure to pick something that won't be toxic to some form of bumblebee after exposure to nitrogen oxides. There's a report with the list of best alternatives so far: https://www.ustires.org/largest-global-tire-industry-consortium-releases-preliminary-6ppd-alternatives-analysis-report https://www.ustires.org/largest-global-tire-industry-consort...

mattgrice 2y ago
I am quite certain that nobody ever claimed that banning 6-PPD was enough. I get your sentiment, it's totally not enough. Especially since it hasn't been banned, and to the extent progress has been made, it looks like they are slow-walking it. The cuyahoga river caught fire in cleveland in 1969, the EPA was founded about 1.5 years later, the bill signed by Nixon. You are correct, we are not doing enough.
steve_adams_86 2y ago
I know here in BC there was a virus we determined to be a major factor in salmon deaths (largely spread by salmon farms along the coast), which lead to respiratory damage in the fish immediately before they would spawn. At the time, our department of fisheries was saying “we know this isn’t the sole cause of the decline, but it’s a significant part of it” and other factors were thought to be overfishing, climate change, and pollutants. So, this dovetails nicely with that theory. One of the things they stressed was that we probably wouldn’t be overfishing if the pollutants and disease factors were gone. This message, I believe, lead to a lot of bad press for fish farms which thankfully lead to a lack of support and the eventual removal of them from our waters (though we still have some remaining, eventually they will be gone). If we can solve the pollution factor, maybe we will see improved salmon returns. If people are aware of which pollutants to target, perhaps we will see a similar revolt against them like we did with fish farms. Here’s hoping.

mattgrice 2y ago

I am quite certain that nobody ever claimed that banning 6-PPD was enough. I get your sentiment, it's totally not enough. Especially since it hasn't been banned, and to the extent progress has been made, it looks like they are slow-walking it. The cuyahoga river caught fire in cleveland in 1969, the EPA was founded about 1.5 years later, the bill signed by Nixon. You are correct, we are not doing enough.

steve_adams_86 2y ago

I know here in BC there was a virus we determined to be a major factor in salmon deaths (largely spread by salmon farms along the coast), which lead to respiratory damage in the fish immediately before they would spawn. At the time, our department of fisheries was saying “we know this isn’t the sole cause of the decline, but it’s a significant part of it” and other factors were thought to be overfishing, climate change, and pollutants. So, this dovetails nicely with that theory. One of the things they stressed was that we probably wouldn’t be overfishing if the pollutants and disease factors were gone. This message, I believe, lead to a lot of bad press for fish farms which thankfully lead to a lack of support and the eventual removal of them from our waters (though we still have some remaining, eventually they will be gone). If we can solve the pollution factor, maybe we will see improved salmon returns. If people are aware of which pollutants to target, perhaps we will see a similar revolt against them like we did with fish farms. Here’s hoping.