Marin County Fair Part II

FIN was showered with love and affection today by all the families visiting the Ecosperience section of the County Fair. During a lull in the action, FIN had some questions of her own:

"Why is there a special section at the fair for the "ecosperience"? Isn't EVERY moment an ecological experience for humans?"

We had to admit that FIN had a good point. She was curious about what other experiences humans had that were outside of the "ecosperience" so we took a short tour of the fair.

FIN was particularly interested in the agricultural section of the fair where the petting zoo is located.
"Why aren't we in the there with the rest of the animals?," asked FIN. (FIN is full of questions).

We explained to FIN that she represents wild salmon, not farmed salmon. FIN remembered having seen farm-raised salmon that had escaped from their net pens in The Pacific Northwest. "They are really out of place", she remembered. "They compete with us for food and spread diseases but mostly they die because they are not suited to life in the wild."

We discussed how farm-raised salmon are as bad for humans as they are for wild salmon. The major points of our conversation are described here.

Recently, Save our Wild Salmon has worked with top chefs from around the country to educate Congress and the public about the differences between wild Pacific salmon and farm-raised salmon. You can read more about that work (including a letter the Chef's sent to Congress) here.

By the end of our little trip, FIN was glad to be back educating kids at the Ecosperience and hanging out with our friends from SPAWN. FIN was glad to learn that other groups are working locally to protect wild salmon and she was really interested to hear about the endangered coho salmon and steelhead that SPAWN works to protect in Marin County's Lagunitas and San Geronimo Creeks.

Tomorrow we are off to a parade in Woodacre, CA.

"What's a parade?," FIN asked (still with the questions!).

We explained that a parade is kind of like a school of fish, except that there are usually no fish and lots of human children.

FIN is totally psyched to be in a parade!