Letter to The Honourable Joanne Thompson

June 18, 2025

The Honourable Joanne Thompson
Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the
Canadian Coast Guard House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
Sent via email to: DFO [dot] Minister-Ministre [dot] MPO [at] dfo-mpo [dot] gc [dot] ca

CC: Sandra Davies, North Coast Area Director; Anna Classen, Regional Director General; Kurtis Layden, Director of Policy, Office of the Minister

Subject: Urgent need to reinstate charter patrolmen contracts for 2025

Dear Minister Thompson,

We are writing to express our serious concern over Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s failure to renew full contracts for charter patrolmen—commonly known as “creekwalkers”—on British Columbia’s north and central coasts for the 2025 season.

We recently learned that creekwalkers for B.C.’s north and central coast regions have not yet received contracts for this season. The salmon are on their way to their home rivers, already showing up in fishing nets.

This issue affects a substantial proportion of B.C.’s salmon populations. Unless there is urgent action, there will be a loss in monitoring of this year’s salmon return, a failure that harms both fisheries management and conservation efforts. This oversight undermines the federal government’s commitments to the conservation and sustainable management of wild salmon; iconic Canadian fish that are ecologically and economically vital to British Columbia. Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike depend on wild salmon—not only for food security and local livelihoods, but as part of their identity and cultural survival. Salmon also nourish bears, eagles, forests, and the coastal ecosystem itself.

The salmon runs in the north coast region of B.C. are particularly vulnerable to being caught by Alaskan fisheries. A lack of data on the status of our salmon would weaken ongoing negotiations with Alaska and the USA as part of the Pacific Salmon Treaty process.

Along with Indigenous guardians, creekwalkers are the eyes and ears of salmon stewardship on the ground. These experienced patrolmen provide essential, real-time data on the health and abundance of returning wild salmon stocks by literally walking streams, counting spawners, and documenting habitat conditions. Their work, and the escapement data that comes from it, is a cornerstone of sustainable fisheries management that helps inform crucial decisions about in-season harvest levels, conservation measures, and long-term recovery planning. Creekwalkers are also important in the monitoring of commercial fisheries.

DFO’s priorities and procedures on this matter require an overhaul. We understand that contract renewal is in progress and may have been delayed by the election and associated budget considerations, but further delays may jeopardize early season assessments. Moreover, it is unacceptable that the essential services provided by our charter patrolmen are vulnerable to these predictable factors. Charter patrolmen should be among your ministry’s highest priorities for funding. These professionals have intimate knowledge of our coast and its rivers and they provide tremendous value for taxpayers. Perpetual uncertainty around contract renewal is not only unfair to these dedicated professionals, but also undermines Canada’s ability to retain their services. On-the-ground stock assessment efforts for wild salmon runs in B.C. are already at their lowest levels in the modern history of DFO. With climate change, habitat degradation, and industrial pressures compounding the challenges facing wild salmon, further diminishment or uncertainty in this critical monitoring work on the north coast is unacceptable.

We urge you to immediately address this gap by ensuring DFO fully funds the 2025 charter patrol season and commit to long term funding of the charter patrolmen going forward. It is a relatively small investment with outsized benefits for wild salmon and the people who depend on them.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss it further and support solutions that uphold responsible salmon stewardship.

Sincerely,

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