Misty MacDuffee is a biologist with Raincoast's wild salmon program. She has spent over 20 years working in watersheds on BC’s coast advocating for the protection of salmon-based ecosystems. Misty’s work focuses on salmon management and the need to consider whales, bears and other wildlife within fisheries management. More about Misty.
Hatcheries have failed to protect or restore the old ages, big sizes, range of migration times and diversity of wild Chinook salmon. For Southern Residents to recover, the age structure and run timing of wild Chinook runs, along with abundance, need to be restored. This is not the objective of hatcheries…
On May 10, the Canadian federal government announced its first wide-ranging measures to reduce the primary threats compromising survival of the salmon-eating Southern Resident killer whales reliant on the transboundary waters of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. Although federally listed as endangered in 2003 in Canada and 2005 in the US, little has happened…
One hundred years ago, whaling largely extirpated humpback and fin whales from the inside waters of the B.C. coast. As the federal government looks to codify a 35-year moratorium on oil-tanker traffic into law, these whale populations are recovering and returning to their historic feeding grounds…
The National Energy Board (NEB) has recommended that the Trans Mountain expansion project should proceed despite the “significant adverse effects” of oil tankers on the critically endangered population of Southern Resident killer whales. Although we disagree with the NEB’s conclusion, their review of the project effects on killer whales is forthright and portrays the severity of the current situation…
While we disagree with the NEB’s conclusion, we acknowledge that their review of the effects on killer whales accurately portrays the complexity and severity of the situation.
In order to recover and sustainably manage depleted wild salmon populations, place-based management and the restoration of salmon watersheds is the best way forward given the changing environmental conditions that confront these fish and the value that British Columbians place on them.
The reality is that calves like Lucky only have a 40% chance of survival. More sobering still is the fact that no calves have survived in this population in the last three years. This is why we have stopped using images…
2018 closes with just 74 Southern Resident killer whales remaining in the world. You’ve been with us through a year of huge wins and some heartbreaking losses and it’s worth a recap as we close the year and prepare for 2019. January – With 76 Southern Residents remaining, Raincoast and partners petition the government to…
The federal government recently announced its refusal to issue an emergency order, despite the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans’ recommendation to do so. Although we commend the ministers for recommending an emergency order be used, we are deeply disappointed that Cabinet rejected what we believe to be the best available tool to recover these whales…
The Southern Resident killer whale population needs your voice to demand that the new federal Fisheries Minister, Jonathan Wilkinson, issue an emergency order that also includes the following actions…
Last week, the government announced fisheries closures in some key Southern Resident foraging areas. While welcome news, the measures only partially address our concerns over food availability and disturbance to endangered killer whales…
One of the most abundant fish in BC waters, Raincoast scientists are studying the interactions between Pacific Herring and the coastal food web. Studies include the relationships between herring spawn events and the terrestrial mammals who feed upon them.