Shifting salmon policy
Photo by Alex Harris.
Ecosystems are complex. They are communities of living organisms connected through interacting processes and features on the land, in water, and between the two. Yet BC’s antiquated environmental policy doesn’t reflect this. Colonial society governs ecosystems by siloing them into distinct ministries and resources instead of reflecting the interconnected nature of habitats that make them function in the living world. This “siloed decision making”is the root cause of many of the ecological challenges we face today.
Our policy goals
1. Manage fisheries for ecosystems
- Set salmon harvest at levels that optimize the benefits of spawning salmon to watersheds and wildlife.
- Shift away from historic management paradigms that minimize the number of spawning salmon reaching rivers and maximize harvest (called Maximum Sustainable Yield). Move towards fisheries management that meets salmon spawning targets that are ecologically based, not harvest-based.
- Shift harvest toward selective terminal fisheries (conducted in or near the rivers of origin) that respect the ‘place-based’ nature of salmon, and optimize the benefits to ecosystems, Indigenous cultures, and local communities.
2. Implement ecological-based governance
- Conservation planning and a commitment to sustainability that looks 7 generations ahead.
- A “whole-of-government” approach that implements shared solutions by Indigenous, federal, provincial, and municipal governments to achieve salmon recovery from inland watersheds and rivers, to the open ocean.
- Governance that honours Aboriginal rights and title, inherent Indigenous jurisdiction and law, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).
- Sustainable funding strategies for watershed-scale restoration and planning.
3. Advance land-use policies that prioritize the health of wild salmon and biodiversity
- Zoning that bolsters functioning watersheds and riparian habitat (i.e.protect natural features, limit impervious surfaces, reduce urban sprawl, adopt nature-based solutions).
- Forestry policy that prioritizes salmon health by restricting clear-cutting in salmon watersheds, and incentivizes a sustainable, second or third-growth forest economy.
- Climate adaptation policy that incentivizes nature-based solutions including natural shorelines, intact riparian areas, unrestricted floodplains, managed retreat, and use of rain-gardens in urban areas.
Our recent reports
Recent articles
New study of sea lice on juvenile Fraser River Sockeye
North Island Gazette
February 17, 2011
A new study published by researchers from Raincoast, Watershed Watch, UVic and SFU shows a link between salmon farms and sea lice on juvenile Fraser River sockeye salmon…
Raincoast responds to fish farm comments in Vancouver Sun
Raincoast responds to industry letter in Vancouver Sun that dismisses fish farms as a problem for wild salmon…
Dogs as sentinels of disease in wildlife and humans
Exposure to infectious agents in dogs in remote coastal British Columbia: Possible sentinels of diseases in wildlife and humans. Heather M. Bryan, Chris T. Darimont, Paul C. Paquet, John A. Ellis, Noriko Goji, Maëlle Gouix, Judit E. Smits Citation Bryan, Heather M., Chris T. Darimont, Paul C. Paquet, John A. Ellis, Noriko Goji, Maëlle Gouix, and Judit…
Researchers link fish farms to sea lice on Fraser sockeye
By Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist
Sea lice are spreading from fish farm salmon to young Fraser River sockeye as they migrate through the Strait of Georgia, a new study has found…
Study the first link between farms and sockeye
Courier-Islander
A new study published Monday by researchers from Raincoast and Watershed Watch provides the first link between salmon farms and elevated levels of sea lice on juvenile Fraser River sockeye salmon…