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
Canine parvovirus and distemper virus in Rocky Mtn wolves
The presence of antibodies for canine parvovirus and distemper virus in Rocky Mtn wolves. Published in Journal of Wildlife Diseases
Skinny bear cubs baffle experts
By Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist January 6, 2011
Underweight bear cubs from all over the Island are being taken to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre in greater numbers than ever before…
Salmon management should include bears, whales, and other wildlife
As last year’s returning wild Pacific salmon headed upstream, scientists spawned a thought-provoking proposal about how taking less salmon might bring more benefits to both ecosystems and economies…
Tracking Raincoast into 2011
December 2010 By Chris Darimont, Director of Science for Raincoast This Holiday Season, I would like to share the introduction published in Tracking Raincoast into 2011. From my family to yours, I wish you all the best of 2011 and ask you to join me in honoring our precious coast. The future of coastal British…
Protecting bears by buying hunting rights
Raincoast now has a purchase agreement for a second commercial hunting territory in the Great Bear Rainforest, specifically in the home of the spirit bear…
Smooth Sailing for Oil Tankers?
CounterPunch
Christmas Weekend Edition December 24-26, 2010
By Chris Genovali and Misty MacDuffee
Recently, British Columbia MP (Member of Parliament) Gary Lunn asserted that professionals should be left to decide on oil tanker routes for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project…