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
The Captain and Kermode
Seaside Times
December 2010
By Chris Genovali
Captain Brian Falconer has headed Raincoast’s Marine Operations Program for the past eight years, overseeing the operation of our coast guard certified research vessel, Achiever…
Including wildlife in fisheries management just makes sense
The Northern View
Published: November 30, 2010
By Chris Genovali and Misty MacDuffee
As this year’s returning wild salmon headed upstream, scientists spawned a game-changing idea about how taking less salmon might bring more benefits to ecosystems and economies…
‘Criticism of sea lice study unfounded’ says Raincoast
Raincoast’s executive director Chris Genovali and salmon biologist Michael Price respond to industry criticism of our sea lice study in the Courier-Islander…
Sea lice study called misleading
Sea lice from fish farms appear to have spread to wild salmon in a much wider area of coastal B.C. than previously believed, shows a newly published paper by the Raincoast Conservation Foundation…
Scientists Urge Canada to Protect Its Rainforests
Raincoast senior scientist Dr. Paul Paquet is a co-author of new book highlighting the urgent need for Canada to protect its rainforests as climate change insurance…
Lice affect more salmon than thought, study says
By Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist
November 11, 2010
Sea lice from fish farms appear to have spread to wild salmon in a much wider area of coastal B.C. than previously believed, a newly published study concludes…