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
Climate change is real and demands a concerted effort
By Chris Genovali, Vancouver Sun, December 22, 2009 Re: The scare tacticians: ‘Scientists’ should face criminal prosecution, Dec. 18 David Warren’s paranoia-ridden anti-science polemic reads like something Sarah Palin would have penned. Come to think of it, she recently wrote an article in the Washington Post peddling the same kinds of fringe theories on climate…
Raincoast’s Heather Bryan celebrated by Wings WorldQuest
Raincoast’s Heather Bryan is celebrated by Wings World Quest for her work on wolves in Canada’s great bear rainforest. Click here to get the pdf story. Heather’s 2008 Wings World Quest report is available at: http://explore.wingsworldquest.org/BC_Bryan_2008.
Climategate’ a convenient sideshow to real issue
Victoria News, December 18, 2009 Re: Information confirms ‘climategate’ scandal (Letters, Dec. 4) Conspiracy theory prone climate change deniers have seized upon the alleged climategate controversy to demand a “cautious approach” at Copenhagen or even an abandonment of mitigation measures.
Climategate is a convenient sideshow
by Chris Genovali The Ottawa Citizen, December 18, 2009 Re: The myth of global warming, Dec 12. Columnist David Warren’s anti-science polemic reads like something Sarah Palin would have penned. Come to think of it, she recently had an opinion article in the Washington Post peddling the same kind of fringe theories on climate change…
‘Climategate’ is the first in a new wave of attacks
by Chris Genovali The Ecologist The emails hacked from the servers of the University of East Anglia continue to cause controversy. But it was not a singular attack, says Chris Genovali,just the only successful one so far… Sceptics in Canada have used the so-called ‘Climategate’ controversy to call for a cautious approach at COP 15…
Hopenhagen or Dopenhagen?
by Chris Genovali Truthout.org Dec. 18, 2009 Georgia Strait, Dec 17, 2009 Common Dreams, Dec 15, 2009 In the run-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen, an eclectic group made up primarily of corporations and media outlets put forward the notion of “Hopenhagen.” The following is extracted from their mission…