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 paper tells story of Vancouver Island wolves
The latest publication from the Raincoast carnivore team and collaborators confirms the hybridization of domestic dogs and wild wolves on Vancouver Island.
Human-driven Evolution
Raincoast’s Chris Darimont speaks to NPR Ira Flatow, host of NPR’s Science Friday, interviews Raincoast’s Dr. Chris Darimont on the impacts of human predation on the evolution of hunted species. click here for the interview Can humans angling for the prize-winning fish shift the course of evolution? Research published this week in the Proceedings of…
Grizzly hunt ban should remain in place
by Chris Genovali Rocky Mountain Outlook September 16, 2009 Re: Is there a need for a bear hunt? (RMO, Sept. 3) It’s mystifying that the province is actually considering lifting the ban on the trophy hunt given the paucity of grizzlies in Alberta.
Distribution and abundance of marine mammals in coastal BC
Williams, R. and L. Thomas. 2007. Distribution and abundance of marine mammals in the coastal waters of British Columbia, Canada. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management. 9(1):15-28 Marine mammal abundance paper.pdf
Designing line transect surveys for the BC coast
Thomas, L., R. Williams, and D. Sandilands, D. 2007. Designing line transect surveys for complex survey regions. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management. 9(1):1-13, Survey Design Paper.pdf