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
Applications of Paleolimnology
Leading scientists and researchers reviewed sediment core studies conducted in sockeye salmon nursery lakes in BC and Alaska.
Dr. Irene Gregory-Eaves
Department of Biology, McGill University Introduction to Paleolimnological techniques: What can lake sediments can tell us about past salmon abundance?
Dr. Daniel Schindler
School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington Translating variation in sediment 15N into pre-historical salmon population dynamics.
Dr. Bruce Finney
Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University The fate of salmon-derived nutrients: Insights from lake studies in Alaska.
B.C. Liberals show a paler shade of green
Idea that Liberal victory was due to climate policy is just plain silly By Chris Genovali, Special to the Times Colonist, May 22, 2009 Counterpunch, May 23 Reflecting on the noise of the just concluded provincial election, an amusing turn of phrase that appeared on the American political blog Firedoglake.com comes to mind: “Yea, Though…
Dr. Peter Leavitt
Department of Biology, University of Regina The importance of salmon-derived nutients on lake ecosystems