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
Dr. Kim Hyatt
Pacific Biological Station, Fisheries and Oceans Canada Escapement data pitfalls and time series reconstructions for paleoindicators
Bear deaths upset animal activists
18 problem grizzly bears were put down in 2007 and 2008 By John Colebourn, The Province May 10, 2009 Animal-rights activists are outraged over the number of grizzly bears being shot in the Bella Coola valley on the central coast.
Environment debate should be the focus
by Chris Genovali Saanich News May 8, 2009 The May 1 News editorial: “Let’s get down to business” rightly laments that “we are less than two weeks away from election day in B.C. and we’re still waiting for the campaign to present significant debate
“Control kills” of grizzlies out of control on central coast
by Chris Genovali Georgia Straight May 8, 2009 A disturbing number of grizzly bears are being shot as so-called “control kills” in the Bella Coola valley on the central coast.
Ocean World winners
Jason Jau, Jim Ricks and Carolyn Zarry. Thank you to our sponsors and the Victoria Children’s Choir for an unforgettable performance !
Harvest-related trait changes in an increasingly variable world
Darimont, C.T., S.M. Carlson, M.T. Kinnison, P.C. Paquet, T.E. Reimchen, and C.C. Wilmers. 2009. Reply to Koons: Harvest-related trait changes in an increasingly variable world. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (On-line Letters).