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
Ecological factors drive genetic differentiation in British Columbia gray wolves
Muñoz-Fuentes, V., C.T. Darimont, R.K. Wayne, P.C. Paquet, and J.A. Leonard. 2009. Ecological factors drive genetic differentiation in British Columbia gray wolves. Journal of Biogeography. Munoz et al 2009.pdf
The genetic legacy of extirpation and re-colonization in Vancouver Island wolves
Muñoz-Fuentes, V., Darimont, C.T., Paquet, P.C. et al. The genetic legacy of extirpation and re-colonization in Vancouver Island wolves. Conserv Genet 11, 547–556 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-009-9974-1 Conservation Genetics 2009 pdf
Time for action against eBay
Chris Genovali Executive Director, Raincoast May 2009 Last fall I visited numerous watersheds in the Great Bear Rainforest where an unnatural silence filled the air due to the lack of returning salmon.
Take the Money and Run
by Chris Genovali Monday Magazine May 7, 2009 Re: “Take the Money and Run,” April 30-May 6 How interesting to read in Monday that Plutonic Power contributed almost $40,000 to the BC Liberals’ “war chest.”
eBay targeted by animal advocacy groups Big Wildlife and Raincoast Conservation
By Barbara Kessler May 6th, 2009 Green Right Now Some wildlife advocates are incensed that eBay continues to allow postings for trophy hunts of lions, leopards, bears, wolves and other predators.
Water diversions will hurt environment
By Chris Genovali, Paul Paquet and Misty MacDuffee Victoria Times Colonist May 3, 2009 The media have recently published many opinion pieces and news articles promoting independent power projects (IPPs) as crucial to solving climate change.