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
Facts from faeces: Prey remains in Wolf, Canis lupus, faeces revise occurrence records for mammals of British Columbia’s coastal archipelago.
Price, M.H.H., C.T. Darimont, N.N. Winchester, and P.C. Paquet. 2005. Facts from Faeces: Prey Remains in Wolf, Canis lupus, Faeces Revise Occurrence Records for Mammals of British Columbia’s Coastal Archipelago. The Canadian Field Naturalist 119(2): 192-196. Facts from faeces.pdf
First Days
Chris Williamson, From Bella Bella, BC May 2006 First Days tend to hold a special place in our minds. The feelings, whether they are excitement, nervousness, or anticipation, burn a lasting impression in our brains that can be recalled with a vividness rarely achieved by any day thereafter. Among the First Days etched most deeply…
Exploring the Land of C’idawai
Briony PennSalt Spring Island, BCMay 2006 In 1916, populations of sandhill crane were pushed to the verge of extinction from overhunting in the United States prompting the introduction of the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act. In Heiltsuk memory, these cranes, called c’idawai, that typically arrived in mid-April from their southern wintering grounds in the lower…
Modelling Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Distribution and Habitat in Coastal Temperate Rainforests of British Columbia, Canada
Swan, P.L. 2005. Modelling Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Distribution and Habitat in Coastal Temperate Rainforests of British Columbia, Canada. MSc. Thesis. University of Calgary. Department of Geography.
The Zen of Isotopes
I am master of the world’s smallest spoon. To be spoon master, one’s hand must be steady. My little spoon with its few grains of silt and sand must be placed into what seems like the world’s smallest capsule of foil. Once the sediment is inside, that capsule gets transferred to the balance. If it…
Great Bear Rainforest wins partial protection
Sixteen years ago, a small team of biologists and explorers traveled north from Vancouver Island. The weeks turned into months as they quietly sailed from river valley to river valley documenting for the first time the full extent of the Great Bear Rainforest. It was a life-changing voyage for those on board, sailing through the…