Hatcheries have failed to protect or restore the old ages, big sizes, range of migration times and diversity of wild Chinook salmon. For Southern Residents to recover, the age structure and run timing of wild Chinook runs, along with abundance, need to be restored. This is not the objective of hatcheries…
The Fraser River in British Columbia remains one of the world’s most productive salmon rivers. Equally significant is the Fraser River’s estuary, which serves as vital habitat for fish, bird, and mammal species that are linked across thousands of kilometers of the Northeast Pacific Ocean. All Fraser River populations of salmon…
One hundred years ago, whaling largely extirpated humpback and fin whales from the inside waters of the B.C. coast. As the federal government looks to codify a 35-year moratorium on oil-tanker traffic into law, these whale populations are recovering and returning to their historic feeding grounds…
A coalition of six conservation groups commend the federal government’s new measures to support Southern Resident killer whale recovery. The measures are the boldest yet; greater whale-watching restrictions, expanded voluntary slow downs for international shipping and the creation of no-vessel zones in feeding areas. However, important feeding areas protected from fishing are smaller than last year’s areas, allowing less protection for whales and more areas for fishing…
This has been a time of remarkable accomplishment for the Raincoast Applied Conservation Science Lab at the University of Victoria. The research that the lab produces is a dynamic mix of population analyses, biogeography, marine-terrestrial interactions and much more, all rooted in a ‘wildlife welfare’ ethic. Collaboration with Indigenous communities forms the hallmark of much of this work, which is being directly applied…
The National Energy Board (NEB) has recommended that the Trans Mountain expansion project should proceed despite the “significant adverse effects” of oil tankers on the critically endangered population of Southern Resident killer whales. Although we disagree with the NEB’s conclusion, their review of the project effects on killer whales is forthright and portrays the severity of the current situation…
In order to recover and sustainably manage depleted wild salmon populations, place-based management and the restoration of salmon watersheds is the best way forward given the changing environmental conditions that confront these fish and the value that British Columbians place on them.
The federal government recently announced its refusal to issue an emergency order, despite the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans’ recommendation to do so. Although we commend the ministers for recommending an emergency order be used, we are deeply disappointed that Cabinet rejected what we believe to be the best available tool to recover these whales…
As the endangered Southern Resident killer whale population continues to struggle from the combined forces of noise, pollution and food (i.e. Chinook) availability, Raincoast Conservation Foundation has released a report that highlights the risks posed to wild salmon in the Lower Fraser River from an expanded Trans Mountain pipeline…
The Southern Resident killer whale population needs your voice to demand that the new federal Fisheries Minister, Jonathan Wilkinson, issue an emergency order that also includes the following actions…
The Canadian federal government’s purchase of the Trans Mountain project from Kinder Morgan is financially and environmentally dubious. With this decision, Trans Mountain should now be renamed Taxpayer Mountain…
The National Energy Board recommended approval of the Trans Mountain expansion knowing the Kinder Morgan project would jeopardize the survival of the Southern Residents…