Tag Archives: Aaron Hill

DFO ‘legacy of neglect’ leaves North Coast salmon to flounder

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Fisheries and Oceans Canada cut the monitoring of salmon streams along BC’s North and Central Coast, leaving critical stocks uncounted at the height of spawning season.

Seasonal “creek walkers” — contractors for the fisheries department (DFO) who trek along streams to record salmon returns — haven’t been hired as stocks return along the coast from Bella Bella to the Alaskan border, including major watersheds like the Skeena, Nass and Kitimat systems, says a coalition of conservation groups

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‘We should avoid monitoring’: feds quietly backed off while Coastal GasLink pipeline work killed fish

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

On a dreary gray day in late October, passers by gawked at a scene outside a hotel in Smithers, B.C. The charred remnants of several trucks sat in the parking lot in the wake of what police described as a “targeted attack” in the pre-dawn hours of the morning. 

Among the blackened wreckage were four police cruisers — marked and unmarked vehicles with the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group, a special task force assigned to police opposition to industrial projects. The controversial RCMP unit maintains a constant presence on Wet’suwet’en yintah (territory) where Coastal GasLink (CGL) is building a pipeline without the consent of the nation’s Hereditary Chiefs. 

Continue reading ‘We should avoid monitoring’: feds quietly backed off while Coastal GasLink pipeline work killed fish

Pacific Salmon Treaty fails to conserve B.C. fish, say advocates

By Melissa Renwick, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Pacific Salmon Treaty (PST) is under fire following a report suggesting that Alaskan fisheries are impacting struggling salmon populations by intercepting a significant number of B.C.-bound fish.

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Bernadette Jordan’s strategy to save Pacific Salmon stocks

On June 8th, Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan announced the guiding principles of what may be largest government action to save Pacific Salmon stocks in Canadian history.

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Ottawa’s strategy to save Pacific Salmon

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The federal government released the broad strokes of its plan to save plummeting wild salmon stocks on the West Coast on Tuesday.

Federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan outlined the initial framework and guiding principles for Ottawa’s $647.1-million Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative (PSSI), announced as part of the recent federal budget.

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