Tag Archives: DFO

Rivers & Oceans

A bright spot: pink salmon stocks along east Vancouver Island

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Concern over B.C.’s declining wild salmon stocks is running high this year as sockeye returns on the Fraser River hit a historic low. But while the overall news may be dire, there are bright spots. Some pink salmon stocks along east Vancouver Island appear healthy, and run counts at the Quinsam River Hatchery near the city of Campbell River were good this fall.

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Community, Indigenous Nations, Justice

The RCMP’s failure to protect Indigenous leaders

Carl Meyer, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The RCMP‘s failure to protect Mi’kmaq fishers from intimidation, assault and destruction in Nova Scotia demonstrates how the Canadian state is all too ready to permit or perpetrate violence against Indigenous Peoples, say First Nations groups and B.C. politicians.

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Rivers & Oceans

Pacific Salmon Explorer: tool to help protect BC salmon

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A groundbreaking online tool that illustrates the state of Pacific salmon across B.C. aims to help protect endangered populations and drive future conservation efforts. The Pacific Salmon Explorer is a public data-visualization site that people can use to see what types of salmon are returning to a given area and find available data on the health of the population and the cumulative habitat pressures the fish may be facing.

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Rivers & Oceans

Election 2020: What can an MLA do about fish farms?

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One of the reasons that Alexandra Morton is running for the Green Party in this election is that “over the last twenty years, I’ve seen the politics and policies that are killing off the wild salmon of this coast are also destroying our communities.” However fish farms are overseen by the Fisheries and Oceans Canada, not the provincial legislature. So I asked Alexandra, what can an MLA do about fish farms? 

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Rivers & Oceans

The DFO responds to questions about minimal risk

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Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO) announcement unleashed a torrent of protests from First Nations leaders and environmentalists. How could “nine peer-reviewed, scientific risk assessments” find that salmon farms pose a ‘minimal risk’ to migrating Fraser River sockeye salmon? Two questions from Cortes Currents were amidst the deluge of correspondence they took in. It has taken more than a week, but the DFO finally responded to my questions about minimal risk.

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