By Roy L Hales
The village of Lund is about 20 miles from my home on Cortes Island. There are vantage points on Cortes, from which you can actually see Savary Island. Though only a short distance across the waters, it takes a day and three ferry trips to drive there. The experience is delightful. Lund is soul candy.
Originally published on Cortes Radio, as part of the Deep Roots Initiative, Season One.
Fishing was once a cornerstone of British Columbia’s economy, but we’ve been hearing stories of diminished runs and out of work fishermen for years. On Cortes Island, the fishing industry seems to mostly be spoken about in the past tense. So producer Roy L Hales set to to find out where have all the salmon gone?
Continue reading Where Have All The Salmon Gone?In 2002, the number of pink salmon returning to the Broughton Archipelago was only 3% of normal. Alexandra Morton subsequently co-authored a study reporting that 68 – 98 % of the fish tested in this area had the sea louse “L. salmonis.”[1.] A University of Toronto study links the 2015 sea lice epidemic to fish farms in the same area. The article that follows is based on Marine Harvest Canada’s (MHC) Ian Roberts’ response to anti-salmon farm critics.
Continue reading Ian Roberts’ Response To Anti-Salmon Farm Critics
Aside from the incredible run of 2010, reports of the Fraser River’s sockeye salmon tend to be glum. I believe there is only one Cortes Island based fisherman still working the Johnston strait and recently learned this is the second year he did not receive an opening to fish sockeye.[1] Though the culprits were last year’s drought and a culvert, most of the chum returning to Basil Creek in 2015 were killed before they could spawn. These were just a few of the stories that prompted me to seek out evidences of the impending demise of what was previously one of our province’s leading industries. Instead, I found good news about BC’s fishing runs.
Continue reading Good News About BC’s Fishing Runs
There are more than more 40 names on the Cortes Island Museum’s list of fishermen from the 1970’s. Some were wives, who worked alongside their husbands. Others may have been deckhands. The names of 28 boats are given, though not how many were working in any given year. Now there are two.[1] In this week’s radio program (podcast below), the owner of one of those 28 fish boats describes close to four decades of gillnetting on Cortes Island.
Continue reading Four Decades Of Gillnetting On Cortes Island
