Tag Archives: Pink Salmon

Rivers & Oceans

Controversy over the 2022 Ahta River Run

More than 11,000 Pink Salmon are said to have returned to the Ahta River this September. This is more fish than the river has seen for many years and Alexandra Morton believes this is because Glacier Falls and Burdwood salmon farms were removed from their migration route.

She is not the only one suggesting that this year’s numbers are a result of removing salmon farms from the Broughton Archipelago. In August, Chief Bob Chamberlain of the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance told the Vancouver Sun they haven’t seen these numbers in decades. 

Ruth Salmon, Interim Executive Director at the BC Salmon Farmers Association, calls this statement a mixture of ‘misrepresentation’ and ‘speculation.’ 

Continue reading Controversy over the 2022 Ahta River Run →
Rivers & Oceans

Salmon Runs in the midst of a West Coast Drought

The drought conditions settling throughout the West Coast are another example of what Fisheries and Oceans Canada has identified as the #1 threat to BC’s endangered salmon population.

“While there are many stressors that affect Pacific salmon survival, climate change is rapidly superseding these threats,” DFO media spokesperson Lara Sloan emailed Cortes Currents.

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Rivers & Oceans

I swam with the salmon — they taught me about dignity and strength

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After hiking along the Campbell River in unseasonably warm September sunshine, wrestling my middle-aged body into a wetsuit is no easy feat. 

But I’m determined to get a new angle on the iconic West Coast keystone species I so regularly write about as a reporter. I’m going swimming with salmon. 

Continue reading I swam with the salmon — they taught me about dignity and strength →
Rivers & Oceans

Where to find qathet’s Ghost Salmon

qathet Living, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Dam building over the last century destroyed all of qathet’s major salmon runs, and several small ones, too. Just a whisper remains of this region’s once-majestic returns.

Local experts are re-imagining these rivers for the future. For salmon. For ecosystems. And for reconciliation.

Standing on the rocky banks of the Powell River, you can see zero salmon. But 100 years ago, before the mill, you would have seen thousands.

These are the ghost salmon.

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Rivers & Oceans

Pink Salmon Run Looks Good for 2022  

Large numbers of pink salmon are returning to our area this summer. 

“I am seeing these pink salmon return – their numbers appear huge, they are leaping everywhere, finning along the surface for hundreds of kilometers,” emailed independant biologist Alexandra Morton.

Lara Sloan, a communications advisor with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), wrote they are expecting a strong return to the Campbell River, based on the strong outmigration from the 2020 brood, cooler ocean temperatures and better food. 

Continue reading Pink Salmon Run Looks Good for 2022   →