Tag Archives: Fish Farms

Rivers & Oceans

‘We are salmon people’: First Nation leaders in B.C. demand audience with fisheries minister

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Editor’s note: The Klahoose, Homalco and Tla’amin First Nations are among the 102 First Nations demanding that fish farms be moved onto land.

It’s been nearly five years since Tribal Chief Tyrone McNeil has pulled salmon from the Fraser River and strung fish over wooden racks to dry in the wind, preserving food for his family and his people’s ancestral traditions. 

He and other First Nations leaders and communities in B.C. dependent on salmon are grieving the ongoing disappearance of the fish that defines them. And they are angry Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) continues to deny their constitutional right of first access to fish, said McNeil, president of Stó꞉lō Tribal Council. 

Continue reading ‘We are salmon people’: First Nation leaders in B.C. demand audience with fisheries minister →
Rivers & Oceans

Waiting for DFO to decide the fate of open-net pen fish farms

Sometime in the next three weeks, Canada’s Minister of Fisheries, Joyce Murray, will decide whether the licenses for 79 fish farms will be renewed. 

“I heard a rumour that the minister laid out her options or her ideas to cabinet and cabinet has the plans right now. They’re  figuring out what to do. We can expect an announcement quite shortly on the plan around the transition of farms out of British Columbia and also the licensing decision,” said Stan Proboszcz, senior scientist with the Watershed Watch Salmon Society.

Continue reading Waiting for DFO to decide the fate of open-net pen fish farms →
Rivers & Oceans

Powell River’s Big 3 fish debates

qathet Living, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Sitting outside Powell River Outdoors, owner Sam Sansalone fiddles with a fish hook on the picnic table.

“Look out on the water, and tell me how many boats you see,” Sam says. 

On a bright sunny day with calm water, there was a single sailboat that could be seen on the Salish Sea. 

Continue reading Powell River’s Big 3 fish debates →
Rivers & Oceans

Pro Fish farm scientists respond through Globe and Mail

On Friday, May 27, a group of pro-fish farm scientists responded to recent testimonies before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans through an opinion article in the Globe and Mail. 

Four of the authors are from British Columbia. 

Continue reading Pro Fish farm scientists respond through Globe and Mail →
Rivers & Oceans

B.C. fish farms cultivate increased risks for wild salmon, new studies show

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Pacific salmon are likely exposed to increased risks from pathogens concentrated in fish farms on the West Coast, two new scientific studies indicate. 

Continue reading B.C. fish farms cultivate increased risks for wild salmon, new studies show →