Category Archives: Rivers & Oceans

Parks, Rivers & Oceans, Transportation

BC Parks flags boats on the beach at Mansons Landing

According to Lisa Ferentinos, people were leaving their small boats along the beach in Mansons Landing Provincial Park before there was a park.  

“I can’t imagine there’s ever been a time when people weren’t putting their boats on that beach. It’s been generations, and I can only assume pre-European contact there were many boats on that beach. I know, since the settlers have been here, it’s been a very popular beach for many people,” she said. 

Suddenly on Monday, October 17, a red sticker was put on every boat along the beach.

Continue reading BC Parks flags boats on the beach at Mansons Landing →
Rivers & Oceans

Only time will tell drought’s full effect on local salmon runs

By Patrick Penner, Tri-Cities Dispatch, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

When the Hoy Scott Watershed Society hosted their annual Salmon Come Home event last Sunday, the creek was “barely a trickle,” said Tyler Storgaard, hatchery manager. 

B.C.’s drought conditions persisted throughout the latter end of the summer and didn’t break until Monday.

Continue reading Only time will tell drought’s full effect on local salmon runs →
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

What can Cortes Island do with its abandoned boats?

Last month Cortes Currents published a story about a local initiative to use some of the abandoned boats around Cortes Island for housing. There were more than a dozen boats at that time. Dominic dos Santos said he had found a Victoria based firm that will tow them away. Some would undergo any needed repairs and be sold. The remainder will be scrapped. dos Santos said he has fixed up a number of abandoned boats himself and sold them to Cortes residents who needed housing. Since then a person identifying himself as ‘Storm’ emailed Cortes Currents that putting people who cannot find housing onto boats ‘is a disaster waiting to happen.’ 

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Rivers & Oceans

Ministry of Fisheries tours West Coast fish farming areas

“Last week, the Minister of Fisheries, Joyce Murray, went on the road and she traveled the length of Vancouver Island talking to people, First Nations environmental organizations, scientists, about the transition of salmon farms in British Columbia. This is incredible. I’ve never seen a minister go on the road before, and I have so much respect for her for doing this,” said independent biologist Alexandra Morton.

A BC Salmon Farmers Association spokesperson emailed a list of facilities Murray visited:

  • Cermaq Canada’s Millar Channel farm and semi-closed containment site in Clayoquot Sound. 
  • One of Creative Salmon’s Chinook farms and their processing plant in Tofino. 
  • MOWI’s Shelter Pass farm in Port Hardy and their Big Tree Creek Hatchery in Sayward. 
Continue reading Ministry of Fisheries tours West Coast fish farming areas →