By Kaitlyn Bailey, Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Longtime marine fisherman Howard Gray is frustrated with the federal government’s management of the commercial sockeye harvest around Prince Rupert and afraid it will lead to two million dead fish that should have been caught in the ocean this year, he said on Aug. 3.
Continue reading Prince Rupert fisherman frustrated by DFO salmon limits he says, despite millions of fish
By Melissa Renwick, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the next phase of Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan on July 19. It comes with a commitment to add $2 billion over nine years.
This builds on the $1.5 billion that’s been directed towards the program, which was launched in 2016.
Established to strengthen the protection of Canada’s coasts and wildlife, the Oceans Protection Plan is being labelled as a “Canadian success story” by the prime minister’s office (PMO).
Continue reading Canada invests more in oceans protection, but measures fail to salvage sinking fishing boat
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 2022Editors note: More than 40 fishermen operated out of Cortes Island in the 1970’s. Mike Manson remembers the years when there were usually several fishing boats trolling within sight of his home. Now there are one or two boats and neither of them fish in our waters – See Four Decades of Gillnetting on Cortes Island.
By Kaitlyn Bailey, Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Northern Native Fishing Corporation (NNFC) fishers lost five salmon harvest days after there was a delay from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in issuing their licences, Mabel Mazurek, general manager at NNFC, said on July 26.
The missed days on the river cost the fisherman thousands of dollars of income and caused them a lot of added stress, Mazurek said.
Continue reading Indigenous commercial fishers in Prince Rupert face late start from delayed licences
National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Editor’s note: FOCI volunteers carried out a ‘Mother’s Day Beach Clean-up of the beach between Hollyhock and Seaford Road, Cortes Island on May 9, 2022.
Coastal community cleanup groups on eastern Vancouver Island have been itching for the opening of B.C.’s newest ocean debris recycling depot.
The Cumberland site, operated by Comox Strathcona Waste Management (CSWM) in partnership with the Ocean Legacy Foundation, opened in mid-June to tackle the tonnes of plastic washing ashore in the region, said Stephanie Valdal, CSWM’s waste management services co-ordinator.
Continue reading West Coast infrastructure is on the rise to stem the wave of ocean plastics
