Category Archives: Rivers & Oceans

Rivers & Oceans, Transportation

Recreational Vessels need to register in advance for long term moorage

Recreational vessels are no longer permitted to moor at Cortes Island’s government docks for extended periods without prior approval from the Harbour Authority of Cortes Island (HACI).

“Just to clarify, it’s recreational vessels that are looking for a month, three months or six months long-term moorage,” said Harbour Manager Jenny Hartwick  

Boats can still ‘sneak in’ and use docks overnight, at places like Squirrel Cove, providing there is room for them.

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Rivers & Oceans

How the salmon and their protectors survive

qathet Living, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Powell River Salmon Society has had zero increase in funding from Ottawa in the past 40 years -despite being the one of the most measurably successful community hatcheries in BC. 

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Rivers & Oceans

Court ruling doesn’t sink Ottawa’s decision to close Discovery Islands salmon farms, critics say

Click here for ‘Federal court rules DFO breached salmon farmers rights to procedural fairness’

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

West Coast environmental groups and First Nations opposed to salmon farming are urging the federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray to hold the line after a recent court ruling set aside a decision by her predecessor to phase out salmon farming in the Discovery Islands. 

The Federal Court ruling found then-fisheries minister Bernadette Jordan contravened the right of procedural fairness owed to fish farm companies when deciding to shut down 19 operations in the waters near Campbell River on eastern Vancouver Island by the end of June. 

Continue reading Court ruling doesn’t sink Ottawa’s decision to close Discovery Islands salmon farms, critics say →
Indigenous Nations, Politics, Rivers & Oceans

Land and water in B.C. have a new ministry. We spoke with its leader

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Josie Osborne seems careful with her words as she talks about her new job. The former mayor of Tofino, turned MLA,  is heading up the new B.C. Ministry of Land, Water and Resource  Stewardship and is the minister responsible for fisheries. But through  her political composure are glimpses of a lifestyle associated with the  little west coast community on Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation territory —  she lives on ten acres with her husband, dog, three goats and chickens  and works out of a brightly coloured tiny house office. 

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Justice, Rivers & Oceans

Federal court rules DFO breached salmon farmers rights to procedural fairness

On Friday, April 22, a federal court ruled that Former Federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan breached the rights of B.C. salmon farmers to procedural fairness when she ordered them to phase out operations in the Discovery Islands by June 2022. 

Continue reading Federal court rules DFO breached salmon farmers rights to procedural fairness →