Category Archives: Rivers & Oceans

Rivers & Oceans, Waste

Coastal communities ‘fed up’ with B.C. shellfish sector’s plastics problem

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Coastal communities are tired of paying to clean up plastic and debris from the B.C. shellfish industry to protect the marine environment, stewardship groups say.

The amount of garbage being retrieved from beaches in areas where shellfish aquaculture is concentrated grows year after year, and there’s little apparent enforcement by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to deal with the issue, said Dorrie Woodward, chair of the Association for Denman Island Marine Stewards (ADIMS).

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Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Food fishery flounders: low returns

qathet Living, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Each year since the Tla’amin salmon hatchery was built in 1977, members of the Nation have received an allotment of food fish.

The food fish program uses salmon that pass through the hatchery, explains Tla’amin hatchery technician Scott Galligos. 

The amount of food fish Tla’amin receives is determined by Tla’amin’s final agreement treaty with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and is based on percentage, fish type, and population. 

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Rivers & Oceans

Canadian Coast Guard celebrates 60 years

By Norman Galimski,  Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Editor’s note: Coast Guard 509 Cortes Island, in Cortes Bay, has been in operation close to 50 years and is one of four B.C. stations opened  for summer duty. The other three are Coast Guard 508 Sointula; Coast Guard 501 Victoria; and Coast Guard 507 Nootka.

Today, Jan. 26, the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) has sailed from coast to coast to coast for 60 years.

“To me, working for the coast guard is about helping people save lives, protecting the environment [and] making a difference for Canadians,” Ashley Wilson, officer in charge at the Prince Rupert Coast Guard base, said.

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Rivers & Oceans

Looking down the throat of a Humpback Whale

Dr. Kelsey Gil is  a postdoctoral researcher at UBC’s department of zoology and the lead author of a paper published in Current Biology that literally peaks down the throat of a lunge whale.

Lunge feeding whales (humpbacks, blue whales and fin whales etc)   open their mouths as they accelerate towards their prey.

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Rivers & Oceans

Climate change could spark international fish fights

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Tensions between countries are likely to rise with the global temperature as valuable fish stocks fleeing warmer waters cross into different national boundaries, a new study suggests.

The climate crisis will push 45 per cent of the world’s shared fish stocks away from historic habitat ranges and migration routes by 2100, posing a challenge for international co-operation, said senior author William Cheung.

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