Category Archives: Rivers & Oceans

Seaweed Days: Celebrating cultivation on Canada’s West Coast

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

There’s a surge of excitement around seaweed cultivation on the West Coast if the heavy-hitters on the speakers’ list of an upcoming inaugural conference on the topic is any measure of interest.

Federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan, B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham, and federal and provincial Green Party politicians Elizabeth May and Adam Olsen are all on board to open the week-long Seaweed Days being debuted by Cascadia Seaweed on Monday.

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DFO: a potentially transformative decade

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Canada is in the enviable position of having the longest coastline in the world. But our trio of oceans is being battered by a storm of negative impacts, be it overexploited fish stocksplastics pollution, degrading marine food webs, increasingly fragile coastal ecosystems or biodiversity loss accelerated by ocean warming and acidification. Yet, at the very crest of their vulnerability, Canada’s oceans may stand to benefit from a potentially transformative decade.

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Auditor General: BC is Falling short on commitment to protect fish and wildlife habitat

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

BC is falling short on its commitment to protect fish and wildlife habitat, according to a report released by the province’s auditor general on Tuesday.

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Wilderness Tourism Association asks the SRD to support DFO’s decision

At the April 28, 2021 meeting, The Wilderness Tourism Association (WTA) of BC asked the SRD Board to support DFO’s decision to remove fish farms from the Discovery Islands. 

WTA President Breanne Quesnel, of Spirit of the West Adventures on Quadra Island, reminded the board that they also represent the interests of 15 of its member companies operating within the Strathcona Regional District.

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Budget 2021: Funding for salmon farms

It has been a year since the The Campbell River Business Recovery Task Force described fish farms as one of the city’s three key first dollar industries. Mayor Andy Adams said they are Campbell River’s largest economic driver. This is also a sector being phased out over the course of the next year. In the last of a series about the 2021 Federal Budget, North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney talks about funding for salmon farms

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