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Looking for a salmon champion!
Now is the time to appoint a champion for wild salmon. The crises facing BC’s wild salmon populations, while dire, provide opportunity for action: stakeholders, First Nations, the public and the commercial sector are aligned and eager for provincial leadership on this file like never before.
After months of canvassing this issue in the legislature, it became clear to me that government wants to do the right thing for wild salmon, but they are working within a structure that gets in their way at every turn.
Our salmon journey…
In April 2018, I held a consultation forum in Vancouver and there was incredible consensus between everyone there that we need some combination of a wild salmon secretariat or commissioner.
The people and groups who we brought together have, historically, had fish wars about who could harvest what.
Chief Dalton Silver, from Sumas First Nation and Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance, said “I think this conversation is long overdue. It wasn’t long ago we wouldn’t find ourselves in the same room. We had fish battles and no one was together. The time is here now where we have to work together. We have more collaboration that I’ve ever seen.”
Now they are sitting at the same table saying – ‘yeah, we need to come together to save salmon before it’s too late.’ First Nations, the commercial sector, the sports fishing groups, conservationist, all of them are so worried about the future of salmon that they are willing to go without.
Government needs to step up and match their dedication by showing leadership on this file before it’s too late. It is now or never.
I have been keeping government updated throughout our process and we were honoured to have the Premier send his special advisor to the forum I hosted with Pacific Salmon Foundation in Vancouver
In addition, I sent my recommendations internally before drafting this expanded public version, and have met with them often to discuss the best feasible path forward. I am hopeful they will act on this proposal, but I will keep the encouragement and pressure strong until they do.
Sign the petition calling on Premier Horgan to establish a Wild Salmon Commissioner
Call to Action!
The BC Greens are calling for a centralized representative for wild salmon and recommend government appoint a Wild Salmon Commissioner and supporting secretariat.
The exact format could be adjusted somewhat, but what we are looking for here is a centralized body to:
- Serve as a unifying force in the provincial government to see the big picture and ensure that all the fisheries work being done within the BC government is aligned towards a consistent, positive outcome from the salmons perspective.
- Be a strong defender of wild salmon in negotiations with the federal government.
- Be a champion for wild salmon who can work to address threats and begin to rebuild declining stocks.
To accomplish those goals, we believe the wild salmon commissioner with supporting secretariat format is the most promising.
This representative and its secretariat could coordinate the work being done within the provincial government and to be a strong advocate for salmon federally.
While the decision making authority must remain with the Minister(s) and the policy work within the ministries, a salmon commissioner could ensure the overarching objectives for wild salmon are properly weighted in decision making.
Establishing a successful structure
- Adequate funding and strong connection to government – At a fundamental level, the commissioner and secretariat must have enough funding and connection to government to have a meaningful impact. The BC Green Caucus believes the most effective approach would be to have a Wild Salmon Commissioner and Secretariat appointed within the Premier’s office. Consideration was given to having an external salmon commissioner, operating at arm’s length from government, but we think direct connection to the Premier would be advantageous given their role in ensuring government’s wild salmon objectives are accomplished in a coordinated manner across ministries.
- Strong First Nations connection – Any structure must reflect the inherent importance salmon have within Indigenous communities and allow the commissioner and secretariat to be guided by traditional knowledge. This would ensure a balanced approach in restoring BC’s relationship with wild salmon. One alternative idea was to appoint two joint commissioners, one of whom should be First Nations. Whether or not this option is chosen it is critical that First Nations and their corresponding rights and title are entrenched in the decision making process on this file.
- Urgency – The commissioner should be appointed by summer 2018. The crisis we are facing requires urgent action. Returns of Fraser River sockeye are critically low, populations of chinook, coho, and steelhead are struggling. Some runs are on the brink of extinction. The sooner we act, the better our opportunity for recovery will be.
- Community buy-in and engagement – their first order of business, to be completed over the first few months, could be to strike an external advisory/oversight board with members from all regions of the province and all major stakeholders. This strategy would allow for immediate political leadership, coordination of existing salmon initiatives within government, and the creation of a more robust, long term plan to ensure the work continues beyond election cycles.
- Restoring wild salmon populations – the mandate should focus on increasing wild salmon populations by addressing the cumulative impacts that are affecting fish in our oceans, rivers and streams while restoring salmon habitat. This mandate would, in turn, begin to fix the disjointed approach to wild salmon management we currently have in within our provincial government. If done effectively, it would also begin to rebuild a thriving commercial wild salmon fishery in communities throughout our province.
Check out all my work on salmon policy.
Check out #MySalmonStory
I appreciate the increased awareness being focussed on salmon stocks. In 1990 the previous NDP government appointed Minister of Fisheries (Corny Evans) similar to all the Maritimes Provinces. Because of significant complexity of fisheries – multiple species, users, provincial/national/international management – there was a fundamental need to co-operation with federal government. The current relationship would probably create such a difficult working environment that even a dedicated Ministry of Fisheries would have limited influence on rebuilding fisheries other than adding some provincial regulation which tended to create less co-operation among stakeholders.
This was part of reason for NDP ministry was dissolved by Liberals.
Additionally, a Ministry model is far more efficient and transparent for bringing forward legislation than an advocate or commission.
The options for better local input and co-operation with all levels of government is important for the health of marine species and related communities but I would suggest broader options be consider in step with all other marine provinces