With every passing day, and each new generation of British Columbians, the power of the wild Pacific salmon is quietly diminishing. Our shifting baseline of what is normal for wild salmon returning to our rivers is slipping from millions to thousands, thousands to hundreds, hundreds to dozens. The future of these economically important, environmentally vital, and culturally essential species is not bright.
The threats to fish stocks are many — habitat and ecosystem degradation, poor management, fish farms and climate change. With expiring tenures and notice of the B.C. government’s new aquaculture policy, all eyes have been on fish farms.
On June 20th, government announced that effective 2022 the province will only grant tenures to fish farm operators who have satisfied Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) that their operations will not adversely impact wild salmon stocks, and who have negotiated agreements with the First Nation(s) in whose territory they propose to operate and pollute in.
If government’s goal is to protect wild salmon from fish farms, this is not a strong policy. It is already DFO’s job to “sustainably manage fisheries and aquaculture and work with fishers, coastal and Indigenous communities to enable their continued prosperity from fish and seafood.” Yet our wild salmon stocks are crashing.
In April, the Auditor General of Canada summarized their auditof fish farms and DFO by saying: “We concluded that Fisheries and Oceans Canada did not adequately manage the risks associated with salmon aquaculture consistent with its mandate to protect wild fish.” The official audit cites DFO failings related to pollution, pesticide use, the spread of infectious disease and parasites, the control of escaped fish, and compliance reporting and enforcement.
Likewise, if government’s goal is to support First Nations, this is not strong policy. Post-2022 industry will need to have benefit agreements with the First Nations whose territories they are operating in. That sounds good, but it is has the potential to create a lot of problems.
The province is pretending that salmon do not migrate thousands of kilometres across our province and through numerous territories. My nation, the Tsartlip First Nation, doesn’t have any fish farms in its territory, but the salmon we have traditionally harvested migrate past dozens. We rely on these fish, but have stopped fishing because there are so few salmon.
This new policy is trying to be all things, to all people, but avoids making any tough decisions and looks to Ottawa for B.C. leadership.
As an alternative, we could have given industry the 18 months needed to grow and harvest smolts already in their pens, an additional 60 days to decommission their sites, and then we would have cancelled their provincial tenures. During that transition we could have consulted with the leadership of every First Nation – with the recognition that wild salmon are foundational to First Nations in BC – and coastal community.
We do not have until 2022 to sort this out. Salmon are the lifeblood of the province and B.C. needs to be more involved in decisions concerning this iconic species. We cannot let decimated salmon stocks become the new normal.
Adam Olsen is the BC Green Party MLA for Saanich North and the Islands and spokesperson for agriculture.
Originally published in The Peninsula News Review on August 3, 2018.
Thank you for article. I am not sure I understand some of the inferences drawn to justify both the NDP proposal or BC Green response. I certainly understand the concern over health of salmon stocks and the need for caution in siting fish farms but I know historically wild salmon have been under significant pressure for many decades before the ” wild west ” development of fish farms in 70’s and 80’s. DFO’s response to diminishing returns was massive investments in hatcheries, lake fertilization and research (tagging, allowable catch limits, etc.). As DFO reduced funding for salmon enhancement efforts the pressure on wild stocks has been much more urgent and highlights the many national and international challenges effecting wild stock health. In addition fisheries management goals have been driven by allocation fights – through Pacific Salmon Treaty, gear and area allocations and treaty agreements – rather than investments in restoration and enhancement.
Two examples: Local hatcheries have found rearing smolts to larger size before release, more than doubles ocean survival but little or no funding has been given to this effort. Hook and line fisheries is the most targeted and useful type of Fisheries to ensure stock monitoring, product quality and economic return. It also occurs on open ocean rather than in rivers and estuaries. But DFO has priorized net fisheries with all it’s monitoring and bicatch issues.
So I am concerned the policy and response that focussing on fish farms detracts from bigger picture and does little to rebuild wild stocks.
The article also references problems related to First Nations approval but is not clear what the issues would be. Could you provide examples of problems?
Thank you
Thank you for your comment Bill.
Firstly, I agree with you that the problem is more complex than simply an issue with fish farms. Please note this column was focussed on the BC NDP’s approach to the aquaculture industry and the changes they made.
I have been working on the broad issues facing wild salmon and that is why I recommended this spring that the province establish a Wild Salmon Secretariat within government to align the interests and decision-making throughout a number of ministries and agencies that make decisions that impact salmon.
As I have been working on this file I have come to realize the communications challenge we face. A post about fish farms specifically is criticized for being too narrow (the problem is much broader) and a post about the broad challenges facing wild salmon is criticized for not being critical enough of the fish farm industry.
I do not believe the problems facing wild salmon are the result of fish farms but I do understand that the problems facing wild salmon is being exacerbated by the fish farms.
I believe you have outlined some very good advice in this comment and it is frustrating that the DFO has this information but has yet to act. For this (and many other) reason I am excited to be a part of the Wild Salmon Advisory Council. We have a lot of provincial advocacy to do with the federal government and this body will help formulate the strategy going forward.
Finally, in terms of First Nations. It is simply not good enough to suggest that it is a step forward to ensure aquaculture companies have to have the approval of the First Nation in the territory they want to operate. In fact, this has the very real possibility of increasing tensions between First Nations. For example, I am a member of Tsartlip on the Saanich Peninsula. We do not have a fish farm in our territory, but we rely on the Fraser River sockeye that swim past the farms in the Broughton. Yet, Tsartlip (and many others) have no say. It is not as cheery an announcement as they made it out to be.
I hope this provides a little more background into the work I have been doing.
All the best,
Adam