This week I have been writing, talking and thinking a lot about schools: public education schools.
Those aren’t the only schools I have focused on in my time as an MLA. The other is salmon schools. That’s the well that I’m drawing inspiration from today.
There was a time in the 20th century when the provincial government invested in fisheries. We were not always promoting the opinion that salmon were strictly a federal responsibility.
This stream of thought today comes from a recent episode of The Big Story Podcast called “The story of the secret salmon journals.” The conversation between host Jordan Heath-Rawlings and journalist Alanna Mitchell is about the commitment we once had to understanding and tracking the health and well-being of salmon runs in the creeks and streams of northern British Columbia.
It’s in this space I acknowledge the creek-walkers. Their work is carefully noted in dozens of journals, replete with statistics about each sockeye salmon they captured and every smear of fleshy scales they recorded.
Snapshot of the past
None of the creek-walkers would have known the power of the accumulated genetic material they were preserving. However, their work is a far advanced from the guesstimates, shots in the dark, and data-starved models that Fisheries Ministers are using these days to manage the few remaining salmon descendants that find their way back to their home on the north coast.
There has long been worry that sockeye stocks would crash and that the iconic and culture-defining species would be in danger of extirpation.
In the decades since the early 20th-century, the sockeye have continued their struggle and it’s the creek-walkers who went extinct. Apparently, we no longer valued the data they were collecting.
This is a failure of governance: somehow we think we can make educated and science-based decisions without information. It was a mistake to remove people from the landscape and, as we are in desperate need to renew and revitalize rural and remote communities across the province, perhaps it is time to bring back the creek-walkers.
Can’t agree more Adam. Some of the difficulties that our beloved salmon are facing in their struggle for survival can be attributed to the jurisdictional “head-butting” that goes on between the Feds and the Province. you have highlighted a chronic problem. IE: not enough resources are directed to stock assessment. How the heck can DFO be expected to make cogent decisions regarding potential harvesting when, due to chronic and negligent under funding, such decisions are made in a vacuum.
Wise reply Peter and I can only agree and would love to be a creek walker myself.
Thank you Adam for all your dedication and focused work and for keeping us informed.