The ongoing tragedy of the disappearing salmon

Aug 15, 2020 | Blog, Environment, Governance | 8 comments

If you have been following my blog then you might feel this post is just recycling old content. Unfortunately, I am not. The bad news for the wild Pacific salmon is getting worse.

This week a CBC reporter asked me to respond to the fact that the Pacific Salmon Commission has downgraded the 2020 Fraser River sockeye salmon forecast from 941,000 to 283,000 fish.

It has been awhile since I have spoken about salmon, however I am no less passionate about the issue. This news is extremely distressing. These are the lowest numbers since they started forecasting the returns a century ago.

I have spent a lot of time on salmon policy in my work as an MLA. I’m thrilled that a result of the many questions that my B.C. Green Caucus colleagues and I asked about wild Pacific salmon, the provincial government made it a high priority and partnered with the federal government to deliver the $142 million Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund.

Despite the positive steps, the situation facing the Pacific salmon is desperate.

Wild Pacific salmon are an iconic species in British Columbia. They nourish the flora and fauna in all corners of our province and have been a critical resource for Indigenous people since time immemorial. Commercial fishing is celebrated as one of the four founding industries of our province, however in my lifetime it has all but entirely collapsed.

With the recent reality it’s hard to believe the stories of our elders when they tell us of the days not long ago when the mighty Fraser River and south Salish Sea bubbled with sockeye preparing to make their epic run back to their spawning grounds deep in the heart of our province.

While I focussed primarily on the most direct provincial responsibilities of ecosystem management, I must speak sharply at how deeply frustrated I am with our federal government, and their Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). I must be direct in sharing my feelings about how they have mismanaged salmon populations to near zero, while they play political games instead of delivering the Pacific coast an urgent policy response.

The most recent federal election is an example. In early October 2019 the Federal Liberals promised to phase out open net fish farms on the British Columbia coast by 2025. It was a very popular announcement on the west coast and Liberal candidates used this promise to leverage support for their election to government.

However, once the dust had settled on the election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government began to back track. First, Trudeau replaced North Vancouver MP Jonathan Wilkinson as the Minister responsible for the DFO with east coast MP Bernadette Jordan. This move was a slight to the incredibly challenging issues we face on the west coast. In February 2020, Jordan’s office began softening the language on the fish farms promise by reframing it as a commitment to create a transition plan by 2025.

I will continue to push the provincial government to invest in ecosystem health and to create policy that considers the health and wellbeing of the wild Pacific salmon.

That said, the challenges with sea lice from open-net pen fish farms in the Tofino area and the Discovery Islands near Campbell River continue to be a problem for juvenile salmon that requires direct action from the federal government.

If Fisheries Minister Jordan can hear us from her office in Atlantic Canada then they must know we are demanding action!

With Fraser River salmon stocks collapsing due to a variety of issues, including many human caused, the time for empty promises is over, and the time for action is now.

Minister Jordan must act on the 75 recommendations from the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River that was published in 2012.

Recommendation 18:

If at any time between now and September 30, 2020, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans determines that net-pen salmon farms in the Discovery Islands (fish health sub-zone 3-2) pose more than a minimal risk of serious harm to the health of migrating Fraser River sockeye salmon, he or she should promptly order that those salmon farms cease operations.

Recommendation 19:

On September 30, 2020, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans should prohibit net-pen salmon farming in the Discovery Islands (fish health sub-zone 3-2) unless he or she is satisfied that such farms pose at most a minimal risk of serious harm to the health of migrating Fraser River sockeye salmon. The Minister’s decision should summarize the information relied on and include detailed reasons. The decision should be published on the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ website.

As is noted in the September 2019 update on Cohen’s recommendations,

R18: This recommendation has been implemented. Scientific research is being conducted and a disease risk assessment process is underway and will be completed by 2020. If scientific research indicates that net-pen salmon farms in the Discovery Islands pose more than a minimal risk of serious harm to the health of migrating Fraser River sockeye salmon, salmon farms in the Discovery Islands will be required to cease operations.

The results of the risk assessment may indicate that further research is required to support Ministerial decisions. Additional funding may be required depending on what further research is needed.

R19: This recommendation has not been implemented as the timeline on this recommendation is September 2020; however, scientific research is being conducted to address the question raised. See also response to Recommendation 18.

The September 30, 2020 deadline for these recommendations is quickly approaching. The focus is now on the decision directly in front of Minister Jordan and there is no time for delay. She must make the results of the scientific research public as soon as possible. If they align with the reports in the media then she must enact recommendation 19 and immediately remove open net pen fish farms from the Discovery Islands!

This will only be an initial step that must be quickly followed by a comprehensive plan to restore wild Pacific salmon, a keystone species that nourish British Columbia.


Image by ArtTower from Pixabay


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8 Comments

  1. Rain

    So many major issues have not been properly addressed or addressed at all if we let our govt get away with ignoring and lying their way through their terms in govt., They get away with these shameful acts of weakening our country , world and our planet because they are not being threatened by a show of force by a united people. Canadian people are not united except by one issue that that’s captures collective awareness. Maybe about one a year or less. We don’t have time for this crap. Maybe next year we can get all outraged over baby seals again while our entire planet is about to burn. I think covid19 might just help save us to push the revolution out of a world of poverty plus a few billionaire into a world for all of us animals and humans etc. So how to achieve a unified following, its not by doing what you’ve been doing. You must command the publics attention, money is only part of the solution and you don’t need much if you get intron of the cameras, Trump is an obvious exmaple of how to get shit done., just that he’s a bad guy, but we need a guy to capture the public
    s attention because they are ignorant or unconnnected so even if we want to help we don’t know how our little oinion means anything, and it doesn’t because we are not a united force that can gain control of big money. Getting the public’s attention, reach your target audiences reaching millions, enough to stop the destruction. Capturing an major audience willl save you another ten years of getting little done, even a big win like if Site C was stopped means little in the face of climate change. The solution I see is – directly threatening politicians and the powerful and wealthy through massive public support with a comprehensive plan, Bernie Sanders demonstrated honesty and a sincere and intelligent plan gets votes enough to threaten a win in their federal election. why can’t we do shit like that before we are all dead,

    To get to your audience you need a team of highly successful publicists with assistance along with lawyers and political strategists, the key is honesty, tell the people what is really happening, that’s what got the BC Greens to the balance of power, that and the lying ndp and liberals, With proper support we should be able to take the next election. this is our last chance,, if we blow this it will break us, break our world, It’s time to change the game. Not following the rules is the Green Party way, much like Bernie Sanders and the tyrant trump, take a lesson, gets votes.

    Reply
  2. SUSAN EYRE

    The Honourable Bernadette Jordan Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
    min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca – please send her an email asap – thanks salmon lovers x0xox0

    Reply
  3. Maureen McGuire

    Thanks for this important post Adam. Dismal news for sure. I was not aware Trudeau had transferred west coast management to Hon. Bernadette Jordan.
    With the fish stocks so low, they will be in more peril with relaxed laws regarding fish farm management. Are they hoping to replace natural fish stocks entirely? Commercially, this may be seen as a more profitable industry. Ecologically, culturally and nutritionally it is a “kick in the teeth.”
    What do we as citizens do to support your work?

    Reply
  4. Mikkel Schau

    Keep pressing. East coast has fish problems too, so she will be focussed there. It seems to me that the Federal Liberals need a feel good decision to make Canadians stop thinking about the personal messes of Prime Minister Trudeau. Surely Premier Horgan can talk with the Prime Minister. With the salmon leaving so do the trees the bears and the Orcas, and the people that depend on all these species. Those are just the public links.

    Reply
  5. G. MacPherson

    Revive the BC Salmon council with Elected representatives from all the User groups.
    Backed by the B.C. Courts and government we should have a voice in how our Ecosystems and resources are being marginalized by Ottawa with out the Consent of its Residents.
    Manipulation of Scientific data and disregard for Consent are only the start of the issues this crisis has experienced over the last 100 yrs while Ottawa profited Internationally.
    This has become a constitutional and sovereignty issue that the Citizens of BC can no longer tolerate.
    Ecosystems,cultures and socioeconomic sustainability have been degraded by the incompetence dysfunction and manipulation of a ministry that has 0 regarded for the Truth and is now the Tip of a political spear wielded by Ottawa to punish Provinces.
    The East and North coasts are failures and we do not want that repeated here.
    We need immediate serious actions to preserve what’s left and allow it to heal for the Generations to come.
    Thanks for your attention and work on this issue Adam,let’s take it to the next level.
    It’s time.

    Reply
  6. Kathleen Urdahl

    Thank you for your efforts to not only bring awareness to this issue, but to actually put your words into action. It gives me some comfort knowing that there are individuals like yourself, holding the current provincial government to task. Time is not only running out for the salmon… but the entire ecosystem… and us.

    Reply
  7. Steven Pratt

    Thank you, MLA Adam Olsen, for your diligent attention to the tragic collapse of wild salmon populations on the BC west coast!

    Reply
  8. Arnie Jack WLIB

    Cohen Commission 2.0 –

    Commercial Overfishing

    Tracking

    FSC

    Why would you wait to make this call??

    Cohen didn’t get approved till November 2009.

    Call for Public Inquiry / Cohen Commission 2.0… right now.

    Reply

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