Latest posts in Healthy Oceans Blog
Hey B.C.! A stream is not a stream without water
Sockeye Salmon Spawn Adams / Thompson Rivers (Credit: Jeffery Young)
It's summertime and the value of water to British Columbians is evident. It's hot, and we're thirsty. Plants and wildlife also need lots of water to get by, including adult salmon entering rivers and streams to spawn. The summer of 2010 also happens to be a time when B.C. government employees are busy drafting recommendations on how to implement the government's Living Water Smart program, including changes to the provincial Water Act.
Although it may be difficult to draft policy recommendations during the glorious summer months, it's a really important job. In addition to finally regulating groundwater extraction and empowering watershed planning, the new B.C. Water Act should protect minimum flows in streams and rivers to, quite simply, keep them as functional streams and rivers.
Currently, ecosystem-based minimum flows are not protected in B.C. (i.e., leaving enough water in streams and rivers to keep them healthy). That means that in places where water is in high demand, water users (i.e., people or a business with a water licence) could essentially run streams dry. Without adequate changes to the Act, the government could also issue new water licences without ensuring that our vital water ecosystems are protected.
Keeping streams and rivers flowing has obvious benefits to fish and other wildlife. But it also helps us. Functional streams and rivers…
Continue reading »Two of B.C.'s great icons head to court
Spawning sockeye salmon (Credit: Jeffery Young)
In February, the world watched the opening ceremonies of Vancouver's Olympic Winter Games. A big part of the show featured iconic animals of B.C., including ruby red sockeye salmon schooling at their spawning grounds and a pod of killer whales breaching along the coast. Despite the wonder of this spectacle, the irony is poignant — both B.C. sockeye salmon and killer whales are in serious trouble.
This week, these two opening ceremony stars are the focus of a federal inquiry and a lawsuit. By coincidence, both legal processes commence on the same day and even in the same Federal court building. The David Suzuki Foundation is actively engaged in both.
Although both processes have emerged from different events, the management of salmon and the well-being of killer whales are deeply interrelated. Resident killer whales are almost exclusively salmon eaters, with a strong preference for chinook salmon that make up 90 per cent of their diet. The failures in the management of sockeye salmon that will be investigated by the Cohen Commission — including habitat loss, open net-cage salmon farming, climate change and fishing — have lessons applicable to all Pacific salmon species.
The Commission was struck last November after three…
Continue reading »Water is life
Water drop (Credit: Lana Gunnlaugson)
Water is life. We use water to grow our food, support industry, and of course, to drink. Water comes from the natural environment (where else?) in the form of lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands and groundwater reservoirs. These water ecosystems also provide food (like fish!), transport routes, recreation, culture and spiritual fulfillment. Keeping water ecosystems healthy ensures these vital services are maintained.
In the province of British Columbia the withdrawal of water, one of our greatest potential impacts on water ecosystems, is controlled by the provincial Water Act. The government of B.C. is planning to update the Water Act and claims that improving water ecosystem protection is one of the priorities. Currently, the Water Act is focused on managing a wide range of water licences, which allow licence holders to remove water for domestic or industrial use. Although the Water Act allows the province to restrict water use to protect water ecosystems there is nothing that actually ensures water is left in streams — fish, and other water life, have no right to water and water can be taken from a stream or river essentially until it runs dry.
The David Suzuki Foundation, along with other non-governmental groups, are providing input on the reforms that would make the Water Act much more effective at what it needs to do: protect water ecosystems. There's a wide range of input we…
Continue reading »Spills happen — it's not worth the risk
Reflections from a ferry: Credit: Jeffery Young
By now we've all seen the ghastly images of the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil everywhere. Frustrated fishermen wondering what will happen next.
These recent events have made me wonder what a similar disaster could do a little closer to my home, along British Columbia's coastline. Often called Canada's Galapagos of the North, the B.C. coastline is one of Mother Nature's hotspots. The rich life on and below the surface is incredible.
On my ferry-ride home from work the other day, I marvelled at the massive pod of pacific white-sided dolphins — at least 30 of them, maybe more — gliding past the boat on either side, flashing their orca-like markings as they wake-jumped past the stern. Watching these elegant marine mammals intermingle with the thousands of shore birds suggests that herring, and other tasty fish, have returned in high numbers. This is a good sign. Another good sign came last week when a young grey whale stirred up everyone's excitement with a rare visit through Vancouver's False Creek.
But the reasons that make the coast and its waters so amazing, are the very same reasons that make it so vulnerable to an oil spill. The nutrient rich currents between the mainland, Vancouver Island, and Haida Gwaii, act like a washing machine. Any oil spill would be disbursed quickly, with the potential to hit all three coasts. These coasts are some of B.C.'s most ecologically and economic important areas.
Governor Schwarzenegger…
Continue reading »We must do all we can to protect wild salmon
We must protect wild salmon by getting fish farms out of the ocean and into closed containment systems.
By Jay Ritchlin
Someone pinch me. Seven years ago when I would talk about shifting open net cage salmon farming to closed containment systems, people thought I was crazy. But here it is in Overwaitea stores: salmon raised on a closed containment farm in Washington State. It's a huge step forward in the efforts to stop open net cages from harming wild salmon.
The David Suzuki Foundation and our partners in the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform thought it could be done — that it had to be done. We were confident that the weight of scientific evidence demonstrated real damage and risks from open net cages, but we also knew that coastal communities and some First Nations valued the jobs, and that in the long run our society will need to farm some seafood to meet human needs without stripping the oceans clean.
Yes, fish and shellfish that are lower on the food chain should take priority for large-scale protein production. But given the scale of the farmed-salmon industry and the social and economic factors supporting its continuation in some form, it didn't seem likely that the problems would go away. We also didn't want to be caught in the distraction of an "environment versus jobs" argument (even though we've been accused of that).
So we came to closed containment—keep the farmed fish separate from the wild fish and the environment. It's that…
Continue reading »Older posts »
- April 21, 2010
- Farmed salmon you can eat with peace of mind
- April 14, 2010
- Get Out to support wild salmon
- April 5, 2010
- Spread the One Ocean pledge
