Pushing & Pulling

The Salmon People podcast tells the story of a 40-year fight for wild salmon. It began with a fishing outfitter seeing smolts – young fish – covered in sea lice as he took tourists out to fish. He took his concerns to biologist Alex Morton. She was interested because the whales she was studying had stopped returning to the B.C. coast in the spring. She wondered if the sea lice were killing the smolts preventing them from going out to the ocean and returning as adult fish – fish the whales loved to eat?One person has a question, a second person decides to try and answer it. And the years rolled by as Alex Morton worked with other scientists, environmentalists, nature guardians and First Nations to convince government that an industry controlled by multi-national companies based in Norway was contributing to the decline of the wild salmon.Now with a 2029 deadline for all ocean-based fish farms to close, the industry is still lobbying to stay. They say they have a new design of farm that provides a better separation from the wild salmon and protect their fish from sea lice.Scientist Stan Proboszcz of Watershed Watch says one of the companies, Cermaq is testing the new configuration. He says the fish are grown in a big plastic bag, which still sits in the water. “They have kind of switched their branding of that technology to closed containment. The reason for that rebranding in this federal transition that is the one thing that would be allowed is closed containment,” Proboszcz said.“And if this is closed containment and this is the solution, I'm going to suggest that it's a terrible solution. It doesn’t work. It does not work at all,”Dan Lewis of Clayoquot Action keeps watch on the fish farms on the west side of the island and says the new design doesn’t fix a major problem – enormous amounts of fish feces released from the farms into the ocean.  He says a video recorded by biologists from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, that was released after an ATIP request, showed a shocking amount of feces below the fish farm.“And they found a trench and they followed it and it appeared to be full of feces from the farm. And I'm sure that's not how it's supposed to function.” Lewis said. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In British Columbia where multinational corporations have controlled salmon farms for decades – they are now under a deadline to leave. The Canadian government has told them to get out of the ocean by 2029.  Many people can’t believe they even want to stay. Climate change is causing all sorts of problems – warm water spawning algae growths, rampant sea lice infestations and diseases. Some farms have lost hundreds of thousands of fish in die offs.John Holder has been designing land-based fish farms all over the world for twenty-five years. He doesn’t believe the ocean open-net farms have a future anywhere.“The climate is going to force them off the ocean”, Holder said.The companies – Mowi – Cermaq and previously Grieg - say they can’t move because there is no available land, no reliable sources of water and electricity in B.C.But John Holder with his partner Rob Walker have found land and are developing two land-based farms in the province. Walker says land-based farms are operating all over the world growing salmon, trout, arctic char, tilapia and more. They provide food and a small income to family growers.  In Canada Holder says he is helping First Nations who are embracing land-based fish farms in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario. But not in B.C. – not yet.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Big Decision was a long time coming. n Back in 2012 The Cohen Commission Inquiry released a report that suggested salmon farming might have to end unless it could be proven by 2020 that fish farms didn’t harm wild salmon. The inquiry was looking into the decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River, a major highway for fish travelling to the ocean.That started a debate, resulted in new science, attacks on science and scientists. Biologist Alex Morton, who shifted her career from studying whales to researching sea lice on wild salmon coming from the fish farms was a frequent target of fish farm supporters. Fast forward to 2024.Episode 17 of The Salmon People tells the story of Fisheries Minister Diane LeBoutillier’s announcement to ban fish farms from B.C. waters in 2029. And the concerns of many that five years is too long to wait. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Summer of Whales and Salmon tells the surprising story of the sudden change in the waters off the coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Orca and Humpback whales came back by the dozens and they stayed for months. They spent the summer gorging on salmon - Chinook, Chum and Pink, in particular. Tour operators, fishers, First Nations and researchers like Alex Morton saw it as a sign - a sign that the closure of 42 fish farms has given the salmon fishery a chance to recover. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Salmon People and the fish farm industry are waiting on two big announcements: one from the court and the other from the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Each group is worried the decisions won’t go their way.The first time the Court evaluated the Minister’s decision on fish farms – the industry won, and the consultations on transitioning fish farms out of the water by 2025 – started all over again. And this time, everyone wants to be heard. But something odd happens – the First Nations and the fish farms seem to be getting more of the Minister’s time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray has a final decision to make on fish farms. Will she order all fish farms out of B.C. waters? Industry mounts a major campaign to convince the public that removing fish farms would be a disaster for jobs, food security and reconciliation. And it would devastate isolated First Nation communities. But is that true? Let’s find out. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There was good news and bad news in the spring of 2023. There were surprises from the wild salmon. First Nations made a strange alliance that caused anger and conflict in their communities. And parliament released a report that could force a major overhaul of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scientists at the Department of Fisheries & Oceans released a last-minute study on sea lice.  It was just days before Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray was expected to announce a decision on the closure of fish farms in the Discovery Islands.  The report said that sea lice on fish farms did not have any negative impact on wild salmon swimming by the farms. The scientific community was shocked and outraged. And they sprang into action. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last season we heard a lot about fish farms on the east side of Vancouver Island, the farms in the Discovery Islands and the Broughton Archipelago. The west side of the island has 20 fish farms, 14 of them operated by Cermaq, one of the big three Norwegian-based companies. It turns out Tofino has a small, dedicated group working hard to bring fish farm problems to everyone’s attention. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Fisheries and Oceans minister, following a recommendation from the Cohen Commission, orders fish farms in the Discovery Islands to close. By 2023, they will be gone. The industry — Mowi and Cermaq go to court to challenge the decision. The court rules in their favour. But it isn’t a done deal — it just means the minister has to make some changes before making the order. Meanwhile, First Nations are also moving to get rid of fish farms on their territories.We are crowdfunding to cover the cost of this podcast. If you'd like to contribute, as little as five dollars per month can help support this work: https://www.nationalobserver.com/donate/podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.