Forty percent of BC’s open-net pen salmon farms have been removed from the ocean—largely through the efforts of First Nations to protect their wild salmon. And they are being richly rewarded—since the removal of Discovery Island and Broughton Area salmon farms, there has been a spectacular resurgence of pinks, coho, chum and chinook. Every year the evidence mounts that this is a result of fish farm removals.
Just look at the Hada River in Musga’magw Dzawada’enuxw territory. Formerly seeing abundances of up to 50,000, the river was down to several hundred spawners. The first generation to return after the farms were removed increased to 15,500 spawners in just one cycle (2 years). And salmon weren’t the the only ones to return—they brought with them a “staggering” presence of whales, bears, birds, and herring.
Removing fish farms works
The resurgence has spread along the inside passage from Alert Bay to the Puget Sound. A tugboat skipper heading north to Toba Inlet posted on social media that “I’m seeing more chums jumping than I have in my 50 years on the coast!”. These chum are the first generation that migrated out to sea after salmon farms were removed from the Discovery Islands. Published research showed a 96% decline in sea lice infection when they were tiny juveniles.
The abundance of salmon has meant that northern resident orcas have been able to stay in the Broughton area all summer, which is critical for their culture and well-being. Orcalab’s underwater cameras in the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve picked up school after school of pink, coho and chinook salmon.
Healthy wild salmon returns
The removal of salmon farms from the Discovery Islands by federal fisheries minister Bernadette Jordan was perhaps the most successful federal policy enacted to protect the environment. This year’s test fisheries on Fraser River salmon that migrate through the Discovery Islands are showing astonishing increases!
Fisheries and Oceans Canada warned there would not be any commercial salmon openings for chum this year, as returns were forecast to be very low. However, test fishing revealed a much higher than expected abundance, and a fishery was opened successfully.
With wild salmon in the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Region hovering on the brink of extinction, why not remove fish farms here so wild salmon can flourish once again?
Dan Lewis is Executive Director of Clayoquot Action.
