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One river

History

Local Conservation History
Local Conservation History
Clayoquot Action History
Clayoquot Action History

People power works!

Local conservation history

Informed and determined citizens have more power than corporations and governments want us to know. And when First Nations and environmentalists stand united, we can literally change the course of history.

Early 1980s
Meares Island Protest
Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht First Nations united back in the early 1980s to protect Meares Island from clearcut logging. They won an injunction which prevents any industrial development on Wah-Nah-Jus/Hilth-hoo-is until the Land Question is settled. Tla-o-qui-aht has since designated the island a Tribal Park.
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Early 1980s
1988
Sulphur Passage
In 1988, locals noticed a road being punched through Sulphur Passage in Ahousaht First Nations territory, heading towards the vast swath of unlogged rainforest in northern Clayoquot Sound. This was a turning point, when people recognized that it wasn't just about protecting Meares Island—all of Clayoquot Sound is sacred ground. A summer of blockades ensued, with 37 people arrested—hanging in wicker chairs in the blasting zone, climbing on machines, and hanging from trees in hammocks.
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1988
1990-1992
The War in the Woods
A series of blockades occurred at many of Vancouver Island’s remaining rainforest hotspots from 1990 to 1992. There were some pretty desperate moves made in attempts to stop logging in the last few stands remaining. It was at the Clayoquot Arm Bridge blockade in 1992 that a strategic decision was made to move to Gandhian-style protest in accessible locations, so you didn’t need to be a tree climbing eco-hero to be a conscientiousness objector.
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1990-1992
Summer 1993
Clayoquot Summer 1993
On April 13, 1993 the BC government announced they would only protect one third of Clayoquot Sound, leaving two-thirds open to clearcut logging. The Clayoquot Summer protests went viral in an age before the Internet—in part due to the images on the television news the summer before. Ten thousand people from all over the world showed up at the Peace Camp near Tofino, and nearly one thousand people were arrested—the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history.
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Summer 1993

Clayoquot Action History

Clayoquot Action was formed in 2013. Although the logging of ancient forests had largely been halted in Clayoquot Sound, our founders Bonny Glambeck and Dan Lewis knew that those forests would not survive without wild salmon. In the beginning they focussed on three major threats to wild salmon: mining, salmon farming, and the risk of increased tanker traffic causing a major oil spill in Clayoquot Sound.

2014
Two new fish farms?
Back in 2014 Cermaq applied for two new salmon farm licenses for the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Region. They may not have realized they were poking a hornet's nest—only one would end up being approved, and that one was occupied by members of Ahousaht First Nations, and evicted by their Chiefs.
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2014
2015
fish farm win!
Cermaq was granted permits in 2015 to install a new salmon farm on the eastern shore of Flores Island. They were not expecting members of Ahousaht First Nations to intervene… After a peaceful occupation by the Yaakswiis Warriors, the Ahousaht leadership asked Cermaq to tow their farm away.
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2015
2015
15 sea lions massacred
Cermaq Canada conducted a marine mammal massacre at a Clayoquot Sound salmon farm. On two days in December 2015, fifteen California Sea Lions were shot at their Binns Island salmon farm.
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2015
2016
ON TO NORWAY
Clayoquot Action sent a Wild Salmon Delegation to Norway to meet with the Norwegian government and industry, and Indigenous and environmental allies. We returned better informed about the state of crisis of the Norwegian industry, and connected to Sami allies and the wild salmon movement in Norway.
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2016
2017
Fish farms occupied!
In 2017 Chief Ernest Alfred occupied the Swanson Island fish farm in 'Namgis First Nation territories in the Broughton Archipelago. Within a year, the BC government had reached a historic agreeement to see an orderly removal of 17 fish-farm sites between 2019 and 2023.
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2017
2017
Tainted bloodwater
It’s hard to gasp underwater. But that’s what photographer Tavish Campbell did when when he first saw the bright red blood water gushing out of Creative Salmon’s fish processing plant, into Tofino Harbour. It was Autumn 2017. Clayoquot Action sent tissue samples from the blood water to the lab for testing—they found piscine orthoreovirus (PRV).
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2017
2017
pesticide permit
A small ad appeared in Tofino’s newspaper. It stated that Norwegian-based salmon farming giant Cermaq was applying to the BC Ministry of Environment for a permit to use Interox® Paramove® 50 to combat sea lice. A bit of searching on Cermaq’s website revealed their application is to deposit 2.3 million litres of pesticide—enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool—into the pristine waters of the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve over a three-year period.
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2017
2018
Salmon lice outbreak
In 2018 Cermaq had an unprecedented outbreak of lice in their Clayoquot Sound operations. Open net-pens are crowded with up to half a million salmon—ideal breeding grounds for parasites. This drastically increases the number of lice in surrounding waters. One to three lice is a lethal load for juvenile wild salmon.
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2018
2019
mass die-off
Late at night in November, Cermaq was observed loading three empty bio-waste trailers onto a barge and heading off into the stormy night. At the same time, three fully loaded bio-waste trailers left Tofino. The next morning a Clayoquot Action team on found dive crews at work, and bio-waste trailers being loaded with dead fish, at three of Cermaq’s Clayoquot operations.
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2019
2020
going viral report
The goal of our ‘Going Viral’ Report was to establish the presence or absence of piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) on salmon farms in Clayoquot Sound. Samples were collected adjacent to stocked fish farms and sent for testing by Dr. Fred Kibenge, one of the world’s leading salmon virologists. The results: we found 90% of Cermaq’s active farms were PRV-infected; 100% of Creative Salmon’s farms were infected as well.
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2020
2020
#Goodbye Cermaq!
Cermaq was planning to build 20 new fish farms in Nova Scotia this year. Community concern was mounting as grassroots groups got organized ahead of Cermaq’s “Hello Nova Scotia” public open houses. Ecology Action Centre had invited Karen Wristen (Living Oceans Society), Bob Chamberlin (First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance) and Clayoquot Action's own Bonny Glambeck on a speaking tour of Nova Scotia communities. We planned to bring lessons learned from the BC salmon farm fight.
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2020

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