Salmon

Hyde Creek Watershed Society volunteers show some of the thousands of salmon that died at the end of April after an unknown pollutant entered their troughs. (Photo courtesy of Jean Peachman)

Lower Mainland salmon hatchery loses thousands of fish to mystery pollutant

Port Coquitlam watershed society hypothesizes low rain levels allowed toxins to build up

 

Monday Rock salmon farm. (MOWI Canada West photo)

B.C. group wants feds to stop marking their own salmon farming homework

Indigenous-led coalition says DFO structure creates a flawed process of checks and balances

 

Several environmental groups have written to the federal environment minister requesting a review of a chemical linked to the “mass deaths” of coho salmon. Coho salmon swim at the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Capilano River Hatchery, in North Vancouver, B.C., Friday July 5, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Tire toxin linked to salmon deaths, environmental groups want federal probe

Study says chemical known as 6PPD produces a breakdown product acutely toxic for coho

 

A British Columbia wildlife protection group says a primary food source of threatened southern resident killer whales is being caught in a commercial fishery that tosses chinook salmon overboard or turns them into compost. A southern resident killer whale swims past a school of salmon near the Fraser River, B.C. in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Keith Holmes, Hakai Institute

‘Appalling waste’: watchdog says 20,000-salmon bycatch could have fed B.C. orcas

Group says commercial fishery threatens food source of southern resident killer whales

A British Columbia wildlife protection group says a primary food source of threatened southern resident killer whales is being caught in a commercial fishery that tosses chinook salmon overboard or turns them into compost. A southern resident killer whale swims past a school of salmon near the Fraser River, B.C. in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Keith Holmes, Hakai Institute
SFU postdoctoral fellow Michael Price with a sockeye salmon during his research on the Skeena watershed. (Walter Joseph/Contributed)

Past holds the key to the future for Skeena sockeye: B.C. researcher

Sockeye habitats are changing, and so is their size, says SFU post-doctoral fellow Michael Price

SFU postdoctoral fellow Michael Price with a sockeye salmon during his research on the Skeena watershed. (Walter Joseph/Contributed)
Zac Ohlman tows plastic tubes containing live salmon in the Trent River. Photo Rochelle Baker / Canada’s National Observer

Flying fish: Salmon taking to the skies in B.C. enhancement effort

Courtenay Fish and Game Protective Association collecting brood stock with makeshift gondola

  • Jan 10, 2024
Zac Ohlman tows plastic tubes containing live salmon in the Trent River. Photo Rochelle Baker / Canada’s National Observer
A salmon conservation group is raising concerns about reported increases in wild fish deaths, primarily herring, in British Columbia’s open-net fish farms. An Atlantic salmon is seen during a Department of Fisheries and Oceans fish health audit at a fish farm near Campbell River, B.C., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS /Jonathan Hayward

Watchdog raises alarm over wild fish death spike near B.C. fish farms

Herring primary victims of surge revealed in DFO data

A salmon conservation group is raising concerns about reported increases in wild fish deaths, primarily herring, in British Columbia’s open-net fish farms. An Atlantic salmon is seen during a Department of Fisheries and Oceans fish health audit at a fish farm near Campbell River, B.C., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS /Jonathan Hayward
Mikala Wheeler (left) diligently prepares data sheets as Simon George converses with fellow team members just moments before the two suit up in their dry suits for a day of snorkelling to monitor the salmon population present in the Theodosia River. (Olivier Laurin / Comox Valley Record)

B.C. conservation team patrols remote salmon streams by foot and by snorkel

Comox Valley environmental consultant provides DFO with invaluable data

Mikala Wheeler (left) diligently prepares data sheets as Simon George converses with fellow team members just moments before the two suit up in their dry suits for a day of snorkelling to monitor the salmon population present in the Theodosia River. (Olivier Laurin / Comox Valley Record)
Sockeye salmon spawning in a clear groundwater channel. Location is in the Tulsequah subwatershed within the Taku watershed, B.C. (Credit: Jonathan Moore)

As glaciers retreat, mining claims threaten future B.C. salmon habitats: study

SFU researchers say environmental policies need to be more future-thinking as climate change progresses

Sockeye salmon spawning in a clear groundwater channel. Location is in the Tulsequah subwatershed within the Taku watershed, B.C. (Credit: Jonathan Moore)
Zach Kapelan briefly holds a chinook salmon before releasing it back into HIŁSYAQƛIS/Tranquil Creek to spawn. Photo by Marc Fawcett-Atkinson/National Observer

Divers swimming with salmon in remote B.C. streams to enhance conservation

Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations conducts hands-on fish counting on Vancouver Island

  • Nov 24, 2023
Zach Kapelan briefly holds a chinook salmon before releasing it back into HIŁSYAQƛIS/Tranquil Creek to spawn. Photo by Marc Fawcett-Atkinson/National Observer
Coho salmon swim after being released from a hatchery. (National Marine Fisheries Service/Southwest Fisheries Science Center; Salmon Ecology Team photo)

B.C. stream watchers link coho salmon kill to tire toxin and drought

Streamkeeper Society says lack of rain may have allowed tire chemical to build up on roads

Coho salmon swim after being released from a hatchery. (National Marine Fisheries Service/Southwest Fisheries Science Center; Salmon Ecology Team photo)
Spawning sockeye salmon are seen making their way up the Adams River in Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park near Chase, B.C. Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014. First Nations groups in the Canadian side of the Columbia River Basin are adamant that salmon runs that have long been blocked by U.S. dams must be restored, potentially in a renewed river treaty between Canada and the United States. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

First Nations seek salmon return to Columbia Basin in new treaty with U.S.

Experts say possible solutions are costly and limited, though

Spawning sockeye salmon are seen making their way up the Adams River in Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park near Chase, B.C. Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014. First Nations groups in the Canadian side of the Columbia River Basin are adamant that salmon runs that have long been blocked by U.S. dams must be restored, potentially in a renewed river treaty between Canada and the United States. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
A pair of freshly caught salmon. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Landmark drought has B.C.’s salmon SWAT teams leaping into action

First responders in several communities stepping up to conserve B.C.’s signature fish

  • Oct 30, 2023
A pair of freshly caught salmon. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
A mother bear and her cub perched in a tree at Bear James Park, near a popular salmon fishing spot along the Puntledge River, on October 9, 2023. (Olivier Laurin / Comox Valley Record)

A vital linchpin: celebrating the life cycle of the B.C. salmon

A female salmon can lay up to 5,000 eggs, but only two may reach maturity and successfully reproduce

A mother bear and her cub perched in a tree at Bear James Park, near a popular salmon fishing spot along the Puntledge River, on October 9, 2023. (Olivier Laurin / Comox Valley Record)
Forests Minister Bruce Ralston speaks in Vancouver on Jan. 22, 2020. Ralston addressed some of the concerns in Westwold around a fish protection order during the province’s update on the wildfire and drought situation Sept. 13, 2023 THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

B.C. forests minister asks for people to comply with fish protection orders

Ralston says salmon run would be wiped out without protection order in Westwold

Forests Minister Bruce Ralston speaks in Vancouver on Jan. 22, 2020. Ralston addressed some of the concerns in Westwold around a fish protection order during the province’s update on the wildfire and drought situation Sept. 13, 2023 THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
British Columbia’s prolonged provincewide drought risks damaging the salmon population for generations and has led to a series of emergency, rapidly-deployed projects to try to intervene. Spawning salmon, are seen making their way up the Adams River in Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park near Chase, B.C., Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

B.C. salmon swimming through summer sauna get emergency intervention

Pacific Salmon Foundation working hard to get through this year’s far-reaching crisis

British Columbia’s prolonged provincewide drought risks damaging the salmon population for generations and has led to a series of emergency, rapidly-deployed projects to try to intervene. Spawning salmon, are seen making their way up the Adams River in Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park near Chase, B.C., Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Spawning salmon are seen making their way up the Adams River in Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park near Chase, B.C. Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014. The run of pink salmon on British Columbia’s Fraser River is exceeding expectations this summer. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Pacific Salmon Commission raises forecast for B.C. Fraser River pink salmon run

Significant hike sparked by the abundance of pink being caught by test fisheries

Spawning salmon are seen making their way up the Adams River in Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park near Chase, B.C. Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014. The run of pink salmon on British Columbia’s Fraser River is exceeding expectations this summer. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Coquitlam–Port Coquitlam MP Ron McKinnon spoke Monday (June 24) at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney at the launch event for the first Canadian mission in the Indo-Pacific to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. (Brendan Mayer/News Staff)

Canadian fishery officers launch mission from B.C. to fight illegal fishing

This is the first Candian mission of its kind in the Indo-Pacific

Coquitlam–Port Coquitlam MP Ron McKinnon spoke Monday (June 24) at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney at the launch event for the first Canadian mission in the Indo-Pacific to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. (Brendan Mayer/News Staff)
Christoph Deeg, a researcher with the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s Salmon Health team and lead author of the paper. (Alanna D Photography/Contributed to Black Press Media)

eDNA helps to analyze the challenges salmon face while navigating at sea

Pacific salmon spend most of their life in the ocean, but research on their survival is uncommon

Christoph Deeg, a researcher with the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s Salmon Health team and lead author of the paper. (Alanna D Photography/Contributed to Black Press Media)
Dawson McKay (left) and Rob Worrall get a fish ready for the weigh-in durng a Vancouver Island salmon derby. Photo by Mike Chouinard/Campbell River Mirror Dawson McKay (left) and Rob Worrall get a fish ready for the weigh-in at Ostler Park during Saturday’s salmon derby. Photo by Mike Chouinard/Campbell River Mirror

Research finds some Pacific salmon migration out of sync with food supply

SFU research finds changing climate is causing some salmon to migrate out of step with plankton

Dawson McKay (left) and Rob Worrall get a fish ready for the weigh-in durng a Vancouver Island salmon derby. Photo by Mike Chouinard/Campbell River Mirror Dawson McKay (left) and Rob Worrall get a fish ready for the weigh-in at Ostler Park during Saturday’s salmon derby. Photo by Mike Chouinard/Campbell River Mirror