Latest news with #PacificSalmonFoundation
CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Salmon recovery gets funding boost
The Pacific Salmon Foundation is helping push a major salmon habitat restoration project near Tofino over the finish line with $100,000 in financial support.
CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
West Coast salmon habitat restoration earns financial boost, support toward completion
The Pacific Salmon Foundation is helping push a major salmon habitat restoration project near Tofino over the finish line with $100,000 in financial support. ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ (Tla-o-qui-aht) First Nation has been leading the recovery of a salmon watershed at Tranquil Creek, in partnership with Redd Fish Restoration Society. 'We're really excited. This is one of the bigger projects we've ever taken on and having it properly and thoroughly funded means we don't cut corners. We don't have to do things less than we intended,' says Redd Fish restoration biologist, Tom Balfour. The multi-million-dollar project is in its eighth and final year of work. The groups are addressing historical impacts of forestry by recreating necessary log jams for salmon. 'That's been a restoration technique for a long time, but the difference for us here is working at a very larger scale,' says Balfour. 'At the end of this project, we're going to put over a thousand second-growth cedar conifers, cedar spruce hemlocks, into this river just replacing a process that was lost.' According to Pacific Salmon Foundation, the project has restored more than 40 hectares of riparian habitat, planted 800 trees and installed 41 log jams. There are another 18 engineered log jams that are needed. 'Around the world, people are working hard to save and restore wild salmon,' says PSF CEO and president, Michael Meneer, in a news release. 'These fish – both Pacific and Atlantic – need our help. By working together, we can raise awareness for the challenges wild salmon face and help drive meaningful change.' Balfour says the new funding will help address some unexpected financial hurdles – such as harsh winter weather eroding logging roads, which cost more money to maintain to access the site.
CBC
17-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
New study shows increased pathogens near B.C. open-net salmon farms
Social Sharing A new study led by the Pacific Salmon Foundation and four northern Vancouver Island First Nations suggests that water collected near active open-net salmon farms contains four times more pathogens harmful to wild salmon than samples collected near inactive salmon farms. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports, examined environmental DNA to determine the levels of bacteria, fungi and viruses previously shown to be harmful to wild salmon. The Pacific Salmon Foundation says researchers collected samples from areas around the Broughton Archipelago near north Vancouver Island, including active and inactive open-net salmon farms. "That gives us the confirmation that salmon farms can actually contain and amplify pathogens that can ... therefore affect wild salmon that live in the area," said Emiliano Di Cicco, a researcher with the foundation. "We are a strong proponent of moving the farms out of the water in either a closed containment or any type of containment that would protect wild fish from the disposal of what comes out of the farms." Di Cicco says that, of all the factors affecting salmon populations, including climate change, open-net salmon farms are one risk that can be more easily removed. $1.17B in annual economic activity Open-net Atlantic salmon farms are a controversial topic in many coastal B.C. communities. Some coastal First Nations and environmental groups have opposed open-net salmon farming, saying they are linked to the transfer of disease to wild salmon. The federal government has decided to close the province's open-net salmon farms by 2029. But the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association says the province could lose up to $1.17 billion in economic activity and 4,560 full-time jobs if open-net salmon farming is no longer allowed. The association has strongly discredited this latest research, saying the results overestimate the risk of the pathogens' harm to wild salmon. Study is flawed, salmon farmers say Gary Marty, a senior fish pathology consultant for the association, says all animal populations have disease. "Anywhere we have lots of animals, we will have more disease than anywhere we don't have lots of animals," Mary told CBC News. "We also have wild salmon that are migrating sometimes in the millions, and it's likely there's lots of disease near those wild salmon." Marty says there is little difference in population trends of wild salmon near salmon farms compared to populations not exposed to them. In a written statement, the association says the study shows "inconsistencies and data integrity issues." 'We called it' Hereditary chief Ernest Alfred with the Namgis First Nation, one of the four nations that comprise the Broughton Aquaculture Transition Initiative, disagrees. Alfred says salmon populations have rebounded since most of the open-net salmon farms around the Broughton archipelago were closed two years ago. "All over the place, we're seeing dramatic numbers returning, and this is going to have an impact on the entire coast," he told CBC News. "We called it. We said you know that if you remove the farms that this would happen." Alfred says the Namgis were compelled to take part in the research after seeing the decline in the number of salmon off the B.C. coast and after repeatedly hearing from the industry and government that there wasn't enough data to support the closure.
CBC
26-01-2025
- Science
- CBC
Without more data, some salmon in B.C. and Yukon could face 'undocumented extinction,' study says
A lack of crucial data in vast Northwestern watersheds risks "undocumented extinction" of some salmon, according to a new study. Produced by the Pacific Salmon Foundation, a B.C.-based non-profit organization, the research looks at a region that encompasses B.C., Alaska and Yukon. The river basins in the area are roughly 110,000 square kilometres — more than three times the size of Vancouver Island. And yet, there's a huge blindspot on the keystone species there, the study says. "We actually know very little about most salmon in the northern transboundary region, and this is because monitoring has tended to focus on economically important stocks," said Stephanie Peacock, the lead author. That monitoring data on chinook and sockeye salmon is limited to major basins, including the Alsek and Taku Rivers. Pink, chum and steelhead — basically, a type of rainbow trout that migrates — are also in the region which is so ecologically intact the study calls it a "salmon stronghold." But it also states there's little to no monitoring of those species, or in smaller basins of, among others, the Chilkat River, near Haines, Alaska. For some salmon, like those that spawn in the Blanchard River, located near the B.C.-Yukon border along the Haines Road, there are no surveys whatsoever. That means the status of fish there is unknown. Peacock said this problem is because of how fish are managed under the Pacific Salmon Treaty, which by and large focuses on counting the number of fish swimming into major rivers. That treaty was signed by Canada and the U.S. in 1985 as way to cooperatively manage and conserve Pacific salmon stocks. Together, the countries gauge the strength of a given run to help determine sustainable harvest levels. At least that's the intent of the agreement. However, Peacock said as designed, the system overlooks things. "Monitoring in this region doesn't capture biodiversity," she said. "Salmon are not homogenous." Within every run are genetically diverse groups. Some salmon are just wired differently. Take sockeye, some of which prefer to spawn in rivers, while others do so in lakes, the study states. Peacock said this needs to be accounted for in the region, along with the age and size of fish. Without that key information, she said how to conserve the fish will remain a big question mark. "If we're not monitoring to try and understand how those diverse groups are doing, we run the risk that they might be declining or even becoming extinct — without us even knowing," Peacock said. What's the research suggest? Across the board, the study suggests salmon in the region are facing a decline in abundance from decades ago. For instance, like their Yukon River cousins, chinook numbers in the region have experienced steep drop-offs since around 2000, the study states. But when researchers dug a little deeper into available data and assessed salmon biodiversity they found some silver linings. One potential bright point: the strength of a distinct group of coho. Monitoring along the Klukshu River, a tributary of the Alsek, whose headwaters are in the Yukon, shows that the number of coho increased by about 600 per cent compared to the historical average. That's about 12,000 fish. However, Peacock cautions that because the full extent of the run hasn't been monitored, this could be an anomaly. Coho also spawn late, when ice possibly covers rivers. The study states this makes surveys challenging. Then there are sockeye, which also appear to be trending in the right direction, Peacock said. During the same year and in the same river, there were about 13,700 of them. That's a roughly 16-per-cent increase compared to the historical average. In October, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game de-listed Klukshu sockeye as a "stock of concern." There's big tension in the region. Many rivers are glacially fed, making water temperatures potentially more hospitable in the face of climate change, the study states. But there are also risks to habitats: wildfire and mining. The study states large fires in 2018 in northern B.C. affected 100 per cent of summer spawning habitat for steelhead in the Stikine. The study states there are 120 mines — active or otherwise — across the region. Of those, 28 are located within known spawning habitat. "It is probable that there is much more salmon habitat across the region, which we were not able to identify due to limited publicly available data on spawning locations," the study states. "The transboundary region is rich in mineral resources and there is a high likelihood that mining development will increase substantially in the years to come, particularly as glaciers recede and new habitats become accessible to mining exploration." Elizabeth MacDonald, with the Yukon Salmon Sub-Committee, a non-governmental advsiory body, said the research is important because it highlights northern needs. "These fish are so very, very important to people and I think oftentimes, because they do get forgotten about, it does a great disservice not just to the environment but the people who depend upon them," she said. What needs to happen? The Pacific Salmon Foundation says several things need to happen, including filling in existing data gaps with information on salmon biodiversity, conducting more research on habitats and their quality, and making data readily accessible and easy to comprehend. Examples of all these include attaching radio tags to salmon to understand their long voyages and patterns in between, as well as developing more comprehensive mining threat assessments, which evaluate the risks such as tailings dam failures. Peacock also suggests giving First Nations more resources to develop and carry out monitoring and management efforts of their own. "This means funding, training opportunities, infrastructure, but also supporting less conventional projects that bring people together, engage youth and foster that connection," Peacock said. "That will be critical to ensuring salmon have a future. People need to care about salmon." The Pacific Salmon Treaty is about to be renegotiated, as it is every 10 years. Peacock said now is the time to advocate for broader provisions, to account for biodiversity among salmon. A new agreement will be implemented in 2028. "Both in salmon, but also in their habitats. This might involve things like moving away from reliance on hatchery production and greater incentives for habitat protection and restoration, with the goal of promoting self-sustaining diverse, wild salmon populations," Peacock said.
