Salmon Steward is the official publication of the Pacific Salmon Foundation in British Columbia, Canada
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/496204
salmon Steward magazine 15 B ritish Columbia's calendar begins when Pacific salmon come back, and anglers eagerly take to the waters. Though accounting for less than a tenth of the country, British Columbia has 99.8% of the salmon (that's 42,900% more than the rest of Canada). In turn, we issue 300,000 freshwater licenses, 300,000 saltwater licences and 200 First Nations licenses, comprising almost a third of all Canadian licenses. Expenditures on salmon capture and freshwater fishing topped $1.716 billion in 2014. If we add the commercial and processing sectors, the value is: $2.52 billion. We need to protect our fish because, for example, in the Strait of Georgia, there has been no commercial fishery for more than 20 years. Fixing the Georgia Strait alone would add $200 million in additional revenue, more than $2.72 billion in total, and that's only part of our 25,000 km shoreline. But there are problems to solve on the way to prosperity. We need to accelerate the use of land-based fish farms. Additionally, our science must adapt to climate change which results in dry, hot weather in summer and floods in winter. We need to know the genetics of fish that can stand extremes. A century's logging damage must be addressed along with 77,000 culverts that prevent fish spawning. Habitat work costs millions and we need more support from the federal government — last year, Ottawa's total B.C. program was $900, 000, but even one clay bank project on the Cowichan cost $1.5 million a few years ago. Another big need is widespread netpens for sterilized Chinook to address needs of imperilled killer whale populations. Ending the herring roe harvest would improve salmon numbers, too, allowing us to slowly replace netpens with wild Pacific Chinook in Georgia Strait. The Pacific Salmon Foundation has a vital role in bringing back wild Pacific salmon. The most important part is improving habitats. Additionally, the Freshwater Fisheries Society that puts out eight million B.C. freshwater trout, has a well-developed marketing program that could be adapted to salt water, too. In terms of funding, the province's Salmon Conservation Stamp program, requiring licenses to be affixed with a $6 stamp, brought in $1.8 million to the Foundation recently. Going forward, that amount could be boosted to $7.2 million per year, if the stamp's price were quadrupled to $24. At the same time, the federal and B.C. governments could make matching contributions generating $21.6 million for habitat reconstruction. Let's bring salmon back one at a time, and let's do it in British Columbia. D.c. Reid B.C. Poet & Angling Writer r e c r e a t i o n a l f i s h e r i e s B.C. salmon Boost Canada's eConomy Left: A sea net-pen in Nuu-chah-nulth. Top: The growing tank at Kuterra's land-based closed containment facility. WHO Cares About Salmon? Recreational fishers in the Strait of Georgia (False Creek).