A new study from UBC analyzed more 1,000 aquatic species for vulnerability to the effects of climate change, and the news for three B.C. food fish is not good. William Cheung — an associate professor at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries — brought together biological data relevant to adaptability and applied “fuzzy logic” to the computations. The exercise identified 294 marine species worldwide that are most at-risk due to climate change by 2050. Here are some highlights for species native to B.C. waters:
The National Energy Board has issued a stern warning to the company building a major west coast pipeline expansion about apparent violations of federal law.
The federal regulator called Kinder Morgan to task this week for installing mats in streams to discourage fish from spawning where the pipeline is to be built.
The mass of warm water known as “the blob” that heated up the North Pacific Ocean has dissipated, but scientists are still seeing the lingering effects of those unusually warm sea surface temperatures on Pacific Northwest salmon and steelhead.
SEATTLE — The mass of warm water known as “the blob” that heated up the North Pacific Ocean has dissipated, but scientists are still seeing the lingering effects of those unusually warm sea surface temperatures on Pacific Northwest salmon and steelhead.
PORT HARDY, B.C. — Members of two British Columbia First Nations say they have occupied a salmon farm on a small island on the province’s coast, the second such protest to be held in the past week.
Chief Willie Moon, also known as Okwilagame, said about 16 members of the Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw and the Kwikwasutinuxw Haxwamis arrived at the Wicklow Point salmon farm on Thursday afternoon.
He said about five protesters plan to stay until the provincial and federal governments revoke permits for the facility on Broughton Island, about 50 kilometres east of Port Hardy.
British Columbia’s new NDP government campaigned on a promise to transition the province’s fish-farming industry away from open-sea pens to land-based sites, but First Nations are pushing for more aggressive action. They want the province to revoke the licences of unwanted salmon farms operating in their territorial waters.
B.C.’s aquaculture industry was once again in the spotlight last week after thousands of Atlantic salmon may have escaped a Washington State fish farm near the border.
August 24, 2017. For immediate release. Ernest Alexandra Alfred and a small group have peacefully occupied the Marine Harvest salmon farm, Swanson Island. They state that they will remain on the farm until their chiefs are satisfied that the Province of BC has cancelled that farm’s Licence of Occupation and thus it has to leave the territory. The farm is located 17km east of Alert Bay.
(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – August 24, 2017) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) and the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance (FNWSA) are shocked and infuriated by Cook Aquaculture’s release of 305,000 specimens of an invasive salmon species into the waters of BC and Washington.
The UBCIC and the FNWSA have continuously advocated for the removal of open net-pen salmon farms in our waters and for BC and Canada to support a transition to on-land closed-containment aquaculture.
Posted: 04/21/2015 5:22 pm EDT Updated: 06/21/2015 5:59 am EDT
This month's bunker fuel spill in Vancouver's English Bay was a stark reminder of just what is at stake as resource industries lay claim to more and more of our coastline. The accident has already re-energized the debate over the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion and the increased tanker traffic that will accompany it. But, notably absent from this debate is the one group most Vancouverites look to on issues affecting our oceans -- the Vancouver Aquarium.