Fisheries

Jul. 10, 2019

Streamflows remain low despite rainfall

Despite rainy weather, ongoing drought conditions on the North Island may reduce trout and coho numbers as low streamflows leave fish stranded and higher water temperatures snuff out insects that provide them with food.

“It is fairly unusual for the North Island to be this dry,” said Jaroslaw Szczot, senior aquatic ecologist with the provincial Ministry of Forests. “I think the fires last year proved that.”

May 20, 2019 - The federal and Alberta governments are planning to allow tar sands/oil sands companies to release 1.3 trillion litres of liquid waste, currently held in 220 square kilometres of tailings ponds across the northeastern part of the province, into the Athabasca River, under new regulations intended to take effect in 2022, the Globe and Mail reports.

Feb. 28, 2019

A rushed process that emphasizes hatcheries and coastal fisheries over habitat restoration and inland spawning streams has some worried the province’s new plan is meant, first and foremost, to serve commercial fishing interests

Efforts to create a made-in-B.C. strategy to assure the future abundance of wild salmon is off to a rocky start — marred by rushed consultations and a process dominated by coastal fishing interests, leaving environmentalists, scientists and interior communities on the outside looking in.

The number of heatwaves affecting the planet’s oceans has increased sharply, scientists have revealed, killing swathes of sea-life like “wildfires that take out huge areas of forest”.

The damage caused in these hotspots is also harmful for humanity, which relies on the oceans for oxygen, food, storm protection and the removal of climate-warming carbon dioxide the atmosphere, they say.

February 25, 2019

Widespread and sometimes drastic marine oxygen declines are stressing sensitive species—a trend that will continue with climate change

FEB. 18, 2019

B.C. lawyer Eugene Kung says he would be ‘very surprised’ if the Trans Mountain reconsideration process isn’t challenged in court.

January 27th 2019

In an unprecedented move, the Dzawada’enuzw nation is claiming in court that farming Atlantic salmon — which often carry disease — in their traditional waters constitutes a violation of Aboriginal rights

BC still opposes the project, but it’s not leading.

News Release

January 10, 2019

UBCIC Statement of Clarity in Response to Premier Horgan’s Comments on Unist’ot’en