More than 70 people turned up at the Sechelt Legion March 5 to hear a short presentation about salmon protection and spent considerably more time talking about habitat concerns, lack of provincial will for ecological protection and how much the community has already lost.
Gordon Ennis managing director of the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (PFRCC) said their group is an independent advisory body whose mandate is to alert and inform the federal and provincial governments and the public on issues that threaten Pacific salmon and their habitat. He said between doing science, research, reporting and recommendations, the PFRCC decided that wasn't enough. "We needed to get out into the communities and hear what's important to them," said Ennis. "People need an outlet to share their concerns, views and individual and collective knowledge of a particular area."
At meetings like the one at the Legion, the PFRCC starts off with a short presentation about the council, what it does and what its aims are. After the introduction, there was a plenary session where the community spoke from the floor about their concerns, what changes they see taking place, what they think that means, not only to salmon habitat, but to other fish habitat and the ecosystem as a whole and what they see as solutions. The final part of the evening was reserved for a group session where participants worked together on a map of the area. Individuals with concerns in specific areas marked and identified where those concerns were taking place. This information will now go back to both the federal and provincial government. Ennis said that having a clear visual aid representing where the problems are and how that area fits into a geographic hole makes it a lot easier and more effective when talking to government bodies about what a community is saying and why. The comments from the floor came from a diverse range of people and views. One resident said his concern was sockeye salmon in Sakinaw Lake and the cumulative habitat destruction due to independent power projects (IPPs), urban development and poor water use regulations. Dan Bouman from the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association said one of his major concerns and those brought to him by the community is fish habitat destruction from forestry operations. Bouman said the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) needs to go after people who violate regulations. He described how on Eagle River in Powell River, water was diverted by almost 90 per cent to a power facility and the eggs of pink, coho and chum salmon dried up. Bouman said it was a major fish kill and even though the water diversion was a clear violation, there were no repercussions.
Gordon Leslie said one of the problems is a fundamental lack of science taking place, adding the government needs to put in resources and money to get the real facts on what is happening to fish stock. He said DFO has released millions of fish, but there is no way of counting them, so no one really knows how many of the released salmon are coming back. If DFO and other governments are predicting fish returns by the number of fish released, than there is no real way to know actual fish numbers and Leslie said someone better start doing the science soon because if not "we're in big trouble."
While there were numerous points of view of why wild salmon are in danger, the commonality holding the views together is there has to be protective action. As well, there was consensus that forestry, IPPs and other corporate industries need stricter monitoring and that violations have to be severely penalized.
For more information on how the PFRCC works and what they have accomplished from the information they gather, go to www.fish.bc.ca.
