Authorities Try To Stop Illegal Fishing on Fraser River

Just recently we heard about some restaurants in BC choosing to take salmon off of the menus because of concerns for overfishing and the salmon stock dwindling. Now, there are also crackdowns that reportedly have taken place on illegal fishing that has allegedly taken place on the Fraser River.

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Authorities are trying to protect salmon stocks and at-risk orcas as well in their efforts to stop the illegal fishing from taking place.

Officials are looking to try and put a stop to the fishing that is going on around the Fraser River that shouldn’t be. They have been able to find hundreds of illegal fishing nets along the Fraser River already and this can pose serious harm to fish making their way through the region.

There are a variety of factors that have contributed to the growing concerns for the salmon population which includes issues like climate change, overfishing, and illegal fishing,

Over 1 Billion Seashore Animals Impacted: Canadian Heat Wave Cooks Shellfish

The recent heatwave that BC experienced wasn’t good news for millions of seashore animals in the area. It meant that high temperatures would cook those millions of shellfish to death, such as clams, mussels, and more. The temperatures were alarming and meant trouble for fish like salmon as well and not just shellfish.

The heat that the West Coast recently experienced through that record-breaking heatwave was something that surely didn’t help the already suffering salmon population. Now, there are various efforts in place that are trying to address the problem and that might even look like restaurants taking some salmon dishes off the menu as a result. There are other much more sustainable seafood options to go with other than salmon.

More Sustainable Seafood Options

This has prompted some to spread the message of effectively trying to restore oceans through seafood choices that we make at the market. But many of those much more sustainable seafood options aren’t as popular or appealing right now to many, such as mussels, oysters, and clams.

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With the declining salmon population around BC there is also worry that this could spill over into impacting the orca population as well on the West Coast. Because of that depleted salmon stock this could leave them also at risk then if the problem isn’t addressed.

Closing Commercial Fisheries in BC

Already this summer we have seen many of the commercial salmon fisheries closed in the province which might not have been a shock to a few. Some of those who are close to the industry might have said they could see it coming.

Researchers have been busy looking into the declining salmon stock. Recently, UBC researchers investigated the salmon habitat more closely and found that much of the spawning stream area is inaccessible to the salmon. Overall, they noted that Pacific salmon couldn’t access hundreds of kms of spawning streams any longer.

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Salmon Saving Projects

Around the province there are various efforts in place to investigate the problem and take action on trying to reverse and bring solution to the situation.

The BC and Canadian government recently announced funding for 12 projects that are going to be geared toward addressing this problem. Those projects will be focused on helping to restore those salmon populations, going to places like UBC, SFU, The Sport Fishing Institute of BC, and others.

Canada is going to be dedicating millions to the projects which will be focused on habitat restoration and protection through innovation. According to one recent study from UBC it is estimated that as much as 85 per cent of historical salmon habitat has been lost in the Lower Mainland of the province, but there are ideas for how to fix things and possibly restore the situation.

The problem with declining salmon populations in BC and deterioration of these habitats is a concern for many people who are dedicated to fixing these issues both on the government and individual level.

BC Restaurants Take Wild Salmon Off Menu Over Concerns For Declining Population

There are some restaurants in BC who have decided to take salmon dishes off of their menu over concerns related to declining stocks.

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Some of those BC restaurants who have removed the salmon include The Naramata Inn in the Okanagan. Other establishments like PiDGiN in Vancouver’s Gastown and Burdock & Co have decided to stop sourcing local Pacific salmon on their menu. Instead they look for more sustainable aquaculture farm options.

Warming waters that have been linked to climate change, and industrial pollution, as well as agricultural runoff, impact from dams, and issues like overfishing, it has all caused concern for the decrease in salmon populations.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has decided to shut down most of the BC fisheries to address the problem and try to save wild salmon. Salmon rivers around the Yukon will be closed for commercial fishing this year, at least 60 percent of the fisheries will be forced to close. Recreational fisheries in the Yukon and BC are going to be restricted. It’s expected that a number of fisheries are not going to remain open for commercial harvesting.

For years fish harvesters in the region have been seeing low catches and Pacific salmon especially are in long decline with a variety of reasons attributed to that decrease in salmon population.

Climate Change Mainly To Blame For Decrease in Salmon Population?

So far climate change has been frequently suggested as a culprit that might have contributed greatly to the current problem of the decline in Pacific wild salmon population.

Some in the BC fishing industry have suggested that there is no question as to whether or not climate change might be playing a role in the decline of wild salmon. Those declines have an impact that extends beyond just the restaurant menu at a eatery downtown, it extends to the health of the environment and the health of the economy too.

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Restoring Oceans Through Sustainable Seafood

Other educational programs have been put together that seek to teach communities about sustainable seafood options other than wild salmon. There are restorative species to learn about that provide potential benefits to the environment, can be more cost effective, and taste just as good.

Regenerative aquaculture species and restorative aquaculture is an idea that is being promoted by the World Economic Forum and others around the world today as a potential solution to these problems we see today. There are more sustainable seafood choices that people could be making that they might not know about. These would be seafood items that are harvested in a less damaging way, that are more abundant in the environment, or more resilient to fishing pressures etc.

Examples of sustainable seafood might be items like mussels, oysters, and clams.

Those seafood items like mussels have been referred to as more sustainable options to go with. There are already mussel farming operations that are well aware of this benefit and who are looking to revolutionize the food industry, specifically aquaculture, with their operations.

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How can more food be obtained from the oceans in a way that does not deprive future generations of their benefits?

This is the question that scientists have been asking themselves and they have pointed the finger at sustainable seafood options like shellfish, suggesting that today we should be making shellfish a larger portion of our diet.

Mussels, clams, oysters and scallops might not be some of the most popular seafood items to order on the menu and for that it’s assumed that perhaps their potential until now has been largely overlooked. They could provide a sustainable alternative for seafood sourcing today, giving seafood options that are still nutrient dense.

The seafood items like clams, scallops, and mussels can be farmed cheaply and provide an alternative seafood option that has less of an environmental impact than salmon. According to David Willer, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge, the environmental footprint connected with bivalve aquaculture is lower than many arable crops in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as land and freshwater use.

Most Sustainable Protein Source

Sustainable seafood has been regarded as the most environmentally efficient source of protein that there is today on the planet. Farmed mussels are among the most sustainable seafood items that you can find today in the market, among other shellfish items like those mentioned above.

In BC salmon are already at risk because of habitat loss, mining, climate change, logging, and the recent heat wave didn’t help matters. The Fraser is known as one of the largest spawning rivers not only in BC but in the world but recently the Interior Fraser coho and Fraser sockeye have been considered threatened.

For those restaurants in BC that did make the move to recently remove salmon dishes from the menu, some have indicated that they are making a political statement with the move, a statement in protest of over-fishing.

Hundreds of Illegal Crab Traps Spotted Around Vancouver

In Vancouver there are hundreds of illegal crab traps that have been found in areas like Kitsilano, on Jericho Beach, and around Vancouver.

One recent group that had been free diving in Vancouver spotted some illegal crab traps when they came across a mysterious line that was in the water.

They pulled and followed the line to see that it was a crab trap.

Traps that you do see in the area are usually identified with locator floats and identifiers of some sort, but these traps reportedly didn’t have that.

There are restrictions as to how many traps one person can have in B.C., along with other restrictions for trying to catch crabs in the area.

Several illegal traps around the Vancouver region have already been seized, at least 250 or more.

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This is reportedly a growing problem around B.C. today where people launch illegal crab traps along the West Coast.

In Boundary Bay earlier this year there were hundreds of illegal crab traps spotted again and seized.

At least 337 illegal crab traps had been discovered in a multi-day operation that authorities had engaged in.

Aside from seizing crab traps they have also seized several vessels in the past as well when engaging in these operations.

Altogether over the years there are thousands of traps that have been found, each year they could easily come across hundreds of these traps.

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Canada is one of the biggest seafood exporters in the world today, bringing a great deal of crabs, lobster, and other seafood items to countries worldwide.

Despite the many years they have been searching the waters nearby, finding and seizing crab traps, there continues to be even more to find.

They still don’t know the full extent of the problem and no one knows how many traps might be out there that they aren’t finding.

Ghost Fishing in B.C.

Those who own the illegal crab traps in Vancouver and around B.C. are believed to come and retrieve the traps at night to try and further avoid detection.

Technology has been helping them do the job, especially now that drones are becoming more commonplace and affordable. Drones can help them search the area and look for crap traps that shouldn’t be there.

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The Canadian Coast Guard along with fishing officials in the province are the ones who work together to try and find these illegal crab traps.

Boundary Bay is one of the more popular regions that hundreds of traps have been found, along with other beaches and regions in the province.

These ghost crab traps as they have also been referred to are a danger, experts warn, because they could go on to kill fish and crabs for years if they aren’t removed.

With illegal crap traps in Vancouver there is concern for the local ecosystem as the traps could cause harm and marine pollution, killing a variety of species for long periods of time.

A number of traps have been abandoned around B.C. and authorities have seized and removed them over the years as they investigate this issue.

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When those traps are found and then seized we also see that authorities release thousands of those crabs back into the water. They don’t end up making their way onto the black market.

Crab traps are supposedly to be clearly marked and the trap operations are expected to also follow other guidelines that help to ensure the safety of the captive crabs as well. For example, the traps are supposed to be secured with a rot cord that will decompose over time in the event that the trap is lost, so the crabs can escape.

If anyone has information about any suspicious activity related to this they are encouraged to report it by contacting Fisheries and Oceans Canada at 1-800-465-4336.