American fishing boats catching threatened Canadian salmon was flagged as a top concern for federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray before meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Canada in March.
Rodney Hsu says he has found too many Fraser River sockeye in places they aren't supposed to be this season — from residential areas to gravel roads, wrapped up in garbage bags and rotting in the open air.
Significant numbers of salmon returning to spawn in British Columbia are being caught in southeast Alaskan fisheries, hindering Canada's efforts to preserve and rebuild stocks that are declining to historic lows, B.C. salmon advocates say.
Harbour seals, sea lions and some fish-eating killer whales have been rebounding along the Northeast Pacific Ocean in recent decades. But that boom has come with a trade-off: They're devouring more of the salmon prized by a unique but fragile population of endangered orcas.