wild salmon

Each autumn, Courtenay Fish and Game volunteers go to great lengths to capture live spawning salmon from an isolated stretch of the Trent River to raise at their new Comox Lake hatchery.

Norm Allard knows he may never see the full impacts of his efforts to restore wetlands and floodplains in southeastern British Columbia, but he takes a "generational view" of the work that exemplifies a key part of climate resiliency.

Both sides of British Columbia's contentious fish farm debate are welcoming Ottawa's move to delay a decision on a planned transition from open-net salmon farms in the province's coastal waters.

Our podcast The Salmon People earned the nod this week. The award honours a Canadian organization that embodies exemplary journalism with a resulting impact on the community it serves.

“Honorees like The Salmon People are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet,” said Claire Graves, president of the Webby Awards. “It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 14,000 entries we received this year.”

The honour means The Salmon People, which topped the charts back when it was first released in October, is now featured prominently on Apple’s iTunes page.

Ottawa has “abandoned” endangered salmon and steelhead trout despite its biodiversity promises, a coalition of B.C. environmental groups allege.

Open net-pen fish farming on the Pacific coast took a one-two punch after operations closures were announced in both B.C. and Washington state this week. 

Higher ocean and river temperatures are stressing Atlantic salmon, depriving these iconic fish of oxygen and forcing them to swim farther to find food. These climate change pressures are also impacting salmon in ocean farms, which have seen an increase in mass die-offs.

Coming Tuesday, Aug. 9 on iTunes: The Salmon People builds on the success of CNO’s 2021 debut podcast series, Race Against Climate Change, which earned a nomination for Best Climate Solutions Reporting from the Canadian Journalism Foundation. This new collaborative podcast cements CNO’s commitment to telling impactful and creative stories about the climate.

The federal government says open-net pen salmon farming may continue off British Columbia's coast outside the Discovery Islands area, while Ottawa undertakes consultation on the plan to transition away from the practice.

A recent Federal Court ruling to set aside a decision to phase out salmon farms in the Discovery Islands doesn't necessarily mean the issue is dead in the water, say First Nations and environmentalists.

Fish farm operators Mowi Canada West, Cermaq Canada and Grieg Seafood applied for a judicial review of the order that prevented them from restocking their farms, arguing it lacked reasons and didn't "show an appreciation of the facts." 

Tyson Marsel parked his truck in a field abutting B.C.'s Okanagan River, stepped into a pair of rubber hip waders and walked out into the smooth, frigid waters in search of salmon sperm. 

Salmon are at the centre of the cultural and spiritual life of the Indigenous communities up and down the West Coast. Unfortunately, they are also under great threat, writes Florence Baker, lead organizer for Sierra Club BC.