Quinn Bender, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

  • 242 Stories | 
  • Page 5 of 13
Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s pilot bottom-trawl closure has been expanded to include more areas in Queen Charlotte Sound.

DFO expands Haida Gwaii closure of groundfish trawl and halibut fisheries

Pilot measure intended to limit harvest of spawning fish

Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s pilot bottom-trawl closure has been expanded to include more areas in Queen Charlotte Sound.
Screenshot of the Pacific Salmon Explorer. The Pacific Salmon Foundation’s Samon Waterheds Program recently expanded the range of data to include southern salmon populations.

Salmon tracking tool expanded to southern B.C.

Interactive, visual database gets major upgrade

Screenshot of the Pacific Salmon Explorer. The Pacific Salmon Foundation’s Samon Waterheds Program recently expanded the range of data to include southern salmon populations.
Harvests of all bivalves, including razor clams (pictured), are off limits in most areas of B.C.’s North Coast due to a sudden rise in biotoxins. (File photo)

Marine biotoxins force closure of North Coast shellfish harvesting

Blooms on the rise during winter months

Harvests of all bivalves, including razor clams (pictured), are off limits in most areas of B.C.’s North Coast due to a sudden rise in biotoxins. (File photo)
A sockeye salmon spawns in a B.C. River. The Prince Rupert Port Authority is investing $50,000 into a research project using historic salmon DNA samples to help map out future salmon recovery strategies in a time of global climate change. Ivan Hardwick photo

Port Authority gives big to historic-salmon research project

Skeena Sockeye Century Project using salmon DNA to map future recovery strategies

A sockeye salmon spawns in a B.C. River. The Prince Rupert Port Authority is investing $50,000 into a research project using historic salmon DNA samples to help map out future salmon recovery strategies in a time of global climate change. Ivan Hardwick photo
Coastal Shellfish employees Patricia Lewis and Yota Kano harvest Great Bear Scallops near Prince Rupert, B.C. After less than two years of commercial operation, the Metlakatla First Nations-owned company won the 2020 BC Food and Beverage Sustainability Award Sept. 24 from the BC Food Processors Association. (Photo supplied by Coastal Shellfish)

Great Bear Scallops winners of B.C. Sustainability Award

First Nations owned company not just starting a business, but growing an industry

Coastal Shellfish employees Patricia Lewis and Yota Kano harvest Great Bear Scallops near Prince Rupert, B.C. After less than two years of commercial operation, the Metlakatla First Nations-owned company won the 2020 BC Food and Beverage Sustainability Award Sept. 24 from the BC Food Processors Association. (Photo supplied by Coastal Shellfish)
Crews remove debris from Oceanview Dr (Hwy 16) following an early morning rockslide in the Village of Queen Charlotte Oct. 6. (Rhonda Lee McIsaac photo)

UPDATE: Early morning rockslide cuts off access to Village of Queen Charlotte

Oceanview Drive now open to single-lane alternating traffic

Crews remove debris from Oceanview Dr (Hwy 16) following an early morning rockslide in the Village of Queen Charlotte Oct. 6. (Rhonda Lee McIsaac photo)
Juvenile salmon with sea lice. First Nations and conservation groups are highly critical of the federal government’s decision to exclude sea lice from its risk assessment of salmon farms on wild stocks in the Discovery Islands. (Tavish Campbell photo)

B.C. salmon farm opponents demand answers from DFO

First Nations, conservation groups dismayed by omission of sea lice in risk assessments

Juvenile salmon with sea lice. First Nations and conservation groups are highly critical of the federal government’s decision to exclude sea lice from its risk assessment of salmon farms on wild stocks in the Discovery Islands. (Tavish Campbell photo)
Crews affix a radio tags to salmon at the Big Bar landslide site 100km north of Lillooet. Fisheries and Oceans Canada is considering options for a permanent fish-passage solution ahead of early-spring migrations. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada photo)

Permanent fish-passage solutions considered at Big Bar landslide

151,000 salmon detected this year north of site

Crews affix a radio tags to salmon at the Big Bar landslide site 100km north of Lillooet. Fisheries and Oceans Canada is considering options for a permanent fish-passage solution ahead of early-spring migrations. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada photo)
B.C. food and beverage producers set record sales in 2019

B.C. food and beverage producers set record sales in 2019

Farmed salmon again leads international exports

B.C. food and beverage producers set record sales in 2019
Maritime traffic in Prince Rupert Harbour on World Maritime Day, Sept. 24, 2020. The federal government has announced $2 million in funding to assist small-vessel operators with 75 per cent of costs for safety upgrades that help prevent collisions with large ships. (Photo:K-J Millar/The Northern View)

Funding announced for small-vessel safety projects

Federal program aimed at reducing collissions with large ships

Maritime traffic in Prince Rupert Harbour on World Maritime Day, Sept. 24, 2020. The federal government has announced $2 million in funding to assist small-vessel operators with 75 per cent of costs for safety upgrades that help prevent collisions with large ships. (Photo:K-J Millar/The Northern View)
A make pink salmon makes its way upstream to spawn. New research out of SFU suggests during healthy spawns of one species, competition among other dominate fish feeding on their eggs breaks down, allowing smaller fish to share in a critical, nutrient-rich food source. (Michael Penn file photo)

Abundance of one salmon species affects all others, B.C. study suggests

Feeding on other fishes eggs more critical to health survival than previously thought

A make pink salmon makes its way upstream to spawn. New research out of SFU suggests during healthy spawns of one species, competition among other dominate fish feeding on their eggs breaks down, allowing smaller fish to share in a critical, nutrient-rich food source. (Michael Penn file photo)
A demonstrator among 30 others wears representations of sea lice outside the Fisheries and Oceans Canada offices in downtown Vancouver Sept. 24, demanding more action on the Cohen Commission recommendations to protect wild Fraser River sockeye. Quinn Bender photo

Anti-salmon farm protesters rally outside DFO offices

Opponents say farms have exceeded the threshold of minimal risks to wild salmon

A demonstrator among 30 others wears representations of sea lice outside the Fisheries and Oceans Canada offices in downtown Vancouver Sept. 24, demanding more action on the Cohen Commission recommendations to protect wild Fraser River sockeye. Quinn Bender photo
Mowi Canada West’s Sheep Pass salmon farm was the company’s last of all its B.C. production sites to receive certification from the Aquaculture Stewardship Council. The BC Salmon Farmers Association says activists’ claims that salmon farms contribute to declines in wild stocks are based on outdated information that does not account for current practices. (Mowi Canada West photo)

B.C. salmon farms challenge activists’ demands for site closures

News reporting also unfair, inaccurate and distorted

Mowi Canada West’s Sheep Pass salmon farm was the company’s last of all its B.C. production sites to receive certification from the Aquaculture Stewardship Council. The BC Salmon Farmers Association says activists’ claims that salmon farms contribute to declines in wild stocks are based on outdated information that does not account for current practices. (Mowi Canada West photo)
A Department of Fisheries and Oceans boat. The department has delayed resumption of the At-Sea Observer Program for groundfish trawl Option A vessels over health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada)

Resumption of At-Sea Observer Prgrogram delayed

Emergency Electronic Monitoring Program still in place for groundfish trawl Option A vessels

A Department of Fisheries and Oceans boat. The department has delayed resumption of the At-Sea Observer Program for groundfish trawl Option A vessels over health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
Juvenile salmon with sea lice. First Nations leaders, wilderness tourism operators, environmental NGOs and commercial and sport fishing organizations are calling on the federal government to implement a recommendation of the Cohen Commission report to remove open-pen salmon farms from the Discovery Islands by Sept. 30. (Tavish Campbell photo)

‘Unprecedented’ coalition demands end to B.C. salmon farms

First Nations, commercial fishermen among group calling for action on Cohen recommendations

Juvenile salmon with sea lice. First Nations leaders, wilderness tourism operators, environmental NGOs and commercial and sport fishing organizations are calling on the federal government to implement a recommendation of the Cohen Commission report to remove open-pen salmon farms from the Discovery Islands by Sept. 30. (Tavish Campbell photo)
Fishing vessels near Bella Coola await the start of the season. Fishers financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic now have until Oct. 5 for the Fish Harvester Benefits Program. Angie Mindus file photo

Application deadline for fish harvester benefits program extended

Those financially impacted by the pandemic have until Oct. 5 to apply

Fishing vessels near Bella Coola await the start of the season. Fishers financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic now have until Oct. 5 for the Fish Harvester Benefits Program. Angie Mindus file photo
Sockeye salmon school in a small Bristol Bay creek in the summer of 2018. Municipal leaders will be voting on a resolution at the 2020 Union of B.C. Municipalities Convention for more nature-based solutions in flood management that doesn’t compromise salmon habitat. (Courtesy Photo | Mary Catharine Martin)

B.C.’s municipal leaders to vote on salmon-safe flood control

The resolution asks for funding, support to move away from outdated systems

Sockeye salmon school in a small Bristol Bay creek in the summer of 2018. Municipal leaders will be voting on a resolution at the 2020 Union of B.C. Municipalities Convention for more nature-based solutions in flood management that doesn’t compromise salmon habitat. (Courtesy Photo | Mary Catharine Martin)
A protest organized by the Public Fishery Alliance outside the downtown Vancouver offices of Fisheries and Oceans Canada July 6 demand the marking of all hatchery chinook to allow for a sustainable public fishery while wild stocks recover. (Public Fishery Alliance Facebook photo)

Anger growing among B.C. salmon anglers shut out of public fishery

Fisheries minister stands by “very difficult” decisions to limit openings

A protest organized by the Public Fishery Alliance outside the downtown Vancouver offices of Fisheries and Oceans Canada July 6 demand the marking of all hatchery chinook to allow for a sustainable public fishery while wild stocks recover. (Public Fishery Alliance Facebook photo)
Artist’s rendering of the support vessel that will carry Cermaq Canada’s portable mechanical sea lice removal system to salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago and Discovery Islands. (Illustration supplied by Cermaq Canada)

B.C. salmon farm operator adds new device to delousing capacities

Portable system will serve Broughton Archipelago and Discovery Islands

Artist’s rendering of the support vessel that will carry Cermaq Canada’s portable mechanical sea lice removal system to salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago and Discovery Islands. (Illustration supplied by Cermaq Canada)
A protest organized by the Public Fishery Alliance outside the downtown Vancouver offices of Fisheries and Oceans Canada July 6 demand the marking of all hatchery chinook to allow for a sustainable public fishery while wild stocks recover. (Public Fishery Alliance Facebook photo)

Anger growing among B.C. salmon anglers shut out of public fishery

Fisheries minister stands by “very difficult” decisions to limit openings

A protest organized by the Public Fishery Alliance outside the downtown Vancouver offices of Fisheries and Oceans Canada July 6 demand the marking of all hatchery chinook to allow for a sustainable public fishery while wild stocks recover. (Public Fishery Alliance Facebook photo)