A new labeling initiative is underway to help salmon fans enjoy their favorite fish without eating Canada’s wild salmon to extinction.
Last month, sustainable fisheries labeling organization Ocean Wise announced the creation of an expert panel to more accurately indicate to consumers which of British Columbia’s salmon fisheries are the most sustainable. Ocean Wise is among the best-known environmental organizations that label which fisheries are sustainable, and many chefs, food service companies and consumers rely on its designation to purchase sustainable seafood.
The panel marks a shift in the organization’s approach to British Columbia salmon. Citing declining populations due to warming waters, fish farms, pollution and overfishing, Ocean Wise removed its highest-level sustainability designation for all British Columbia salmon in 2019. That decision caused outrage among fishermen , who noted that some of the province’s salmon fisheries were doing well. .
BC is home to dozens of different salmon fisheries, defined by the species caught, their river of origin, and the type of gear used for capture. Some, like the Fraser River sockeye runs, are in dire straits. However, others have remained relatively strong in recent years. This new system will help consumers identify which fish comes from these healthier runs.
The new expert panel is made up of three representatives from BC Indigenous fisheries and management organizations, and three salmon science experts. The group will rely primarily on in-season fish population health data collected by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), along with information from the Pacific Salmon Foundation and Ocean Wise, said Mike McDermid, director of fisheries and products at the Ocean Wise sea.
Using this data, the group will assess whether individual fisheries (even fish from specific river systems) can be harvested sustainably. The group will also assess which types of fishing gear (purse seines, gillnets or trolling) are least likely to cause undue damage to fish, while ensuring that fishers can harvest their catch, and which river systems have breeding grounds. . Hatchery-raised fish are less genetically diverse and often need to be captured to help preserve wild populations.
Only a handful of fisheries on the Nass River in northern British Columbia and a select few sockeye salmon fisheries around the Lower Mainland are projected to have relatively healthy returns in 2024, according to the DFO report. winter outlook.
“Assessing fisheries for their environmental performance and sustainability is so cumbersome, so time-consuming, and so expensive that it’s really difficult to get to the granularity needed for something like British Columbia salmon,” McDermid said.
While British Columbia’s wild salmon fishery is Canada’s third most valuable, on the water, it remains a “set of small-scale fisheries” with most fishermen operating independently in smaller boats, McDermid said. For these small operators, fishing when possible and selling their catch at the highest price is key to staying in business, and a seal of approval from Ocean Wise can help drive prices up.
A new labeling initiative is underway to help salmon fans enjoy their favorite fish without eating Canada’s wild salmon to extinction.
Finding a more accurate way to identify sustainable British Columbia salmon is actually a way to increase the species’ chances of long-term survival, McDermid said. Helping people find and support sustainable fisheries while avoiding the most harmful ones can help build their resilience, he said.
Smaller, community-based fisheries also adapt more easily to changing environmental conditions and population health, he added. While large industrialized fisheries need to meet a quota allocation to stay in business and retain their licenses, smaller local fisheries can often escape those pressures.
“With so much interest created in the local area by a local community because salmon is more than just food or economic gain, local communities tend to act as stewards of the environment,” he said.
Still, some fishermen are wary of the new approach. James Lawson, a Heiltsuk salmon fisherman and president of the United Union of Fishermen and Allied Workers, wrote in a message that Ocean Wise’s power to influence consumer decisions gives the panel the position of “watchdogs” among fishermen. and lovers of seafood products.
As a result, he emphasized that it is key for the panel to “engage with fish harvesters on the ground” to get a sense of how the harvest is going throughout the season and not rely exclusively on DFO data.