Sometimes we make a decision that leads us down a path we didn’t anticipate. This is the story behind what it took to produce our award-winning podcast, the salmon peoplea 10-part series following an unlikely detective’s 20-year battle to save Canada’s wild salmon.
If you enjoy our podcasts, the best way to support us is to donate to National Observer of Canada spring fundraising drive to raise $100,000 to fund our vital climate journalism. Will you make a donation to CNO today and support award-winning podcasts that drive the climate conversation in Canada?
Back in 2021 in the middle of the pandemic, I had finished producing a podcast and was at home with no job and no project. I do not like either of them.
Then one day, I saw one of those little newspaper articles that we all read every day. (and yes, I get a daily newspaper to add to all my other news sources). It was an interesting story but it left me with questions and a thirst for more.
The story I read was about British Columbia biologist Alexandra Morton, who is fighting to preserve wild salmon and orcas. The article was an excerpt from her forthcoming book, not on my watch. I bought the book and read it in a day, starving for answers to the question posed by the article. Who would hire a security company to follow her around on a boat with blacked-out windows taking long-lens photos? And follow her as she collected baby salmon near fish farms to check for sea lice?
When I finished the book I knew I had to do a podcast. I contacted Alexandra Morton and asked if she would agree to be interviewed about her work and her book. She didn’t say yes right away. She checked me out and then came back several days later to tell me that it had been approved by someone who knew me from someone else who knew me. So she was in.
As I always do, I started with a deep dive into the research. I knew I had to go back to the beginning and find each person who had a piece of the puzzle.
What people are reading
I am attracted to the stories of ordinary people who are not heard. And people in British Columbia who issue warnings about industrial fish farms go unheeded. Not by governments whose job it is to protect wild salmon that are an integral part of the ecosystem. Not by the industry that refused to believe and dismissed the science on disease and pathogens that spread to wild fish from their farms.
It was my kind of story. The work I have done in my career has shed light on the dark corners where bad behavior, incompetence, and dishonesty lurk. And as I pieced together old documents, newspaper clippings from forty years ago, and internal government and industry reports and emails, I couldn’t help but wonder if the history and damage of fish farms might have remained under lock and key had it not been for Alexandra Morton. . .
Would there be science to back up the fight against fish farms? Or an army of people ready for battle if it hadn’t been for Alexandra Morton? That’s what we never know when we hear a story about a person making a difference.
Morton’s work took decades. And both government and industry still dismiss the science, which is now being done by more than two dozen scientists across Canada. However, many fish farms have closed after being asked or ordered by the government and First Nations to leave.
Before salmon people, I was just a Canada National Observer subscriber and reader, but when I walked in I began to see the passion, intelligence and perseverance of these young reporters. And yes, they are on the younger side, at least from my seat.
He National Observer was almost on its own when it started reporting solely on the environment and climate change in 2015. But gradually it grew in size and stature and now has an army, a small army, but still an army, reporting the effects every increasingly dangerous from the warming of our planet. , exposing false or bad solutions and making sure we understand what is at stake.
But, of course, everything takes time: time to read a complicated document, locate the right expert, interview someone in person, file ATIP applications, and follow through until the documents are delivered. And then to write the story. And as we all know, time is money. If you have read this far, it is because you are concerned about what is happening to our planet and you want to be part of the solution.
That’s why I’m asking you to donate to our annual spring fundraiser to raise $100,000 by May 24. We need your support to create more podcasts like The Salmon People that keep Canadians informed about our changing climate.
Thanks to our generous long-term donors, all donations made through May 24 will be matched dollar for dollar up to $25,000. You are also eligible for a tax receipt if you donate $1,000 or more to this fundraiser (see footer below for instructions).
It’s something you can do, and as we know, the decisions we make can have repercussions for months, years, or generations.
Sandra Barlett
Podcast Managing Producer