Lots of bad and lots of good news has been the story over the past 2 decades.
In British Columbia the main threats and theme that everyone talks about is habitat destruction and over fishing. But there are some very specific threats that many refuse to talk about or get involved with probably due to the fact that many find it just too easy to blame another user group rather than confronting government policies.
We haven’t taken this position because our years of being connected with the experts and the science has driven us to take a roll in protecting wild Salmon and Steelhead. We regularly contribute with our time and dollars to The Steelhead Society of British Columbia and to The Department of Wild Salmon, a group of private citizens who work tirelessly to remove the biggest threat to wild Salmon: Open net Salmon feedlots, otherwise known as Salmon farms where Atlantic salmon are raised in massive facilities with no ability to contain their own parasites and lethal diseases from our wild fish!
Few know or recognize the serious threat this industry poses to BC’s wild salmon, and the damage this industry has done to specific stocks of Pacific salmon like the declines in Fraser river Sockeye and early run Chinooks that many are all too familiar with over the past 2 decades. In a nutshell the industry has caused heavy mortality rates to juvenile wild salmon by way of Sea lice epidemics and the spread of European strain deadly viruses. I won’t get into too much detail but if you want to know more please visit wild salmon biologist Alexandra Morton’s Blog or her website.
The Number 1 way you can protect BC’s wild Salmon is to NOT buy farmed salmon, also labelled as Atlantic, Scottish, Norwegian, Skuna Bay and probably a few more. If you live in the U.S.A you should know that farmed salmon is about the only salmon you will be served in many restaurants such as The Hard Rock Cafe, and almost any sushi bar. If it’s not wild it’s farmed.
We also highly recommend to watch Salmon Confidential, the award winning documentary exposing salmon farms and their lethal diseases.