Salmon Shield….
This miraculous wild fish, swimming millions of miles of ocean during their lifetime, feeding on and feeding thousands of other species, returning after all that time, knowing instinctively where to go to spawn, procreate and die and feeding many more lives in that process, including their own young, are one of the wonders of this Earth. To deny our children the opportunity and awe of experiencing what wild salmon have to offer and teach us is a tragedy.
Honoring the Wild Salmon (Installation at Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino)….
Living on the edge of the Pacific Ocean for over 50 years has made me intricately connected to what feeds and sustains me and its relationship to everything around me. The well being of the ocean and its inhabitants is essential to mine and that of my family as well as the diversity of life here that makes it all so interesting, possible and beautiful. When I started living here so many years ago, the ocean was full of life, massive herring migrations flowing up the coast in March brought hundreds of whales, sea lions, seals, eagles, gulls, halibut, migrating birds and much more with it. The shoreline was white with spawn and gulls feeding on the rich abundance.
Herring Spiral
In summer, hundreds of fishing boats would anchor on the inside of the island for the night and go out early in the morning to fish wild salmon. I used to catch 50 lb. salmon off the rocks in front of my house, fish so big I could only drag them up the rocks to my home. What a miraculous gift they were and how much food we would get from just one fish! I was always so grateful. They fed everyone and everything including our growing family.
Smoked salmon just out of the smoker…..
Quart Jars of Wild Salmon would get us through the winter….
Indian Candy…..
In the short time of my life here, they are almost gone. There are no commercial fishing boats anymore, few sports fishermen, a few scattered herring spawning barely enough to sustain the salmon which depend upon them. In my lifetime here, clearcut logging almost totally destroyed the wild salmon rivers and creeks where the fish would spawn and die, feeding not only the eggs and young fish but the bears, eagles, gulls, wolves, trees and more. Siltation from clearcutting choked their gills and smothered their eggs, killing the fish prematurely.
After the logging had done its damage, factory fish farming moved in with its devastating effects. Parasites, disease, chemicals, dumping and bloodwater from harvesting the fish continue to take a terrible toll on the diminished wild fish in the area as well as the detrimental effects that giant feed factories to supply fish farm food all over the world are creating. The waters, smell, the sewage and contaminated surroundings repel not only wild fish but humans as well. The stench of money some say. Putting salmon in pens is the most disrespectful and sad things humans could do to a species that has given us so much.
Some First Nations are upholding their centuries old relationship and dependence upon wild salmon and getting the fish farms and logging out of their territories. To these people and to all those who understand and do what they can to ensure a future for wild salmon, we give thanks.
It isn't over until it is over and as we creep closer to the threshold of the limits where species cannot sustain themselves and disease and viruses are prevalent, hopefully there is still time to understand and to turn things around. We and the wild salmon must persevere and we need to speak out for our wild and beautiful marine life. We are all connected.
Walk for Wild Salmon, One Month of walking from all parts of Vancouver Island to Parliament Buildings in Victoria, over 7.000 people took part. 2015
My daughter and grand daughter who walked for a month, on steps of Parliament Buildings, Victoria,B.C. (Get out Walk against Fish Farming)