As B.C.’s fishers face Chinook closures, trawlers discard the prized salmon by the thousands
Vancouver Island, BC The Government of Canada says the recovery of wild Pacific salmon stocks is a key priority, but both Indigenous and non-Indigenous harvesters call foul. “No sports fisherman and even no commercial fisherman can figure out why the government still allows draggers to go offshore and drag up the bottom of the ocean,” said Sam Vandervalk, owner of Ucluelet-based Salmon Eye Fishing Charters. “It’s completely barbaric. Hesquiaht commercial fisher Will Amos agrees. “It’s very clear what the problem is.
Bottom trawling should be banned. They wreck the bottom,” said Amos. His dad Victor Amos (Vic), a longtime hook and line commercial fisher, showed him the ropes. “They’ve destroyed whole lingcod areas by dragging. As soon as one of the draggers come along, fishing turned right off.
100 per cent monitoring Bottom trawling is a non-selective fishing method that involves towing nets along the seafloor. It is also referred to as “dragging”. C. For the 2026 season from Feb. 21 to Sept.
There are seven distinct commercial groundfish sectors: Groundfish trawl, Halibut, Sablefish, Inside Rockfish, Outside Rockfish, Lingcod, and Dogfish fisheries. The groundfish fishery operates year-round; the season begins on February 21 and ends on February 20 of the following year. “All monitoring footage is independently reviewed by a third party certified by DFO to ensure objective validation of catch data,” states the Deep Sea Trawlers Association of BC.
“This ensures that all catch, including bycatch, is recorded accurately, supporting compliance, research, and ecosystem-based management. ” The Pacific groundfish trawl fishery is now managed under a fleet-wide bycatch cap of 9,500 Chinook salmon as part of the new management plan for the 2024/24 fishery and 2026/27 groundfish fishing season. The Chinook salmon bycatch cap was developed after a DFO review of salmon bycatch in the Pacific Region groundfish trawl fishery.
This review found that Chinook was the primary salmon species caught in the 2022/23 groundfish fishing year, with an estimated catch of 26,273 - representing 93 per cent of the total salmon collected by the trawlers. Since the implementation of the Chinook bycatch cap , there was an estimated total of 7,527 salmon caught by the 2024/25 groundfish fishery, including 7,040 Chinook salmon, according to DFO.
Chinook salmon that are intercepted by trawling cannot be sold or retained for commercial gain; any Chinook incidentally caught are recorded and surrendered to DFO and then used strictly for scientific research and data collection to inform ongoing conservation measures, according to the DSTA. “Vessels were required to bag heads separately for each tow, with a maximum of ten heads loosely packed in each bag to facilitate efficient species identification and counting,” said DFO.
“Chinook salmon heads were required to be bagged separately from other salmon species because they were the dominant species of salmon bycatch and the only species managed under a bycatch cap. At offload, bagged heads were examined and counted by dockside observers for independent validation of catch by species,” DFO continued. Orcas are starving One of the casualties of our time are the endangered Southern Resident killer whales, or orcas, a species that rely heavily on Chinook salmon for food.
“The fishery closures to support Southern Resident killer whale recovery do not include the groundfish trawl fishery,” said DFO. “The yellow areas shown on the map are salmon fishing closures that apply to recreational and commercial salmon fisheries,” they said. ” Research conducted by Pacific Wild indicates that over the last 13 years, nine trawlers have collectively fished an area larger than Ireland—totalling 89,700 square kilometres.
“Within this vast total, some ecologically sensitive areas have been targeted multiple times, hit again and again, compounding the damage to habitats that are vital for marine biodiversity and ecosystem health, with repeated fishing activity preventing these areas from recovering,” said Pacific Wild. The Council of Haida Nation is fighting to permanently eliminate all commercial trawling (midwater and bottom) in Haida Gwaii waters.
The nation says trawling is destructive to seafloors, impacts the sustainability of fish stocks and poses a threat to community food security. C. ” “Decisions related to fisheries management are informed by the best available science, Indigenous knowledge, conservation objectives, and input received from rights holders and stakeholders,” said DFO. Up the coast in Alaska, the Alaskan Legislature is considering proposals to ban bottom trawling in state waters starting January 1, 2028.
The discard of salmon bycatch – and even killer whales – has long been a heated issue for Alaskans. C. groundfish trawl received Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for 16 commercially harvested species. The MSC marketing label suggests the fishery is “environmentally sustainable”, but evidence suggests and many environmentalists argue that the MSC is a third-party certification scheme that deceives customers. Zoe Ahnert, executive manager of the Deep Sea Trawlers Association of BC, defends this certification.
“MSC certification strengthens market opportunities for British Columbia seafood while recognizing the decades of collaboration and innovation that have made our fishery a global leader in sustainable harvesting,” she stated. C. C. C. “DFO bends a knee to big corporations,” he says.
Bottom trawling should be banned. They wreck the bottom,” said Amos. His dad Victor Amos (Vic), a longtime hook and line commercial fisher, showed him the ropes. “They’ve destroyed whole lingcod areas by dragging. As soon as one of the draggers come along, fishing turned right off.
100 per cent monitoring Bottom trawling is a non-selective fishing method that involves towing nets along the seafloor. It is also referred to as “dragging”. C. For the 2026 season from Feb. 21 to Sept.
There are seven distinct commercial groundfish sectors: Groundfish trawl, Halibut, Sablefish, Inside Rockfish, Outside Rockfish, Lingcod, and Dogfish fisheries. The groundfish fishery operates year-round; the season begins on February 21 and ends on February 20 of the following year. “All monitoring footage is independently reviewed by a third party certified by DFO to ensure objective validation of catch data,” states the Deep Sea Trawlers Association of BC.
“This ensures that all catch, including bycatch, is recorded accurately, supporting compliance, research, and ecosystem-based management. ” The Pacific groundfish trawl fishery is now managed under a fleet-wide bycatch cap of 9,500 Chinook salmon as part of the new management plan for the 2024/24 fishery and 2026/27 groundfish fishing season. The Chinook salmon bycatch cap was developed after a DFO review of salmon bycatch in the Pacific Region groundfish trawl fishery.
This review found that Chinook was the primary salmon species caught in the 2022/23 groundfish fishing year, with an estimated catch of 26,273 - representing 93 per cent of the total salmon collected by the trawlers. Since the implementation of the Chinook bycatch cap , there was an estimated total of 7,527 salmon caught by the 2024/25 groundfish fishery, including 7,040 Chinook salmon, according to DFO.
Chinook salmon that are intercepted by trawling cannot be sold or retained for commercial gain; any Chinook incidentally caught are recorded and surrendered to DFO and then used strictly for scientific research and data collection to inform ongoing conservation measures, according to the DSTA. “Vessels were required to bag heads separately for each tow, with a maximum of ten heads loosely packed in each bag to facilitate efficient species identification and counting,” said DFO.
“Chinook salmon heads were required to be bagged separately from other salmon species because they were the dominant species of salmon bycatch and the only species managed under a bycatch cap. At offload, bagged heads were examined and counted by dockside observers for independent validation of catch by species,” DFO continued. Orcas are starving One of the casualties of our time are the endangered Southern Resident killer whales, or orcas, a species that rely heavily on Chinook salmon for food.
“The fishery closures to support Southern Resident killer whale recovery do not include the groundfish trawl fishery,” said DFO. “The yellow areas shown on the map are salmon fishing closures that apply to recreational and commercial salmon fisheries,” they said. ” Research conducted by Pacific Wild indicates that over the last 13 years, nine trawlers have collectively fished an area larger than Ireland—totalling 89,700 square kilometres.
“Within this vast total, some ecologically sensitive areas have been targeted multiple times, hit again and again, compounding the damage to habitats that are vital for marine biodiversity and ecosystem health, with repeated fishing activity preventing these areas from recovering,” said Pacific Wild. The Council of Haida Nation is fighting to permanently eliminate all commercial trawling (midwater and bottom) in Haida Gwaii waters.
The nation says trawling is destructive to seafloors, impacts the sustainability of fish stocks and poses a threat to community food security. C. ” “Decisions related to fisheries management are informed by the best available science, Indigenous knowledge, conservation objectives, and input received from rights holders and stakeholders,” said DFO. Up the coast in Alaska, the Alaskan Legislature is considering proposals to ban bottom trawling in state waters starting January 1, 2028.
The discard of salmon bycatch – and even killer whales – has long been a heated issue for Alaskans. C. groundfish trawl received Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for 16 commercially harvested species. The MSC marketing label suggests the fishery is “environmentally sustainable”, but evidence suggests and many environmentalists argue that the MSC is a third-party certification scheme that deceives customers. Zoe Ahnert, executive manager of the Deep Sea Trawlers Association of BC, defends this certification.
“MSC certification strengthens market opportunities for British Columbia seafood while recognizing the decades of collaboration and innovation that have made our fishery a global leader in sustainable harvesting,” she stated. C. C. C. “DFO bends a knee to big corporations,” he says.
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