For people who have dreamed of fishing the rich waters of Haida Gwaii, that dream is rapidly fading. This winter and spring, trawlers have been hitting not only Dixon Entrance and Hecate Strait, but also pounding the West Coast. Worse yet, while bottom-draggers have worked all but the West Coast in the past, midwater trawling has now arrived in force, and they're netting virtually everywhere, including right up to the heads of the West Coast Inlets.
In one February foray, a vessel called "Pacific Legacy" worked the whole west side of Haida Gwaii, starting near Langara Island. It then hit the Freeman Hump and Hippa Island area, then scooped the waters around Rennel Sound and Kano Inlet. After that, it went all the way up to the head of Skidegate Channel, turned, and nailed the whole middle of the channel, right out to The Wall and Marble Island. Then it continued working south, clear down to Cape St James.
A trawler called the "Freeport" is routinely trawling from Rose Spit all the way to Langara Island, then circling around the west side of Langara before turning back. Those are just two of the trawlers that are now hitting Haida Gwaii waters hard. Midwater trawlers are especially frightening, because they are so indiscriminate. The amount of by-catch is brutal.
Since salmon going to and from the Gulf of Alaska pass through the waters of Haida Gwaii as they move north to grow and south to spawn, this highly-destructive fishery will impact migrating fish all over the BC Coast. A good summary of the devastating impacts of this wasteful method can be found on the Pacific Wild website. Examining by-catch records from 2022-23 indicates that trawlers killed over 25,000 Chinook salmon in BC in that season alone. That's obviously totally unacceptable!
I've fished the waters of Haida Gwaii for 50 years, and it's heartbreaking to see this last great area of abundance being ravaged in this way. It's especially painful to have carefully released endangered species like red snapper, or to have refrained from keeping spring salmon, knowing that when I'm not out fishing those same grounds, fish by the ton are being killed and tossed overboard in the waters I rely on. As sportsfishers who revere the salmon and halibut, and who understand the importance of herring and all of the other small fish that sustain our special marine ecosystems, we need to speak out while there's still time.
In one February foray, a vessel called "Pacific Legacy" worked the whole west side of Haida Gwaii, starting near Langara Island. It then hit the Freeman Hump and Hippa Island area, then scooped the waters around Rennel Sound and Kano Inlet. After that, it went all the way up to the head of Skidegate Channel, turned, and nailed the whole middle of the channel, right out to The Wall and Marble Island. Then it continued working south, clear down to Cape St James.
A trawler called the "Freeport" is routinely trawling from Rose Spit all the way to Langara Island, then circling around the west side of Langara before turning back. Those are just two of the trawlers that are now hitting Haida Gwaii waters hard. Midwater trawlers are especially frightening, because they are so indiscriminate. The amount of by-catch is brutal.
Since salmon going to and from the Gulf of Alaska pass through the waters of Haida Gwaii as they move north to grow and south to spawn, this highly-destructive fishery will impact migrating fish all over the BC Coast. A good summary of the devastating impacts of this wasteful method can be found on the Pacific Wild website. Examining by-catch records from 2022-23 indicates that trawlers killed over 25,000 Chinook salmon in BC in that season alone. That's obviously totally unacceptable!
I've fished the waters of Haida Gwaii for 50 years, and it's heartbreaking to see this last great area of abundance being ravaged in this way. It's especially painful to have carefully released endangered species like red snapper, or to have refrained from keeping spring salmon, knowing that when I'm not out fishing those same grounds, fish by the ton are being killed and tossed overboard in the waters I rely on. As sportsfishers who revere the salmon and halibut, and who understand the importance of herring and all of the other small fish that sustain our special marine ecosystems, we need to speak out while there's still time.
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