The Fisher Queen Read online

  Since the late 1990s, severe restrictions have almost eliminated commercial coho fishing and seriously reduced spring salmon harvests to less than two percent of total catch. Restrictions have been based on an extraordinary decline in what used to be considered junk fish only a hundred years before, with the burden falling on commercial fishers. Numerous sources claim the extraordinary decline is due to increasingly unfavourable ocean conditions—mostly to do with rising temperatures and acid levels—resulting in far fewer salmon returning to spawn.

  But humans are a resourceful species, hard-wired for ingenuity and survival. From this marine crisis comes new awareness and innovative approaches. Often in partnership, fishers, government and ecologists are searching for solutions, from bar-coding to Frankenfish.

  Concerned with mounting ecological issues and dramatically decreasing catches, a group of commercial ling cod and salmon troller fishers on Vancouver Island approached Ecotrust Canada to collaborate on a tracking system that would encourage sustainable fishing practices. In May 2010, Thisfish, the world’s first consumer-focused seafood tracking system, was launched, bringing fishers, organizations, businesses and consumers together in an open communication system through bar codes and the Internet.

  Designed to help consumers and businesses make more informed choices in support of sustainable fishing practices and quality seafood, Thisfish now includes several other BC fish and seafood species and the Atlantic lobster fishery, and there are plans for expansion to shellfish.

  When the fish or seafood is caught, it’s tagged and given a Thisfish.info code that is uploaded to a website where the fisher enters information about catch-date, gear-type, location and even the crew. Consumers don’t just ensure the freshness of their dinner, they also have an opportunity to connect with the fishers, person-to-person.

  Thisfish is also partnering with conservation groups who act as watchdogs for bad fishing practices. Similar to Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program that has a smartphone app to rate the ocean-friendliness of seafoods as Best Choice, Good Alternative or Avoid, Thisfish publishes the eco-ratings of Seafood Watch, the Marine Stewardship Council, SeaChoice and Ocean Wise, and links to government websites.

  Currently almost 300 fishing vessels are tracking their catch at Thisfish.info and codes for over five million pounds of seafood have been uploaded. As of April 2012, 130 fishing vessels in the salmon, halibut, ling cod, sablefish, sockeye and prawn fisheries in BC have participated, with more than 125 Atlantic lobster vessels and nearly 150,000 lobsters traced. Coded products have been distributed to 540 cities in 23 countries around the world.

  Studies in Canada and the United States also claim that commercial salmon-trolling practices have the lowest impacts on salmon stocks and the marine environment. Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch has also identified trolling as an environmentally responsible fishing method. Non-targeted fish are quickly and easily removed from the barbless hooks. Selective gear also increases survival rate. The slow pace and personal handling of fish ensure the highest-quality salmon for the marketplace.

  The Vancouver Aquarium Ocean Wise seafood conservation program educates and supports consumers to make sustainable, ocean-friendly buying decisions. From suppliers to markets to restaurants to educational institutions, Ocean Wise currently has over 450 members and partners in almost 3,000 locations. Over 90 fish and seafood types are identified on its website oceanwise.ca and rated for sustainability. Overfishing is cited as the greatest threat to marine ecology, with harvests doubling from the 1970s to approximately 130 million tonnes every year. Consumers are urged to purchase only seafood bearing the Ocean Wise logo, whether from menus or through distributors.

  Ocean Wise also recommends purchasing seafood harvested by trolling and other forms of hook-and-line fishing because of the low impact to species and the marine environment. They agree that aquaculture can take pressure off wild stocks and provide viable protein but only if done with extreme care and judiciousness.

  Fish and seafood farming, the fastest-growing food-production industry in the world, is under enormous pressure to improve its systems and environmental track record. The Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) approach is slowly gaining momentum, particularly with the high-risk potential of salmon and other carnivorous fish raised in ocean pens. Functioning like a natural interrelated ecosystem, bottom feeders like urchins and lobsters eat the excess feed falling to the bottom, thereby reducing bacterial contamination. Cleaners such as mussels and other shellfish filter the excrement, decreasing pollution. Bottom-growing seaweed is fertilized by the dissolved waste created by the shellfish and then harvested for fish feed to complete the cycle.

  The Nature Conservancy’s Central Coast Groundfish Project is a leading-edge program that addresses the profound damage to the sea floor by bottom-scraping trawl nets. Working with commercial fishers, the project is developing more sustainable and environmentally responsible harvesting practices for groundfish like sole and rockfish. A unique system of buying back trawling licences returns money to the commercial fishers. They can either leave the industry or lease the licences at affordable fees with the proviso of meeting stringent conservation criteria. Along with revised harvesting methods that supply groundfish to a growing sustainability market, almost four million acres of no-trawl zones have been designated off the California coast.

  But the biggest bogeyman in the modern dream of sustainability is transgenic technology—the genetically modified Frankenfish. Even though the number of genetically modified plant-based foods is increasing, as is the general public’s concerns, scientists have been cautious about creating genetically modified animals. Despite growing concern for human health issues and the possibility of genetic mishaps escaping, destroying or competing with wild stocks, some experts suggest engineering specific existing animals into higher sustainability. Take the gene of the bigger spring salmon and splice it into the smaller Atlantic salmon, where the gene causes a growth hormone to make it grow faster and bigger. Some argue that humans have been altering animals through selective breeding for thousands of years, and gene alteration will just promote faster change. Soon a transgenic trout that can be raised in ponds or vats will be able to provide 10 to 20 percent more muscle tissue.

  And some people believe that the harvesting of wild fish and the ways of its courageous independents will never die, but will transform, shift and change. Maybe become a high-end boutique venture, like truffles or cheese or ice wine, with the harvesters finally being paid what their wares are worth.

  As the Northwest seas continue to warm and acidify, the water rises to reclaim the land wrestled from it so long ago; as the silent kelp beds fill the inlets and choke the harbours and shipping lanes while saving the air and water with their life-giving chemistry, the hunters will follow their quarry north, and north, and more north, to the dark Arctic waters of their Sisiutl.

  The last bastion of the Fraser River salmon-canning industry, now a museum: Gulf of Georgia Cannery, at the government wharf in Steveston, on the Lower Mainland. PAUL TAYLOR

  Dennis Davidson

  Sylvia Taylor is an award-winning freelance writer, editor, educator, and communications specialist. With hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles in print, she has worked with numerous manuscripts through all stages of writing and publishing. Sylvia is a popular speaker, conference presenter and writing competition judge throughout North America. She lives in Metro Vancouver; visit her at sylviataylor.ca.

  Copyright © 2012 Sylvia Taylor

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, audio recording or otherwise—without the written permission of the publisher or a photocopying licence from Access Copyright, Toronto, Canada.

  LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

  Taylor, Sylvia, 1954–

  The fisher queen: a deckhand’s tales of the BC c
oast / Sylvia Taylor.

  Issued also in print format.

  ISBN 978-1-927051-54-2

  1. Taylor, Sylvia, 1957–. 2. Women merchant mariners—British Columbia—

  Pacific Coast—Biography. 3. Authors, Canadian (English)—Biography. 4. Fishers—

  British Columbia—Pacific Coast. 5. Fisheries—British Columbia—Pacific Coast. 6. Pacific Coast (B.C.)—Biography. I. Title.

  HD6073.F672C3 2012 331.4’8238282 C2012-903831-8

  Edited by Barbara Stewart

  Proofread by Lana Okerlund

  Cover design by Ruth Linka

  Interior design by Sandra Baskett

  Cover photo: Trolling the Southeast Corner fishing grounds outside Ucluelet, on the west coast of Vancouver Island (Paul Taylor).

  Frontispiece photo: A 40-foot ladder for the sake of a skinny little spring salmon or two, Neptune Packers Ltd., Ucluelet (Paul Taylor)

  Marine charts reproduced with the permission of Canadian Hydrographic Service. These charts are not to be used for navigation.

  Heritage House acknowledges the financial support for its publishing program from the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF), Canada Council for the Arts and the province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

  Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd.

  heritagehouse.ca