When B.C. voters head to the polling booths this month, they will have many issues on their minds. People are worried about the astonishing increase in the cost of everything, the housing crisis, the state of our health-care system and many other things that impact them and their loved ones.

Aaron Hill, executive director of Watershed Watch Salmon Society

We at Watershed Watch hope voters will make room for a few more concerns that will, in the long run, impact every single one of us and generations of our loved ones to come: wild salmon and the waters they call home.

Wild salmon and steelhead are essential to the B.C. way of life, feeding our families, our wildlife, our fishing and tourism industries, and sustaining Indigenous peoples for millennia. Public opinion surveys consistently show the health of our wild salmon runs to be a top-of-mind issue for British Columbians across the political spectrum.

Parties seeking to form B.C.’s next provincial government can demonstrate their resolve to conserve and restore B.C.’s wild salmon by committing to the following actions. We hope voters take the time to check out the party platforms and ask their local candidates where they and their parties stand on these issues.

The next B.C. government can:

• Defend B.C.’s wild salmon from deadly viruses and parasites by supporting the federal ban on open net-pen salmon farms in our coastal waters.
• Defend and restore habitat and ensure adequate streamflows for fish by:
  • Climate-proofing B.C.’s watersheds by working with the federal government to fully fund the B.C. Watershed Security Fund with a $1-billion endowment to bolster our natural defences against flood, fire and drought;
  • Getting tough on water wasters and polluters by fully implementing the B.C. Water Sustainability Act, including regulation of commercial groundwater use;
  • Supporting the rapid creation of local water boards that allow local governments and First Nations to collaboratively manage and conserve their local water sources;
  • Appointing an independent B.C. Watershed Security Officer.

    Find out if your candidates have signed the Watershed Security Pledge.

• Safeguard floodplain communities and farmlands while restoring thousands of kilometres of salmon habitat blocked by obsolete flood control structures. This can be done by working with local governments, First Nations, farmers and conservation groups and by:
  • Funding and implementing the B.C. Flood Strategy by 2025.
  • Bringing the BC Flood Strategy to life in high-risk, flood-prone areas like the Lower Mainland with an allocation of $6 million for local collaborations that can tackle flood risks.
  • Ensuring new flood control projects improve salmon habitat, rather than degrade it.

• Get more salmon into B.C. rivers by:
  • Confronting unsustainable Alaskan fisheries that intercept B.C.-bound salmon and steelhead and pushing for a strengthened Canada/US salmon treaty. B.C. can help bring Alaska to the table with new land and water protections in our shared transboundary rivers.
  • Supporting selective fishing projects that bring economic fishing benefits to communities while minimizing impacts on endangered salmon and steelhead by working with the federal government to establish funding.
  • Stopping misguided support for new artificial production hatcheries and hatchery-dependent fisheries that undermine our wild salmon runs.
  • Modernizing the province’s management of recreational steelhead fisheries.

• Strengthen and implement laws and regulations that safeguard the health of our wild salmon and steelhead by:
  • Passing and implementing a strong B.C. biodiversity law;
  • Collaborating with the federal government and First Nations to create and implement rebuilding plans for endangered salmon and steelhead populations.

Governing a province as large and diverse as British Columbia is a daunting task. Too often and for too long the policies that shape our province are chosen in service of an election cycle rather than the long-term public interest. The vision needed for thriving wild salmon and steelhead populations and healthy watersheds have rarely come out on top in that scenario.

That will only change if enough of us demand it.