the web of life spirit sustenance sustainability Creator!

I believe that many changes are affecting our water and our Salmon. I am a First Nations woman from the interior and we have been directly affected by the loss of our Salmon. This past year was the first year that we have not been able to get Sockeye for the winter. We depend on this food to feed us and nourish us during the winter. Our traditional foods nourish our bodies and our spirits and it all relates back to the condition of the water. We have to protect our wild salmon...they are a sign of the trouble our waters are in. Our waters nourish the food we eat and if we don't protect it - we can't protect the food we eat such as Salmon. Salmon are Sacred - please do your part and spread awareness before it is too late. Kukstsamc!

To me, there is nothing more beautiful and fascinating than orcas. Spending summers in BC with the southern and northern residents is something I look forward to the rest of the year. Learning about their social and family bonds, differing dialects, intelligence, culture and history it is easy to understand how similar they are to us in many ways. The southern and northern resident orca populations, along with other wildlife, are dependent on wild salmon for their survival. Without wild salmon, these unique populations die out. An evolutionary journey of tens of millions of years would end. Brought down by the Norweigan salmon farming industry and a government that didn't understand what is important for survival. Not just orca survival, but ours as well.

The first word of "Wild Salmon" precisely answers that question for me . . . . "Wild". Having grown up in the suburbs of Sacramento, CA along the American River during the 1970s and early 80s, fishing for salmon and simply being in their surrounding natural environment felt right and what was good with the earth. Wild Salmon were abundant in the American River during that time, some of which were reared in the Nimbus fish hatchery. Every fall and winter, my brothers and I looked forward to observing the annual migration and spawning of our "local" salmon. We knew that this natural event had been happening long before the California Gold Rush and would always continue to occur. Little did we realize at the time that the destructive natures of mankind had the wheels in motion to destroy this wild, natural event. For the past two years, salmon fishing has been banned along the American River, something I could never have imagined 20-30 years ago. Also during the 1970s and early 80s, we enjoyed our annual summer vacation trips to Lantzville and Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island during those years, to visit our retired grandparents. Our grandfather introduced us to fishing for salmon in the ocean, which reinforced our love for this magnificent creature. In the summer of 2005, I starting a new tradition in visiting Vancouver Island with my brother and nephew: sportfishing for salmon in Barclay Sound. Each summer since 2005, the natural beauty and wildlife of the West Coast has taken our breath away. It shows and reminds us of what the word "wild" means and the need to respect that environment. The same holds true to the Wild Salmon we pursue. But mankind's greed, power, and ignorance continue to blind some of us from our responsibility to maintain/enhance our natural world. Nothing demonstrates this better than the turning of the cheek by the Canadian government and Norwegian fish farms in relation to the proven harm that is being caused to Wild Salmon through these industrial net pen farms. You could equate this behaviour to continuously pounding a hammer on your thumb, then later questioning "where did my thumb go?". They need to move their operations to land based tank farms immediately, otherwise we can kiss Wild Salmon goodbye forever.