Protect Pacific Herring from the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans mismanagement and unsustainable fishing policy, take action to allow their stocks to rebuild and put conservation as the first priority.

Watch a short video of coastal communities protesting the opening of DFO's kill fishery in 2015. 

The DFO kill-fishery policy is systematically destroying the web of life on the Pacific Coast, just like they did with Canada's East Coast cod fishery. They are targeting a critical foundation species which coastal ecosystems and culture are built upon. DFO is operating the sac roe fishery based on flawed science, even ignoring their own scientist's recommendations to maintain the 2014 commercial closure of the herring fishery.

The Jim Pattison Group, who owns the majority of the seine and gillnet fleet continues to choose corporate profit over conservation as coastal communities continue to pursue all legal means to protect threatened herring stocks. 

There is a solution. The Heiltsuk and other First Nations continue to advocate for and practise a spawn-on-kelp fishery - a sustainable alternative to the commercial kill-fishery which kills the herring before they spawn. The Heiltsuk Nation made a community-based decision not to lease their 2 gillnet licences this year for the sake of conservation. They will only be harvesting herring spawn-on-kelp (SOK) and for food, social, and ceremonial (FSC) purposes - methods that do not kill the herring, allowing them to spawn year after year. 

Take action now:

• Sign the petition
• Go to our Take Action Page
• Send an email letter (pre-drafted or your own - found here) to decision-makers, including government ministers, DFO, and the Jim Pattison Group. 
• Start a conversation and speak out about this issue. 

Learn more HERE for links to important articles surrounding this issue. 

Pacific Wild