from Skeena Wild Conservation Trust

Ecosystem - based management
The sustainability of our wild salmon is vital to BC's cultural and economic fabric. As we see wild salmon stocks declining, ocean climate conditions changing and continued habitat loss, there is increasing pressure for major resource management reform. The BC Pacific Salmon Forum's Final Report and Recommendations propose Ecosystem-based management (EBM). EBM is a holistic method of resource management which focuses on protecting the integrity and resilience of ecosystems, increasing their capacity to accommodate change. Decisions made under an EBM system can be adapted to ensure that we stay within ecosystem capacities rather than exceeding them, as can now be the case in demand-driven regulatory decisions. The current situation sees individual provincial agencies making resource decisions separately and without a joint understanding of ecosystem carrying capacities or cumulative impacts. Strengthening ecosystem resilience of watersheds enables them to sustain diverse salmon population and to better adapt to climate change. Recent provincial and federal initiatives and policies recognize that sustainable resource use can only be accomplished through collaboration and cooperation focused on maintaining ecosystem function. SkeenaWild is exploring how EBM can be implemented in the Skeena. Other policies such as the Wild Salmon Policy and provincial Living Water Smart program also contain strategies for EBM implementation.

Wild Salmon Policy (WSP) Implementation
The WSP is a progressive conservation policy which was finalized by the federal government in 2005 with the goal of restoring and maintaining healthy and diverse salmon populations and their habitats. Specific strategies contained in the WSP include, improved monitoring, implementing precautionary harvest levels, assessing and monitoring critical habitat, and implementing collaborative governance processes. SkeenaWild has helped make the Skeena a key focus area for WSP implementation. We are currently working with governments, First Nations, and interest groups to build a collaborative governance structure and to develop specific WSP implementation work plans.