About this podcast
Off the coast of BC, wild salmon started dying by the millions.
Chris Bennett runs Blackfish Lodge 300 kilometers north of Vancouver. He was leading a group of tourists on a boat tour when he looked into the water and noticed young salmon – called smolt – acting strangely. He’d found a clue. He took it to an unlikely detective - a whale biologist - Alexandra Morton - who’d be pulled into a battle against government, industry and multinational corporations.
A story like this one should have been a hero’s tale. An Erin Brockovich moment. But it didn’t quite play out that easily. This is the fascinating story of a 20-year battle to save Canada’s wild salmon.
The Salmon People podcast is a co-production between journalist Sandra Bartlett and Canada's National Observer.
Sandra Bartlett is an award winning reporter and producer based in Toronto. She worked on the ICIJ project Secrecy for Sale and Skin and Bone. Bartlett worked as a producer and reporter in NPR's Investigative Unit based in Washington where she collaborated on projects with PBS Frontline, ProPublica, the Center for Public Integrity, the Center for Investigative Reporting, as well as individual journalists in Canada and Europe. In 20 plus years at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as an editor, a reporter and producer, Bartlett covered daily news, foreign assignments and special programming. She worked in London, Europe, Israel, Cuba and Pakistan.
We are crowdfunding to cover the cost of this podcast. If you'd like to contribute, as little as five dollars per month can help support this work: https://www.nationalobserver.com/donate/podcasts.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
- The Tunnel of Poop · 31 min · Season 4 Episode 19The Salmon People podcast tells the story of a 40-year fight for wild salmon. It began with a fishing outfitter seeing smolts – young fish – covered in sea lice as he took…
- Back to the Land · 27 min · Season 4 Episode 18In British Columbia where multinational corporations have controlled salmon farms for decades – they are now under a deadline to leave. The Canadian government has told them to…
- The Big Decision · 37 min · Season 3 Episode 17The Big Decision was a long time coming. n Back in 2012 The Cohen Commission Inquiry released a report that suggested salmon farming might have to end unless it could be proven…
- A Summer of Whales & Salmon · 25 min · Season 3 Episode 16A Summer of Whales and Salmon tells the surprising story of the sudden change in the waters off the coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Orca and Humpback whales came…
- Who Owns The Ocean? · 58 min · Season 3 Episode 15The Salmon People and the fish farm industry are waiting on two big announcements: one from the court and the other from the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Each group is…
- Pushing & Pulling · 39 min · Season 2 Episode 14Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray has a final decision to make on fish farms. Will she order all fish farms out of B.C. waters? Industry mounts a major campaign to convince the…
- Shock & Awe Among First Nations · 47 min · Season 2 Episode 13There was good news and bad news in the spring of 2023. There were surprises from the wild salmon. First Nations made a strange alliance that caused anger and conflict in their…
- 16 Scientists · 41 min · Season 2 Episode 12Scientists at the Department of Fisheries & Oceans released a last-minute study on sea lice. It was just days before Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray was expected to announce a…
- CSI Tofino · 36 min · Season 2 Episode 11Last season we heard a lot about fish farms on the east side of Vancouver Island, the farms in the Discovery Islands and the Broughton Archipelago. The west side of the island…
- Minimal Risk · 55 min · Season 1 Episode 9The Fisheries and Oceans minister, following a recommendation from the Cohen Commission, orders fish farms in the Discovery Islands to close. By 2023, they will be gone. The…
- The Mandate vs the Mandarins · 53 min · Season 1 Episode 10New research connects disease to the fish farms and the threat to wild salmon. Some of that research was only possible because First Nations have access to Atlantic salmon on the…
- Intimidation · 44 min · Season 1 Episode 8The Sea Shepherd research vessel got a rude welcome when it arrived in Victoria, B.C., for its third year of working with Alex Morton. What had been a quick, routine customs…
- The Occupation · 39 min · Season 1 Episode 7Alex and Hereditary Chief George Quocksister Jr. used GoPro cameras and divers to record what was happening underneath the fish farms. When the footage was shown to First Nations…
- Skull and Crossbones · 40 min · Season 1 Episode 6The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society offers to send a research ship to B.C. to help Alex Morton with her studies. At first, she rejects the offer as too provocative. Sea…
- Hiding the Scientist · 44 min · Season 1 Episode 5As her day to testify at the Cohen Commission arrived, Alex Morton was full of adrenaline. She could tell people what she had been seeing with the salmon for the past two…
- The Game-changer · 32 min · Season 1 Episode 4The salmon had been returning to the Fraser River for hundreds of years. In 2009, they didn’t. Or barely did. Nine million sockeye salmon were missing. Stephen Harper, prime…
- Camp Sea Lice · 27 min · Season 1 Episode 3When Alex left the orcas behind to study sea lice, she knew she couldn’t be everywhere, so she started to gather an army of sea lice helpers — citizen scientists from all over…
- The Gold Rush · 36 min · Season 1 Episode 2If you take a boat along the coast of northern British Columbia, you’ll see towering deciduous trees and snow-capped peaks, small islands, big islands and scattered throughout it…
- The Unlikely Detective · 36 min · Season 1 Episode 1Chris Bennett runs Blackfish Lodge, 300 kilometres north of Vancouver where Canada’s West Coast crumbles into the Pacific Ocean. His guests are from all over the world. They come…
- The Salmon People Trailer · 2 min · Season 1Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
