Sonal Gupta
Local Journalism Reporter
Canada’s National Observer
When Kurt Irwin was growing up near Salt Spring Island on British Columbia’s southern coast, spring meant herring season. He remembers the ocean turning white as the small fish filled the harbours, the sky alive with gulls and salmon chasing them just below the surface.
“We haven’t seen that in many years… They [commercial fishing boats] literally fished it out,” said the now 58-year-old Irwin, a councillor for the Penelakut Tribe, located near Chemainus on Vancouver Island. Their members have also been pushing for a five-year moratorium on commercial herring fisheries to allow stocks to recover.
For the 2025–26 season, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) approved the harvest of more than 2,000 tons of herring from the Salish Sea for the winter food and bait fishery. The move comes despite First Nations groups including WSÁNEĆ leadership council repeatedly calling for moratoriums on commercial herring fisheries in the Salish Sea.
The wildlife advocacy group Pacific Wild documented commercial vessels fishing at night in mid-January in the Strait of Georgia, pulling tonnes of herring out of BC waters.
“DFO should be focusing on herring restoration, distribution abundance — not allowing these remaining fragile populations to be exploited,” said Ian McAllister, conservation advisor with Pacific Wild, in a press release.
Irwin said their communities were not consulted on the quota or harvest rate changes. “I don’t think they should be doing it no matter what time of day it is. Nighttime or daytime,” he said. “Our elders are concerned because the herring have not come back to spawn in many years, and so it’s a food source that we no longer have anymore that used to be very important to us.”
Tsawout hereditary chief Eric Pelkey, who has been leading the WSÁNEĆ leadership council call to stop commercial herring fishing, said the spawning grounds near their communities in the southern Strait of Georgia have mostly vanished and it’s been about 25 years since they’ve seen a significant herring spawn. “We want the commercial industry out of our territory completely. Let everything revive,” he toldCanada’s National Observer in November.
Pacific Wild warns that the 2025–26 food and bait fishery takes away year-round food from endangered Chinook salmon (62 per cent of their diet is herring) and starving Southern Resident killer whales. It brought in just $5.1 million landed value — the dockside price paid to fishers — in 2023, compared to $102 million from herring-dependent wild fisheries and $5 billion in marine tourism.
“We are literally taking essential prey from the mouths of endangered Chinook salmon and Southern Resident killer whales, at the same time that starvation is a leading cause of their decline,” McAllister said.
In an email response to Canada’s National Observer, Mo Qutob, communications advisor for DFO said the department released a draft plan for the 2025/2026 Pacific herring fishery on October 17, 2025. The public including First Nations, conservation organizations had 30 days to share feedback, which will be reviewed before the final plan and harvest limits are set.
He confirmed the 2025–26 food and bait herring quota for the Strait of Georgia at 2,100 short tons, with 100 tons set aside for charity at the industry’s request. The fishery opened on November 28, 2025 and fishing has been underway since early January.
Qutob said the harvest rate remains at 14 per cent, the same as last year and down from the historical 20 per cent used since the 1980s.
Fishing is currently open in parts of the Strait of Georgia including areas near Campbell River, Nanaimo, and east of Vancouver Island but remains closed in Deepwater Bay, the Sunshine Coast and the Gulf Islands, he added.
Qutob said DFO’s approach follows a “precautionary” management model, meaning fishing is only approved in areas where herring stocks are strong enough to sustain harvests. Scientists and fisheries managers will continue to monitor the herring population to help guide future decisions, he said.
He added that officials are aware of concerns raised by WSÁNEĆ leadership about the herring fishery and treaty rights. The department “respects the right to peaceful protest” and will continue the dialogue with Indigenous communities. He said traditional Indigenous knowledge is also considered when making management plans.
The food and bait fishery usually happens at night, when herring swim into shallow waters. Fishing takes place several months before the spring spawning season, which helps reduce risks to other species like Chinook salmon and Southern Resident killer whales, he added.
Fisheries enforcement officers are monitoring activity in the area. “Non‑compliance can result in penalties, including fines, licence suspension, or cancellation,” Qutob said.
Treaty fishing rights
In November 2025, Pelkey rallied with conservationists outside DFO’s Vancouver office to demand a moratorium on commercial herring fishing and sought a legal opinion from Ratcliff LLP to assess whether the DFO’s fishery decision violates their Douglas Treaty rights. The Douglas Treaties preserve First Nations’ right to continue their fisheries as they have historically.
The legal opinion supported the WSÁNEĆ hereditary chiefs, opening the door for a potential lawsuit to prove stocks are crashing and secure a moratorium, said Briony Penn, treasurer and co-director of the Herring Conservation and Restoration Society. She has collaborated with Pelkey and W̱SÁNEĆ communities since the 1990s to restore herring through traditional knowledge and western science.
She said it was disappointing to watch nighttime harvest footage. “This fishery is exactly what the legal challenge is going to be stopping… It’s heartbreaking — they’re just scooping the fish right through the same waters we’re trying to protect,” Penn said. “It’s like people sitting at the edge of a national park shooting grizzlies.”
Penn said W̱SÁNEĆ hereditary chiefs and their allies now plan to send a letter to DFO outlining treaty rights, evidence and expert witnesses supporting their call for a moratorium. They aim to put the department “on notice” before advancing to a potential lawsuit.
Lawyers described the case as strong, Penn said. It builds on prior precedents such as Claxton v. Saanichton Marina where the BC Supreme Court first addressed Douglas Treaty fishing rights, she added. The court granted Tsawout First Nation a permanent injunction halting construction of a marina in Saanichton Bay, finding it would interfere with their treaty-secured fishing rights.
But taking a civil case to court takes a lot of time and is very expensive, she added.
Monitoring gap and impact
The core issue driving the conflict is a growing divide over the science itself. Federal stock assessments classify BC herring as “healthy,” while Indigenous and conservation groups point to a long-term decline. Critics say DFO’s models rely on limited, recent data and overlook generations of traditional knowledge documenting consistently larger spawning runs.
“What is a good number? Is it the scientists that go out and do a test set and they say, oh, we found herring here, so there’s lots or is it the elders in the First Nations who have been living off it for thousands of years?” Irwin said.
Along other parts of the coast, nations such as the Haida and Heiltsuk have successfully halted fisheries in their territories, pushing DFO to recognize their stewardship authority.
But Irwin, who also serves on the Marine Shipping Subcommittee with Vancouver Island chiefs, said Penelakut faces a greater challenge due to denser marine traffic in the busy Strait of Georgia. He said there are more First Nations, heavy shipping such as freighters and ferries that disrupt spawning, expanding ports and commercial interests that resist bans.
“We’re advocating for our food sources and the health of the ocean,” Irwin said. “I don’t think you can put a price on it myself… What is the ultimate price on that? Everything relies on it. No herring, no salmon, no herring, no whales, no herring, no seals.”
