Podchat 16 | The Impact of Open Net Fish Farms & Aquaculture on Wild Salmon with Dr. Kilian Stehfest

Nerdy About Nature

A few months ago in the news, you may have heard or seen articles about open net fish farms being removed from BC waters, and thought, “Wow! That’s great!”...and then not done or heard much since then. As you may or may not be aware, fish farms are one of the biggest threats to our at risk and endangered populations of wild Pacific Salmon that travel all over the ocean from down south in Oregon up through BC and into Alaska, and the fight to get these farms fully removed from BC waters is still ongoing, despite what you may have heard (or not heard) in the news.

I sat down with Kilian Stehfast who is a marine conservation specialist at David Suzuki Foundation to chat all about these fish farms, their history, how they came to be, the threats they pose to wild salmon and why that matters, and what the future of aquaculture looks like here in BC. It’s a great episode and you’re gonna learn a lot not only about this industry, but what you can do to get involved to help ensure the survival of those awesome anadromous fish that tie us and these ecosystems we all reside in together.

David Suzuki Foundation - Fish Farms

More on Indigenous Clam Gardens

Background on Fish Farming & Aquaculture

Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from Patreon supporters, and in this episode Kilian decided to send his donation to Clayoquot Action!

Learn more about the advocacy they do at www.ClayoquotAction.org

Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you. If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more!

Got Questions? Want Stickers? Want community? Wanna engage? Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy!

You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support