Independent Biologist, Fish Farm Activist, & BC Wild Salmon Defender Alexandra Morton Just Released her Newest Book

Not on My Watch: How a Renegade Whale Biologist Took on Governments and Industry to Save Wild Salmon

We wanted to share a brand new book by independent biologist Alexandra Morton who has spent decades working alongside First Nations to pioneer the fight against salmon farms throughout B.C.

Her new book details her long journey from killer whale biologist to wild salmon scientist, activist, and watchdog.

Alexandra has been called "the Jane Goodall of Canada" because of her passionate thirty-year fight to save British Columbia's wild salmon. Her account of that fight is both inspiring in its own right and a roadmap of resistance.

“I am part of the resistance movement against extinction. The movement spans the globe. We are a force of nature. Like a river, we well up, slip around, bore through and dive under obstacles. We don’t stop.”

The Tyee’s recent article, Alexandra Morton’s Book Should Galvanize Action on Salmon, gives an excellent overview of how Alex, a killer whale biologists living a quiet and serene life in BC’s Broughton Archipelago first began to question how the local salmon farms could be impacting wild salmon— an investigation that fundamentally changed the course of her life.

In their article, the publication compares the call to action inspired by the book tantamount to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.

“Alexandra Morton has written an infuriating book that, by rights, should create sufficient uproar to bring a rapid end to a perverse experiment to rear Atlantic salmon in the Pacific…

“Alex Morton’s Not on My Watch, like Silent Spring, should touch off a national debate about rights and obligations, and while we’re at it, about decolonization. If Not on My Watch needs to be peer reviewed, those peers should include ordinary people with a thirst for justice and common sense. And every politician should be judged by their reaction to this book.”

But when it comes to peer-reviewed research, Alexandra has written her fair share. In the past two decades, she has authored over 20 published studies investigating the environmental impacts of commercial salmon farms. Her research has clearly documented and exposed the degree to which net pens amplify and spread harmful pathogens like sea lice and viruses from farmed fish to wild populations. She was one of the first to discover, investigate, and inform the public of the prevalence, impact, and origin of the Piscine Reovirus (PRV), a nonnative virus that has been documented in salmon farms from Washington to B.C.

Alexandra’s research has significantly expanded our understanding of the impacts salmon farms pose to wild Pacific salmon and together with her activism, has been a driving force behind coastwide advocacy efforts to end the practice of salmon farming in open waters.

And possibly most inspiring, is Alexandra’s courage and endurance to continue to stand up to the Canadian federal government and the billion dollar aquaculture industry no matter the consequences.

Wild Fish Conservancy first connected with Alexandra over a decade ago after reading her early groundbreaking research connecting sea lice and net pens in the Broughton Archipelago. This connection would lead us to a decade long journey watchdogging, researching, and litigating against the commercial net pen industry in Puget Sound, and eventually to found the Our Sound, Our Salmon campaign in 2017. In short, our campaign and success to date would not be possible without Alex.

A huge congratulations to our friend and colleague Alexandra Morton for continuing to inspire and lead our shared coastwide effort to end commercial salmon farms.

‘Not On my Watch’ is available in eBook, audiobook, or hardcover formats. Click below to learn more about how you can get your hands on a copy of this inspiring new book.

Salmon advocates coastwide celebrate BC First Nations' landmark success as Canada agrees to remove 19 salmon farms in the Discovery Islands

Map from discoveryislands.ca

On Thursday, in a truly inspiring victory for wild Pacific salmon, orcas, and BC First Nations, the Canadian government agreed to phase out all open water salmon farms in BC's Discovery Islands near Campbell River over the next 18 months.

This historic decision is the result of the unwavering dedication and direct action of the BC First Nations and their supporters. For years, they have called on Canada's local and federal officials to end net pen salmon farms in their traditional waters where they operate without the Nations' consent. These facilities further contribute to the decline of BC's imperiled salmon runs and threaten the way of life, food security, and the health of the environment of First Nations coastwide.

Net pens located in Discovery Islands are scheduled to be removed in the next 18 months.
Photo by Tavish Campbell (@tavishcampbell)

This new agreement is the largest and latest success by BC First Nations to demand the removal of net pens in their traditional waters. Last year, in a historic negotiation, First Nations in the Broughton Archipelago successfully advocated for the Canadian government to require the immediate removal of five farms and the decommissioning of the remaining twelve by 2023.

The Our Sound, Our Salmon campaign commends the hard work and dedication of the Discovery Islands First Nations, as well as First Nations and Tribal Nations coastwide, who continue to lead this inspiring effort to protect wild salmon and end this dangerous industry throughout the Pacific coast.

In 2018, on the same day Washington passed a landmark law banning all Atlantic salmon net pens, Wild Fish Conservancy’s director and staff proudly participated in a peaceful protest led by the First Nation-led Wild Salmon Defenders Alliance outside a prominent BC legislator's office in Vancouver, BC.

Beginning in April 2019, sea lice outbreaks were reported at 30% of fish farms throughout the BC coast. Researchers found infection rates of juvenile salmon migrating near the pens were most severe in the Discovery Island where 97% of juvenile salmon were infected. For these young salmon, even a few sea lice can be lethal.

The photo gallery below shares photos taken by Tavish Campabell (@tavishcampbell) during sampling of juvenile salmon at farms including the Discovery Islands. Salmon lice were never reported on juvenile salmon in BC prior to the introduction of salmon farming.

Following the alarming sea lice outbreak in the Discovery Islands, 101 B.C. First Nations and their supporters called on the Canadian government this September for the removal of all Discovery Islands salmon farms, asking they be moved to land-based closed-containment systems.

The group called for the government to uphold a key recommendation of the Cohen Commission (which published its landmark study on how to reverse the decline of Fraser River salmon in 2012) to close salmon farms in the Discovery Islands by September 30, 2020 if they continued to pose a risk to wild salmon. Read the letter Our Sound, Our Salmon delivered to Canada's leaders standing in solidarity with BC First Nations.

The removal of these 19 facilities within the Discovery Islands represents a major victory and a huge step forward for our coastwide, international coalition and shared effort to end commercial net pen aquaculture throughout the Pacific coast. Salmon have no borders, and neither does our shared advocacy to end this dangerous practice coastwide.

Learn more about the Taking Back Our Sound campaign to end commercial net pen aquaculture in Washington’s Puget Sound.

Canada: Fish Farms Out Of The Ocean By 2025

Photo by Alexandra Morton

In a victory for wild fish and First Nations, fish farms will be leaving British Columbia's waters. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau followed through on an election promise in a letter to the incoming Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard, informing Minister Jordan that one of her "top priorities" should be:

Work with the province of British Columbia and Indigenous communities to create a responsible plan to transition from open net-pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia waters by 2025 and begin work to introduce Canada’s first-ever Aquaculture Act.

This policy, which was a plank in the party's campaign platform, is a result of years of pressure by First Nations groups concerned about harm from Salish Sea aquaculture on wild salmon and orcas, and by other environmental and business groups. British Columbia's provincial leaders announced a 4-year plan to transition fish farms out of the Broughton archipelago, with 5 farms already removed, 5 more with plans to be decommissioned by 2022, and 7 more that would be shuttered by 2024.

First Nations groups occupied some British Columbia net pens last year, amid lengthy legal battles to ensure the First Nations can exercise jurisdiction over their territories. The farm owners and First Nations reached an agreement to remove pens and ensure that First Nations' oversight of threats to wild salmon posed by aquaculture, including transmission of pathogens and diseases.

Canada's commitment to move aquaculture out of the water and into safer, shore-based systems is a tremendous win for the oceans and wild salmon, and a reminder to policymakers in Washington State that there are better alternatives to open water aquaculture.