Salish Sea Ecosystem

Films

  • The Extraordinary Salish Sea

    The Extraordinary Salish Sea Updated on: The Salish Sea has it all: mountains, volcanoes, cactus and rainforests, over 400 islands, sheltered waters, an extravagant biodiversity, a rich history of Coast Salish peoples, and today – nine million people. It’s EXTRAORDINARY!! 

  • Kelp swaying in current

    The Salish Sea – A Single Body of Life

    If you understood that the Salish Sea functions like a single living organism, would you appreciate it more?

  • Sea gulls above the surf

    Why is the Salish Sea so rich with life?

    The Salish Sea is a giant mixing bowl where nutrients from mountains and the deep offshore Pacific are stirred together by tidal currents into life-giving waters. 

  • Herring spawn

    Dance of the Herring

    Surprisingly, herring are almost invisible as they spawn. So this year I went looking for the herring.

  • Pacific salmon

    Pacific Salmon and their Circle of Life

    A chronicle of the life stages of Pacific Salmon, viewed through the life of coastal Chum Salmon.

  • Hering in a net

    Herring Roe Fishery in the Strait of Georgia (2020)

    I spend two days amid the commercial herring roe fishery along the shores of Denman Island, saddened by what I see.

  • Dead herring

    Herring: Why Kill the Foundation of the Salish Sea?

    As I watch a frenzy of gulls, sea lions and eagles feeding on spawning herring while the herring fleet offloads its catch, I reflect on the ecological role of herring and the folly of the commercial herring fishery.

  • Sea gulls wheeling overhead

    Herring Spawn! Serengeti of the Sea – Hornby Island, BC

    Perhaps the most extraordinary day I have ever spent on the ocean was the day in my kayak in a small herring spawn on the shores of Hornby Island

  • Close up of coho salmon

    Seasons in the Sound

    A tour through the seasons of Átl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound marked by Nature’s events