linking people to nature on Lasqueti and surrounding islands Issue #8, Spring 2016 Membership $5.00 annually Donations to support our work are tax deductible LINC, 11 Main Road, Lasqueti Island, BC V0R 2J0 250-333-8754
[email protected] Charity BN #84848 5595 Herring - A Troubling Trajectory by Brigitte Dorner pring is around the corner, and with it the annual Archeological records and oral traditions indicate that spectacle of the herring fleet descending on the herring used to spawn regularly in many places on both Swaters around Qualicum Beach. Chances are that as the east and west side of the Strait of Georgia. First the ferry approaches French Creek, you will notice Nations gathered both roe and the fish themselves, and the flotilla of boats, birds, seals, and sea lions joined in herring were so popular and plentiful that in some places pursuit of the massive schools of spawners. it was herring, rather than salmon, that was the primary food species. First Nations argue that Like many marine species, herring the disappearance of herring from many don’t get close and personal to mate. prime spawning sites was brought on by The females deposit their eggs on local over-fishing, though DFO does not seaweed or sea grass. The eggs are consider this view consistent with avail- then fertilized by a cloud of sperm able data. Whatever the reason, spawning that turns the water a characteristic in the Strait is now much more concen- opaque milky colour. The larvae trated than it used to be even in the last hatch after 10 to 14 days and devel- half of the 20th century.