There are many tangible and intangible benefits to having a vibrant community-led commercial fishing sector in Canada. Community fisheries are vital for local food security, our cultural connection to the sea, and supporting rural and remote economies. To unlock these benefits, Ecotrust Canada collaborates with fish harvesters, First Nations, researchers, entrepreneurs, and policymakers to create new, enabling government policies. Up and down the West Coast, we offer regionally tailored fisheries monitoring programs to improve local monitoring and data collection at sea and on the docks, helping to ensure sustainable resource management while supporting more than 800 harvesters. Below the surface, Ecotrust Canada is diving into the very foundations that allow fish harvesters, their families, and coastal communities to thrive holistically for generations to come.
Why Ecotrust Canada?
Ecotrust Canada has nearly 30 years of experience working in coastal communities on fisheries issues. Some of our most important innovations include prototyping affordable electronic monitoring solutions, designing and implementing a model to support small-boat fishing fleets and fisheries diversification, and creating an online platform to bring transparency to illegal, underreported, and unregulated fishing. Ecotrust Canada has also launched two independent social enterprises that focus on fisheries monitoring and traceability. In 2013, we became the first charitable organization to obtain certification through the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to deliver at-sea and dockside fisheries monitoring programs. In addition, we have a long and respected track record for bringing together fish harvesters and fishing interests to build a consensus for change.
“Since 2017, Ecotrust Canada has delivered monitoring services to the Ha’oom Fisheries Society and the T’aaq-wiihak Fisheries. Working with the Ahousaht, Ehattesaht/Chinehkint, Hesquiaht, Mowachaht/Muchalaht, and Tla-o-qui-aht Nations, and Ha’oom Fisheries Society, Ecotrust Canada has developed a monitoring program that reflects the unique composition and nature of the T’aaq-wiihak Fisheries. The five Nations value this relationship and see it as integral to the implementation of their fisheries.” —Howie Wright, Executive Director, Ha’oom Fisheries Society
What is possible
To enable resilient fisheries systems on all coasts, where marine resource use meets the social and economic needs of society without compromising ecological integrity or the ability of future generations to thrive.
Over the next five years, our partnerships will prove the possible by:
- Supporting communities and governments on the Pacific Coast of Canada to create a regulatory environment where the benefits of fisheries contribute to the well-being of fish harvesters, First Nations, and coastal communities.
- Delivering tailored and innovative fisheries monitoring programming to rural, remote and Indigenous coastal communities to enhance the sustainability of communities and the marine environment on Canada’s Pacific Coast.
- Creating transparency around illegal, underreported, and unregulated fishing, and the way in which such activity is defined and enforced in Canada.
How to support us
If your community wants to learn more about locally-led monitoring programs, reach out. Or, if you’d like to support our work, consider making a donation
Stories
- A day in the life of a fisheries monitor in Gold River for the five Nations rights-based fishery
- A global supply chain investigation with Canadian connections
- Find out what happened at the third Fisheries for Communities Gathering
- What you might not know about our new dockside fisheries coordinator on the South Coast of BC
- A big return for sockeye: At Sea Observing the Commercial Gillnet Fleet
- Addressing Corporate Concentration in West Coast Fisheries
- Minding my fingers during my first Dungeness crab at-sea observing trip
- Ghost Crab Gear Retrieval Project in the Hecate Strait
Research
- The Fisheries for Communities Gathering 3.0 – Summary Report (2023)
- Fishing for a future: understanding access issues and well-being among independent fish harvesters in BC (2020)
- The Fisheries for Communities Gathering 2.0 – A Proceedings Report (2020)
- Just Transactions, Just Transitions: Towards Truly Sustainable Fisheries in British Columbia (2018)
- The Fisheries for Communities Gathering – A Proceedings Report (2018)
- Caught up in catch shares (2015)
- Understanding values in Canada’s North Pacific (2013)
- Fisheries Diversification Model (2013)
- A cautionary tale about ITQs in BC fisheries (2009)
- Catch-22: Conservation, communities, and the privatization of B.C. fisheries (2004)
The team
Racheal Weymer, Director
Dianne Villesèche, Quality Management System Program Manager
Jen Paton, South Coast Program Manager, Fisheries Monitoring
Kirstyn Bruce, Northern Project Coordinator, Fisheries Monitor
Kathryn Bond, Project Manager for Area A and North Coast Salmon
Lyndsey Bodgener, North Coast Project Coordinator
Mia Gregg, Project Coordinator, Community-Based Fisheries Monitoring
Matina Ressl, Project Coordinator, North Coast Fisheries
Dale Robinson, Data Analyst, Fisheries Monitoring Program
Dyhia Belhabib, Principal Investigator
Shelby Huebner, Project Coordinator and Deployment Supervisor, T’aaq-wiihak Fishery Monitoring Program
Keirstyn Mclorie, Fisheries Monitor and Deployment Assistant, T’aaq-wiihak Fishery Monitoring Program
Tasha Sutcliffe, Senior Advisor, Fisheries Policy Program