The Blue Fish Radio Show

Dr. Steven Cooke from Carleton University was recently appointed as one of four Canadian Commissioners on the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. His fish health and fishery expertise is highly regarded around the world, and brings a strong recreational fishery perspective and expertise to the Commission. Dr. Cooke and GLFC Executive Director Mark Gardon are Lawrence gunther’s guests on The Blue Fish Radio Show. The three discuss the importance of protecting and promoting the world’s greatest freshwater fishery, the need to utilize strong science-based evidence and indigenous and local knowledge to safeguard the Great Lake’s fishes, and the need to do more to celebrate our ability to safely and sustainably connect with nature by catching and responsibly harvesting Great Lakes fishes.

In the first of this two part Blue Fish Radio Show series host Lawrence Gunther speaks with members of the Public Fishery Alliance delegation that just arrived in Ottawa. Their goal is to provide a balanced perspective on proposed changes to the Salmon Allocation Policy and Southern Resident Killer Whale fishing for Chinook closures. The proposed changes pose an immediate threat to the public’s access to Chinook and Coho salmon, and risk destabilizing a more than $1 billion angling tourism sector that sustains more than 9,000 jobs and underpins the economic vitality of small and large coastal communities across the province. The seven delegates will speak with Lawrence Gunther again prior to returning to B.C. in Part II of this special Blue Fish Radio show coverage.

In part II of Blue fish Radio show Host Lawrence Gunther’s conversation with Dr. Chris Harvey-Clark, the two speak about the need to engage all B.C. salmon stakeholders in meaningful consultations including the sharing of relevant research. At 3:55 Chris sheds light on the impact of pollution on chinook and killer whales, and at 6:05 how pacific grey whales are being impacted by insufficient access to food in Canada’s arctic. At 7:23 the conversation shifts to northern resident killer whales, and then at 9:19 the two discuss what can be done to save southern resident killer whales and how their situation is similar to north Atlantic right whales on Canada’s east coast. At 13:03 discussion switches back to environmental hazards facing southern resident killer whales, and how political will is shifting as made evident with growing support for building more oil pipelines. At 17:02 the threat to remove B.C.’s marine recreational anglers from the water are discussed, including the need for greater transparency. The two conclude Part II of the podcast series with Chris sharing details of the growing lethal threat of military sonar on whales and other marine life.

Lee Willbanks is the President and co-founder of the new water-rights NGO called Talking Rivers. Their mission is to find ways to extend legal status to water bodies with the goal of giving stakeholders legal standing upon which to defend their lakes and rivers. Lee and host Lawrence Gunther discuss the Magpie River recognition in Quebec, the Rice Lake recognition in Ontario, efforts underway in the U.S. and their collective work to protect American Eel and their habitat. Listen to this episode of The Blue Fish Radio Show and discover why it’s important to give voice to these largely silent ecosystems, and to provide a platform for water body stakeholders to protect their lakes and rivers from others who believe they have the right to destroy nature as part of their economic agenda.

Weaving Waters Expedition and Captain Allen CurryThe Weaving Waters Expedition is a journey by Canadian natural historian, Captain Allen Curry aboard the Water Weaver. Allen sets off on a largely solo one-year voyage around the Great Loop” to gather local stories from people who live by the Great Lakes, along the Mississippi and St. Lawrence Rivers, and the coasts of southeastern USA and Canada’s Maritimes. The stories will inspire greater respect for water and the fishes that live there-in. Join Host Lawrence Gunther and Dr. Allen Curry as they explore how far we have drifted from our watery history, and why more than ever we need to restore our connection with fish on The Blue Fish Radio Show.

BCs Recreational Salmon Fishing may be about to endGayle Gordon and Mark Roberts from the BC Recreational Fishing Association once again join Lawrence Gunther on The Blue Fish Radio Show. Last year the issue was unfair proposed seasonal recreational fishing closures. This time the closures being proposed are indefinite. Find out the real reason why salmon fishing for the majority of southern B.C. anglers may end in the name of saving southern resident killer whales, and why recreational anglers are pushing back to save their coastal communities from social and economic collapse.

Natel Energy develops hydropower turbines that enable 98-100% downstream passage survival for fish. An investigation of how such technology might be applied to the U.S. side of the Robert Moses-Robert H. Saunders Power Dam on the St. Lawrence River nearby Cornwall Ontario. Listen as Lawrence Gunther speaks with Sterling Watson Principal Engineer, FishSafety, and Abe Schneider, CTO and Natel co-founder about the technology and study on The Blue Fish Radio Show.

Sea Change and the Catch Share SolutionFor a long time, overfishing felt like a losing battle: fish stocks crashed, coastal economies suffered, and typical regulatory fixes didn’t add up to real progress. A new book “Sea Change” highlights how that narrative was overturned, thanks in part to a market-based solution that aligned U.S. fishermen’s incentives with healthy fisheries. These Efforts have contributed to the recovery of more than 50 U.S. fisheries. Listen to co-author Jamie Workman in conversation with Lawrence Gunther on The Blue Fish Radio show.

Patrick Madahbee, Commissioner on Governance and former Grand Council Chief of the Anishinabek Nation is Lawrence Gunther’s guest on The Blue Fish Radio Show. Patrick and Lawrence discuss the many challenges and opportunities associated with transitioning his community to self governance. It’s a wide-ranging conversation that touches on numerous topics from commercial fishing to eco-tourism, and all manner of social, economic, historic,cultural and reconciliation – it’s a conversation you don’t want to miss

Peter Krahn is the President of Genesis Environmental Sciences and the brains behind the innovative River Trap selective fish sampling and water testing mobile platform. Peter joins Lawrence Gunther on The Blue Fish Radio show podcast to provide an up-date on the latest River Trap developments and testing underway throughout British Columbia. Find out why a number of First Nations communities are adopting the River Trap to conduct research on the state of salmon and water quality.

Rovert Pye is the Executive Director of Watersheds Canada and Lawrence Gunther’s guest once again on the Blue Fish Radio show podcast. Fresh off the first National Watersheds Conference Robert and Lawrence discuss highlights of the event and why the Conference needs to become an annual event to both educate stakeholders and facilitate the collaboration needed to strengthen shoreline resilience and safeguard fish habitat. The podcast includes numerous short recordings of event presenters and attendees on why they showed up for the event.

Canada’s Water Rangers recently released The Watershed Reports that assess the health of Canada’s 11 main watersheds. Fishes are one of the four primary indicators used to assess watershed health. Water Ranger’s director Gabrielle Parent-doliner, and Data Coordinator Kiersten McCutcheon join Lawrence Gunther on The Blue Fish Radio show to discuss their findings, the challenges in putting these reports together, what’s coming next, and how anglers can have a bigger role in generating the needed data.