November 17, 2025, three members of ADIMS travelled to Vancouver to join others in front of DFO’s central offices in Vancouver, calling for a pause in the herring fishery (food and bait fishery opens this week). A short meeting with the Regional Director General, Anna Klassen, was arranged and a letter from the Herring Conservation and Restoration Society to DFO Minister, Joanne Thompson, was delivered. This letter included a recommendation that a moratorium be called for the commercial fishery until stocks recover.
W̱ićkinem, Eric Pelkey, Hereditary Chief of the Tsawout Nation of the W̱SÁNEĆ Nations, said; “We’re at a precipice now, of losing the herring forever in our territory. If the herring go, then so do all the other fish that survive off of the herring. We feel that the commercial industry has really wiped out all the thriving stocks. So we need DFO to hear us today, to put a moratorium on the fishery.”
Dr. David Suzuki stressed that local populations of herring are irreplaceable due to their loyalty to specific spawning grounds, meaning overfishing in one area cannot be offset by populations elsewhere.
ADIMS has joined together with First Nations, conservation groups, and coastal communities across the Salish Sea to call for recognition of Indigenous knowledge alongside scientific studies, and for urgent action to protect and restore this critical foundation species before it’s too late.
Sonal Gupta of Canada’s National Observer wrote a great article on this issue, if you would like to learn more:
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/21/news/herring-commercial-fishing-approved-moratorium