Salmon Wars: The Battle for the West Coast Salmon Fishery

Ann Turner is the financial and budget manager of the University of
British Columbia Library.

“This book is not about salmon ... [I]t is about people ... money and
power.” Thus Dennis Brown introduces his comprehensive study of the
management and control of the wild salmon fishery off Canada’s West
Coast. Brown spent much of his working life in the middle of the
controversy, first in the commercial fishery itself, then on the staff
of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union for nearly 20 years.
He served the B.C. government as a special fisheries advisor to Premier
Glen Clark, and the federal government as a member of the Pacific Salmon
Commission and the negotiating team for the Pacific Salmon Treaty. He
uses this multi-dimensional insider experience to advantage, organizing
the turmoil of political manoeuvring, demonstrations, and media hype
surrounding the fishery for the past decade into a cohesive narrative.
Emotions ran high in the salmon wars, with the survival of the fishery
and of individual and corporate livelihoods at stake, but Brown has been
able to detach himself and analyze the motivations of the players on all
sides with extraordinary clarity and balance. This is an outstanding
work of research and a key publication in understanding the ongoing
complexities of the West Coast salmon fishery. The wars are not over
yet.