Ucluelet’s Last Salmon Troller

(Reposted from September 2025) - This fall, salmon are returning to the B.C. coast in huge numbers. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) forecasted 750,000 sockeye returning to the Alberni Inlet, an impressive run. But harvesters aren’t able to take advantage of the bounty, not only because of restrictions, but because there are so few fishers left to fish. In Ucluelet, once the third-largest salmon landing port in B.C., there is now just one independent commercial salmon troller left: Mike Smith.

Mike has fished salmon for over fifty years. He bought his boat, the Blue Eagle No. 1, at 25; he’s now 79. In the heyday, 1,500 trollers worked the west coast of Vancouver Island. Today, only about 30 boats remain.

Trolling is a slow, low-impact fishery: lines trail lures that catch salmon one at a time, with almost no seabed contact. Mike became an expert at matching gear to water colour and species. Like many trollers, he worked winters logging or at the local hatchery, helping rebuild salmon runs. The fishery once supported families, shipyards, and coastal towns, though most fishermen earned only a modest living from long, solitary seasons at sea.

Now, Mike is the last independent troller in Ucluelet. His neighbour, Doug Kimoto, the town’s last Japanese Canadian fisherman, passed away three years ago. Today Mike’s fishing time has shrunk from six months to less than one. Most mornings, he’s seen collecting bottles around town.

Ownership issues in BC fisheries

The state of B.C. fisheries isn’t just about fish stocks, it’s about policy. In 1978, Federal Fisheries Minister Romeo LeBlanc introduced fleet separation on the Atlantic coast: this meant corporations could not own licences in the under-65-foot fleet, and licence holders had to fish their own vessels. It kept corporations out, and small-boat fishermen in their communities.

On the Pacific coast, no such protections were created. At the time, B.C. already had a strong fleet of independent operators. Without safeguards, that fleet has withered. Small-boat communities such as Alert Bay, Sointula, Ahousaht, Tofino, and Ucluelet have seen their fishing fleets steadily disappear as license ownership has been bought from fishers, by investors. 

Management restrictions continuing to kill the fishery

Since 2018, federal managers have increasingly restricted the non-Indigenous troll fleet, delaying opening dates until salmon have already migrated inland. This makes it nearly impossible to profit from the short fishing windows.

This also impacts Indigenous fisheries. In recent years, five Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations have won in court the right to an economic fishery in their territories.  But because government policy has left the commercial sector so diminished, even those rights are hard to exercise. The only viable transfer mechanism is through commercial licences, many of which have disappeared through the years due to buybacks, and even harvesters with licenses are often unable to catch their portion of the total allowable catch due to strict management regulations.  

This August, I found myself waist-deep in the salt chuck, helping Mike paint the Blue Eagle against pilings at the Ucluelet dock. He couldn’t afford a haul-out at the local shipyard. He was preparing to head out on August 16th, knowing most of the fish were already gone, and that another season would not be viable.

Mike’s story is not just personal, it reflects the abandonment of B.C.’s coastal fisheries. The Fisheries Act promises “economically viable fisheries.” Yet Ottawa’s choices have drained salmon towns of their lifeblood, while the East Coast still protects its fleets.

After decades of pleading, and as fisheries and hope for coastal communities continue to shrink, the federal government is finally preparing to act. This past winter, DFO consulted with the fishing industry on West Coast Fisheries Modernization, exploring the adoption of Owner-Operator and fleet separation rules on the Pacific coast. It may be the last chance to build a fishery that sustains B.C. coastal communities and offers young people a future in fishing. This step is urgently needed to secure the future of B.C.’s fisheries, and all eyes will be on what happens next. 

I can still envision a fleet of small, sustainable fishing enterprises, rooted in our communities and working alongside the rights-based First Nation fishery on the West Coast. But to make that vision real, Canada needs deliberate policy choices that protect the people who make their living from the sea.

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About the Author

Dan Edwards is a retired, third-generation small-boat fisherman from Ucluelet, B.C., who fished for salmon, groundfish, and herring. He served for many years on the board of the West Coast Fishermen's Union (UFAWU) and was Executive Director of both the Area Crab Association and a community non-profit that helped establish a regional aquatic policy board for West Coast Vancouver Island South. Dan also chaired his local salmon enhancement hatchery society for 15 years and remains an active member of the groundfish integration process.