Photo credits: Loic Dallaire, Kieran Brownie, Ellika Cairns, Matthew Van Oostdam
This story originally appeared in the Spring 2025 edition of Salmon Steward, the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s quarterly print magazine.
In Átl’ka7tsem (Howe Sound), north of Vancouver, the silver forage fish known as slhawt’ (herring) by the Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) were once so abundant that specialized rakes were used to harvest them.
But a century of industrial activity, along with overfishing, devastated biodiversity in Howe Sound. Herring numbers plummeted, and formal monitoring efforts ended in 2001, leaving little data to guide conservation efforts.
Now, three decades of environmental restoration efforts in the fjord are showing results.
Among these, a community-led initiative is shedding new light on herring in Howe Sound. Since 2020, dozens of volunteers have joined the Átl’ka7tsem / Howe Sound Marine Stewardship Initiative (MSI) and Squamish Nation Ta na wa Yuis ta Stitúyntsam̓ (Rights & Titles Department) to monitor herring spawn.
“We’ve gotten really good at finding herring. Many of our surveys are done by snorkeling, which lets us access remote locations and work at any tide, unlike boat or foot surveys,” says Matthew Van Oostdam, who coordinates MSI’s herring program.
Every spring, herring spawn in massive, synchronized events that give coastal waters a milky turquoise hue visible from space. A vital subsistence food for Squamish People, herring are also a cornerstone of the marine food web and a key prey species for Pacific salmon.
With support from PSF’s Community Salmon Program, MSI is expanding its long-term dataset on herring spawn distribution, abundance, and timing in Howe Sound. Weekly surveys from February to April cover 16 sites across 33 kilometers of shoreline in the Squamish Estuary and northern Howe Sound. This work complements PSF’s multi-year research on herring-salmon interactions throughout the Strait of Georgia.
“Over the last five years, we’ve collected baseline data showing that spawn events occur along almost every section of the estuary’s shoreline, including industrial areas and previously unsurveyed remote sites,” notes Van Oostdam.
“When people connect with herring – and see evidence like egg photos and spawning maps – decision-makers can make more informed, responsible choices.”
Herring are crucial to salmon survival. Both juvenile and adult salmon rely on them for food, and many herring spawning areas in Howe Sound double as rearing grounds for young coho and Chinook.
In 2025, more than 80 volunteers signed up to support herring spawn monitoring efforts. Squamish Nation has used data from these monitoring efforts over the years to inform decisions on land, water, and resource management.
In addition to monitoring, MSI partners with Squamish Nation and St’a7mes School for an annual public celebration during Tem Lhawt’ (time of herring). This gathering creates space for intergenerational learning and the rebuilding of Skwxwú7mesh sníchim (Squamish language).
Generations after rakes were used to harvest herring in Howe Sound, local students placed cedar and hemlock boughs in the fjord in 2019, at the request of Squamish Elders. Within a week, herring returned, coating the branches in ch’em’esh (eggs) – the first time in living memory that community members tasted roe from the Sound.
“These past few decades, all the work that’s happened to bring the Sound back to health has brought back our culture,” says Charlene Williams, a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh member who served on MSI’s Steering Committee to guide this project.
“The most amazing thing about this reclamation of our connection to herring has been the opportunity for hope.”
