Ben Fisher

Reporting from Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

Ben Fisher is a Seattle-based freelance writer. Previously, he worked as night and copy editor at the Jerusalem Post, Israel’s largest English language newspaper, and as digital editor of Jewish Quarterly. He is fluent English, French, Hebrew, and Arabic.

Published on
October 3, 2019

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party has released its full party platform, which calls for a “transition [in British Columbia] from open net pen salmon farming in coastal waters to closed containment systems by 2025.”

The plan, released last week, has been dubbed by the party “Canada’s first-ever Aquaculture Act.” 

However, the plan drew sharp criticism from those in the country’s

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Published on
September 24, 2019

Authorities in British Columbia, Canada, in coordination with First Nations tribes and aquaculture companies are in the beginning steps of a four-year program to decommission marine-based salmon farming operations off the coast of Vancouver Island, according to a National Post report

Earlier this year, an agreement was reached between three First Nations tribes, two aquaculture companies, and the British Columbia provincial government to

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Published on
September 18, 2019

Alaska’s 2019 salmon season is winding down and the commercial catch has totaled some 200 million fish through the end of last week …

Photo courtesy of

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Published on
September 13, 2019

Researchers from the Atlantic Salmon Federation in New Brunswick, Canada have caught more than 50 salmon after they escaped from a nearby Cooke Aquaculture site, according to a Canadian Press report. 

The Cooke site is located near Dear Island and, according to Atlantic Salmon Federation spokesman Neville Crabbe, around 1,000 salmon escaped from that location on 20 August. 

Cooke Vice President of Public Relations Joel Richardson said

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Published on
September 11, 2019

The fifth annual “Off the Hook” Santa Monica Seafood Festival is scheduled be held at the Santa Monica Pier on Saturday, 14 September, and will celebrate the seafood bounty and chefs of southern California.

Held in September in order to celebrate National Water Quality Month, Santa Monica’s only seafood festival is set to feature sustainable seafood from nearly two dozen of Santa Monica’s restaurants, including Blue Plate

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Published on
August 30, 2019

Some 56,000 salmon have been able to migrate past the landslide in the Fraser River in British Columbia, according to The Star

The federal and provincial governments are still working on ways to clear the landslide and use other methods to allow the fish to reach their spawning ground. A typical run sees millions of salmon making their way up the Fraser River to various spawning grounds in the region.

According to Michael Crowe of the

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Published on
August 29, 2019

Nearly 16 million pounds of halibut have been harvested off the West Coast of the United States and Canada so far this season ...

Photo coutesy of Earl D.

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Published on
August 27, 2019

This year has been California’s best salmon season in a decade, in light of the phenomenally low catches landed in recent years ...

Photo courtesy of the California Department of Fish and

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Published on
August 22, 2019

The Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF) has issued a call for products to compete in the 27th annual Alaska Symphony of Seafood. 

The program is a competition of new value-added products made from Alaska seafood products, and the goal is to “inspire innovative ways to fully utilize and increase the value of Alaska’s seafood,” according to a company statement.

Judges base their decisions based on the

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Published on
August 20, 2019

The David Suzuki Foundation is collecting signatures in order to lobby the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to enforce stricter seafood-labeling laws in Canada.  Canada does not require its seafood to be labeled with the correct species name or its country of harvest …

Photo courtesy of

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