Founded in 1979, FOCS has a long track record of working for conservation in Clayoquot Sound. Logging protests and campaigns throughout the 1980s culminated in the 1993 Clayoquot Summer protests. Organised by FOCS, they succeeded in significantly slowing the rate of logging, and the intact valleys have not been logged yet — there is still the opportunity to protect this globally rare and magnificent ecosystem. In the 1980s salmon farms began to slip in – now Clayoquot Sound has one of the highest densities of salmon feedlots on the BC coast. Additionally, mining has re-emerged as a threat, with a potential open-pit copper mine 13 kilometres north of Tofino, and a potential gold mine in southern Clayoquot Sound.
Ancient Forests
Twenty years ago Clayoquot Sound was the site of major industrial logging. That declined significantly after the 1993 Clayoquot protests. However, the cutting of ancient rainforests has never stopped. The rate of cut dropped to an all-time low in 1998, but since then it has fluctuated upwards again.
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Wild Salmon
Clayoquot has one of the densest concentrations of open net-pen salmon farms (feedlots) on the BC coast, with 20 sites. Salmon farms endanger wild salmon by transferring diseases and parasites. In 2014, Norwegian-owned Cermaq, the main salmon farming company operating here, was bought by Japanese mega-corporation Mitsubishi.
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Mine Free
Globally, many of the world’s high-grade ore deposits have been mined out, while commodity prices of gold and copper have fluctuated to record highs. These factors have led mining companies from around the world to target low-grade deposits, such as are found in Clayoquot Sound.
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