Freshwater and Fraser River Salmon with Lina Azeez

Lina getting her hands wet with field work for WWSS, credit: Rick Moyer

While Lina Azeez has been working with Watershed Watch Salmon Society (WWSS) for six years now, her passion for freshwater and environmental protection began much earlier in life. As a young girl growing up in Sri Lanka she remembers her grandparents taking her to the beach each evening. She chuckles as she tells me that she would scold others for leaving behind their litter at only age four or five. 

“I have always been very concerned and in awe of the world around me.” 

Her perspective grew when her family moved to Dubai and their tropical surroundings changed to desert. She describes the respect for water in her new home: “Water was celebrated and was so needed. Our water was desalinated and then you had to boil it as well. It was really difficult to get fresh water.” 

“Then we moved to Canada - there was all this abundance of water and green – then you see how people really waste it. You don’t take it for granted when you come from somewhere else. My interest in environment came from protecting fresh water.” 

Lina is a water champion for Watershed Watch Salmon Society as their campaign manager. Watershed Watch Salmon Society is a science-based charity that works to defend and rebuild B.C.’s wild salmon and their habitats. They manage multiple campaigns while hosting events and offering volunteer opportunities for community members. 

In the summer of 2018, I had the privilege to work alongside her during an internship position with the Canadian Freshwater Alliance. Lina has the ability to communicate her love for our local environments with honesty and humour. This allows her to lead and succeed with exciting campaigns such as the Heart of the Fraser.

“The region that we affectionately call Heart of the Fraser is the gravel reach of the Fraser between Hope and Mission. The area is known to be really dynamic in its ecological biodiversity. Over 30 species live or migrate through this region of the river and 97% of all Fraser River salmon have to move through this area.”

This campaign was born out of concern for farming development applications that were located on two instream gravel islands. These areas were in imminent danger because permits had already been approved to build bridges for easier access to these islands. WWSS was invited to join a coalition of other hardworking community groups.

“We saw this as an opportunity to not have to go back and restore habitat that had been destroyed but instead try to be proactive, to protect and conserve what we have.” 

The work necessary to build these bridges would require ditching, draining and diking that would remove these islands forever from the floodplain. 

“The campaign really blew up, we had tons of people writing letters, signing petitions, making phone calls to the Minister of Environment and various MLAs so people really started to pay attention.” 

Aerial photograph of the Heart of the Fraser area, credit: Raincoast Conservation Association

“We started working on the campaign last summer and by May of this year both of the permits had been dropped. One of the permits was denied and the second one was actually dropped by the landowner which shows success. When people come together we can succeed in protecting what we love.”

Lina lists this success as one of the projects in her career that she is the proudest of, while echoing a common sentiment shared by those in the non-profit field: “When you’re in the trenches of it, it doesn’t seem like things are moving along, so when you see a success it’s like ‘oh my goodness this works.’”

She also acknowledges that while the success of the Heart of the Fraser campaign is significant for salmon habitat protection, there is still a disturbing decades-long declining trend in Fraser River salmon stocks. 

Lina explains that “our salmon populations have dropped off so much. We were expecting 4.8 million sockeye salmon to return to the Fraser this year but to date, only about 500,000 have returned. Our power is limited and there is so much happening out in the ocean.”

The myriad of impacts of ecological downturns such as this came up in my conversation with Lina as we discussed the recent global climate strikes. Lina talks about how the discussion of these topics is being brought to the forefront of our lives and how that impacts her position: 

“For myself it was a great reminder at the climate strike to see the intersectionality. Historically, it’s just been a focus on the environment but climate justice is social justice as well. I now can have this conversation with someone from a human rights group and we can agree that if we don’t have a healthy environment we won’t be able to have a healthy economy or anything else.” 

The recent low salmon return numbers are a great example of a seemingly environmental issue that is actually a larger economic and social issue. Low salmon stocks will not only impact other species in their ecosystem - this will impact the local fishing industry, Indigenous communities, and more. Society at large is beginning to understand the interconnectivity of our environment to each one of our day to day activities. While this can be a humbling and even frightening realization with our current climate crisis, it is also an exciting time with a possibility for so much change. There are now more opportunities than ever to work together on these wicked problems to build a green and sustainable future. 

Aerial photograph of the Heart of the Fraser area, credit: Heart of the Fraser

Lina works on change making outside of her job with Watershed Watch Salmon Society to engage the communities surrounding her.  

On a more personal level she mentions that climate change is starting to becoming a talking point in her new immigrant community: “I think that I have been helping to educate my community in that way and now people are feeling more empowered to talk about climate change.” 

Lina working at a restoration site on the Katzie Slough, credit: Dylan Hillis

Beyond this, she has taken her organizing skills and leads community discussion events: “My partner and I hosted a town hall on the Green New Deal to talk about what it is and what it means for Canada. We facilitated the workshop and there was a really great energy so we wanted to continue this conversation. In September, I hosted an all candidates debate in my riding focused on the Green New Deal and how Canada is going to take action on it.” She recommends the educational video ‘A Message From the Future with Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’ to learn about the Green New Deal and its importance for our future.

As we end our conversation Lina sums up her purpose in the field by saying, “I just want to hopefully be able to inspire people to care more about where we live.” I can wholeheartedly confirm that she has succeeded in this goal during all of our interactions and the work I have seen her do in the community. Lina is an example of how much positive change can be made when we communicate our love for the environment with others. 

To get involved with Watershed Watch Salmon Society you can sign up for their e-newsletter and join their volunteer Facebook page. Follow along with WWSS on their Facebook page and Instagram. The Heart of the Fraser campaign has been captured and transformed into a now released documentary by the same name. Watch the trailer here and check the WWSS Facebook page for a screening in your area.