Photographer Illustrates the Stark Decline of Wild Salmon and Waterscapes in B.C.'s Salmon Farming Wake

Nature photographer Andrew Wright first visited the Broughton Archipelago, off Vancouver Island's northeast shoulder, in the summer of 1990, shortly after emigrating to Canada from England.

"It was glorious to paddle a kayak in the company of bears and whales and to witness the source of energy in this productive bio-system, directly attributable to thriving salmon, numbering in the millions," he writes in an e-mail.

One day he found himself in a flimsy kayak, surrounded by a pod of killer whales.

"Unbelievable," he says of the experience. "I was so scared I didn't even pick up my camera. But I still have that memory with me. I always will."

Judging by the images of wild and beautiful places posted on his website (www.cold-coast.com), his experience in the Broughton helped shape his photography, which he pursues as "a passionate amateur," donating to charity whatever he makes from selling prints.

This spring, Mr. Wright, who works as an electrical engineer to pay the bills, returned to the Broughton Archipelago - and he was shocked by what he found.

The rich, thriving ecosystem where bears and killer whales feasted on schools of wild salmon had been replaced by an increasingly empty waterscape where almost every major inlet is home to a salmon farm.

Read Mark Hume's full column in The Globe and Mail.