Banner: A bald eagle flying in a snowstorm. Squamish River, British Columbia, Canada by Pete Nuij

Homalco Wildlife & Cultural Tours, British Columbia

The tourism business began serendipitously with the long-term efforts at Algard Creek, situated within their traditional territory, where members of the Nation proactively sought to establish a hatchery to restore the wild salmon population. Read more…

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Pacific Whale Foundation & University of Hawaii Announce Scientific Paper Documenting Rapid Weight-Loss in Pygmy Killer Whales

Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF), a nonprofit organization working to protect the ocean and its inhabitants for more than 40 years, led a groundbreaking study employing advanced drone technology that offers new hope in the remote study of marine wildlife in partnership with the University of Hawai‘i’s Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) and the University of Hawai‘i’s Health and Stranding Lab. Read more…

Angelo Concilio: Rider on The Storm

As I child, I was terrified of storms. Especially those that occurred in the summer, when a strong contrast between hot and cold air made them particularly violent. I remember one occasion in August when I had just turned six years old. Read more…

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Photos Capture Spectacular Ice Eruptions in Siberia

Rounds of ice and river water eruptions were recorded on camera in parts of south-central Russia last week. But what looks like a dazzling water fountain show is actually a strategic operation to prevent major flooding in nearby towns. The ice blasting event along the Biya River in southern Siberia was carried out by officials as a preemptive strike to prevent severe flooding as temperatures begin to rise across the region. Read more…

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Houston Flooding Polluted Reefs More Than 100 Miles Offshore

Runoff from Houston’s 2016 Tax Day flood and 2017’s Hurricane Harvey flood carried human waste onto coral reefs more than 100 miles offshore in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, according to a Rice University study. Read more…

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Gone by Michael Blencowe: A Search for What Remains of The World’s Extinct Creatures

Dynamic naturalist Michael Blencowe has travelled the globe to uncover the fascinating backstories of eleven extinct animals, which he shares with charm and insight in Gone. See more…

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Sustainable Home: Practical Projects, Tips and Advice for Maintaining a More Eco-friendly Household

Sustainable Home is a stylish, inspirational and practical guidebook to maintaining a more environmentally friendly household. Read more…

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Feature Destination: British Columbia

It is good to see you. Homalco Wildlife & Cultural Tours invites you to visit, explore and learn about the traditional territory of the Homalco First Nation. Bute Inlet offers spectacular wilderness and some of North America’s most sought-after wildlife, including grizzly bears, salmon, eagles and whales. Read more…

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Marine Stewardship Council Funds Ocean Projects to Drive Progress in Sustainable Fishing

Twenty fisheries and research projects around the world will receive up to £60,000 each from the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) Ocean Stewardship Fund – a fund dedicated to enabling and supporting sustainable fishing around the world. Read more…

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Walls of Death: Fisheries Threaten Livelihoods in the Indian Ocean, Report Reveals

Fishing pressure on the Indian Ocean high seas is threatening ocean health, coastal livelihoods and iconic species, with governments failing to act, a new Greenpeace International report shows. The new investigation in the northwestern Indian Ocean reveals. Read more…

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A Beach Wrapped in Plastic Teaches Important Lessons

Pom Pom Island is a remote uninhabited island in the Celebes Sea off the coast of Malaysian Borneo. Every day marine litter filled with plastics smothers the shoreline. This story investigates a breakdown of what is washing up and where in the world it may be coming from. Read more…

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First Comprehensive study of NW Australia’s Deep Corals Completed

Scientists discovered a sea snake thought to be locally extinct and saw several species such as the great spotted cowrie (Perissersoa guttata) for the first time in the Ashmore Reef Marine Park, off Australia, during Schmidt Ocean Institute’s 18-day expedition that concluded this week. Read more…

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Tozeuma Shrimp – Jack’s April Underwater Photograph

If you look at this odd-looking shrimp, you’ll see why it is sometimes also called a Pinocchio and a rhino shrimp. Its long body and long nose, make it look quite different from most other shrimp. Obviously, camouflage is a big factor here, and they are perfectly suited to blend in with a large variety of corals. Read more…

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Two months until World Ocean Day!

With less than 2 months until 8 June, many of you have already started planning your event, activity, or celebration for World Ocean Day. Read more…

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SAWFISH NEWS: Havenworth Coastal Conservation Anglers and Divers Asked to Help with Sawfish Research

One of the best ways to track the effectiveness of ongoing management and conservation efforts is to collect information about interactions with endangered sawfish by fishers, divers, and others. Read more…

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The Many Faces of Marine Conservation – From a Remote Colombian Island to a Roman Boardroom in 3 Days

It was twilight in the early morning when I emerged from the jungle and stepped onto the black gravel beach. The sun was rising somewhere to the east over the mainland, but the low clouds obscured it and the sky was a deep blue on all sides. I walked to the water’s edge where the sound of the waves jostling the pebbles began to mix with the falling of fat raindrops that had already soaked my shirt. Read more…

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Whale Sharks in Video Games, Where to Swim with the Gentle Giants

With travel bans still in effect across most of Asia and travel bubbles failing to emerge or facing continual delays even between countries with few cases of Covid-19, it looks like I won’t be booking any trips soon, and will have to stick to looking at whale sharks in video games for now. Read more…

South Australia Reels in World Fisheries Congress

The 2021 World Fisheries Congress to be held in South Australia will bring together the brightest minds in commercial fishing, with a focus on conservation and sustainability. The 8th World Fisheries Congress, scheduled for September this year, will be held in Adelaide, South Australia. Read more…

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Planning for Sea Level Rise: Begin with The End in Mind

When it comes to sea-level rise (SLR), there are two reasons we should start thinking bigger, sooner. The first is practical. Planning farther ahead and raising streets and structures 3 feet one time is generally less disruptive and less expensive than raising them 1 foot three times. Read more…

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UNDP Ocean Innovation Challenge 2nd Call for Proposals on Sustainable Fisheries

Fish represent one of the most important sources of food protein to humanity, supplying 17 percent of total animal protein consumed globally. Since 1967, global per capita fish consumption has more than doubled to 20 kg/yr/person. Nearly 40 million people obtain their jobs and livelihoods from industrial or small-scale fishing. Some 38 percent of fish caught or farmed worldwide are traded internationally. See more…

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The FREE Weekly Conservation Post and Jobs List

Signing up for the free Weekly Newsletter & Jobs List will get you a round-up of upcoming events, webinars, meetings, reports, funding opportunities, photos of the week, and recent postings to the jobs list.

To sign up for our free subscription, please Click Here or email us Here. 

Since 2004, SEVENSEAS Media has fostered an informal and non-partisan platform to promote understanding of key issues and challenges while building partnerships across an increasingly diverse group of marine conservation professionals and students.

Our mission is to promote communication and build partnerships across the global marine community and to identify and address gaps in the community’s work. SEVENSEAS Media achieves this through multimedia promotion and partnerships. The community consists of a diverse and growing group of participants, including non-governmental organizations, government agencies, foundations, bilateral and multilateral agencies, fellowship programs, independent consultants, and academia/students.

If you are interested in contributing or getting involved, email us Here. 

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The tourism business began serendipitously with the long-term efforts at Algard Creek, situated within their traditional territory, where members of the Nation proactively sought to establish a hatchery to restore the wild salmon population. The hatchery enabled the community to harvest food stocks, rear eggs and release fry to slowly re-establish the once plentiful wild salmon runs (Coho and Chum), depleted by years of exploitation and industrial activity by outsiders (largely through clear cut logging, leading to landslides that transported debris and sediment into critical spawning areas). are a world-class wildlife viewing and cultural experience tour provider owned and operated by the Xwémalhkwu, or Homalco First Nation, a people known as ‘the people of the fast-running waters’. The Homalco traditional territories run from Dent Island, just north of Sonora Island, over to Raza Passage and extending over the entire Bute Inlet. Bute Inlet is a spectacular fiord wilderness area running 80 km between peaks reaching up to 2,700 metres east of the northern end of Vancouver Island on the western coast of Canada. The Xwémalhkwu people lived for thousands of years at village sites spread throughout, near rivers along the fiord and at the mouth of Bute Inlet. Today Bute Inlet is a paradise for photographers, sports fishermen, hikers, kayakers, mountain climbers, wildlife enthusiasts, and experienced backcountry users.

As with most coastal First Nation peoples, the Homalco thrived on rich natural harvests from the ocean. As they travelled with the seasons foraging, hunting and fishing, the Homalco people shared in sustainable resource use throughout the territory, and above all were taught to respect the sacred cedar tree. The fibres of the cedar provided the Homalco people with clothing, shelter, baskets, canoes and hand tools as well as burial boxes.

With the arrival of non-Indigenous peoples in the mid 1800’s the Xwémalhkwu were banned from practicing their traditional ceremonies, dances and songs and were forced to burn their regalia. During the early years of colonialization the elders kept the language alive secretly. They were moved from their traditional community locations in the late 1800’s. And then in the early 1900’s generations of children were taken away to Residential Schools. The Xwémalhkwu resisted and, despite the impacts of these schools, they maintained their connection to their cultural heritage.

The increased fish population had an unexpected but fortuitous spin off in leading to a return of the grizzly bear population to the valley (with as many as 50 grizzly bears returning to the Orford River to feast on salmon). The bears’ return led to the idea to invite visitors in to enjoy the wildlife that was now thriving there, and in turn led to the creation of Homalco Wildlife Tours. The community initially created the tour company to offer safe wildlife viewing for paying guests from Sonora Resort, a nearby commercial luxury resort.

Very early on the Nation successfully developed relationships with local existing tour operators to bring visitors to Orford Bay from Campbell River, a city on Vancouver Island touted as the ‘Salmon Capital of the World’. A business model was created with Campbell River operators, providing them with guaranteed times to arrive and view wildlife including the grizzlies in the Orford Valley, in the Homalco territory. This model capitalized on the tour operators’ existing marketing and sales channels and their infrastructure including professional tour boats. The Homalco business focused on providing an outstanding wildlife experience for guests of the tour operators.

As the market demand for the fall seasonal wildlife viewing program grew, management of the Homalco business realized there was potential to expand into the shoulder seasons with a diversified experience offering. The trained youth wildlife guides provided the solution as to how to diversify – to begin offering cultural programs. The guides were then provided with professional training to begin offering cultural tours, showcasing the Nations history, language, songs, stories and dances. The cultural tour programs proved successful and the seasonality was expanded through the spring and summer months. The fall wildlife programs were also expanded to include a cultural element as well. The benefits of this went far beyond economics as community members, typically spread across Vancouver Island and other parts of BC, began to see a reason to come home, learn the language and traditions and reconnect/travel within their traditional territory, and in doing so create a livelihood guiding visitors.

The cultural tourism program helped reduce the dependence of the business on the seasonal wildlife viewing. In addition it increased the operating season length from 74 days in 2014 to over 150 days in 2019, leading to a more profitable business.

A total of four partnerships were created with tour operators in Campbell River and one partnership with a luxury lodge. The partnerships supply the Homalco Wildlife Tour business with guests for their fall bear viewing program. In 2019 the business also began to market and bring it’s own guests into Orford, along with the partners.

Homalco Wildlife Tours has enabled many community members to access their traditional village sites, which they have not had access to since being relocated in the 70’s. It has also led to a revitalization of the community’s cultural traditions and practices – the Homalco language, songs, dances, and stories, which are now being shared with visitors from around the world. Most importantly the business has helped to re-connect Homalco youth to their culture by training them as tour guides. The business has created four permanent full time positions, eight full-time seasonal positions, and supported 20 positions for the expansion and development of the tours.

A small conservation fee is added to the tour price for every guest on Homalco tours, as well as for all guests on partner tours that visit the Orford Valley. These fees help to support the wild salmon enhancement program at the hatchery.

Note: The story is developed by Mike Robbins for LT&C. To see the original story, please CLICK HERE…

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ʔiymot kʷunome – It is good to see you. Homalco Wildlife & Cultural Tours invites you to visit, explore and learn on the traditional territory of the Homalco First Nation. Bute Inlet offers spectacular wilderness and some of North America’s most sought-after wildlife, including grizzly bears, salmon, eagles and whales.

Enjoy an unforgettable experience with orcas, humpbacks, sea lions and more remarkable marine mammals in their natural habitat as we venture through the Salish Sea. Bear witness to BC’s magnificent coastal mountain range and watch for bald eagles, other marine birds and wildlife on this notable expedition.

Join this exclusive group for a day of whales, cultural discovery and wildlife. Travel to Bute Inlet and through the Salish Sea, while searching for humpback whales, orcas, sea lions, bald eagles and other marine wildlife. Accompany a First Nation guide on an interpretive journey to learn about traditional uses of the land while watching for grizzly bears and more.

COVID-19 UPDATE: We are booking now for 2021 tours with full COVID safety procedures in place. Whales, Wildlife and Culture, Great Bears of Bute, and People Water Land tours are fully refundable up to 48 hours before travelling with us. Thank you and stay safe.

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