(2023, 109 minutes)

Pacific herring are an essential component of the marine food web. So, when their populations began to decline in the late 1970s, several other key species, like salmon, that rely on herring as a food source also saw dramatic declines in their populations. Are the herring and salmon declines connected or coincidence?

A group of local volunteers, calling themselves the Squamish Streamkeepers, responded to the crisis by investigating potential reasons for the decline in local herring stocks in Howe Sound, near Squamish, BC, and False Creek, near Vancouver, BC. They discovered that millions of herring eggs were dying on creosote pilings and subsequently wrapped the pilings in a selection of non-toxic materials to try to protect the eggs from the creosote. This approach was only partially successful and they continued to modify their artificial spawning substrates for nearly two decades only to learn that there are bigger factors causing the decline of Pacific herring off the coast of British Columbia.

Director: Scott Renyard
Producers: Scott Renyard, Juggernaut Pictures

Le Peuple Hareng -Version française sous-titres ouverts