Concept

The #BIGLittleFish campaign is a public communications campaign to elevate the status of and prevent the extinction of Pacific herring, one of the Pacific Northwest’s often under-appreciated and under-acknowledged foundation species. Pacific Wild was set up to play the role of amplifier for local Salish Sea community-based organizations Conservancy Hornby Island and the Association for Denman Island Marine Stewards in a multi-organizational, multi-scale campaign to stop the roe herring fishery in the Strait of Georgia. The first stage was to elevate the issue in local and national media, and the second was to facilitate community stories about the role that herring have in all of our lives on the coast.

The foundation of this campaign was based on extensive digging through primary research and interpreting complex data, both current and historic. This was combined with a huge amount of coordination with local partner groups, First Nations, and larger amplifier organizations as well as supportive corporations. The 2020 ‘Missing’ campaign (left) was designed to bring attention to the history of herring on the coast by highlighting the timelines and circumstances around local extirpations and closures. I am grateful for Geoff Campbell for being the mastermind behind the visual design, which was inspired by the milk carton children of the 1980s.

I am honoured to have worked beside my 2019 co-lead Vanessa Minke-Martin, whose diligent in-depth research and writing, amazing and patient coordination skills, creativity, and dedication to the issue and to coastal communities, made this campaign as successful as it was, and provided ample materials for media, politicians, organizations, First Nations, and individuals, to use to this day.