Supporters of wild First Nations salmon made a stop at the Katzie reserve in Pitt Meadows Friday on their seven-day journey from Hell's Gate to Vancouver.

The Paddle for Wild Salmon ended their canoe journey Monday in Vancouver in time for the start of Cohen Commission hearings about the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River.

The paddlers, as part of the Wild Salmon are Sacred movement, arrived with the goal of demanding full disclosure about diseases from the Norwegian salmon farms along the migration path of the Fraser sockeye for the past 18 years.

Alexandra Morton, a biologist and vocal activist for wild salmon, landed on the Katzie reserve's shore Friday in a fleet of five voyageur canoes and about 50 paddlers.

Morton said the decline of the productivity of sockeye salmon began 18 years ago - when salmon farms began in the Fraser River.

She said when they started in 1987, she thought they were a good idea, but "increasingly there were problems. Because I'm a biologist I could see the problems."

She saw killer whales abandon the Broughton Archipelago, where she lived, and saw the evidence of toxic algae blooms.

Morton started seriously researching salmon farms in 2001 and hoped the Department of Fisheries and Oceans would do something to stop these farms in the Fraser River.

"The way I see it now, DFO is not interested in protecting wild fish," she said.

Because of her disappointment in government efforts, Morton hopes public attention and activism will move the government to action.

"I feel that unless there's enormous public pressure, the salmon farmers will be allowed to keep their disease records secret," Morton said.

"I have a lot of reasons to think salmon farms are killing Fraser sockeye. Every sockeye that comes out of this river and turns north is passing farm's effluent over its gills. So that means every sockeye that comes out of here, if there's a disease in the salmon farms, they're getting exposed to it."

Morton said while salmon numbers in the Fraser are decreasing, there is one group that goes south that is consistently thriving.

"There's one run of sockeye salmon called the Harris run that goes south out of the river to Juan de Fuca; they're doing great," she said.

Morton and other activists are hoping their efforts will lead to transparency.

"I can't prove that salmon farms are killing Fraser sockeye, but unless we know what's going on with their diseases, we'll never know; we'll always wonder," Morton explained. "Cohen's Commission would be incomplete without these records."

She hopes the commission will require all salmon farms to release their disease records.

"You need all the data, because if you don't have all the data, you haven't answered the question," she said.

"If you don't look at all the farms, the ones you didn't look at could be the problem. You simply have to look at all the farms."

Diverse supporters of the Wild Salmon are Sacred group arrived in canoes and gathered on the shore at Katzie Friday. Katzie drummers welcomed the paddlers, along with local conservationists and members of the community.

Geoff Clayton, of the Alouette River Management Society, greeted them. He has been involved with conservation and rebuilding the salmon stocks on the Alouette River for years.

"There is a wealth of evidence the salmon farms are extremely detrimental to the wild stocks," Clayton said. "Ultimately if we don't get these fish farms contained and out of the water it's all going to be for nothing."

Elena Edwards, an organizer for the paddle, was also there. She resigned from her job at a care home in April to be involved with the first paddle because she couldn't get 10 days off work.

Edwards has sacrificed to be a part of this movement, but she said it is important to her.

"It was the fact that someone recognized that they are sacred," she said of her involvement. "[The salmon] are part of a culture, they're part of an ecosystem. They connect people, from the headwaters of the Fraser to the ocean."

"When you care about something you have to do everything you can to protect it," she explained. "It's amazing to find something so many people from so many different backgrounds care about."

Morton said on Friday she hopes their efforts will affect change.

"If enough people show up at the opening of the Cohen Commission, I'm hoping that Justice Cohen will realize the importance of getting every single farm record," she said. "We're going to be camping along this river for a week, but apparently this is what it takes. I'm hoping this is what it takes."