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Phillip the salmon has always been an 

outspoken specimen on the Tofino Fish 

Farm. Since his days as a fry he has 

always dreamed of escaping the fish farm 

and the wrath of Ezekiel, the terrible 

fish farmer. As he watches his family 

members become ill and gradually die off 

from sea lice, he is determined as ever to 

escape the fish farm to live his life as a 

free salmon in the Pacific Ocean. Will his 

dreams to break free and explore the ocean 

become reality? Find out in Phillip, The 

Salmon.

Phillip the Salmon was born and raised on a fish 

farm in Tofino, British Columbia. His earliest 

memories were swimming around frantically when 

he was a fry and falling asleep to distant whale 

sounds when he was a fingerling. Like other salmon, 

Phillip enjoyed the little things in life. 

He liked flopping around in the opposite 

direction of a current and marveling at bird 

droppings that fell to the surface of his home. He 

liked occasionally finding a whole worm in the fish 

feed and slapping fins with his best friend, Lloyd. 

But these characteristics aside, Phillip the Salmon 

was a very different kind of Salmon. He was 

completely aware that there was more to the world 

than the confines of the fish farm.

Everyday he would daydream about one day 

breaking out and living the rest of his life as a 

free fish in the Pacific Ocean. He imagined all 

the possibilities – the wide variety of fish he 

could meet and all the new things about the ocean 

he could learn.

One night Phillip had a dream – or better said, a 

premonition. He dreamt that Ezekiel, the fish 

farmer, scooped him up with dozens of his 

siblings. Their screams could be heard for miles. 

    “Help! Somebody help!”

    “I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die! I’m not 

ready!”

Together they were hauled to a fish factory, a 

very clinical looking fish factory where they 

were thrown around under fluorescent lights by 

strange hands in rubber gloves until finally they 

were separated. Phillip wound up on a cutting 

board in a hip sushi restaurant. 

Phillip woke up in a panic next to his 

brothers and sisters. He looked around to 

make sure they were safe and then sighed 

in relief. The only thing that concerned him 

was the amount of sea lice covering his 

brothers Kyle, Derek, John, Ron, Paul, Mitt, 

Duke, Sam, Samuel, Brett, Steven, Lionel, 

Lucas, Cory, and Thomas and Seth. They were 

all sick with sea lice and they were going to die, 

but Ezekiel didn’t really care. Ezekiel didn’t care 

for the fishes’ feelings and wellbeing. They were 

just inventory he had to sell.  

The next morning Phillip called a family meeting. Though 

only half of them were present, they gathered around him 

attentively to hear his big announcement. 

    Phillip cleared his throat.

    “Brothers and sisters, I’d like to announce that my time at 

the fish farm is done. I’m leaving in a couple of days to 

pursue my dreams.”

    “And what are your dreams, Phil?” asked Fifi the fry in a 

squeaky voice.

    “Well, I have a lot of dreams,” he said, “I want to learn 

everything about the Pacific, and I want to find my own 

fresh food everyday. I want to wake up and not worry if I’ll 

get sea lice or not. I want to swim so far through wild rapids 

and go to Japan. I want to meet the Alaskans but avoid their 

fisherman wrath.”

    Fifi blinked in bewilderment.

    Suddenly everyone started laughing at Phillip.

“You clownfish! You’ll never make it out there alone. 

You’ve never been out of the farm – what makes you 

think it’s so safe and wonderful in the ocean?”

    “It’s a chance I’ll have to take,” said Phillip quietly.

    “What makes you think you can even escape? This 

place is completely shut off.”

    “I’ll find a way, you’ll see. You’ll all see.”

    He slumped away from his mocking family in 

embarrassment. His friend Lloyd swam after him.

    “Phil! Wait! Don’t be like this. You know they’re right.”

    “No, Lloyd. They’re not. I’m making it out of here. And 

if you’re not coming with me, then get out of my way.”

    Slowly Phil disappeared into the abyss. 

    Lloyd’s lip quivered as he produced a single tear from 

his eye. He knew he would never see his friend again. 

Phil retreated to a dark corner of the fish farm and 

idled there. He reflected on his childhood at the 

farm. He used to question the boundaries of the 

fish farm and try as hard as he could to swim past 

the netting that contained him. But alas, he couldn’t 

push hard enough. At nights he would have visions of 

life above the water – he dreamt of humans steering 

great fishing boats across the ocean at dawn and the 

sunrise that would wrap them with light. There was so 

much unexplored wonder beyond the farm. But the 

obstacles that his family had warned him about were in 

fact true. How would he ever penetrate the boundary?

    The more Phil thought about this problem the worse his 

headache grew. Eventually he drifted off to sleep.

But something pulling on his fin interrupted his nap. He 

woke up in a panic from another nightmare.

    “Who’s there?” He panted.

    Suddenly a beam of light was cast down upon him and 

he was paralyzed. A mysterious figure emerged from a 

dark edge of the farm. It was a metallic three-eyed 

serpent that drifted fluidly toward him.

    “Phillip, Phillip the Salmon…” hissed the serpent in an 

echo-y voice.

    Phil looked around to check if anyone else could see 

what was happening. He was alone.

    “Uh, yes… I am he.”

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