If anyone doubts DFO’s stewardship of
BC’s iconic animal, the salmon, has been anything other than derrilection of
duty, just look at a morning’s catch of Nahmint River chinook by a bunch of sport
fishers just like us. As you can see, such catches were common in the 1960s.
Note that in the middle, just beside the camera flare, is Jimmy Gilbert, famed
Saanich Inlet guide, of whom I will have much to say in upcoming articles.
The Nahmint River, in Albernia Inlet,
is just one river, but it had a great reputation because its fish had great numbers
of 50 pound chinook, and lots of fish. They are pretty much all gone now, and
as DFO is responsible for salmon in BC, they have overseen the destruction of
this and many other runs without doing anything about sustaining their numbers.
Victoria area sport fishers have
watched fish drop in numbers for decades. I have letters to the minister going back
to the ’60s, a time when DFO said coho could not be caught by sport fishers
because they did not bite lures. Hmm. Now, our summer fishing is compromised
because DFO is watching, but not doing freshwater habitat restoration or enhancement,
of low Fraser River 4/2s and 5/2s. They dwindle in numbers to alarming levels.
We have had restrictions for several years now.
And we all know that the Southern Resident
Killer Whale, only 76 individuals, are not doing well, to some extent because
chinook are in such low numbers. Rather than beefing up chinook numbers, DFO proposes
closing sport fisheries to protect them. See the PDF: Discussion Paper: February 15, 2018, Proposed
2018 Salmon Fishery Management Measures to Support Chinook Salmon Prey
Availability for Southern Resident Killer Whales. I attach it to the email. You are asked for comments.
Of interest, while the SRKWs can range from California
to Alaska, their main spring and summer feeding grounds are: “the transboundary
waters of Haro Strait, Boundary Pass, Juan de Fuca Strait, and southern
portions of the Strait of Georgia (also referred to as the Salish Sea). This
area is identified as Critical Habitat (the habitat required for survival and
recovery of the species) in the SARA RKW Recovery Strategy.”
SRKW are known to feed primarily on chinook and chum.
During the summer, runs of both are coming home through Juan de Fuca and Georgia
Strait, with chum a bit later. I have seen them feed on other things, but we
all know from fishing, that once they pass you, fishing ends for several hours
before salmon once again will bite. They obviously can sense killer whales in
the area, presumably by echolocation and you pack up your gear and move five
miles ‘upstream’ of where the killers are coming from, fish, and then return
hours later.
The scat scientists are sent out to find the scat, scoop
it up and bring it back for analysis, which shows: “Genetic analysis of prey
fragments from SRKW foraging events shows that from May to September, the diet
is comprised of about 90% Chinook Salmon, despite this species being far less
abundant than Sockeye and Pink Salmon.” And their preferred diet is age 4 and 5
chinook. You can imagine them echolocating the big bodies on the other side of
schools of pink and sockeye and going after them.
After the sockeye and pink move on, coho are also
taken, with diet switching to the later-returning chum. By December, the SRKW
are moving out of our area and down the coast. Fecal analysis shows other
species as prey items, along with nursing chinook. I wonder whether the highly
recognizable chinook smell contributes to prey use at this time of year, but
this paper does not mention this possibility. And it seems hard to believe that
animals as intelligent as killer whales would not switch to other species to
avoid starvation.
Page 4 has a map of the critical summer feeding areas
in southern BC, as well as gets on to talking about those Fraser 4/2s, 5/2s,
etc. that we all know DFO has not done much about over the decades. Their take
is that the stocks have been declining, avoiding, taking responsibility for it,
and, finally, has a document that describes restoration and distribution: http://frafs.ca/sites/default/files2/SBC%20Chinook%20Strat%20Plan%20DRAFT%20for%20dist%20Sept%2021_v2%20%28updated%20List%29.pdf.
We have had various methods employed to increase
chinook levels, including reducing WCVI fisheries, Alaska fisheries, and for sport
in our areas, slot limit and hatchery clipped fish, to avoid the mostly Fraser
chinook, and lesser Puget Sound chinook.
DFO says: “Conservation
measures for these populations over the last 10 years have included
substantially reduced exploitation rates on Fraser Spring (age-4) and
Spring/Summer (age-5) chinook designed to allow more wild Chinook to reach
spawning areas. While these measures have decreased exploitation rates to well
below historic sustainable levels, there has not been rapid recovery for many
Chinook Salmon populations, suggesting that other factors are also contributing
to on-going low productivity [Read the Warm Blob]. These populations exhibit an
offshore migration pattern and appear to return to Fraser primarily through the
Strait of Juan de Fuca in spring and early summer months.
Fraser Summer (age-4 ocean type) have been
at high relative abundance for over a decade and have a far north distribution
with return migration to the Fraser in August through Johnstone Strait and
Strait of Juan de Fuca. Lower Fraser Fall (Harrison/Chilliwack) Chinook are
locally distributed in southern BC waters and are present year round. Harrison
Chinook have declined in recent years and have not achieved the PST escapement
goal in 5 of the last 6 years. Further measures are under consideration in 2018
to improve terminal returns of Harrison Chinook.”
So, what does DFO plan for fishing in 2018? Yes, you
guessed it, closed sport fishing areas in regions of Juan de Fuca, Haro Strait,
and off Saturna Island, in our area. In their own words:
“1. Mouth of the Fraser River (Area 29)
2. West
side of Pender Island (Subarea 18-4)
3.
South side of Saturna Island (Subarea 18-5)
4. Strait of Juan de Fuca (Area 20)“
You
will note the lack of a conservation, enhancement plan for chinook. This seems
pretty obvious when you consider that numbers are so bad, that our winter
fishery is primarily for American clipped fish. Why aren’t we doing the same
thing here? The reality is that we have finally come to the ‘managing chinook
into extinction’ phase of DFO abrogating its responsibility for decades. Go
back and look at the morning’s chinook catch photo from one small river mouth
on Van Isle. The fish just aint there.
And,
in those days, DFO put threshing blades on the bows of boats to kill basking
sharks which were thought to eat salmon. Hmm. They eat primarily plankton. Salmon
sharks eat salmon.
In
all fairness, though, the PDF has links to lots of science going on. The problem
is it’s mostly not about increasing chinook numbers. Here are documents to look
at: http://www.marinemammal.org/marine-mammal-research-unit-publications-2/.
The
closed area maps start on page 8, in which ‘salmon fishing or fin fish closures’
are proposed. Beside those areas are areas where the regular,
Fraser-chinook-refined measures will be in place, as in some fishing is allowed. Note that you are asked to give your
comments on this plan, so please do:
|
“· Do you have
suggestions for information that your organization could provide and/or
assist in collecting?
o
Ways to increase overall natural
production of Chinook Salmon (e.g., habitat enhancement/restoration)
o
Adjustments to production of
enhanced chinook. DFO has a comprehensive coast-wide Chinook production
program delivered through its Salmonid Enhancement Program. Current hatchery
production increases the abundance of adult Chinook in many marine areas,
including those areas where SRKWs forage, and as such may be beneficial to
SRKWs. This production directly benefits fisheries and provides key
assessment information used to manage Chinook stocks, as well as increasing
abundance of chinook as a potential SRKW prey item. It may be possible to
modify hatchery Chinook production to benefit SRKWs but more information is
required to assess this relationship. Increasing hatchery production to
benefit SRKWs would be dependent on DFO hatchery capacities (e.g. facility
capacity, facility location), knowledge of which stocks would best benefit
SRKWs, and careful management of wild stock status and hatchery-wild interactions.
o
Manage impacts of other consumers
of Chinook Salmon (e.g., seals, sea lions, seabirds, etc.)
o
Increase abundance of forage fish
consumed by Chinook Salmon (e.g., habitat restoration/protection, adjust
harvest removals, etc.)
o or, other measures.
|
You
may have thought that the Right Whale problem in eastern Canada has over-received
attention recently – with more than 500% more animals – and while DFO is a Johnny
Come Lately to the SRKW issue, it is indeed doing something.
How
about some of the following suggestions:
1. As
the problem is lack of chinook, let’s put chinook enhancement on the front
burner so that by 2019 there will be new chinook in the water, not four-year-old
fish, but a growing number that will be four-year-old fish sooner than if no enhancement
is undertaken.
2. Clip
as many hatchery chinook as possible, so that a directed fishery can be
afforded for an affected stock, taking pressure off other stocks, and non-clipped
stocks, too.
3. Figure
out why the Cowichan recovery has resulted in unprecedented numbers of chinook –
the current number for 2017, is still 26,500 – and quickly do the same for
other stocks in the SRKW area.
4. Twelve
new net pen operations with 2 million sterilized, clipped chinook fry each,
every year for the next 10 years, collect the data and reassess at that point.
5. Find
a way of stimulating the planktonic base of the food chain, to ensure enough
prey species for the increased numbers of released chinook.
6. Enhance
the Fraser chinook stocks in peril. There are many now, including the Harrisons
that comprise our late summer chinook.
7. Freshwater
habitat restoration in SRKW region rivers. That includes south coast Van Isle,
along with those of the Fraser.
8. Add
spawning channels to SRKW rivers for chinook. Good examples that work include
the Big Qualicum chum channel, and the Taylor River coho channels. Find that
flat land, in the woods where it is cooler, that there is adequate water to
flood, and introduce channels. For example, the San Juan River, which has easy
access in the lower reaches. Merritt area rivers also have land that can be
used. In those areas, plant trees beside the new channels. Add pumps to bubble air,
and thus oxygen through the channels. In deep water and in sun add solar
powered cooling. Budget enough to include removing equipment before winter
floods.
9. Hatchery
enhancement in SRKW areas, maintaining genetic qualities by emphasizing epigenetic
considerations.
10. Hatchery
enhancement with new, more successful techniques, the several approaches by the
Nitinat hatchery, for example.
11. Cull
Salish Sea seals and sea lions. The PSF study shows, as I recall, 40% of coho
smolts being eaten, along with 47% of chinook. Find a way of selling this to
ENGOs and the public, presumably, to help the SRKW which everyone prefers.
12. Eliminate
the herring roe fishery for a decade.
13. Maximize
funding by recognizing the financial return from sport/commercial/processing/North
East BC sport is $2.52 Billion, and that no one will keep a boat in saltwater
if they can’t fish. A ‘jobs and revenue’ strategy – and one of far higher jobs
and revenue than fish farms.
14. Take
fish farms out of the water and set them up on land.
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