Plight of Fraser sockeye a ‘science issue,’ salmon

[Sushihunter]

http://www.vancouversun.com/technol...ssue+salmon+authority+says/3036099/story.html


Plight of Fraser sockeye a ‘science issue,’ salmon authority says
By LARRY PYNN, Vancouver Sun


A member of the scientific advisory panel for the Cohen commission of inquiry into the decline of Fraser River sockeye salmon questions whether the exercise is necessary to resolve what is a science issue.

“I don’t believe you needed to go to a judicial inquiry,” said Brian Riddell, a 30-year scientist with the federal fisheries department who is now chief executive officer of the Pacific Salmon Foundation. “I’m sure there are strong political reasons on why it was done.”

Riddell said salmon decline is a “science issue” and that if the inquiry highlights the need for more research to be done into the marine system “then it could be worthwhile.”

However, he said it’s a “sad comment on resource management” that Canada had to go as far as ordering a judicial inquiry and that separating the politics from the science is going to be a challenge.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper last November appointed B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen to conduct the commission of inquiry into continuing low sockeye returns on the Fraser.

Cohen is not to find fault for the decline, but is to make recommendations for “improving the future sustainability of the sockeye salmon fishery in the Fraser River including, as required, any changes to the policies, practices and procedures of the [fisheries] department ….”

The commission is expected to release its terms of reference in early June.

“I’ve only met Justice Cohen once and he seemed like a very honest, upright sort of guy,” Riddell said. “But he’s going to have a real challenge in keeping it focused because I think people will have lots and lots of old baggage to present.”

The commission announced last month it had appointed six “eminent fisheries experts” to its scientific advisory panel. The others are: Carl Walters, a professor in the University of B.C. Fisheries Centre; Paul LeBlond, emeritus oceanography professor at UBC; John Reynolds, a salmon and ecosystems expert at Simon Fraser University; Patricia Gallaugher, director of SFU’s Centre for Coastal Studies; and Thomas Quinn, professor at the University of Washington in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.

Sea lice and salmon farms are a topic certain to surface at the inquiry, an issue that has become too polarized and pervasive, Riddell continued.

“B.C. does not need to continue this debate. This is not positive for us and it’s not helping the communities that want to have salmon farming. And it’s not helping us talk about conservation of wild salmon.

“Maybe it’s best for media.”

He said the future of salmon farming may come down to a social choice for British Columbians, despite the economics of the industry or the desire of some coastal communities to have farms.

“You could very well be at a point of saying, ‘Is B.C. the place for salmon farming?’ Is it really consistent with Beautiful B.C. … and all these slogans we throw out? Maybe salmon farming is at odds with those.”

With the federal government set to take over management of salmon farming from the province, there may be an opportunity for improving the situation, including perhaps a closer look at closed-containment farms rather than open-net farms where farmed and wild stocks can intermix.

“They understand the sensitivities,” he said of the federal government. “I hope they have good people thinking seriously about the new regulations.”

Before joining the foundation in February 2009, Riddell served as science head of salmon and freshwater ecosystems at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo.

He played an instrumental role in producing the federal government’s 2005 wild salmon policy, which, in part, emphasizes the importance of maintaining the genetic diversity of wild salmon and their habitats and ecosystems, and recognizes the cultural importance of the salmon harvest.

The foundation has an annual budget of almost $10 million to support a wide range of groups working on the conservation and recovery of Pacific salmon.

lpynn@vancouversun.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/technol...thority+says/3036099/story.html#ixzz0oA1L9dEV


Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250

 

[chris73]

Very disappointing to see him requesting more money for more science. It should be clear to anybody, especially to senior fishery biologists that it is high time to do some ground work based on the science we already have. If they want to study salmon for another 10 years without any action then it might be too late by the time they figure out something. Tells you which way the Pacific Salmon Foundation is heading with a CEO of that kind. Also note this statement about him: "...emphasizes the importance of maintaining the genetic diversity of wild salmon...". In political jargon that stands pretty clear for: NO HATCHERIES ON BC RIVERS. Sorry, but I am losing faith in the PSF and I will cut off my support to them and redirect this to more promising charities.

 

[Last Chance]

There is currently no mechanism that would work to bring back wild salmon without massive enhancement programs. Period. The resource will be exploited on the high sea no matter how bad we shut them down here.

Massive hatchery programs will take advantage of excess capacity the ocean has had in the past, and would take pressure off of the wild stocks. Apparantly hatchery raised fish are less likeley to reproduce anyway, and there is no way in hell we could, with any amount of money install a signifigant enough number of hatcheries on our rivers to out-compete wild salmon.

Get some of the damn things in the water first.


Last Chance Fishing Adventures

www.lastchancefishingadventures.com
www.swiftsurebank.com

 

[Governor]

Chris,

I have heard there is a faction in the science community (some in DFO and some not) that want to try an experiment of stopping hatchery production in an area altogether for a ten year trial period to see if the wild salmon bounce back. I for one wouldn't want to be in the experiment area for that pilot project as I don't like golf that much!

Gov

God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling - Izaak Walton

 

[Last Chance]

I have a great idea.

See what the heck they are doing in the Columbia River, and do it on the Fraser! Voila! Salmon for everyone.



Last Chance Fishing Adventures

www.lastchancefishingadventures.com
www.swiftsurebank.com

 

[Gunsmith]

They are not likely to do anything like that. The direction they usually take is reach into the poor pockets and re-direct that money to some rich Norwegian corporation!

 

[chris73]

Governor, I have heard similar rumours and I am very concerned about this. I agree that hatcheries cannot be the only tool for a long term solution for healthy salmon stocks but they are certainly one of the major tools - at least to start with. And I think there is enough proof out there for this without anymore desktop science.

But let's be clear: our governments don't believe in salmon enhancement and their actions towards it make this very obvious.

 

[Governor]

Public sentiment leads to political direction which miraculously finds spare tax payer money. In the '70s the public went ballistic about the precipitous drop in wild salmon stocks and then voila the government spent tens of millions on a hatchery sytstem back then. If we don't REMIND government, at all levels, again and again just how important our SEP program and hatchery salmon are to us all today and how much more important they will be in the future with climate uncertainty, any potential funding will simply go to other programs.

One thing that still bugs me is the feds in Ottawa announced a 250 million dollar infrastructure grant for science labs and BC hatcheries. They specified BC hatcheries in the press release. With a possible even split between the 5 grant candidates of 50 million each, there seemed to be positive news. Just think what 50 million could have done to our aging hatchery system. Then at last spring's SFAB meeting I heard from one of the DFO SEP honchos "we only applied for 10 mill and that's ALL we got" - "Why" I asked? "Because we couldn't spend any more in time?" Huh, repeat HUH? (imagine visual of Governor banging head on desk) Muse to self - did I just hear that guy right? DFO turned down 40 million 'cause they couldn't spend it in two years??? Wow!

Yes, I am still




God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling - Izaak Walton

 

[Charlie]

[:0]

 

[Governor]

Oh, yeah forgot to mention in my last post ... at a recent SFAB SEP meeting DFO dude indicates the building of a supply pipeline for Cowichan River river water to direct supply the hatchery instead of well water was not an option as it was too expensive. As the hatchery uses well water which sucks and has to be treated for chemical/mineral spikes the river water was a viable alterative. Hmmm more than 40 million, I wonder?

God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling - Izaak Walton

 

[agentaqua]

quote:Originally posted by LastChance

There is currently no mechanism that would work to bring back wild salmon without massive enhancement programs. Period. The resource will be exploited on the high sea no matter how bad we shut them down here.

Massive hatchery programs will take advantage of excess capacity the ocean has had in the past, and would take pressure off of the wild stocks. Apparantly hatchery raised fish are less likeley to reproduce anyway, and there is no way in hell we could, with any amount of money install a signifigant enough number of hatcheries on our rivers to out-compete wild salmon.

Get some of the damn things in the water first.


Last Chance Fishing Adventures

www.lastchancefishingadventures.com
www.swiftsurebank.com

Good post, LC. Hatcheries are but 1 of a number of tools in the enhancement/restoration toolbox, and actually can do more harm than good if misused or overused. Over time (i.e. 20+ years of continuous outplanting in the same creek), hatchery fish become less fit wrt instream residence and spawning timing and other life history traits (as you mentioned).

Hatcheries are best utilized in conjunction with habitat restoration in order to jump-start depressed populations - NOT as a sole answer to artificially keep population levels high in denuded creeks that would drop again once the hatchery shut-down (which they do) - in my humble opinion.

Other tools in the toolbox include habitat restoration (as mentioned), enforcement of water quality standards and fishing regulations, elimination of open net-cage technology, etc. Unfortunately we cannot do much at this time wrt global warming and other large-scale ocean-based processes (e.g. el nino, la nina, 10 year PDO, etc.).

At one time, not so long ago (~ 10 years ago), the feds and the province also saw the need for this multi-pronged approach, and funded this work through the HRSEP (Habitat Renewal Salmonid Enhancement Program) federally, and FRBC (Fisheries Renewal BC).

Since that time, Stephen Harper and his conservatives came into power federally, and Gordo Campbell and his conservatives in liberal clothing also got elected provincially. Both slimeballs gutted their respective salmon restoration programs in favour of giving our resources away to their corporate friends and campaign contributions.

You also speak of the "excess capacity" of the ocean being unused. In the past (i.e. 40+ years ago) - this was true. Today, because of a combination of global warming pushing the 7C barrier (surface ocean temp thermocline) North against Alaska and the Aleutians, and the vast number of salmon hatcheries lining the Pacific (esp. Japan, Russia and Alaska) that pump out BILLIONS of salmon fry that all need to eat in addition to wild stocks - there is excess capacity only some years.

Also due to water quality issues (as Governor mentioned), and placement issues (i.e. wrt where juvies get outplanted in relation to the location of hatcheries, etc.) - certain hatcheries are much more effective at growing/outplanting a particular species and/or watershed than others.

Hatcheries are not the sole answer, and should be used only very strategically.

We need to take back the ownership and control of salmon from Harper and Campbell.

 

[agentaqua]

JOHN CUMMINS, M.P.
Delta - Richmond East

News Release
May 17, 2010

Cohen Inquiry - Too Many DFO Connections

"The staff being assembled by Justice Cohen suggests an Inquiry without
credibility that has lost its way," said John Cummins, M.P. (Delta
Richmond-East). "It is certainly not the Inquiry that fishermen sought."

Comments made by Brian Riddell, a member of the Cohen Inquiry's
Scientific Advisory Panel, to the effect that he did not believe an
inquiry was needed and the collapse of Fraser River stocks was merely a
"science issue," indicate that Justice Cohen has yet to put together a
credible Inquiry.

Riddell is retired from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).

The scientific advisory panel also includes Paul LeBlond, who Brian
Tobin had appointed to chair an inquiry into missing Fraser sockeye in
1994. Under severe public criticism for the appointment, Tobin replaced
LeBlond with the Hon. John Fraser.

The Inquiry's head of research is David Levy, the author of a 2006
report for the Sierra Club that is supportive of DFO policies developed
to address the series of disastrous returns which have plagued the
fishery since DFO assumed management responsibilities: policies which
rightfully should be the focus of the Inquiry. The Levy report supports
DFO's "development of commercial inland fisheries" or terminal fisheries
which will harvest poor quality Fraser sockeye only fit for canning.

Commissioner Cohen seems intent on replicating DFO science. If he wanted
to seriously challenge DFO's management practices, it would not be by
staffing his Inquiry with former DFO staff and their advisors. A more
prudent Commissioner would avoid engaging:
" Current or previous employees or contractors of the Department;
" Persons who depend or whose organizations depend on the
Department for research funding or who are likely to in the future;
" Persons who staffed previous inquiries or advised the Department
on their implementation.

Cohen has made lawyers his first priority. He has chosen to assist
interveners only with their legal costs. That is convenient for lawyers
and for the ease of operation of the Inquiry but it does nothing to
assist interveners in engaging expert witnesses and preparing documents
that might actually challenge the Department and its experts.

If Cohen wanted an effective inquiry he would have established a truly
independent staff of experts in fisheries science, management and
enforcement. He would have provided funds for interveners to engage
experts and to prepare evidence. Instead he has created a lawyers
picnic with a large staff of in-house lawyers and a corresponding cadre
of government-funded lawyers acting on behalf of interveners.

What all these lawyers know about Fraser River sockeye and their
management has yet to be explained. We know what former DFO staff and
their hangers-on know about fisheries management: very little. That is
why we are having an inquiry.

"Now more than six months into the inquiry, all we have is an Inquiry
staffed by lawyers and DFO friendly advisors. The Cohen Inquiry has
become more like a chorus preparing to sing DFO's praises than a serious
inquiry to establish what went wrong with DFO's management of the
fishery and to make credible recommendations to put DFO fisheries
management back on track," stated Cummins.

Contact: John Cummins, M.P.
(613) 992-2957, (cell) (604) 970-0937, (604) 940-8040 or
www.johncummins.ca

 

[sockeyefry]

Hey Agent, Guess what? I agree with you hatchery post. Hatcheries are valuable tools in the enhancement box, but should never be considered a silver bullet. They must be used carefullly so as to not upset the natural genetic balance. However, way back when we did experimenst with a new technology called DNA fingerprinting. We too some trout from a few streamns, small lakes and the hatchery broodstock, and found that the wild fish had less variability in their genetic make up, which indicated a higher degree of inbreeding. However it was also argued at the time that the low level of genetic variability was an indication of how they were adapted as a population to their particular stream.

The old hatchery programs were kind of a scatter gun approach, put a whole bunch of fish in the water and see what lives. Now with enhancved techniques to determine genetic suitablilty, this approach can be refined.

In addition, as you state Agent, all those "emhancement" smolt from Alaska, Russia and Japan hitting the North Pacific common salmon pasture cannot be having a beneficial affect on the wild salmon's search for adequate food supplies.

Oh Yeah, Governor, I can't resist this little quote of yours:

"...In the '70s the public went ballistic about the precipitous drop in wild salmon stocks and then voila the government spent tens of millions on a hatchery sytstem back then...."

So what was the cause back then? Couldn't have been salmon farms in the Broughton, cause there weren't any? Wonder what ole Morton would have hitched her financial star to back then?

 

[agentaqua]

quote:Originally posted by sockeyefry

So what was the cause back then? Couldn't have been salmon farms in the Broughton, cause there weren't any? Wonder what ole Morton would have hitched her financial star to back then?

It was the so-called "coho crisis" in 1998, as far as I remember.

The Alaskans thought that DFO was daft (and prob still do) for suggesting that it was a crisis (see: "While Alaska intends to take responsible steps to protect weak Skeena River stocks, an ADF&G analysis identified no general coho crisis in the Northern Boundary area." at http://www.kphtv.com/17983-alaska-fishing.html ), and the politicians rode in on a wave of "we'll help you save the salmon".

I believe it was really at least in part - a way to reduce the trolling fleet so that many politically-connected lodges could have no competition from trollers on many well-known points that are now closed to trollers (but weren't before the "crisis") - but not sports-fishers.

Supposedly, those areas were closed to the commercial troll fishery to protect coho populations returning to southern parts, but they still allowed large commercial sports-fleets to harvest these fish. Even today, there is a "Ribbon Boundary in effect", but only for commercial trollers. I like sports-fishing, too - but want to explain this one to me?

They pulled a similar stunt with the implementation of the Rockfish Conservation Areas, where they closed areas that were easy (and NOT due to any science), to a magic 20.0% of habitat. Called it a crises, too.

Basically the fisheries minister wanted a photo-op.

 

[profisher]

Ah, go take a look in the DFO archives at the tonnage of Chinook and especially Coho and Steelhead taken in the 60's by the seiners and the gill nets. You will see who Morten would have been after in the 70's. When you see those numbers you will shake your head.

 

[chris73]

Agree profisher. I have seen and read old reports too and the carnage done back then on salmon/steelhead is beyond belief. But it was not only in the 60's. Go even further back - to the early 1900's and you will see this industrial style massacre went on for many decades. When the Victoria Inner Harbour had a fish processing plant in the early 1900's the commercials would bring in barges piled full of salmon and sometimes by far exceed the plant's capacity leaving the dead salmon rotting on the barges. There are reports that sometimes several barges full of rotten salmon were dumped in the harbour and turned the entire harbour waters septic for many weeks and people complained about the aweful smell. When I think of those reports I find it a miracle that there are any fish left at all today. And no wonder that the few left over pouplations today are so vulnerable to today's abuses since there is literally no reserve - no extra fat left.