Alberni Springs - Bring On The Nets

[IronNoggin]

aYup. With a staggering 243 springs through the counters, water extremely low and warm, management has decided to upgrade the run just enough to allow FN "Economic Activity" Gillnets and Area D Commercial Gillnets into the water...

SOMASS CHINOOK BULLETIN # 3 – 2014 Date: September 5, 2014
Somass Chinook Stock Assessment Update

Pre-season forecast:

30,000 Chinook

Re-forecast Sept 4: runsize upgraded to 40,000, with this forecast there will be limited TAC for commercial fisheries.
The forecast terminal return of adult Somass chinook to Barkley Sound and Alberni Inlet for 2014 was approximately 30,000, similar to the level observed in 2013. This forecast is a low return of Somass chinook given the 25 year average of approximately 100,000 (90,000 adults) fish returning to the terminal area.

Escapement – to August 31

Stamp Falls - 241 Chinook and 625 coho
Sproat - 2 Chinook and 1035 Coho

Biological information:

Biological samples will be collected from the fish ladders and hatchery racks. The predicted adult age composition is 8%, 85% and 7% of 3, 4 and 5-year old fish, respectively.

NEXT WEEK'S FISHING PLANS:

First Nations

Tsu-ma-uss (Hupacasath, Tseshaht) - Food social and ceremonial fishing and economic opportunity.
• Hook and Line open 7 days a week from the green flashing light at the mouth of the Somass River to Hocking Point. (FSC)
• Gillnets open Tuesday Sept 9th from 4 pm to 6pm in the following area from Hohm Island to Polly’s Point. Target Catch 1900 pcs of chinook (Economic Opportunity)

Commercial

Area D gillnets open Monday September 8th from 9 pm to 10 pm in the following area from Polly Point to Stamp Narrows (possible boundary and timing changes depending on fleet size and catch). Target catch - 1900 pcs of chinook.

Recreational

No changes to recreational fishery

For more information please contact the DFO office in Port Alberni at 250 720-4440

 

[SpringVelocity]

ouch that's not good.

 

[Rum Buddies]

that's insane, how is the town of port alberni not kicking down the door at DFO about that? Seriously 240 springs through the counter, they don't stand a chance.

 

[Aces]

Predictable, why change policy when it has worked so well in the past

 

[the fog ducker]

Rage....................

 

[Birdman]

what an absolute and utter joke. anyone who tries to tell me that DFO is not in bed with the commercial sector and is willing to "adjust" the numbers to suit their ends is putting their heads in the sand.

congratulations to whatever lobbyist pulled off this outrageous and flagrant act. I hope you're proud.

 

[albernifisher]

What a freakin joke, 1900 pieces my butt. Wasn't it just last year they had a small quota and they went over it by thousands??? Get ready cause its about to happen again!!!

 

[jeffywestcoast]

Maybe mr DFO himself can explain to the people of Vancouver island why this is acceptable with such a limited escapement so far .. Im with Garry on this one friggen JOKE! What ever happen to the word sustainable...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[agentaqua]

Maybe mr DFO himself can explain to the people of Vancouver island why this is acceptable with such a limited escapement so far .. Im with Garry on this one friggen JOKE! What ever happen to the word sustainable...

They use that in reference to open net-cages now: "sustainable" development of aquaculture. http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/programs-programmes/sustainable-durable/index-eng.htm George Orwell would not be surprised.

 

[agentaqua]

This is correct!. In rough numbers, as I do not have the stats in front of me It was a Similar TAC for FN opening last year as this. Final number at end of the night last year was about 11K.( depending on who you talk to this number fluctuates to as low as 9.something K) Nothing was done about it at all.

I do NOT support this opening and I wonder why area 23 reps keep allowing this BS to happen????? And no my opinion dose not change if final numbers show that robertson creek gets the fish they are told they need.

Does anyone know how they arrived at the 1900 piece TAC?

 

[Derby]

This is correct!. In rough numbers, as I do not have the stats in front of me It was a Similar TAC for FN opening last year as this. Final number at end of the night last year was about 11K.( depending on who you talk to this number fluctuates to as low as 9.something K) Nothing was done about it at all.

I do NOT support this opening and I wonder why area 23 reps keep allowing this BS to happen????? And no my opinion dose not change if final numbers show that robertson creek gets the fish they are told they need.

Area Reps?

 

[searun]

I wasn't able to attend the meetings. Hopefully I can provide some background to help folks understand what took place as best I can in this imperfect medium.

This will be highly over-simplified but here we go. The fishing plans are set out in pre-set harvest tables contained in the IFMP. The IFMP details how all the fisheries will be managed over the course of the fishing season. The initial run forecast called for a terminal run below the commercial harvest threshold, therefore no commercial fishery was planned.

As far as I know the run forecast was upgraded to a point where the harvest table allowed a modest harvest. I was not in town for the meetings (busy with charters). I was called on my cell by one of the Harvest Round Table reps looking for feedback regarding our potential options in face of the upgraded run size. The situation laid out was our reps to the Harvest Round Table do not have much choice (no choice really) when it comes to challenging decisions to open commercial or FN fisheries where the harvest tables contained in the IFMP allow a fishery.

Its very hard to challenge the science behind the forecast when you are not able to carefully study the data and assumptions when provided such short notice (1 week). So the bottom line is there was going to be a commercial fishery because the harvest tables allowed for it. The commercial target of available fish was split between the FN and Commercial sectors.

There are 6 gill netters fishing tonight in the fishery for 1 hour. Time will tell if this addresses the effort to curtail catch success/harvest and keep them within their allowable catch. We will soon see.

As for the Rec fishery....About the only point of negotiation was to argue to lift the slot limit inside Areas 23-1 and 23-2. Was advised following the meeting that this was done, and the slot limit for recreational fishery removed. A very small victory.

Secondarily, we did place restrictions on the FN commercial fishery to help (hopefully) avoid the problems encountered in prior years. So, the FN fishery was only allowed to take place during DAY LIGHT hours to ensure their fishery could be carefully monitored. The FN fishery was also moved out of the river and into deeper water from Holm Island outward to Polly Point - reducing effectiveness of this fishery.

Similarly, the Commercial fishery was only allowed to run for ONE hour - this to severely restrict their catch.

Lastly, both fisheries were timed to take place BEFORE BC Hydro releases any water (scheduled for Wednesday this week to get fish into the river). Again, to avoid problems encountered when FN caught 11,000 fish in one night of fishing that could not be effectively monitored due to night fishing - some may recall that the day of the scheduled FN fishery unknown to DFO was BC Hydro had scheduled a water release per agreements to ensure safe passage of salmon.

So that's what I know. If anyone wants to get involved in the Harvest Round Table, you are welcome to attend the meetings (every Thursday afternoon at the Fisheries Office in Port Alberni during the fishing season). I have had a few people contact me to complain about the process and decisions reached. So far when invited to attend the meetings they never show up. I totally understand why....who has the time to attend meetings. We are all very busy, I have the same challenges too.

My wish is people would seek to understand why decisions are reached first, and then if you have issue with that, get involved to change the outcomes when and where you are able.

 

[Derby]

well said... pretty well nailed it ..

 

[Rum Buddies]

Again, to avoid problems encountered when FN caught 11,000 fish in one night of fishing that could not be effectively monitored due to night fishing

What a joke, so basically the FN can't be trusted to not take as many f*ckin salmon as they get into their greedy hands.

 

[Discus]

That is very sad news! low, lower lowest rate numbers for chinooks and cohoes return to Robertson Creek Hatchery.
They will become extinct = hurtful for Port Alberni community.

DFO need to be smart up!!

 

[searun]

What a joke, so basically the FN can't be trusted to not take as many f*ckin salmon as they get into their greedy hands.

Yup, past performance didn't pass any test by any standard...thus the severe restrictions this season. That is accountability, and also demonstrates the process does work to help bring about improved performance in the fishery. Also, I think a lot of us easily forget that there are other legitimate users of the resource who have equal or more access to these fish than the rec fleet. BTW, the coho return does look to be better than prior year based on early indications to the river. Lots more jack chinook as well. Time will tell the full story.

For those who don't recall the history - when the FN commercial fishery caught 11,000 in one night that coincided with a water release earlier that day by BC Hydro. DFO was not advised of this when the fishery was approved. The consequences of which were the run was drawn into the river on the evening flood tide and high water. So this season when planning the fishery, DFO and members of the Harvest Round Table adjusted the fishing plans to take this into full account. Learn and adapt.

So when folks express concerns about the process not working, and SFAC members not doing their due diligence etc I only hope they gather up the actual facts to consider that managing these fisheries are highly complex with many changing variables. Let's give the guys a little more credit - after all they are unpaid volunteers.

 

[searun]

Lets try this.
Is 30 - 40 K all this fishery gets support for?? If so then
I guess my expectations are unrealistic.

That's a whole other topic. The poor returns have a lot to do with the current practices at the hatchery and how the program is managed. Current practices are out of sync with changes to the ocean environment. The whole program needs to be re-visited and revamped. A simple comparison of nearby programs at Conuma and Nitnat clearly demonstrates those programs are achieving much higher returns. Conuma was 90,000 adults for 2.6 million released, as compared to Robertson with 40,000 adults for 6.5 million released. Not a good outcome.

Significant change is needed at Robertson to achieve the historic return averaging 100,000 adults. We are trying to bring about that change - the net pen project is one small example. But a few net pens are not going to bring about the kind of results you are hoping - that would likely only come from wholesale changes to the program.

The rationale for harvest if we have more than 30,000 to the terminal area is the hatchery only needs 20,000 adults (with correct proportion of females). There is very low actual natural spawning production (success), so this is really a hatchery river - thus any in excess of the hatchery requirements are now considered to be harvestable surplus. Like or not, that's the highly over-simplified rationale for the harvest tables. Hope that helps explain things.

 

[albernifisher]

Any numbers from the openings???

 

[searun]

I don't have the exact numbers, but basically the entire fishery was a bust. They got less than 50 combined between FN and Commercial was what it sounded like when I called. That is a problem, because the pressure is on for another opportunity. The FN only will get this Sunday for coho only using small mesh from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. from the river mouth out to Polly's. Commercial guys are not fishing.

 

[GLG]

A simple comparison of nearby programs at Conuma and Nitnat clearly demonstrates those programs are achieving much higher returns. Conuma was 90,000 adults for 2.6 million released, as compared to Robertson with 40,000 adults for 6.5 million released. Not a good outcome.

2,600,000 - 90,000 = 2,510,000
90,000 / 2,510,000 = 0.0358
0.0358 X 100 = 3.58 %
Survival rate is 3.58%
This is poor but still welcome news

6,500,000 - 40,000 = 6,460,000
40,000 / 6,460,000 = 0.0062
0.0062 X 100 = 0.62
Survival rate is 0.62%
This is a disaster but welcome to the new normal....

I rounder up the numbers