Cowichan River loosing Steelhead hatchery

OldBlackDog

Well-Known Member
The Provincial Government has decided it is too costly and not required.

Down to one hatchery river now below Hardy.
 
What about all the dough the anglers put out for steelhead tags???Guess we wont need one anymore???I wont be buying one when the hatcheries run out in a few years thats for sure!!I'll fish for the elusive cowie resident bow(if i fish there at all)!This is a joke lets do something here guys!!Its not about the meat its about more fish too catch!!

Does anyone know if the fly zone is being extended come april.1st???
 
Fine ill keep my 25 bucks then next year as well.....Horny can have fun trying too fine me on that one!!Guess i'll just be fishing for trout!!
 
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT

INFORMATION NOTE

Date: December 6, 2007
File:
CLIFF/tracking #: 96120

I. PREPARED FOR: Joan Hesketh, Deputy Minister of Environment

II. ISSUE: Cowichan River hatchery steelhead program

III. BACKGROUND:
* In co-operation with the Freshwater Fisheries Society and its
predecessor the Fish Culture Section of Ministry of Environment (MoE),
regional staff of MoE have been managing a steelhead smolt production
program for the Cowichan River since the early 1980s. The objective of
the program has always been to produce a supply of harvestable steelhead
on one of the region's most popular rivers. Approximately 50,000
steelhead smolts have been released annually. Survival to adult and
return to the Cowichan River has been consistently far below
expectation. This is thought to be related to impairment of the
auto-immune system of smolts reared on the constant water temperature
regime of the groundwater supplied hatchery. In theory the supply of
returning hatchery origin adults resulting from smolt releases of the
magnitude involved should have been sufficient to equal the supply of
wild fish. In practice, wild fish have consistently dominated the
catch. Many veteran Cowichan River anglers fish for an entire season
without encountering a hatchery steelhead. Creel survey data from the
2006/07 season revealed 107 hatchery steelhead caught (10% of total
steelhead catch) of which only about 20 were harvested. The return on
the investment in the hatchery steelhead program is exceedingly low thus
emphasizing the need to address alternative uses of limited hatchery
capacity.

1 Two other issues are central to optimal use of hatchery
capacity:
* One is the MoE mandate to increase angling license sales by 30%
in ten years.
1 The other is recent private land forest company policy to
restrict public access to lands containing numerous stocked and
unstocked lakes.

* Access restrictions have been addressed by re-directing stocking
to lakes closer to urban centers. However, sustaining angling
opportunity in those lakes and augmenting license sales depends heavily
on the supply of catchable size fish available for stocking.

IV. DISCUSSION:
The hatchery space and resources presently allocated to Cowichan
steelhead smolt production results in a catch of about 100 adult
steelhead or about 10% of the total steelhead catch in that river. The
same space and resources, if dedicated to a catchable trout program,
would result in 20,000 fish available for anglers. These fish would be
released in ten or more lakes and 80% or more of them would be caught
and harvested. The supply of hatchery steelhead adults in the Cowichan
River does little, if anything, to contribute to angling license sales
or the number of anglers or angler days sustained. In contrast
catchable trout programs have a proven track record of inviting
significant increases in angler participation.

V. MINISTRY POSITION:
Reallocate space presently dedicated to Cowichan steelhead smolt
production to augmenting the supply of catchable size trout available
for distribution to select readily accessible lakes close to major urban
centers on southern Vancouver Island. The influence of this decision on
the level of angling activity and catch success on the Cowichan River is
likely to be minor, if even detectable. Hatchery steelhead will
continue to be present until 2011. The increment to the regional lake
stocking program will be available by 2009 and is certain to be
significant.
 
great news, I much prefer fishing for 10" trout in urban lakes then steelhead [B)]

quote:Creel survey data

what a joke creel surveys are, they pole far too few people to make any of the data statistically significant.
 
People, where is the consultation?
Phone your MLA's office or the Minister and demand consultation as the is YOUR MONEY.

env.minister@gov.bc.ca
 
So it comes down to license sales.

What a joke.[B)]
 
@!#$%^&*(

.....and destroy the fishing in all of Southern Vancouver island lakes to boot.
All we have done is provide easy pik'ns for the weekend warrior at the cost of large resident trout in these formerly great lakes. Instead they are overwhemlming a lake with massive amounts of competition between species. Most fish encountered are those 12"ers we have all been seeing.

Wooohooo, yeah but we can catch a 100.

IDIOTS. @#$%^&*
 
...all that I get out of this backgrounder is that I, and every other angler in BC should be bonkin' limits until our licence is full so that we may satisfy funds into good use...rather than protect and grow concerned species, as in conserve and protect.

Bonk, bonk , bonk!! That's what I'll do if it means the continuation of hatchery ogmented process where by steel is concerened - LOOK OUT "T"...or is there even a program for hatch[I ahve no clue as it is not a river of my imediate concern or should it be??] ??? What about other hatchery flows through out BC??? What of them now - what about consoltation with the public - perhaps we no longer matter! Like I said before...**** on my Prov. lic., I will now only support the Fed. Tidal zone here I come.

Cheers,
RVP. ;)

RVP - knowing nothing suites my purpose...does it yours??
 
There's more behind this one. I smell a rat !! Like FR said you watch the fly zone will get bigger and the push is on to return the Cowie back to a wild river. Somebody has an agenda here.
 
...the nice thing is - as much as Mr. B.H. did for steel, he also took from the average joe his opportunity to angle in many respects...he will now be replaced by new blood, as this year he heads for retirement...but will that of whom succeeds him be better or worst for seeing the full view and being well rounded enough to help develop informed decissions with regard to Sportfishing related concerns.

Consoltaion with the angling public, will be MELP and DFO's only success formula in the future...as the angling public, we will not be walked upon and stammered upon anymore - where ardent decission making and due process is of major concern with regard to fish!

We are part and parcel to the rescources of Canada and we all are concerned members of the angling public with regards to equal opportunity where angling is known to be that of public concern and whereby decissions need to be made in relation to our standing and with regard to the fish.

Consoltation needs to happen before direct impact decissions are made by any Gov. facalty - we as the angling public need to be involved in this process...if we are not invited to participate, then we need to force issue...SIMPLE!

Cheers,
RVP. ;)
 
Bunch of BS :(:([V][V]It's just not a very good justification to stock more lakes vs stocking the Cowichan river. It's almost like comparing apple to orange, in this case, River fishing vs lake fishing!! I just don't see it how MOE can justified this case. There are only 2 hatchery rivers in Vancouver Island but hundreds of stock lakes, but now there is only 1 hatchery river left. How fair is that to river fisherman? Maybe I will be fishing for salmon and trout during the steelhead season and not buying any more steelhead stamps. Not good! I hope you are not right there Fins. You and FR might be onto something here!

HS.
 
even a total newb gets bored of catching 10" trout and when they decide to go looking for more challenging fishing(like steelheading) where will they go?
 
- an interesting overview from Mr. BH in 2006 -
I still don't get why the immediate need to close this progam and without consoltation...if for instance we are within a crisis, then why?? I guess for my lack of understanding, be it is due to the fact that I am not a scientist, but that of a proficient angler. I guess...

Cheers,
RVP. ;)

--------------------

source = http://www.psmfc.org/2006-documents-from-workshops-conferences.html

Wild Steelhead Stock Status in British Columbia – A 2006 Snapshot


Abstract

Steelhead are distributed along the entire 1200 km coast of British Columbia, the coastal islands and all the major Pacific drainages arising in the interior of the province. Depending on the definition of a stock there are between 400 and 630 that fall into one of three categories – winter steelhead, coastal summer steelhead and interior summer steelhead. Winter steelhead dominate at approximately 85% of all stocks while interior summer steelhead and coastal summer steelhead comprise 12% and 3% respectively of the aggregate stock picture. The estimated abundance of the province’s wild steelhead resource is also dominated by winter steelhead at 66% with interior summer fish at about 26% and coastal summers at 8%. A review in 2002 indicated that among all stocks in the province only 33 were estimated to exceed 500 fish and only 18 more than 1000. Hatchery steelhead production is confined to the southwest corner of the province with one exception. The contribution of hatchery steelhead is significant in terms of total provincial angling effort and catch but not in terms of the number and location of streams stocked. Stock status is monitored through a variety of methods ranging from gillnet test fisheries and fishwheel operations in the lower reaches of three major Pacific drainages, resistivity counters in five significant index streams, snorkel counts in more than two dozen smaller south coast streams and annual fry abundance monitoring in another 5-10 streams. A 30 year program on the Keogh River on northern Vancouver Island provides the province’s only complete data set on smolts out and adults back. The generalized picture for British Columbia indicates a south north gradient in abundance and stock health. Southern stocks continue to be depressed with some on the brink of extirpation. The central coast of the province remains as a transition zone between the extreme conservation concern zone (<10% of carrying capacity) to the south and the routine management zone (>33% of carrying capacity) to the north. A northward creep of depressed abundance is evident. Reduced freshwater capacity linked directly to ongoing “development” pressures combined with a depressed ocean productivity regime continues to limit steelhead abundance, with or without angling. Despite the bleak pattern evident over most of the past decade, in-season observations for the current winter steelhead season may herald a mild reversal of the trend in southern BC. Managers of the day are increasingly challenged by competing uses of habitat, by steadily increasing angler efficiency that creates an illusion of abundance, by the inescapable fact steelhead are low on the political priority list, and by the mythology surrounding the capacity of fish culture to replace nature. It is suggested the future of angling rests with quality, not quantity.
 
Its obvious where this is going....fly-fishing only in a river with no fish!!20 hatch's bonked last year is completly ludicrous!!Those numbers are b.s. for sure!!Oh and for the record Horny does a great job!!
 
Hey Fish-Rite, of all the members you seem the most upset about this - how many hatchery fish did you keep last year? What's the most you've kept in one season? Judging from Duane's creel information, anglers were only keeping a few hatchery fish, or is it that only a few anglers were keeping all the hatchery fish? Why do we want a river with inferior steelhead so that a couple guys like you can have yellow fillets in your freezer?
For the record I usually keep 2 hatchery steelhead every winter for the BBQ from the Stamp.
 
I'll reiterate...

- blackleech -

...so, then it really should be ok with a majority of the angling public to then bonk and take a fish home if an angler so chooses to do so - which is then contrary to what you have writen in the past as your beliefs and ethics to be.

Just my observation and not meant to be determined as a hack or flame towards anyone.

Cheers,
RVP.


quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Blackleech

While it is legal to keep 2 hatchery steelhead on V.I., anybody who keeps a steely from the Cowie is totally irresponsible and should be dealt with by the angling community and removed from the system. If you want to eat fish that bad then go to the lake and keep your limit of hatchery trout - that's what they're there for. There is simply no reason to keep a steelhead anymore, especially from the Cowichan, you people need to give your head a shake! It's 2007 and given the state of the steelhead species as a whole we need to think about conservation.
BL

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Thanks for taking that out of context RVP! I believe that comment was regarding a discussion about the ethics of keeping steelhead - and for the record, I stand by my opinion that keeping steelhead from the Cowichan is wrong based on the size of the run.
 
...I don't feel that your full un-edited post was at all taken out of context, as it still revolves around the topic of the Cowichan system and hatchery, as does this thread.
http://www.sportfishingbc.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5421

Cheers,
RVP. ;)

quote:Originally posted by Blackleech

Thanks for taking that out of context RVP! I believe that comment was regarding a discussion about the ethics of keeping steelhead - and for the record, I stand by my opinion that keeping steelhead from the Cowichan is wrong based on the size of the run.
 
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