Coho Management Review Now Under Way

[GLG]

Sorry, not buying it. I have a passable knowledge of salmon, their biology, necessities, stressors, diseases and management, having worked in this field for close to 40 years. Still do, voluntarily. I live near the Chilliwack River and have seen the coho habitat destruction firsthand. As a boy I remember nearly every waterway in the Fraser Valley supporting either a spawning run of coho or supplying the necessary rearing habitat. Now these waterways are parking lots, shopping malls, housing developments, farmer’s irrigation ditches, or golf courses.
I do advocate for salmon farming in BC and of course I know there is an environmental impact, as there is with most human activities and all animal husbandry but IMO, there are not measureable impacts from this industry severe enough to warrant closure or removal.
I’ve been on enough forums on this issue to know I won’t be changing your minds with my opinions and I don’t expect to. So how about this …. you change mine. Show me some defensible data that proves salmon farming in BC is having a bigger impact on wild coho production than loss of habitat.

I too have a good understanding of coho salmon. I have spent the last 8 years working closely with a group here on Vancouver Island trying to keep a run, on a small river, from going extinct. Our habitat on our river is good for everything that these fish need. Others before me worked long and hard to make sure that this river was keep in a state that these fish need. We have everything in place yet our numbers are still going down. We have done studies on this river since 1995. We are doing another this summer to compare with all the others that we have done in the past. What will we find with this new study? Probably what we have found in the past, that this is a great Coho river and we should see thousands of coho. Well we know that our big problem is when our smolts leave the river and go out in the SOG. They spend some time out there and then make their way past your friends, at the fish farms, and we never see them again. Sure we get a few lucky ones that can run this gauntlet of death and come back, but most die. So if you think " IMO, there are not measurable impacts from this industry severe enough to warrant closure or removal." think of my river and the coho that live there, or more accurately, that use to live there. Is you love for this industry and the money if provides worth it? Sleep on that one and in the morning have a look in the mirror and ask yourself "Am I part of the problem or am I part of the solution."
GLG