Quite obviously!
I think the SFAB was trying to get them removed last year as consideration for the reduced limits in the SoG....didn’t happen.
Question: do you have the escapement data for the other south coast rivers?
So in 1995 thru 1997 there were similar escapements followed by 18 years of not reaching the escapement goal. Escapement goal has been met for only 3 consecutive years and now there is interest in relaxing the restrictions so more fish can be harvested from this stock. Three years is not a trend to indicate the population has recovered, two complete spawning cycles ( 8 years) is a better indicator. Way to early to even think about declaring this stock recovered in my opinion.
I am of the opinion that the recovery of the Cowichan River is due to 3 reasonsDo you think the public fishery restrictions are part of the reason why it recovered?
Not knowing the specifics of the Cowichan River chinook stock marine distribution, but from what I can remember reading about it over the years, I seem to recall that most of the stock spends it's time in the inside waters of Georgia / Johnstone Straights. It would make sense that if fishing pressure ( mortality) was reduced then the stock would improve. But then again if the juveniles that entered the marine environment had a better survival that could account for the improvement as well. You have to remember that survivals have been very poor for quite a few years but if it increases only from 1% to 2% then your population has doubled.Do you think the public fishery restrictions are part of the reason why it recovered?
Not knowing the specifics of the Cowichan River chinook stock marine distribution, but from what I can remember reading about it over the years, I seem to recall that most of the stock spends it's time in the inside waters of Georgia / Johnstone Straights.
I worked on this a few years ago (2015) but I try to keep up.I think you need to check up on that statement.
The Cowichan run of both springs and coho was hit hard years ago in the Swiftsure Commercial Fish War between the USA and Canada. The consensus is they generally exit via Juan de Fuca.
I am of the opinion that the recovery of the Cowichan River is due to 3 reasons
1. responsible Native river management
2. effective commercial and sport fishery restrictions.
3. no fish farms on the main migratory root.
I worked on this a few years ago (2015) but I try to keep up.
The majority of this run stays in the SoG for its life cycle but there has been a small percent that do go out to the west coast and get caught. Something changed around 2004 to 2008 when many were caught out there. The data that I have would suggest that things have gone back to more or less normal, whatever that means. It would be interesting to see a new spreadsheet with up to date CWT data.
Coded Wire Tag data 1991 - 2013
Your welcome to take a crack at it.... https://www.rmpc.org/It would be especially neat to see the 2018 CWT data for this stock.