Wild Salmon Policy 2018 to 2022

[GLG]

Wild Salmon Policy 2018 to 2022
Implementation Plan
Annual report 2018 to 2019

Executive summary
On October 11, 2018, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Coast Guard, released the
Wild Salmon Policy 2018-2022 Implementation Plan
(the Plan). This document outlines 9 overarching approaches and 48 actions the Department is committed to undertaking and leading on over the next five years in order to implement Canada’s Policy for Conservation of Wild Pacific Salmon – also known as the Wild Salmon Policy (WSP). In the spirit of ‘what gets measured, gets done’, and in line with the Government of Canada’s commitment to openness and transparency, the Plan includes DFO’s commitment to performance review, including annual public reporting on the status and progress of key actions. While annual review of work plans and post-season operations happens as a normal course of business, the public reporting on the status of activities in the Plan keeps partners and the public informed of progress in a timely manner, provides early warning of challenges that need to be addressed, and reflects on lessons learned.

Over 2018-19, the Department has completed or made progress on all the overarching approaches and a number of key activities in the Plan that advance monitoring of wild salmon stocks, habitat and ecosystem assessment and monitoring, integrated strategic planning, program delivery, and continued collaboration with the Province of BC, First Nations, and other stakeholders.

This Annual Report highlights an overview of progress on activities, introduces performance indicators, and provides the status of each activity, including information to provide context and mitigation strategies for activities that are off-track.
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/...l?hootPostID=53b6e1570715f7251ed91f5b8d73c84f

 

[searun]

Looks like a lot of great studies, and waiting around for wild salmon to somehow recover on their own...great excuse not to invest in robust enhancement and habitat programs. All but 1 of the Upper Fraser hatcheries...closed. 11 million chinook smolt production, now down to less than 1 million. Think about how many returning adults that would have been (100,000 - 300,000). Hoping to see the WSP shift towards a more balanced approach and more involvement at the community or CU level in developing recovery plans...so far, not so much.

 

[Brian Klassen]

Sorry Pat but your math is wrong because the upper Fraser hatcheries did not get 1 - 3% survival. The survival was generally between 1/100% to 1/10% so that would get you between 1100 and 11000 adults before the fishery. I know because I worked at Quesnel Hatchery during this time. The problem was they were rearing upper Fraser chinook that have a yearling lifestyle and were trying to produce chinook with a coastal strategy of releasing fry of the year. It did not work so that was one of the reasons they cut those programs along with trying to reduce spending. What should have been done is that the fish all should have been reared as yearling fish and that is what you will need to do if you enhance upper Fraser chinook and this is what needs to be done ASAP if were serious about helping these stocks.

 

[littlechucky]

Sorry Pat but your math is wrong because the upper Fraser hatcheries did not get 1 - 3% survival. The survival was generally between 1/100% to 1/10% so that would get you between 1100 and 11000 adults before the fishery. I know because I worked at Quesnel Hatchery during this time. The problem was they were rearing upper Fraser chinook that have a yearling lifestyle and were trying to produce chinook with a coastal strategy of releasing fry of the year. It did not work so that was one of the reasons they cut those programs along with trying to reduce spending. What should have been done is that the fish all should have been reared as yearling fish and that is what you will need to do if you enhance upper Fraser chinook and this is what needs to be done ASAP if were serious about helping these stocks.

I believe they raise yearly fry on the upper Columbia hatcheries?

Not sure what their success level is?

 

[Brian Klassen]

They do indeed primarily raise yearling chinook on the upper Columbia. Last data I have seen was that their releases of yearling spring return chinook was north of 30 million fish. At that do's not include the summer and fall chinook that they work with

 

[littlechucky]

They do indeed primarily raise yearling chinook on the upper Columbia. Last data I have seen was that their releases of yearling spring return chinook was north of 30 million fish. At that do's not include the summer and fall chinook that they work with

What % do they get (or target) as returnees?

Far better than the Upper Fraser results I suspect?

 

[searun]

Sorry Pat but your math is wrong because the upper Fraser hatcheries did not get 1 - 3% survival. The survival was generally between 1/100% to 1/10% so that would get you between 1100 and 11000 adults before the fishery. I know because I worked at Quesnel Hatchery during this time. The problem was they were rearing upper Fraser chinook that have a yearling lifestyle and were trying to produce chinook with a coastal strategy of releasing fry of the year. It did not work so that was one of the reasons they cut those programs along with trying to reduce spending. What should have been done is that the fish all should have been reared as yearling fish and that is what you will need to do if you enhance upper Fraser chinook and this is what needs to be done ASAP if were serious about helping these stocks.

My math was correct if as you say they adopted improved practice. And that is absolutely because they didn't know then how to raise S-1 and S-2 fish...trying to use S-0 tactics....doesn't mean we wouldn't have fixed that, and Dave W explained that to me in some detail this fall...and now as you say its totally possible to fix the earlier problems and achieve 100,000 - 300,000 adult returns. I think we are all now on the right page, having learned why there were problems with past practice. Same too with the S-0 release strategies which we are now learning the importance of changing up from conventional wise-dumb to trick the predators...also seeing some good results from ocean net pens. I know its controversial within certain circles, but the initial results (at least in the Somas net pen) appear to be backing what some have been advocating for a while.

What irks me is we tossed the baby out with the bathwater without taking the time to understand the issues and take a stab at repairing those. And now that we know how, I find it silly for us not to apply this approach to help solve a critical problem. Government needs to stop playing politics and start investing the capital required to help address climate change issues using technology we know will work.

Let's give the Department the resources necessary to solve some of these issues.

Sitting back doing nothing but closing fisheries isn't going to solve anything.