Rock slide in Fraser River, B.C., may hinder salmon passage

[agentaqua]

Thanks for the post WMY. Couldn't help but notice that @ the 4min54sec mark on the 1st video he claims: "Chinook have a unique property ... unlike sockeye.. which may fall back and find other streams below the slide to spawn if necessary..." HUH??

 

[wildmanyeah]

Thanks for the post WMY. Couldn't help but notice that @ the 4min54sec mark on the 1st video he claims: "Chinook have a unique property ... unlike sockeye.. which may fall back and find other streams below the slide to spawn if necessary..." HUH??

Yeah that was a bit weird but I’m not worried about sockeye as much they will get enough over that they will be okay. Might not be able to fish for them for years to come but there will be enough to continue on.Some of Those chinook runs were already really low and it looks like the response was just to late for Those early Fraser fish.

I think we got our answer there was very little to no passage from April to July.

 

[Whitebuck]

Terrible news.
Time to stop moving the Chinook and instead start sampling them and forming a brood stock population.

Too little too late by DFO, would be really ****** if evidence is found that they knew about the slide before the end of June.

 

[Dave]

Thanks for the post WMY. Couldn't help but notice that @ the 4min54sec mark on the 1st video he claims: "Chinook have a unique property ... unlike sockeye.. which may fall back and find other streams below the slide to spawn if necessary..." HUH??

Well, he is somewhat correct wrt to sockeye spawning in non natal tributaries .. in years past when sockeye have been delayed or stopped at Hells Gate due to high water (9,000 cfs), those that eventually made it past the Gate but not to their spawning streams, did indeed enter streams not familiar to them. Even if spawning was successful, without a lake to rear in, any juveniles produced would not survive.

Another thing to keep in mind is sexual maturation hormones, those that cause the fish to produce viable gametes, are often not produced in sufficient quantities, or shut down completely, when the fish have been exposed to chronic stress. Even if a few sockeye make it back, their spawning success will be limited.

I will be viewing the Early Stuarts being held at the Cultus Lake Salmon Research lab this week, and hope to learn of the plans for these last remnants of this cycle.

 

[quill]

Thanks for the post WMY. Couldn't help but notice that @ the 4min54sec mark on the 1st video he claims: "Chinook have a unique property ... unlike sockeye.. which may fall back and find other streams below the slide to spawn if necessary..." HUH??

Yeah, that doesn’t work does it? Sockeye require a lake in the system.

 

[cohochinook]

My worst fears just came true this is heartbreaking....You just brought me to tears, seriously....

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=733417943784732

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10217961347818180

The Spruce City Wildlife Association has operated a small Hatchery located on the banks of the Nechako River since 1987, after DFO closed it. They have been requesting permission from DFO to allow them to increase Chinook production on streams in the Upper Fraser Watershed that have experiencing extremely low returns. Almost all of the Upper Fraser Conservation Units are Wild Salmon Policy (WSP) red-zoned and the Committee on the status of endangered wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed at either endangered or threatened. Very little action is being taken to address these issues; Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has no plans to assist these stocks in the future.

When the BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund was announced. Spruce City Wildlife Association applied for funding under this fund with the support of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council . The application that would take their current facility (production cap of 60,000 fry) and give them the capacity to do a multi-stage strategic release (eyed-egg, unfed fry, fry OR unfed fry, fry, smolt (Depending on that streams temperature and habitat availability)) the technology included would also give them the ability to enhance multiple streams at a time. This would bring the fry capacity to approx. 150,000. They were turned down by DFO.

A group of us met with Fisheries Minister Wilkinson on May 22nd and he had identified the BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund as key imitative that would help Upper Fraser Chinook recover. At the meeting he committed to looking at enhancement proposals for Upper Fraser Watershed Chinook, so we re-submitted the proposal on behalf of Spruce City Wildlife Association to the Minister, with a commitment that he would look at it and respond. Despite numerous follow ups with Minister, we have heard nothing!

 

[agentaqua]

Well, he is somewhat correct ...

Somewhat, only - the flip side to being "somewhat correct" is that one is also "somewhat incorrect" - at the same time.

Chinook are not the only salmon species to show fidelity to watershed of origin (unlike his somewhat incorrect assertion).

In fact, Chinook can and do often travel hundreds of km back n forth within a large watershed sniffing-out both water from a particular mountain (as mentioned) that sometimes empties into numerous tribs and separate spawning populations - but also hone in on spawning activity (not mentioned).

So, they do stray somewhat - at times (not mentioned).

Lake-type sockeye - on the other hand - and way more restricted to lake of origin and don't wander around like Chinook (not mentioned).

Then there is the river-spawner sockeye (not mentioned). They often look more like funny-coloured pinks with a sockeye head/jaw. They do move around quite a bit - and are often later spawners than the lake sockeye. It is hypothesized that they were the 1st sockeye colonizers after the glaciers receded and the lake-spawning sockeye evolved from them into the rather specialized spawning populations that exist now.

So... agree on the concern about the earlier runs of Chinook, but... his assumptions wrt Chinook/sockeye could be more detailed and correct.

 

[wildmanyeah]

When the BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund was announced. Spruce City Wildlife Association applied for funding under this fund with the support of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council . The application that would take their current facility (production cap of 60,000 fry) and give them the capacity to do a multi-stage strategic release (eyed-egg, unfed fry, fry OR unfed fry, fry, smolt (Depending on that streams temperature and habitat availability)) the technology included would also give them the ability to enhance multiple streams at a time. This would bring the fry capacity to approx. 150,000. They were turned down by DFO.

A group of us met with Fisheries Minister Wilkinson on May 22nd and he had identified the BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund as key imitative that would help Upper Fraser Chinook recover. At the meeting he committed to looking at enhancement proposals for Upper Fraser Watershed Chinook, so we re-submitted the proposal on behalf of Spruce City Wildlife Association to the Minister, with a commitment that he would look at it and respond. Despite numerous follow ups with Minister, we have heard nothing!

very sad

 

[cohochinook]

very sad

It's sad and incredibly frustrating that its gotten to this point without response from the Minister and action by DFO to recognize the need for immediate hatchery enhancement of the 5-2 Spring and Summer Chinook. It was already a dire situation before the slide and now were talking about the future survival of this stock, which will likely go extinct without immediate emergency fish culture!

 

[GLG]

Progress!

 

[cuttlefish]

Progress!

Onward!!

 

[GLG]

Facebook feed with some updates on the slide about half way through

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=733642403746882

 

[Rockfish]

https://www.timescolonist.com/socke...l-calls-2019-extremely-challenging-1.23924051

 

[Whitebuck]

Let’s hope the other 38 Chinook populations that spawn above the slide have better returns than the 5 he talked about.
It’s a small glimmer of hope, but there is still close to 40 other rivers than those 5.
Will be interesting to see what happens over the next 6 weeks.

I seriously hope there is some MAJOR discussion for hatchery enhancement going on for the upper tributaries right now!

 

[wildmanyeah]

It’s to late for the early chinook and probably to late for for early Stuart sockeye.


Is the progress man made or did the water level just drop Enough to allow passage.

 

[dradons]

It’s to late for the early chinook and probably to late for for early Stuart sockeye.


Is the progress man made or did the water level just drop Enough to allow passage.

Might be a combo of two. I thought they were moving some boulders to provide some resting/calmer areas.

 

[SpringVelocity]

The Spruce City Wildlife Association has operated a small Hatchery located on the banks of the Nechako River since 1987, after DFO closed it. They have been requesting permission from DFO to allow them to increase Chinook production on streams in the Upper Fraser Watershed that have experiencing extremely low returns. Almost all of the Upper Fraser Conservation Units are Wild Salmon Policy (WSP) red-zoned and the Committee on the status of endangered wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed at either endangered or threatened. Very little action is being taken to address these issues; Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has no plans to assist these stocks in the future.

When the BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund was announced. Spruce City Wildlife Association applied for funding under this fund with the support of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council . The application that would take their current facility (production cap of 60,000 fry) and give them the capacity to do a multi-stage strategic release (eyed-egg, unfed fry, fry OR unfed fry, fry, smolt (Depending on that streams temperature and habitat availability)) the technology included would also give them the ability to enhance multiple streams at a time. This would bring the fry capacity to approx. 150,000. They were turned down by DFO.

A group of us met with Fisheries Minister Wilkinson on May 22nd and he had identified the BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund as key imitative that would help Upper Fraser Chinook recover. At the meeting he committed to looking at enhancement proposals for Upper Fraser Watershed Chinook, so we re-submitted the proposal on behalf of Spruce City Wildlife Association to the Minister, with a commitment that he would look at it and respond. Despite numerous follow ups with Minister, we have heard nothing!

It because certain NGO groups are blocking it.

 

[OldBlackDog]

And today’s report,
During the Panel call today the run size for Pink salmon was increased from the
p50 forecast level of 5,018,600 and an Area 20 timing of August 28 to 7,400,000

Im impressed to see Rod this fired up.

Fishing with Rod is feeling pissed off.
58 mins ·
Normally as we approach the end of August during odd years, most of us are anticipating with excitement for the upcoming Fraser River pink salmon fishery. Instead, we are now dealing with a series of absurd management decisions by an agency which really does not care to have a better understanding on what the Lower Fraser River recreational fishing sector needs.

Here is a quick overview of what have taken place so far and what you can expect for the remaining part of this year. Salmon fishing has been closed in the Lower Fraser River to date due to expected low abundance of chinook and sockeye salmon returns. This closure has included some saltwater recreational salmon fishing closures as well as all Lower Fraser First Nations’ communal fishing closures (with the exception of some ceremonial openings). Originally, this closure was scheduled to end on August 23rd for the recreational sector, with the option of a pink salmon fishery on the table if run size is allows it. This window of opening was expected to last until September 20th when a 42 day salmon fishing closure kicks in to coincide with the run timing of endangered Interior Fraser River steelhead (Thompson and Chilcotin steelhead) until November 1st.

Because of the poor sockeye salmon returns which coincide with the pink salmon run, “low abundance exploitation rate” (LAER), basically a term for small amount of incidental by-catches, now applies to these stocks. DFO is allocating all of this "LAER" for the Lower Fraser River First Nations’ chinook salmon communal fisheries, which will by-catch a certain number of sockeye salmon while harvesting chinook salmon. The end result is that recreational anglers cannot fish for pink salmon because this department believes anglers would by-catch sockeye salmon while targeting pink salmon and there are no by-catch allowance left after allocating all of them to First Nations’ fisheries.

Furthermore, the resource managers have suggested that chinook salmon returns are poor to date so a closure for pink salmon is also to prevent chinook salmon being by-caught.

So here is the problem.

Since about ten years ago, my colleagues and I on the Sport Fishing Advisory committee have been actively pushing for regulatory changes that would allow selective fishing methods. Meetings after meetings, these proposals have been dismissed until now it’s simply ignored. In ten years, we could have developed fisheries which would only target one specific salmon. Gear restrictions such as leader length restrictions, allowance of one particular fishing method, bait ban, could easily be implemented so anglers could target sustainable salmon stocks such as pink salmon. Instead of having one blanket closure from the mouth of the Fraser River to the Fraser Canyon, we could have area-specific openings such as the tidal portion of the Fraser River where the possibility of encountering a sockeye salmon is slim to none. We could have reduced the daily quota to find a middle ground, instead of having either a high daily quota for an opening or a completely closure. We could have developed specific guidelines such as the requirement of a catch and release net to ensure all released fish are kept in the water so post-release mortality could be lowered even more to minimize impacts. Instead, the answer from this department has been, “It can’t be done, so status quo is best, which means a blanket closure is our only option.”

To suggest that chinook salmon returns have been low and use it as another excuse to justify the closure of a viable fishery of another species is laughable. In this past week, the Albion test fishery daily catches have been double of last year, and more than triple of the year before. Does everyone remember what we were doing in August 2018? Apparently by-catches of low chinook salmon stocks were not a concern while everyone was enjoying the abundant sockeye salmon catches. If Fraser River chinook salmon returns are a concern this year, why is it open for retention for our saltwater sector in Area 29-3 and beyond (where anglers are enjoying some fantastic fishing right now), and First Nations’ communal fisheries are currently taking place every weekend?

To add insult to injury, currently the Fraser River pink salmon return is tracking at P75, meaning that it will likely be 7.5 million fish or more, much higher than we first anticipated. The Lower Fraser River anglers may retain perhaps 10s of thousands in a two or three week opening, a tiny fraction of the entire stock. These fish are off limit to you now, not because you have an impact on endangered salmon stocks, because the Department of Fisheries has no interest in looking into alternatives to create sustainable fishing opportunities for you.

The recreational fishing industry can no longer rely on the Fraser River salmon management to survive. Unlike commercial fishermen, we are not just sitting on the side line waiting for the green light to fish. Stores cannot simply stock up inventories and pray for openings in the last minute. Guides cannot promise guests who may be travelling from abroad that they would have a chance to experience salmon fishing. People plan their vacation times ahead to coincide with fishery openings. This isn’t about a bunch of fishermen who are whining about not being able to catch fish and make money however, it’s more than that. Anglers are not always looking for fish to harvest, but we are looking for opportunities to RECREATE. The Fraser River pink salmon fishery is as family friendly as it gets. It is the perfect venue where parents teach their kids how to catch a salmon. It is where friends gather once every two years to experience the thrill of catching some nice fish and consuming food from a sustainable source. At the personal level, my 3 year old is going to miss the chance of netting a fish that mommy would have caught like what his brother did four years ago. It is where memories are made and a closure like this when there could easily be alternatives, kills the community. These closures are also killing fishing licence sales, hurting organizations such as Go Fish BC. If it continues, we will lose a generation of future stewards.

By the way, this isn’t about favouring First Nations while closing our fisheries. First Nations’ fisheries are prioritized and they have also been reduced significantly this year. Congratulations to their leadership for doing so. This whole situation could have been avoided if this department has committed to create selective recreational fishing opportunities, give First Nation leaders a better understanding on what this sector wants and is willing to work for to achieve it. Instead, there is a communication gap between the two groups and we both have been used as excuses for closures.

It is absurd that the Lower Fraser River recreational fishing sector, the group with the largest number of users in this province, with the smallest impacts on fish stocks, and the most flexible when it comes to modification in methodologies to avoid incidental by-catches, is the only group being completely kept off the water by closures for reasons other than conservation. I’m not frustrated by the fact that we will not be fishing for pink salmon, but unprofessionalism and lack of accountability pisses me off. Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, your department and its attitude needs an overhaul.

Rod

 

[OldBlackDog]

Have you thought about the effect this is going to have for the future given these results.

 

[GLG]

Progress!

Aug 22, 2019 Big Bar Landslide update

• There is now evidence that limited numbers of chinook have been able to naturally migrate past the slide using the channels created through rock manipulation. The creation of a natural fish passage is the best way to ensure the maximum number of salmon are able to reach their spawning grounds.

• Rocks continue to be strategically placed to create a series of pools, short drops, and back eddies so the salmon can migrate upstream.

• Additionally, the acoustic monitoring station, located a full day’s migration above the slide, shows larger numbers of fish than can be accounted for by helicopter transport alone.

Salmon Transported by Helicopter
Daily Total Sockeye: 1,958 Chinook: 421
Total to Date Sockeye: 22,711 Chinook: 6,119

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/p..._update_big_bar_landslide_incident_aug_22.pdf