cohochinook
Well-Known Member
Public Fishery Alliance on strategies to address impacts of Pinnipeds on Early Fraser Chinook and Steelhead
https://publicfisheryalliance.ca/blog/
https://publicfisheryalliance.ca/blog/
Thanks for the feedback, @chris73 The grammar is getting updated today, so you should see a difference by later today.Good article. But you should go over your grammar and spelling again.
Have you not read the post?Can you put some context with that video? Where, when, pretty much anything to make this relevant.
Yes I have read the post, and I see no mention of this video. I ask again, please explain where this video was filmed and what species of fish the seals were eating.Have you not read the post?
I assume you don't have Facebook. Here's what the post said on Facebook:Yes I have read the post, and I see no mention of this video. I ask again, please explain where this video was filmed and what species of fish the seals were eating.
Read the Blog post as it clearly explains the concerns https://publicfisheryalliance.ca/blog/ @Dave from there you can draw your own conclusions!You are not answering my questions. I'm not arguing seals predate on salmon but your message needs much more clarification to sway the minds of the general public.
Where are Thompson steelhead and upper Fraser chinook smolts being eaten, at what choke point?
Thanks for a bit of info on your background and experience. Well I would agree that hatchery steelhead would be a target, I don't believe that's the only thing getting consumed by Seals. The Upper Fraser Sream type chinook smolts are larger smolts along with the Chilcotin and Thompson steelhead smolts making them an attractive meal for a seal. I'm not sure where you're drawing your conclusions that it would be just Hatchery steelhead that would be impacted? What evidence or data do you have to support that?Yes, I have drawn my own conclusions.
I have spent a lot of time on Fraser River gill netters at Albion and Whonnock sampling adult chinooks and sockeye and have witnessed first hand seal predation. I also played a significant role in Northern Pikeminnow removals from Cultus Lake, attempting to save Cultus Lake sockeye. I understand predation/predator removals as management tools when all else fails. But, imo, your group will have to do a better job of convincing the general public upper Fraser chinook and Thompson steelhead smolts are being eaten in the numbers suggested. Most definitely hatchery juveniles are being eaten in large quantities, but the very low numbers of wild chinook and steelhead smolts (really, perhaps a few hundred in total from some stocks, several thousand, at most, from others) from these endangered stocks would make it very difficult for predators to target them. Not worth the energy consumed, again imo.
Agent, you’re correct in that seals and especially sea lions consume huge amounts of eulachons in the Fraser … seen that also.
I don't doubt that seals and sea lions predate on salmonids, young and old, but that "blog" page needs improvement. It leaves me with a lot of questions that need answering, before I would consider supporting the "Public Fishery Alliance."
Firstly, why is the Public Fishery Alliance withholding the identity of its member(s)? Who are they, what are their credentials on this subject, and what are their goals? I need transparency, especially nowadays.
Secondly, that article needs to state references to its figures, charts, and quotes, so that readers can understand the various claims and opinions which have been made. A lot of the material in that article is vague and without context or named sources, especially the charts. It also mentions "a workshop 'Pinnipeds & Impacts on Salmon—Workshop Proceedings 2019' ”. What workshop was this? Got a link to it?
If readers could read the original references, or at least were told the sources of some of this information, they would gain a better understanding of the "Alliance's" message.
The article also needs to correct at least one apparent gross contradiction: That first chart, titled "Steelhead in Harbour Seal Diet in 2012 & 2013" indicates seals' consumption rates of steelhead smolts of between 0% and about 1.5%, yet just below that chart, it is claimed that 74% of smolts are eaten. The sources of that chart, and that 74% reference, are missing, so I'm left confused.
The explanation of stream-type and ocean-type chinook is informative.
But overall, in my opinion, I don't think much public support will be garnered from that article, as it's presently written.