...here is some of the information that Bob sent to me with regards to the 2007 Cowichan river report...reading this though, I tend to agee with MELP's decision to abandon the steelhead smolt production program as it sit's, but truly there must be something that we can work towards to help keep the opportunity.
http://www.diehardangler.com/Cowichan-River-Creel-2007-Final-Report.pdf
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Hi Robert. As promised yesterday here is a copy of the Cowichan Creel
report. A couple of additional points to remember:
* This results of last season's creel survey did not drive the
decision to abandon the steelhead smolt production program. The creel
could reasonably be termed the last nail in that coffin but we have been
painfully aware for many years the Cowichan hatchery smolts displayed
consistent poor survival. In fact there was never a single brood year
where any optimism for the future of that program prevailed. Some
members of the angling community seem to be of the understanding we made
our decision on the strength of one simple snapshot. I can assure you
that was not the case.
* The catch and days fished data resulting from the annual mailed
questionnaire sampling of licensed steelhead anglers (i.e. the annual
Steelhead Harvest Analysis reports) is highly positively biased. That
problem has been well understood and well documented on numerous British
Columbia steelhead streams for many years. The inflation factor is
large and made worse when comparing data from the pre-catch and release
era to any time since. Multiple captures of the same fish under
intensive catch and release fisheries such as occurs on the Cowichan
only magnifies the positive response bias problem that already existed.
The bottom line on the Cowichan is the proportion of hatchery fish in
the catch has always been a major disappointment and far below what it
should have been given annual releases of 50,000 large and outwardly
healthy hatchery reared smolts.
Thanks for taking time to discuss the Cowichan and related matters
yesterday. Don't hesitate to contact our office if there are other
issues or questions you feel you could use some background on.
<<Cowichan River Creel 2007 Final Report.pdf>>
Bob Hooton
Head, Fish & Wildlife Section
Vancouver Island Region
Ministry of Environment
2080-A Labieux Rd, Nanaimo, B.C. V9T 6J9
Phone (250) 751-3109 Fax (250) 751-3208
E-mail
Bob.Hooton@gov.bc.ca