twinwinds
Active Member
All along the west coast of North America, salmon
stocks are in trouble.
In the Fraser River, a big run now is 10 million fish. But the river
once had 10 times as many fish. It's hard to imagine 100 million
salmon returning to the river, but it once was that rich - and could
be again.
Salmon runs in B.C. fluctuate. Some years are good; since the mid-
90s, most have been bad. When the fish don't come back, fisheries
managers usually blame natural conditions. The ocean, they say, was
experiencing an El Nino event and fish just didn't thrive. Or
streams were too warm and fish died in high numbers before spawning.
But those are convenient excuses that allow fisheries managers, and
society in general, to avoid facing the real blame.
The simple fact is, stocks are in wide decline because we have been
killing far too many salmon for far too long.
In 1913, the year of the last great run in the Fraser, an estimated
38 million sockeye returned. But 32 million of those fish were
killed and put in cans. Four years later, when the run crashed to
just eight million sockeye, the government allowed a catch of more
than 7.3 million fish.
Since then the government has typically allowed 40 to 70 per cent of
any given run to be taken in nets.
Industrial, resource, urban and agricultural developments have all
destroyed habitat. But the only people directly and deliberately
killing salmon have been commercial, sport and native fishermen.
They have been killing too many fish and, astonishingly enough,
continue to kill too many fish, as the federal Department of
Fisheries and Oceans attempts to parcel out an "allowable catch" to
each sector.
Even in dismal years, such as this one with just 1.6 million sockeye
in the Fraser, DFO has allowed fishing, arguing that a certain
percentage can be harvested and stocks can still rebuild.
But almost every year they get it wrong. And stocks decline.
When salmon die after spawning, they return nutrients to freshwater
systems.
Researchers have shown that when a big run of salmon returns to a
river, such as the Adams, it enriches the aquatic environment,
creating ideal rearing conditions for fry.
When runs are poor, there are less nutrients, and the young salmon
that hatch the following spring struggle to survive.
Nobody knows what damage has been done to the environment by
overfishing, and stripping salmon nutrients out of the system, for
100 years.
But grizzly bears are starving on some rivers, and killer whales are
abandoning coastal regions because of a lack of Chinook.
Not only has overfishing hurt the environment, but it has also
brought the commercial fleet to its knees and left native villages
impoverished. It's time for some drastic steps.
First, we must stop killing wild salmon. With so many runs in
decline, and an inability to precisely tune commercial fisheries,
B.C. simply must end the slaughter until stocks recover to historic
levels.
That means ending the commercial fishery at sea. Shut it down and
get government emergency funding to assist fishermen in the way
forest workers are being helped through the pine-beetle infestation.
In rivers, only live traps should be used, such as beach seines,
weirs and fish wheels, so that wild fish can be released while
surplus hatchery stocks are retained.
All sports fishing should be restricted to catch-and-release.
Stop the commercial sale of salmon by native communities.
Hatchery fish can be taken for food and ceremonial purposes, but
nobody should be killing wild salmon for profit when the species is
endangered.
Provide government funding for the transition of salmon farms to
closed-tank technology to end sea-lice infestations. Farms that
won't adapt should be closed, but those that are ready to evolve
should get support, including land grants and tax breaks.
In the transition period, fallow all open-net salmon farms along the
migration routes of young salmon in the spring.
Restructure the DFO so that its primary mandate is to restore salmon
runs, not to serve the fishing industry.
With these tough measures, salmon won't only survive, they will
thrive again. Imagine 100 million salmon in the Fraser.
stocks are in trouble.
In the Fraser River, a big run now is 10 million fish. But the river
once had 10 times as many fish. It's hard to imagine 100 million
salmon returning to the river, but it once was that rich - and could
be again.
Salmon runs in B.C. fluctuate. Some years are good; since the mid-
90s, most have been bad. When the fish don't come back, fisheries
managers usually blame natural conditions. The ocean, they say, was
experiencing an El Nino event and fish just didn't thrive. Or
streams were too warm and fish died in high numbers before spawning.
But those are convenient excuses that allow fisheries managers, and
society in general, to avoid facing the real blame.
The simple fact is, stocks are in wide decline because we have been
killing far too many salmon for far too long.
In 1913, the year of the last great run in the Fraser, an estimated
38 million sockeye returned. But 32 million of those fish were
killed and put in cans. Four years later, when the run crashed to
just eight million sockeye, the government allowed a catch of more
than 7.3 million fish.
Since then the government has typically allowed 40 to 70 per cent of
any given run to be taken in nets.
Industrial, resource, urban and agricultural developments have all
destroyed habitat. But the only people directly and deliberately
killing salmon have been commercial, sport and native fishermen.
They have been killing too many fish and, astonishingly enough,
continue to kill too many fish, as the federal Department of
Fisheries and Oceans attempts to parcel out an "allowable catch" to
each sector.
Even in dismal years, such as this one with just 1.6 million sockeye
in the Fraser, DFO has allowed fishing, arguing that a certain
percentage can be harvested and stocks can still rebuild.
But almost every year they get it wrong. And stocks decline.
When salmon die after spawning, they return nutrients to freshwater
systems.
Researchers have shown that when a big run of salmon returns to a
river, such as the Adams, it enriches the aquatic environment,
creating ideal rearing conditions for fry.
When runs are poor, there are less nutrients, and the young salmon
that hatch the following spring struggle to survive.
Nobody knows what damage has been done to the environment by
overfishing, and stripping salmon nutrients out of the system, for
100 years.
But grizzly bears are starving on some rivers, and killer whales are
abandoning coastal regions because of a lack of Chinook.
Not only has overfishing hurt the environment, but it has also
brought the commercial fleet to its knees and left native villages
impoverished. It's time for some drastic steps.
First, we must stop killing wild salmon. With so many runs in
decline, and an inability to precisely tune commercial fisheries,
B.C. simply must end the slaughter until stocks recover to historic
levels.
That means ending the commercial fishery at sea. Shut it down and
get government emergency funding to assist fishermen in the way
forest workers are being helped through the pine-beetle infestation.
In rivers, only live traps should be used, such as beach seines,
weirs and fish wheels, so that wild fish can be released while
surplus hatchery stocks are retained.
All sports fishing should be restricted to catch-and-release.
Stop the commercial sale of salmon by native communities.
Hatchery fish can be taken for food and ceremonial purposes, but
nobody should be killing wild salmon for profit when the species is
endangered.
Provide government funding for the transition of salmon farms to
closed-tank technology to end sea-lice infestations. Farms that
won't adapt should be closed, but those that are ready to evolve
should get support, including land grants and tax breaks.
In the transition period, fallow all open-net salmon farms along the
migration routes of young salmon in the spring.
Restructure the DFO so that its primary mandate is to restore salmon
runs, not to serve the fishing industry.
With these tough measures, salmon won't only survive, they will
thrive again. Imagine 100 million salmon in the Fraser.
