Pinniped Developments

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Reducing Seal and Sea Lion Numbers Would Aid Washington Chinook Salmon and Steelhead | Sport Fishing Mag

Chinook salmon populations along the Northern Washington Coast and Puget Sound are plummeting, but a simple and cost-effective way to increase salmon numbers may be to reduce ravenous predators of the anadromous fish.
www.sportfishingmag.com www.sportfishingmag.com

washacad.org

Pinniped Predation on Salmonids - Washington State Academy of Sciences

WSAS is conducting a scientific and technical review of the science of pinniped predation on salmonids, with an emphasis on Washington’s portion of the Salish Sea and Washington’s outer coast.
washacad.org washacad.org

 
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agentaqua said:
www.sportfishingmag.com

Reducing Seal and Sea Lion Numbers Would Aid Washington Chinook Salmon and Steelhead | Sport Fishing Mag

Chinook salmon populations along the Northern Washington Coast and Puget Sound are plummeting, but a simple and cost-effective way to increase salmon numbers may be to reduce ravenous predators of the anadromous fish.
www.sportfishingmag.com www.sportfishingmag.com

washacad.org

Pinniped Predation on Salmonids - Washington State Academy of Sciences

WSAS is conducting a scientific and technical review of the science of pinniped predation on salmonids, with an emphasis on Washington’s portion of the Salish Sea and Washington’s outer coast.
washacad.org washacad.org

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I just got the WA State link sent to me from sport fishing mag.
 
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Our Chairman & I have been invited to attend the next meeting of the Standing Committee on Fisheries & Oceans next Thursday (3:30 pm to 5:30 pm) as part of a panel of witnesses in view of its study of the ecosystem impacts and the management of pinniped populations. The study motion is as follows:

(a) That the committee undertake a comprehensive study of pinnipeds that would examine the ecosystem impacts of pinniped overpopulation in the waters of Quebec, eastern and western Canada; international experience in pinniped stock management; the domestic and international market potential for various pinniped products; social acceptability; and the social cultural importance of developing active management of predation for coastal and first nations communities with access to the resource;

(b) that the committee invite witness appearances including indigenous organizations, scientific experts, DFO officials, and experts and officials from countries such as Scotland, Norway, Iceland and the United States of America that have conserved and rebuilt fish stocks by balancing pinniped populations;

(c) that the committee allot no fewer than eight, two-hour meetings, to receive said testimony;

(d) that the committee also accept written briefs from individuals or organizations who wish to submit input;

(e) that the committee request to travel to countries such as Scotland, Norway, Iceland and the United States of America when it is safe and appropriate to travel internationally in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and that the Chair be empowered to coordinate the travel; and that the committee submit its findings with recommendations in a report to the House.

Should prove interesting...
 
Keep us posted on how the presentation to FOPO goes. Mel Arnold, who co-chairs is a great resource and has an excellent finger on the pulse of the Fishery file.
 
agentaqua said:
www.saltwire.com

Seals and salmon among issues highlighted in Commons report on DFO science | SaltWire

Seals, salmon, science and climate change. It’s all mentioned in a report made public March 9 by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and ...
www.saltwire.com www.saltwire.com
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Interesting article - particularly concerning to hear the testimony of Josh Korman - appears to be systemic avoidance of addressing pinniped impacts within CSAS process according to Korman.


"Josh Korman, a fisheries scientist with Econometric Research Inc., also told the committee during a hearing last May that the main conclusions of the science advisory report for Fraser River steelhead salmon in B.C. were not consistent with the main findings of the Recovery Potential Assessment report, developed by a peer reviewed CSAS process.



Korman noted a main conclusion of the Recovery report was that “reductions in the abundance of seals and sea lions was deemed to be the most effective way of recovering steelhead populations. This fundamental conclusion was substantially altered by DFO when they wrote the SAR. For example, they stated there was no consensus that there was a causal relationship between the two—meaning a relation between steelhead and seals and sea lions.”

Korman said he did not recall hearing any substantiated objections to the conclusions that reducing pinniped abundance is the most effect way to recovering steelhead populations but could not document the discrepancy because the proceedings of the CSAS process are not publicly available. He believed this misrepresentation was problematic because it “misrepresents the primary tool available to us to improve the status of interior Fraser steelhead and likely for chinook and other salmon.”
 
searun said:
Interesting article - particularly concerning to hear the testimony of Josh Korman - appears to be systemic avoidance of addressing pinniped impacts within CSAS process according to Korman.

"Josh Korman, a fisheries scientist with Econometric Research Inc., also told the committee during a hearing last May that the main conclusions of the science advisory report for Fraser River steelhead salmon in B.C. were not consistent with the main findings of the Recovery Potential Assessment report, developed by a peer reviewed CSAS process.

Korman noted a main conclusion of the Recovery report was that “reductions in the abundance of seals and sea lions was deemed to be the most effective way of recovering steelhead populations. This fundamental conclusion was substantially altered by DFO when they wrote the SAR. For example, they stated there was no consensus that there was a causal relationship between the two—meaning a relation between steelhead and seals and sea lions.”

Korman said he did not recall hearing any substantiated objections to the conclusions that reducing pinniped abundance is the most effect way to recovering steelhead populations but could not document the discrepancy because the proceedings of the CSAS process are not publicly available. He believed this misrepresentation was problematic because it “misrepresents the primary tool available to us to improve the status of interior Fraser steelhead and likely for chinook and other salmon.”
Click to expand...
Thanks Searun for your post. Korman is being exceeding polite and professional when he states that certain people within CSAS/DFO lie w/o actually saying those exact words.

A number of thoughts/insights pass thru my mind when reading this latest FOPO/Senate report:
1/ The institutionalized, privileged, unaccountable, dishonest and frankly illegal PR response by certain sections within DFO (not limited to but including fisheries and aquaculture management mandarins) to gatekeep, misrepresent and outright lie is at a critical stage in the devolvement of current functioning of DFO that cannot be ignored anymore (aka dishonoring the Crown),
2/ Many, many people outside DFO have noticed this critical, dysfunction except perhaps those institutionalized into it's normalcy within DFO - along with those in DFO to whom should know and act better but have been protected from the consequences of their lies/actions/inactions, and
3/ How do we resolve that dysfunction within DFO?

As I have been saying for years - I believe we need to re-invent something similar to what was present before DFO got morphed into it's current dysfunctional form - something like a reinvention of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada doing much of the important research at arms length to the upper echelons of DFO - and those decision-making powers removed from those mandarins and instead placed locally - which is all do-able and legal within the newest Fisheries Act.
 

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IronNoggin said:
Our Chairman & I have been invited to attend the next meeting of the Standing Committee on Fisheries & Oceans next Thursday (3:30 pm to 5:30 pm) as part of a panel of witnesses in view of its study of the ecosystem impacts and the management of pinniped populations. The study motion is as follows:

(a) That the committee undertake a comprehensive study of pinnipeds that would examine the ecosystem impacts of pinniped overpopulation in the waters of Quebec, eastern and western Canada; international experience in pinniped stock management; the domestic and international market potential for various pinniped products; social acceptability; and the social cultural importance of developing active management of predation for coastal and first nations communities with access to the resource;

(b) that the committee invite witness appearances including indigenous organizations, scientific experts, DFO officials, and experts and officials from countries such as Scotland, Norway, Iceland and the United States of America that have conserved and rebuilt fish stocks by balancing pinniped populations;

(c) that the committee allot no fewer than eight, two-hour meetings, to receive said testimony;

(d) that the committee also accept written briefs from individuals or organizations who wish to submit input;

(e) that the committee request to travel to countries such as Scotland, Norway, Iceland and the United States of America when it is safe and appropriate to travel internationally in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and that the Chair be empowered to coordinate the travel; and that the committee submit its findings with recommendations in a report to the House.

Should prove interesting...
Click to expand...
Great work, Matt!
 
Well, we are now back home.
The flights and hotel were disastrous (more on that later).
However we were very well received at the Committee, and I have been engaged in follow-up all day today.

For those with any interest, here is the recording of the meeting we were involved with:

parlvu.parl.gc.ca

FOPO Meeting No. 58

Meeting No. 58 FOPO - Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans
parlvu.parl.gc.ca

While the entire meeting was interesting & informative, if you only wish to see what Ken (our Chair) and I had to say, jump in at the 17:26.10 mark.
Then follow through to the end as they kept coming back with more questions to us.

Happy to be home, and hope I never have to go through Toronto ever again!

Cheers,
Nog
 
IronNoggin said:
Well, we are now back home.
The flights and hotel were disastrous (more on that later).
However we were very well received at the Committee, and I have been engaged in follow-up all day today.

For those with any interest, here is the recording of the meeting we were involved with:

parlvu.parl.gc.ca

FOPO Meeting No. 58

Meeting No. 58 FOPO - Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans
parlvu.parl.gc.ca

While the entire meeting was interesting & informative, if you only wish to see what Ken (our Chair) and I had to say, jump in at the 17:26.10 mark.
Then follow through to the end as they kept coming back with more questions to us.

Happy to be home, and hope I never have to go through Toronto ever again!

Cheers,
Nog
Click to expand...
I was rather disappointed by Trite's testimony. I thought he was learning off Brian Riddell.

And I am guessing Trites has not seen Carl Walters work - nor even acknowledged the fact that FN used to take many MMs way before his 1960 benchlines he uses to chide us about our shifting baselines - and doesn't talk about space/time overlaps w seals on inbound adult spawning salmon, or outmigrating juvie salmon - esp at choke points. He also tries to say that seals take diseased fish rather than healthy ones w/o offering any data/science altho he demands that from harvest proponents. I guess he hasn't witnessed the corralling of fish by a team of seals. I guess he also has no experience nor knows that seals can tell sex and selectively eat female spawning salmon - given the choice. But - I guess we now know the speaking notes that the ENGOs will next use, however. I call BS.

I am glad that Ken Pearse spoke to some of those issues.

I am also guessing that anyone reading this thread with info for FOPO on seals would find an ally in Lisa Marie Barron lisamarie.barron@parl.gc.ca
 
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