Somas Sockeye Bulletin

[pennel]

Respectfully, IMO you are off base with your assessment. This has everything to do with changing freshwater and ocean conditions related to climate change. We just came off a 4 year cycle of record returns, so your "mis-management" and over-fishing theories are a little far fetched. We had record out-migrating smolts heading out to sea, and despite that weak returning adults from that brood year. This is a coast-wide problem with Sockeye and Chum.

Climate change has been attributed as a major factor in the decrease of salmon stocks.
However, overfishing and lack of management has also contributed big time.
The lack of control over the fish farms,the logging practices destroying habitat , lack of control over the pinniped population, lack of funding, allowing commercial pressure to influence the decision making.
There are a few articles on this forum which show how wonderful our management is or should I say lack of.
Read what Bob Hooten's article called' why bother' or look at the Fraser River Netting Schedule article.
You can Google all sorts of articles on salmon decline and you will find that overfishing is right up there.
So I stand by my word that mismanagement due to political decision making or commercial pressure has played a big,big part over the years.

 

[IronNoggin]

SOMASS SOCKEYE BULLETIN # 2 – 2020 Date: June 4, 2020

Somass Sockeye Stock Assessment Update

Pre-season forecast: Somass (Great Central and Sproat) – 169,000 Henderson Lake sockeye outlook < 15,000

Escapement to June 2: Stamp: 250 Sproat: 2028 Total: 2278

Test Fishery: Seine vessel testing June 8th - 10th

First in-season re-forecast: June 25th

Catch Estimate: 0 Somass First Nations – 0 Maa-nulth First Nations – 0 Area D Gillnet – 0 Area B Seine - 0 Recreational – 0

NEXT WEEK’S FISHING PLANS:

All Fishing plans are subject to change depending on weekly meetings.

First Nations
Hupacasath & Tseshaht – Sockeye FSC closed, EO - closed.
Maa-nulth – Sockeye Treaty closed

Commercial
Area D Gillnet – closed.
Area B Seine – closed.

Recreational
Sockeye closed

New Measures

Due to lower than expected escapement of Sockeye the following areas will be closed to fishing for finfish effective 00:01h June 4, 2020 until midnight July 14, 2020:

Portions of subarea 23-1 and subarea 23-2 from the tidal boundary signs at Paper Mill Dam in the Somass River then downstream south into the Inlet to Hocking Point light. Portions of the Freshwater section of the Somass River Region 1 from Somass Park to Paper Mill Dam. See Fishery Notices links below.

FN 506 Finfish Closure upper Alberni Inlet
FN 505 Portion of the freshwater section of the Somass River closed to fishing for salmon

The above management measures may change on short notice depending on in-season information.

For more info please call the Port Alberni DFO office at 250 720 4440

 

[searun]

Climate change has been attributed as a major factor in the decrease of salmon stocks.
However, overfishing and lack of management has also contributed big time.
The lack of control over the fish farms,the logging practices destroying habitat , lack of control over the pinniped population, lack of funding, allowing commercial pressure to influence the decision making.
There are a few articles on this forum which show how wonderful our management is or should I say lack of.
Read what Bob Hooten's article called' why bother' or look at the Fraser River Netting Schedule article.
You can Google all sorts of articles on salmon decline and you will find that overfishing is right up there.
So I stand by my word that mismanagement due to political decision making or commercial pressure has played a big,big part over the years.

This is the Somas system we are talking about, not the Fraser. There is a very large difference in how the Alberni sockeye are managed. I gather you have sat in on the Area 23 Harvest Round Table meetings then and are well versed on how the fishery is managed by all the stakeholders sitting at the table making fishery decisions together? As in this season, where the science advice was run forecasts (3 main models) all showed a bleak outlook and all the stakeholders supported a precautionary approach to not allow any fishing by any sector until we could complete a full stock assessment using the test fishery and DNA stock composition to assess the run strength and composition (there are 2 main stocks - GCL and Sprout). The bottom line is when you say the fishery is mis-managed and politically influenced what you are suggesting is that all the stakeholders sitting at the table making those management decisions are somehow politically motivated to make fishery decisions that are not based on a primary sustainability focus. That is simply not the case. This isn't a fishery run by suits in Ottawa.

 

[pennel]

This is the Somas system we are talking about, not the Fraser. There is a very large difference in how the Alberni sockeye are managed. I gather you have sat in on the Area 23 Harvest Round Table meetings then and are well versed on how the fishery is managed by all the stakeholders sitting at the table making fishery decisions together? As in this season, where the science advice was run forecasts (3 main models) all showed a bleak outlook and all the stakeholders supported a precautionary approach to not allow any fishing by any sector until we could complete a full stock assessment using the test fishery and DNA stock composition to assess the run strength and composition (there are 2 main stocks - GCL and Sprout). The bottom line is when you say the fishery is mis-managed and politically influenced what you are suggesting is that all the stakeholders sitting at the table making those management decisions are somehow politically motivated to make fishery decisions that are not based on a primary sustainability focus. That is simply not the case. This isn't a fishery run by suits in Ottawa.

Well sir, I hope you are right but you will have to forgive my skepticism based on the way things have gone across here.

 

[steeler]

This year the correct decision was made that doesn't mean other years it hasn't gone that way and that could be considered poor management in my opinion as well. It isn't only Ottawa suit dummies that are influenced and make decisions to harvest over protect although they do it almost exclusively and the influence is no different in any other form of management that involves "all share holders". The summer run steelhead are all but wiped out throughout the somass system as a main result of the commercial sockeye fishery whether it is commercial or food fishery and that has been of little concern to dfo or shareholders because no one is making money from them. We have had several poor years for sockeye in a row so this shouldn't be coming as a surprise add in horrible river conditions from droughts and over logging both watersheds, increased competition for food sources with billions of hatchery pinks and chum from Alaska and russia and this decision should have been made already three years ago.

 

[Last Chance]

Brutal. Very bad. I have never seen a run be "late" when they were not where we expect them, not to say it can't happen.

 

[searun]

This year the correct decision was made that doesn't mean other years it hasn't gone that way and that could be considered poor management in my opinion as well. It isn't only Ottawa suit dummies that are influenced and make decisions to harvest over protect although they do it almost exclusively and the influence is no different in any other form of management that involves "all share holders". The summer run steelhead are all but wiped out throughout the somass system as a main result of the commercial sockeye fishery whether it is commercial or food fishery and that has been of little concern to dfo or shareholders because no one is making money from them. We have had several poor years for sockeye in a row so this shouldn't be coming as a surprise add in horrible river conditions from droughts and over logging both watersheds, increased competition for food sources with billions of hatchery pinks and chum from Alaska and russia and this decision should have been made already three years ago.

Fair enough, so how was the summer steelhead in 2019? Wasn't much of a commercial sockeye fishery in 2019, before it was closed down. Will be interested to see what the Summers look like this fall with no fishery taking place. Seems to me that we had some pretty decent Summer run fishing over the past few years, I don't have the numbers sitting in front of me, but they appear to be doing a lot better than the Winters. What explains that?

 

[steeler]

comparing the winter run and summer run is like comparing nothing to next to nothing. last year was not good for summers the year before slightly less bad. the reality in the water is different than on paper having myself fished the system for almost 25 years it is getting worse year over year and not netting fish that aren't returning wont equate to much in the short term, the damage has been done and it will take many years with out that pressure to see a true change in numbers. not trying to derail from the sockeye issue the steelhead issue wasn't my point but is part of the over exploitation on this system in general by all users.

 

[Cookie's Cutter]

Watch out there is supposed to be a decent chinook run this year. It is going to get annihilated.

 

[searun]

Well then we appear to agree, winters are not performing as well as summers. Seems to be fairly self-evident that we can't always pin the tail on the donkey by making simple relationship association. Sockeye fisheries aren't necessarily the culprit. I do agree that some of the net fisheries appear to be responsible for removals of steelhead. Steelhead by-catch is monitored and reported. From what I have seen those numbers are fairly small. The question really comes down to run timing of steelhead when they stage to enter the river. The Stamp Falls data shows consistently that the main migration through the counting fence takes place in the first week of September. That likely places steelhead in the Alberni Inlet during the Chinook fishery for the peak migration run timing as opposed to the during the sockeye fishery. From a net fishery perspective the Chinook web is larger, and most likely to pass small steelhead through. The coho fishery is later in September, where they use small mesh nets - that may account for some interceptions.

I would suggest that if you are interested in the data, perhaps request the count of steelhead by-catch. Lets see what you come up with and go from there. Another good avenue for you is to start sitting in on the Area 23 Harvest Round Table and look for an opportunity to ask those questions. It would be helpful.

 

[steeler]

Not trying to place all the blame on commercial sockeye fishing that wasn't what I was getting at the same thing hampering the sockeye in the ocean are impacting steelhead as well. They feed in the same areas and on the same food so the increase in competition with hatchery pinks in northern waters is making it harder for the few going out as well. When the numbers of sockeye passing through the counters is given that doesn't account for the mortality while waiting to access spawning grounds which is taking longer each year and warm lake temps are taking their toll on the socks waiting in them. There are fewer fish actually spawning and those that do are doing so in rivers that can blow out super quick with drought stressed and over logged basins. A single large rain event any year has the ability to destroy these stressed runs and that environmental aspect is not monitored. All salmon stocks coast wide are on the edge and without a serious infusion of research and monitoring all year to all aspects of their survival this will be the new normal. next thing dfo will blame covid for the declines just like every other sector that's been hanging out on the edge of success and bankruptcy. Another aspect to winter troubles is they out migrate from spawning right into the fishery down the river and while it may be monitored well now and the season shorter that wasn't the case for many years and it was longer and much more intensive with little scrutiny. Probably the biggest problem for the winters though is the hatchery removing brood stock to the point at where they are destroying the run. The very fact that healthy ready to spawn fish are being taken from this depressed stock before reproducing much healthier stronger natural runs to make a catch and kill fishery is the definition of poor management soon there will be no more brood stock to take.

 

[Whitebuck]

Great post. Couldn't sum up wild steelhead broodstock better!

 

[chromatose007]

Who coulda' predicted that out of control netting would lead to the collapse of the run? That's just crazy talk...

 

[searun]

comparing the winter run and summer run is like comparing nothing to next to nothing. last year was not good for summers the year before slightly less bad. the reality in the water is different than on paper having myself fished the system for almost 25 years it is getting worse year over year and not netting fish that aren't returning wont equate to much in the short term, the damage has been done and it will take many years with out that pressure to see a true change in numbers. not trying to derail from the sockeye issue the steelhead issue wasn't my point but is part of the over exploitation on this system in general by all users.

I agree with most of what you say. Another critical factor is the impact of pinniped predation on out-migrant smolts and also adults - especially in the lower river.

The climate related impacts are becoming more critical and have in recent years been topic of more in-depth analysis. DFO actually has been monitoring climate related water issues and much of what you posted is actually ground covered in the latest sets of Round Table meetings. What is really missing is the Province of BC has all but walked away from their responsibilities for managing Habitat and Water Quality. We need them back at the table in a big way.

Turning my thoughts back to the former Habitat Restoration Program, which as a large step in the right direction by the Glen Clarke NDP government - and AXED by the Gordon Campbell Liberals. Some ongoing discussions with the Province to attempt to get them back to the table - time will tell. Its a mess with competing Ministries, and no one Ministry taking accountability to lead the charge and coordinate a Salmon focused agenda.

Spending our time picking up bread crumbs arguing about fishery related mortalities, while ignoring the real issues that are more directly responsible for the poor stock recovery is a failed strategy IMO. Interior Thompson Coho for example, where we have an Exploitation Rate (ER) of 3% for the past 20+ years has resulted in......No recovery. It is a failed strategy, and one followed by the Province while managing the decline of steelhead. What we really need is management that focuses on the core barriers to recovery that are within our capacity to address - Habitat, Enhancement, Water Quality, Predation. Chasing the shinny penny of fishery measures is easy, obvious, and allows government to appear to be doing something, while investing NO skin in the game. An epic fail strategy IMO.

 

[wildmanyeah]

The Test Fishery Has Started

https://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fos2_Internet/Testfish/rptdtfdparm.cfm?fsub_id=236



Last year:

 

[Derby]

Hearing there is some good signs out of Barkley ..lots of jumpers been seen the last couple days.. big tides and the first good number seem to always show up around fathers day.. guess we will see...

 

[terrin]

Nice steady flow thru the fish view this morning.

 

[searun]

So far the test fishery data isn't looking promising. Faint hope that we have a run timing shift...but not likely. I had same reports from Barkley of finning schools and jumpers, but that could also be mis-leading. Would be nice if the run forecast is wrong.

 

[Teal]

Well, the upside is if the gill nets are kept out of the river perhaps what is left of the summer run steelhead will make it to their spawning beds.

 

[searun]

Just to help frame the return this year as compared to same period over the past 18 years, as you can see 2020 ranks #15 in terms of lowest to highest returns. The DFO modelling isn't wrong, and the decision to keep the fisheries closed until there was solid evidence we have a stronger run (and perhaps the low numbers to this point are explained as the run is late arriving), I think was a good approach.


Year to Total adults counted 18 May to 9 June

2006 = 1401
2008 = 2601
2007 = 4895
2020 = 7163
2004 = 7705
2019 = 7727
2002 = 9651
2017 = 9887
2005 = 9966
2018 = 10609
2009 = 10952
2013 = 11132
2014 = 11468
2003 = 13109
2016 = 14136
2012 = 14276
2015 = 14419
2011 = 23855
2010 = 27792