Whole in the Water
Well-Known Member
Here is a great post form the BCFishingReports.com forum on ideas on habitat restoration. Some good ideas and food for thought.
Yes this site already does a great deal to educate anglers and to encourage catch and release fishing and as such I commend all who participate in it. However there is much more that can be done.
First off lets seriously consider the nursery of our fisheries and what key factors are really causing the historically recent catastrophic demise.
What are the first effective things that we could possibly do to mitigate this collapse?
The causes of stream habit loss to those who have been in the bush are obvious. Namely the denuding of and lack of water retention on critical spawning streams.
How can we deal with steam habitat loss caused by the overheating and lack of flow in glide and pool waters on our salmon streams? Is there a feasible and cost effective answer to this ecological disaster?
The short answer is perhaps. It is entirely possible to identify the critical heating areas on streams that have lost over-stream cover due to industrial activities and other reasons. Then use extensive and essentially inexpensive shading with existing farming technology to protect these areas from UV radiation and overheating. The shading technology used to protect ginseng plants from overheating could easily be adapted for this purpose. The technology that I refer to is wind resistant and can be temporarily erected on sections of streams to both provide over-stream cover and would also be reusable. It can be rolled up like a patio umbrella in winter rain and snow season or even removed in easy access areas.
Is this costly? yes, could it this be effective? Perhaps. The logistics are obvious but not unreasonable considering the alternative.
There are huge numbers of denuded streams, especially on hill sides because of our activities in areas that need to have overs-stream cover especially in years like this one that see drought conditions.
What else can be done to mitigate high water temps on streams during the summer Chinook, Sockeye and even on some summer run Steelhead streams that are still viable? Streams like the San Juan, the Gordon, the Klanawa, the Nitinat, the Nahmint, the Nipkish and a whole host of other similar streams all over the province that have had the forest denuded in their head waters.
Perhaps temporary removable, controllable small strategic dams with artificial over-stream cover can replace the work that beavers once did in holding back side channel streams and thus cooling the flow in some appropriate areas of streams that have been denuded.
In Washington State they are starting to finally see the folly of large dams, but just maybe small ones might do some good in very specific areas.
Fish ladders might also aid on some streams where a new run can be established or the removal of log jams that have occurred and blocked fish is called for in places that can support anadromous fish.
The effective stewardship of our shared environment must reach beyond the artificial boundaries of our political economy.
I truly hope that some here on this forum actually read this post and carefully consider advocating for these simple ideas as we need young and enthusiastic individuals to take up the cause and not fall prey to the political rot and negativity that seems to predominate our current environmental policies.
In short the ecological price we are paying for our activities is far too expensive, remediation is expensive, but the price of doing nothing is astronomical.
Eric
Yes this site already does a great deal to educate anglers and to encourage catch and release fishing and as such I commend all who participate in it. However there is much more that can be done.
First off lets seriously consider the nursery of our fisheries and what key factors are really causing the historically recent catastrophic demise.
What are the first effective things that we could possibly do to mitigate this collapse?
The causes of stream habit loss to those who have been in the bush are obvious. Namely the denuding of and lack of water retention on critical spawning streams.
How can we deal with steam habitat loss caused by the overheating and lack of flow in glide and pool waters on our salmon streams? Is there a feasible and cost effective answer to this ecological disaster?
The short answer is perhaps. It is entirely possible to identify the critical heating areas on streams that have lost over-stream cover due to industrial activities and other reasons. Then use extensive and essentially inexpensive shading with existing farming technology to protect these areas from UV radiation and overheating. The shading technology used to protect ginseng plants from overheating could easily be adapted for this purpose. The technology that I refer to is wind resistant and can be temporarily erected on sections of streams to both provide over-stream cover and would also be reusable. It can be rolled up like a patio umbrella in winter rain and snow season or even removed in easy access areas.
Is this costly? yes, could it this be effective? Perhaps. The logistics are obvious but not unreasonable considering the alternative.
There are huge numbers of denuded streams, especially on hill sides because of our activities in areas that need to have overs-stream cover especially in years like this one that see drought conditions.
What else can be done to mitigate high water temps on streams during the summer Chinook, Sockeye and even on some summer run Steelhead streams that are still viable? Streams like the San Juan, the Gordon, the Klanawa, the Nitinat, the Nahmint, the Nipkish and a whole host of other similar streams all over the province that have had the forest denuded in their head waters.
Perhaps temporary removable, controllable small strategic dams with artificial over-stream cover can replace the work that beavers once did in holding back side channel streams and thus cooling the flow in some appropriate areas of streams that have been denuded.
In Washington State they are starting to finally see the folly of large dams, but just maybe small ones might do some good in very specific areas.
Fish ladders might also aid on some streams where a new run can be established or the removal of log jams that have occurred and blocked fish is called for in places that can support anadromous fish.
The effective stewardship of our shared environment must reach beyond the artificial boundaries of our political economy.
I truly hope that some here on this forum actually read this post and carefully consider advocating for these simple ideas as we need young and enthusiastic individuals to take up the cause and not fall prey to the political rot and negativity that seems to predominate our current environmental policies.
In short the ecological price we are paying for our activities is far too expensive, remediation is expensive, but the price of doing nothing is astronomical.
Eric
