Here is an example synopsis of the current situation down on the Fraser system regarding sockeye salmon management and DFO by Dr craig Orr of Watershed watch.
Just substitute Skeena for Fraser and all the same criticism applies. Again, the call...actually the public DEMAND for the federal government to reform DFO is loud and clear.
Showing posts with label Resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Resources. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Editorial on Fraser Salmon and DFO
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Atlantic Salmon Article of interest
Excellent article by Orri Vigfusson of the North Atlantic Salmon Fund outlinging the need to manage fish stocks for abundance not basic minimum spawning requirements. Obviously something we need to continue pushing here in BC as commercial industry and DFO always try to defer to the bare minimums required for any stock.
Northern Ireland forced to change salmon policy
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Orri 
On 14th June 2010 The Loughs Agency, Foyle Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission, announced that due to a collapse in the salmon stock of the River Finn, all netting in the greater Foyle river system area would be stopped for a minimum of four years to promote stock recovery. Angling would be permitted, but only on a catch and release basis, as a result of a previously agreed protocol requested by anglers to help guard against poaching and pollution, and agreed by The Loughs Agency.
This represents a milestone in the development of salmon fisheries policy in the North West of Ireland; the Foyle system is a cross-border river system administered on a joint basis by two sovereign Governments, The Republic of Ireland, and The United Kingdom.
This change in policy has come about to protect stocks, but also because a failure to act by the Loughs Agency would have rendered The Republic of Ireland and The United Kingdom liable to infraction proceedings from the EU for breach of the Habitats Directive.
The history of salmon policy in the North of Ireland is not an advertisement for good Government. It has been characterised in the early years by a bureaucratic neglect to the extent that when NASF asked the responsible senior Civil Servant to outline Government policy on salmon, he was unable to do so, simply because no policy existed.
In the face of falling stocks, through pressure from anglers led by NASF and others, Government in time were forced to set out their policy on salmon - which amounted to neglect of duty. Instead of looking at the problem, Government simply allowed mixed stock interceptory netting to continue largely unhindered.
It is an interesting commentary on salmon policy in the North of Ireland that Governments always end up doing what NASF and anglers tell them they must do, but there is a lethal time lag while they do what they can to hide the fact that their previous policies were in error. Saving face, it seems, is more important than saving the salmon.
When NASF told Governments in the early 1990s that we needed to stop netting and conserve the freshwater habitats, we were literally laughed at; we were told in fact that the Foyle salmon netting effort may need to be increased, “to make sure we don’t allow too many salmon to reach the spawning grounds”. This is typical of the wilful refusal to look to the future that NASF has faced down through the years.
Time and again when NASF submitted plans to reduce or buy out netting, we were told it was not necessary, Government had everything in hand; all would be well, the bureaucrats knew much more about salmon than mere anglers in NASF. In fact, all was not well, and it now turns out that the anglers and NASF were right all along.
The collapse in the salmon stock of the River Finn must now mark a complete break from the misguided policies of the past as promoted by the Loughs Agency and supported by the two sovereign Governments, The Republic of Ireland, and The United Kingdom.
The Lough Agency has used models based upon minimum spawning escapement levels instead of listening to the NASF call for a return to abundance and the creation of a stronger population base through greater numbers. We at NASF criticize the narrow focus on egg deposition targets because rivers need far more spawning fish than are necessary to satisfy meagre theoretical minimum levels.
The practice of calculating backwards from juvenile habitat surveys to an estimation of required egg deposits is insufficient on its own, because it ignores the salmon's need for the diversity and protection against threats that abundant numbers provide. It also takes no account of the normal but highly variable occurrence of lethal weather, pollution, and other events that inflict high egg and fry mortality. There is good reason why salmon populations are prodigious when it comes to spawning. The fish deposit large numbers of eggs because so few of their ova survive and every season is different in terms of the unpredictability of weather, damaging events, and water levels.
It is not reasonable ignore these diverse factors and assume that a one-fits-all scenario can be safely constructed on a computer which does not recognise what mother nature has been very successfully doing for the last ten thousand years. Given the current abysmally low number of adult salmon in many rivers, the only rational strategy is to maximize egg deposition from the current runs and to work simultaneously to re-establish the environmental qualities of the rivers.
In the Loughs Agency area, this milestone presents an opportunity which must not be squandered.
We are running out of time to save the salmon, we can no longer afford the lethal time lag while Government Agencies try to save face. We need a complete break from a sterile dependence solely on minimum Conservation Limit targets; while these may form a useful contribution to a management regime, we must no longer rely on the concept of minimum numbers as targets for spawning.
We must firstly negotiate with the remaining netsmen to bring a permanent end to all netting in the entire Foyle area, with suitable safeguards on angling exploitation. Then we must embark on a long term programme of habitat conservation, protection, and enhancement, to maximise freshwater productivity. We must strive to achieve the NASF objective of abundance of salmon in our rivers, and to aim to achieve this every year. Only by doing this can we protect our salmon runs for the future.
Orri Vigfusson. NASF
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
New salmon plant in Terrace
Interesting article here on a new salmon processing plant in Terrace using only sustainably caught fish.
Good work by Patagonia, Skeena Wild, and the business people involved.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
New book on Skeena Steelhead
Here is an announcement of a new book on the history and management of Skeena Steelhead by Robert S Hooton.
This should be an interesting read.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Lake Babine sockeye fishery
Is this the start of the demise of the gillnet??? If a greater percentage of the sockeye catch can occur up at Babine it would sure limit damage to our steelhead and other depressed species and stocks.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/lake-babine-natives-celebrate-revived-sockeye-fishery/article2166433/
Friday, August 26, 2011
New DFO Tyee Webpage
The regular DFO web page for information on the Tyee test Fishery has been updated. You can see a new link taking you to this page
On the new page, the top link Daily Tyee Test Fishery Summary Report is the one to use for all species information. The bottom link Daily Tyee Test Fishery Escapement Report is just sockeye escapement information.
And in checking just now we see an great Index number of 12.46 for steelhead for August 25th...that's nice.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Sockeye & Steelhead Run Timing
Here is a graph we have posted previously, but is worth posting again.
We will work on putting the commercial fishing effort into this to show the negative overlap. This is disconcerting for 2011 with the talk of industry wanting to access the forecast pink surplus well into August.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Babine Counting Fence Condition
Thanks to Pierce Clegg, of Norlakes Lodges, for sending this image showing the current condition of the Babine Counting Fence. The water is still really high and the amount of debris on the fence will be challenging to deal with.
With the extended high water the operation of this facility is delayed until the end of the month at least according to DFO Updates.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Pipeline follow up
A while back we posted about old natural gas pipelines still in various northwest rivers. (Still no action or replies back from DFO managers on what they plan to do about it, by the way.)
But, this article DFO Fishery Officer cuts by Mark Hume sheds some light on the subject of habitat protection by DFO:
"....Reported violations of laws protecting fish habitat fell dramatically on the West Coast – by 1,000 per cent one year – after the government cut fisheries officers, reduced patrols, and adopted a new policy that favoured voluntary compliance by industry, over enforcement..."
This article just reinforces what we see on the ground up here. No action taken by DFO on an obvious longstanding habitat protection issue...and we heard industry's response of preferring to leave the pipe where it is, so we can assume no further action will be taken on this.
Monday, December 06, 2010
Old Pipelines still in northwest rivers
Here is an issue that comes up periodically up our way: the remains of old Pacific Northen Gas pipelines stuck in our rivers. The last image below of the Copper river was sent to us just recently by Pierce Clegg. The first three are of the Kitimat river from Terrace guide Gill McKean.
The last image shows PNG gas pipeline in the lower Copper river. Presumably these are the remnants from the damage that occurred several years ago due to a large landslide. However, how the pipe got there really isnt the issue. The issue is why is it still there? Where are our habitat protection regulations and enforcement bodies? This is major river pollution that has been allowed to remain on-site for years now.
And the lower Copper is only one of several sites with pipe lying around like this.
Here's a response from PNG to a recent inquiry on this subject:
Thanks for bringing your concerns to Pacific Northern Gas on this issue, in the past Pacific Northern Gas and the DFO have been working on these issues as they arise each and every year and will continue to do so in the future. As you being a fishing guide or a member of the Northern BC Steelhead Guides Association you may understand what is required in the removal of pipe sections in any stream, rivers or watershed systems in our area. There is a large amount of paperwork required as well with DFO approvals in any removals within a stream bearing fish habitat, reds etc as well as the associated cost in completing these removals in a safe reliable manner. We will be contacting our Environmental team with regards to this issue and hopefully can resolve this concern ASAP. Once Pacific Northern Gas and the DFO reach the necessary agreements and approvals we would be glad to keep you informed on this process of removal once reached.
Again Thank you for bringing this forward to Pacific Northern Gas.
Yours truly,
Manager Construction Maintenance
Pacific Northern Gas Ltd.
PNG almost make it sound like its the public's inquiries that are 'the issue' to be dealt with...not the actually cleaning up of their mess. Time to get DFO to enforce the regulations and order PNG to start the remediation process. These pipes have remained in our rivers for far too long already....Time to clean it up.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Moricetown Tagging program info
Here is the last MOE Update to October 1st for the Moricetown Tagging Program.
Update for Week 12 (ending October 1st) for the Wet’sewet’en Steelhead Tagging Program at Moricetown on the Bulkley River
As of October 1st , the stratified estimate (i.e. roughly correcting for a one week migration delay) for steelhead arriving at Moricetown that are suspected to overwinter throughout the Bulkley/Morice watershed in 2010/2011 is 36,520 steelhead (Table 1) that have arrived immediately downstream of Moricetown canyon.
As requested, I have also used the non-stratified Petersen method to estimate the sub-total of abundance for only steelhead that have moved upstream of Moricetown Canyon up to October 1st which ranged from 22,290 if 40% fallback to 33,429 with only 10% fallback.
Here is a short summary of other points noted following the site visit on October 4th and based on the data update:
• There was a significant flood on September 26th that washed out the dip net shelter, washed away one of the beach seines and raised the water level over a metre.
• The fisheries were closed until September 29th, and the high water conditions resulted in significantly reduced efforts at both the beach seine and dip net locations last week.
• Despite the poor sampling conditions, there appeared to be a surge of steelhead at the Canyon Dip Net in Week 12 based on catch and observations.
• Due to high water, the beach seine was limited to the campground site with a shortened net which reduced the efficiency of the beach seine sampling in week 12 compared to island sets in week 11.
• The surge in the steelhead abundance estimate in week 12 (i.e. increase >5000 steelhead) is related to the peak catch by the Beach seine in week 11 and the average time delay of a week from beach seine to dip net fisheries.
• The sampling efficiency appears to be improving this week as the river level continues to drop, so it will be very interesting to see the catch data for week 13 and 14 as the water level recedes.
• It sounds like sampling is going to make it through to October 15th this year.
(There is also a Table showing more detailed information....but it does not copy/paste in a properly formatted view into Blogger. If you'd like this info....just send me a note and I will forward via regular email. douguide@telus.net )
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
New book on the Babine River coming soon
It is our pleasure to announce an upcoming new book on the angling history of the Babine River has been brought to our attention. Co-authored by guide Pierce Clegg and writer Peter McMullan, the book presents a glimpse into the world of the Babine river steelhead fraternity. With a foreword by noted writer and columnist Mark Hume and containing chapters from various sources such as longtime clients, other guides, colorful locals, the book looks like one of those 'instant classics'.
Says co-author, Peter McMullan "...It been a lengthy process for all sorts of reasons but we think we have a worthwhile book to show for our efforts. It's a coffee table format, 8.5" x 11", with 192 pages, a full Index and more than 150 photos and original illustrations, the majority of them by fishing artist Dave Hall, from Glide, OR who you may well have met or at least know of from his work for recent steelhead books by Dec Hogan and Lani Waller. There will be two versions of Babine, a regular hard cover edition with a dust cover ($49.95 US) and a special numbered, signed and boxed issue of 200 ($195 US)."
McMullan continues to describe how "...all authors' royalties from sales will go straight to the Babine Watershed Monitoring Trust along with a special additional contribution from publisher Frank Amato so the more books sold the greater the benefit to the Babine watershed and indeed the whole Skeena System."
Apparently, copies are close to reaching our shores as we speak and should be in circulation shortly. Pre-orders are being taken at Amato Books:http://www.amatobooks.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AmatobooksCom&Product_Code=9781571884626
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
BC FFF Newsletter
Here is the latest BC FFF newsletter outlining alot of their good work.
http://bcfff.bc.ca/newsletter/FlyLines.V10N1.pdf
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
More MSC info
Some good info from Skeena Wild on the MSC Certification process as a backgrounder for the previous post.
http://skeenawild.org/news/archive/conservationists-launch-objection-to-eco-certification-of-troubled-salmon-f/
Friday, January 01, 2010
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Another examination of DFO: David Suzuki Foundation Report
Also mentioned in Tyee Bridge's article on DFO management is this article by the David Suzuki Foundation. The backgrounder link copied below gives a short, but concise criticism of DFO.
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/Oceans/DFO_Backgrounder.pdf
"An assessment of Fisheries and Oceans Canada Pacific region’s effectiveness in meeting its mandate"
The Press Release for the 2005 Report states alot of the very same concerns we harp on about year after year. The full Report is well worth reading.
The report lays bare DFO’s steady decline in effectiveness over the past several decades, describing a complex bureaucracy that is unable to live up to its mandate to protect fish stocks and the marine environment. Key challenges within DFO include:
· Unwelcome political interference, in particular, the promotion of aquaculture, directly contradict DFO’s responsibility to protect wild fisheries;
· An overly complex and dilapidated bureaucracy sees an ineffectual "universe of only partially-responsible departments";
· An inadequate budget, and misallocation of existing funds.
"West Coast fish stocks are in deep trouble, and the world is watching how Canada manages its imperiled salmon runs," says Mr. Wareham. He points to a recent article in the Economist, which suggests that DFO is in "denial" about its failings, and hints that B.C.’s wild salmon stocks "seem to be swimming towards the same fate" of the east coast cod fishery.
BC Business article on DFO: 'Managed To Fail'
Here is a link to an interesting article on DFO management by writer Tyee Bridge.
The focus seems more south coast than north coast but does delve into ITQ's and the usual litany of DFO problems.
Photo copyright ©Hubert Kang, BC Business Magazine
Friday, December 12, 2008
2008 DFO Season Review Meeting
The 2008 Season Review meeting was held by DFO in Prince Rupert on December 8th. The event is attended by representatives of all sectors and includes an overview of the management of the 2008 fishery. Presentations were made by DFO North Coast staff on various topics including commercial( both marine and inland) fishery catch statistics, Conservation & Protection, Habitat and Enhancement, and Stock Assessment.
The afternoon had presentations on various fishery related projects throughout the region, with special attention on the Kitwanga sockeye, the Slamgeesh sockeye, Lakelese sockeye....all depressed stocks of concern.
From our observation, we would have to say this event was poorly attended. There appeared to be more DFO personnel in attendance than any other user group or sector. The NCSA has made requests that this meeting for 2009 be moved to an inland location such as Terrace or Smithers. This would better reflect the shift in focus underway in the fishery to more inland harvesting plus involve the steelhead sector more.
The 2008 Season Review document is available on-line at the link below:
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/northcoast/post-seasonreview/default.htm
As a quick overview, some of the highlights...or lowlights if you will....include:
-the Tyee Test Fishery overestimated the sockeye run by 38% in 2008
-initially forecast at 1.3 million with very little commercial opportunity, the sockeye run was estimated to be as high as 2.5+ million in-season: the final sockeye run count was presented as 2,166,000
-the inflated sockeye numbers resulted in a substantial commercial fishery where gillnetters fished over their 10 year average for openings with 12 plus 2 'chinook' openings
-the Tyee overestimate, coupled with a condensed commercial fishing season, caused weekly harvest rates to be extremely high with some weeks enduring 60%+ rates
-the steelhead impacts are still not known according to Stock Assessment....this some 4 months after the fishery is over.
-the Tyee overestimate applies directly to the steelhead Index also: so this years total of 193.84 is actually only 120.18 after subtracting the 38% error of 73.66 basis points
-steelhead run size estimate goes from 47,490 (193.84 Tyee Index) down to 29,444 (120.18 Tyee Index)....under the required escapement of 35,000
-initial information on steelhead impacts was 10% for the aggregate run and possibly up to 3 times that for the early run. However, that was prior to the Tyee overestimate so now impacts on steelhead could be quite a bit higher.
-it appears the early run not only bore the brunt of the commercial fishing effort but got severely impacted by non-selective fishing methods....i.e gillnetting
-the 'official' tally of steelhead 'released' in the Area 4 gillnet fishery was presented as 3,336. This info would probably come from hail counts, and logbooks from gillnetters which even DFO concedes is not the most reliable information
-(remember our number crunching exercise from the summer for gillnet impacts on steelhead came up with figures of 18,120 stld. encountered and 10,000+ dead at 60% mortality and 12,000+ dead at 70% mortality just for Area 4 gillnets)
-add the this the First Nation FSC Area 4 mortality of 1800; the impacts of the seine fleet fishing 6 days a week 24 hours a day; plus the Area 3 impacts; the Alaskan impacts, the Tyee Test Fishery,....well, you get the idea...the steelhead run suffers tremendous impacts
-other concerns presented include; chum salmon, pink salmon, Kitwanga sockeye, Slamgeesh sockeye, Lakelese sockeye
The NCSA prepared a submission for this meeting plus a list of direct questions. These can be viewed here:
http://www.ncsteelheadalliance.ca/textpattern/index.php?event=file&step=file_edit&id=23&sort=&dir=desc&page=1&search_method=&crit=
http://www.ncsteelheadalliance.ca/textpattern/index.php?event=file&step=file_edit&id=22&sort=&dir=desc&page=1&search_method=&crit=
We have submitted both papers to DFO and hope to get responses soon. We will also post the responses to our questions when we receive them from DFO.
We will also be doing more in depth posts on some of these issues, like the Tyee overestimate, in the coming weeks.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Overfishing pushing salmon stocks to near collapse, study warns
In a December 3rd article in the Globe & Mail newspaper, writer Mark Hume brings to our attention a study on salmon stocks done by the University of California and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation.
Hume writes "...Salmon stocks in British Columbia are on the brink of collapse largely because the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has consistently allowed too many fish to be killed in commercial and recreational fisheries, according to a new research paper. The high exploitation of stocks - which draws parallels with the destruction of Atlantic cod by overfishing - may be more to blame for the decline of Pacific salmon than global warming or poor ocean conditions, says the study assessing salmon management practices, published today by the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.
The researchers, from the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the University of California, also conclude that DFO has been managing on the basis of biased data because it has stopped monitoring hundreds of streams with weak runs, choosing to focus on stronger runs only. As a result, managers have a flawed picture that suggests salmon stocks are much healthier than they really are."
Hume continues describing the study "...The researchers said that based on the monitoring of 137 streams between 2000 and 2005, DFO found 35 per cent of salmon runs in northern B.C. were classified as depressed. But an assessment based on 215 streams that included weak stocks rated 75 per cent of runs as depressed.
"The lack of information [fisheries managers have] is troubling," said Misty MacDuffee, one of three biologists on the research team.
"The precautionary approach has to be at the forefront of fisheries management ... but not having accurate information will lead to overfishing, as it did with Atlantic cod," she said.
Hume continues describing the study with emphais on escapement targets, he notes "...The paper examined data over a 55-year period in order to evaluate DFO's effectiveness in hitting escapement targets.
Escapement targets refer to the number of salmon that escape commercial, recreational and native food fisheries to make it to the spawning grounds.
Escapement targets are considered the bottom line in fisheries management and are used to justify fishery catch limits.
If an adequate number of fish are allowed to spawn, the rest are considered surplus and can be caught in commercial, sport or native food fisheries.
But the research paper, "Ghost runs: management and status assessment of Pacific salmon returning to British Columbia's central and north coasts," found that since 1950 DFO has failed to reach escapement targets 50 per cent of the time.
And during the 2000-2005 period, chum, sockeye and chinook runs failed to hit escapement targets up to 85 per cent of the time.
"Data ... which span nearly six decades, show that management has repeatedly not met DFO's own target levels. This resulted in diminished runs for all species in nearly every decade," the researchers state.
"Although climate and ocean survival likely play substantial roles, multiple lines of evidence suggest that over exploitation may be the greatest cause of salmon declines across the Northeast Pacific," they say.
The researchers say cutting catch rates can have dramatic results and they note some stocks that recovered when fishing overexploitation was stopped."
The researchers were Michael Price, Nicola Temple and Ms. MacDuffee, all staff biologists with the Raincoast, a B.C. non-profit organization, and Chris Darimont, Department of Environmental Studies, University of California.
The NCSA took the liberty of forwarding the electronic version of the Hume article to the DFO Pacific Region Director General Paul Sprout and the North Coast DFO office just in case they hadnt seen it. Hopefully, they examine the article and study carefully.
NCSA
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Kitwanga Update to Sept.1st
Here's the latest update from the Kitwanga counting fence. Information courtesy of Gitanyow Fisheries Authority
The Kitwanga River Salmon Enumeration Facility has been in operation since July 11, 2008 under slightly higher than normal water conditions, and total salmon counts to the night of September 1, 2008 are as follows:
Sockeye = 214
Chinook = 1,431
Pink = 1,266
Chum = 11
Coho = 18
A total of 214 Sockeye have moved through the fence to date. Based on average run timings seen previously approximately 69% (max. = 86% / min. = 29%) of the run has usually moves through the KSEF by September 1 in any given year. If this years run timing holds true to average run timings observed previously, we predict that the sockeye escapement to the Kitwanga for 2008 will be ~ 300 fish.
Chinook escapement through the KSEF has to be slow, To date the escapement is the the lowest ever recorded since accurate enumeration started in 2003. Usually by September 1 our chinook escapements >2,350 and ~98% of the run would have moved through the site in any given year.
Pink salmon returns are the lowest on record since accurate enumeration commenced in 2003.
Very few chum / coho salmon have been counted to date.
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