With lower than expected sockeye salmon returns in 2014, some scientists and environmentalists are criticizing the proposal of Fisheries and Oceans Canada to increase the catch of Fraser River sockeye in 2015.
Overall, he says, the South Thompson run was 94.5 per cent of the average, but was just 30 per cent of the 2010 record run.
“It appears that the problems encountered in 2009, which led to the Cohen Inquiry, may be reappearing,” he explained, noting the multi-million-dollar, taxpayer- funded report has basically been shelved.
Stu Cartwright, acting area director of Fisheries and Oceans Canada for the B.C. Interior, agrees there are many variables to consider but defends DFO’s plans which, he says, are carefully designed to manage stocks in a way that supports conservation and sustainability while maximizing fishing opportunities for First Nations, commercial and recreational fisheries.
He says DFO uses techniques and historical data to collect information based on many variables.
“We create models to make the best educated predictions and sometimes we’re going to be right and sometimes wrong,” he says, noting the science is not precise and major collapses such as experienced in 2009 do happen. “I don’t want to debate who’s right and who’s wrong; all I know is our science people are doing everything they can.”
But Aaron Hill, executive director of B.C.’s Watershed Watch, disagrees.
He says while the 2014 Fraser River run was still good, DFO allowed very aggressive fishing based on what they thought they were seeing in the mouth of the river.
“They saw what looked like big numbers, but they were driven by a few populations,” he says, pointing out 60 per cent of the endangered Cultus Lake run was captured in fisheries and the run failed to reach recovery goals. “They have a draft fishing plan that would see harvest rates up again, but this year we’re expecting a much smaller return.”
Hill suspects a 1.4 billion pink salmon hatchery that augments pink salmon populations in the Pacific Ocean is also a concern because they compete with the sockeye for a limited food supply.
As well, he says a large body of warm water off the coast of B.C., combined with a mild El Nino is killing off marine animals and sea birds.
“Those warm ocean conditions make it really tough for Pacific salmon, and we also have low snowpacks on the South Coast making lower water levels in the Fraser River,” he said, warning of further problems if the area experiences another hot summer.
“With all these risk factors that are lining up, it’s not a good time to increase fishing rates. We already have plenty of fishing opportunities. It’s way too risky.”
Hill is frustrated by fisheries plans he says have far too much input from those who benefit.
He explains that scientists with the Pacific Salmon Commission, a Canada-US organization created to manage the run, recommend run sizes.
“But the run size that is actually used for managing the fishery is decided by the Fraser River Panel, which is mostly comprised of fishermen, and they, over and over again throughout the season, adopted a run size that was larger than what the Pacific Salmon Commission was recommending,” Hill says. “That allowed more fishing and, at the end of season, we find out they overestimated substantially.”
Cartwright, however, says the Fraser River Panel is comprised of Canadian and U.S. government reps and technical committees within the panel that have fishermen or ex-fishermen who help make recommendations and identify fishing opportunities.
“DFO works with the same criteria, principles and guidelines agreed to in the pacific Salmon Treaty and, ultimately, at end of day, DFO makes final decisions on openings and where and when they will occur.”
