Million sockeye missing from Bulkley River run

A weak sockeye salmon return means many in the Wet’suwet’en community could go without this season as approximately half the expected sockeye swam the Bulkley.

“We certainly have a poor return, we expected two million sockeye and got half that,” Dave Peacock with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said.

While they were already expecting low returns, this came as a surprise, he said, and was most likely the result of poor ocean survival.

Stan Proboszcz, a fish biologist with the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, agreed that poor ocean survival could be the cause for the drop in salmon numbers.

Increased levels of sea lice from fish farms could also be the cause.

The Fraser River was also below the expected return, over 90 per cent in fact with the DFO expecting approximately 10.5 million and now with a level only expected to reach just under one million.

“The [Department of Oceans and Fisheries] were off by an order of magnitude... I begin to wonder about the models they’re using,” Proboszcz said. “It’s an error that really needs to be examined.”

At Moricetown fishers were catching roughly 170 per day in the first peak, running during the last week of July.

The next peak, which runs the first week of August, is the largest of the expected salmon runs and was below what was caught in July, on a daily basis.

“There have been no commercial impacts on stocks that go up the Bulkley to Morice, and yet there’s a pretty noticeable decline,” Wet’suwet’en fisheries manager Walter Joseph said.

Due to the low returns there has been no commercial fishing allowed. Wet’suwet’en chiefs have decided to voluntarily restrict sockeye fishing in their communities due to the decreased salmon stocks this year.

“With combined weak run concerns and conservation, people are really having trouble meeting the needs for food,” Joseph said.

Currently they’re trying to limit the salmon caught in Moricetown to less than 1,000, whereas in the mid 1990’s they were catching more than 30,000 Joseph added. They are also working on a way to solve the sockeye shortage, to help the people who depend on it for food out during this time of conservation.

However, while there has been a decline in the sockeye run, the pinks had a good run this year, and the coho wasn’t too bad either, Joseph said. In the Fraser they are seeing increased numbers of the Harrison Lake fish, Proboszcz said, adding that the DFO should look at to see why they’ve done so well.

Fishing in the Hazeltons’, however, has been typical this year according to local fisherman Jack Sebastian.

“”Our runs have been about average but a little late this year,” he explained. “We usually get three different Sockeye runs and we are still waiting for third which we call the bluebacks. They are definitely late this year.”

Skeena River Sockeye Among World’s Most Endangered: International Scientists

October 6, 2008 (Terrace, BC) – The International Conservation Union (IUCN) has added three Skeena River sockeye salmon populations to a red list of globally threatened species. One has been listed “critically endangered,” one “endangered” and a third “vulnerable.”

“This is a red flag for managers and resource users. It shows we need immediate, substantive action to protect Skeena wild salmon,” said Greg Knox, Executive Director of SkeenaWild Conservation Trust. “DFO and the BC Ministry of Environment are taking this crisis seriously, but the pace of change must accelerate if we are going to reverse these alarming declines.”

To arrive at its ratings, the IUCN grouped the Skeena River’s 33 genetically distinct sockeye runs into five sub-populations and measured changes in abundance over a 12-year period. Among it’s findings for the Skeena River sub-populations:

• The Morice-Nanika sub-population has declined more than 80% (critically endangered)
• The Upper Skeena sub-population has declined 50 – 80% (endangered)
• The Lower Skeena sub-population has declined 30 – 50% (vulnerable)

The Skeena’s Morice-Nanika sub-population – one of only four given the most severe listing of “critically endangered” – is important for the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s traditional food fishery.

“The Morice-Nanika runs are at such low levels, it will be difficult to restore them to a point where we Wet’suwet’en can meet our needs,” Said Walter Joseph, who manages the Wet’suwet’en fisheries program and is a SkeenaWild trustee. “It’s unacceptable that we have to depend on neighboring nations and non-aboriginal sources to meet our food fish needs.”

Even within the two Skeena sub-populations not highlighted by the IUCN, there are concerns about individual runs. For example, the Kitwanga river sockeye run has experienced a 90 percent decline and is the subject of a federal court case between DFO and the Gitanyow First Nation.

The IUCN Salmonid Specialist Group – 12 leading scientists from the U.S., Canada and Russia – investigated 80 sockeye salmon sub-populations around the Pacific Rim. It found over half of the sockeye subpopulations assessed were threatened. Key threats included the effects of climate change on river and ocean conditions, habitat deterioration, mixed-stock fishing (ocean fisheries unable to target specific stocks) and the effects of hatcheries and artificial spawning habitat.

SkeenaWild Conservation Trust is working to make the Skeena watershed a global model of sustainability, with a focus on the wild salmon ecosystem and economy.

Contact:
Greg Knox: (250) 615-1810 (cell) or (250) 638-0998 (office)
Walter Joseph: (250) 847-3630