Local SFAC Meeting: Nov 3, 7 pm

The local SFAC meeting is planned for Nov. 3 at 7 pm. This link will allow you to join the MS Teams virtual meeting at that time. This document may help you join the meeting successfully.

The local SFAC chair was provided much information in advance of this meeting by South Coast SFAC chairs Mike Kelly and Erika Watkins. Some of this information is shared here.

This document is DFO’s “Regional recreational Updates – Fall 2020”. This document provides a lot of information and updates on a variety of species management issues and policy initiatives that DFO currently has underway in a regional context. It is intended as an information document. Note that the first 6 items in the document highlight issues that will be included in SFAB consultation during the upocoming cycle.

This document is the “SFAB Regional Priorities and Requests for Consideration 2020\2021”. This is a list of priority issues that the SFAB species specific working group chairs and the SFAB executive have identified as regional priorities for the upcoming consultation cycle. Please note that these regional priorities may not capture priorities at your local committee level, and it is anticipated  that both motions and action items that offer advice to address both regional and local issues may flow from your local meetings.

The SFAB motions tracking spreadsheet may help you understand the status of SFAB motions that have already been submitted to DFO as advice. This may help you understand how advice provided  by either your committee or the Regional and Main Board has been considered by DFO and what the outcome of that consideration has been. It also will assist in identifying outstanding items that require clarification.

Pat Ahern of the SFI has provided a slide deck to explain the status of the SFAB modernization process.

Under normal circumstances, in 2020/2021, elections would be held to either reconfirm the mandate of existing local, regional and Main Board chairs; or to replace them through a fair, transparent, anonymous and democratic process. Elections are being deferred until such time as they may occur in face to face meetings.

DFO: no to MM and MSF, yes to wild salmon policy

Near the end of June this year, the Sport Fishery Advisory Board sent a letter to DFO urging that agency to move forward with mass marking (MM) of hatchery chinook to enable mark selective fisheries (MSF) along our BC coast.

DFO’s response is lengthy and includes a full range of issues and topics to discuss, but basically comes down to: no to mass marking – it’s too hard and we can’t afford it, and those hatchery fish may out-compete the wild fish; no to marked selective fishery for areas such as south Vancouver Island – there may be an at risk chinook group that suffers some mortality.

The ACS has concerns regarding DFO’s approach to salmon conservation and its impact on the recreational fishers of BC. The consultations that DFO schedules with recreational groups – generally represented by SFAB – appear to carry little weight with regard to the fishery management measures put in place.

Millstream Creek Fishway Project: Photo Update

This project is led by Peninsula Streams Society (PSS) to construct a fishway at the Atkins Road culvert, near Mill Hill Regional Park. Fish passage is currently blocked by a high culvert under Atkins Road. The new fishway will construct fourteen step-pools leading up to the culvert, and add steel baffles to aid fish movement through it.

The fishway will allow fish to ascend past the culvert to access 7+ kilometers of habitat for spawning and rearing Cutthroat and Coho salmon.

More details on this project may be found here. The images here give some sense of the challenge and work involved.

16 Sturgeon Dead in Gillnet at Harrison and Fraser Rivers.

The Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance (LFFA) passed on bad news regarding sturgeon deaths at the confluence of the Harrison and Fraser Rivers.

…on August 27th, a Conservation and Protection Officer from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) contacted our organization to inform us that 16 sturgeon were found dead in a gill net at the confluence of the Harrison and Fraser Rivers.

Email from LFFA

DFO Requests Feedback on 2020 Southern Resident Killer Whale Management Measures

Feliksas Markevicius, Recreational Fisheries Program Manager at DFO, has written to request feedback from recreational anglers regarding measures that DFO put in place to protect Southern Resident Killer Whales.

This information will help us to understand more about how the measures are working on the water and to help inform future management measures. Please note, the response to this survey will be collected anonymously and none of the information will be used to pursue enforcement action.

DFO email of August 26, 2020

This link (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XT6RXC3) takes you to a short survey regarding the 2020 suite of Southern Resident Killer Whale management measures.

You may read here about the Southern Resident Killer Whale management measures. Questions should be sent using email to the Marine Mammal Team – DFO.SRKW-ERS.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

ACS Supports Protecting Mountain Road Property

The ACS has written to the Mayor and Council of Saanich, urging them to have the District of Saanich purchase the property at 4692 Mountain Road, possibly in concert with the CRD, Habitat Acquisition Trust and other similar organizations. The goal is to have this natural property remain undeveloped as parkland.

a large 49 acre forested parcel of land at 4692 Mountain Road which is currently for sale. This land is within the Viaduct Creek sub-drainage of Colquitz watershed. It performs a valuable function of moderating the runoff from heavy rain events. As such, it is beneficial to the salmonids which rear year round throughout the Colquitz River system. This property also serves to lower the flood risk in the lower watershed.

A similar letter has been sent to Colin Plant, Chair of the CRD board of directors.

We encourage you to add your voice to this issue by writing or speaking to Saanich Council, CRD Directors, and other organizations that may support our perspective on this.

Big Bar Slide: Workaround is Working!

We have a report that in the six days leading up to Sunday, August 2nd, 2,771 salmon have safely entered the fish portal and been transported above the main rock fall area of the Big Bar Landslide.

With the six tube Whooshh Fish Portal now fully operational, it’s expected the numbers will increase as the larger runs arrive.

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