Tag «wild salmon»
Wild Salmon Advisory Council: Time to Speak Up!
DC Reid has written an article worth reading with regard to the work of the Wild Salmon Secretariat. Community meetings offer you an opportunity to speak with representatives of the Advisory Council on this issue.
Their paper, Options for a Made-in-BC Wild Salmon Policy, is not a quick read, but speaks to their goals and strategies to achieve their goals. A community meeting is planned for Victoria in January 2019; no specific details as to time and place at this moment.
The complex task of restoring salmon abundance and bringing the benefits from our fisheries resources back to BC simply cannot be done without a whole-citizen effort. There is no question that wild salmon are iconic for this province. They link us to our history and hold the promise for our future generations. Wild salmon are woven into the culture, histories and economies of the Indigenous Peoples of BC and they help to define our fishing communities.
Preliminary 2019 Salmon Outlook
DFO Pacific Region Stock Assessment staff have released their preliminary outlook for salmon returns in 2019.
Summary of Pacific Salmon Outlook for 2019
A total of 91 Outlook Units (OUs) were considered with 82 OUs receiving an outlook category assignment. Eight (8) OUs were data deficient (ND), and one (1) Pink OU was not applicable given that 2019 is the off-cycle year for this group (NA). Sixteen (16) Outlook Units are expected to be at or above target abundance (categories 3, 3/4, 4), while 39 are expected to be of some conservation concern (categories 1, 1/2, 2). The remaining 27 Outlook Units have mixed outlook levels (categories 1/3, 1/4, 2/3, 2/4). Overall, the outlook for 2019 has declined relative to the previous outlook (2018 for most species but 2017 for Pink Salmon).
Five (5) Outlook Units improved in category (Sockeye: Somass, WCVI-Other, Skeena-Wild; Chinook: Alsek; Coho: WCVI).
Twenty-five (25) units declined in category (Sockeye: Early Summer – North Thompson, South Thompson, Mid and Upper Fraser, Summer – Late Stuart, Nechako, Quesnel, Harrison, Raft, Fall – South Thompson, Birkenhead, as well as Okanagan and Coastal Areas 3 to 6; Coho: Area 3, Haida Gwaii – East (Area 2 East), Skeena, Skeena – High Interior; Pink: Fraser, Georgia Strait – East, West, North Coast Areas 3 to 6; Chum: Fraser River, Johnstone Strait Area and Mainland Inlets, Coastal Areas 5 & 6, Areas 7 to 10, Yukon).
The entire document may be read here.
Colquitz River Fish Fence: Community Volunteers Work to Save Wild Salmon
Update Dec 17 to counts.
It’s been a tough autumn this year at the Colquitz River fish counting fence. Community volunteers, carrying on the legacy of the Colquitz Salmonid Stewardhip & Education Society, have been tracking the returning salmon – primarily coho – and giving them a boost upstream to preferred spawning grounds. It has proved to be a very poor year for returning coho.
The numbers from Oct 3 to Dec 7, when the fence was removed:
coho males | 29 |
coho females | 89 |
coho jacks | 193 |
chum | 1 |
cutthroat trout | 2 |
mort, coho female | 1 |
Total | 315 |
At mid-December 2014, the count was:
coho males | 508 |
coho females | 820 |
coho jacks | 221 |
cutthroat trout | 7 |
smolts | 3 |
chinook | 1 |
mortalities | 4 |
unknown, seen going round the fence | 20 |
Total | 1584 |
A grim year for returns.