Seventy Thompson River coho spawning populations at risk - not just one

Vancouver, July 19, 1999 - Recently, sports fishing interests have protested Minister Anderson's fishing restrictions in the Victoria/Sooke area which are aimed at conserving endangered Thompson River coho. Some have questioned the role of the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council.

The Council is an independent public watchdog over fisheries management and habitat protection. It provides Federal and Provincial Ministers of Fisheries and the general public with objective information on the state of salmon stocks and their habitats. The Council integrates and evaluates the diverse sources of information, including scientific information, to provide comprehensive advice on conservation. The Council speaks for the fish!

The Council's June 8 report highlighted the continuing evidence of critically low coho abundance in the Thompson River and Upper Skeena tributaries. The main problem appeared to be overfishing in the face of a substantial decline in ocean survival. Despite the unprecedented coastwide fishing restrictions in 1998, spawning abundances of the Thompson coho and many other coho stocks remain at endangered levels.

The Council took a very strong position on the importance of protecting endangered Thompson River coho. The Thompson coho are, in fact, a complex of populations returning to 70 spawning areas in the Thompson River and its tributaries. These fish carry unique genetic information that simply can't be replaced by introducing coho from other areas. They are the last of a genetic type of coho that originated in the Upper Columbia Basin. If the Thompson River coho, or any other unique stock for that matter, is allowed to become extinct, an irreplaceable part to our natural heritage would be lost. That would be unconscionable when there are means to give them a helping hand.

This year, coho returns to Georgia Basin, including the Fraser, are expected to be in the order of one-tenth the number in the mid-1980s. In light of these conservation concerns, the Council recommended that Minister Anderson continue to take a cautious approach to managing fisheries in the 1999 season.

The Council report said: "An important corner was turned in 1998, but much work and sacrifice will continue to be needed. The firm restrictions on fishing must be continued in order to reduce the total fishing mortality on Thompson River and Upper Skeena coho to near zero for at least another five years (i.e., for at least a total of two coho generations). Other stocks should also be added to this list if they are deemed to face comparable conservation risks. The Council endorses a more proactive approach that apprehends and addresses a significant decline inn abundance (in any fish species) before it reaches the crisis levels of Thompson and Upper Skeena coho."

The report added: "It is also important to continue the precedent set last year of announcing firm pre-season plans for protecting weaker coho stocks. It is impossible, in most coho fisheries, to detect and correct for stock-specific abundance shortfalls in-season. These pre-season plans provide certainty for fishing interests and managers as well as for protecting severely depressed stocks."

The Council also reported evidence of continuing declines in many coho stocks in other areas, including the coastal Georgia Basin, Johnstone Strait, Kitimat area, and southern Queen Charlotte Islands. In addition, the Council identified vast areas, particularly in the Central Coast, where it was impossible to ascertain the overall health of the stocks with any reliability because of inadequate data. The Council calls for all fishers and the general public to support efforts to conserve and protect endangered coho stocks.

For more information, contact:
 
Ken Beeson
Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council
604-775-5621
beeson@fish.bc.ca