Salmon conservation council calls for ecosystem based management

(July 24, 2008 – Vancouver) The ability and willingness of government agencies to protect wild salmon is deteriorating in the view of British Columbians, according to a report by the primary advisory organization on Pacific salmon conservation.

Wild salmon are under increasing threats and governments need to adopt better practices, including ecosystem based management, to help this important fish species survive, says the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (PFRCC).

In their annual report published today, the PFRCC notes that wild salmon returns in British Columbia were generally very poor in 2007, with exceptionally low abundance in some crucial stocks and areas of the province, The Council’s members urged the provincial and federal agencies responsible for wild salmon to make better use of the knowledge and research that is already available to help guide the management of salmon stocks and fish habitat.

"We must ensure that salmon continue as a thriving natural resource, symbolic of British Columbia," says Paul LeBlond, chair of the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (http://www.fish.bc.ca). "The persistently poor returns and weak numbers of some of the most valued salmon runs resulted in many instances of salmon fishing restrictions for conservation purposes."

The role of the PFRCC is to inform the public and government officials about emerging issues, and to help build awareness and encourage the sustainability of wild salmon. The annual report for 2007 highlights the PFRCC’s continued efforts to identify innovative strategies to protect and rebuild wild salmon stocks, and to maintain productive habitat for spawning and rearing salmon.

This past year, the Council expanded its “What’s Happening to Wild Salmon in Your Community” series of events, working with community members to determine local issues and solutions in areas across the province. The public concern about weakening government protection of Pacific salmon became evident in those meetings sponsored by the PFRCC in recent years. The participants in various communities pointed out, among many issues, that the enforcement of salmon habitat regulations has not been sufficiently diligent nor given adequate priority.

The PFRCC has scheduled further community meetings to hear the views of British Columbians in other communities in the coming months. It reached out to the public directly this past spring with a public awareness campaign on the impact of the Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic on Pacific salmon.

A key issue highlighted in the 2007 annual report is the impact of fish hatcheries on wild salmon stocks. The report noted that the public attitude is generally favorable to salmon hatcheries; however, there is a need for more focused and question-driven research to help improve hatchery operations and enhancement activities. Hatcheries must adhere to the spirit and substance of the Wild Salmon Policy to protect wild salmon in any instances of competition and interaction with hatchery fish.

The Council published several reports this past year, including one on moving to an ecosystem-based management approach for fisheries. That report emphasized that traditional single species management approaches are not working for valued salmon resources in Georgia Strait. An ecosystem based management approach would go beyond setting safe salmon harvest levels and would uniquely account for the interaction of salmon with both their prey, predators and environmental conditions. This information needs to be taken into account and evaluated (adaptive management) when setting harvest goals for all species. Doing so will help restore ecosystem function that, in the past, favoured highly valued species such as chinook and coho salmon, that are now depressed. DFO’s announcement of ecosystem research in Georgia Strait is a positive step forward but needs to go further involving both scientists and managers working together in order to have both a sustainable fisheries resource and a sustainable fishery.

The PFRCC’s climate change and freshwater habitats background papers in 2007 showed how effective measures, such as protecting streamside vegetation, can be taken to help salmon cope with climate change. The PFRCC’s background paper on the Heart of the Fraser presented a large-scale perspective on fish habitat in one of the most productive and crucial areas of the province for salmon.

The Council has also been providing information and advice regarding the Wild Salmon Policy, examinations of how climate impacts the salmon marine environment, predictive modeling for salmon, and legislative initiatives in anticipated amendments to the Fisheries Act and BC Water Act. The Council also contributed to the effort to develop a more comprehensive, multi-participant ecosystem research program focused on the Strait of Georgia, addressing climate change and other major trends affecting wild salmon.

A full copy of the PFRCC’s 2007 annual report is available at http://www.fish.bc.ca.

The Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council was created in 1998 to serve as a source of information to the public and advice to fisheries ministers on wild Pacific salmon and steelhead and their ocean and freshwater habitats.

Contact:

Carla Shore
C-Shore Communications Inc.
P: 604-731-0975
carla@shore.ca