RIVER COUNTS
Few B.C.-born salmon returning to spawn: experts
Special to the Globe and Mail
November 15, 2007
VICTORIA, SQUAMISH -- Salmon returns are down
significantly around British Columbia, experts say, with the number of chinook
migrating to their birthplace on Vancouver Island falling by as much as 75 per
cent and a "collapse" of the chum run in parts of the Squamish River
watershed by up to 95 per cent.
At Canada's largest salmon hatchery - the federally
run Nitinat River Hatchery on Vancouver Island - 350,000 returning chum have
been counted this year compared with 725,000 in 2006.
The chum egg harvest is typically 40 million tiny,
glossy orbs.
"This year we'll be lucky if we scrounge up
around 15 million," Nitinat employee Glen Varney said.
Nitinat's chinook returns are also hurting, with 8,000 counted
this year, down from 14,000 in 2006, said hatchery manager Rob Brouwer.
Instead of harvesting four million chinook eggs, two
million will be collected in 2007.
The egg shortfall means that other Vancouver Island
hatcheries won't get Nitinat's excess chinook eggs.
One female chinook provides about 4,000 eggs, which
are fertilized, incubated, raised to the fry stage and released by the
hatchery, which is located in a remote area of south central Vancouver Island.
"When you see a big facility like Nitinat with
low numbers, you know there's trouble," said Mr. Varney, who is also
director of hatchery operations for the Sooke Salmon Enhancement Society.
In his backyard, a mere 150 male and female chinook
were counted in the Sooke River this year. Last year, there were 300, down from
about 900 in 2005.
As for Sooke River chum, 25,000 were counted, half of
last year's tally.
"There's been a drastic reduction in fish,"
Mr. Varney said.
Low returns have also affected Fraser River salmon
stocks.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans predicted that
6.3 million sockeye would enter the Fraser this year, but that was slashed to
1.5 million, said Mel Kotyk, director for the department's Lower Fraser
division.
During the first Fraser run of the year, only 15,000
of a projected 45,000 sockeye returned to freshwater.
"We need 110,000 to be self-sustaining," Mr.
Kotyk said.
And the chum run isn't living up to the expected 1.1
million return, he said.
Along the Squamish River and its tributaries, where
hundreds of bald eagles share the returning fish with seals swimming upriver
from Howe Sound, chum runs were down by up to 95 per cent. Chinook levels are
also significantly lower.
Anglers in the Squamish River system are not allowed
to keep any chum that they catch because of the paltry returns.
Brian Klassen, of the Squamish-Lillooet Sport Fishing
Advisory Committee, said the DFO issued the non-retention policy for chum in
the Squamish, Mamquam, Ashlu, Cheakamus and Elaho Rivers on Nov. 2 "to be
proactive." He added that local native groups also drastically cut their
traditional fisheries.
"The returns to Tenderfoot Lake are anywhere from
5 to 10 per cent of what we would normally see. The caveat on that is that the
run is not over yet, though migration tends to peak by Remembrance Day,"
Mr. Klassen said.
He added that chum numbers were down around the
province, but the Squamish area was the worst hit.
The Mamquam spawning channel, he said, had 700 chum
several days ago, but added that in a good year there would be 10,000.
"That's the magnitude of what you are seeing and
you're seeing it around the watershed. ... The population seems to have
collapsed to a large degree," he said.
The salmon that are not returning went to sea two
years ago.
"Something happened in the oceans in 2005,"
Mr. Brouwer said. "For whatever reason, there was no food."
The salmon Mr. Varney has handled this year appear
"starved."