THE Sooke Salmon Enhancement Society
At the December meeting of the Sooke
Salmon Enhancement Society (SSES), a motion to cancel their 2008 Chinook
Fishing Derby was proposed and unanimously passed.
The massive decrease in numbers of
spawning salmon returning to local waters this year is the reason for this
unprecedented action.
“Salmon
stocks are clearly at risk”, says SSES president, Bryan Manning. “We want everyone interested in the
well-being of Pacific Salmon to realize that a reduction in the Salmon take is
needed. Our derby has traditionally
taken large numbers of fish and that is not an appropriate message for these
times.
“One of the particular concerns for our
Society is the absence of three-year-old Chinooks as well as the normally
prolific Chum. This age group would, of course, normally provide the majority
of spawning fish in 2008. This same
lack of three-year-olds has been noted as far south as California. In addition,
there is a less than 20% return of 5year old Chinooks and of those only about 1
in 4 are female.
We the Society advocate a reduction in
the annual salmon take. In canceling the derby we are making a specific gesture
to bring attention to this issue.”
Director of hatchery Operations, Glen Varney was recently quoted in Canada’s National newspaper “The Globe and Mail " as saying “There's been a drastic reduction in fish," He further went on to say that in the Sooke area where he lives a mere 150 male and female Chinook were counted in the Sooke River in 2007. In 2006 approximately 300 were seen, which was down from around 900 in 2005.
This
year the SSES Jack Brooks hatchery took less than 40,000 Chinook and Coho
eggs. This is about 10% of the 400,000
eggs that annually the hatchery would by now have collected. The picture is the same all along the West
Coast.
There
are many reasons suggested for the decline.
They include global warming, a reduction in feed, spawning habitat and
the increasing number of predators.
In
recent years the return of spawning fish has declined at the same time as the
annual salmon take has increased. This year the inevitable occurred and returns
crashed. The SSES is concerned that the issue of over-fishing has been ignored.
For
this reason and in advance of any possible restrictions that might be imposed
by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Society has cancelled the
fishing derby to protect dwindling fish stocks.
The SSES strongly urges all other
organizations directly involved in fishing and especially other local fishing
derbies, to adopt a similar policy in order to protect this threatened natural
resource.
To
cancel the Derby is a risk for the hatchery, because over the years it has been
the major source of funding for the SSES. While the hatchery is completely
manned by volunteers, there are fixed operating costs of approximately $20,000
a year to maintain it. Those costs remain the same whether the hatchery rears
40,000 fry or 400,000.
Regardless of the low number of eggs
collected this year the Sooke Salmon Enhancement Society is still functioning
and continues to require funds. To that
end the society will be holding a fund-raising event over the traditional derby
weekend.
The Society is indebted to everyone who
has previously supported the Derby and hopes that the reduction in Salmon stock
is temporary. In the meantime the
Society will be exploring other funding options.