For Immediate Release: UBC Study Shows Marine Sport Fishery On Leading Edge Of Salmon Recovery

Executive Summary

UBC, with the assistance of the marine sport fishing sector and supported by the B.C Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund and Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) conducted a unique five year research project on B.C.’s west coast that provided initial insights on how this sector is helping in salmon recovery. A total of 1046 Chinook and 549 coho salmon caught by sport fishing methods and were tracked for 10 days with acoustic (sound emitting) tags along the East Coast of Vancouver Island and in Juan de Fuca Strait. Established listening stations picked up the signals during the migration to spawning rivers for survival estimates.

The study found that fish that were caught with smaller sized hooks and not taken out of the water and quickly released in good condition had “very little mortality during this time period.“ The Sport Fishing Institute, (SFI) an organization that promotes sustainable sport harvest of coastal fish has already produced two videos which illustrate the best techniques for sport anglers to practice based on the results of the UBC study and is distributing them via the SFI social media platforms.

The UBC study also provided guidance on how to further improve survival of catch and release (CR) fish. Notably, use of smaller hooks which help prevent physical injury such as damage to eyes, avoid removing fish from the water and exposing them to air, minimize handling to reduce stress and loss of scales, and use techniques that avoid smaller fish which are more susceptible to handling and that had lower survival after CR. Use soft landing nets or avoid nets if possible. If anglers did not use these techniques, fish mortalities were higher.

“Fish with injuries to fins, scales, and eyes had on average up to 20 per cent poorer survival in the 10 days after release compared to fish that were in good physical condition. Eye injuries, which are related to larger hook sizes, showed a further 20 per cent reduction in survival after 40 days.” https://psf.ca/blog/catch-and-release/

The study also identified non-fishing related factors that affect post hook and release salmon survival like warm surface water temperatures. This study did not include predation on the test fish by seals and sea lions which are well known to have a very large impact on salmon populations.

How to minimize these impacts is featured in the educational videos which have been produced and are being made available to the public fishery. https://www.sportfishing.bc.ca/release-them-right

Sport anglers see retaining hatchery-marked salmon as an important method of further minimizing post hook and release mortalities, by reducing the catch and subsequent release of wild unmarked fish that require additional conservation action. These salmon can be easily identified because their adipose fin has been removed when the fry or smolt sized salmon are still in the hatchery. Quick visual identification is critical to allow sport anglers to determine if this is a fish they can keep or if it is a wild salmon that must be released, allowing it to successfully proceed to the spawning grounds, and ensure wild salmon maintain the gene pool. Hatchery fish are primarily raised for harvest, with exceptions when they are needed for jump-starting weak salmon stock recovery.

The Public Fishery Alliance (PFA) is an advocacy group for conservation and sustainable fisheries in B.C. On November 29th the PFA attended an SFI sponsored conference where the UBC study was presented and explained.

Both the SFI and PFA are advocating that DFO quickly implement a policy of fin clipping 100% of all hatchery Chinook and Coho (or as close as possible) for quick identification of salmon while they are still in the water. This is known as a “Marked Selective fishery” (MSF) and is the key tool that will further improve salmon recovery and abundance while improving public benefits from the social, cultural, sport and economic activities related to salmon in B.C. In Washington State this policy has been in effect for over 20 years and is required by legislation.

The recreational angling community, which consists of anglers, fishing guides, retailers, wholesalers, tackle manufacturers, angling organizations, world class lodge facilities and conservation groups has been a long and reliable supporter of salmon recovery and sensible effective conservation measures. This support has come both financially and through volunteer in-stream restoration and enhancement work.

The recreational fishery will continue to support credible government and independent scientific research, and will work with the regulatory agencies to continue the efforts for sustainable salmon recovery and harvest opportunities for all Canadians.

As such The PFA thanks the UBC study team, and their associates, for the work done on this initial study to more clearly identify angling factors and practices that impact the survival of released salmon. We appreciate their teaming up with sport anglers in assessing post catch and release mortalities, which the study authors have recognized is a difficult and complex task with many variables.

The PFA also thanks the study team for providing a list of recommendations that can be implemented immediately to reduce the mortality rate of released salmon; and the SFI for providing a video that educates anglers on best practices to achieve these goals. It is important to recognize that many of the recommendations are already being used by anglers and professional fishing guides. However, other recommendations may require further assessment, and any recommendations that might end up in the regulatory system for marine fisheries should undergo further real in situ testing, followed by thorough consultations between DFO and recreational fishing advisors (https://news.ubc.ca/2024/11/15-ways- salmon-survival-capture-and-release/ ).

The following appendices provide relevant information on BC’s marine and freshwater fisheries, comparative values for these fisheries, salmon catch stats for countries that harvest north Pacific Ocean salmon, and the executive summary from the UBC study.

PFA Contacts

Chris Bos

[email protected]                  

778-967-2363

Dave Brown

[email protected]

604-905-8438

Yours in conservation,

Signed on behalf of the Public Fishery Alliance Board of Directors

Backgrounders and References

Pacific Salmon Foundation: Re-thinking Catch and Release: https://psf.ca/blog/catch-and-release/

Landed Value of Salmon: Pacific Salmon Harvest is dominated by the Commercial and First Nation Fisheries which provide food fish for the public. The landed value of salmon in B.C. is The average annual landed value of Pacific salmon has been around $58 million since 1998, which is about 19% of the value before 1998. The average annual landed value from 1952 to 1997 was $306 million.

The value of wild salmon in British Columbia (BC) can vary widely due to the abundance of different species in different years. For example, sockeye salmon produce the highest value, followed by chinook and then chum. The wholesale value of wild salmon products in BC has ranged from $150 million to $250 million in recent years.

The value of Pacific salmon has declined due to price reductions caused by salmon aquaculture worldwide. However, the sport fishery has increased in value, and the combined sports and commercial catches make Pacific salmon the most valuable wild animal in Canada. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)

Who Catches the Most Salmon: Of the 354 million Pacific salmon caught in 2022, 164 million were caught in Alaska, 154 million in Russia, 31 million in Japan, 2 million in B.C. and just 53,000 in South Korea.

What is the Value of the Commercial and Sport Fishery in B.C.:

Commercial fishing: A representative year for commercial salmon fishing in B.C. can generate $30 million in value to harvesters and over $100 million in post processing value.

Sport Fishing: An average year generates $1.2 Billion, employs over 9,000 people. A Richmond Chamber of commerce report concluded that 1/3 of every tourism dollar in B.C. is related to the recreational Fishing Sector. See also http://www.cowichanstewardship.com/uploads/1/4/4/5/14453984/2014- 01_bcwf_sport_fishing_economic_impact.pdf

https://psf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Executive-Summary-Catch-and-Release-Hinch_BCSRIF- 058.pdf

  • Catch and release (C/R) is a practice used in recreational fisheries resulting from regulations for conserving particular species, populations, or sizes of fish, or as a practice to meet personal values. C/R enables increased fishing opportunities and is critical for implementing mark-selective fisheries.
  • C/R will be a major component of future recreational salmon fisheries, but its broad usage has been limited by two major issues which this research directly addressed: identifying the magnitude of post- release mortality (the main component of Fisheries Related Incidental Mortality, FRIM) which we determined with telemetered freely migrating fish, and, understanding the mechanisms of post-release mortality so that fishing practices can be modified to enhance survival of released fish.
  • We worked with sport fishing groups and other partners to capture, tag and release Chinook and coho salmon in different locales of coastal British Columbia, utilizing a broad spatial scale acoustic receiver network that is in place throughout the Salish Sea. We experimentally assessed the effects of air exposure duration, landing time and approach, hook size and other gear, and release approach on fish impairment and injuries, and on subsequent survival at different time scales post-release.
  • We conducted C/R studies on: 616 Chinook salmon tagged on East Coast Vancouver Island (ECVI) and tracked through the Discovery Island region, 430 Chinook salmon tagged in Barkley Sound and tracked to spawning areas, and, 549 coho salmon tagged and tracked in Juan de Fuca Strait.
  • ECVI Chinook salmon that were released with various (and some times minor) types of injuries to fins, scales, and/or eyes had on average 15-20% poorer survival within the first 10 days of release compared to fish that were in good physical condition when released, with the latter group having very little mortality during this time period.
  • ECVI Chinook with any type of eye injuries, caused by hooks piercing the ocular cavity from the mouth, demonstrated an additional 15-20% mortality on average after 40 days post-release compared with fish in good physical condition or with other non-eye injuries.
  • We estimate FRIM for adult Chinook (52–99 cm FL) to range up 40% depending on fishing practice, gear type, and subsequent injuries caused by the C/R encounter. Modifying fishing practice and gear as we determined can result in minimal FRIM.
  • Experimental manipulations to air exposure duration led to environmentally specific results. ECVI Chinook exposed to air ranging up to 300 seconds exhibited only modest (~10%) post-release mortality compared to non-air exposed fish over 10 days. Yet Barkley Sound Chinook bound for Robertson Creek Hatchery exposed to 300 seconds of air exhibited 50% mortality to the entrance of Alberni Inlet, only a ~ 5-day migration.
  • We identified carry-over effects to freshwater environments resulting from marine C/R. Robertson Creek Chinook typically encounter sub-lethal or lethal temperatures (> 20°C) during their freshwater spawning migrations through the Somass River which is a significant additional migratory stressor. No fish reached the hatchery if they were air exposed in the marine environment > 90 seconds, and of the few that did, all were males which are known to be more resilient to C/R stressors than females.
  • There is a strong size effect on survival of C/R fish. In most years, ECVI Chinook that were tracked for at least 10 days and that were smaller than 62 cm FL had ~ 36% mortality while those larger than 80 cm FL had ~4-12% mortality – these two size groups are often ones that regulations require release. Robertson Creek Chinook that we tracked into freshwater and were larger than 70 cm FL had 12% mortality while those smaller than 70 cm FL had 19% mortality. Every decrease of 1 cm FL was associated with 6% increase in the odds of mortality in coho ~3.3 days post-release.
  • As with Chinook, post-release mortality levels of coho salmon increased with scale loss, bleeding, and eye damage – eye injuries were associated with 2.8 times greater odds of mortality within the first ~3.3 days after release than coho salmon without an eye injury.
  • Coho seemed to be less resilient than Chinook to C/R practices. Unlike Chinook, coho in good condition when released still suffered on average 17% short-term (~3.3 days post-release) mortality. Short-term FRIM (which we defined as the difference between post-release mortality of good condition and poor condition fish) was on average 31% which is nearly twice that observed for ECVI Chinook. Based on coho tracked into Puget Sound, the difference in mortality levels between good and poor condition fish after a median migration time of 9 days continued to be ~ 30% suggesting most of the FRIM for coho occurred in the first few days after release.
  • Landing nets are not fish friendly. There was a direct relationship between the use of nets and fin injuries which led to high mortality in our companion holding study. In the tagging studies, 90% of Chinook salmon landed without nets had no visible fin damage.
  • We identified the presence of 12 pathogens in ECVI Chinook and 11 in coho, but infection rates for Chinook salmon were half that of coho (average 1.1 vs 2.3 pathogens per fish, respectively). No relationships among pathogen loads and mortality were observed for either species.
  • Anglers were surveyed using a phone app (3612 responses, 1503 different anglers) revealing they generally employed fishing behaviours and had capture outcomes similar to what we used and found, thus our field experimental approaches reflected behaviours of typical anglers.
  • We also interviewed anglers in person (n = 26) gathering opinions of C/R as a conservation tool. They were generally open to new information on best practices to improve survival of C/R fish. Many were already using some of the practices we recommended. Anglers were supportive of creating more educational resources using our study results.
  • We made 15 recommendations that DFO can adopt as regulations, and should adopt as ‘best fishing practices’ involving: landing, handling and releasing approaches, gear choices, and fishing tactics that will minimize FRIM for marine migrating Chinook and coho.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *