Rec fisheries still under assault

June 7, 2024


Attn:   Dave Obee, Editor
Times Colonist

201-655 Tyee Road

Victoria, B.C. V9A 6X5

Sent Via  email:  [email protected] 

RE: Re: Times Colonist E-Edition “Do this to save killer whales and wild salmon from extinction”

The Public Fishery Alliance (PFA) is a non-profit recreational angling organization with membership drawn from across the spectrum of BC tidal and freshwater salmon fisheries. Our role is to advocate for salmon, and for sustainable recreational salmon fisheries.

The recent commentary by Adrian Tuohy, a biologist with the Puget Sound based Wild Salmon Conservancy, requires an immediate response. The PFA has no issues with the Wild Salmon Conservancy. A cursory review of their web pages indicates they are focused on salmon restoration, research and recovery, with an interest on in-river activities, as are many groups in Canada and the US.

However we do note that their staff and board of directors, although apparently well qualified in many areas, do not appear to have direct expertise in, or have conducted research on Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW’s).

This leads to our first point of contention. Tuohy’s commentary focuses almost entirely on SRKW’s and Chinook salmon, salmon fisheries, and government fisheries management from Puget Sound to SE Alaska. So it is unclear whether his commentary represents the Wild Salmon Conservancy view, or is it solely Tuohy’s opinion?

Unfortunately it comes across as just another anti-fishing rant rather than a fact based opinion piece that one might expect from a professional biologist. It contains not even one link to peer reviewed studies or their authors, yet concludes that ocean salmon fisheries are the cause for the impending extinction of SRKW’s and Chinook salmon on the west coast.

If this were written in the decades prior to the 1985 signing of the Canada-US Pacific Salmon Treaty it would have some credibility, but certainly not now. Although there are significant issues facing some Chinook stocks that support SRKW’s, like those from the Upper Fraser, Klamath and Sacramento Rivers, at least those on the Fraser are being addressed through a suite of long-term annual Chinook-non-retention regulations. 

His commentary is rife with non-scientific emotionally driven trigger words and phrases. These are intended to motivate the public to pressure governments to eliminate ocean fisheries.

Some examples include: “the elephant in the room, starving, extinction in plain sight, held at arm’s length, relentless sway of industry, excessive harvesting, (meetings in) smoke filled rooms, no more denials, teetering on the brink, industrial scale ocean harvest, blinking out of existence, critical moment of survival or extinction, no other alternatives”.

Essentially his commentary is devoid of facts or references to studies that either support or oppose his point of view, but is clearly crafted to tug at the public’s heartstrings.

Facts and science are essential for the proper management of fisheries and conservation of salmon stocks. Unfortunately comments like ‘smoke filled rooms’ implies the existence of either nudge-nudge or undue coercive relationships between government agencies and fishing interests.

It also is an insult to fisheries scientists and managers who negotiated the Canada/US Salmon Treaty, and those who have followed on with its implementation. These are dedicated people who put salmon first. The Salmon Treaty brought an end to a destructive salmon war that actually did significant damage to salmon stocks.

It was the defining point that signaled a new way of management. Touhy’s commentary also shows a complete lack of understanding of the fishery advisory process in Canada.

Tuohy’s call to move salmon fisheries to terminal areas by eliminating interception fisheries essentially removes the need for the Pacific Salmon Commission, the Salmon Treaty’s implementation body, and with it joint international over-sight of Canadian and US salmon fisheries. This would be a huge mistake.  

His use of industrial scale fishing to describe Chinook fisheries in BC is an anachronism. Canadian commercial Chinook fisheries are so constrained that they are on the brink, and recreational ocean fisheries now operate under 3.5 to 4 months of Chinook non-retention beginning April 1st across the south coast of BC, followed by significant salmon fishing closures to protect SRKW’s until the end of November in the areas SRKW’s frequent.

Fortunately there are experts who should be heard, and some of them warned about the dissemination of misinformation in a 2018 video produced by the Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF).

The PSF is the largest non-government organization in Canada that funds salmon restoration, enhancement and research. In their video Doctor Brian Riddell, retired Fisheries & Oceans lead salmon scientist and CEO of the Foundation at the time; and Dr Andrew Trites, a leading Canadian marine mammal expert and head of the UBC Marine Mammal Unit refute claims that SRKW’s are starving, Chinook abundance is inadequate, harvest rates are too high, and that strategic fishery management strategies do not work.

Unfortunately multi-year research work done by Trites on Chinook availability was immediately criticized by advocacy groups who didn’t like the message.  Other eminent scientists who are struggling to get their message out include Order of Canada and Order BC recipient Dr. Richard Beamish. He is critical of widespread misinformation, and believes salmon management must be grounded in research and facts (See: ‘Re-think what we know about salmon’, and ‘The secret life of salmon’ in June 2024’s Island Fisherman Magazine).  The magazine articles and the Salmon Foundation video are important for those seeking a balanced perspective on whale and salmon issues.

The most glaring inadequacy in Tuohy’s rant is his failure to acknowledge the evolving recovery story for Chinook salmon particularly in southern BC. These runs contribute to the SRKW’s forage base while they are in Canadian waters. Examples include:

  • Georgia Strait Chinook have been recovering at a steady rate since the early 2000’s with recent aggregate escapements for an index of streams of 70,000.
  • The Cowichan River is a model for recovery using a mix of enhancement, restoration, and strategic fishing restrictions. From a spawning count of only 500 in 2009 returns exceeded 20,000 for the last 6 years, or 3 X the goal.
  • The Big Qualicum is a hatchery stock that had its largest return in decades. The hatchery credits 18,000 Chinook escapement in 2023 to experimental strategies that improved survival rates.
  • In 2023 Harrison Chinook returns exceeded 150,000 or 2 X the goal.
  • South Thompson summer run Chinook, almost all wild fish, recorded an astonishing 623,000 spawners in 2023, or 5 X the goal.
  • In 2023 West Coast Vancouver Island’s 350,000 Chinook return produced a 40 year record.

(Data sources: Department of Fisheries & Oceans).   

These returns didn’t suddenly happen. In some cases the recovery began once Salmon Treaty harvest rate reductions kicked in.

These fact based examples are a stark contrast to the picture of Chinook extinction painted by Touhy, and others who perpetuate the starving SRKW message. However, they do vindicate Andrew Trites Chinook abundance research, which indicated that if Chinook shortages exist, they are not occurring in Canadian waters.

This mantra has received significant press in the last decade. Yet the full story is rarely given balanced coverage that explains these complex issues. That fault lies with a compliant media who, as this biologist’s commentary illustrates, present a predominantly one sided view.  

These few 2023 Chinook escapement examples represent nearly 1.2 million Chinook that swam by SRKW’s, and successfully reached the spawning grounds. Yet, this is just a portion of the total Chinook abundance available for SRKW’s. Other major Chinook runs that add to this abundance include the Columbia River, Puget Sound, coastal Washington and Oregon, and other Fraser River and Georgia Strait stocks. This hardly qualifies as an insufficient forage base for just 74 SRKW’s.

The BC marine recreational fishery is meeting, and exceeding, its share of the conservation requirement. Furthermore, the PFA expects the Canadian government to do its part in dealing with pollution, like toxic chemicals, increased large vessel traffic, and ongoing Chinook habitat damage which has barely been addressed in the important Upper Fraser region until recently. Instead government has for decades reduced resources and funding that would have assisted these Chinook runs that constrain nearly all south coast Chinook fisheries. This neglect is unacceptable for salmon recovery, and for maintaining sustainable Chinook fisheries.   

Yours in conservation,

Signed on behalf of the Public Fishery Alliance Board of Directors 

Adrian O’Brien, Christopher Bos, Jason Assonitis, Kathryn Sharp, Tom Davis

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