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[Rodney]

The Chilliwack River Hatchery has been closed to public access due to COVID-19, so I’d like to show everyone what’s in the channel at the moment. What you’re seeing in these photographs, are approximately 2,000 summer red chinook salmon which have by-passed all the fishing effort throughout the river in the past couple of months.

This particular run of chinook salmon was not originally from the Chilliwack/Vedder River system, but an introduced stock from the interior region. In the past, returns to the hatchery have always been on the low side (under 1,000 fish) and there were years when the hatchery barely made brood target. In the past three years, the returns have been significantly higher, despite of the increased angling effort in the river (1,455 in 2019, 2,439 in 2020, and over 2,000 again this year). This could be due to the ongoing closures in the saltwater and Fraser River fisheries.

The hatchery aims to produce 600,000 eggs for this stock each year. This takes around 160 pairs of fish. The remaining surplus fish like the ones in these photographs, are then chased out of the channel so they can continue and possibly spawn in the river. Their spawning success is unknown, but there are ongoing studies being done that may provide more information in the future.

I also attended a meeting with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Sumas First Nation earlier this week for the post-season review. The Sumas First Nation’s fisheries took place downstream from the Highway One Bridge four days per week in July and part of August. Three set nets were used at any given time and fishers had to attend them at all time to pick the fish right away and reduce tangled time. In total, 53 chinook salmon were harvested, 12 white sturgeon were released, 4 sockeye salmon were released.

Those of you who came out and fished the river, would know that angling pressure was pretty high. Many happy anglers walked away with fish. Just exactly how many chinook salmon were retained in total by anglers, we simply don’t know. DFO does not conduct creel surveys for this fishery unlike the fall salmon fisheries, and the recreational fishing sector does not have a catch count system. One could guess that there were hundreds of fish caught based on what were observed. This is probably my biggest pet peeve by the way. We could suggest that catches by angling are insignificant compared to other fisheries, but there simply are no solid numbers to back it up or dispute it unfortunately. There has to be a better system to count our catches.

Anyway, this is just a brief overview of this year’s Chilliwack River summer chinook salmon fishery without too much commentary from yours truly. As some of my colleagues have suggested, it was probably the best scenario in a terminal fishery which one could hope for. Everyone caught some fish, the hatchery easily reached its brood target with many to spare, so everyone’s happy.

Once again I need to acknowledge and thank the Sumas First Nation for engaging in these discussions throughout the season. They have financially committed to collaborate, collect data in the next five years, and I and several other colleagues from the recreational fishing community will continue to be a part of this process. This is just a snippet of the whole story, which I hope to tell in an upcoming video next year.

There is a communal fishery being planned in the same stretch of the river for hatchery coho salmon this fall and approval is still needed from DFO before it can go ahead in late September. If it does, we will provide all the details here and our website to make sure it can be just as successful as the summer chinook salmon fishery.

[psd1179]

Beautiful

[wildmanyeah]

What size mesh are they proposing to use for the fall fishery?

[Cyanescens]

As much as they are a pain in the donkey, they could do monthly catch surveys by email, like the saltwater license does. Not perfect for sure but at least we would have some information on catch vs effort.

[DanL]

I also attended a meeting with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Sumas First Nation earlier this week for the post-season review. The Sumas First Nation’s fisheries took place downstream from the Highway One Bridge four days per week in July and part of August. Three set nets were used at any given time and fishers had to attend them at all time to pick the fish right away and reduce tangled time. In total, 53 chinook salmon were harvested, 12 white sturgeon were released, 4 sockeye salmon were released.

That fell well short of their target, no? That's too bad, as it seems there would have been plenty to go around. Surprised that they got 1/4 as many sturgeon as springs... Is there any thought as to why the sets had that amount of success?

Just exactly how many chinook salmon were retained in total by anglers, we simply don’t know. DFO does not conduct creel surveys for this fishery unlike the fall salmon fisheries, and the recreational fishing sector does not have a catch count system. One could guess that there were hundreds of fish caught based on what were observed. This is probably my biggest pet peeve by the way. We could suggest that catches by angling are insignificant compared to other fisheries, but there simply are no solid numbers to back it up or dispute it unfortunately. There has to be a better system to count our catches.

A more general inquiry, is there any plan to improve data collection to assess impact of rec sector? It's such a black hole right now, and I'll wager that if we could magically get an accurate assessment it could be significantly higher than one might expect. I think (based on pure guesswork) that the rec take for the whole season was much more than hundreds...

Just my opinion but would it useful to see mandatory (or at least opt-in) reporting. It's a small price to pay for what we get out of the resource. Though I dont know with who's time, or with what $$ that program would be run...

[Dave]

I have to wonder if some of these surplus eggs could be used to augment the hatchery component of the upper Fraser chinook enhancement program under way, say one of the many rivers with virtually no, or very few, spawners observed. After all, they are originally from some of these populations and are readily available.

[avid angler]

I have to wonder if some of these surplus eggs could be used to augment the hatchery component of the upper Fraser chinook enhancement program under way, say one of the many rivers with virtually no, or very few, spawners observed. After all, they are originally from some of these populations and are readily available.

Do salmon not become domesticated like steelhead when spawned in a hatchery for multiple generations? It’s a great idea but would the returning adults from these now very hatchery Chinook be able to reproduce successfully on their own without fish culturing.

[Dave]

Do salmon not become domesticated like steelhead when spawned in a hatchery for multiple generations? It’s a great idea but would the returning adults from these now very hatchery Chinook be able to reproduce successfully on their own without fish culturing.

Good question, one we will probably never determine, lol! As Rodney says, there are on ongoing studies to determine the recruitment level of naturally spawning summer Chilliwack chinooks ... the general feeling has been these fish accumulate too many temperature units early on in there development and emerge when available food for fry is minimal.  The indigenous stock that once swam in this river spawned about a month later.

[wildmanyeah]

Just mark all the damn hatchery fish

[dcajaxs]

yes then they would know quickly how many wilds are infact spawning. 

[stsfisher]

Just mark all the damn hatchery fish

Wayy to easy.

[BNF861]

There is a communal fishery being planned in the same stretch of the river for hatchery coho salmon this fall and approval is still needed from DFO before it can go ahead in late September. If it does, we will provide all the details here and our website to make sure it can be just as successful as the summer chinook salmon fishery.

Netting the Sumas during the summer when reds are moving through is a lot different than the bulk fall salmon run. During the summer red run, it being a fairly small run with less successful sets compared to the fall, I would have to think that there is less effort used versus the fall with more guaranteed success with a many more fish migrating through. The summer red run is essentially 100% hatchery with some Chilliwack lake sockeye co migrating. During the fall there are all five salmon species   both hatchery and wild including wild coho and cultus lake sockeye. Are there regulations on what species, wild/hatchery and how many will be allowed to be netted? The post above said hatchery coho, nets aren’t very discriminatory or have a very good release rate for unintended bycatch.

In the summer recreational angling pressure is very low in the Vedder/Sumas portion below the highway bridge, easily avoiding fishing competition and confrontation. During the fall months that section is often packed with anglers, especially in a pink year, even more so now with the recent regulation change preventing fishing for salmon on streams without retention that helped spread pressure over more rivers instead of a handful. When netting was recently allowed to take place in the summer it was for a hatchery raised stock with less angling pressure than the fall and some surplus fish available. I think when most people considered the reasoning they were ok with the rationale but were concerned that once it was allowed to take place, the fall salmon run would be next and here we are, it didn’t take long.

I am definitely not trying to turn this reply into a FN netting debate, just brining up some of the logistical concerns concerning this new precedent on local fall fishing and curious if any one has some further insight. I do applaud Rod for his efforts in acting as a liaison and helping exchange information between anglers and First Nations to help each side see eye to eye. Like it or hate it, with dwindling stocks and FN precedents that have already been set, working together is the only way forward. That does not mean FN deciding what they are going to do and rec anglers having to deal with it and the left overs but meaningful conversation and action plans with contribution and give/take from both sides. Easier said than done but if all sectors don’t work as a team nobody will be allowed to fish for any salmon and that could even be within this life time. Recreational anglers have lost many opportunities in recent years, it would be nice to find some common ground.

[RalphH]

As far as marking hatchery chinook, Canada is committed under the Pacific Salmon Treaty to doing that. Supposedly it is a matter of getting the equipment, installing it &training staff to operate it.

Best I know it is really rare for transplanted Pacific Salmon to produce self sustaining natural returns even when there is sustained stocking of hatchery fish. The only examples where it has happened is where they have been introduced to foreign waters where there was no natural population of any Pacific Salmon stock - the Great Lakes, New Zealand & Chile are the only examples I know of. In the Great Lakes there has been sustained hatchery stocking so in fact it's hard to know how self sustaining those stocks are - with the exception of pink salmon in Lake Superior.