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[Rodney]

https://www.canada.ca/en/fisheries-oceans/news/2018/05/government-of-canada-takes-action-to-protect-southern-resident-killer-whales.html

[Old Blue]

Immediate acts but no real mention of a plan of attack hhhmmmmmmm.  How much of that funding will be spent directly in Ottawa....half or more maybe?

Seal cull, salmon spawning habitat protection and enhancement coast wide, limit commercial fishing to the salt but restrict within a reasonable distance from any tributary, eliminate all Commercial and FN gill net fishery and only allow FN to selective methods in rivers, increase hatchery budgets, give more funding to projects like Sandy Cove pen project, increase spawning habitat for herring and anchovies coast wide, fine and possibly take away licenses of sight seeing whale boats that break rules.

[CohoJake]

Immediate acts but no real mention of a plan of attack hhhmmmmmmm.  How much of that funding will be spent directly in Ottawa....half or more maybe?

Seal cull, salmon spawning habitat protection and enhancement coast wide, limit commercial fishing to the salt but restrict within a reasonable distance from any tributary, eliminate all Commercial and FN gill net fishery and only allow FN to selective methods in rivers, increase hatchery budgets, give more funding to projects like Sandy Cove pen project, increase spawning habitat for herring and anchovies coast wide, fine and possibly take away licenses of sight seeing whale boats that break rules.

Washington State is adopting some of these now, acknowledging that at least in the short term it needs to increase hatchery production of Chinook so these 3 orca pods don't starve, and Oregon is taking serious steps toward culling seals and sea lions.  I have always wondered how long it would take until BC starts fin clipping their hatchery Chinook - maybe this will be the final straw to make all sport fisheries mark-selective. 

For those in the know - why does the Chilliwack hatchery produce non-native summer Chinook rather than trying to enhance the native spring Chinook stock?

As a river angler, I think the changes to protect Orcas will actually work out in our favor - decrease ocean harvest and increase production.  Even if we have decreased catch quotas, I foresee more hookup opportunities. 

Last night I was reminded of just how dramatic habitat restoration can be.  I live near a creek that was just restored to a more natural state after running underground in a tunnel for more than 1/2 a mile for over 100 years.  It has been two years since the project was completed, and now the stream-side vegetation is providing proper shade.  I was amazed at the number of salmon smolts and 6 inch cutthroat I could spot from the foot-bridge in this tiny stream.  It made me think of what a difference this can make on a larger scale. 

Conservation and habitat restoration are good things.  Make the Orca whales our allies.  The goal here is more Chinook for everyone.   

[avid angler]

They don’t focus on the spring Chinook because they don’t exist any more

[Rodney]

http://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&DOC_ID=208486&ID=all

[wildmanyeah]

http://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&DOC_ID=208486&ID=all

Rod do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing for in river fisheries? do you expect more Chinook will now show up in systems like the Chilliwack/vedder?

I

[CohoJake]

Rod do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing for in river fisheries? do you expect more Chinook will now show up in systems like the Chilliwack/vedder?

I

I think we may especially see more summer chinook in the Vedder, since these are an upriver Fraser stock and presumably follow the same ocean migration routes.  As for the fall white chinook run - does anyone know where the bulk of these fish are in the summer?

[RalphH]

DFO created a fall chinook run from Harrison River stock to enhance saltwater angling. The summer run enhancement was to provide some in river opportunities at a time when none really existed. The spring population which was always very low numbers, is probably far too small to 'enhance' sensibly in that all adult females would be required to produced sufficient hatchery stock to produce numbers even close to the summer run. As it is the river closes May 1 to all but fly tackle and river conditions are mostly marginal or worse. Before that there is sufficient #s of steehead to provide angling opportunities.

People have to remember that hatchery enhancement takes 4+ years to produce adults for SRKWs and habitat enhancement takes longer. The whales can't wait that long.

[wildmanyeah]

NVM i don't no what i was thinking looks like the genocide of Chinook nets continue, I hear they are getting a 3 day opening too.

http://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fraserriver/firstnations/HTMLs/CommunalOpeningTimes.html



Jun 03   Tsawassen First Nation   Below Port Mann Bridge   36 hrs   08:00
Saturday
Jun 02   20:00
Sunday
Jun 03   Chinook   set net, drift net

[CohoJake]

People have to remember that hatchery enhancement takes 4+ years to produce adults for SRKWs and habitat enhancement takes longer. The whales can't wait that long.

5-10 years would still be soon enough to save these whales  The biggest problem right now is not that the adults are starving to death, it is that there isn't enough food for their calves to survive.  SRKWs live and breed for decades.  This is a long term problem, and we need both short-term and long-term solutions.

[RalphH]

you are the only 'authority' I have read make this claim. It''s a long term problem in the sense the decline has been underway for decades.

The current level of decline is on the order of 5% a year. Each year with low or nonexistent recruitment means more  infertile or dead adult females and accelerated decline.


The decline has to be addressed now. Best evidence is that the decline in chinook stocks cannot be address by artificial enhancement. The only sure means of success is to put more adult spawners on the redds ASAP. Five to ten years could be too late for both populations.

5-10 years would still be soon enough to save these whales  The biggest problem right now is not that the adults are starving to death, it is that there isn't enough food for their calves to survive.  SRKWs live and breed for decades.  This is a long term problem, and we need both short-term and long-term solutions.

[Dave]

Best evidence is that the decline in chinook stocks cannot be address by artificial enhancement. The only sure means of success is to put more adult spawners on the redds ASAP. Five to ten years could be too late for both populations.

Absolutely spot on, with the possible exception in that I think hatcheries could be a quick fix for Orca food.  But I wonder, where is the leadership from Sto-Lo authorities and why are FN still fishing these stocks, now, in the Fraser?  In my opinion they are squandering a huge opportunity, in this time of reconciliation, to be shown as true "stewards of the land."

[wildmanyeah]

Net pen projects in Vancouver (capilano hatchery) have shown to have 2-3 times higher return rates to the hatchery, then releasing them in river.

Just adjusting our methods at some hatcheries and we could increase the returns by 2-3 times.  That is a lot more food for the whales that need it.

[ynot]

fraser river closed to all salmon fishing until AUG 22 2018

[ynot]

 I mean for sports fishing.