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WCVI Suuhaa (Chinook)
Conservation, Management and Allocation
WCVI Chinook: Conservation
• Over 30 years of persistent low returns for most WCVI stocks (especially unenhanced)
• No evidence that management measures are rebuilding WCVI Chinook– e.g., 10% Canadian ER; 15% SEAK HR reduction;
WCVI CMC; 3 major WCVI DFO hatcheries• Generally poor escapement assessment (with
a couple of exceptions)• Complacent, “new normal” acceptance
Why low WCVI Chinook returns?
• 1970’s: habitat loss due to logging• 1980’s: very high harvest rates (pre-PST)• 1990’s: salmon farming• 1990’s: growing WCVI recreational fishery• 1990’s: questionable enhancement practices• 2000’s: worsening ocean conditions
WCVI still has pristine rivers with low returns.
Pacific Salmon Treaty Driver
• WCVI Chinook will be a major driver for 2017 PST renegotiations, as in 2009, 1999, and 1985
• Not clear what Canada’s objectives are for Chinook in PST renegotiations
• Canada will likely make the case to continue limited 2009 PST measures to address WCVI Chinook conservation [not enough to rebuild]
• Alaska will dispute Canada’s limited information• Negotiated settlement will be challenging
WCVI Chinook: Management
• 10% Canadian ER “objective” (3.2% for Area F troll)• 15% SEAK catch reduction in 2009 PST• 30% WCVI catch reduction in 2009 PST• WCVI Chinook Management Corridor (1 mile)• Emerging innovative enhancement approaches
from one of three WCVI major SEP facilities• Local, watershed based habitat and enhancement
projects (lacking WCVI-wide coordination)
WCVI Chinook: Management Concerns
• Concern with continued high-harvest rates in SE Alaska commercial and recreational fisheries
• Concern with size regulations in SEAK fisheries that select larger females
• Concern with standard hatchery procedures that return disproportionate number of 3 year old male Chinook (no eggs)
• Concern with exceeding 10% ER objective (sport)• Concern with WCVI hatchery straying into “wild”
(unenhanced) populations
BC Chinook: Management• Concern with lack of escapement assessment
(WCVI and elsewhere)• Concern with lack of BC Chinook stocks with PST
accepted escapement goals (only two stocks with accepted goals: Cowichan and Harrison)
• Concern with incomplete recreational monitoring – e.g., no creel survey for Areas 15, 16, 17, 18, 28 and 29
in Georgia Strait; seasonal monitoring in other areas
AABM Chinook: Management
• PSC Chinook Technical Committee (CTC) determines annual Abundance Index (AI) for Aggregate Abundance Based Management (AABM) fisheries (SEAK, NBC, WCVI)
• Table 1. in PST determines Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for fishing area based on AI
• Canada (DFO) decides on domestic sharing (allocations) of NBC and WCVI AABM TAC
AABM Chinook: Management
• WCVI AABM fisheries harvest Chinook returning to rivers throughout the Pacific Northwest (e.g., Oregon, Washington, interior Fraser, Strait of Georgia, Puget Sound, WCVI, Idaho, etc.)
• WCVI fisheries “shaped” to allow fishing in times and areas to avoid stocks of concern to the extent possible
AABM Chinook: Allocation
Current allocation priority (DFO – rights infringing)1. Food and Ceremonial rights (general Nuu-chah-
nulth + Maa-nulth Treaty: roughly 9,000 fish)2. Recreational fishery (1999 DFO Allocation policy
confers priority for Chinook to recreational fishery; current target 60,000 Chinook)
3. Commercial (Area G troll + Aboriginal rights based fishery of five Nuu-chah-nulth Nations)
AABM Chinook: Allocation
Correct allocation priority (SCC in Gladstone)1. Food and Ceremonial rights (general Nuu-chah-
nulth + Maa-nulth Treaty: roughly 9,000 fish)2. Rights-based fishery of five NCN Nations3. Up to Canada (DFO) to decide with recreational
and commercial harvesters how to best utilize the remaining (~60 – 65%) of the TAC
a. E.g., Canada could maintain recreational priority and target of 60,000 pieces for this TAC portion
DFO Allocation (Rights Infringing)
9,2487,558
60,000
56,494
NCN F&C
5 FNs rights
Sport
Area G
2016 TAC = 133,300AABM Chinook
Fair Allocation (Rights Recognition)2016 TAC = 133,300AABM Chinook 9,248
37,216
86,837 NCN F&C
5 FNs Rights
Sport + Area G
Vessel Size
Nuu-chah-nulth troller over 25’
Vessel Size
• If the five Nations have an allocation to fish to, what difference does it make to DFO the vessel size that fishers use?
Fishing Area
PM Trudeau to AFN Chiefs, Dec 2015"It is time for a renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with First Nations peoples, one that understands that the constitutionally guaranteed rights of First Nations in Canada are not an inconvenience but rather a sacred obligation."