Post on 28-Dec-2019
Minister’s Advisory Council on Finfish Aquaculture, January 19, 2017
A brief on … B.C.’s Pacific salmon resource, ecology, and pressures.
Brian E Riddell, Pacific Salmon Foundation, Vancouver, B.C. (contacts: briddell@psf.ca 604-763-1899 )
www.psf.ca
Pacific salmon have a complex life history using
freshwater, estuary, and marine environments.
Homing … adaptation to local habitats has led to
many different populations within each species.
Over 9,300 combinations of species and streams in
BC and Yukon.
But after 120 years of harvest, habitat losses, and
development pressures; ~85% of the original
spawning ‘groups’ remain and provide the
critical diversity in salmon to face the future.
But there is no question that BC’s salmon are
under increasing pressures!
> 99% of weight from Ocean environment
Three keys to understanding the state of Pacific salmon:
1. PRODUCTION = ANNUAL ABUNDANCE (CATCH IS DETERMINED BY ABUNDANCE, ALLOCATION, AND RISK)
2. PRODUCTIVITY IS THE RATE OF PRODUCTION … offspring produced per parent and defines the appropriate rate of harvest (relates to quality/quantity of habitats).
3. DIVERSITY (basis of genetic variation) … distribution of spawners in their habitats (only means to “manage” for the future)
Available from https://www.psf.ca/about/pacific-fisheries-resource-conservation-council The 2001-2002 Annual Report is actually an extensive review of salmon populations in the Okanagan River, the Fraser River, and all other salmon populations in Southern BC
Pressures …
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Historical Salmon Catches in British Columbia
Salmon (metric tonnes) 4-pt. Average
Trends in commercial salmon catch and total salmon spawning numbers within same years (1956 to 2002). Since mid-1990s, there has been a progressive reduction in fishing to protect spawning escapements (due to reduce ocean productivity and new conservation policies.) 10
Logging history in BC destabilizes landscapes, provides road access to wide areas, and an fuel fires. Unstable slopes and streams lead to loss of small streams, debris torrents, and heating of streams.
Justice Cohen’s “Elephant in the room” concerning the sustainability of Fraser River sockeye salmon was climate change.
Climate warming affects: Freshwater sources, seasonality of flows, quality and quantity of freshwater … and ultimately groundwater.
MPB Plus , Forest fires, invasive species and pathogens, & changes biological communities.
PLUS, change to marine environments …
Estuaries: Sea level rise and interaction with extreme flows
Strait of Georgia: warming, acidification, oxygen depletion zones
Pacific Ocean: coastal up-wellings, N Pacific feeding area (base of marine food chain,
harmful algal blooms, distribution of fish communities)
1/27/2017
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2015 Returns were all about the BLOB!
… so how do we manage for CHANGE?
1. Inventory of BC salmon & baseline data • Conservation Units (populations and habitats) • Core salmon data (Shifting Baselines) • Environmental monitoring and TEK
2. Management Framework and Processes • Wild Salmon Policy (2005) for Canada • Allocation Policies & legal framework • Production forecasts and annual decision process
(advice to Minister) • In-season monitoring and decisions. • Regulate fishing.
3. Post-season reviews and biological assessments.
To interpret &/or respond in any one year requires: A time series of observations An understanding of the biological processes and/or habitat changes Measures of uncertainty and risk … variability and impacts Accountability (analysis and reporting)
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Marine survival deviation from Average (0.088 or 8.8%)
Canadas’s Policy for the Conservation of Wild Pacific Salmon (2005) provides the appropriate framework for salmon management: 1) Standardized Monitoring of Wild Salmon
Status 2) Assessment of Habitat Status 3) Inclusion of Ecosystem Values and
Monitoring 4) Integrated Strategic Planning 5) Annual Program Delivery 6) Performance Review
Still not implemented today!
Habitat diversity over the landscape
Local Salmon populations
Localized impacts
Cumulative Production of salmon
CLIMATE AND OCEANS Annual variation within longer term change, causing >>> increases in uncertainty and numbers
Demes
Objectives of the WSP: 1.Safeguard the genetic diversity of
wild Pacific salmon. 2.Maintain habitat and ecosystem
integrity, and 3.Manage fisheries for sustainable
benefits.
Overall messages: 1. Pacific salmon are distributed throughout British
Columbia’s coast … there are no “salmon-free corridors” … must manage the interactions of wild, hatchery, and aquaculture salmonids.
2. The interaction of wild fish with aquaculture (in open-net pens) is inevitable … they will exchange microbes but the extent of risk remains undefined.
3. Sea lice are natural parasites on Pacific salmon, but sea lice on young-of-the-year salmons is not … but the linkage can likely be managed.
4. The state of wild salmon is an element of risk in these discussions … healthy, abundant populations will be more resilient.
5. Of all the aquaculture producing countries of the world, the greatest risk (potential magnitude of loss and impact) to wild fish is in undoubtedly British Columbia!
How can genomic technologies be applied to study infectious disease in salmon, impacts on wild salmon productivity, and
interactions between cultured and wild fish?
Strategic Salmon Health Initiative (Genome BC - PSF – DFO Science)
96 x 96 cell array = 9,219 results per array!
Dr. Kristi Miller-Saunders
The Domino effect of Pacific salmon …
Summary
1. Climate Change will reduce productivity (& harvest), increase uncertainty in production, and disrupt our present management processes/agreements.
2. CC necessitates focus on Diversity (abundance and distribution within CU’s), on habitat conservation and restoration (including WATER), and on consistency of monitoring, evaluation and reporting. (manage risk)
3. Planning and Mitigation for climate change should (1) protect productive salmon habitats, (2) restore habitats to sustain production including estuaries, and (3) improve management of BC’s water as expect from BC’s new Water Sustainability Act (2014). (implementation)
4. Increase research into hatchery production and aquaculture for increased food security, and to manage risks to B.C.’s wild salmon.
5. Prepare!
Thanks
People on the landscape
Local governments and community organizations
Federal, Provincial, and First Nation governments
International Agreements
The potential importance of people in the salmon landscape and the governance hierarchy may seem obvious …. but it has not be fully exploited.
We are all in this together!
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A schematic Production curve … how many can be harvested?
Max Harvest = A -B
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B = fish required to replace spawners
A = Expected production in next generation
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Chilko sockeye production data, 1949 to 2009 Brood years.
Change is happening … it is inevitable, and will progress from south to north.
It will be compounded by extreme events and disrupted habitats. It will change the timing of events and phenology of development; with reductions in
Productivity (the rate of production that determines the rate of fishing). Biological communities will change with invasive species and increased disease risks. Policies and allocation agreements will have to adapt. Pacific salmon will evolve (adaptability) but at what pace and loss? Fitness will be
temporarily reduced with loss of salmon production.