IN THE MATTER OF : ENBRIDGE NORTHERN GATEWAY PROJECT JOINT REVIEW PANEL NORTHERN GATEWAY PIPELINES INC. Application for ENBRIDGE NORTHERN GATEWAY PROJECT Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity Hearing Order: HO-4-2011 “…it’s going to gain for somebody, but it’s not going to gain for any of us that live here.”* WRITTEN EVIDENCE OF THE INTERVENORS UNITED FISHERMEN AND ALLIED WORKERS’UNION-CAW (UFAWU-CAW) January 2012 Submission: UFAWU-CAW 1.4 Fish and Fisheries: Salmon Sockeye-Coho Pages 40- 63 UFAWU-CAW 869 Fraser Street Prince Rupert, B.C. V8J 1R1 Phone: 250 624 6048 Head Office: Fax: 250 627-7951 United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union-CAW E-mail [email protected] First Floor 326 12th Street New Westminster, B.C. TABLE OF CONTENTS SOCKEYE SALMON (Oncorhynchus nerka): ............................................................................................ 40 Central/north coast sockeye harvests ........................................................................................................ 46 Catch figures: ............................................................................................................................................ 46 Sockeye salmon products: ........................................................................................................................ 46 Conservation and Escapements ................................................................................................................ 47 Spawning barrier overcome ............................................................................................................ 51 COHO SALMON (Oncorhynchus kisutch) ................................................................................................. 57 Central/north coast coho harvests ............................................................................................................. 59 Catch figures: ............................................................................................................................................ 62 Coho salmon products: ............................................................................................................................. 62 Conservation and Escapements ................................................................................................................ 62 ii SOCKEYE SALMON (Oncorhynchus nerka): Tyee Test Net: - Gillnetter test boat fishing on the Skeena at Tyee. DFO uses the sockeye catch figures to determine sockeye escapements and run size75 113 Sockeye salmon on the central/north coast is the second most abundant salmonid after pink salmon. It is the most sought after salmon by the net (gillnet and seine) fleet due to its relatively high price, weight and abundance. Sockeye return as 3-6 year old adults weighing 1.5 – 3.5 kg and spawn from June to October. Most fisheries for sockeye on the central/north coasts occur in June, July and August. From July -September, inland fisheries take place on Nass and Skeena sockeye. 114 Sockeye exhibit a greater variety of fresh-water life history than the other salmonids. Most sockeye spawn in moving water, although there are a fair number of stocks that spawn on lake bottoms (lake spawners). The vast majority of sockeye fry, after hatching, are genetically programed to swim to a lake where they will feed and grow from 1-3 years. Of these stocks, some spawn below a lake and their fry must swim upstream to reach the lake, other sockeye stocks will spawn in a tributary above a lake and their fry swim downstream to the lake. A few stocks (ocean type) will, like pinks and chum, after hatching migrate directly to sea. 115 Sockeye fry live in their nursery lake for 1-3 years, the length of time generally dependent on the amount of food in the lake, and then out-migrate to the ocean. Sockeye leave the lakes as smolt after they have reached a certain size in the lake. Some sockeye will not out-migrate and will remain in the lake and are called residual sockeye and Kokanee. 40 116 When the eggs hatch, like pinks, sockeye fry must swim to the top of the water and gulp air to create neutral buoyancy. (p34) They then swim to the lake, generally alongside the edge of the river if they are swimming up-stream. Once in the lake, for the first month or so most fry will feed along the shallow edges of the lake on dipteran insect larvae then move into the limnetic or upper lake water away from shore and feed on copepods, particularly Diaptomus and Cyclops. Late spring or early summer, most sockeye fry become pelagic feeders and target Daphnia, Bosmina and Cyclops. Sockeye fry feeding habits are varied between lakes particularly due to predator avoidance from birds 76 as well as trout, coho and sticklebacks. (Burgner 1991) 117 After one year or more in the nursery lake, sockeye undergo physiological changes and change from fry to smolt normally in late winter or early spring. Once they become smolt, usually between March-May, they migrate in large schools out of the lake downstream to the ocean. By this time they are much larger than pink and chum fry who out-migrate in a very tiny state. Salmon that have hatched from eggs the same spring do not necessarily smolt out in the same year. Fry from the same age class of eggs can remain in the lake for one, two and three years, creating a mix of genetic material as they may very well return to spawn in different years than their ‘nest mates’ due to differing lengths of time in the nursery lake. 118 Once in the marine environment, sockeye smolts usually remain for a month in the estuary of their natal river where they become acclimatized to salt water and feed on the ample food usually found in estuaries. They remain in the nearshore environment while migrating north, normally migrating alongside juvenile chum and pink salmon. Studies in the Gulf and Strait of Georgia have shown that there are interspecific differences in diet between the three species of salmonids: chum concentrated on Oikopleura larvae, pink on small copepods and invertebrate eggs and sockeye on copepods, 77 amphipods and insects. (Burgner 1991) 119 There have been at least three recent important study areas on sockeye juvenile migrations. There are studies on sockeye smolts and sea lice, sockeye juveniles and POST array, and Rivers and Smith sockeye. Data from these studies show that for the most part, juvenile sockeye travel northward feeding mainly on planktonic food, from May to September, co-migrating with many other sockeye stocks and co-mingling with chum and pinks as they travel. 120 Tucker et al (2009) wrote a report on juvenile sockeye DNA samples taken from Washington to Alaska from May-February 1996-2007. This study reports that in spring and summer, sockeye juveniles are found close to their natal rivers, by fall most sockeye juveniles had moved north and were found between central BC and SE Alaska. Most Fraser sockeye juveniles migrate northward through Johnstone Strait into Queen Charlotte Sound by May-June and then through Hecate Strait in northern BC to Alaska. Fraser sockeye are prevalent from July to October/November on the BC central and north coasts. Juvenile Fraser sockeye presence was highest on the central coast in May- June and declined in July-August although still present in large numbers. There are interesting exceptions - one is that juveniles from Rivers and Smiths Inlets on the central coast remain and rear in the coastal region (central coast) for at least six months – from May to November - and do not 41 migrate north with the other sockeye stocks. This study has no data from November to May.(Tucker 78 2009) 121 Sockeye from Rivers and Smiths Inlets on the central coast used to return in numbers that supported a large commercial fishery. In 1996 the stocks collapsed and scientists have been studying these sockeye to determine why they collapsed and why, in the absence of fishing, they have not rebuilt. The current hypothesis is that there is a lack of food available for these stocks in their early marine life. Juvenile sockeye feed on plankton and the quality and quantity of available plankton is critical to their growth and survival in coastal waters before migration into the open ocean. If plankton feed has been reduced for any reason, it is expected that the juvenile Rivers and Smith sockeye would 79 have very poor survival rates. (RIES) 122 Allan Gottesfeld et al studied juvenile salmon at the mouth of the Skeena River in 2004 and 2005 to determine baseline data for the number of sea lice that would normally be attached onto Skeena area juvenile salmonids and other species. The study was focused on pinks; comparatively few juvenile 80 sockeye were found. (Gottesfield et al 2006) The sockeye juveniles that were caught were found concentrated in relatively large numbers in Ogden Channel in late May and early June. In mid-June, the study found that the sockeye were more spread out over the entire Skeena area in a migration to open sea. 123 Figure 23 shows the distributions of juvenile sockeye indicated by CPUE in 2004 and 2005(Gottesfield et 81 al 2006) . 124 In 2007, further studies were done in the Skeena and Nass estuary areas concentrating on sockeye 82 juveniles. (Gottesfield et al 2008) Sockeye stomachs were examined for food content and type. Plankton tows were made to compare the plankton in the area to the food content. 125 Studies on salinity and current patterns driven by the Skeena and Nass discharges in 2007 confirmed those found by Gottesfield et al in 2004 and 2005 and Trites