British Columbia Pink Salmon (Oncorhynchus Gorbuscha) Seine, Troll and Gillnet Fishery
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British Columbia Pink Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) Seine, Troll and Gillnet Fishery British Columbia Coastal and Adjacent Canadian Pacific EEZ Waters PUBLIC CERTIFICATION REPORT Contract Number: 07-07 BC Salmon Version: Final Certification Report Version 1 Certificate No.: Date: July 25, 2011 Client: Canadian Pacific Sustainability Fisheries Society MSC reference standards: MSC Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing, Nov, 2004. MSC Accreditation Manual Issue 4, MSC Fisheries Certification Methodology (FCM) Version 6, MSC TAB Directives (All) MSC Chain of Custody Certification Methodology (CoC CM) Version 6. Accredited Certification Body: Moody Marine Limited 99 Wyse Road, Suite 815 Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada B3A 4S5 Assessment Team Mr. Steven Devitt, B.Sc. Moody Marine Dr. Ray Hilborn, PhD. Dr. Dana Schmidt, PhD. Mr. Karl English, M.Sc. Moody Marine Limited BC Pink Salmon Fisheries: Public Certification Report EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In January 2008, the client, Canadian Pacific Sustainability Fisheries Society, contracted TAVEL Certification to conduct a full fisheries assessment the Marine Stewardship Council Sustainable Fisheries Program on three units of pink salmon and four units of chum salmon in British Columbia. This report provides the results of the assessment of the three pink salmon units of certification including the north and central coast fisheries, the inner south coast fisheries and the Fraser River fisheries. The assessments evaluated a number of gear types, including seine, gillnet, troll, beach seine, fish wheels, weirs, dipnets. The site visit assessment was conducted by TAVEL Certification (Mr. Steve Devitt) and its’ Assessment Team (Dr. Ray Hilborn, Dr. Dana Schmidt and Mr. Karl English). The assessment was conducted using the MSC Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing, Issue 2, November 2002. The MSC Fisheries Certification Methodology (FCM) Version 6, September 2006 was used for all steps of the assessment process. In January 2010 TAVEL Certification was acquired by Moody Marine Ltd, a Moody International company. In recognition of this fact, this Public Certification Draft Report now bears the Moody International company name and was reviewed by the Moody Marine Governing Board in accordance with the Marine Stewardship Council’s Fisheries Certification Methodology. Several information sources informed scoring rationales including: the client submission, available science and management documents, and information and testimony attained during the fishery site visit. The client and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) prepared an extensive response to the finalize performance indicators drafted to evaluate the fishery. The client submission documents are available on the MSC website (http://www.msc.org/track-a-fishery/in-assessment/pacific/british-columbia-pink-and- chum-salmon/assessment-downloads) and are integral in the presentation of evidence and subsequent scoring of the fishery. Conducted in January 2009 in Vancouver, BC the fishery site visit enabled the assessment team to meet with DFO scientists and managers, the clients; and representatives from environmental/conservation organizations. Over the course of the assessment, it was clear that the management agency, DFO, has committed significant effort over the last decade to improve the consultative processes and tools used to manage these fisheries. Furthermore, the DFO has greatly improved the transparency of its management processes. Conversely, reduced DFO personnel resources have lead to the degradation of some of the key stock and escapement monitoring activities traditionally undertaken by DFO. These reductions have resulted in lower amounts of stock health benchmark data from the field and subsequently has resulted in lower confidence in the escapement estimates produced by DFO. Establishment of formal limit reference points, or suitable proxies remains a challenge to DFO. The overall performance of the three pink salmon fisheries units of certification conducted in the BC coastal waters, and adjacent Canadian Pacific waters is identified in the table below. The Assessment Team and Moody Marine Limited’s Governing Body BC Pink PCR_072211.doc i Moody Marine Limited BC Pink Salmon Fisheries: Public Certification Report has determined that the fishery be certified under the MSC Sustainable Fishing program as the following performance criteria have been met: 1. Each MSC Principle has an aggregated, weighted score higher than the required score of 80. 2. No individual performance indicator had a score below 60. 3. The client has agreed to improve the fishery performance for the performance indicators which had scores below 80 and above 60. Final scores allotted to British Columbian pink salmon fisheries and number of conditions issued. Unit of Certification Performance North Central Coast Pink Inner South Coast Pink Fraser Pink Salmon Salmon Salmon MSC Fishery Number of Fishery Number of Fishery Number of Principle Performance Conditions Performance Conditions Performance Conditions Issued Issued Issued 1 80 8 80 9 81 8 2 81 3 85 2 83 2 3 87 8 91 3 90 4 This report provides the details of the certification process that was undertaken for the candidate fisheries to the end of the Final Certification R Public Report phase, however, much of the information referred to in this document is either directly appended to the report or can be downloaded from the MSC website at the following address: http://www.msc.org/track-a-fishery/in-assessment/pacific/british-columbia-pink-and- chum-salmon/assessment-downloads BC Pink PCR_072211.doc ii Moody Marine Limited BC Pink Salmon Fisheries: Public Certification Report TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ I 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 UNIT OF CERTIFICATION ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Point of Entry in Chain of Custody and Eligibility Date ........................................................... 3 1.2 THE CLIENTS .................................................................................................................................... 4 1.3 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF CLIENT OPERATION .................................................................... 6 1.5 CONDITIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................ 6 1.6 SALMON FISHERY TERMINOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 6 2.0 BACKGROUND TO THE REPORT ..................................................................................................... 9 2.1 AUTHORS AND PEER REVIEWS. ......................................................................................................... 9 2.2 PREVIOUS ASSESSMENTS ................................................................................................................ 11 2.3 FIELD INSPECTIONS ......................................................................................................................... 11 2.4 CONSULTATIONS ............................................................................................................................. 11 3.0 FISHERY BACKGROUND INFORMATION ........................................................................................ 14 3.1 THE TARGET SPECIES – PINK SALMON (ONCORHYNCHUS GORBUSCHA) ......................................... 14 3.2 CANDIDATE FISHERY SUMMARIES ........................................................................................................... 17 3.3 CANDIDATE FISHERY ...................................................................................................................... 19 3.4 HISTORICAL MANAGEMENT CONTEXT ............................................................................................ 19 3.5. THE FISHERY AREA OF OPERATION ................................................................................................ 21 3.6 FLEET, GEAR AND HARVEST CONTROLS .......................................................................................... 26 3.7 CATCH ............................................................................................................................................ 28 3.8 BYCATCH ........................................................................................................................................ 30 3.9 INTERACTIONS WITH PROTECTED, ENDANGERED, THREATENED SPECIES ....................................... 31 4.0 MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ............................................................................................................... 32 4.1 MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................... 32 4.2 MANAGEMENT PLAN ...................................................................................................................... 32 5.0 STOCK HEALTH EVALUATION ........................................................................................................ 34 5.1 STOCK HEALTH MONITORING ........................................................................................................