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 1.5 Fish and Fisheries: Salmon Chinook - Steelhead

Pages 64 - 75

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

CHINOOK SALMON (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) ...... 64 Central/north coast chinook harvests ...... 66 Catch figures: ...... 67 Coho salmon products: ...... 67 Conservation and Escapements ...... 67 STEELHEAD (oncorhynchusmykiss) ...... 72 Central/north coast steelhead harvests ...... 72 Conservation and escapement ...... 75 Endnotes: ...... xi

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CHINOOK SALMON (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)

204 Chinook salmon are the largest salmonid, adults weighing from 3.5-20 kg. Chinook will spawn in running water through-out a watershed and usually in larger rivers than in small creeks. Chinook stocks are usually numerically small. Chinook also have a complex life history. There are two ‘types’ of chinook. The ‘stream type’ rear in fresh water for one or two years then migrate to the ocean where they travel to the North Pacific, returning to their natal river in the spring or summer, a few months prior to spawning. The ‘ocean type’ migrate to the ocean normally within three months after hatching, spend most of their lives in coastal waters and spawn shortly after arriving back to 127 their natal rivers.(Healey,1991)

205 Most Skeena chinook are stream-type and spend three winters at sea although they can return after 128 one to five years at sea (Gottesfield and Rabinet ) . Most Atnarko chinook, located further south on the 129 central coast, are ocean-type fish which spend 4 years at sea. (Velez-Espino et al 2010 )

206 Chinook are heavily harvested by recreational fishers in many places on the central/north coasts. In the commercial fishery, chinook are harvested off of Haida Gwaii by trollers in a mixed stock fishery and in small terminal gillnet fisheries on Atnarko and Skeena chinook.

207 Most north coast chinook, including Yakoun River chinook on Haida Gwaii and Nass and Skeena chinook return to their natal rivers from May to July and spawn in August and September. Atnarko chinook (Bella Coola) have an early run that returns in May and June and a later, smaller, run which 130 returns in August; both runs spawn in September. (Healey 1001) Females will remain on the spawning grounds and spend as many as 18 days defending their redds (egg nests in the gravel). 131 (Healey, 1991)

208 Chinook spawn in larger streams and spawn in faster moving water with coarser gravel than other salmon species. Skeena chinook spawn in large tributaries, on tributary alluvial fans in the mainstem 132 of large rivers or in rivers at lake outlets. (Gottesfield and Rabnett) Spawning chinook seek out gravel with a good sub-gravel water flow; chinook have the largest eggs of all salmonids and therefore have a smaller surface to volume ration that requires a larger volume of oxygen brought by good water flows through the spawning gravel. Siltation of the spawning grounds, problematic for survival of 133 any salmon egg, is particularly perilous for chinook eggs. (Healey 1991)

209 Fry emerge from the spawning gravel in March to May and upon emergence are swept and/or swim downstream. Especially for the stream-type which rear in fresh-water, this is thought to be a dispersal mechanism to distribute fry among the suitable rearing habitats.

210 Ocean-type chinook that out-migrate as fry will hold in the river for up to a month to feed and grow, but then will migrate to the estuary where they spend their early juvenile lives. Many ocean-type fry, however, feed long enough in fresh water to migrate out to the ocean as fingerlings (larger than fry) in April to June of their first juvenile year.

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211 Ocean-type chinook fry will rear in fresh water marsh areas in the estuary or estuarine areas with very low salinity until they develop into smolts. As smolts, they are able to adjust to salt water and move out into in-shore and near shore marine areas. The chinook that out-migrate into the estuary area fry- size grow fast enough to move into the marine part of the estuary by the time that the later out- migrating fingerlings (which are also ocean-type) arrive in the estuary in June and July. Ocean type chinook make extensive use of estuarine habitat; they arrive small (compared to stream-type) and 134 grow into smolts and larger juveniles in the estuary or in near-estuary environments.(Healey 1991)

212 Stream-type chinook juveniles hug the shoreline of larger rivers or reside in the top 3 metres of slower channels. Steam-type chinook have similar life stories as coho with whom they compete for food and for territory and like coho, are territorial. These juveniles live in fresh water for 1-2 years before they become smolts and out-migrate to the sea. While living in fresh water, and as they grow, they will change their feeding and rearing territories a number of times; especially during the winter when they will usually move out of smaller shallower systems into pools in the larger tributaries or 135 the mainstem rivers. (Healey 1991)

213 In fresh water, the principal foods appear to be larval and adult insects with Cladocera, Diptera, Copepoda, and Chironomidae. Chinook and coho juveniles are usually segregated by habitat, so although they eat similar foods, they are not in direct competition. Other fish, including larger coho 136 and chinook juveniles and trout predate on chinook fry.(Healey 1991)

214 Stream-type chinook migrate out to salt water as smolts when they are one or two years old. They may spend some time in the seaward portions of the estuary to feed but they migrate to the open ocean soon after they arrive at sea.

215 The type of food eaten by juvenile chinook in the estuary and near-shore marine environments appears to be dependent on size. Smaller fry and fingerlings will eat chironomid larvae and pupae, crab and herring larvae and harpacticoid copepods. Larger chinook juveniles eat juvenile herring and salmon fry and other small fish as well as insects and chironomids, In general, chinook appear to 137 prefer larger organisms than other similar-sized salmonids in the same area.(Healey 1991)

216 Ocean-type chinook, as older juveniles and adults will reside in the coastal areas in the general vicinity of their natal river system to feed and grow until they return to spawn after 3-6 years at sea. Stream-type will arrive in salt water as one or two year old juveniles and quickly migrate to the North Pacific to return after 2- 5 years at sea. Chinook, like sockeye, do not exhibit straying behavior when returning to spawn; they are precision spawners and return with few exceptions to their natal beds.

217 Adult chinook depend heavily on other fish as food. Herring, pilchards and sand lace are the primary foods of both the ocean and stream type chinook. Euphausiids are important at times, likely when they are present en-mass.138

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218 Spawning chinook are complex as to age classes and life-history. For example, Atnarko chinook are 72% ocean-type. Sixty-two percent of the spawners are age 3 and 4 and most (95%) are ocean-type. Only one percent of Atnarko chinook come back as 6 year olds and 70% of these are stream-type. (Velez-Espino 2010)139 On the other hand, most Nass and Skeena are stream-type chinook that spend 140. one year in fresh water and arrive to spawn as predominantly 4, 5 and 6 year olds (Morrell 2010)

Central/north coast chinook harvests

219 In the commercial fishery, most chinook are harvested by trollers off of Haida Gwaii. This is a mixed stock fishery and harvests primarily Vancouver Island, Fraser River, and Washington and Oregon stocks. Skeena, Nass and central coasts stocks play a relatively minor role in the troll harvest menu of stocks.

141 (Winther, 2011)

220 The number of chinook that the troll fishery is permitted to harvest is set by the Pacific Salmon Treaty (PST) and by DFO’s concern over West Coast Vancouver Island (WCVI) chinook stocks. As this chart shows, the PST set a total allowable catch (TAC) of 132,400 chinook but the troll fleet only caught half this number (74,000). This is because they reached the DFO imposed ceiling of 3,477 WCVI chinook and had to stop fishing.

221 Major chinook stocks are located in or close to the proposed pipeline route. Concerns are that if there is a spill that negatively affects these chinook stocks, trollers (and others) may have another ceiling imposed for the affected stocks that will make it difficult, if not impossible to harvest their total chinook allocation under the Treaty. The ceiling and management strategy that occurred in 2011 to protect the WCVI stocks cost the trollers alone $3.5 million in landed value.

222 Two other chinook fisheries take place on the central/north coast. One is the gillnet fishery on the Skeena River which is permitted to harvest 4,000 chinook in a June fishery in Area 4. When gillnetters are permitted to fish in the first weeks of July, the number of chinook harvested increases to 10,000 pieces. The other is a fishery which targets Atnarko chinook in the Bella Coola area (Bentinck Arm, Burke Channel and Labouchere Channel) which harvests from 5,000-10,000 chinook a year. Because chinook has a large value per pound and chinook are large fish, these fisheries are very important to gillnet fishers.

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2001-2007 average chinook harvest sorted by gear and.quantile

2001-2007 average Gillnet chinook harvest sorted by gear and.quantile 2001-2007 average Troll chinook harvest sorted by gear and.quantile

142 143 (BCMCA Atlas) (BCMCA Atlas)

Catch figures:

223 Please refer to the attached appendix for information on harvest statistics.

Coho salmon products:

224 Chinook is a premium fresh or fresh frozen salmon – whole (dressed) or portioned (staked or filleted). It is white (ivory) or red fleshed, and the red fleshed chinook receives the highest price per pound of any salmonid. Chinook is not a canned product.

Conservation and Escapements

225 There are not many chinook salmon stocks compared to other salmonids – and there are a few major or large stocks and others that average fewer than 500 spawners. However, because chinook show a faithful return to their natal spawning grounds, they have not genetically mixed with other stocks and therefore have many more conservation units than the numerically larger coho and pink salmon.

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DFO Conservation Units for Pacific Salmon under the Wild Salmon Policy144

226 The map shows the draft CUs for chinook on the central and north coasts. Each dot is a distinct stock.

227 There are 2 CU on Haida Gwaii with the Yakoun River having the largest stock.

228 There are 3 CUs on the Nass, upper, middle and lower. There are fewer different spawning locations for Nass chinook.12 on the Skeena and 5 on the central coast to Area 10.

229 The Skeena River chinook CUs are still in draft form as work is still ongoing on identifying CUs for chinook. However, at present there are 12 CUs listed on this map. There are 100 discrete spawning locations for Skeena chinook145.

230 The Bella Coola and Dean CU labels are missing from the map. There are 5 CUs on the central coast. The Atnarko, Chuckwalla, Kilbella and Wannock Rivers have the largest populations.

231 There are no directed commercial chinook fisheries in Areas 1, 2E or 2W. Haida Gwaii chinook are less than 1% of the troll catch. The Yakoun is the largest producer with the Marie Lake Hatchery enhancing the run. Escapements have been average or above average.

232 Area 3 (Nass) chinook runs have been good until 2011, when returns were around half the decadal average. The troll fishery takes very few Nass chinook, gillnetters only retain chinook as bycatch in the Nass sockeye fishery and seines must release all chinook caught.

233 Area 4 (Skeena) chinook also had relatively poor returns in 2011.

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234 Chinook escapements to Skeena Tributaries have been reduced for a decade.

146 (Winther 2011)

235 The biggest producers on the Skeena are the Kitsumkalum, Morice and Bear Rivers. The Bear River has been very depressed since 2002 and is a major concern. DFO is calling the Upper Bulkley CU ‘a stock of concern’. 147

236 The commercial fishery has very low impacts on Skeena chinooks. The total Canadian commercial percentage catch (Exploitation Rate) has been less than 10% in the last decade.

237 Of the 12 present Conservation Units for the Skeena River and the chinook systems for each Conservation Unit. Of particular concern are CU# 53 Middle Skeena Large Lakes and # 55 Upper Bulkley River which contain the chinook stocks that would be affected by an oil spill from the pipeline.

238 Area 5 Contains few chinook streams.

239 Area 6 Kitimat hatchery releases around 1.5-2 million smolts from the hatchery annually. Most are caught in the Douglas Channel sports fishery.

240 Area 7 Contains few chinook streams.

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241 Area 8 Large returns to the Atnarko system which is enhanced with produion from the Snootli hatchery in Bella Coola. This is an important commercial fishery area for chinook. Returns and harvests are below average.

242 Area 9 (Rivers Inlet) Chinook stocks return here in healthy numbers to the WannockRiver , enhanced with production from the Snootli hatchery. At one time there was a gillnet retention fishery here for chinook but with sockeye problems, there have been no recemt commercial harvests of chinook.

243 Area 10 (Smith Inlet) The Chuckwalla and Kilbella stocks have been trending downward and are considered to be stocks of concern by DFO.148

244 Most central/north coast chinook stocks have been trending downward in the recent past. DFO is expressing concerns about this trend.

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149 MAP NO.2 ADULT CHINOOK AND COHO MIGRATION ROUTES (DF0)

MAP NO.2 ADULT CHINOOKAND COHO MIGRATION ROUTES

Department of Fisheries and Oceans Pacific Region Habitat Management Division February 1985

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STEELHEAD (oncorhynchusmykiss)

245 There are five major steehead watersheds on the central/north mainland coasts: the Nass, Skeena, Kitimat and the Dean. On Haida Gwaii the Yakoun, Copper, Pallant and Tlell steelhead runs are the largest.

246 Steelhead is the name for the anadromous species; steelhead that remain in fresh water are called rainbow trout. Steelhead lay their eggs in fresh quickly moving water, and after the eggs hatch, the fry remain in fresh water for 1-4 years when they out-migrate as smolts. They spend 1-3 years at sea when they return to spawn.

247 There are summer run and winter run steelhead, dependent upon when the steelhead return to fresh water. Eighty percent of the Skeena steelhead are summer run; returning in July and August, with most steelhead spawning the following April and May. Summer run fish hold in the Skeena mainstem 150 or tributaries from 9-10 months while they become sexually mature. (Gottesfield and Rabnett)

248 Twenty percent are winter run, returning from October to May; these fish return in a sexually mature state as they spawn upon arrival on the spawning beds. Winter runs may spawn as late as June.151

249 There is an argument between many people that steelhead is not a salmon but a trout. Notwithstanding, the steelhead spawns, then instead of dying like a Pacific salmon it, like an Atlantic salmon or a trout, lives to spawn again. The spawned out steelhead kelts will out-migrate in the late spring or early summer back to the North Pacific to feed.

250 Juvenile steelhead eat invertebrates such as crustaceans and insects such as mayflies, caddis flies and black flies. They will also eat salmon eggs and fry while still living as juveniles in fresh water. Juvenile steelhead are territorial hunters, similar to chinook and coho.

251 Steelhead smolts out-migrate in the spring (usually in May). Some smolt spend a very short time in the estuary dispersing offshore almost immediately upon entering salt water while others will take up 152 residence in the estuary for some months. (Bond 2008) Steelhead migrate to the North Pacific where they will live in a narrow band determined by ocean temperature stretching across the North 153 Pacific.(Welch et al 1998)

252 Once in the marine environment, steelhead primarily feed on fish, squid and amphipods. Upon returning to fresh water to spawn, adult steelhead eat very little.

Central/north coast steelhead harvests

253 Steelhead, although once caught as bycatch in the commercial net fishery and sold to the processors is not considered a commercial fish but a fresh water sports fish. On the Skeena, Dean and Tlell rivers, many people make their living as steelhead guides.

254 Twice, in the past twenty years, the steelhead guides have demanded that the commercial net fishery stop taking steelhead as bycatch. Today, there is no commercial take of steelhead; retention is not 72

permitted. Any steelhead that is inadvertently caught must be released alive, unharmed, in good condition back to the water.

255 The provincial government, who has responsibility for steelhead management and the DFO have worked with the steelhead guides to restrict the commercial bycatch. In 1992, gillnetters in Bella Coola who were netting a few Dean River steelhead in their chum fishery found out that steelhead, unlike chum, swim in the top metre of the ocean. They developed a deep-weedline that dropped their nets one metre below the surface of the ocean. This was an effective measure to avoid steelhead.

256 In 1994, an agreement was signed between the sports fishermen, the guides, the commercial marine fishing sector and the provincial and federal governments to decrease the inadvertent mortality of Skeena River steelhead by 42%. Skeena gillnet fishermen adopted the deep weedline and the seine fleet brailed their catches and both fleets experimented with the development of laminar flow revival boxes. The gillnet fleet also had reduced fishing time and areas closed to fishing.

257 Once again, the guide community is demanding that the fleets further reduce their steelhead interceptions. Even though the steelhead stocks on the Skeena and Dean rivers are at the high end of productivity at present and very few steelhead are being caught, the guides want even fewer steelhead caught. The provincial government is supporting this demand and has created a policy statement that they have a goal of seeing any gear that takes any steelhead as inadvertent bycatch off the water.

258 Why is this important as evidence to provide to the JRP? It is another example of fishermen being forced to make large and expensive changes to their fishery in order to avoid taking a ‘stock of concern’. At present, steelhead are only ‘of concern’ to guides and the tourist sector who rely on steelhead sports fishers for their income; steelhead are a very healthy species from a conservation perspective.

259 The concern is if there is an oil spill that negatively affects a steelhead stock, whether in salt water or fresh, commercial fishermen will have further restrictions laid upon them in their target fisheries to further increase their avoidance of steelhead. As steelhead co-migrate with salmon, it is difficult to do and so, and fisheries will likely be restricted or closed to further protect a non-commercially harvestable species

260 The following sections have been taken from the Northern Salmon IFMP 2011-2012. They are a record of DFO’s actions to reduce the commercial fleet’s inadvertent bycatch of steelhead at the province’s request.

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261 Pacific Region Integrated Fisheries Management Plan Salmon Northern B.C

June 1, 2011 – May 31, 2012

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154 ( IFMP )

Conservation and escapement

262 Conservation Units have not yet been agreed to by the province but the Skeena steelhead will likely have similar number of CUs as chinook salmon; being that the stream-type chinook is the Pacific salmon with the most similar live story.

263 If that supposition is correct, the Nass would have 3 steelhead CUs, the Skeena around 5-10 and Haida Gwaii, two. The Dean will have one summer run CU. The Kitimat River, where steelhead are also an enhanced population from the Kitimat hatchery, one winter run CU, as would the Dean River.

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Endnotes:

*Angel, Eric. Potential Impacts of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Project on Commercial Fishing and Fishing Communities on BC’s north coast. 2011 (p 26) Prepared for UFAWU-CAW

127 Healey M.C. Life History of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in Groot C. and Margolis L. ed. Pacific Salmon Life Histories. UBC Press in cooperation with DFO. Vancouver. 1991 (p314)

128 Gottesfield, Allen and Rabnett, Ken. Skeena River Fish and their Habitat. Skeena Fisheries Commission 2008. Published by Ecotrust Portland (p14)

129 Velez-Espino, L.A, Mullins, G., Willis, J., Krimmer, A., and Levesque, W. 2010. Mark- RecaptureExperiment for the 2009 Chinook Salmon Spawning Escapement in the Atnarko River. DFO. Canadian Manuscript Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 2930.

130 Healey M.C. Life History of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in Groot C. and Margolis L. ed. Pacific Salmon Life Histories. UBC Press in cooperation with DFO. Vancouver. 1991 (pp 318-321)

131Healey M.C. Life History of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in Groot C. and Margolis L. ed. Pacific Salmon Life Histories. UBC Press in cooperation with DFO. Vancouver. 1991 (pp324)

132 Gottesfield, Allen and Rabnett, Ken. Skeena River Fish and their Habitat. Skeena Fisheries Commission 2008. Published by Ecotrust Portland (p14)

133 Healey M.C. Life History of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in Groot C. and Margolis L. ed. Pacific Salmon Life Histories. UBC Press in cooperation with DFO. Vancouver. 1991 (pp323-324)

134 Healey M.C. Life History of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in Groot C. and Margolis L. ed. Pacific Salmon Life Histories. UBC Press in cooperation with DFO. Vancouver. 1991 (p p336-338)

135 Healey M.C. Life History of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in Groot C. and Margolis L. ed. Pacific Salmon Life Histories. UBC Press in cooperation with DFO. Vancouver. 1991 (p340)

136 Healey M.C. Life History of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in Groot C. and Margolis L. ed. Pacific Salmon Life Histories. UBC Press in cooperation with DFO. Vancouver. 1991 (pp 341-342)

137 Healey M.C. Life History of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in Groot C. and Margolis L. ed. Pacific Salmon Life Histories. UBC Press in cooperation with DFO. Vancouver. 1991 (p346)

138 Healey M.C. Life History of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in Groot C. and Margolis L. ed. Pacific Salmon Life Histories. UBC Press in cooperation with DFO. Vancouver. 1991 (pp 367-369)

139 Velez-Espino, L.A, Mullins, G., Willis, J., Krimmer, A., and Levesque, W. 2010. Mark- RecaptureExperiment for the 2009 Chinook Salmon Spawning Escapement in the Atnarko River. DFO. Canadian Manuscript Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 2930

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140 Morrell, M., Skeena Chinook and Coho Scoping of Conservation and Management Issues. SkeenaWild Conservation Trust 2010. (p2)

141 Winther,I. North Coast Chinook Salmon 2011. Post-Season Review Presentation DFO North Coast.

142 British Columbia Marine Conservation Analysis. 2011. Marine Atlas of Pacific Canada: a product of the British Columbia Marine Conservation Analysis (BCMCA), Commercial Fisheries –Chinook Salmon (Gillnet) Available online at www.bcmca.ca

143 British Columbia Marine Conservation Analysis. 2011. Marine Atlas of Pacific Canada: a product of the British Columbia Marine Conservation Analysis (BCMCA), Commercial Fisheries –Chinook Salmon (Troll) Available online at www.bcmca.ca

144 Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Salmon and Freshwater Ecosystems Division. Science Branch. Power point presentation 2008 Conservation Units for Pacific Salmon under the Wild Salmon Policy. http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/consultation/ wsp-pss/2008/docs-eng/strat1.pdf

145 Morrell, M., Skeena Chinook and Coho Scoping of Conservation and Management Issues. SkeenaWild Conservation Trust 2010. (p9)

146 Winther, I. North Coast Chinook Salmon 2011. Post-Season Review Presentation DFO North Coast.

147 Winther, I. North Coast Chinook Salmon 2011. Post-Season Review Presentation DFO North Coast.

148 Winther, I. North Coast Chinook Salmon 2011. Post-Season Review Presentation DFO North Coast.

149 Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Pacific Region, Habitat Management Division. February 1985. Map No. 2 Adult Chinook and Coho Migration Routes. Courtesy of Allen Gottesfield.

150 Gottesfield, Allen and Rabnett, Ken. Skeena River Fish and their Habitat. Skeena Fisheries Commission 2008. Published by Ecotrust Portland (p27)

151 Gottesfield, Allen and Rabnett, Ken. Skeena River Fish and their Habitat. Skeena Fisheries Commission 2008. Published by Ecotrust Portland (p27)

152 Hayes, S.A., Hanson,C.V., MacFarlane,R.B., Bond, M.H.,. Marine survival of steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) enhanced by a seasonally closed estuary. 2008. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. January 1, 2008

153 Welch,D.W.,Ishida, Y., Nagasawa,K., Eveson, J.P., 1998. Thermal Limits on the Ocean Distrubution of Steehead Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). North Pacific Anadromous Fisheries Commission Bulletin No 1: 396-404. (pp403-404) http://www.npafc.org/new/publications/Bulletin/Bulletin%20No.%201/page%20396- 404(Welch).PDF

154 Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Pacific Region Integrated Fisheries Management Plan. Salmon Northern B.C. June 1, 2011 –May 31, 2012 ( pp 46-48) http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/343940.pdf

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