Review of the Chilcotin Watershed's Anadromous Stock's Statuses
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Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance Review of the Chilcotin Watershed’s Anadromous Stock’s Statuses Brian Toth, R.P.Bio., MBA and Michelle Tung, B.Sc., MA Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance 1041 Whenum Road Prince George, B.C. Prepared for the New Prosperity Mine Federal Review Panel July, 2013 Table of Contents 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 3 2 Chilcotin Watershed Salmon Stocks – Management Overview............................................................ 4 2.1 Management Process ................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Status-Trends and Management Objectives ................................................................................. 5 2.3 Status-Health of Chilcotin Salmon Stocks ..................................................................................... 7 3 Sockeye ................................................................................................................................................. 8 3.1 Chilko Sockeye .............................................................................................................................. 8 3.2 Taseko Sockeye ........................................................................................................................... 12 3.3 Chilcotin Sockeye Summary ........................................................................................................ 15 4 Chinook ............................................................................................................................................... 15 5 Coho .................................................................................................................................................... 18 6 Steelhead ............................................................................................................................................ 23 7 Critical information gaps ..................................................................................................................... 25 7.1.1 Sockeye ............................................................................................................................... 25 7.1.2 Coho .................................................................................................................................... 26 7.1.3 Chinook ............................................................................................................................... 26 8 Salmon Status-Health Summary ......................................................................................................... 26 9 Importance of Biodiversity & Conservation ........................................................................................ 27 10 Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................... 28 11 References Cited ............................................................................................................................. 30 2 1 INTRODUCTION The Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance (UFFCA) The UFFCA is a not-for-profit society, that is geographically based and run by a First Nations board of directors. The UFFCA’s eligible membership includes all First Nations possessing a community within the salmon bearing portion of the upper Fraser watershed. The organization is mandated to advance fisheries and aquatic-related interests of First Nations in the Upper Fraser Watershed. Core funding is provided by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) for the purposes of assisting DFO in meeting their substantive Consultative obligation regarding salmon management. The UFFCA facilitates the information exchange component of this obligation. The UFFCA is a technically focused organization that aims to build First Nations capacity for effective engagement in Consultation processes and co- management arrangements, and coordinates and facilitates watershed-level forums related to fish/fisheries, and populates a range of fisheries management processes. The technical expertise of the UFFCA is in the management of the Fraser’s anadromous fish (policy, stock assessment, management framework) and its inter-relation with First Nation interests. Purpose and Approach The status1 of the anadromous fish resources of the Chilcotin watershed were reviewed utilizing the most recent information (largely DFO and BC MoE/FLNRO) through which the status of stocks or Conservation Units (CUs) have been assessed, and/or the relevant policy frameworks within which they’re managed. The purpose of this report is to summarize the available information regarding the status of the Chilcotin’s anadromous stocks for the purposes of characterizing their level of vulnerability/resilience to potential negative impacts. Summary of Key Findings The review indicates that the chinook, coho and steelhead populations within the Chilcotin are all managed as “Conservation Concerns” within DFO’s management framework (i.e. generally inferring that they are either not targeted in any fisheries and they are managed to an incidental by-catch maximum, or they are managed to allow very limited directed fisheries). Chilcotin sockeye (3 biodiversity units, or Conservation Units (CUs) including Chilko-S, Chilko-ES and Taseko) are presently managed within aggregates or management units of other Fraser sockeye CUs. The Chilko-S is the large stock that supports much of the Tsilhqot’in sockeye harvest, and a substantive component of the overall catch of Fraser sockeye. The Chilko-S CU’s status is green zone (healthy) based on abundance. The Taseko’s status is deemed to be provisional and “red zone2”, and the Chilko-ES CU is data deficient and its status has not been assessed. The available and inferred information relating to the status of the Chilcotin’s anadromous resources indicates that: 1 Referring to the ranking or categorization of the “health” of a species, sub-species or population inferred through criteria such as abundance. For salmon, Canada has adopted the Wild Salmon Policy which stipulates that Conservation Units (significant units of biodiversity) will be monitored and assessed against spawner abundance benchmarks and distribution. 2 A Conservation Unit in the Red zone is undesirable because of the risk of extirpation, and the loss of ecological benefits and salmon production. The presence of a CU in the Red zone will initiate an immediate consideration of ways to protect the fish, increase their abundance, and reduce the potential risk of loss. Biological considerations will be the primary drivers for the management of CUs with Red status (DFO 2005). 3 The Chilko-S sockeye CU is currently “healthy” (green zone), but has been trending to red in recent years. This CU presently supports extensive harvesting across all fishery sectors, and is arguably the most important sockeye CU in the Fraser watershed, based on contribution to catch; The Chilko-ES sockeye CU’s status has not been assessed due to data issues; The Taseko sockeye CU is provisionally red zone, and the stock has ‘0’ tolerance for further declines; The Chilcotin steelhead are managed to escape 80% of returning adults with 90% certainty – they are impacted by fisheries targeting co-migrating salmon species, and these fisheries are curtailed annually because of concern for maximizing escapements of Chilcotin Steelhead; and Interior Fraser coho, which includes Chilcotin coho, are COSEWIC designated as Endangered, and are managed to an exploitation maximum of 3%, for the purposes of allowing some directed fisheries for co-migrating stocks, and these fisheries are curtailed annually because of concern for maximizing escapements of Interior Fraser coho, including Chilcotin coho. In some instances, the existing management framework within which Fraser sockeye are managed does not recognize or respond to the status of individual sockeye CUs, such as in the case of the Taseko CU, and the existing framework therefore inherently poses a risk to the stock’s viability and vulnerability. Further, in some instances the sockeye escapement monitoring framework is not designed to produce adequate data to assess and track CU status. Given the poor status of the Taseko sockeye, and the Chilcotin’s coho, chinook and steelhead stocks, it is apparent that adding any additional potential negative consequence to the productivity or survivability of these stocks is incongruent with DFO’s management strategy, the Wild Salmon Policy, and the Precautionary Principle. 2 CHILCOTIN WATERSHED SALMON STOCKS – MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW Salmon stocks that support the Tsilhqot'in Nation fisheries within the Chilcotin watershed include sockeye stocks that return to the Chilko and Taseko rivers, and chinook and coho stocks that return to the Chilko, Taseko and upper (Little) Chilcotin rivers. The annual abundances of returning adults are monitored by Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO’s) Stock Assessment Division, in some cases with the assistance of the Tsilhqot’in National Government (TNG) fisheries program staff. These late summer and fall programs are conducted utilizing a variety of standardized methodologies including mark-recapture surveys, boat, aerial and ground-based counts, and automated (DIDSON) methods. A spring monitoring program is conducted on Chilko Lake for the purposes