SALMON POST SEASON TIER TWO MEETING SUMMARY NOTES

Transcription

1 SALMON POST SEASON TIER TWO MEETING SUMMARY NOTES DATE: January 11, 2017 TIME: 8:30 AM (Refreshments) till 4:00 PM LOCATION: Coast Bastion Hotel, Nanaimo BC CHAIR: Carl Edgar, IMAWG Vice-President OBJECTIVES: To establish a structured process for productive communication and feedback between First Nations and Fisheries and Oceans Canada management. Meeting Records will be maintained, and updates on action items will be provided. To provide a consistent and efficient venue for discussion on the resource management programs, both current and future. To forward recommendations for consideration by IMAWG Island Nations to the Island Nations, DFO and other regional bodies such as the First Nations Fisheries Council. *FRASER SALMON: Management Tier One and Two engagements via Forum :30 AM Coffee and Refreshments 9:00 AM Welcome Prayer 9:15 AM Introductions/Overview of Safe Space 9:45 AM 'wakw and Coast Salish (Inside Area) Post Season Review Beth Pechter, DFO Questions and Discussion Action Steps 10:30 AM Break 10:45 AM Nuu-Chah-Nulth Area (Outside Area) Post Season Review Andrea Goruk, DFO Questions and Discussion Action Steps 12:00 PM Lunch (Provided) 1:00 PM Recreational Fishery Management Actions - IMAWG Review and Action Steps: Roundtable with Brad Beaith Action Steps 2:45 PM Break 3:00 PM Local Community Observations of 2015 First Nation Speakers Challenges, Fisheries, Observations 4:00 PM Day Ends

2 ATTENDEES: Name Organization Sonora Thompson IMAWG James Nelson Quatsino Daryl Tate Ditidaht Bernette Laliberte Cowichan Tribes Archie Little Nuchatlaht Wayne Paige Cowichan Tribes Andrew Jackson Tla-o-qui-aht first nation Victor Isaac Namgis Dan Smith A-Tlegay Damon Nowosad QARS Jordan Maher QARS Carole Perrault Quatsino first nation Larry Sam Ahousaht Warren Johnny Stz uminus Simon Smith Jr. Tsartlip Patrick James MMFN Carl Edgar Ditidaht Larry George Cowichan Tribes Larry Swan Ahousaht Fisheries Brad Andrea Goruk Wilf Luedke Christine Buckta Beth Pechter Kevin Conley DFO WA WA A WA W AND COAST SALISH (INSIDE AREA) POST SEASON REVIEW (Beth Pechter, DFO) 2016 ECVI REVIEW SOCKEYE, PINK, CHINOOK, COHO, AND CHUM Key slides were reviewed and some questions and comments were made throughout but the majority were held until after the presentation at which time they were responded to on site Review South Coast; o stock overview

3 Philips Quatse o fisheries summaries - Stock Overview Sockeye; o Area 11/13 - Nimpkish o Area 15 Sakinaw a lot of work is being done COSEWIC listed it as endangered go to government within the next year to decide whether or not to list it - Historic trend of Nimpkish River Sockeye escapement; - Stock Overview Pink; o Area 11/13 a lot of cuts to escapement monitoring very low returns especially compared to brood where there was money to monitor major flood events in 2014 wiped out a lot of pink systems Nimpkish steep decline was attributed to marine survival Beth advised in response to a query. An IMAWG member conveyed his dissatisfaction with the marine survival response and noted it is inadequate. The presentation continued as follows: o Strait of Georgia - Stock Overview Chinook; o JST Campbell/Quinsam Philips river good news story over past few years some improvement to Nimpkish this year o SoG Cowichan a good news story this year Big abundance of jacks which means good returns for Campbell/Quinsam Chinook table; - Cowichan Chinook; o two graphs o Cowichan survival dropped down two and three year olds believe survival is good for Cowichan - Stock Overview Coho; o Keogh

4 decline in marine survial smolt production in 2016 above average Qu o Quinsam below average o Strait of Georgia Black Creek above average - Strait of Georgia Coho Escapement; o Black Creek Graph up until 2000 you would add on percent in 2014 you would add on another 18:02 - Stock Overview Chum; o Area 11/13 Summer chum Fall chum o SoG strong returns exceeded escapement targets - Preliminary SoG Chum Escapements; o chart - Cowichan chum; o DIDSON Estimates o Visual Estimates o escapement target 160,000 - Fisheries Summaries; o first nations FSC 2016 South Coast First Nations Fisheries not a great year for Fraser Sockeye o 32,000 retained in marine waters o 2016 Fraser River Sockeye Catch; no commercial fisheries FSC accounted for all of retained catch A bit caught for test fisheries and US not a lot of effort and not a lot of catch o Commercial Fishery Sockeye and Pink o Commercial Fishery Chum o MVI Commercial Chum Catch; chart over 2 million caught on the inside ½ caught by seine fleet in area 12/13

5 - JST chum test fishing CPUE; o A-Tlegay did test fishery in agreement with Namgis o strong return to Fraser and terminal systems o fish started out small but improved as season progressed - Recreational Fishery Chinook; o Chinook Warm water this year DFO and province worked together early this year regular updates and communicating with each other to respond faster o Coho looking a terminal stock-based abundance and catch higher than in 2015 o Sockeye retention not permitted in some recreational areas o Pink non-cycle year for pink o Chum low recreational effort South Coast Recreational Fisheries o shows entire catch. - QUESTIONS/COMMENTS - Gold Stream Chum why so low for escapement? - A: DFO has meeting with Gold Stream staff on Monday to start discussions. - Q: Zone 1 management universal recommendation about shutting down approach corridor to protect spring summer 52s. Wide recommendation made by first nations and not adopted. It would be good to hear DFO s response to why it wasn t closed. - A: we ve taken a lot of action. Spring summer they would catch 12 percent of fish of total return. spring summer chinook generally act like coho in the river. Come out bigger and head off shore. a qualicum dish can get caught in Langara and Juneau. Columbia fish are like that as are WCVI, and mainland inlet fish. But spring and summer are farther and are off shore migrating. They are only susceptible for a month or two. They are not always there. DFO believes they can manage it just like sockeye and chum. It is really Victoria, all other fisheries combined adds up to less than 5 percent taken. Victoria was taking 10 to 15 percent. We know enough about size and timing; early are really small. later ones, summer, are bigger fish. Know about size and timing so DFO manages like a commercial fishery. DFO believes they are managing to under two percent, Wilf explained. - Judicial review with lower Fraser bands Katzie, for one.

6 - Q: when we go to Forum in a couple of weeks we will hear a lot of concern about first nations in the interior who have been told not to fish yet fish are still being caught. - A: Wilf will put out some public information regarding the above. Sockeye Nimpkish sliding scale 75,000 to harvest There was also sea lions eating a lot of the fish. predators are increasing so that is trying to be addressed. - A: a lot of good work was done for Nimpkish Management Plan by the Namgis. The band is trying to get some money to buy their own counter. They continue to fertilize the lakes to 75,000 per year. DFO didn t have any funds to match their dollars. Forestry contributions are minimal. - Chum Peter Bedwell s report re hard to assess Nimpkish. - The effects of fish farms raised. - Transplanting eggs work to incubation units; - A: DFO has been having good internal discussions and with Hank about starting to build the stock up. - Slide 10 Black Creek is there an escapement target - A: there is an average escapement. No specific target for coho in rivers. Science advice said a red zone would be when there are less than three females per kilometer. DFO is doing work around ecosystems and will talk with first nations about what they want the targets to be. DFO marks the fish in Black Creek and so when they look at returns 30 percent are not marked. Likely they came out and were too weak to set up a territory in the river and so they resided in the estuary. Looking at Lake Cowichan, DFO believes it produced 300,000 coho in the 1990s. - Q: for future presentations, it would be beneficial if there could be an average escapement shown. - A: In escapement bulletin they provide most recent 5 year average IMAWG should be getting those bulletins from Nicki Watson (ECVI) - Action: Beth to put IMAWG on the bulletin list - Zone 1 measures for chinook does DFO know if migration of chinook varies from year to year? - A: no evidence, no coded wire tags. From 1980 onward only the Nicola have been tagged. In river by end of June. Dome Creek lasted for 10 years and there was very little during that time. - Avid Angler DNA southern SOG has some, northern SOG has nothing; - The efforts the Hul qumi num have been doing to understand their rivers was touched upon; when systems are in jeopardy, ancestors used to transport fish from strong streams to weak ones. - A: Peter and Steve said some steps were being taken to work on Chemainus River. o Small steps Warren confirmed - Habitat is critical (Wilf); first nations have the biggest influence on what is going

7 on with habitat which is mainly logging; o So much gravel coming down the rivers we are losing way more eggs o Up to first nations to figure out system by system by system how to get the habitat back - Since inception of AFS program a lot of work has been done with SEP program on quite a few streams in Area 17 and it was found that the data gathered and submitted wasn t being considered by DFO management that was frustrating. That must be changed. There is lots of work being done on Nanaimo River and DFO must start looking at Area 17 where there is a lot of recreational fishing going on. - How to make things better needs to be discussed; o Creeks need to be repaired o Frys have no protection o Only way to get change is for first nations to take ownership get MOF to the table to advise them they must stop what they are doing It will take 1,000 years to fix problems they created - One sports boat will target tuna in the morning and then go out for many other species all in one day; o American example of how they manage the fishery in Washington is based on ecosystem it is not wonder the Americans come here to fish because the fishing is wide open for them - First nations doing the test fishery is a step in the right direction; - Q: how confident are you in the calculation of the exploitation rate of Cowichan chinook? - A: coded wire tags in Cowichan since 1984 creel survey since 1980, lots of cut backs so don t do creel surveys anymore. irec will help fill in the blanks. Wilf expects they will see a change over time. Still buckets in Nanaimo. They think they get between 10 and 25 percent of the heads. If they only get one in 10 heads then they multiply it by 10. Most people are interested in understanding what is getting caught. DFO is confident and they have not seen a big change. Gone from 80 percent exploitation to 60 percent (Cowichan). - IMAWG is writing a letter to the Minister and PM about their lack of capacity for base level management. DFO should have a legal obligation to do that and not rely on first nations and others. The nations want to help when it comes to habitat monitoring and data collection have heard first nation don t know if - Can we create a baseline system that IMAWG can start sharing with first nations so we create a standardized process for data collection, where it gets sent, report, etc. - A: that would be a great IMAT discussion. Every river has a book where if you say there is a slide, a log jam, or something, that should all be documented.

8 From a safety perspective, if there is a log jam DFO needs to know. used to print out books, not allowed to put stuff on the web. need to figure out how to make it accessible. what the plan is and targets are for the rivers DFO agreed we need to figure out how to get all of the data together. data doesn t get lost. Stream inspection log form, send it to staff that has to enter those logs and so that information is captured for historical purposes. - That is good to know because many people don t think the information in AFS reports goes anywhere; - A: a lot of groups have been trained (north island) if there are groups that need that training, DFO can help with that; - Need to figure out how to get if from DFO data base into hands of first nations; - (Beth) DFO to work with first nations and stock assessment to ensure data is not being lost; - DFO: there is a document for every river that includes escarpments, weather, hatcheries, etc. o Coast Resource Mapping is being worked with to figure out how to get that information out o PSF is also interested in posting and they have a big data base at UBC - A: re letter to Minister/ RDG of science was told they need to get more first nations involved; o $250,000 provided to FNFC to develop a plan to get collaboration and science, stock assessment stuff, so the first thing DFO will do, is there is a report LGL built for north coat, identifying contacts, fisheries staff, what they are spending, and what needs to be done river-by-river. o *UPDATE TO POINT ABOVE: FNFC received 80K for a review of First Nations technical capacity and priorities identified; not a stock assessment review. - ST o Cowichan indicator maintain contract with Cowichan Tribes - Three levels of rivers; o Level 1 statistically value o level 2 trends o level 3 see what is different - Hoping to talk more about above this at data management workshop - DFO: inventory part has to be done by the end of March; - Management statement chinook Cowichan knows numbers are low, big push for closures, big push for better monitoring and assessments need to look at recreational fisherman out 356 days a year catching everything little to no monitoring. know what is harvested in river, counting fence in Cowichan River, numbers from guardians provided, other groups are saying that number needs to be higher. River is closed to first nations and not closed to rec fishers - Suggestion: what are the management measures and how are they affecting the sectors, what benefits have been produced, and are we ever going to see a

9 change in monitoring? - A: Monitoring DFO hopes this year sports fishers are willing to increase their license fees as long as the money goes to benefit the resource; - Brad every time rec reps go to Ottawa they ask for the above, they do cost benefit survey, rec license sales generate 7 million a year to general revenue. some comes back to BC through PSF. License fee is $30. Rec fishers support doubling that if that portion goes into fisheries. they are being stalled in Ottawa. DFO has been trying to get government to support increase in license fees. - AFS Reports Internally DFO has been doing a better job so that when a group does want to start on any sort of activity they have to work with the appropriate section, salmon enhancement in this case, and his group is entrusted to ensure the information gets to the right place; o would be good to get into specific systems o discuss at IMAT - Q: Gold Stream Hatchery who else will be at hatchery meeting? - A: I don t know. Just hatchery Steven, Nicki, Beth, community advisor (Chantel). Malahat has requested a similar meeting as well. - Q: if it is anything to do with Gold Stream the four Saanich bands would like to be involved; o elders said don t depend on the hatchery but depend on the habitat - A: Not sure what the agenda is. - Gold Stream biggest run of the year. Fish was intercepted on their migration route and that has caused a big impact; - Comment that first nation need to be more involved in habitat is an insult; NUU-CHAH-NULTH AREA (OUTSIDE AREA) POST SEASON REVIEW Andrea Goruk Key slides and associated commentary included the following: - Picture on presentation is in Nootka Sound during Chum fishery; Review South Coast WCVI o stock status overview - Sockeye; o Somass abundances above benchmarks o Henderson o Most other stocks are data limited - Chinook; o Wild WCVI chinook are a stock of concern o below target and have not rebuilt - Chum; o stock status has been low o hatchery production levels have declined

10 o overall catches have decline o abundant returns to most of WCVI - Coho; o spawning abundance are at historic levels o hatchery production reduced o Above-avg returns - Somas Sockeye (Area 23) graph; o Number of adult sockeye/return year (sockeye return) o 2017 much lower return expected - Henderson sockeye; - Difference between Somas/Henderson pose challenges; - WCVI Chinook SWVI Conservation Units (CUs); o graphs show trend in spawner abundance for wild populations o 2016 escapements are not finalized but are low o Kodiak Island DNA Report was referenced by Wilf and he suggested IMAWG take a look at it: Google: DNA Kodiak Alaska 50 percent of the catch in that area originates in BC - WCVI Chinook Hatchery Stocks total production; o Graph: Index terminal Abundance/Return Year - WCVI Chum Status -WCVI wild stock management units o four graphs o Area 25 mixed hatchery stock management unit managed to wild stock objectives o mixed results o low in Barclay, higher in Kyuquot - Nitnat chum hatchery stock management; o Abundance/return year graph o 2016 return was almost 1 million which exceeded expectation of 400,000 - Fishery Summaries for first nation for domestic use and FSC, commercial and recreational; - First nations Treaty and FSC summary slide; o total catches - Somas sockeye summary of catch/harvest; - Commercial catch for AABM chinook; o TAC set at 64,000 initially but increased twice in-season due to lower than expected recreational catch o Pre-season total allowable catch and preliminary catch estimates o first nations FSC catch is preliminary DFO is still compiling numbers - Coho bycatch in commercial AABM fishery; - Inside chinook; o there was a terminal fishery in area 23 and 25

11 - Commercial Fishery Chum; o Nitnat and Nootka Nitnat was Stage 2 limited effort trigger point is 75 boats Nootka started as limited effort for Gilnet upgraded in 2 nd week to full-fleet fishery o max 7 boats at any given time - Recreational Fishery; o Chinook lots of changes to Chinook Corridor management measures were revised from top to bottom changes set out WCVI and JDF recreational chinook; o summaries - WCVI Recreational AABW Catch and Effort Chinook 1995 to 2016 o graph shows decline in fish over recent years and decline in effort (not necessarily specie specific) o Around Port Hardy lack of catch this year all the way to Port Renfrew (on inside) was due to two things: weather, abundance of small rockfish - WCVI Rec ISBM Catch and Effort Chinook 1995 to 2016 (graph); - Recreational Fishery; o Coho o Sockeye Area WCVI and JDF Recreational catch; - ESSR fisheries; o 3 on West Coast Conuma Robertson Nitnat chinook and chum. QUESTIONS/COMMENTS - Q: can we get more information on specific streams (slide 9) IMAWG will ask for more stream-specific information - A: All this information comes out in Catch and Escape Report on the web and is being compiled now for publishing in April; - Conuma run DFO said escapement was high and then reduced due to catch per effort and then went back up o 80,000 to 40,000 in the end 60 to 70,0000 o anecdotal information fish were sitting on the bottom

12 - Q: how many wild stocks do the sports vs. hatchery? - A: depends where you want to ask that question. o Alberni inlet is 90 percent hatchery o corridor 80 percent hatchery o Kyuquot less o depends on time and area o sampled 5,000 fish this year once all that information is done will have more information - C: coho were big at the start of the season but then got really skinny in the middle (off shore rec fishery July/August) - Q: 52,000 sockeye caught by sports sector what kind of effort? - A: That is in Alberni Inlet and on average there are 400 boats per day; zero taken from Nimpkish; - Q: WCVI Chinook Area 24 Does Canada have any plans on addressing the state it is in? The chinook is in dire straits. DFO keeps saying they are concerned and yet is not doing anything to address their concern. First nations proposed a closure at Baja Reef closed but not what the first nations wanted. Rec fishers are being catered to. The change DFO made did not address anything. Canada must preserve what it has left. Need to control what we can. Flooding and the speed of the river is a concern re eggs/jacks. - A: Wilf for every stock everyone has the same concerns. Worthwhile going stock-by-stock for DFO to explain what they are doing. For Clayoquot sound believe getting harvested in ocean at 35 percent. Then they hear about Kodiak. Then that s 15 percent for Canada. Ten percent northern troll and northern sport. northern troll is managed at 3 percent. That leaves 5 percent that are getting caught on WCVI. If we close someone down what is the benefit of that? How far do you go to impeded one fishery as opposed to putting the effort in a better place. DFO believes the effort should be in the north. - Q: Area 24 what is wild now? Hatchery fish is mixing with wild stock. Concern expressed about rivers being raped ; Coho s are abundance in August letting the fish go by in August so they can go into the rivers and be counted. tribe members don t fish in the rivers they fish in the estuary s. DFO needs to listen to TEK in terms of increasing numbers. Fish no longer jump in the estuary because of predation. - IMAWG is continuing its work on a dual fishing policy for all coastal waters salmon species proposal presented at Tier 1, will now be shared with a broader audience for additional input. will schedule a meeting with DFO and C&P to discuss; - A: DFO policy people are from Vancouver. - Laura Brown is going to Fraser River Forum; - Q: will someone be there from south coast? - A: don t know. Can t confirm.

13 - The backbone of the fishing industry will be the small streams up and down the coast; o we need to work together to change things - We need to start managing resources and stop focusing on user groups - We need to manage first; - Request made for DFO to meet with Clayoquot Sound first nations. RECREATIONAL FISHERY MANAGEMENT ACTIONS IMAWG PRIORTIES FOR CHANGE Sonora summarized what was discussed at the Tier One meeting in regards to recreational concerns affecting all species: - Coho Management; o priority and solutions o can control harvest exploitation rate escapement targets are not being met - Recreational catch monitoring and reporting; o Sonora spoke to Owen Bird of SFI they want better reporting they are developing a mobile app to share data with DFO pushing to get license fees increased SFAB wants to control money o Want to create an improved and transparent Catch monitoring program - Cuts to DFO s stock assessment programs are a serious concern to first nations; - Difference between mom and pop sports fishers and commercial sports fishers; o want commercial sports fishers to get a commercial type license with conditions of license o 100 catch monitoring and reporting and license fees to come back - want to create action steps on things that we can do don t want to focus on things we cannot do. DFO Response: - Annual limits could be addressed; - DFO Annual Survey for chinook (projected on-screen); o over 50,000 s sent out per year where people are asked to tell us their response (irec) Done monthly for all species can t use data outright because there are all kind of bias; o creel surveys capture percent of chinook

14 missing 90 percent of prawn fishery - Need to figure out how to audit Irec; - On annual basis DFO sends 20,000 people to tell us what they wrote down on their license; /15 fishery; o based on 2300 people responding iarc not irec - It would be worthwhile to start looking at that survey; o annual catch limits are not a big deal plays into perception of the impact people feel what the recreational sector is catching - It is a scale issue; - Most people catch zero according to survey results; - DFO working with SFI (Sports Fishing Institute) to get guides on size; - CREEL survey needs to concentrate on June July August and September - irec is starting to give DFO a good handing on the fishery; - Guides and lodges: o guides in every area catch much more than individuals twice as many fish per trip 70 percent higher in on whole coast guides account for 25 percent of effort o catch 40 percent of chinook and 60 percent of effort SFI is onside to fix. QUESTIONS/COMMENTS - irec survey how many surveys were sent and the iarc compared to surveys returned. Also, it would be interesting to know something about the rec fisherman that responded; responses out of over 300,000 licenses doesn t seem that representative; - DFO: irec survey response is typically 30 to 40 percent; - Q: would it make sense to have specie limit reductions for people going out with guides? - A: It is a bit different. The guide is not catching the fish the angler is. - Q: Can Wilf supply a copy of the slides or whole presentation? - A: I don t see why not. - Q: This is voluntary data and people s honesty is questionable. - A: irec always says higher than the CREEL survey; - Q: DFO said can t use irec data yet DFO is using some irec data; - A: yes they do use irec data for some things. - DFO explained how they identify risk; in general catch estimate for halibut was coming out of creel; how estimates are arrived at was explained; - Q: the point being made to DFO was the numbers are estimates. there are

15 still a great number of harvest happening on species that are not rebuilding; - Until we truly know what is going on why is it so hard to limit the recreational fishery? - A: DFO does it on a stock by stock basis. Victoria is an example. The way DFO manages impacts on the rec fishery. What is the impact on these stocks? Where there is a stock of concern they try to figure out why. In 2013 there was an expert panel as part of southern BC chinook initiative, Wilf explained, as to reviewing the chinook fishery and he provided their take on limits for exploitation. The only one not being met is Cowichan. - Q: it is not working. - Glad to see some movement happening on this; - Gaps need to be closed on unknown factors; - Cowichan FSC was 300 not even one pound per person for the nation; monitoring needs to be stepped up to get more compliance on reporting for the sport sector; - A: The CREEL survey consists of over flights and surveys; - Some double counting is going on to the tune of 2 to 5 percent DFO does not worry about it; - Q: irec sample size is DFO worried about capacity? - A: no. DFO believes contacting everyone once per year is sufficient. Reporting is a condition of license. DFO started phoning people that did not report; - Does DFO have capacity to contact 300,000 people? - Working with a partner they believe they do; - Q: why are you combining effort; - A: it s a combo of effort chinook and halibut; DFO s way of approaching risk; - Q: how is irec data being used explicitly in CREEL estimates? - A: it Is not. it is being used in catch estimates. - Observation from sports fishery in Barclay Sound shared; o boats are getting bigger, faster, better equipped, more traps, good electronics, - We are doing a terrible job on halibut with the sporties because they keep the little ones; - the sport fishery is driven by economics; - First nations manage for the next seven generation - as per Tsilhqot in court case; - Re managing on a stock-by-stock basis majority of stocks are data limited when I fish in SOG I don t know where that fish comes from; - A: DFO tries to minimize or reduce impact on a stock-by-stock basis; most stocks from coded wire tagging behavior doesn t change, size does, timing, behavior, distribution of fish hasn t changed; boats, 80 percent saying they got zero maybe they caught one or two. first nations FSC fishing get boarded and frisked for all kinds of permits and licenses

16 and yet sports fishery in on honour system; -- double standard needs to be fixed and first nations want to help; o guardian program would be useful - A: there is lots of opportunity to work together in the future. Catch monitoring would go a long way in working together, break down issues of trust, and what the information is saying people work together is best approach; What can we work on together? (Brad) - Can talk about catch monitoring program; - We need to work out process where first nations and rec groups in specific territories can have these discussions; to build trust - Full review of irec is available; - Creation of individual specie stamps not something DFO can do; - Increase license sales/fees cannot do; - Proposal to changing User Fee Act no - Transferred to commercial status with application conditions of license DFO cannot do anything on an area level except discuss background information; QUESTIONS/COMMENTS - Q: Can t DFO endorse ideas at Area levels? - A: DFO agrees. Budget of $250,000 for CREEL surveys but they spend $100,000; Wilf explained they are using irec program to help steer to areas where area staff believe funding needs to go; - DFO encouraged IMAWG with work with the SFAB on shared areas of concern/interest; - First step: if DFO has supporting documentation about change that needs to take place that would support IMAWG letter provide it to IMAWG; o DFO give IMAWG information for incorporation into their letter o say same thing to decision maker in Ottawa o Start with catch monitoring - Working with SFAB and IMAWG Sonora will send draft proposal/tor to work with SFAB to DFO; o No further communication with IMAWG after the Juan de Fuca recreational mgmt measure request. o DFO requested to contact Gerry to see if he is willing to work with IMAWG - Re licensing if DFO has internal info and info from SPI and SFAB can they share those recommendations with IMAWG; - Is there something like an analysis piece that we can work on together? That agrees to potential solutions. - A: Have a half day tech session and go through catch monitoring framework,

17 - A paper that shows consensus, shows rationale; - A: maybe involve everyone to develop framework on catch monitoring - A: Brad identified who might have background information on what. In most cases, SFAB would have more information; - DFO cannot work on last solution; - A: change wording on last solution to: mandatory reporting. DFO did that in Port Hardy via letter to guides directing them to report. - DFO: has there been any discussion at FNFC or any other level? - IMAWG: FNFC is not the chain of command. FNFC only deals with topics and projects listed in their annual work plan with DFO. Anything they talk about has to go through their 15 delegates. LOCAL COMMUNITY OBSERVATIONS DFO has asked from 2016 fishing season to give a brief overview of the salmon season. This session was an open round table. Highlights gleaned from member comments are noted below; ] - Terrible season; - Look forward for more discussion on Area 29 fisheries; - Lots of closures and restrictions; - Chinook concerns: o closures for first nations o rec licenses are not restricted by boundaries and can fish 365 days a year - Asked DFO for further closures and stricter management to help more chinook return to the river via letter; o having enough water is a major concern - Cowichan is working on early run information/with DFO; - Chum successful in getting economic opportunity in Cowichan Bay; o going into pre-season planning - Would like to see numbers broken down to reflect area 12/13; - Access only boat Namgis can rely on is test boat - access is key. - Maybe have a gillnet fishery at the mouth of the river next year; - Mama omas possible source of money to purchase a vessel to address food needs; - 32,871 not even 10 percent of that hit Alert Bay; (wants to see a breakdown of numbers by area). - Struggling with food fish; - Test fish goes to Port Hardy to be sold to pay the fishers; - Want to be able to access some fish from test fishery for food; - Ditidaht: good sockeye returns, over 14,000 estimated return, small opening for food fish, caught 1600 pieces that the fisherman shared among family members,

18 o Chinook good return, got most of food fish o good ESSR fishery in chum o A few tribes have been contacting tribes they have been giving out totes of chum o sea lion numbers are way up and sometimes they block the narrows when the sea lions left the fish poured in by the thousands - Re Cowichan s economic opportunity a first step after 15 years of battling. We have Harvest Round Table in Cowichan where we agree what will happen in the fishery. Wilf explained this part is really important to DFO. DFO asked for a report where a first nation has the capacity to do so to include information on: escapements, what do you know on each river. DFO looking for local knowledge. One page per river each year report to DFO. Big algae bloom in the lake in the summer. Saw lots of sardines, hake. Come in and out with the tide. There are 30 sea lions at the entrance feeding. In response, Wilf indicated that is exactly the type of information DFO is looking for. ACTIONS/OUTCOMES Beth to put IMAWG on the bulletin list. IMAWG is writing a letter to the Minister and PM about their lack of capacity for base level management via the Fisheries Act review. However; would be good to get support documentation to increase funding back to Stock Asssement; this to be provided to by Wilf. IMAT to consider looking at a baseline system to create a standardized process for data collection with DFO. Working with SFAB and IMAWG Sonora will send draft proposal/tor to work with SFAB to Brad. Brad to respond to recreational management actions via letter sent directly to him. Wilf to provide a copy of the data presentations he showcased at the Tier Two meeting.