Tsunami of spawning sockeye floods into Adams River

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1 Tsunami of spawning sockeye floods into Adams River By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun September 30, 2010 They're back. And they're back big. A tsunami of sockeye salmon in their striking body-red and head-green spawning colours is flooding into the Adams River in B.C.'s Shuswap region in numbers potentially unseen for the past century. "It's supposed to be the biggest run in a hundred years," Jim Cooperman, spokesman for the Salute to the Sockeye Festival, said Wednesday from Salmon Arm. "Millions and millions of fish. It's amazing." So many sockeye are expected to arrive that the Adams River cannot accommodate them all, resulting in salmon seeking out other streams in the Shuswap region such as Scotch Creek, which has already had bumper returns this year. Jeremy Heighton, the federal fisheries department's representative for the Salute to the Sockeye Festival, running through Oct. 24, said counting the sockeye is continuing, although anecdotally "we're seeing more fish at this point in the run than in the past." Already the river is about 60-per-cent full of sockeye, which is one to one and a half weeks ahead of schedule. Whether or not all the sockeye spawn successfully, the bodies of the dead spawned-out salmon and their eggs are a huge nutritional source, both immediately to a host of plants and animals, but also later to emerging fry. "Too many fish is a subjective statement," Heighton said. "This is a bonanza for the animals, for the ecosystem. It's like filling your fridge with everything you could imagine and being able to go in there and gorge yourself. It's an incredible opportunity." This is the dominant year of the sockeye's four-year cycle; an estimated 1.5 million returned to spawn in 2006 and 3.7 million in An unexpected 34 million sockeye returned to the Fraser River watershed this year, the biggest run since The focal point for the sockeye's return is 1,076-hectare Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park, which includes 11 kilometres of prime spawning habitat east of Chase. Sockeye take about 17 days to complete their 485-kilometre journey up the Fraser and Thompson rivers from the Pacific Ocean to the Adams River.

2 A festival Sunday at Haig-Brown will feature a variety of events, including walks, exhibits, music and a songwriting contest. To view spawning sockeye closer to Metro Vancouver, visit Weaver Creek near Harrison Mills, between Mission and Agassiz, around mid-october. lpynn@vancouversun.com ory.html Large crowds expected to migrate along with Adams River sockeye By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun October 1, 2010 As the number of sockeye salmon continues to swell in the Adams River, so do the onlookers. "We've already seen a huge increase over the last few years, people coming through early," Brock Endean, manager of the Chase and District Chamber of Commerce, said Thursday. "The community is getting excited about it. This is a huge part of our history." The sense of anticipation is so high for this year's bumper returns -- potentially the largest in a century -- that some people turned up even before the fish. A couple drove up from Hope two weeks ago only to discover that the run hadn't started yet. "You know, you could call ahead," Endean joked. "They drove back the same day." He said he expects large crowds -- "but not as many as the fish" -- starting this weekend with kickoff of the Salute to the Sockeye Festival, running through Oct. 24. A Sunday festival at Haig-Brown Provincial Park, through which the Adams River flows, will feature a variety of events, including guided walks, exhibits, and live music. To reach Haig-Brown park, drive east of Kamloops past Chase to Squilax, then head north for about five kilometres. Endean encourages visitors to secure accommodation in advance. Visit the Chase and District Chamber of Commerce at is allowed at Shuswap Lake Provincial Park, not Haig-Brown. Also, visit the Adams River Salmon Society, To view sockeye salmon in Metro Vancouver, visit Weaver Creek near Harrison Mills, between Mission and Agassiz, around mid-october.

3 Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun A 'sea change' for wild Pacific salmon By Brian Riddell October 13, 2010 Thousands of visitors will make a pilgrimage to Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park this October to witness the historic Adams River sockeye run. Photograph by: John Cooperman, Special to the Sun In the last month we saw the good news story about the historic return of wild Pacific sockeye salmon to the Fraser River. October will bring more good news when millions of these sockeye return to the Adams River to spawn and create the next generation. Thousands of visitors will make a pilgrimage to Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park to witness this natural phenomenon as the river becomes choked with crimson red sockeye.

4 This historic sockeye run is providing a wonderful teachable moment that should restore hope in the face of what has been a growing sense of disillusion about the future for wild salmon in British Columbia. It could also usher in a much-needed sea change in our appreciation of wild salmon and our willingness to invest in a better understanding of this resource. Dr. David Suzuki rightly summarized the 2010 sockeye return as a gift we can t afford to take for granted. Consider that just one year ago we experienced a catastrophically low return of sockeye to the Fraser River, and this year the third largest recorded return. If nothing else, these past two years should be cause for humility about our understanding and management of wild salmon, concern about an uncertain future, and reflection on what can be done to protect these icons. Our immediate response must be to investigate the causes of this extreme change. If we don t respond and simply monitor next year s return, then we are only watching salmon and not managing them. Fortunately, these extreme returns have allowed scientists to identify where environmental conditions could change sufficiently and affect essentially all Fraser sockeye populations simultaneously. Research at the Pacific Biological Station (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) suggests it s likely occurring right outside our doors in the Strait of Georgia. Evidence is also accumulating around the North Pacific that the ocean survival of wild salmon is determined very shortly after juvenile salmon enter coastal waters. Unfortunately, the Strait of Georgia has been neglected for years. Who has not seen the decline of Chinook and coho salmon fishing during the past 20 years, or the loss of giant kelp, the decline of small forage type fishes (smelts, eulachon, sandlance, etc), or the explosion of seal populations? This ecosystem is critical to the survival and production of wild salmon. Based on this knowledge, the sea change I referred to can begin if we dramatically increase public attention and scientific investment in the Strait of Georgia. Like upstream migration of salmon, there are challenges to making this sea change a reality, but it can be done. We have the capability in our local universities, government agencies, and local communities to take on this challenge. For example, government obviously cannot be depended on, as in years past, to underwrite major scientific endeavours like what is needed in the Strait of Georgia. The Pacific Salmon Foundation has developed a five-year, $10 million action plan that has the potential to significantly improve conditions for wild salmon in the Strait of Georgia but the larger salmon community of corporations, government, First Nations, commercial and recreational fishers, and tourism businesses, as well as local communities and volunteers, must come together to make this possible. Secondly, attitudes must be recalibrated about the importance of investment in good ocean science and research. With the support of government, private donors and thousands of volunteers during the last 25 years, much has been done to understand and improve our rivers and streams, yet relatively little has been focused to the same ends in the ocean environment.

5 Finally, more time and energy must be invested in the volunteer organizations that do the hands-on work of wild salmon conservation and habitat restoration in British Columbia. The Pacific Salmon Foundation recognizes more than 300 organizations throughout the province, and as many as 35,000 volunteers working for wild salmon. A network of likeminded organizations exists around the Strait of Georgia and offers a ready and enthusiastic force, provided we muster resources. The experience of this foundation is that community groups are the most effective way to leverage investments, because on average they multiply every dollar received by several more. This historic Fraser River sockeye run reminds us of the cultural, ecological and economic value of wild salmon in British Columbia. But I echo Dr. Suzuki s advice that they must not be taken for granted. Watching and waiting isn t management, ignoring issues won t resolve them, and not investing in science simply generates new costs down the road. Far better that we take these historic returns as an opportunity to band together for British Columbia s wild salmon and the Strait of Georgia. It is the only acceptable solution. Dr. Brian Riddell is the president and CEO of the Pacific Salmon Foundation in Vancouver, B.C. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada s Expert Panel on Ocean Climate Change and Marine Biodiversity and an appointed Canadian commissioner to the Pacific Salmon Commission. Dr. Riddell may be contacted at briddell@psf.ca Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun Read more: LDSvVoW Nature calls the shots in sockeye season, and diversity rules By Stephen Hume, Vancouver Sun September 4, 2010 The curtain rises on the annual theatre of the absurd known as sockeye season on the Fraser, which begins with the comical ritual of clowns putting their oversized boots to the hangdog department of fisheries and oceans. Columnists who apparently wouldn't know the difference between a sockeye and a sculpin cluck and scold in a Toronto newspaper. One enthusiastically advances the argument that we should whack 30 million of the 34 million returning salmon. DFO is flogged for insufficient openings, for low exploitation rates, for inaccurate forecasts. Would someone remind Toronto's intelligentsia that Fraser River sockeye are jointly managed with the United States through the Pacific Salmon Commission?

6 But, hey, why let facts ruin a good scapegoating? DFO was pilloried last year for overestimating. This year it's blamed for underestimating. Nature calls the shots here, not fish managers. If forecasting were certain, we wouldn't call them estimates. Do things like the wise Alaskans, thunders one critic. But that's what we do. And the Alaskans have similar problems estimating. One study of Alaskan accuracy found that "historically, forecast error... has been large." Welcome to run-prediction roulette. Furthermore, when the Pacific Salmon Treaty was last renegotiated, a governing principle was adopted. It's an Alaskan model. It's called aggregate abundance-based management. It succeeded the discredited model of maximum sustained yield the Toronto types and dinosaurs now advocate. What might be a compelling reason for not succumbing to demands for massively increased harvest rates on rebounding stocks? Biodiversity, for one. Mingled with the vast runs of salmon now bound for spawning grounds in tributaries like the iconic Adams River are more than 40 co-migrating stocks, many with much smaller populations. Some already teeter at the brink of extinction. Most are unknown to the public. For example, the sockeye returning to Cultus Lake, cited as endangered following an evaluation in 2002 by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife. Historically, Cultus sockeye returned in runs greater than 70,000. By 2004, stocks had dwindled to fewer than 100. Incidental over-harvesting on larger stocks with which Cultus sockeye mingled caused the decline. The risk was known. But politicians overruled the precautionary principle in response to vehement economic arguments from special interest groups. Predictably, already depressed by over-exploitation, the Cultus stock collapsed to near-extinction when depleted numbers encountered adverse oceanic and fresh water survival conditions. The supposed surplus turned out to be survival insurance. Greed cancelled the policy. This year's astonishing returns now face similar economic demands. Those who claim wasted surplus and foregone revenue accept the long-term loss of small co-migrating runs for the short-term gain of maximizing harvest opportunities on the big ones. This argument makes economic sense but it is biological nonsense. If other sockeye stocks like Cultus -- Pitt, Bowron and Harrison Lake sockeye, for example -- are returning in larger numbers, this summer's exceptional return offers a remarkable opportunity to put many more of those small stocks than usual on their spawning grounds.

7 And we need these stocks biologically, even if some think we don't. Why? Because not all salmon runs behave in the same way. Each small run has evolved different survival strategies. Harrison Lake sockeye don't use the same strategies as Adams River or Stuart Lake sockeye. Think of the salmon as a stock portfolio. Most financial advisers advocate diversifying your holdings to avoid total exposure in the face of unexpected market conditions. Those who want massive fishing on mixed salmon stocks advocate putting all our biological eggs in one basket and hoping nothing goes wrong. Yet as climate change advances, prudence demands a diversity of survival strategies. Maximizing diversity in salmon stocks, with their unique survival strategies, increases the chance for Fraser River salmon to adapt and survive changing conditions. Instead of permitting a lust for instant gratification to derail a natural process for rebuilding small stocks, now is the time for restraint, for harvest restraint is a critical investment in future abundance. So enjoy your sockeye. Be grateful for this gift from nature. But don't let the gong show of greed sway us from good stewardship. shume@islandnet.com Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun Read more: 355/story.html#ixzz12LDupqkC