November 2009
ROUNDTABLE REPORT—NOVEMBER, 2009
By Eric Carlisle
While the November 5 announcement of a judicial inquiry into the disappearance of the 2009 Fraser sockeye run (over 10 million predicted to return, only 1.3 million actually returned) is a welcome development, many people do not realize that in the last several years, other species and stocks have suffered low returns.Also not realized is the fact that these other species and stocks have something in common with the 2009 returning Fraser sockeye.First, in 2008, most South Coast coho returns were very low.Also in 2008, age 2 fall run jack chinook returning to both Chilliwack-Vedder and Capilano Rivers (essentially the same stock, originating from Harrison River and raised at Chilliwack Hatchery before being transplanted to Capilano Hatchery) were scarce.Finally, in the winter of 2009, steelhead returns (especially two ocean steelhead) to most South Coast rivers also were low.These different species and stocks have one thing in common—all their smolts migrated to the sea in spring, 2007.That year, ocean survival of these different species and stocks was affected by some unknown factor, and the Ministry of Environment and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans need to work together to investigate ocean survival and take any possible actions to improve the situation.
Although the 2008 coho returns to South Coast rivers were very low, jack coho returns were better than those of 2007 and indicated that adult returns in 2009 should improve.While we are still in season for coho, many coho rivers have seen improved returns.There have been good reports from the Squamish system—Squamish, Cheakamus and Mamquam.Funnily enough, I have heard that anglers on the Chilliwack-Vedder have complained about generally poor coho fishing, but Chilliwack Hatchery staff have said it’s the best return in the last five years.Seymour River has seen an improved coho return, as has the Capilano.However, while Capilano’s early and mid coho returns were in excess of 3,000 and 4,000 (I cannot remember which was which), the late return only exceeded 700.Seymour Hatchery Manager Brian Smith told me that DFO biologist Matt Foy told him that a similar pattern has been seen elsewhere—the late run coho tapered off very quickly.Capilano’s jack coho return is over 2,300, much better than the average 1,400.This should indicate improved adult coho returns for Capilano in 2010.
Every odd numbered year I look forward to pink salmon fishing.In 2009, however, the North Shore beaches I fish generally did not live up to expectations.I have heard that Indian River had a good pink return, but these fish did not stop at Cates Park.Hardly any pinks were caught at this often popular and productive beach area.At the other end of the North Shore, Cypress Creek mouth-Stearman Beach produced a few pinks on occasion, but the pink fishing was inconsistent and the coho fishing was almost non-existent—the fish rarely appeared there.Near the mouth of the Capilano, only Sewer Bay and the area near Lions Gate Bridge yielded fair catches of pinks—Indian River fish in August, then Seymour enhanced pinks (later run Chilliwack stock was used) in September.On the positive side, an estimated 1,500 pinks spawned in the upper reaches of the Seymour, indicating success at getting pinks to migrate upstream through the canyon and, hopefully, starting a self-sustaining run.I received reports of productive pink fishing at Furry Creek as pinks heading for the Squamish system migrated up Howe Sound.
Earlier I mentioned the low returns of fall run jack chinook to both Chilliwack-Vedder and Capilano Rivers in 2008.There were good returns of jack chinook in 2007, and 2009 saw good returns of jack chinook to both rivers.Hopefully, this will mean improved returns of age three and age four adults in 2010 and 2011, respectively.
From what I have heard, chum returns to many rivers have matched the forecast returns—somewhat low numbers resulting in spotty fishing, at best.However, unlike other rivers, Capilano has experienced a good return of chums, and while they cannot be retained, these feisty salmon offer enjoyable catch-and-release fishing.Capilano Hatchery spawns any chums which migrate up the fish ladder, and other chums spawn in the limited gravel areas in the river or in Brothers Creek.Capilano Hatchery also spawns any pinks which migrate up the fish ladder, and, this year, hatchery staff were able to spawn two groups of pinks—strays from Indian River and strays from Seymour River’s later running Chilliwack pink transplants.
October 2008
STEELHEAD ROUNDTABLE - By Eric Carlisle
Rod Clapton, BCFDF President and Chair of the South Coast Steelhead Coalition, is organizing a Steelhead Workshop. This workshop will be held on November 29 at BCIT and will be an invitation only event. Steelhead biologists from each of the provincial regions are being invited to the workshop as are representatives from various organizations concerned about steelhead. Also invited are members of the Steelhead Caucus, a group of MLAs chaired by Ralph Sultan. The main goal of the workshop is to obtain meaningful support for steelhead issues from the Steelhead Caucus.
I have been invited to attend this workshop and I suggested to Rod Clapton that SEHAB be invited. I pointed out to Clapton that I could wear the SEHAB hat as can Zo Ann Morten.
COHO ROUNDTABLE - by Eric Carlisle
A year ago, I learned that Dr. Dick Beamish from Pacific Biological Station had found “the worst results he had seen” while sampling Georgia Strait for coho juveniles. Jack returns to South Coast hatcheries were down in 2007, and the prediction was for low coho returns to South Coast coho streams in 2008.
As of October 21, Capilano Hatchery had 2,915 coho swimups to the hatchery. The season is not over and more fresh run cohoes should appear. However, 2,915 coho swimups at the end of the third week of October is a very low return. While a few coho were reported in the river in May, I did not find any until early June. Water flows were sufficient for angling and for fish migration until about mid-July. Rain raised the river briefly in late July, substantially in late August-early September, and again in early October. Some years (e.g., 2002), the Capilano has been very low from early July on and the native Indian fishery has taken a heavy toll, but this year the Squamish Indian Band has been struggling to catch the cohoes.
Throughout this season the Capilano cohoes have been “off”. While there have been times I have found some cohoes, the salmon have been far more finicky than usual (at best, Capilano cohoes are well known for being hard to catch) and the expected catches have not occurred. Still, I did manage to catch a few cohoes on baits or lures (June and early July) or lures only (late August and October). Many anglers I normally expected to see on the river gave up after a few tries—poor return and non-biting fish. At the local beach fisheries (rivermouth and Cypress Creek mouth area), the last two weeks of July produced about two dozen cohoes for the rivermouth anglers, but the months of August and September combined yielded a mere 6 cohoes caught. At the usually popular and productive Cypress Creek mouth area, I understand that the total catch for the season was a mere two cohoes. Few cohoes held at this location, yet when rains came some modest schools of cohoes appeared at the rivermouth. Where the Capilano cohoes were shore anglers do not know; there were few reports of coho catches by boat anglers.
On the positive side, however, I have been informed that Capilano Hatchery has already obtained its brood target and that several hundred surplus coho adults have been trucked to the upper river above Cleveland Dam for natural spawning. In order to cover the entire run (in terms of arrival time at the hatchery), later returning cohoes will be held for brood and surplus fish will continue to be transported to the upper watershed. Also on the positive side were the substantial numbers of coho juveniles I observed while fishing the West Vancouver beaches in the second half of July and August. As of October 21, 1,173 jack cohoes had returned to Capilano Hatchery (only 94 jack cohoes returned in 2007), so next year should see an improved run.
At the nearby Seymour River, staff at Seymour Hatchery feel this year’s coho run is about 30-40% of normal and may be similar to the estimated 2006 run of about 1,500 fish. More jack cohoes have been seen in the Seymour.
The only other river I have visited was the Chilliwack-Vedder. Four visits in September yielded a nice chinook each trip but I never hooked a coho nor saw and clearly identified a coho in the river. Yet, I heard of other anglers who caught cohoes. On my last visit (September 30), I found one of the holding ponds at Chilliwack Hatchery (where the early part of the run is held) was full of cohoes. This run is still “in season”, so it is hard to draw any conclusions. Yet, while the jack coho return to Chilliwack Hatchery was down in 2007, the adult return in 2008 may be better than expected. At this time coho runs are underway in many other south coast rivers, so it remains to be seen how other streams will fare. I have yet to hear what Dr. Beamish’s juvenile coho sampling results were in 2008.
February 2008
COHO ROUNDTABLE REPORT
By Eric Carlisle
As predicted, coho returns to south coast rivers and streams improved in 2007. However, the outlook for 2008 is not good.
At Capilano Hatchery, 876 earlies, 7,853 mids and 7,051 lates swam up the fish ladder. The total adult coho return was 15,780. Unfortunately, the jack coho return was a mere 94; the previous record low return of jacks was in excess of 300. In 2007, the in-river fishery and the beach fisheries were noticeably improved over those of 2006. But, while jack cohoes appeared in both fisheries in 2006, hardly any jacks were caught in 2007
While Seymour Hatchery staff have not made their final population estimate calculations, they have told me that the Seymour’s coho run was 4,000 to 5,000. An average return is around 2,000 (like in 2005), and the 2006 return was only 1,450. Like at Capilano, however, the numbers of jack cohoes found during seines at the Hatchery Pool were lower than usual. I never saw any jacks while fishing the river last year or while participating in carcass recovery in late October, November or early December.
At Chilliwack Hatchery, the coho return was 14,696. This compares with the 2006 return of 6,866 and the 2005 return of about 6,000. However, the 2007 jack coho return was 611; in 2006, 1,445 jack cohoes returned to Chilliwack Hatchery. Manager Bob Stanton said, “General synopsis for 2007 was fishing was relatively good for adult Coho and Chinook jacks, with what appeared to be an increase in trap returns and wild/tributary creek Coho. There is a belief that Coho returns for Chilliwack and other Georgia Strait Coho stocks will be down. How much I don’t know, but if you can go by Coho jack returns it could be significant.”
Tenderfoot Hatchery’s Brian Klassen commented on the 2007 coho returns to the Squamish area. Klassen said, “Coho returns in Squamish are still ongoing. We saw an increase in coho this year over last year’s return although it was still not a stellar year. I would have to say it was an ‘average’ return which is not bad but it was not as good as it was a few years ago. The Cheakamus main river return was very poor but that was not unexpected as these were the returning fish from the Cheakamus CN Rail spill (2004 brood fish). Jack returns are low.”
A pattern is present here—improved adult coho returns in 2007, but low jack coho returns. While low jack coho returns do not always mean low adult returns the following year (and good jack coho returns do not always mean good adult returns the following year), a correlation between jack coho returns and adult returns the following year is fairly common. In the late summer of 2006, the Pacific Biological Station’s Dr. Dick Beamish performed his usual sampling in Georgia Strait, found improved numbers of coho juveniles, and predicted the improved return in 2007. However, I have heard that Dr. Beamish’s juvenile coho sampling results in the late summer of 2007 were the worst he has seen. Therefore, it would appear that the 2008 coho returns will be poor.
While obtaining the 2007 coho return information for this report, I also noticed that both Capilano and Chilliwack Hatcheries experienced very low returns of chinook “Jimmies”. The stock in question is the so-called “Chilliwack Whites”, which originated at Harrison River, was transplanted to Chilliwack and then to Capilano. Most years, this late returning stock has performed well at the two hatcheries. The “Jimmies” are precociously maturing chinook males which left the river as smolts in the spring and returned in the fall at age one. Each “Jimmy” is about the size of a modest jack coho. I do not know if returns of four “Jimmies” to Capilano Hatchery and six “Jimmies” to Chilliwack Hatchery are significant, but they do seem to be much lower than usual. In 2007, both hatcheries experienced adequate returns of chinook adults and good returns of chinook jacks. In both rivers, significant numbers of chinook spawn in the river (especially in Chilliwack River) rather than returning to the hatchery. In fact, I have been told that DFO has found that 20% of the fall returning chinook in the Chilliwack-Vedder is the result of chinook adults spawning in the river.
Steelhead Committee Report
In the late 1970s (Chair Eric Carlisle was not sure of the year), the provincial and federal governments signed an agreement re steelhead production at DFO hatcheries. Under this agreement, steelhead smolts would be raised at DFO hatcheries under provincial direction, and DFO would pay for this program. This steelhead production would be compensation for steelhead intercepted and harvested in commercial salmon fisheries. At this time and for many years afterward, the commercial fishermen were able to retain steelhead caught in their nets.
However, for several years commercial fishermen have been required to release any steelhead they catch and have also been required to carry live boxes to assist in the release of steelhead. Therefore, a case could be made for DFO not paying for hatchery steelhead production—harvest is not allowed. But Carlisle stressed that there is a significant mortality when commercial fishermen release steelhead from gillnets or from purse seines, so a case can be made for the agreement signed about 30 years ago to continue.
At the October SEHAB meeting (which Carlisle was unable to attend), members decided to investigate steelhead production costs at DFO facilities. When he was informed of this project by Jack Minard, Carlisle contacted Reid Schrul, Manager of Capilano Hatchery. Schrul told Carlisle that DFO had assembled all the hatchery steelhead production numbers several years ago. DFO staff in Ottawa had been making noises about cutting costs by ceasing production of steelhead, but DFO personnel on the west coast had said that they were in the business of getting fish back to the rivers and that the steelhead production should continue. On Carlisle’s behalf, Schrul asked his superiors if Carlisle could be given the steelhead production numbers document, but they did not respond to this request. Therefore, Carlisle had to do it the hard way--contact the various hatchery managers and ask for the information.
Capilano Hatchery: Manager Reid Schrul said the target is 20,000 steelhead smolts a year and the cost is $25,000, or about $1.25 a smolt. With the 2003 brood year, Capilano Hatchery changed from a two year program to a one year program.
Seymour Hatchery (a CEDP facility): Manager Brian Smith (a former SEHAB member) reported that a one-year program for the average 30,000 steelhead produced a year costs $31,453.34. With in-kind contributions (volunteer time, donations of DFO truck time, etc.) added, however, the cost would be $61,053.34. A two year program (which Seymour Hatchery recently discontinued) used to cost $47,348.05 or, with in-kind contributions, $78,948.06. Smith had worked out his costs for the DFO steelhead cost report to the penny. The DFO bean counters look upon in-kind work as a cost, not a benefit, hence the higher cost figures if in-kind contributions are included.
Chehalis Hatchery: Manager Larry Kahl said his targets are 40,000 WSH smolts, 25,000 SSH smolts and 25,000 searun cutthroat trout smolts, and the total cost at full production would be about $35,000.
Inch Creek Hatchery: Manager Stu Barnetson reported that his facility produces 20,000 WSH smolts for release into Stave River and the cost is $20,000, or $1.00 a smolt.
Chilliwack Hatchery: Manager Bob Stanton said his steelhead program is the most expensive program at the hatchery on a per-smolt basis and the steelhead program accounts for 25% of the total hatchery biomass produced. The steelhead are raised in river water for the first 6 months, then in 11 degrees Celsius well water for three months, then in a mixture of river and well water for the final three months prior to release. The largest production well costs $4,000 a month in electricity to operate. Fuel for a backup diesel generator (used in case of power failure) adds to the cost. Fish food for steelhead accounts for about 25% of the hatchery’s total fish food budget or 10% of the annual operating budget. Once overhead cost, staff salaries, etc. are included, the cost per smolt is one dollar plus. Over the last 7 years, Chilliwack Hatchery has released in excess of 110,000 steelhead smolts except for 2005 (109,123) and 2006 (95,259). The highest release occurred in 2003—134,701. Stanton pointed out that the variability in steelhead releases results from the different numbers of wild adult steelhead captured for use as brood stock each year, adult steelhead holding survival, and incubation and rearing survivals.
Jack Minard said he has available similar information from Vancouver Island Hatcheries and, if all the steelhead production costs are added together, the total is about $500,000. Ev Person mentioned the steelhead costs at Kitimat Hatchery. Several SEHAB members commented on the value of the steelhead programs at the various hatcheries and expressed the hope that the federal and provincial governments would continue to live up to the agreement signed in the early days of the Salmonid Enhancement Program.
October 2007
Eric Carlisle
For SEHAB members, coho has been a species of concern for many years and, especially, for the last two years. I can report only on rivers I have fished. This year, the Capilano coho run showed improvement over the returns of the past two years. With about 10,000 swimups to Capilano Salmon Hatchery in 2005 and about 7,000 swimups in 2006, the hope was that the 2007 return would be better. As of October 21, 13,269 coho had returned to the hatchery. The run is not over—both bright (recent arrivals) and coloured (in the river for a while) coho enter the hatchery each day, and fresh coho are still entering the river. In fact, this morning (October 24), I caught a bright, fresh in 4 1/2 pound hatchery coho with sea lice attached and lost another bright coho. Hopefully, the coho run, which began in the second week of May, will continue into November. Although only 88 jack coho had reached Capilano Salmon Hatchery as of October 21, it is difficult to draw any conclusions from this low return of jacks. Hatchery Manager Reid Schrul pointed out that there have been other years with small returns of jack coho but good returns of adult coho the following year. Only if a consistent pattern of low jack coho returns is evident at other rivers should we expect low adult returns in 2008. Given that we are still in-season and some rivers have yet to see their main returns of coho, patience will be required before any predictions can be made about next year’s coho returns.
I have fished Seymour River only a little in the last few weeks, but a mixture of fresh run and in-a-while coho has been present. Reports I have heard from other anglers and from Seymour Hatchery staff indicate that the Seymour’s 2007 coho return has improved over last year’s sub average return. I have heard of several sizeable (10 pounds plus) coho encountered by anglers.
Anglers who fished the Cypress Creek mouth area in August and September enjoyed productive coho fishing. A mixture of wild and hatchery coho was present; many of the hatchery coho were Capilano fish, but some were Seymour fish and others may have been from the Fraser system. As usual, on some days many coho were present, but on other days only a few coho showed at the various locations east and west of the creek mouth. I spoke to one angler who has fished the area recently; he said that it has been quiet. Local rivers have been up since September 30, so coho have not had any reason to linger at the Stearman Beach-Cypress Creek mouth area.
I visited the Chilliwack-Vedder River on four days in September (all during the low flow period). While I enjoyed productive fishing for jacksprings and, on the last day (September 26), adult chinook, I managed to catch just one hatchery coho adult and release one hatchery jack coho. Still, I have had reports of productive coho fishing since the river rose almost four weeks ago. In the mid-1980s and early 1990s, the coho would migrate up the Chilliwack-Vedder system during the low water periods of September and into October. In recent years, however, some early (end of August-early September) coho move in, but many coho wait until rainfall occurs.
Pink salmon provided the anticipated enjoyable angling at various North and West Vancouver beaches. This year, Indian River pinks held off Cates Park for several weeks (starting on August 4). No pinks appeared to be present in late July (some years they have appeared in late July), so the 2007 pink return exhibited normal run timing. However, in the second week of August I switched to fishing at Cypress Creek mouth. Here, I had a better chance of encountering coho, and pinks (some perhaps Indian stock, but many probably Fraser system fish) were present until almost the middle of September. Since the fisheries occurred, I have heard that the Indian experienced a so-so return of pinks. The prediction for the Fraser system was originally 19 million adults. In-season this prediction was downgraded to 10 million then upgraded to 11 million. In some odd numbered years the pink fishing at Cypress Creek mouth lasted into early October, but in 2007 the runs appeared to be over by mid-September. I observed fair numbers of pinks in the Chilliwack-Vedder.
During my October Roundtable Report five years ago (we were staying at a hotel just south of Courtney), I commented on how the lack of rainfall and low rivers and creeks meant that salmon were unable to migrate upstream. In fact, we could see coho jumping close to shore behind the hotel. This year the fall rains began at the end of September, so low flows and delayed salmon migrations have not been a concern. Hopefully, the rivers and creeks will not experience any major floods which scour the stream bottoms and destroy salmon eggs.
June 2007
Eric Carlisle
Over the last several months, the plight of Capilano steelhead has received some favourable publicity. Mark Angelo, with media in tow, showed up at Capilano Salmon Hatchery on April 10, the Tuesday following the Easter weekend. On this day, the otter fence had just been pulled from the fish ladder and 14 WSH swam up the ladder (although plenty of WSH had been in the river for over two months, only one had been seen in the fish ladder prior to April 10); some of these fish were visible in the viewing areas and appeared in the TV coverage. During his TV interview, Angelo discussed some of the problems facing Capilano steelhead. Of particular note is the high (60-70% at best, 90% or higher at worst) casualty rate of steelhead smolts dropping over the spillway. Although not mentioned, coho smolts face a similar situation.
While adult steelhead are not transported to the upper watershed, Capilano Hatchery staff plant fry surplus to their production requirements. Generally, the steelhead which migrate up the fish ladder are hatchery fish, and these adults provide the eggs for the fry program. Wild WSH adults are captured by angling (by me) and transported to the hatchery; their eggs are used for the smolt program. Only the rare wild WSH swims up the fish ladder. Adult coho (up to 5,000 a year) are trucked to the upper river and released; these fish spawn naturally in the creeks. But, like the steelhead smolts, the coho smolts must pass over the spillway on their way downstream to the sea. The total drop is in the order of 300 feet. At first glance, one might think that smolts can drop over anywhere across the width of the spillway. Actually, at the top end of the lake the river enters flowing toward the west side, so smolts tend to follow the west shoreline as they migrate downstream and drop over the west side (in all probability, the west foot or two) of the spillway. In recent years, a rock pile has built up at the base of the west side of the spillway, and at certain flows the water comes off the ski jump and plunges directly into these rocks rather than into a plunge pool. Hence the high casualty rates for downstream migrating smolts.
Last week, I forwarded to SEHAB members the news release from Ralph Sultan, MLA for West Vancouver-Capilano and Chair of the provincial government’s Steelhead Caucus. Recently, members of the Steelhead Caucus visited Cleveland Dam with Mark Angelo and had a first hand look at the problem. The news release also mentioned some of the other problems facing Capilano steelhead—lack of gravel recruitment, cold water releases downstream from the dam, low flows, etc. Last Saturday morning, Sultan appeared on the local community channel and discussed the problems facing Capilano steelhead. This program also showed Sultan speaking in the Legislature about Capilano steelhead. Quoting an article in the Globe and Mail, he may have given incorrect figures (fry plants may reach 40,000 plus; there is no way that 65,000 steelhead smolts move down the Capilano and over the spillway); however, the concept he was discussing is absolutely correct—the high casualty rate for smolts dropping over the spillway. Anyway, I hope that all this publicity will have some effect on the GVRD and that the required money will be spent to alleviate the problems facing Capilano steelhead and salmon.
From what I heard, south coast WSH returns generally were up. An exception appeared to be the Squamish system and especially the Cheakamus. In these rivers the major floods of October, 2003, impacted the survival of steelhead juveniles. Last I heard this year’s steelhead smolt program on the Cheakamus still had several adults to go to reach the desired 10 males and 10 females. In the North Shore rivers (where I did almost all of my WSH fishing), there definitely were increases in the returns, but the majority of the fish were of hatchery origin. While wild WSH were present, they were a minority.
Interestingly, at Capilano the hatchery component of the WSH run exhibited something unusual—approximately two males returned for every female. Usually, the population is about 50/50 males and females (this is what happened with the wild population) or there is an edge of females over males. In a hatchery population, some smolts residualize after release and most of these residuals are males; hence the greater number of females. Who knows, next year it may be two females to every male.
I think most of you are aware that last month, 20,000 steelhead smolts were released into the Cheakamus. While most of these smolts were released into the Cheekye up past the Outdoor School reaches of the river, some were released into the upper section of the anadromous fish section of the Cheakamus. Hopefully, returning adults will help seed the Cheakamus and rebuild the steelhead year classes depleted by CN’s caustic soda spill on August 5, 2005.
While occasional coho were reported being caught in the Capilano in late April-early May, I didn’t see any until May 12. For several weeks this very early component of the run was disappointing—only the odd coho here and there—but some numbers have been showing for the last week and a half. It is too early in the run to draw any conclusions about how coho are surviving this year. However, various indications—research in Georgia Strait last summer-fall by Dick Beamish, and increased jack coho returns to the hatcheries in 2006—indicate that this year’s returns should be better. The prediction for 2006 was .5% survival for hatchery coho and 1.5% for wild coho, and that prediction appeared to come true. I have heard that Dick Beamish is saying that survival for this year should be 4%. This is not great but it is an improvement.
There has been one other development at Capilano, and this time it’s a welcome one. For many years SSH have been few and far between, but this year noticeable numbers of SSH have appeared in anglers’ catches. I’ve released three myself and lost one, and I have witnessed two others released and one lost. I’ve also heard of about a dozen more summer runs released. At times, too, I have seen SSH swimming in certain pools or rolling. In fact, yesterday morning I visited the Cable Pool and observed four SSH for sure and maybe a fifth. All the fish I have seen closely have been hatchery steelhead of about 6-6 ½ pounds in weight (in other words, two ocean fish). Yet as far as I know, the last time SSH smolts were released (not counting the 2006 brood smolts released a little over a month ago) were the 2003 brood SSH smolts released in 2004. Hardly any SSH appeared last year, but these fish are present this year. Perhaps this year’s returnees are SSH that stayed in the river for an extra year following their release in 2004. In any event, while I feel that this stock has very limited long term prospects of survival, it is a pleasant change to find a few SSH present during the early coho fishery.
February 2007
By Eric Carlisle
For the second year in a row, greatly diminished coho returns to many South Coast streams continue to be a concern to anglers and conservationists alike. Due to the wild weather which was experienced in November and December, 2006, the obtaining of meaningful observations from creek walks was extremely difficult. Therefore, in order to obtain a reliable picture of what was happening, we have to look mainly at returns to major hatcheries.
Capilano Hatchery’s returns are very interesting. I have ballpark figures, not the actual returns down to the last fish, but they will suffice. The total return was 6,700, which is low for Capilano. However, those of us who attended last May’s Coho forum will remember that Manager Reid Schrul pointed out the various complicating factors for Capilano—low summer and early autumn flows, native Indian fishery, sport fishery, etc. The breakdown of the returns is puzzling. The early return (until early July) was well over 2,000 and was the best early return since 2002. The mid return was well over 3,000. However, the late return (early September on) was only 750. This situation was seen by those of us who fished the West Vancouver beaches (rivermouth, Cypress Creek mouth area) last summer. There were good numbers of coho showing through August, and then the numbers dropped a bit. But after the weekend following the Labour Day weekend, the coho, essentially, disappeared. For the remainder of September and into October a few coho were present at the rivermouth and Cypress Creek mouth, but only a few. At times, jacks were noticeable, and hatchery staff appeared encouraged by the jack returns. Still, Capilano Hatchery easily reached its brood target and was able to transport 2,500 adults (earlies and mids) to the upper river for natural spawning.
Most years, fresh coho stop entering the Capilano sometime in late October-early November. There have been years in which the coho run has continued well into November and, rarely, into December. Usually there is a lag time from the date the run ceases entering the river until the time the last coho swim up the fish ladder into the hatchery. In 2005, for example, I found the run ended after November 3, but some coloured coho entered the hatchery in December and one group of about 200 reached the hatchery in early January. In 2006, however, no coho entered the hatchery after the middle of November (I can’t remember the exact date but it may have been November 9). There has been no explanation for the steep decline of the late run coho at Capilano and other rivers, and I can’t think of any reason for the late run to suffer such a drastic drop but the early and mid runs didn’t do all that badly. In the ocean Capilano coho go to many different locations, so I don’t think it’s likely that most of the late run came through Johnstone Strait at the wrong time—during a commercial opening for sockeye or chum.
Concerning the neighboring Seymour River, I have been advised by Seymour Hatchery staff that the preliminary population estimate for the 2006 return of Seymour coho is 1,450. This number is below average, but given the gloomy reports I was hearing throughout the season, it is better than I expected.
Bob Stanton, Manager of Chilliwack Hatchery, told me that the 2006 swimup return to the hatchery was ~6,800, which is slightly better than the 2005 return of ~6,500. Bob also said stream walks saw few coho. However, he said, “the number of jacks increased proportionally” and “I hope this bodes well for this fall.” I fished the Chilliwack-Vedder extensively (nine angling days) from September 6 to October 25 and actually caught just one wild coho male (released, of course). On a few occasions I saw coho (small numbers only), but they refused to bite. I also caught five hatchery jack coho of which I kept four. I saw just one other angler carrying a coho, and another angler told me that he was carrying a coho in his fishing vest. When the coho fishery was productive, I commonly observed anglers catching coho, with coho they had landed, or carrying coho to their vehicles. Yet, the creel census estimate was 2,289 harvested and 5,234 released. Like many other anglers who fished the Chilliwack-Vedder in 2006, I feel this creel census estimate is wildly optimistic. I was creel censused once and was able to report my one coho released and a 6 pound chinook harvested that morning. There were plenty of chinook in the river, but very few coho.
I queried Brian Klassen, who works at Tenderfoot Hatchery, about the 2006 coho returns to the Squamish system. Brian said, “Tenderfoot coho returned at about the 30-35% rate vs. the 25 year average (we had about 670 coho vs. 2,000 in an average year). The other Squamish system streams were similar without any ‘hard’ data to back that up. A MoE friend of mine who walks streams lots in the fall and keeps diary notes on what he sees said that based on what he has seen this year, it’s about 10-20% of what he would see in a ‘normal’ year. An example would be the Mamquam where, in a peak one day count he would count 400+ coho while this year he saw 45 fish. Shovelnose was a big time bust! I was there three times this year at a time when there should have been a reasonable amount of fish spawning and I saw none. Nor did I see any redds to suggest that I had just not seen the fish. There were fish later but I don’t think the total exceeded 200 fish. A far, far cry from what we have seen the last few years and what I would have expected to see. Since all of the Shovelnose work has now matured and it is now seeing returns from all of the Forest Renewal work, there have been coho escapements as high as 8,000…Most years, there are easily 2,000 fish in that creek…On a plus side, we saw increased jack returns as did most other sites. The fish were also larger with some very large animals in the population. I spawned a couple of Cheakamus coho and one of them had an egg fecundity of 5,700 while another fish contained 6,500 eggs. That is what you see in chinook so it was nice to get that in the coho as well. These females were easily over 20 pounds and the bigger was most likely about 22 pounds.”
The following is excerpts from the minutes of the recent meeting of the North Coast Sub-committee, SFAB. DFO’s David Peacock reported on north coast coho:
Prior to this year abundance was consistent in the North.
Areas 8, 9 and 10 had very poor returns based on Docee fence counts and sport catches. Had about 20% of what have had the last few years.
Areas 1 to 7 had relatively good abundance.
South coast was dismal and if the effects are creeping north is a grave concern.
Are trying to get a target harvest of 40-60% for Skeena and Nass stocks. Are currently there for Nass stocks but at a lower level for Skeena so have some room to move.
Have developed a tag group for Bella Coola this year and are trying to get a tag group for Rivers Inlet and after that lower Skeena.”
Elsewhere in the minutes, there were comments about the lack of a coho indicator stream on the lower Skeena and one report that the Skeena coho fishing was good early but poor later.
What will happen in 2007 remains to be seen. You will have noticed several references to improved jack returns in 2006, and that could mean increased adult returns in 2007. Reid Schrul told me that the Ricker (DFO research vessel), sampling in Georgia Strait last fall, had found increased numbers of coho grilse. However, I have heard that at an OHEB meeting in late November, DFO’s Carol Cross said that 2007 may be worse than last year.
October 2006
by Eric Carlisle
The main concern for all people involved with anadromous salmonids is the lack of rainfall going back to last spring. With the exception of the rainfall on September 20 (which allowed Seymour River, Lynn Creek and assorted small creeks to rise a little but did not increase flows in Capilano River or Chilliwack River), there has been no significant rainfall since June. While we are not in a panic situation yet, forecasts of rain coming this weekend and continuing into next week are welcome. Of course, there have been long range forecasts of rain coming but the forecasts changed and sunny weather continued instead, so we can only hope that, this time, the forecast of rain is accurate. Then, salmon which have been waiting will be able to migrate up their rivers and salmon which have been holding in their rivers will be able to migrate up the tributaries and spawn. Juvenile salmonids living in the streams will have increased living space.
Yet in spite of record low flows for the time of year, in some streams salmon have been able to migrate upstream. In Chilliwack-Vedder River, coho, chum and adult and jack chinook are spread throughout the river. In some riffles the water is barely knee deep, yet the salmon appear to be moving upriver during the night and holding in deeper pools and runs during the day. Still, angling conditions are difficult and anglers are hoping rain will raise the river.
In most streams coho migrations have barely started or the coho are waiting for rain, so it is difficult to comment on the state of the runs. However, I have fished for coho in three streams, so I can comment on these runs. Capilano has seen an improvement over last year—by September 27, 5,770 coho had entered Capilano Hatchery. The early season in-river fishery—mid-May into early July (when the runoff ended)—showed improved numbers of fish present over the same time period in 2005. The changed behavior of the early run coho, which I have mentioned before, continued. Instead of holding on the lower river, the coho moved in during the night and were well up in the canyon or near the hatchery early the next morning. While some coho held at the river mouth in July and August, many clipped coho were present at the Cypress Creek mouth area from early July into early September. Then, most of these coho vanished and, at present, there are hardly any coho showing at the river mouth and only a few showing at Cypress Creek mouth. So far, Seymour River has experienced a very poor return of coho. I fished the river only a little following the September 20 rainfall (which briefly raised the river a bit), observed a few coho, lost several, released a few wild jacks, and kept one hatchery adult and one hatchery jack. In late August and September, numerous wild coho were reported holding off the Maplewood Mud Flats, and we can only hope that many of these fish are wild Seymour coho waiting for rainfall. Still, in spite of low summer flows in other years Seymour coho, both wild and hatchery, moved up the river, so the lack of coho is cause for concern. At Chilliwack River, by September 19 only 40 coho had returned to Chilliwack Hatchery. Just two years earlier, 1,600 coho were present on September 21, and 200 were kept for brood stock and the remainder sold off as surplus. The staff member I spoke with expressed much concern about the state of this year’s coho run. Yet following the September 20 rainfall (which did not raise the river), 1,000 coho were present at the hatchery just a few days later. This number represents an improvement over last year’s run at the same time.
Anglers fishing the Chilliwack-Vedder are observing coho in many pools and runs, but these fish are proving to be very difficult to catch. Part of the problem is the presence of adult chinook—the coho do not like to hold in the same water as the chinook and may be spooked by the chinook—but part of the problem is the reluctance of the hatchery coho to bite on anglers’ offerings. Anglers used to feel that Chilliwack coho were much easier to catch than coho in many other rivers, but this is no longer the case.
Similarly, at the 2006 North Shore beach fisheries both hardware and fly anglers found that coho have become much more difficult to catch. At times we cover lots of fish, but bites are few. Talking about this situation with Highwater Tackle’s Dave Steele, I learned that the hard to catch coho are not just present at North Shore fisheries; in 2006, coho in many other areas have been much more difficult to catch than usual. Again, this appears to be changing behavior by the coho, but why is anyone’s guess. It is not as if the fish are full of feed; a few I took in mid-July-early August had stomach contents (in each case a few small herring), but all other coho had empty stomachs. Commonly, fecal matter was present at the other end of the gut so the fish had been feeding recently, but they were not feeding at the time at which I caught them (generally first light to sunup, with a few later in the morning). Most of the anglers I know have long lists of lures or flies which used to catch the coho but which now rarely attract any bites.
Climate change may be influencing the ocean survival of coho, but it does not explain why catching coho, especially hatchery coho, is becoming more difficult.
May 2006
By Eric Carlisle
It is now end of season for winter steelhead in most south coast rivers and very late season for winter steelhead in the Squamish system (but peak time for Mamquam River steelhead). From what I have heard, runs in most rivers have improved this year. Although the river I fish the most, the Capilano, was very spotty and inconsistent, the BCCF guys swam the river several weeks ago and had their best count yet—27. Fish were observed scattered throughout the canyon and not concentrated in just one area. The swim went from the fish barrier at Capilano Hatchery to the 401 Highway Bridge. I feel that the fishing would have been better and the swim count would have been better if a seal had not been present in the river. I have seen the seal five times for certain and a probable sixth time, and on two of the five occasions I saw the seal, it took a steelhead. While I have recommended the Puntledge solution (remove the problem animal), employees of both governments are reluctant to do anything. Apparently, they have to go through Environment Canada and fill out reams of paperwork, and Environment Canada people seem more interested in critters with cute, big eyes than they do in cold, slimy fish.
This morning (May 9), I was present at Capilano Hatchery during the steelhead spawning check. This season, the hatchery has held 40 WSH, and only two hatchery males have died before spawning. Today, three hatchery females and three wild females were found to be ripe and were spawned. One wild female which had wounds on the top of her head and fungus problems was killed and spawned, while the other five females were air spawned and released. Eggs from the wild steelhead females were fertilized with milt from wild males, and eggs from the hatchery steelhead were fertilized with milt from either wild or hatchery males. Offspring from the wild steelhead will be used for the smolt program (which is now a one year program), and offspring from the hatchery steelhead females will be used for the fry planting program in the upper river. There is talk of increasing WSH production at Capilano Hatchery from the current goal of 10,000 but, so far, Capilano Hatchery staff have not heard from the Fresh Water Fisheries Society about this matter. Details such as funding for increased production would have to be worked out.
MoE Steelhead Biologist Greg Wilson told me that at the end of April, float counts indicated the Cheakamus held about 400 steelhead. Yet, from reports I had heard, the fishing rivaled that found in years of much better returns. I must admit that the two times I visited the Cheakamus I found nothing, but that’s steelheading. While I was picking up my brood stock collection permit at Tenderfoot Hatchery on May 5, two steelhead were brought in. That gave the hatchery 7 females and 5 males; the goal is 10 and 10. Tenderfoot Hatchery staff told me that they have 14 brood stock anglers and, from what I saw, they should experience little difficulty in reaching their goal. I understand the adult steelhead are to be transferred to Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery and the eggs are to be incubated there. Part of the rearing will be done at Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery, and the rearing will be finished somewhere in the Cheakamus system—either in a new channel at Tenderfoot Hatchery or in net pens in Daisy Lake. I have heard various unofficial reports that MoE steelhead biologists were “choked” that Environment Minister Barry Penner decided to approve a temporary hatchery program on the Cheakamus.
While fishing the Cheakamus eight days ago, I passed the Cheekye and walked upstream along the railway tracks to a run I know as 10 Mile. At one time, the river ran along the railway tracks at this run, but a flood in the 1980s changed the course of the river and it now runs along the far side of the river channel. At the base of a large, triangular boulder which used to be at the head of the old run, there is a two feet or so deep pool of water, and in this pool, I saw 20 or more salmonid juveniles which were about 2 ½ inches long. What species they are I couldn’t tell—probably, they are coho, but some could have been Chinook and some could even have been steelhead. However, whatever species they are, they are survivors from August 5, 2005. Perhaps this pool was not connected to the main flow on August 5, or maybe these survivors, which may have come from a groundwater channel, were caught in the pool during a flood last fall or winter and are waiting for the spring freshet to set them free.
Of course, there is that other species of concern—coho. While I had heard a few reports of coho in the Capilano for just over a week, until Monday I hadn’t seen any. Last Monday I caught my first coho of the season and saw another angler take a coho. The season has started right on time.
February 2006
By Eric Carlisle
A major issue is the decline in coho returns to many south coast rivers in 2005. SEHAB members will remember the e-mails which were being sent back and forth in early January. From friends at DFO, in early December (during that long period of sunny weather and low flows), I heard that Chilliwack Hatchery had only 6,000 cohoes as “swim-ups” but the hatchery met its brood target. After the river rose in the latter part of December, I heard some more cohoes entered Chilliwack Hatchery. However, I also heard that both Big Qualicum and Quinsam Hatcheries did not meet their brood targets. Later, I heard that the Tenderfoot Hatchery (Cheakamus River) return was about half the 20 year average. Capilano Hatchery had 9,774, and others stayed in the river. In fact, if the ladder had not been blocked in December, I have no doubt that several hundred more would have come in and the return would have broken 10,000. Capilano met its brood target and was within a hundred of its target for transporting adult coho to the upper watershed for natural spawning. Of course, you have to remember that there are several complicating factors on Capilano River. During medium to high flows, the native Indian fishery at the river’s mouth takes only small numbers of cohoes, but during the summer low flows, the native Indian fishery is very effective. Still, hatchery staff find that in spite of low flows and the native Indian fishery, they always manage to obtain sufficient coho brood. From what I saw of the fishery in the river, at the rivermouth and at other beach areas, the run was lower than normal. The Seymour coho return was estimated to be 2,500-2,800—down but not too bad. DFO’s Linda Stevens, who handles the SFAB local committees, told me that she had heard that many runs were about a quarter of normal. Yet I did hear one good report—Norrish or Suicide Creek was supposed to have had a good return.
If SEHAB members think about the e-mails which were being sent around about the coho returns, each of us has a handle on what happened in our own areas and we may have some idea what happened in other areas. However, we do not have DFO’s views on how widespread the low returns were in 2005 and why the returns were down. Therefore, we need to hear from DFO about how the coho runs were throughout the south coast, why many of the runs were lower than normal, and what DFO plans to do about the situation. In other words, before we can make any recommendations about the south coast coho situation, we need to know the overall picture.
Concerning steelhead, I have heard a variety of reports about improved winter steelhead returns to at least some of the south coast rivers. Hopefully, this trend will continue and we are not getting a one year blip in the current low ocean survivals. At the February 8 Open House re the Cheakamus steelhead situation, many of us who attended obtained copies of a steelhead fish culture recovery option draft discussion paper prepared for the Cheakamus River Ecosystem Recovery Technical Committee. The MoE plan, which this paper puts forth for discussion and public comment, calls for taking 22 pairs of winter steelhead in each of 2006 and 2007 and releasing a target of 33,000 smolts each succeeding year. The goal is to increase the spawning escapements in 2008 to 2011. Personally, I think the increased returns will occur in 2009-2011; the predicted 87 one ocean steelhead return in 2008 is excessive. The predicted wild returns are 109 in 2008, 22 in 2009, 31 in 2010 (the Olympics year!), and 118 in 2011. In recent years, the Cheakamus has seen returns of 300-400, and the historic run was probably in excess of 1,000. Comments can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by February 22. Various organizations are sending letters to Environment Minister Barry Penner or to CRERTC, and I am one of I hope many individuals who has sent in comments about the steelhead fish culture plan.
June 05
Eric Carlisle, BC Steelhead Society
Concerning this past season’s winter steelhead returns, I will speak primarily about the Capilano. On this river, I am the sole brood stock angler.
This season, hardly any steelhead were present until late February. I lost one in the last week of January and had two sightings in early February. After several weeks of high water, the third week of February saw a week of low but nice water. On the last day of this low water (February 21), I finally caught my first Capilano WSH of the season. Then, starting on February 22 and continuing well into March, a lack of rainfall resulted in minimum flow conditions.
Strangely, that last week of February saw me capture three more WSH and, in the first week of March, I caught two more. After a spell of illness in the middle of March, I resumed fishing on Good Friday and captured a WSH male caught by another angler. While some anglers claimed they were hooking numbers of WSH during the Easter weekend, with the aforementioned exception it never happened when I was present.
The following week, I managed to catch just one three-ocean wild female, and the week after that I captured three. Then, starting on April 10, for the next two weeks I managed at least one and, at times, two WSH every morning I arrived early on the river (however, the fish were not necessarily caught early). My only blank during this two week stretch was a day on which I got out late.
After April 23 the fishing died, and the only WSH I caught was the three ocean wild female two days after she was spawned at the hatchery and released. Still, my efforts resulted in a good group of WSH adults for hatchery staff to use.
Spawning commenced in late March and the last wild female was spawned just four days ago. Ponding of fry from the late March spawnings has already commenced. Fry from wild x wild crosses are used for the smolt program, and fry from other combinations are released in the upper river upstream from Cleveland Dam and Capilano Lake. Although last year’s return was “good”, this year’s return of WSH has to be considered very so-so.
Without that reasonably good return of late WSH, it would have been something of a disaster. Only four of this year’s WSH (one wild male, one hatchery male, one wild female, one hatchery female) were three-ocean fish; all others were two ocean fish. Given the good return of two-ocean steelhead in 2004, I had hoped for a better showing of three-ocean steelhead in 2005.
Although there were rumors of coho present prior to the middle of May, I saw none (with the possible exception of one I lost) on May 12.
I first encountered this year’s coho on May 16. So far, the early coho seem to be repeating last year’s migration pattern—come in in the evening or at night and appear well up the river by early morning. The return has been spotty—some days no coho appear to be present, other days I find one and, on a few days I hook up to four or five.
Interestingly, usually there are more males than females in the early run. However, this year the ones I have kept have been evenly split—half females and half males. If rainfall is not a factor, in two weeks or less I expect to switch to the rivermouth fishery as the runoff ends and the river drops to minimum flow.
It will be interesting to see what happens with this year’s pink returns. While there was very good pink fishing at certain North Shore and upper Howe Sound locations in 2003, the October floods caused major damage to pink populations in the Squamish system and had an unknown effect on Indian River pinks. I have been told that Mamquam pinks were destroyed by the floods.
On the Cheakamus, the channels were fairly well protected and produced 400,000-500,000 fry. Surprisingly, DFO says that the river itself also produced about the same number of fry. What this means is that the expected return may be in the order of 10,000, well down from 2003’s 100,000 (I’m not sure if this is for the Cheakamus only or for the Squamish system) and it’s time for rebuilding.
For 2005, the Squamish area SFAB Local Committee has recommended that a pink retention fishery in the Squamish system not occur, and there may be a recommendation for a pink closure in upper Howe Sound. As a safety measure, DFO had Seymour Hatchery release a significant portion of its Indian River pink stock production back into Indian River. The remainder of Seymour Hatchery’s Indian River pinks and its Chilliwack River pinks were released into the Seymour as usual.
Speaking as a North Shore angler, there have been some pink years which saw great fishing at various locations. But in other pink years, few pinks were encountered yet the runs survived and built to 2003’s good returns. By the next meeting (October), I’ll be able to let you know what happened.