More reports than fish?

Another day, another report on the state of the fishery.

In what must surely be a bid to help out the provinces ailing pulp and paper industry, yet another report into the salmon fishery has been released. This one an interim report from the Pacific Salmon Forum, which has been mandated by the provincial government to explore the BC salmon fishery.

As this site examined earlier this week, the Salmon Forum report details comes out at the same time as a report from scientists at Nova Scotia's Dalhousie University which found that fish farms are directly associated with plummeting populations of wild salmon and trout.

The Pacific salmon forum's report, wasn't quite ready to make such a bold declaration, however it did add a few recommendations and reviews of past reports that will be of interest to the North.

The most interesting of which was the suggestion that any future fish farms on the Skeena River be located away from wild sockeye salmon migration routes, it's moot point at the moment as there is little appetite to introduce farms north of the central coast area.

The report served as a form of rebuttal to past contrarion reports that suggest that the Wild stocks are in peril, leaving us all with many studies and still no declarative statement of what needs to be done.

The Daily News featured the details from the salmon forum report in Wednesday's Daily News.

Salmon scientists seek the big picture
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Pages one and three

Key findings from the B.C. Pacific Salmon Forum's 2007 research program were recently released, one of which suggests any future fish farms on the Skeena River be located away from wild sockeye salmon migration routes.

The interim findings are based on preliminary reports from some 15 research projects involving more than 30 scientists and other personnel, some of which contradict previous scientific reports on the interaction of wild and farmed fish. One such study that the forum's research refutes is scientist Martin Krkosek's co-authored paper that claims sea lice from farmed salmon are wiping out wild stocks.

"That was research largely done prior to the research that Martin Krkosek is doing now, that the forum is funding," said Dr. Jon O'Riordan, research director with the B.C. Pacific Salmon Forum. "He's reviewing his assumptions based on new data, specifically looking at whether his model and predictions need to be adjusted."

One project in the interim report describes the 2007 pink adult salmon returns as a whole, in the mainland inlets of the Broughton Archipelago system, as being similar or slightly improved to the brood return in 2005.

However, another finding describes the overall catch of juvenile salmon in the Broughton for sampling in 2007 as being the lowest during the last five-year period of monitoring, despite an increase in the number of sampling sites.

"The advantage to this program is it's the first time a collection of 20-odd scientists have come together in a reasonably coordinated program," said O'Riordan. "We're trying to get a much better understanding of all the interrelated factors, which I think is the first time the whole system has been looked at one time rather than just individual parts."

In studying the prevalence, intensity and abundance of sea lice on wild pink salmon, the overall findings described lice levels in the Broughton Archipelago during 2007 as being low compared to other years. One study found that approximately 80 per cent of all juvenile pink and chum salmon caught between March and June 2007 had no lice.

Laboratory and field studies were also conducted last year to determine the impacts of sea lice on salmon. One such lab study determined swimming performance of juvenile pink salmon with one louse was statistically indistinguishable from that of fish with no lice, and the applicability of those results to salmon in nature is something the forum will be studying further this year.

Also being developed is a model to determine at which point a fish becomes compromised by sea lice, although it was shown that mortalities of pink salmon spiked when lice entered a moulting stage of their development.

"It's apparent from our research that the ecosystem within the Broughton Archipelago is very intricate. The interaction between wild salmon, farmed salmon and other species is taking place in a region of a complex mix of currents, winds, and geography," said John Fraser, B.C. Pacific Forum Chairman.

"Since it is clear we are dealing with dynamic ecosystems that include many factors, not simply sea lice, the forum will be funding a broad range of researchers to come together to develop an analytical framework that will incorporate all ecosystem factors in order to interpret the data that is emerging from this research program."

Also of note from the interim research findings is that after the study of migratory patterns of sockeye salmon in the Skeena River system, it is being suggested that if salmon farms were to be situated in this area, they should be positioned to minimize interactions between wild and farmed salmon.

"I would call that more of a conclusion, and it came from a number of years of study that's been done by a researcher who we've funded over the last two years," said Dr. O'Riordan. "Should there ever be a decision to consider fish farming up there, they'll have a better understanding of the baseline conditions and migration patterns for an evaluation of where farms would be, to minimize the risk to wild salmon."

Altogether, more than 20 key findings resulted from the research of 2007 - much of which will be continuing in 2008 - and a final report can be expected at the end of the year. The full text of the summary of key findings and individual interim research project reports can be found at www.pacificsalmonforum.ca/research/index.php.