Steelhead Stock Status Review - British Columbia

Mark Beere - Senior Fisheries Biologist – Skeena RegionBC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations

Asilomar - March 8, 2016

Status Update - Talking Points

• Any significant changes in wild pop’ns?Some: reduced abundance noted, particularly in the south• Status, approaches to wild harvest?No wild harvest since 80’s/90’s• Reporting catch and harvest?Steelhead angler questionnaire, guide reports, creels• Actions taken to address drought? Steelhead impacts?New legislation, angling closures, monitoring; ↓productivity• Anomalies?Capacity, fewer hatchery fish• New management issues, monitoring?FN’s legal precedents, hatcheries, C&R, major projects

Any Significant Changes in Wild Populations?

BC Steelhead Stock StatusRegional Trends

Vancouver Island

Skeena

Vancouver

Nass

Stikine

Taku

Chilcotin

HaidaGwaii Dean

Thompson

Chilliwack, L. Fraser

Smithers

Williams Lake

Nanaimo

Kamloops

Surrey

North Coas

West Vancouver Island

( Beere 2014)

Routine management zoneConservation concernExtreme conservation concern

ConservationStatus

West Vancouver Island

Taku

Taku

Taku

West Vancouver Island

Taku

West Vancouver Island

Taku

West Vancouver Island

Taku

Taku

Taku

Taku

Taku

West Vancouver Island

( Beere 2016)

Routine management zoneConservation concernExtreme conservation concern

ConservationStatus

Taku

West Vancouver Island

Taku

Taku

West Vancouver Island

TakuTaku

Taku

Taku

Lower Fraser River

Bella Coola Dean

West Vancouver Island

West Vancouver Island

West Vancouver Island

Lower Fraser River

Keogh River Adult Abundance (Coastal Winter Stock)

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Num

ber o

f Spa

wne

rs

Year

Marine Survival Estimates for Steelhead Smolts by Year of Ocean Entry, Keogh River, BC 1977- 2012

NB: Data for 2012 requires data from additional returns in 2016 for the complete estimate.

0.00

4.00

8.00

12.00

16.00

20.00

24.00

surv

ival

(%)

Smolt year

Thompson/Interior Fraser

Interior SummerStocks

Central Coast

Dean River (Coastal Summer Stock)

North CoastSkeena (Interior Summer Stocks)

Reporting Catch and Harvest

Steelhead Angler Questionnaire

Results of Steelhead Harvest Analysis (SHA) Effort by Region and Provincially

Results of Steelhead Harvest Analysis (SHA) Catch by Region and Provincially

Actions Taken to Address Drought

New Water Sustainability Act:• “Consider” environmental flow needs in new water allocation

decisions• Groundwater licencing• regulate during scarcity

• “First-in time, first in right” FITFIR concerns – potentially old, inflated licences stand; short-term permits to provide water for fracking that can be repeated

Anomalies:

Capacity, Hatchery Program

SEP

BC Hatchery Steelhead Releases

( Beere 2016)

Hatchery Releases

New Management Issues, Monitoring

Aboriginal Rights and Title

Monitor Post Capture Physiological Stress Response in Native Steelhead

Pacific LNG/PetronasLelu Island - Skeena River Estuary

Skeena River Headwaters

Atrum Coal – Skeena Headwaters

By-Catch in Commercial Tidal Salmon Fisheries

Acknowledgements:

Mike McCullochKenji MiyazakiLee Williston

Rob BisonJoe De Gisi

Ron PtolemyRenato Vitalini

Don McCubbing 1966 - 2015

Tyee Test (Gillnet) Fishery – DFO (1956 – present)

Skeena River Interior Summer Ecotype Stock Composition - 2015

Moricetown Canyon (Bulkley River) Mark-Recapture Project –Wet’suwet’en Fisheries (1999 – present)

Kloiya River Winter Steelhead Resistivity Counter (2006 – present)

Skeena Region Steelhead Molecular Genetics(1990 – present)

Kitwanga River Resistivity/Dual Beam Sonar –Gitanyow (2003 – present)

Upper Sustut River Enumeration Weir (1985, 1992 - present)

Nass River Fishwheels – Nisga’a/LGL (1992 –present)