Inside this issue

2018 Areas 3 and 4 Creel Survey

2

Area 4 Sockeye Pilot Fishery

4

Kleanza Creek Restoration Initiatives

6

MaPP North Coast Kelp Inventory Project

8

The Pacific Blob9

New staff11

News and Marine Activities from the North Coast-Skeena First Nations Stewardship Society

December | 2018 | NCSFNSS

Skeena Current

Photo by Allison Paul.

The

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anglers per boat (approximately 30,000 anglers) are estimated to have fished in the area in 2018 during June – August. There was a significant amount of fish-ing effort observed during April and May, however the project did not have funding to operate during those months.

Preliminary information indicates that 5,979 Chinook, 9,892 Coho, 1,606 Pinks, 172 Chum and 37 Sockeye are estimated to have been harvested in areas 3 and

2018 Areas 3 and 4 Creel SurveyBy Angela Addison

During the 2018 salmon season, the North Coast Skeena First Nations Stewardship Society (NCSFNSS) operated the marine Areas 3 and 4 Recreational Fish-ery Monitoring Program, for a fourth season in a row. This program collects important data that is used to determine the total amount of salmon and ground-fish that are harvested and released by recreational anglers accessing fishing areas near Port Edward and Prince Rupert during the months of June, July and August. In total, 10,326 boats with an average of 3

Creel survey training. Photo by Sarah Jordan.

The Skeena Current - December 2018 3

of marine recreational fishing effort was observed in May of 2018 due to impending restrictions on the Skeena River and tributaries in June and July of 2018. In 2019, NCSFNSS hopes to extend the survey to op-erate in May through August.

4 by the recreational fishery in June – August, as well as 11,410 halibut.

The NCSFNSS Creel survey also collects important biological samples from Chinook and Coho that are analyzed to determine which stocks are harvested by the fishery. This critical information was used to select closure periods for the fishery in 2018 to protect Nass and Skeena chinook stocks. Of note, a large amount

Aerial creel survey. Photo by Katelyn Cooper.

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than normal water temperatures also seemed to be causing sockeye to stay in deeper waters, making them more difficult to catch using typical 60 or 90 mesh gillnets. Finally, challenges were experienced with DFO coordination of Pilot and other commer-cial openings which resulted in fewer openings than

In 2018, the North Coast Skeena First Nations Steward-ship Society made a third application under the Com-mercial Salmon Allocation Framework (CSAF) for a First Nations Economic Demonstration Fishery license to harvest Skeena sockeye, coho and pink salmon in ma-rine Areas 3 and 4. The application was successful, and a license was provided to harvest an allocation of ap-proximately 5% of the regular commercial harvest as calculated in-season. Week to week, DFO determined a target quota of sockeye to be harvested by designated community fishermen from any of the Tsimshian Na-tions wishing to participate.

In total, 5 gillnet fishermen from 4 Tsimshian commu-nities chose to participate in the fishery during one or more opening. 5 openings of 1 to 3 days were pro-vided between July 28th and August 23rd, with a to-tal quota of over 6,000 sockeye available. 5 fishermen earned roughly $15,000 altogether and were able to earn a premium price per pound for Sockeye and Pink salmon that were bled and iced immediately after be-ing harvested.

In 2018, due to uncertain pilot fishery timing and competing simultaneous fishery opportunities in other areas such as central coast chum and Fraser River sockeye fisheries, it was difficult to attract fish-ery participants. Sockeye migration patterns were also unusual this year, with a very large proportion of Skeena sockeye choosing an approach route on the outside of Stevens Island, through Edye Pass rather than the usual route from the North end of Chatham Sound and directly in to the Skeena estuary. Higher

Area 4 Sockeye Pilot FisheryBy Angela Addison

Steelhead caught in gillnet during pilot fishery.

The Skeena Current - December 2018 5

were needed to catch our total quota. As a result, the fishery caught less than 1,000 sockeye approximately 1/6 of the allocation.

Recommendations to increase yield in future years include:

a) attempting to make use of smaller vessels (skiffs or punts) that may be available for short day trips to harvest smaller volumes of fish;

b) pushing for the ability to dual fish to prevent dis-placing FSC fishing opportunities with commercial openings and to avoid the requirement to discard non-target species that may be dead or injured;

c) and having the pilot fishery openings occur prior to the general commercial gillnet and seine fishery openings rather than after.

The 2018 Pilot Fishery opportunity, though under-uti-lized, did provide fishermen with a premium season opening price of $4.25 per pound for bled sockeye and $.50 per pound for bled pinks and much needed additional revenue for local Tsimshian gillnet fisher-men who had limited opportunities in the Nass and Skeena areas.

Gillnetter participating in pilot fishery. Photo by Angela Addison.

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Habitat Restoration Initiative and Coastal Restoration Fund, have been working with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, BC Parks, and other stakeholders to carry out some initial investigations, collect data, and assess the feasibility of two of these restoration options.

For the portion of the creek upstream of the Highway 16 Bridge it has been determined that adding boulder clusters, short rock weirs, or other structures to this section will increase the complexity of this habitat and allow for the deposition of spawning substrates. Draft engineering plans are currently being developed for this area with construction planned for next summer. Preliminary biological monitoring will commence this Spring and continue post construction to measure the benefits provided to fish populations.

Kleanza Creek Restoration InitiativesBy Sarah Jordan

Kleanza Creek is located approximately 18 kilometres east of Terrace in Kleanza Creek Provincial Park. Histori-cally chum, chinook, coho, and pink salmon spawned in greater numbers throughout the mainstem and side channels of Kleanza Creek prior to the construction of a new highway bridge and dykes in 1966. The armour-ing of the banks and subsequent channelization has increased the velocity of the creek leading to scouring during high flows and flood events. This scouring has re-sulted in loss of habitat complexity and spawning sub-strates in the area upstream of the bridge and cut off flows to a productive side channel downstream. Train-ing of the river to go under the bridge also cut off access to side channels upstream. Various options for restora-tion work have been proposed for these areas. NCSFNSS and Kitselas First Nation, with funding from the Fish

Lower side channel map with location of water level during extreme low water event this summer. Image courtesy of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Edge Of W

ater

August 24, 2018

Wate

rshed

Bou

ndary

Top Of BankElev. 81.8m

Elev. 75.6m

Thalweg atPNG CrossingElev. 82.1m

Elev. 81.8m

<< Kleanza Creek

Hw

y 16 To Terrace >>> 16km.

Kleanza Creek Provincial Park

IR Kitselas 1

Elev. 79.5m

Elev. 78.2m

Watershed Boundary

<<Klea

nza C

reek T

halweg

Skeena River >>

Elev. 73.1m

Elev. 73.1m

Side

Machine Access Route

Groundwater SurfacingElev. 73.4m

BC H

ydro Power Line

Center Line (Dry)

Elev. 80.1m

420m

Channel Elev. 81.4m

Elev. 78.7m

RelicChannel 380m

<<Flow

BenchmarkTablet # 897093

Kleanza Creek Provincial Park

Kleanza Creek Provincial Park

Kleanza Creek Provincial Park

Kleanza Creek Habitat RestorationGroundwater Channel Feasibility

Survey Conducted on Aug. 24 and Oct 31, 2018* Elevations set using RTK datum have not

been verified with benchmark # 897093 onNE corner of Hwy bridge. Elev. 98.124m

(MASCOT Geodedic Control Marker)

Equipment: Hemisphere S321 RTK GPSGarmin Montana 680 Hand Held GPS

Test Pits Installed on Sept. 19,2018

Datasets: DataBCImage: Google Earth, July 18, 2017

Prepared By: James Powell, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Salmonid EnhancementProgram, November 14, 2018

Prepared For: Kitselas First Nation and North Coast Skeena First Nations StewardshipSociety

Proposed Groundwater ChannelLength 420mMeters

050

100

The Skeena Current - December 2018 7

nel and of water elevations in the Skeena River and Kleanza Creek during low water. Data collected over the course of this year will be used to develop the de-sign of this groundwater fed channel if feasible.

For the lower side channel, site visits that included BC Parks, DFO, NCSFNSS, and Kitselas staff revealed sub-surface flows near the outlet of the lower side channel and prime spawning habitat throughout. Early site vis-its by Kitselas staff also noted the stranding of juvenile Salmonids in pools formed during freshet high flows. During low flows the entire side channel is dewatered and disconnected from Kleanza Creek as well as the Skeena River. We are currently assessing the feasibil-ity of the creating a groundwater fed side channel for spawning and overwintering of salmonids and/or re-connecting this side channel to Kleanza Creek surface flows. A mini excavator was used to dig five test pits throughout the channel where the groundwater level and substrates were examined and water quality mea-surements recorded. Kitselas staff will be continuing to monitor these test pits for up to a year. Additionally we conducted comprehensive surveying of the side chan-

Channelized portion of Kleanza Creek. Looking up-stream show-ing location of proposed instream habi-tat complexing structures.

Lower side channel looking down-stream towards Skeena River. Groundwater flows were observed here June, 2018. On subsequent visits this section is com-pletely dried up.

Example of habitat features present in lower right bank side channel June, 2018. Stranding of juvenile salmonids was observed in ephemeral pools like this one during an earlier site visit by Kitselas staff.

Mini Excavator making its way

to the test pit locations in

the lower side channel.

Test pit excava-tion. Picture

showing groundwater

level and sub-strate.

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the management of human activities that interact with kelp species.

The inventory project was completed in two phases. Phase 1 included the collection of satellite imagery, from three spatial areas (approximate total of 1000km2) identified by North Coast First Nations.

The second phase involved field verification of the three spatial areas using a tiered kelp survey protocol MaPP developed in collaboration with the Hakai Institute and their partners (e.g. Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Parks Canada and Simon Fraser University). During the last week of June, 2018, representatives from Gitga’at, Gitxaala, Kitselas, Kitsumkalum and Metlakatla First Na-tions, met in Prince Rupert to participate in a kelp sur-vey protocol training session led by Rebecca Martone, a marine biologist with the Province of British Columbia. Following the training, the First Nation representatives completed kelp surveys in late June and mid-July.

The data collected during phase 1 and 2 of the project are now undergoing analysis and will be available in 2019 to support decision making, such as, the issuing of licenses for the commercial harvest of kelp species.

Moving forward, discussions are underway between the MaPP partners on how to continue the assessment of kelp species and associated ecosystems, in order to better understand changes that might be occurring and how best to respond to those potential changes.

Kelp species are ecologically and culturally important to the North Coast. Canopy forming kelp species – or kelp forest as they are commonly referred to- provide multiple provisioning services: they absorb carbon; pro-vide critical habitat for fish and invertebrates; and are a source of food for many marine species and humans. Giant kelp is used in the Spawn on Kelp fishery, a tradi-tional food of North Coast First Nations. There is also an increasing economic interest for kelp species from the commercial harvest of the aquatic plant for food prod-ucts, cosmetic and fertilizers.

However, shifting conditions and pressures on the marine environment such as climate change, pol-lution, and human pressures may be impacting the health of kelp beds.

Abundance and distribution of kelp species such as canopy forming giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) and bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) are not well understood for British Columbia’s North Coast. As a result, Gitga’at, Gitxaala, Kitselas, Kitsumkalum and Metlakatla First Na-tions, through a partnership with the Province of British Columbia known as the Marine Plan Partnership for the North Pacific Coast (MaPP), updated kelp inventory re-cords for select locations during the Summer of 2018. The project was intended to calculate kelp biomass and provide an understanding of changes that might be oc-curring within kelp forest ecosystems, in order to inform

MaPP North Coast Kelp Inventory Project By Ethan Griesbach, Marine Planning Coordinator, NCSFNSS, and Megan Dickinson, MaPP Technical Planner, MaPP

Kelp Beds. Photo by Rebecca Martone.

Survey of Kelp. Photo by Rebecca Martone.

The Skeena Current - December 2018 9

tioning into the ocean. The plankton consumed by juvenile salmon can be categorized as ‘crunchy’ or ‘squishy’. Predominately the crunchy plankton, such as krill or shrimp, are more dominant in colder wa-ters and have a higher value in nutrition. Recently on BC’s coast, there has been an increase in squishy gelatinous plankton that is less nutritious for fish. The warm blob is thought to be at least partly re-sponsible for the recent poor marine survival of Pa-cific salmon species.

The future impacts of the blob are not yet fully un-derstood given that it is a relatively new occurrence in the Pacific waters. What can possibly be expected if the blob sticks around in late 2018 is similar mild winter weather conditions as seen in 2014-2015 and 2015-2016.

Sources: National Geographic, CBC, Vancouver Sun, The Weather Network, Changing Wild World, University of Washington News, Live Science

The ‘blob’ first appeared in the Northeast Pacific Ocean near Alaska in the winter of 2013-2014. It stretched from Alaska to Baha, California by the end of 2015. Spanning up to 1000 miles wide and 300 feet deep, the blob has caused ocean temperatures to warm 1 to 4 degrees Celsius. From 2013 to 2016, the blob made a regular appearance each Fall. In Oc-tober 2018, the blob made a substantial comeback measuring over 2 million square kilometers, that’s over twice the size of BC.

So, how did the warm blob form? A massive high-pressure zone above the Northeastern Pacific had formed in the atmosphere and caused a warmer storm-free Fall season. The lack of storms, high winds and colder temperatures had caused the waters in the North Pacific Ocean to warm. It is the high-pressure zone above the ocean that formed the blob. Once increased storm activity occurs over the Pacific, it can be assumed that the warm blob will begin to dissipate as water starts to mix.

The warm blob has provided a favorable environ-ment for the harmful alga Pseudo-nitzschia. In 2015, the damaging alga contributed to numerous deaths amongst sea otters and sea lions in Alaska. The alga produces a harmful neurotoxin, domoic acid, that can cause seizures, memory loss and death.

Warming ocean waters has resulted in poor nutrient and oxygen levels and has displaced some species of fish, marine mammals, seabirds, and plankton. As ocean temperatures rise, the metabolism of fish in-creases and requires them to eat more when food availability decreases.

In BC, the warm waters have brought change to the accessibility of food for juvenile salmon transi-

Pacific Blob in October 2018. Image by Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The Pacific BlobBy Katelyn Cooper

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Black-legged Kittiwake Colony at Holland Rock. Photo by Katelyn Cooper.

Skeena River During Eulachon Season. Photo by Jessica Hawryshyn.

The Skeena Current - December 2018 11

Cheryl Smith, AdministrationCheryl was born and raised in Prince Rupert. She is of Gitxsan, Nisga’a and Tsimshian decent. She has had 3 beautiful foster children for the past 6 years and they have been keeping her busy and on the go since day 1!

Administration has been her area of work for many years as well as finance. Cheryl has been with NCSFNSS since August of 2017.

She is excited and happy to be working with NCSF-NSS and is looking forward to supporting staff and the community members within NCSFNSS.

Ethan Griesbach, Marine Planning CoordinatorEthan Griesbach joined NCSFNSS in November 2017 as a Marine Planning Coordinator. Prior to his arrival in Prince Rupert, Ethan held a position with the Turks and Caicos Islands Govern-ment, under the Depart-ment of Environment and Coastal Resources, where he was responsible for the management of the territo-ries fisheries and terrestrial/marine protected areas system.

Before that position, he was a project manager with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority where he led environmental impact assessments for coastal green infrastructure projects. Ethan began his career as a consultant for the environmental consultancy firms Golder Associates and Ramboll, where he worked

New staffthroughout Canada on environmental assessment and compliance projects.

Mr. Griesbach has a Master of Science from the McGill University, United Nations Environment Program Cen-tre for Environmental Assessments in Montreal Que-bec. As part of that program, he completed a marine management posting with the United Nations Envi-ronment Program based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Katelyn Cooper, Fisheries Technical and Communications CoordinatorKatelyn was born and raised in Prince Rupert and is a proud member of the Tsim-shian Nation. She started with NCSFNSS in May 2018 supervising the Creel survey program and started a new position in September 2018 as a Fisheries Technical and Communications Coordina-tor.

Her work has given her the opportunity to get hands on field experience studying adult and juvenile Pacific salmon, Dungeness crab, and bivalves. It is through her culture and hometown that has inspired Katelyn to become a steward for salmon health and sustain-ability. She is an avid volunteer with many conserva-tion groups including the Prince Rupert Salmonid Enhancement Society. Katelyn enjoys harvesting her traditional foods annually and her favorite time of year is when eulachon return to the Skeena River to spawn.

Katelyn is working towards her Bachelor of Natural Re-source Protection at the Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, BC. Upon completion, she intends to live in the North Coast and continue working in fisheries.

News and Marine Activities from the North Coast-Skeena First Nations

Stewardship Society

December | 2018

The Skeena Current

Photo by Allison Paul.