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SEHAB Member: Janet Lemon

Area: North Coast

Community Advisor:  Rob Dams

Meeting Date: Feb. 24-26

Issues that  you or your community would like SEHAB to take to DFO?

Topic/Issue:

Ongoing controversy regarding energy development footprints in the North (Kitimat and Rupert LNG, Port Expansion, increased train and highway traffic along the Skeena)

Successes:

Groups involved in negotiations and planning are fully aware of the environmental issues and want a win win situation

Challenges:

Talk is easy but will the large companies doing the development actually do what they say they will   .  Al governmental bodies need to hold industries  feet to the fire with contracts that ensure development while maintaining environmental integrity

Topic/Issue: Terrace Rod and Gun and other groups  continue to manage fish passage problems due to active beaver dams on local streams

 Challenges:

Can groups continue to get enough volunteers to do this type of work.  DFO has fallen short of its obligations to beaver control

Feb. 2017 Updates from North Coast Groups :

Oldfield:  New Coanda intake now finished.  To be installed by a fabricator in March 2017.Cold weather has given volunteers a huge job to keep everything going.

A  fish health course-  (with Paige from PBS)  for North Coast  Volunteers is in the planning stage and will be held  at Deep Creek Hatchery in Jan 2018.

Our Community Advisor, Rob Dams, is organizing a  Volunteer Appreciation award dinner in Aug 2017 at Lakelse Lake.  Hope to have PSF reps present.

Lakelse Watershed Society are continuing with baseline water quality and sockeye monitoring around the Lakelse watershed (includes live stream underwater camera on Scully Creek)

Eby St Hatchery: 

 First Zymchord Coded Wire Tags coho returns in the fall of 2016.  Adult sampling indicated a 22% mark rate in 100 fish sampled.  Prelim tag returns showing more than 150 fish harvested in SE Alaska in 2016.  Canadian catch not yet available.

Although 2016 coastal coho returns were much better than 2015, they were still poor overall.  2016 Skeena test fishery indicated chinook returns were the second worse in ~60 years

Smithers CA – Natalie Newman was recently hired to replace Brenda which is great news for our area as we were worried Rob would have to fill in part time.

Kitimat Rod and Gun working on Duck Creek and plan on  more riparian planting for  spring 2017

Kitimat Naturalists plan to complete habitat signage for local stream crossings

Terrace Rotary Club completed the Skeena River Clean-up on Rivers Day 2016 and again were amazed at the amount of garbage left after the sport fishing season was over.

BC Steelhead Society plans to reconstruct Simpson Creek chinook spawning platforms

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SEHAB Roundtable for November 2016 meeting

SEHAB Member: Janet Lemon

Area: Northcoast

Community Advisor: Rob Dams

Date: September 22, 2016

Key Issues:

1. PNW LNG just got approved by cabinet, even though the risks to juvenile salmon and other forage fishes in the area haven’t been quantified or addressed. Huge concerns about accumulative effects, of industrial developments on Northcoast
2. Funding reductions to regional DFO, affecting salmon science, stock assessment etc.
3. Drastically low pink returns to northcoast streams especially area four and five. Are stocks being managed properly?

Stories:

A few examples of successes, failures, challenges.

At one time this fall, we faced a 25% cut to stock assessment, some of which got reversed with emergency funding which has maintained basic stream enumeration programs. However, almost all coho stock assessment activities have been dropped (ie charter patrols left before coho had even arrived in many systems). This is concerning as there is no longer sufficient data to assess status of stocks, let alone success of enhancement or habitat restoration projects in the area.

Oldfield Creek Hatchery’s new project manager Lorellen Sunduk  is doing well and the Kloya River Chinook egg take was successful. They are working towards getting the new intake in to the water supply but will continue to use old one as back up

 Coho at Eby Street Hatchery were coded Wire Tag marked again this year. There are Indications of mark returns from previous years efforts  with the  antidotal report that out of five fish caught two had tags.

Increased industrial activities such as mining have brought concerns.  A New mine in Stewart, B. C.  is having issues with the  causeway cutting  off the estuary

There is Increased logging due to high cedar prices in the Kitimat and Prince Rupert area adding extra pressure on watersheds and habitat.

Hartley Bay did their first chum egg take this year and are planning  phase two the new facility. So far they have a huge post and beam rearing shed, new storage shed, smokehouse on site to offer tourists a taste of salmon and a new board walk to the lake.  This walk is spectacular and unique.

A number of years ago a large impassable (or mostly impassable) rock slide was discovered by Nisga’a Fisheries Staff on the lower Kwinageese River.  It is a tributary of the Upper Nass River above the Bell-irving River confluence.  And yes the Bell-Irving River was named after Rob Bell-Irivings relative.  The site is very remote and only accessible via helicopter. There was a dramatic decline in Kwinageese River chinook and sockeye escapements.  In 2014, Community Advisor and Department  helped the Nisga’a Lisims Government (NLG) and LGL Biologists access some HSP funding from Environment Canada and the PSC Northern Fund.  The contractor used a professional faller to build a heli-pad at the site.  They then lowered a generator down, and drilled both of the rocks by hand removing them by December of 2015.   The blasting works succeeded in removing the entire obstruction and salmon have been moving through to the spawning grounds this fall. My Community Advisor has a film clip on a USB that I will bring to the fall meeting for anyone interested.

Oona River had a very successful summer with tours and Rivers Day celebration.  They hosted an overnight First Nation’s  Canoe Journey in August as well as two German Exchange students  who spent two weeks at Oona River Hatchery as part of their environmental education  placement. Coho returns are looking good but pink escapement was drastic with only 300 returns counted.  Normal runs are from 4500 to 15000

A concern:  If Northcoast Community Advisor is asked to take on Upper Skeena position the work load will be overwhelming and he will burn out.  Getting around Northcoast is load enough as it often takes two day and a float plane ride to get to some of the areas.

Concerns about the P.I. P. collaborative agreement method.  If this is to have groups be able to use funding for wages then our area needs to ask the question why?  In 34 years we have never received enough funding to even allow for wages. 

Issues Specific to SEHAB’s Work Plan:

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Stewardship and Education

Salmon Enhancement And Habitat Advisory Board (SEHAB) Roundtable

Date January 29, 2011 North Vancouver

Area: North coast

Representative:Jan Lemon

Community Advisor: Rob Dams

Challenges/Issues

New aqua culture licensing has been presented by CA Rob Dams to the groups.Rob felt it was process that in the end would work out and he would be available to get it started and to help where needed.

Resource Restoration

Most of the groups in this area continueworking with the habitat issues for their particular projects.

In Terrace the Rod and Gun Club continues to work on Hurly Creek which isa small urban stream.

Habitat - Oceans, Estuaries and Marine (Oceans, Habitat and Enhancement

1.Fish Hatcheries

Salmon Enhancement (Oceans, Habitat and Enhancement)

1.Oldfield creek (Prince Rupert Salmon Enhancement Society)continues to work on all their enhancement projects. They have a good group of young volunteers manly from the college and their push this year will be to make the facility into an interretive centre as well as a hatchery.

2) The Lakelse Watershed Societycontinue to do good works and the results from the pilot project which .  Ian Maxwell and CA Rob Dams did last fall when they set-up an adult fence and viewing camera in Scully Creek last fall was very positive.Plans to continue and acquire different and better DVR system this year is coming together nicely

3.Oona River experienced a 100 year flood in late summer which was very unusual.Piles of rock covered the Hatcherywater intake and it was decided that since the water supply was compromised it would be best to not take brood stock as part of the public awareness and education programme. Efforts to remove the rock will happen as soon as water temperatures and low flows over the weir occur, probably first thing this spring. Oona River Resources Association completed their chum survey of Kumeleon and the report can be viewed on the pacific Salom Commission web site

Stewardship & Community Involvement

1.The new group in Alice Arm continues their plans in a small scale Area 3 chum enhancement or habitat restoration projects. This an interesting area and has much potential

2. The Terrace Rod and Gun Club continue enthiusiatically working on Hurley Creek, a small urban coho/cutthroat stream in the Thornhill

3.Bear River Society in Stewart is now running an interruptive centre.

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Representative:Jan Lemon

Community Advisor: Rob Dams

Challenges/Issues and Opportunities/Successes of the Volunteer Aquatic Steward

1.Tension has been building between First Nations and Sport Fishermen over the lack of enforcement of daily limits and no accounting of sport caught salmon.

2.Pending pipeline and mining development along the Skeena Watershed continues to pose serious concerns to all volunteer groups

3.Further cutbacks to time and funding allotted for Fisheries and Ocean’s charter Patrolmen poses huge concerns as there is less data being collected and no time for creek walks when the coho runs are returning

Habitat - Freshwater (Oceans, Habitat and Enhancement)

Most of the groups in this area continueworking with the habitat issues for their particular projects,.

Habitat - Oceans, Estuaries and Marine (Oceans, Habitat and Enhancement

1.The Kitimat Naturalist Club is helping with the Pine Creek protective areas and their eelgrass restoration works seem to be going well.Hatchery signage is in the works and will probably be done next year.

Salmon Enhancement (Oceans, Habitat and Enhancement)

1.Oldfield creek (Prince Rupert Salmon Enhancement Society)continues to work on all their enhancement projects. They were not successful in getting any chum eggs from the Toon River in Aug for Silver Creek  - too many Grizzly bears on the spawning grounds.  They hope to change to the Lachmach River next summer.

2) The Lakelse Sockeye Recovery Plan (with the LWS and other partner groups) is moving forward again.  They took 300K sockeye eggs this Aug.  Adult sockeye escapements seem to be up somewhat in Williams Creek.  Based on initial reports, it sounds like their past enhancement efforts have had some positive results.  Ian Maxwell and CA Rob Dams set-up an adult fence and viewing camera in Scully Creek this fall.  It's a pilot experiment for collecting escapement and hatchery return data.  The project looks positive so far - but the DVR computer program is giving them  headaches with regards to data retrieval.  Plans are to purchase a different DVR system next year - and return the one that they borrowed back to Smithers.

3) The Gitnayow have the best sockeye return to the Kitwanga River since they installed their adult fence.  Initial reports suggest somewhere around 15K adults, with a decent number of hatchery returns.  Mark Cleveland is the best contact for more details.

3.Oona River Resources Association returned to the Kumeleon River this summer and began the assessment of chum salmon returns, beginning theevaluation of the effects of the enhancement which was done for the last four years. A completed report will be coming outlater this fall.The coho fry used for the Public Awareness Education program were released successfully and in early November the group plans to do a small egg take to have fry on hand for next year’s program.Coho returns to Oona look good and the Salt lagoon River Road is giving them good access to that river to do stock assessments

Stewardship & Community Involvement

1.New group in Alice Arm - interested in small scale Area 3 chum enhancement or habitat restoration projects (return site visit planned next month)  They are presently collecting baseline escapement data.

2. The Terrace Rod and Gun Club are starting work on a small urban coho/cutthroat stream in Thornhill called Hurley Creek.

3.The Kitimat Rod and Gun Club are still making Kiosks and now working in Sumgas Creek (another small urban stream in Kitimat)

4.Bear River Society in Stewart is now running an interruptive centre

5.Oona River Resources Association continues their education and outreach programmes. The Summer Students took the initiative to study and record Western tailed Frogs when they came across a pond containing toad tadpoles while clearing atrail.Although toads have little relationship to salmon the resulting report has given us a starting point to begin to include toad activities as part of our overall picture of watching for trends and changes in climate and environment.Toads have been on the decline for some time in our watershed and it was encouraging to see the significant increase

6.  The Prince Rupert Salmon Enhancement Society are looking at renovations for an interpretive centre at the hatchery.