SEHAB - Roundtable-South VI-Jan 2011

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Salmon Enhancementand Habitat Advisory Board
Roundtable Report Template


SEHAB Member – Don Lowen Area – South Vancouver Island/Southern Gulf Islands Community Advisor – Erica Blake (Acting) Date – January 29, 2011
SEP Program Activity Areas	Community Activity Areas	Issues or Successes	Actions Taken	Next Steps
Fish Hatcheries	Salmon Enhancement or Stock Assessment	2010/11 Escapements San Juan River: Chinook <3K, Coho 4-5K Sooke River: Chinook 200-250, Coho 100, Chum 2K Demamiel Creek: Coho 4-4.5K Goldstream River: Chinook 30, Coho 1K, Chum 3.7K* Shawnigan Creek: Coho 1K Millstream River: Coho 400 Cowichan River: Chinook - Natural Spawners was 2,531 adults and 1,674 jacks. Broodstock capture was 348 adults and 28 jacks (not finalized for ages) Chum - Didson Counts - over 119K, last I heard, probably reached 150K	Cowichan Coho are not assessed. This is a concern - and there has been some dialogue about addressing this. It was thought to be a good year for coho this year.
SEP Program Activity Areas	Community Activity Areas	Issues or Successes	Actions Taken	Next Steps
	Fisheries Management
Resource Restoration	Habitat Projects, Planned, In Progress, Completed, Needed	DFO support of shorekeeper program remains in doubt.	Saanich Inlet Protection Society has requested confirmation from Minister Shea. (Letters attached.)
	Habitat Conservation and Protection
Stewardship and Education	Government Activity Areas
	Your Group Activity	2010 purchase plan – distributed 9 chillers, 12 cabinets to schools in Victoria, Cowichan Valley, Whistler, Nanaimo, Okanagan, Kuper Island, Ahousat, Alberni. Total project value $18.5K.
		General Concerns ·BC Society Require-ment for PIP and PSF grant applications; ·status of Community Advisor position after March 31^st; ·Aquaculture licensing requirements.	Member has discussed with CA a proposed workshop for SVI PIP enhancement groups on licensing requirements and ?

Please provide details:

*Goldstream Coho – 1,000 escapement highest in 8 years, below historical levels of 2,000

**Goldstream Chum – 3,700 lowest return since 1975

January 26, 2011

The Honourable Gail Shea, Minister,
Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Dear Ms. Minister:

In reply to the concerns which we raised with you last spring that your Department might be considering eliminating the long-running and successful Saanich Inlet Shorekeeping Program, we received the attached response signed on your behalf by the Regional Director, Oceans, Habitat and Enhancement Branch, Pacific Region. In it, your Department committed to providing short-term funding in 2010 for equipment repair and field supplies as well as conducting our annual training program. Based on this commitment, Tseycum First Nation and Saanich Inlet Protection Society volunteer Certified Shorekeepers spent over 1200 hours conducting our 12th Annual Shorekeeping Survey during the late spring and early summer. That data is now available for input into the DFO scientific data bank which contains not only our findings over the years but also those of other active Shorekeeping groups such as the Friends of Semiahmoo Bay Society in Boundary Bay on the mainland.

Of even greater importance, the reply on your behalf stated that "In addition, a DFO scientist is reviewing the 10-year time series observations of Shorekeepers' observation compiled by the Saanich Inlet group, which will inform a strategic review of the initiative". We have learned from sources inside the Department that that review has now been completed and that recommendations concerning the future of the Program have been drafted. It is critical that we be informed immediately what form those recommendations may take. If we are to continue the Saanich Inlet Shorekeeping Program, an application should be made within the month by the Tseycum First Nation for the Native Fisheries funding which has been a mainstay of the Program over the years and we need to begin the logistical planning to launch our surveys in the spring.

We trust you will understand the urgency of this request for confirmation that this Program, which is of such importance to the Saanich Peninsula First Nations and the environmental community, will receive continuing funding and departmental staffing support both for this year and for the foreseeable future. We look forward to your prompt reply.

Respectfully yours,

Denis Coupland, Chair                                      Chief Vern Jacks
Saanich Inlet Shorekeeping Program       Tseycum First Nation

cc: Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, Hon. Gary Lunn.
Prime Minister of Canada Member of Parliament
Saanich-Gulf Islands

I hope Fisheries upper management and bean counters get time to read this article between meeting about metings or planning good will visits to other troubled fisheries in warmer parts of the world.
I think somebody in the federal government should develop this idea. Perhaps meet with the public or something.

Trevor. (Trevor Morris, CA Retired)