Panel studying sockeye decline

Jennifer Moreau
November 18, 2009
Burnaby Now

Four Burnaby academics are at the helm of a new think-tank investigating the decline of the Fraser River's sockeye.

"It's going to be a very important event. We're going to have the think-tank with many of North America's best-known fisheries scientists," said Mark Angelo, chair of BCIT's Rivers Institute. "This will be the first kick at the can in terms of looking at this issue from a really scientific perspective."

Angelo is one of four local academics on the think-tank's steering committee.

The think-tank will be made up of roughly 20 scientists, who will meet Dec. 7 and 8 to discuss questions on how to manage declining Fraser sockeye stocks. The steering committee will then report on results in a panel presentation on Dec. 9.

Angelo said the think-tank is particularly timely and important, given the federal government announced a judicial inquiry into the Fraser's declining sockeye on Nov. 6.

"We feel there is really a pressing need for an immediate scientific assessment of what unfolded this year and why because the inquiry is not going to report out till 2011," Angelo said. The think-tank could help identify steps that could be taken sooner, he added.

In July, Fisheries and Oceans Canada was forecasting 10.6 million sockeye salmon would return to the Fraser this year. Only 1.37 million returned, and no one knows exactly why.

Theories include disease and sea lice from fish farms, pollution and warming waters, which would affect available food for the fish and migratory patterns for their predators. This year's return was the lowest in 50 years.

Angelo also chairs the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council. Burnaby SFU's John Reynolds, Patricia Gallaugher and Richard Routledge are also on the steering committee, as are Ken Wilson and Brian Riddell.

Read the full story in Burnaby Now.