Unfounded fears of too many sockeye threaten future returns
Stephen Hume
August 30, 2010
The Vancouver Sun
These are days of miracle and wonder for those of us who care about the fate of wild salmon.
And yet word was barely out that 25 million sockeye were bound for the Fraser River before worries arose about surplus salmon being "wasted" by permitting too many to spawn.
The B.C. Fisheries Survival Coalition, which usually vents its spleen complaining about aboriginal poachers, was spouting this specious nonsense as justification for more fishing opportunities, even though freezer capacity on the south coast is fully utilized, catches are reported rotting on boats because they can't be processed, and fishermen are practically giving away sockeye.
Still they fretted that too many spawners would result in mass mortalities as fish fought on the spawning grounds. This rationalization has been deployed as justification for over-harvesting before.
Similar stupidity arose in 2002. Science found no adverse effects from "over-spawning" then. In fact, this massive run in 2010 descends from the "over-spawned" brood of 2002 that returned to spawn in 2006.
There is no waste in nature. These surpluses are genetic insurance, a species' strategy for ensuring adequate reproductive capacity in the face of adverse conditions.
Historically, the more fish you put on the spawning grounds, the more fish return.
Science has found a direct correlation between decaying salmon on those same spawning grounds and nutrients available to the aquatic insects that sustain the next generation of hatchlings.
Pent-up demand following a series of lean fishing seasons is understandable but if there's something to be learned from the 2010 run it's this: First, we are indebted to conservationists who fought for the precautionary principle. Second, fisheries managers who stood their ground despite vehement complaint from industry were right.
Read the full story in The Vancouver Sun
Read related stories:
- The Province; September 15, 2010; "First Nations will fish more sockeye"
- Vancouver Sun; September 11, 2010; "Gillnetters return to dock as sockeye season winds down"
- Bowen Island Undercurrent; September 7, 2010; "Sockeye fishing cut off to protect coho"
- CTV News; September 4, 2010; "Salmon run closing to commercial fishing two soon; MP"
- The Vancouver Sun; September 4, 2010; Nature calls the shots in sockeye season, and diversity rules"
- The Globe and Mail; September 1, 2010; "Experts casting about for correct new salmon quota - This year's fish run appears bountiful, but question about numbers to take in future remains contentious"
- The Vancouver Sun; September 1, 2010; "Duh! Killing more fish isn't the way to get more fish"
- The Globe and Mail; September 1, 2010; "B.C. should look to Alaska for tips on salmon management"
- CBC News; August 30, 2010; "Don't overfish salmon, warns native leader"
- Times Colonist; August 29, 2010; Salmon run botched by DFO: critics - Tory MP, UBC expert say Ottawa too late in opening sockeye fishery"
Posted August 30th, 2010
