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by Kelly Poirier
Uu-a-thluk Outreach Coordinator
May 9, 2007
Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations (MMFN) Fisheries Department Manager Jamie James, alongside Uu-a-thluk Regional biologist Roger Dunlop, have been focusing their energy in the past few years to assess wild chinook stocks on the West Coast of Vancouver Island (WCVI). The Burman River Chinook Escapement Goal Calibration Project began in 2005, and works to set realistic escapement goals by estimating the number of chinook salmon spawning in the Burman River and comparing those estimates to long-term data.
"Escapement" is the word that biologists use for the number of salmon that enter a river and spawn.
Since 1995 Burman River chinook escapement has been counted by snorkel surveys. Fisheries technicians and biologists literally swim with the salmon to count them in the river. Snorkel surveys are better than counting salmon from the river bank, but the snorkel swims alone do not provide an accurate estimate of the number of chinook in a long and winding river. Another factor, called residence time, is the amount of time that chinook are in the river.
Fisheries crews swim the rivers about twice a week to count the salmon. To estimate the number of salmon, you need to know how many new chinook have entered the river since the last time it was surveyed, and how many were there from the last survey swim.
Some of the methods used for counting chinook, estimating residence time, and studying how chinook use the river habitat are visual radio tagging combined with snorkel counts. Chinook are captured by beach seine in the lower river. A small radio tag is inserted into their stomachs, and then a radio receiver is used to monitor the location and residence time of the tagged fish. Funding from the PSC (Pacific Salmon Commission) Southern Endowment Fund bought 10 radio tags last year, and project partners MMFN and Uu-a-thluk have jointly purchased a telemetry receiver. This year PSC money has contributed to purchasing 40 additional radio tags.
The telemetry receiver is used to find the tagged fish to determine if the fish have strayed into other river systems. The straying affects the number of visual tags available to be counted in the spawning population. Radio telemetry is also used to estimate the rates of movement, timing and distribution of spawners within a river system.
Inspired to work to improve the health of their salmon stocks for the future, the Mowachaht/Muchalaht (or MMFN) Fisheries crew have been contributing a lot of their time and energy to the project. They are currently concentrating on the genetics of the chinook that return to the rivers in Nootka Sound.
"It is important to be able to help First Nations communities come together on a common goal and enjoy the bountiful resources that we all share," said James. "This project will ensure that the West Coast continues to strive to move forward and work together for food, social and ceremonial purposes in the future."
Working side by side with James on the project are Jamie Jack, Greg Mark, Louie Johnson and Jordan James. In addition to the radio tags, the fish are measured and marked with highly visible Floy or "spaghetti" tags. (It looks like a piece of colorful spaghetti that is tied through the back of the fish). A small sample of tissue for DNA analysis is taken from the tail fin.
"Once the tagging is done, the fisheries crew is then employed to do survey swims on the Burman River for escapement counts and tag recovery,' said James.
The data is entered into a computer spreadsheet and compared to the department of Fisheries and Oceans' weekly swim results to see if there is a relationship between the two methods, and how the tagging method results might need to be adjusted to accurately reflect long-term escapement.
Dunlop undertook some initial tagging in September 2005. Since that time, significant straying of fish to other river systems has been identified, with approximately 30 percent of chinook tagged in the lower Burman River being later recovered in the Gold River.
When this information came to light, the project expanded to include additional systems, such as the Tahsis, Kaouk and Marle rivers. The project received additional funding from the Southern Enhancement Fund in 2006, to undertake radio-tagging of chinook in five other northern WCVI rivers to more accurately estimate chinook escapement and track the rates of straying.
"The overall goal of this project is for adequate fish numbers, or the amount of fish that return or leave the watershed," said James. "This is a conservation and harvest projection. The harvesting in the future is the benefit to the First Nation that comes from this project. Another benefit comes from working together with recreational and commercial fishermen to ensure that all our needs are met, in particular those of the surrounding community."
"I believe that this project is a stepping stone for all of the other systems," said James. "The best part of this project is being able to employ both Nuu-chah-nulth members and friends who live in the community. I have learned a lot throughout my time working with the fisheries. It is nice to be able to teach people some of what I do as a fisheries worker."
The results take a much broader scope with the final report to be provided to Pacific Salmon Commission Technical Committee to support long-term international management of wild WCVI chinook salmon.
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published by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Reproduction of this article
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