Federal government is worried about the collapse of Fraser River sockeye salmon runs and are working on strategies that check the poor return of chinook salmon. Paul Rickard, a member of the Habitat Stewardship roundtable, said that there will be a total of fewer than 500 natural spawning fish returning to the Cowichan River this year.
Don Radford, area director for the south coast area with Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans said the DFO has been worried about the low chinook returns for a number of years. It is said that the survival of the fish in the Strait of Georgia is not what it used to be. The reasons are pretty complex and it might be safe to say whatever the mechanism is — predator/prey, food availability or whatever — it may have something to do with rising temperatures in the Strait of Georgia.
Radford explained that it is what DFO calls an exploitation rate, which means all the harvested fish. He added that the harvest rate should be in the 30 per cent range; it’s consistently been 60 percent or higher. It has been suggested by some that the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) be approached and asked to give the chinook a “species at risk” designation.
According to Radford if there is any community that is going to be able to meet this significant challenge, it’s going to be Cowichan, because of the history and the passion and the fact people from a lot of different views and backgrounds are willing to work together.
