EDITORS NOTE: Bob Hooton is a retired steelhead biologist who worked for the B.C. Environment Ministry for 37 years. He is not funded by any organization, and speaks from the heart and from acquired knowledge. He is the lone voice in a wilderness of a ministry sold out to politicians who no longer care. We have a backgrounder here, regarding Bob’s credentials.
Skeena Pound Trap Again
https://wcoutpost.ca/2024/12/01/skeena-frustrations-continued-by-bob-hooton/
https://wcoutpost.ca/2024/11/22/skeena-river-fish-trap-project-by-bob-hooton/
From Elizabeth Harries email to Brian Niska, Jan
Hope your new year is off to a good start. I’ve received response from DFO’s BCSRIF program who provided the following additional information:
Funding for sustainable fishing research for Indigenous, commercial and recreational fisheries in the Pacific region is one important part of the BCSRIF mandate to make positive contributions to salmon and steelhead conservation and recovery across BC.
As per the project description on our BCSRIF website, Lax Kw’alaams Fisheries, Skeena Fisheries Commission and Wild Fish Conservancy have partnered on a project studying the feasibility and sustainability of a pound net fish trap on the Skeena River. Project activities include:
- Preliminary site selection studies, permitting, and final design of the fish trap;
- Construction activities, initial operation, and research studies on fish trap efficacy and immediate survival of salmon; and
- Full operation and continuation of immediate and post-release survival studies.
Following the 1st year of feasibility assessments, a temporary fish trap design was deployed approximately 30 km upstream of the Tyee test fishery on the lower Skeena River and was operational in early August 2024. The trap was operated as non-retention for all salmon and fish species, with the objective of examining the sustainability of this type of gear as a means for the low-impact release of non-target catch. The trap and all components were removed on September 16th. Results from the pilot year are being reviewed by the project team and will inform operations in the final Year 3 of the BCSRIF project.
From the Oct 28 response to me from Shane Peterson:
Funding for sustainable fishing research for Indigenous, commercial and recreational fisheries in the Pacific region is one important part of the BCSRIF mandate to make positive contributions to salmon and steelhead conservation and recovery across BC.
As per the project description you have provided, Lax Kw’alaams Fisheries, Skeena Fisheries Commission and Wild Fish Conservancy have partnered on a project studying the feasibility and sustainability of a pound net fish trap on the Skeena River. Project activities include:
- Preliminary site selection studies, permitting, and final design of the fish trap;
- Construction activities, initial operation, and research studies on fish trap efficacy and immediate survival of salmon; and
- Full operation and continuation of immediate and post-release survival studies.
Following the 1st year of feasibility assessments, a temporary fish trap design was deployed approximately 30 km upstream of the Tyee test fishery on the lower Skeena River and was operational in early August. The trap was operated as non-retention for all salmon and fish species, with the objective of examining the sustainability of this type of gear as a means for the low-impact release of non-target catch. The trap and all components were removed on September 16th. Results from the pilot year are being reviewed by the project team and will inform operations in the final Year 3 of the BCSRIF project.
UFAWU head Joy Thorkelson didn’t know about the trap according to her FB post dated Oct 24, 2024.
Elizabeth Harries
Navigation Protection Officer, Navigation Protection Program
Transport Canada / Government of Canada
Shane Petersen
Manager – Partnerships & Outreach
BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (BCSRIF)
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Pacific Region
Initial inquiry to Peterson was Oct 10, 2024. Response that included the exact same statement as above came on Oct 28. My follow-up objection to that message was sent that same day. No response has ever been received.
Kurt Beardslee, Director of Special Projects, WFC, Duvall Washington
Emma Helverson, Executive Director WFC
Greg Knox, Executive Director, Skeena Wild
Ryneld Starr, Executive Director, Skeena Fisheries Commission, skeenafisheriescommission@gmail.com
Bill Shepert
Fisheries Manager Lax Kw’alaams Fisheries Department
bill_fisheries@laxband.com
No mention of the pound trap on the SFC web site. The 2023/24 Annual Report to the membership by Lax, dated Oct 24, 2024 states:
The Skeena River Fish Trap Project began in 2017 and is a collaborative project between the
Lax Kw’alaams Business Development and the Lax Kw’alaams Fisheries. The project will be
funded for the next two years.In 2024, a temporary floating trap was installed at site location to assist in validating the fish
trap technology due to permitting delays. The fish trap has been operating for the summer and
the full trap is planned to be installed in 2025.
West Coast Outpost admin@wcoutpost.ca
Regarding the Quinsam pinks, it’s an ESSR “fishery” right out of the hatchery, conducted by and for the benefit of the A-tlegay Fisheries Society
( http://www.a-tlegay.ca/ ). All it does is supply a couple of labourers to crowd the fish out of the holding channel into totes via a pescalator and forklift them into a waiting truck for transport to Walcan on Quadra. See attached picture from Costco for latest value added sales initiative, look closely under the “Copper Bluffs” brand name for geographic location. I was told that in 2022 A-tlegay received $6 per fish, no idea if that’s true or what the values are for other years, but you can do the math if it’s anywhere close to accurate. Just to refresh my memory I looked back through post-season reports starting 2010 for the count in this fishery.
2010 – 62,735, 2011 – 0, 2012 – 62,276, 2013 – 155,830, 2014 – 333,00, 2015 – 153,950, 2016/17/18 – 0’s, 2019 – 247,016, 2020 – 160,667, 2021 – 297,233,
2022 – 323,349, 2023 – 513,643, 2024 – 704,643 (with another 306,101 counted upriver through the fence!).
I’m thinkin’ the A-tlegay Christmas parties might be fairly lavish; Quinsam hatchery/SEP doesn’t receive a penny. The reason for the zero ESSR harvest for three years beginning 2016 is very large flood events (especially December 2014) destroying the eggs, thank you Timberwest/Mosaic. A downstream fry/smolt assessment is conducted each spring at the main counting fence upstream of the hatchery to assess productivity of the watershed above the hatchery. The original 5 million pink egg target for the hatchery has been scaled back to 3 million in recent years but continuing with the program is felt important to provide a buffer for this stock against wipe-out events in-river.
R.S. Hooton
Jan 17, 2025
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