Canada’s Wild Salmon Policy: an assessment of conservation progress in British Columbia

Abstract

Canada's Policy for Conservation of Wild Pacific Salmon has been heralded as a transformative approach to the management of wild salmon whereby conservation is the highest priority. Given that changes to the Policy are under consideration, it is timely that we understand whether our state of knowledge and the status of wild salmon in Canada have indeed improved after its adoption in 2005. To answer these questions, we used two indices of improvement: (i) monitoring effort and (ii) abundance of spawning adults. Our results, based on data for all species from British Columbia's north and central coasts, show that monitoring effort has continued to erode, abundance of spawning adults has significantly declined for several species, the status of many salmon Conservation Units are in zones of concern, and 42% of the Conservation Units that we assessed as Red (threatened) would have improved in status had the Canadian fishery been reduced. We conclude with recommendations to help improve our knowledge of the status of salmon and enable a robust and successfully implemented Wild Salmon Policy for the future.Résumé : La Politique du Canada pour la conservation du saumon sauvage du Pacifique a été annoncée comme constituant une tranformation dans l'approche de gestion du saumon sauvage axée prioritairement sur la conservation. Comme la modification de la politique est actuellement à l'étude, il est opportun de se demander si l'état des connaissances et le statut des saumons sauvages au Canada se sont effectivement améliorés après l'adoption de la Politique en 2005. Pour répondre à ces questions, nous utilisons les deux indices d'amélioration suivants : (i) l'effort de surveillance et (ii) l'abondance des adultes géniteurs. Nos résultats, qui reposent sur des données pour toutes les espèces le long du littoral nord et central de la Colombie-Britannique, montrent que l'effort de surveillance continue de s'éroder, que l'abondance des adultes géniteurs a diminué de manière significative pour plusieurs espèces, que le statut de nombreuses Unités de conservation du saumon est préoccupant et que le statut de 42 % des Unités de conservation que nous avons évalué comme étant rouge (mauvais état) se serait amélioré si la pêche canadienne avait été réduite. Nous concluons en formulant des recommandations pour aider à améliorer les connaissances sur l'état du saumon et permettre la mise en oeuvre efficace d'une politique sur le saumon sauvage à l'avenir. [Traduit par la Rédaction]

Genetics of century‐old fish scales reveal population patterns of decline

“…For sockeye populations in Canada, historical data begin after 1950 (COSEWIC, ). Our results identify larger declines in abundance than have previously been documented in this region (Price, English, Rosenberger, MacDuffee, & Reynolds, ). While it is difficult to set recovery targets when salmon productivity and abundances are naturally variable (Mantua et al., ; Rogers et al., ), our historical abundance estimates extend current time‐series data to help inform assessments of population status, and contribute to rebuilding plan discussions.…”

Perceptions and Actions of Commercial Fishers in Response to Conservation Measures in Canadian Pacific Salmon Fisheries

“…; Hutchings and Post ; Price et al. ). Despite this, it is unsubstantiated to suggest that DFO managers and scientists do not understand the science incorporated into management or the limitations to forecasts and models.…”

“…Similar patterns of fishers believing that their government is unable to revive the stocks due to flawed science and inept management plans have led to destructive social situations and imperiled fisheries (e.g., the New England groundfish fishery; Acheson and Gardner 2014). It is true that Pacific salmon forecasting models typically have large uncertainties associated with them (Haeseker et al 2008) and that federal fisheries management in Canada has received criticism in recent years (Favaro et al 2012;Hutchings and Post 2013;Price et al 2017). Despite this, it is unsubstantiated to suggest that DFO managers and scientists do not understand the science incorporated into management or the limitations to forecasts and models.…”

Lines on a map: conservation units, meta‐population dynamics, and recovery of woodland caribou in Canada

“…The challenge of local extirpations at or below the conservation unit level is not unique to western Canada, given the recent high profile extirpation of caribou in Pukaskwa National Park, a distinct population in Ontario (Bergerud et al 2015), and the imminent extirpation of the Val D'Or population in Quebec (Hamilton 2017). Nor is this problem specific to caribou, for example, considering the challenges with salmon recovery in British Columbia (Slaney et al 1996, Price et al 2017).…”