Federal panel hears Yukon River salmon at risk. Now he is calling on governments to act

Don’t look at Yukon River salmon as statistics, but as animals that are part of a large — and complex — ecosystem.

That’s the gist of a new report submitted to the House of Commons by the federal Fisheries Committee, which looked at the sustainability of the population. The report includes 37 recommendations, most of which are aimed at Ottawa.

The recommendations address climate change, the trawl and flounder industry, the abundance of hatchery salmon in the North Pacific, and that it may be time for a new approach to managing chum and chum, which have been in steady decline for years.

The Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, which is made up of members of parliament such as Yukon’s Brendan Henley, who initially pushed the committee to consider the issue, this year heard the testimony of witnesses, including chiefs, biologists and fishermen.

“I think almost everyone agreed that this ecosystem is in crisis,” Henley told CBC News. “(And) how important it is to look at it as an ecosystem and not just a matter of numbers.”

The recommendation where this sentiment is perhaps most evident is the one proposing a review of the Yukon River Salmon Agreement. The agreement, which has been in place since 2001 and is part of the Canada-US Pacific Salmon Treaty, focuses on the amount of fish crossing the border between Alaska and the Yukon. The report says the agreement is prescriptive and does not go far enough to help species in crisis.

Report recommends instead “developing a comprehensive bi-national agreement to restore and rebuild the Yukon River salmon and its ecosystem.”

While fish counts are taking place, this work needs to be expanded to include other metrics such as size, sex and weight that influence spawning success, the report said.

Stephanie Peacock, a senior analyst at the Pacific Salmon Foundation, who spoke at the hearing, said salmon are not a homogenous group.

According to Peacock, Yukon-native teal salmon are diverse, with 12 genetically and ecologically distinct groups in the drainage. But over the decades, she says, diversity has been destroyed.

Peacock said the erosion looks like younger and smaller fish are swimming back into the Yukon, both of which affect their resistance to pressure, which is plentiful.

“I don’t think we’re the only group that requires escapement quality—size and age are two components of that, but there’s also the genetic diversity of these fish.”

What about the ocean?

The report says you can’t look at the habitat in the Yukon River. You also need to take a look at the ocean, where the understanding of the lives of salmon heading upriver and the dangers they face is still ongoing.

Take “maritime farming,” where countries like Russia, Japan, and the United States release “billions” of hatchery bluefin and chum into the North Pacific.

“These hatchery salmon compete with wild salmon for food, which may result in wild salmon having insufficient energy reserves to migrate to spawning grounds,” the report said.

Accordingly, the committee recommends that an international study be conducted on this issue.

The committee also wants more information from the US government on how many salmon are caught by-catch in the marine commercial pollock fishery. The report says there was conflicting testimony on the subject.

For example, some witnesses cited salmon bycatch as one of the main reasons for the population decline.

But Steve Gotch, senior director of Fisheries and Oceans Canada in the Yukon, said the problem is minor, with more than 750 seabass caught as bycatch — or 3 percent of the total.

Peacock told CBC News that salmon bycatch has historically been a problem.

“And it could become a problem again if we don’t continue to monitor and be careful,” she said.

To better understand the scope of the problem, the committee recommends that Ottawa initiate — or support — an independent review of the problem.

The Yukon government also has work to do

Some of the committee’s recommendations need to be considered by the Yukon government, and they mainly deal with how development, such as placer mining, can harm salmon habitat. It says it’s not well enough understood to rule it out as a problem.

Earlier this year, the Yukon Salmon Subcommittee, a nongovernmental advisory body, accused the territory of abdicating responsibility for salmon and diversions to Ottawa, and said the territory has taken little action to protect salmon through things like stricter harvest regulations.

The former chairman of the Yukon’s salmon subcommittee told CBC News that while the federal government controls riparian habitat, which can include streams, rivers and wetlands, it is the Yukon government that has jurisdiction over territorial lands, including what is on the slope. where the fish spawn from.

The Committee recommends that the Yukon Government and the Federal Government ensure that monitoring of the impacts of placer mining on salmon spawning grounds is actually in compliance with the law. It also calls on governments to settle jurisdictional disputes over salmon.

The committee’s report is now with the federal government, which has about four months to respond.

Henley said he would push for each recommendation to be implemented.

“This is a national issue, a North American issue, and I think it’s very important that the little Yukon can tell a big story when it comes to salmon.”