By Christopher Donville
Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The sockeye-salmon migration to British Columbia’s Fraser River has collapsed to a record low for the second summer in three, raising concern among native Indians that the species’ survival may be threatened.
As many as 9.4 million fish expected to migrate from the Pacific Ocean may have disappeared, prompting Canadian officials to ban commercial and sport fishing of Fraser sockeye.
“I’ve fished the river all my life, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Ernie Crey, 60, an adviser to the Sto:lo native Indians, who live along the Fraser and rely on the sockeye for food, said today in a telephone interview.
An estimated 1.2 million to 1.5 million sockeye may return to the river this year, Jeff Grout, a Vancouver-based salmon resource manager with Canada’s department of fisheries and oceans, said today in a telephone interview.
That compares with a forecast of 6 million to 10.6 million, Grout said. The entire Fraser sockeye run was an estimated 1.7 million last year and reached a previous record low of 1.4 million in 2007, he said.
While the cause of the collapse isn’t known, a variety of factors such as rising ocean and river temperatures may help explain the potential losses, Grout said.
“Warm water can affect things like food availability for the fish,” Grout said. “Sockeye are plankton feeders, and plankton of the west coast of B.C. tend to thrive when conditions are cold.”
Crey said he and elders of the Sto:lo tribes are concerned that the Fraser sockeye’s decline may be irreversible. He’s urging British Columbia’s native leaders to press for an international summit on the health of the fishery.
‘Sockeye Can’t Cope’
“The sockeye can’t cope with the changing environment,” Crey said. “The hardiest sockeye are not returning to spawn.”
On Aug. 10, the Fraser River temperature was 18.8 degrees Celsius (65.8 degrees Fahrenheit) at Qualark Creek, B.C., 1.1 degrees higher than the average for that date, the Pacific Salmon Commission said in an Aug. 11 statement on its Web site.
“Water temperatures in this range may stress migrating sockeye and slow their upstream migration,” according to the commission, which is a joint Canada-U.S. body that manages salmon resources.
It’s too soon to say what effect sea lice that flourish near fish farms may have had on the Fraser sockeye, Grout said.
The parasites are known to latch onto young wild salmon heading into the sea and are suspected as a factor in the decline of other wild-salmon populations along the coast.
Sea Lice
Producers of farmed salmon say allegations that sea lice from their operations are responsible for declining wild salmon stocks are unfounded.
“The plight of the Fraser River sockeye parallels Pacific salmon returns along the entire west coast of North America,” BC Salmon Farmers Association said in a statement on its Web site. Farm operators “share these concerns, but disagree with those who conclude that salmon farming is responsible for these declines.”
Most sockeye spend their first year in fresh water and are strong enough to survive lice infestation by the time they pass coastal fish farms, the association said.
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