pink salmon sea pen strategic plan - salmon enhancement and

Pink Salmon Sea Pen Strategic Plan

forStrait of Georgia

Draft Only

October 24, 2006

Pink sea pen project Oct 24/06--DRAFT 1

Table of Contents

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Considerations for Future Development .......................................................................................... 4

Biological .................................................................................................................................... 4 Enhancement ............................................................................................................................... 7

Donor Stock Selection ............................................................................................................. 7 Release Site Selection .............................................................................................................. 7 Timing and Operational Considerations .................................................................................. 8 Egg Take Targets ..................................................................................................................... 8 Criteria for Sea Pen loading ..................................................................................................... 8 Measures for Success ............................................................................................................... 8

Fisheries Management ................................................................................................................ 9 Approval and Consultation Requirements ............................................................................... 9

Current and Future Developments ................................................................................................. 10 Sechelt Sea Pen .......................................................................................................................... 10 Quinsam Sea Pen ....................................................................................................................... 10 Comox Sea Pen .......................................................................................................................... 10 Nanaimo Sea Pen ...................................................................................................................... 11 Future Expansion Planning –beyond 2006 ................................................................................ 11 Potential Future Projects ........................................................................................................... 12 Project Costs .............................................................................................................................. 13

Outlook for 2006 sea pen projects ................................................................................................. 13 Next Steps ...................................................................................................................................... 14 References ...................................................................................................................................... 14

PINK SALMON SEA PEN STRATEGIC PLAN

Introduction

This paper was initiated in response to the Provincial Governments plan towards revitalizing the recreational fishery in the Strait of Georgia. Their program explores the use of sea pen released pink salmon strategically placed in the Strait of Georgia that will enhance recreational opportunities either by beach fishing or by boat. A number of


questions were posed at the planning meetings between Provincial and Federal representatives that needed input from OHEB. This report attempts to outline the number of considerations needed to be addressed when moving forward with new enhancement proposals such as sea pens.

Recreational Fishing in the Strait of Georgia

The recreational fishery for salmon plays an important role in the social and economic life of British Columbia. For many years the Georgia Strait provided a substantial portion of the coast wide angling experience. During the early 1980s over 90% of the coast wide recreational salmon catch was in the Georgia Strait. The level of effort in 1982 was about 560k boat trips, however by 2005 the situation had changed dramatically as effort declined to about 100k boat trips. There are a number of reasons for this such as declining marine survival and the various necessary conservation measures to protect Southern BC coho, in particular Thompson River coho, and lower Georgia Strait chinook. All of these are factors that have had a negative effect in the fishing quality in the Strait.

Environmental Conditions in the Strait of Georgia

Scientists are increasingly aware that ocean conditions (temperature, salinity and feed) exert a strong influence on salmon survival and productivity. For example, scientists at the Institute of Ocean Sciences have shown that the Georgia Strait is showing a warming trend of 0.5 -1 oC over the last 8-10 years. This may have an impact on lowering the levels of marine survival of salmon as they enter the marine environment. Climate change has had a large effect in the ocean conditions of the Georgia Strait and associated freshwater systems.

Status of Salmon Stocks in the Strait of Georgia

Over the past 20 years the levels of marine survival for coho has dropped from 10-15% for healthy runs to 5% or lower. These low levels resulted in dangerously low returns for some stocks that necessitated stock conservation measures. Marine survival rates of many chinook and coho stocks have not returned to previous levels. Several, such as Cowichan and Nanaimo chinook, are important conservation concerns. Management actions for retention of only hatchery marked coho have been in effect since 1998 and recently, local closures and non-retention zones have been established to protect lower Georgia Strait chinook.

Policy Framework

The 1982 report by Peter Pearse, “Turning the Tide – A New Policy For Canada’s Pacific Fisheries”, recommended that “The governments policy should explicitly recognize sport fishing as a legitimate, valuable and significant use of fish resources, and this should be reflected in a commitment of staff and budget”. This was the necessary first step to improving credibility among the recreational community. The


most recent step in this direction was the publication in 2001 of a national “Operational Policy Framework” that lays out five guiding principles for recreational fisheries.

Government Objectives

The federal government is committed to fostering the recreational fishery. This means that the department will look at all options for opportunities in the recreational fishery. Both the federal and provincial governments share the objective of providing opportunities which will benefit the recreational fishery in B.C. A priority identified by both governments is the renewal of the Georgia Strait recreational fishery. Another objective is to actively strengthen Federal and Provincial co-operation.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, through its hatchery programs (not including spawning channel production), currently releases over 15M pink salmon juveniles annually to rivers and seapens in the Strait of Georgia to assist in rebuilding stocks and to contribute to recreational and commercial fisheries.

The provincial government considers pink salmon important in revitalizing recreational angling in BC. While there are a number of opportunities available to achieve this objective, the focus of this plan is to review possibilities for stock enhancement through additional ocean sea pen rearing. In some areas and for some species, sea pen rearing is already being used. This report outlines the current status of this initiative and considerations for implementation on a broader scale in the Strait of Georgia.

Considerations for Future Development

The following considerations need to be addressed in expansion of the pink net pen initiative within the Strait of Georgia.

Biological

The following is a biological perspective of pink salmon in areas of Georgia Strait, particularly the east side of Vancouver Island from Campbell River to Nanaimo.

Figure 1 displays the river systems that contain populations of pink salmon on Vancouver Island only (the streams are colour coded stratified by escapement levels. The black systems represent the lakes associated with the pink river systems) (Williams et al. 1994).


Some of these river systems no longer have naturally viable pink returns. There have recently been re-introductions of pink salmon to some of these streams and areas through transfers from major hatchery facilities such as the Quinsam River and Puntledge River Hatcheries, either directly or through other smaller facilities. Releases are made to streams or from sea pens. This initiative has provided some streams with pink runs as well as a generally greater abundance of pink in the local areas. Currently, the number of pink juveniles released to the Quinsam / Campbell system is approximately 6.8M and the number transferred varies depending on the donor stock run size. However, this can reach approximately 8-9M eggs. All transfers are done only with the annual approval of the federal-provincial Introductions and Transfers Committee.

The current proposal is to increase releases from sea pens. In general, as the release locations enhance existing pink populations, the adverse biological consequence may not be great (habitat, eco-system, disease etc.). In some situations, the nutrient load of additional fish to streams would be beneficial. Currently, the pink enhancement programs occur only where pink runs have existed historically or are currently in low abundance.

There is, however, some risk when high abundance levels of salmon species (in this case pink) are in direct competition with other species for spawning area and food (early life stage in the estuary). An example of this is at the three major DFO chum facilities - Puntledge, Little Qualicum and Big Qualicum where the river also supports large natural


chum populations and hatchery production. It is important to note that scientific literature cites competition between chum and pink, particularly in the estuarine environment. Competition has also been described between chinook and pink. Studies show lower survival for US chinook that enter the marine environment in the same year as even-year pink (Ruggerone and Goetz, 2004). Competition is food / area based and may not be a major issue if the production is small.

Genetics effects could be of concern if the species or stock is completely new to a particular stream, or if released fish stray to streams with existing populations. For this area, many of the smaller streams are dry during the summer months and entry into these streams would be difficult. This topic would likely be discussed in the transplant guidelines. Although possibly not a factor for this area, stream outlet orientation is a factor mentioned in transplant guidelines as affecting homing precision. An important point is that sea pen reared fish have no “parent” stream to return and spawn in, these fish will tend to spawn nearby and potentially could become an issue in streams where no pink activity has ever occurred. Many of these concerns may not be an issue provided further information or assessment can occur in this area.

In summary, potential biological concerns of hatchery releases fall roughly into three categories: ecological, genetic and demographic.

1. Ecological effects include inter- and intra-specific competition and predation. Competition for food resources in estuarine environments may be a concern, as suggested for lower survival of chinook in years of abundant even-year pink. Competition may also occur between chum and pink and among pink if feed is limiting. Spawning of pink strays in non-target streams may result in competition with endemic chum or chinook populations. For this particular area, the above species interaction has existed in the past and if the abundances are not disproportionate, then any adverse effects should be minimal.

2. Genetic effects can include inbreeding and out-breeding depression. For the area in question, the Quinsam/Campbell stock is ubiquitous and with the level of hatchery production and large number of families used, inbreeding is likely not a concern. Effects of out-breeding from straying may be less certain – particularly from returns from sea pen releases which will be expected to stray at a higher rate.

3. Demographic or manageability effects may include mixed stock fisheries, allocation issues or interception of weak non target populations. At some point, increased abundance of returning pinks may warrant harvesting that could reduce terminal abundance and have an impact on weaker stocks. Note, the weak stock concern is a biological issue, however, the harvesting will be a management issue.


All of the above biological concerns will require monitoring and assessment as part of a framework strategy for overall inside pink salmon management.

Enhancement

The following must be considered when initiating further proposals for increased hatchery production of pink salmon for brood 2006 from sea pens.

Donor Stock Selection

1. Geographical proximity: The donor site should be no more than 100km away from the proposed release site (measured by connecting bodies of water).

2. Access to broodstock: A review is recommended of what infrastructure is suitable and available to support the operations.

3. Availability of brood: The donor stock must have a sufficiently strong escapement to meet the needs of its own production and allow removal of sufficient brood over the long term for the required transplants. The transfers should be of sufficient magnitude to provide appropriate returns to the desired fisheries at current marine survival and exploitation rates.

4. Matching biological and environmental characteristics: Marine conditions of donor and recipient sites should be similar (e.g. sea surface temperature, current patterns). If re-establishment of a natural spawning population is an objective, the following should also be considered: life history characteristics; migration, spawning timing and freshwater temperature regimes; other criteria specific to pink salmon. Disease profiles should match or not place either population at risk. This will also apply to fish in streams to which returns may stray. Donor stocks should be chosen with ocean distribution and migration routes and timing that will best meet the objectives of the user groups and will facilitate fisheries management.

Release Site Selection

The following have general applicability to proposed sea pen releases:• Availability of suitably matched donor stocks• Isolation from wild salmon stocks• Good access to release sites and availability of suitable infrastructure• Suitable post-release forage base• limited predation and competition for food and space• A suitable water source for holding juveniles prior to release• Suitable marine environment• Suitable terminal fishing sites

If run re-establishment is a goal, the following should also be considered:


• Suitable freshwater environment for spawning and rearing (if applicable)• Appropriate length and orientation of the freshwater migration route• Appropriate Fish Culture, Release and Fishery Strategies –

Fedorenko and Shepherd (1986) also list various fish culture, release and fishery strategies important to success. Most important involve aspects of project scale, appropriate time and size at release, homing, use of returns fro brood and fishery regulation.

Timing and Operational Considerations

• Quinsam hatchery is currently the donor hatchery for pink salmon enhancement projects situated on the Vancouver Island side of the Strait of Georgia. Transfers of eggs to address project requests occur each year and are identified in the IFMP along with their allocated egg target requirement. The priority is to address the IFMP requests before fulfilling new requests. Egg targets are dependent on the available run size.

• Operationally there is a schedule of events that hatchery staff follow. Brood stock collection occurs during the second week of September. The green eggs are incubated in Quinsam until the second week of October. During this time those eggs are transferred out of the hatchery to other facilities.

Egg Take Targets

The number of eggs that may be collected is based on a 33% criterion for brood stock collection. The run size does vary each year and the amount of eggs that are committed to existing projects are presented in Table 1. This is a decision table that allows managers to determine how many eggs are available to the various projects and release areas (river or sea pen) under varying run sizes from 37k to 81k. The projects are ranked in priority. As the run size decreases only higher priority projects receive eggs.

Criteria for Sea Pen loading

OHEB staff have developed a criteria that determines that amount of fish to be reared in sea pens. This depends on the size of release of the fish. The maximum loading density for a given area is 12 kg/m2 of surface area or 5 kg/m3 of volume, whichever comes first. This has been tested to ensure maximum survival of the fish in the pens. All designs and operational strategies for seapen proposals must be reviewed by OHEB biological support staff.

Measure s for Success

A very important aspect not addressed in the current proposals is assessment. There should be an assessment program (even a modest one) included sufficient to define the


reasons for success or failure. Since no marking has been carried out on pink since brood 1990, a program to determine survival and exploitation would be an important benefit. Effort and catch in the terminal recreational fishery may not be adequately assessed by the general creel census and might benefit from a directed creel.

Fisheries Management

When identifying an area for a potential sea pen the local area fisheries manager (FM) and the community advisor (CA) must be brought into the planning phase of the project.

The FM is responsible for the following:• Review the IFMP to ensure consistency with the fishing plan for that year.• Ensure adequate consultations with local First Nations, commercial and

recreational sectors.• Work with Science staff to identify areas necessary for catch monitoring.• Work with C&P staff to determine if additional patrols are necessary in monitoring

a fishery.• Work with the Recreational Coordinator to deal with any policy issues.• Inform the public with fishery notices about specific management actions.

The CA will have a good understanding of the volunteer base in their area including various organizations and local First Nations. The CA will work with the DFO OHEB biologists and hatchery staff to deal with the various forms required for approval and the set up of the sea pens with the local volunteers.

Approval and Consultation Requirements

This is a list of approvals and consultations that must or should be sought prior to initiation of a project.

• Introductions and Transfers Committee. All transfers must be submitted for approval annually. Continuing programs of the same magnitude and strategy may apply for renewal. Significant increases (all sea pen proposals would be) or changes in strategies must submit new applications.

• Navigable Waters Protection Act (federal). For any new structure.• DFO Habitat review of bottom characteristics at proposed sites and potential

impacts.• Consultation with First Nations and potentially other stakeholders. • Integrated Fisheries Management Plan. Hatchery production targets for 2006

were finalized in the IFMP in May and presumably have been through the various official consultation processes. The proposals would represent a change to the 2006 plan.

• Broodstock Collection Permits. New permits are required for new projects. Ongoing releases must be renewed.


• Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. Sea pens may not constitute work under CEAA, but this should perhaps be confirmed.

• Species at Risk Act. Any SARA concerns should be identified for any listed species.

• Site usage. Provincial legislation for foreshore use such as a water lot, map reserve, etc. Where pens are attached to an existing dock, permission from the holder must be granted. Some provision may be necessary related to different site use, but given the temporary short term basis this may not be a consideration.

• Other pertinent BC or Municipal legislation.

Current and Future DevelopmentsSechelt Sea Pen

The Sechelt Indian Band has been involved in sea pen programs for chum, chinook and pink salmon with the department for a number of years. They have a hatchery located in the Maclean Bay area of Porpoise Bay. Brood collection for pink salmon are from returns to Maclean Bay on the odd years starting from 1995-2005, releasing up to 240k pinks. The sea pen program has been in operation for chum since 1986 and for chinook since 1975. Brood for chum are the returns to Maclean Bay while chinook are transfers from Lang Creek. In 2006, due to deterioration of the hatchery water supply, the Band is pursuing other options to continue its incubation and freshwater rearing operations. Sea pen operations will continue as before. For brood 2006, a partnership is being explored with the Sunshine Coast Salmonid Enhancement Society for use of facilities at Chapman Creek Hatchery.

Quinsam Sea Pen

The Quinsam hatchery has conducted a sea pen program since 1979. Pens were set up each year from 1979 to 1989 then again in 1993, and from 1999 to 2005. The amount of pinks reared in the pens ranged from 1M to 3M. The purpose of the pens was to increase returns to rebuild spawning populations and contribute to the recreational community.

Comox Sea Pen

The Puntledge hatchery staff conducted sea pen operations in the Comox Harbour area from 1980-81, 85-87, 89, 91-92, 94-97 and 1999. Pinks were incubated at Puntledge hatchery then transferred to the sea pens. The number of pinks reared in the sea pens ranged from 1M to 2M pinks. The hatchery target for sea pen rearing was 2M pinks. The program ceased in 1999 due to budget cuts. Staff has equipment to continue the sea pen program however this would require funding.


Nanaimo Sea Pen

The Nanaimo sea pen program was not pursued as extensively as compared to the other sea pen sites. The first sea pen was set up in 1990 with 32k pinks. Seapen rearing was resumed with the 2003 brood when 129k pinks were reared. Due to low donor stock levels in 2004, no transfers were made. For brood 2005, 600k fry were released from Quinsam transfers. The pink sea pen program has a lot of potential in the Nanaimo area. In February 2006 members of the Nanaimo Sport Fishery Advisory Board (SFAB), Nanaimo Fish and Game Club and DFO started the pink salmon sea pen project again in the Nanaimo area. This project was expanded from the work done in the past. It consisted of three sea pens situated in Departure Bay, Newcastle Island Ferry dock and off Jacks Point. A total of 540K pink fry were raised in the three pens, fed by local volunteers and Nanaimo First Nations from the Nanaimo hatchery. After two weeks all of the fry from all sea pens were released. These fish are anticipated to return in the summer of 2007. There is high expectation by those involved that these fish will provide various types of recreational angling opportunities such as fly fishing off the beach in Departure Bay to spin cast or fly fish off the docks in the Harbour area. Also the Nanaimo First Nations view this project as a means to improve upon the returns of the pink salmon population in the Nanaimo River.

Future Expansion Planning –beyond 2006 The Provincial Government took a proactive role this year in initiating the program to revitalize the recreational fishery in the Strait of Georgia. The first step was to move forward with the idea of actively strengthening Provincial/Federal cooperative programs. This was accomplished via the Provincial Government holding two meetings with representatives with DFO staff to explore the feasibility of additional pink sea pen projects in the Strait of Georgia. The first meeting was in June 2 at the Ministry of Environment (MOE) Building in Victoria. The second meeting was at the Provincial hatchery in Duncan on July 20.

During the first meeting, discussions included seeking understandings and interests about the sea pen concept talking in general terms of where expansions might take place, roles, responsibilities, capacity and how to proceed collectively. A contract was subsequently by the Province awarded to Owen Bird of the BC Sports Fishing Institute to provide a feasibility report titled ”Georgia Strait Basin Recreational Fishery Revitalization Initiative- Pink Salmon Net Pen Feasibility Study”.

The second meeting reviewed the first draft of the contractors report. A list of a total of 17 sites was identified based on local community interest. Of these, five were discussed at the meeting as being more practical in the short term. There was also a commitment from the Province to provide funding for Quinsam Hatchery operations and for the purchase of up to five sea pens.

There will be a third meeting in October to review the final draft of the contractor’s report


The Province identified $30k funding to assist with initiating other sea pen projects if run sizes were abundant for new projects. The funding breakdown is as follows:

1. Contract was awarded to Owen Bird of the SFI to provide a feasibility report that would identify other potential sea pen sites, the desire in the area and volunteer base and potential source of funding. A first draft of the report was presented to Provincial, SFI and DFO representatives, which identified 17 potential sites. A final report will be due mid- September.

a. Cost of Contract $15K

2. Quinsam hatchery was identified as a donor hatchery to provide up to 4M pink eggs for potential sea pen projects. This pink egg production is in addition to the existing hatchery production as outlined in the 2006 SC Salmon IFMP. The hatchery manager, Dave Ewart, identified additional labour and oxygen costs to handle the additional eggs from green to eyed stage.

a. Funds to assist hatchery program $10K

3. There was discussion at the last meeting if any site required a sea pen there would be funds available up to $1K / sea pen. There is enough funding for the purchase of 5 sea pens.

a. Funds for 5 sea pens $5K

Potential Future Projects Five sites and production levels along with the DFO-related costs are listed in detail in Table 2. A more detailed list of sites that the Provincial government has expressed interest in pursuing with DFO are outlined in the 2nd draft of the contactors report.The proposed donor stock would be the Quinsam hatchery. The proposed sites are as follows:

1. Puntledge/Comox – This area has a history of pink salmon reared in sea pens. The operations manager at Puntledge Hatchery indicated that they can do the job but would require additional funding to build incubations boxes and hire an additional person to take on this extra task. The potential issue is to identify the volunteer base that would lead the sea pen program which would help to reduce DFO costs. The contractor’s report will be to provide further clarity on this issue.

2. Deep Bay/Nile Creek – This site seems to have good potential due to the

presence of a large volunteer base that willing to make this work. Nile Creek already enjoys a prime pink salmon beach fishery. The sea pens would be installed in the Deep Bay area. The eggs would be incubated at the Nile Creek facility, then a portion would be transferred to one or two sea pens, while the remainder released as additional fry in the river. Additional costs are towards purchase of auto-feeders, DFO manpower and building the incubation boxes.

3. Englishman River – There is a small facility on the river to take additional eggs and rear them to the button-up stage. All of the fry would be released in the river.


The returns to the river would provide a renewed beach fishery at the mouth of the river. Additional costs are towards purchase of auto-feeders, DFO manpower and building the incubation boxes.

4. Nanaimo River – This is another site that would prove very successful because of the recent pink sea pen program. Additional costs are towards purchase of auto-feeders, DFO manpower, building and repair of existing incubation boxes since these would be a permanent structure for the Nanaimo hatchery. I anticipate DFO costs to be reduced by volunteers taking on the program as they did this earlier year.

5. Fanny Bay/Chef Creek – This is similar to the Englishman River where fry would be river released

Two additional sites that have potential are French Creek where a sea pen might be secured in the marina area, and at Sechelt where the hatchery would assist in providing eggs. This is being looked into by the contractor and the results should be in his final report. I would like to suggest that the above sites are those that seem like good sites to start the program.

Project Costs

Table 1 outlines the current production levels at the five sites and the newly proposed production levels along with an estimate of cost.

Table 1. Potential costs to conduct new projects

Project Capital cost (k $) O&M cost (k $)

Total cost (k $) Release stage

Quinsam 8 7.5k Sea pen/RiverPuntledge 5.5 4.5 10k Sea penNile Cr. 5.5 2.5 8k RiverEnglishman R. 5.5 2.5 5.5k RiverNanaimo R. 4 10 5.5 Sea pen

Total 20.5 33.5 54.0

Outlook for 2006 sea pen projects

The discussions that took place were premised on a reasonable return to the Quinsam hatchery that would produce up to 14M eggs. This would be ample to initiate new projects. However, in discussion with the Quinsam hatchery staff the latest news of the pink returns to the Quinsam/Campbell system is about 40k adults. Referring to decision


table in Table 2 and run size of 40k would result in about 7.8M eggs. However, this table is considered as a reference to begin identifying the egg transfer sites and amount of eggs to be transferred. The Quinsam hatchery manager provided a higher estimate of the egg requirements to 9.4M eggs at the current run size. According to Table 2 Nile Creek was not identified for egg transfers, however discussions with the Community Advisor for the Comox Area advised Nile Creek should receive some level of eggs to ensure future pink returns to the area. Nile Creek is considered a very important recreational beach fishery and should be maintained. The final decision for egg transfer would be as follows:

Quinsam 6.8M (River and Sea pen releases)Courtenay system 1.75M (Puntledge to Comox sea pens and Tsolum River releases)Nile 0.375M (River release)Nanaimo 0.375M (Sea pen release)Buffer 0.1M Total 9.4M eggs

Quinsam is the first priority and will always receive it full complement of eggs. The second priority is the Courtenay system with Tsolum river being a priority as a natural pink salmon system. The rest of the eggs will be distributed between Nile and Nanaimo. DFO decided that the Nanaimo system continue with the pink program as it has good potential to collect its own brood from returns in the future. The buffer takes into account mortality and error in the estimation of total eggs.

If a new project was to be conducted in 2006 with the assistance of the Province the only option is to revitalize the Comox sea pens and transfer fish from the Puntledge.

The Puntledge River hatchery manager indicated that they can start this project this year if Provincial funding is available.

Next Steps

1. A decision must be made whether to proceed with the Comox sea pen project this year.

2. Province has set up a meeting in October to review Owens report.3. Set up a meeting between DFO and the Province to review this report and the

Provincial report and plan for the 2007 season.

References

DFO. 2001. An Operational Policy Framework. Fisheries and Oceans Canada 2001. Minister of Public Works and Government, Services Canada 2001, Cat. No. Fs23-396/2001. ISBN 0-662-65529-x DFO/6126. 6p.


Fedorenko, A.Y. and B.G. Shepherd. 1986. Review of salmon transplant procedures and suggested transplant guidelines. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 1479 : 144p.

Pearse, P.H. 1982. Turning the Tide – A New Policy for Canada’s Pacific Fisheries. The commission on Pacific Fisheries Policy Final Report. Vancouver – September 1982. pp. 187-201.

Provincial Government. 2006. Georgia Strait Basin Recreational Fishery Revitalization Initiative- Pink Salmon Net Pen Feasibility Study. Report contracted to Owen Bird by the Prov. Govt. 39 p.

Ruggerone, G. and F. Goetz. 2004. Survival of Puget Sound chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in response to climate-induced competition with pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha). Can J. Fish Aquat. Sci. 61: 1756-1770.

Williams, I.V., T.J. Brown and G. Langford. 1994. Geographic distribution of salmon spawning streams of British Columbia with an index of spawner abundance. Can. Tech. Aquat. Sci. 1967: 200p.


Table 2. Decision table for egg collection and transfer or pink salmon from the Quinsam Hatchery based on varying run sizes. Note: the final decision on eggs and transfers will be based on the advice for the hatchery managers, OHEB and RM staff.


pink salmon sea pen strategic plan - salmon enhancement and

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