Bold experiment hopes to boost salmon population in B.C. waters
MARK HUME, Globe and Mail, Apr. 06, 2011
Carol Schmitt got up early for the move because she had a lot to pack – 48,500 live salmon to be exact.
Luckily she had rented a semi-trailer tanker truck the night before, sterilizing it so the fish could safely be transported from the Omega Pacific Hatchery, near Port Alberni, to the Sarita River, on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
The fish – precious not only because Chinook are endangered in many places in British Columbia, but also because they are part of a bold experiment – had to be handled with care.
Unlike millions of salmon that are being released from Department of Fisheries and Oceans hatcheries in B.C. this spring, Ms. Schmitt’s fish have been held almost one year longer and grown more slowly, to mimic conditions in nature.
DFO releases Chinook from hatcheries at eight months of age. The fish are known as S-0s, because they are smolts, with less than one year in freshwater. Ms. Schmitt’s approach, perfected over decades growing salmon for B.C. salmon farms, is to keep the fish for 17 months, raising them in water as cold as the native stream from which their brood stock originated. And she restricts feed, so the fish mature more slowly. Those fish are known as S-1s and she believes such “stream type Chinook” are the key to the restoration of wild salmon populations in B.C.
“If you raise them in warmer water and feed them lots, as DFO does, they grow bigger and faster, but you trigger ‘smoltification’ too soon,” Ms. Schmitt said.
Smoltification is when young salmon undergo dramatic physiological changes, turning from fry into smolts, as they adapt for the move from freshwater to salt water.
DFO’s Chinook look ready when they are released, but their immune systems aren’t fully evolved, she said – and most will die from vibriosis, a bacterial disease that attacks fish in salt or brackish water.
“I feel 85 to 90 per cent of federal S-0s are dead within four to six months,” Ms. Schmitt said.
The statistics appear to bear that out, as DFO typically gets only about 1 per cent of its hatchery salmon back as adults. On the Sarita River, only 500 Chinook spawners returned last year – 0.1 per cent of the fish DFO had released as S-0s four years earlier.
Ms. Schmitt, with whom DFO is working on an experimental trial of S-1s on three Vancouver Island rivers, said she is expecting returns of up to 10 per cent.
“If you ship those fish out as S-0s you are accelerating the decline of the river,” she said. “If you release them as proper S-1s, you will get three to ten times as many fish back.”
Ms. Schmitt said in Alaska, releases of S-1 Chinook have resulted in returns as high as 22 per cent.
“Can you imagine what returns like that would mean in B.C.?” she asked. “That would be incredible. It’s pretty exciting stuff.”
With funding support from DFO and four fish farm companies (Mainstream Canada, Marine Harvest Canada, Creative Salmon and Grieg Seafood), Ms. Schmitt is doing trial releases this week of about 100,000 salmon in the Sarita, Phillips and Nahmint Rivers. The first release was Wednesday.
She said it has been tough to get to this point, because DFO has been resistant to change. “Getting DFO to allow us to participate in enhancement has and continues to be a challenge.”
DFO was unable to provide a spokesman to talk about the Omega project.
But Stewart Hawthorn, general manager of Grieg Seafood, said fish farms, which have been under attack for their environmental impact, are supporting the Chinook project for a simple reason: They want to see wild salmon flourish.
“British Columbians are passionate about our native salmon and our employees ... are no different,” he said.
News Release, Mainstream Canada, Wednesday, April, 6, 2011
A new hope for Sarita Chinook, thanks to salmon farmers
Salmon farmers and enhancement groups are hoping their partnership can help wild salmon make a comeback in the Sarita River.
Mainstream Canada has partnered with three other salmon farming companies to donate $11,000 to a project they hope will have positive results for Sarita River Chinook salmon. James Costello and Carol Schmitt take a look in the Chinook tank at Omega Pacific Hatchery before the fish are released.
Mainstream donated $5,000 to the Alberni Valley Enhancement Society, in partnership with the Omega Pacific Hatchery, to tag 50,000 Chinook which will be released into the river at one year old this afternoon, April 6. Similarly, salmon farmers grow salmon in freshwater hatchery tanks for one year before transferring them to ocean pens.
The Omega Pacific Chinook have been tagged with coded wire tags and have had their adipose fins clipped which will help identify them later if caught by sport fishers. Their numbers will help determine whether or not older Chinooks released into the river system have a higher survival rate when they come back to spawn.
Carol Schmitt, president of Omega Pacific hatchery, has 32 years of hands-on experience raising Chinook for enhancement projects and the aquaculture industry. She is leading the project and is convinced releasing this type of fish will improve returns to the river.
"Freshwater rearing greatly influences the age dynamics and overall ocean survival of Chinook salmon," she said, explaining that "stream type Chinook, a Chinook that naturally spends one or more years in freshwater before embarking on the ocean migration, has a much greater chance for success and return."
Salmon farmers are backing her idea.
"The life histories of Chinook are varied and complex, and we hope that lending our expertise as salmon farmers and considering all options for enhancement will help wild Chinook stocks in the Sarita flourish," said James Costello, Mainstream Canada's sustainability officer.
Hatchery Chinook are usually released shortly after hatching and don't spend as much time in fresh water before going to sea. Currently, survival rates for Chinook on the Sarita are very low. Current survival rates for released west coast Chinooks are less than 1 per cent. Last year about 500 fish returned to the Sarita River, which is 0.1 per cent of what is annually released.
"We want to see strong, healthy wild salmon runs so we support projects in the communities where we operate to help make sure the salmon which feed First Nations, support commercial and recreational fisheries and are important food source for wild animals will be there for future generations," said Laurie Jensen, Mainstream Canada's communications and corporate sustainability manager.
Marine Harvest Canada, Creative Salmon and Grieg Seafood have also each contributed $2,000 to the project.
"We hope that our contribution can help the salmon in the Sarita make a comeback," said Tim Rundle, general manager of Creative Salmon in Tofino. "We hope we see these fish come back strong in the near future."
Ian Roberts, communications manager for Marine Harvest, agreed.
"We are always active in local salmon enhancement projects, and many of our staff come from a fish enhancement background, so it makes sense for us to support each other," he added.
Stewart Hawthorn, general manager of Grieg Seafood, said he was pleased to be able to contribute to the project.
"British Columbians are passionate about our native salmon, and our employees at Grieg Seafood BC are no different," he said. "We hope this helps make a difference for the Sarita."Carol Schmitt and volunteers tagged the fish in March despite terrible, snowy and cold weather.
The fish were tagged in early March by three experienced taggers who worked tirelessly for a week despite cold and snowy conditions.
Other enhancement costs on the Sarita River are covered by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Huu-ay-aht First Nations, who have committed resources for 25 years to rebuilding the Sarita River Chinook. And for this project, Omega Pacific Hatchery paid for all costs to rear the 50,000 Chinook for 17 months.
"We are extremely grateful for all the contributions from the farming industry which paid for the cost of tagging and transport of fish back to the river for release," Schmitt said.
Tagged Sarita Chinook are being released April 6, with a small riverside celebration for their release and to bid them farewell for a safe ocean journey.
