BC Indigenous Coalition lobbies Ottawa on the salmon farm industry ​

OTTAWA -- Chris Roberts, elected chief councillor, Wei Wai Kum First Nation, based out of Campbell River, on Vancouver Island, in coastal British Columbia, spoke in Ottawa today.


"It's through our rights and title that we must have a say on how, if and what kind of salmon farming can take place in our territories, in our backyards, where we have lived for millenia.

"After the disrespectful and damaging decisions to close salmon farms in my territory the Laichwiltach People, in the Discovery Island without proper consent of the rights holders, we at the coalition can no longer trust that the minister Murray can deliver a thoughtful, unbiased transition plan for the remaining salmon in our sovereign territories.

"That is very worrisome as I stand here with my brothers and sisters . . .

"We as First Nations, we are the original environmentalists, not the fancy downtown activists that you hear about.

"Our people have been looking after wild salmon for thousands of years, and we continue to do so through our guardian programs and our monitors, and we will continue to do so.

"People 5,000 km away will not be making political activist driven decisions for ancient nations that have been stewards of our lands and waters and resources, since time immemorial.

"Now we know there are divergent views on salmon farming among First Nations on the coast of British Columbia. And that's their right. But it's also our right as First Nations to be able to say, YES.

"If a nation can say no to a resource extraction development activity in their territory, they should be able to say yes. And that's because it's done on their terms, on terms that are set out by the laws and traditions of our people.

"Those laws and traditions guide how business is carried out and how things are to be monitored properly.

"This enduring stewardship obligation that I talk about is bestowed to all of us by the Creator of the territories that we call our home, all across Turtle Island.

"And we must respect each other as sovereign nations, and trust in each other that we will uphold those. And when we disagree, we should come together nation-to-nation to talk about our difference of opinion to find areas of compromise, and to seek to understand how we might be able to move forward collaboratively.

"The DFO minister Murray's decision to close all salmon farms in the Discovery Islands, against the wishes of the right's holder nations, in our case the Laichwiltach people, has set a dangerous precedent.

"Not only does it mean that the rest of the transition planning process for the sector is unstable, it threatens salmon farm operations in the rest of the territories where the nations want those farms to operate.

"More importantly, her decision has threatened rights holder First Nations ability to pursue their self-determination, and their right to economic reconciliation by allowing outside influences to make decisions in our territories.

"Just a little bit more about the proposal that was put forward from the Laichwiltach Nations, we were seeking to understand what the impacts are, every sector, every single activity in our territories have an impact, and it's our responsibility to understand what those are, to determine if we can come to grips with it and manage them in a way that is sustainable, and in keeping with our true values and traditions.

"It's really sad that our proposal was unaccepted, because it's a lost opportunity. The opportunity that existed was to advance our guardian watchmen programs, our fisheries stewardship technicians, to directly participate in the research and monitoring to evaluate the impact from salmon farming on the environment and on wild salmon.

"I am not going to deny those exist, but as we talk about a transition, as this government likes to call it, we wanted to be on the front lines of what that would be, to embrace new innovations and the possibility of new technologies that could be implemented to reduce or eliminate the risks to wild salmon.

"And the fact that our proposal was disregarded is troubling. It sends a signal that I don't know if there was ever a genuine interest in supporting a transition.

"And so to just kind of mandate something to land-based in this case, it doesn't make sense to me, because there's a lot of evidence and investment across the world where this has been attempted, and maybe it will be figured out one day, but if we talk about a transition and going towards something better, we have to embrace and work with what we have now.

"To try and flick it off like a switch I think it flies in the face of what is required to have investment in research and development and bring new innovations.

"So we call on Prime Minister Trudeau to pass a critical file on to more responsible and unbiased minister to complete. We strongly recommend the minister of Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation, the Hon Mark Miller, for this job.

"We are also fathers and mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, like you, who want to see our families succeed and communities thrive and have a promising future.

"Like you, we want our people to have good jobs, and like you we want everyone to be able to afford healthy food and put food on their tables for their families.

"The government of Canada is on a dangerous track, with policy decisions to close sustainable farming in our waters. They are suggesting that we grow Canadian salmon on land, even the B.C. government says it's not feasible, and at this point in time it does not make sense.

"We have with us, an example here, the salmon that you see, it was not grown in Canadian waters, where it could have been or should have been. It was not grown in any of our territories, where it could have been and should have been.

"It was not processed by workers in the community of Klemtu of the Kitasoo/Xai'Xais, or the community of Port Hardy on north Vancouver Island, because Minster Murray has severely impacted the production of the salmon farming industry by closing down farms in our territory, and we're concerned of the track that might continue on with the rest of the coast.

"The piece of salmon was flown all the way from Norway or Chile, thousands of kilometres away, and when you think about the net effect and of citizens of the planet that we care for, of climate change, and carbon emissions, how is that sustainable?

"And because of decisions by Minister Joyce Murray, this costs you and your family more on your grocery bills to put this healthy meal on your table for your family.

"I'm not sure what the price of it says, but I think, uh, yikes!" he looks at the label on the package, "It's $55 for this slab of salmon, something that would have previously costed around $30.

"And this piece of salmon is going to become even more unaffordable for you and your families if these decisions continue, not only because it's imported from far away, but because we no longer have the jobs of farming salmon in the communities.

"And we have also been fishing nations, it's engrained in my blood for several generations. But we are also salmon farming nations as we stand here together, and we are coastal nations.

"And we should have the right to say what happens in our territory.

"This is an important job that we have, and I am reminded by some of my Elders and people in my community that often have a difficult time coming to grips with various industries, because of their perceived impact, but when we talk about it, we're reminded that, as newcomers came to our territories, balance has been disrupted from day one, and we have constantly had to adapt to changing times.

"A lot of the things that are being sought to protect are the commercial salmon industry, which I am proud of my family's participation for many years, but an industrial full scale commercial fishery on the whole coast of British Columbia with countless canneries dotting the coastline, that was not our way as a people, but we were participants in that and we embraced it.

"Unfortunately, our rights to make decisions on how that fishery would be managed were not recognized early enough and we are suffering the consequences of a vast reduction of salmon on the coast.

"So when we look at a new industry like salmon farming, we're also meeting it head on, embracing it for the opportunity that it could be, and ensuring that things are happening on our terms.

"And that's very important because each nation is distinct and unique, and have their own set of laws and values that must be upheld, for this industry to continue."

Firewood CMTs an Anthropological Oddity

In the days prior to the Industrial Revolution First Nations built canoes to travel the extensive waterways of the Pacific coast. Each dugout canoe was manufactured out of a single cedar tree and these dugout war canoes were designed for ocean voyages of long duration.

 Sometimes during these journeys canoeists ran afoul of the weather. The water on the Inside Passage is a reasonably constant 6 or 7 degrees Celsius but the weather varies and rainfall is a potential threat all year long, especially from October to March. Dealing with these wet conditions called for planning, which included the invention of the 'firewood CMT,' a form of culturally modified tree (CMT) found on remote islands and inlets of the Pacific Coast of Canada.

 "Knowledge of the history of forest use is crucial for understanding the development of forests, which in turn helps to understand how societies react to forest development," said Rikard Andersson, Faculty of Forest Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. "Culturally modified trees (CMTs), recorded in the western U.S. (and Canada), northern Scandinavia, and south-eastern Australia, are features that can be dated precisely, and they bear witness to unique events of human activity."

 David Garrick is a Canadian anthropologist with specific expertise in CMTs in west coast rainforests. "These artefacts define the First Nations communities in a practical way. They had camps all over the place, often at the mouth of a river. If they were taking a three-day voyage by canoe and it started raining they would pull out of the water, but how would you start a fire?"

David Garrick and his son Aki gaze at Johnstone Strait

 An essential CMT would be found ashore where they could and often did make land and find the firewood CMT, each site containing a dry source of wood. The travelers would find a small cavern dug above the roots inside a massive cedar tree trunk. "They would peel shreds of the dry cedar found inside the hollowed trunk and they would ignite a fire inside the tree."

 These firewood CMTs were commonplace, "There's one found at every encampment." Garrick has studied these peculiar modifications from Banks Island all the way to Kitkatla. He and others have found abundant evidence of a kindling source that provided instant fire to travelers. For the past three decades David Garrick concentrated on the study of humans interacting in forests  on the Pacific Coast.

 He found a perfect place to do CMT research on Hanson Island, about 15 km south west of Alert Bay, B.C.. He set up the Earth Embassy in the heights of the 4 sq. km. island and he worked under the auspices of the Yukusem Heritage Society (composed of four First Nations from the Broughton Archipelago and Johnstone Strait).

 "If you keep the ecosystem intact it becomes a living laboratory and a living museum, and a living classroom." For further study, "We have a post-secondary learning opportunities in the area. We have trails into all kinds of nooks and crannies on Hanson Island."

 Garrick's laboratory on Hanson Island has been a welcome presence in the First Nations of coastal B.C. because his research provides a good history lesson about cedar usage in the culture and economy of the people. For instance a 'core-popped' cedar tree looks like a traumatic injury to those who pass by, but core-popping was no problem to First Nations, instead, it was a marker of time, "What happened to the cedar tree core was caused by a memorable event like a potlatch."

 First Nation forest use went into a state of chaos for a period after contact with Europeans and the anthropology is specific about describing the trauma, "After epidemics reduced the population of Indigenous people, you see the sickness of the people reflected in the cedar peelings. Suddenly there are one-tenth the number of people available to peel cedar tree bark or cultivate and harvest other plants in the cedar groves."

 Garrick's work will continue on Hanson Island where he equipped others to teach everyone from small groups of First Nation students to the First Nation CMT researchers who identify the evidence of occupation and prior use in traditional territories. He maintained beautiful gardens at the Earth Embassy and he had members of the multi-nation Society trained to cut and maintains trails to the instructive cedar groves that will stand in perpetuity on Hanson Island.

David Garrick and Mack McColl cross Hanson Island summer 2008

What about reforestation by drones?

Don't put away shovels yet

VICTORIA B.C. -- John Innes, Forestry Planning, said drones can plant trees 150 times faster and 10 times cheaper than tree planters. "Tree planting is the same for the past 4,000 years. Same technology, humans. There are now terrestrial tree planting machines that work for easy terrain. These are not designed for cutblocks in the forests. But there are machines that multitask things like scarification, injecting fertilizer and planting the trees."

A man named Jack Walters designed a propellant system to shoot seedlings into the forest floor. It's a process that can be seen in nature. Natu
re does it in mangrove seeds that sprout into plants and literally plant themselves by an aerial process into the mud below by falling. But dropping living seedlings into a slash pile on a clear cut will not penetrate to the soil.

Aerial broadcasting of seeds is done in Australia on sites where the surface has been burned off, and these are distributed by small plane or helicopter. They drop seeds, or drop pelletized seeds, or drop pellitized germinated seeds, depending on the soil conditions, and now they are firing pellitized germinated seeds into the ground.

Seeding drones are used to spread 40,000 seeds a day in bushfire areas in Australia.

A company called Droneseed USA uses drones with LIDAR (an acronym of "light detection and ranging" or "laser imaging, detection, and ranging". LIDAR is a method for determining ranges by targeting an object or a surface with a laser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar) and aerial imagery into post wildfire landscapes for analyzing soil quality and determining which seeds go where. These methods over-use seeds.

Dendra Systems says they can spread millions of seeds in a few hours, and predict the planting of 500 billion trees by 2060: 120 seedpods per minute, pre-germinated seeds, using pressurized air.

AirSeed Technologies, efficient at post planting surveys. They can go back and survey for re-seeding and predict planting 100 million trees by 2024.

Looking at all these possibilities, however, planting a seed doesn't mean planting a tree.

FlashForest claims 1 billion trees by 2028, operating in B.C., Alberta, and Ontario. The company is using drones on post-burn sites, post-harvest sites, and grassy areas. It seems the post-burn sites are best and high severity burn sites are the best sites for drones.

Timing is everything in these planting operations, which now operate earlier in the season, depending on weather. They have been successful in areas with reasonably high precipitation. Wet summers are better.

Grassy areas are not effective, grass competes too successfully with the tree seeds, so they use pellets, and collect significant quantities of wild seeds, which seeds are then encased in a mixture (proprietary) in encasements, including moisture retention material. The germination rate is quite high, said Innes.

Drones are constantly improving, and the technology of drones tends to be evolving rapidly, with planting capacity increasing progressively at a rate of 1000 percent capacity growth over the past couple of years. They can distribute 100,000 seed pods per day depending on number of drones deployed.

Planting drones now carry LIDAR and other technology. Early drones had smaller capacity, 80 pods, now they have the capacity for a million pods per day using three operational drones. The pods are fired into the ground, velocity and height are variables. Current drones fly high, but in the future the drones will fly lower with obstacle avoidance technology.

They geolocate every pod fired. Germination success is closely monitored by surveys. Top-up flights will be undertaken at sites with low success rates. The goal is to produce growth out of 20 percent of the seed, wasting 4 out of 5.

The question is, will drones replace tree planters?

Drones are cheaper and faster and do replacement planting both faster and easier, but mortality rates are higher. Drones can work in areas where tree planters have problems, steep sites, high bug areas, and sites with health issues like fire areas with ash. There are sites in Alberta where drones are operating in the north because it's hard for tree planters to get in there.

Drones are catching up and AI is moving things ahead, LIDAR on drones is one of the amazing advancements. The pellets and germination success rates are improving. But there will always be room for tree planters, says Innes.

Tree planting involves intuitive practices by planters, and these sensitivities are being emphasized by drone companies. Drones are dropping seeds obtained from the wild, while in tree planting, improved seed stock comes from nurseries. Two hundred kilos of wild seeds were collected by FlashForest this year. There is no apparent problems with seed supply at present. B.C. has seed zones, and A class seed is expensive. Seed lines up with the area being planted and seed transfer rules apply to drone planters just as they do to tree planters. "We need to make sure the seed rules are being followed." Wastage could be an issue while trees produce huge volumes of seeds.

Drones are mainly deployed to try to get forest cover back into place. They aren't being used to make harvestable forests at present.

It will become a numbers game, and drones will reforest areas affordably that might not be planted otherwise. Furthermore, tree planters will be drone pilots.

Optimium sites for drones are post fire sites, whereas cut sites are less drone worthy with all the slash impeding successful seed placements. "Drones could still surprise us," says John Betts, "but don't turn in your shovels just yet, planters."

NPAFC reports on wild salmon in the North Pacific Ocean

North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission Technical Report #18. . . 

is the summary of what scientists found so far from ocean expeditions to the North Pacific in the study of Pacific salmon.

TECHNICAL REPORT NO.18 (2022)

Virtual Conference on Winter Ecology of Pacific Salmon and Results from the Two Gulf of Alaska Expeditions April 20–22, 2021 in Canada and USA April 21–23, 2021 in Japan, Korea, and Russia

https://npafc.org/wp-content/uploads/technical-reports/Tech-Report-18-DOI/Technical-Report-18.pdf

The highlights are:

1 - pink salmon are much farther south in the winter and not competing for food with sockeye as scientists thought. This is important as these scientists thought that hatchery pink salmon were affecting sockeye salmon abundance.

2- coho and chum salmon were observed to be in schools. One large coho school had populations of coho from Oregon to Alaska. This is amazing as they had to find each other.

3- there were not many predators and this is important as scientists considered that predators were controlling abundance.

4 - steelhead live in the top few meters of the ocean and thus are affected more than other salmon by ecosystem changes.

5 - the abundances of BC chum salmon were very small possibly providing a method of forecasting adult returns several years ahead of the return.

6 - juvenile Fraser River sockeye salmon in their first ocean winter can be way out in the middle of the Pacific and much farther west than previously thought. You can read about all of this in the report.

Dick Beamish

The NPAFC technical report contains this as a high-level summary:

1. The 2019 and 2020 winter expeditions to the Gulf of Alaska were the first Canadian studies of this kind since the late 1960s and the first to include an international team of researchers. All researchers volunteered their participation and agreed that all data would be publicly available (see at https://iys.hakai.org/dataset). The two expeditions were the first high seas Pacific salmon research to be privately funded and organized.

2. The research applied a variety of methodologies to study the salmon and their ecosystem:
a. DNA stock identification (including first trials of on-board analyses, Deeg et al. 2021);
b. Environmental-DNA sampling (Deeg et al. 2021);
c. Pathogens and health (Deeg et al. 2022);
d. Body composition studies to examine fish condition (Waters et al. 2022);
e. Use of stable isotopes to examine dietary overlap between species (see Espinasse et al. 2020); and,
f. A comprehensive array of oceanographic measurements.
There was evidence that coho salmon can form large schools in the winter with fish from populations ranging from Oregon to Alaska.

3. The first estimates of the total population of Pacific salmon within the survey areas were made using the method developed by Russia and applied to our data by A. Somov (TNIRO, pers. comm.). When estimates were adjusted for equal sampling areas, the total population estimate was essentially identical at 54.95 million salmon in 2019 and 55.2 million salmon in 2020, over an area of 697,500 km2. It was fortuitous that the studies occurred during an unpreceded marine heat wave in the Gulf of Alaska. These abundance estimates were made at a time in 2019 when there were historic poor salmon returns to British Columbia in the fall of 2019, and in 2020 when there was a collapse of the salmon catches in all countries resulting in a total commercial catch equal to low catches in the early 1980s.

4. Extensive oceanographic survey (Pakhomov et al. 2022) plus our biological sampling enabled us to begin to associate winter environments with salmon abundance, distribution and diet. A major objective of the expeditions was to understand how climate and ocean conditions that affected growth in the coastal ocean was related to salmon survival in the first ocean winter. Pacific salmon species are different and behave differently in the winter ocean, therefore decreasing the interspecific competition between them (Radchenko 2022). Ross and Pena (2022) provided an historical perspective of the ocean environment in 2019 and 2020 based on Canada’s longest time series of Pacific Ocean observations along Line P and at Canada’s Weather Station Papa (50oN, 145oW). In total, sampling along Line P now provides 75 years of detailed oceanographic data (Pena and Bograd 2007).

5. Our collaborations between countries demonstrated the value of international cooperation, particularly in studying Pacific salmon in an open environment the breadth of the North Pacific Ocean. These surveys were highly informative and demonstrated the utility of trawl nets to sample Pacific salmon in the deep-water marine environments, but there are certainly further questions to address. Principle in them is the effectiveness of the trawls to representatively sample the fish community in the surface layers, including the species composition of salmon and in the broader fish community. It was notable that trawl catches did not include many salmon predators or competitors in both the 2019 and 2020 expeditions. In 2022, a charter vessel will utilize Japanese research gillnets to compare catches with trawlers fishing at similar times and places.

The 148 Page Technical Report #18 (condensed below) begins with the following:

"The abundance estimates of all Pacific salmon in the survey area in 2019 and 2020 were made using the methods of Russian scientists (Volvenko 1999, 2000). The estimates of 54.95 million fish in 2019 and 51.3 million in 2020 were similar but much lower than expected. However, commercial salmon catches in British Columbia in 2019 and 2020 were at historic lows and catches in Southeast Alaska were at low levels in 2019 and 2020. Chum salmon returns to Japan also continued their decline in 2019 and 2020. In addition, there was a basin-scale collapse of all Pacific salmon commercial catches in 2020 with the total catch by all countries declining to levels of the early 1980s. Thus it was possible the unexpected low abundance in our survey catches was a consequence of extremely low abundances in the Gulf of Alaska in the winters of 2019 and 2020. At the same time, there was an unprecedented marine heat wave in the Gulf of Alaska from 2014 to the end of 2019 (Bond et al. 2015; DiLorenzo and Mantua 2016; Cornwall 2019; Suryan et al. 2021). It is unclear if the unique appearance of the marine heat wave was responsible for the low abundances of salmon, but it should be clear that there needs to be a much better understanding of the factors affecting the ocean survival of Pacific salmon if we are to be responsible stewards of Pacific salmon in a future of rapidly changing ocean ecosystems as occurred from 2014 to 2019."

https://npafc.org/wp-content/uploads/technical-reports/Tech-Report-18-DOI/Technical-Report-18.pdf

Page 12 "Chum salmon O. keta are the most abundant salmon in the North Pacific Ocean. Some experts placed chum salmon second (e.g., Fukuwaka et al. 2007), thereby missing the point of existence of several year classes spending mainly three-four winters at sea. Chum salmon are also the most “domesticized” salmon, considering the proportion of hatchery-originated stocks in the total species abundance. Japan led in chum salmon hatchery propagation and fishery harvest before the mid of the last decade. Then, unexpected, a decline of the chum salmon run happened, which is more frequently explained by the climate warming and deterioration of environmental conditions for salmon at the southern edge of their areas. Total chum salmon harvest in the North Pacific gradually declined since 2015."

Page 14 "The 2019 Gulf of Alaska survey clearly showed sockeye salmon adherence to subarctic waters with two-layer structure. Nine of ten sockeye salmon catches larger than 1 fish/hour occurred northwards of latitude 52ºN, where the surface mixed layer was notably thinner - about 50 m, than the area southwards with the mixed layer depth below to 100 m (Pakhomov et al. 2019). This circumstance can impact the increase of sockeye trawl catches both due to a salmon distribution density increase throughout the area of better food conditions and due to the shrinking of the vertical distribution range. It is known that sockeye salmon are good divers, and this salmon prefers to feed near the thermocline, where vertically migrating zooplankton are accumulated due to a concentrating effect of any physical border. Such feeding behaviour can partially explain the notable prevalence of sockeye salmon night-time catches before daytime catches in our winter surveys. Biologically, sockeye salmon are more adapted to feed visually at dusk. They possess bigger eyes, adapted for visual detection of food at dusk and have many midwater zooplankton and nekton prey in their diet. In addition, sockeye salmon display a similar pattern of daily redistribution in the freshwater period in big lakes (Clark and Levy 1988)"

Page 15 "In February - March 2009, coho salmon catches were larger than in the trawl survey in the Gulf of Alaska in 2019. In the spring of 1991, coho salmon were captured at the southern limits of that survey area only. In early February 2019, during the R/V’s Professor Kaganovskiy passage to Vancouver, coho salmon were found in catches of only three out of nine trawl hauls in a small amount. It looks like quickly migrating coho salmon can be found here and there in offshore central and eastern North Pacific during winter.

At the same time, coho salmon can be found year-round throughout the North American shelf. Despite the proportion of coho abundance in the Strait of Georgia and the oceanward side of Vancouver Island changes between autumn and winter, notable numbers of coho salmon dwell in the near-coastal zone even in the most severe season. Along the western coast of Vancouver Island, coho salmon can be found in significant abundance in all winter months (Beacham et al. 2016). This is why coho salmon are always considered as the salmon species with a mostly near-coastal distribution in winter."

Page 15 "Chinook salmon are a relatively rare salmon in the trawl catches in upper pelagic layer. Juvenile and immature Chinook salmon keep themselves dispersed and were mostly captured by trawl in single numbers later in winter and spring. Few Chinook salmon were captured in the Gulf of Alaska in February - March 2019, in April - May of 1990, and in February of 2006 until R/V Pacific Legacy captured almost 30 fish at the southwestern coast of the Vancouver Island in April 2020. In the western North Pacific, juveniles of the first ocean winter predominate in catches in autumn and early winter. In October, they start migrating from the shelf water domain to deep-water areas with a general south-eastern direction. Near the eastern Kamchatka Peninsula coast, the peak of Chinook salmon outmigrant abundance is reached in November while most of them migrate further to the Subarctic Current area in December and January."

Page 16 "Chinook salmon were found throughout the whole outer shelf and upper continental slope from the Olyutorsky Bay to the Bristol Canyon (Radchenko and Glebov 1998). Chinook bycatch in the walleye pollock fishery is an important fisheries management problem. Despite all measures undertaken, including fishery restriction in areas of the most frequent salmon occurrence, Chinook salmon bycatch still exceeds 15,000 fish per year including salmon from every major North American stocks (NPMFC data, https://www.npfmc.org/bsaisalmon-bycatch/salmon-bycatch/)."

Page 16 "Based on diet studies, the Chinook salmon near-bottom distribution can be related with its major prey distribution. In summer, Chinook salmon of the first and second marine years mostly consume juvenile squid dwelling in the upper pelagic layer while older salmon hunt for larger squid, keeping themselves in the near-bottom realm. Chinook salmon measurements in the Bering Sea showed that pelagic trawl catches mostly consisted of younger salmon while the bottom trawl catches were for older and larger fish (Radchenko and Glebov 1998). This is also evident in an example of Chinook salmon behaviour with the Data Storage Tag. In its second winter, this fish started diving deeper and spending more time in at depth (Myers et al. 2016). In the Strait of Georgia, overwintering Chinook salmon mostly prey for forage fish and present an important prey for residential orca whale populations (Riddell et al. 2018)."

Page 17 "The ocean distribution of salmon is complex and variable, depending on spatio-temporal scale and synergies among heredity, environment, population dynamics, and phenotypic plasticity (Myers et al. 2016). Recently, new information was collected in scarcely studied regions and seasons, and summary reviews were published on the marine life phase of Pacific salmon (Shuntov and Temnykh 2008, 2011; Beamish 2018; Pakhomov et al. 2019; Somov et al. 2020). Nevertheless, considering salmon wintering in high seas, scientists remain puzzled and often say contradictory things (as shown by Shuntov et al. 2017). In this review, species-specific distinctions in salmon ecology are highlighted that determine differences in species distributions, migrations, feeding habits, and trophic relationships and should be taken into account during planning of further salmon studies in the winter ocean."

Page 17 "The cherry salmon migration pathway from the western Kamchatka coast lays across the southern Sea of Okhotsk where it can occur in relatively high abundance up to 15–21 fish per hour (Shuntov and Temnykh 2011). In winter, as well as during spring - summer migrations, cherry salmon feed intensively. The basis of their diet are small fish including Japanese anchovy, capelin, sand lance, juveniles of arabesque greenling, walleye pollock, as well as squid and amphipods (Shuntov and Temnykh 2011). Despite cherry salmon staying mostly in the marginal seas, it also can be preyed upon by pelagic predatory fish of the ocean realm. In August 1994, we had a rare observation of cherry salmon preyed upon by daggertooth. A daggertooth specimen with two cherry salmon in its stomach was caught in the upper layer in the Sea of Okhotsk off the Northern Kurile Islands (Radchenko and Semenchenko 1996)"

Page 42 "Keywords: lamprey, salmon shark, dogfish shark, marine mammal, daggertooth, wounds, scars Predation on Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) at sea remains one of the big “unknowns” for salmon marine ecology (Pearcy 1992; Beamish 2018). The answers to basic questions such as who are the major predators (fish, birds, marine mammals), whether predation is random or selective (e.g., based on size or health), or how it varies in space and time are all poorly understood. Perhaps the biggest challenge to understanding predation is discovering predators “in the act” of preying on salmon by finding salmon remains in predator stomachs. "

Page 49 "Together, chum, pink, and sockeye showed lower Relative Infection Burden (RIB) in the GoA compared to coastal British Columbia (BC) (Fig. 1a). In contrast, RIB in coho was higher in the GoA than in coastal waters (Fig. 1a), although the number of infectious agents as well as their diversity was lower in the GoA for all species (Fig. 1a, b). This suggests that the higher RIB in coho in the GoA is due to the higher loads of VER, Loma sp., and I. hoferi. "

Page 56 "Results of this study demonstrated substantial annual differences in cephalopod abundance and composition in winter period in the Gulf of Alaska. For example, in 2019, B. borealis was the most frequently caught squid (~81%) which also dominated by weight (~60%). In 2020, A. felis was the most abundant (~47%), however O. borealijaponica dominated by weight (~58%). Squid distribution and abundance differences most likely were related to oceanographic conditions (0.33 ℃ cooler in 2019; developing spring bloom in 2020; change in water movements) and methodology (shallower vertical net opening in 2020). Cephalopod larvae occurrence in Juday nets (B. borealis, G. onyx, J. diaphana, T. borealis) confirm that these species use the winter in the GoA as a spawning and nursing ground. Applying molecular techniques showed better catch-eDNA reads agreement in 2020, when an addition of bleach deactivator (sodium thiosulfate) was introduced into the sampling protocol. Although, results of eDNA analysis faced a few challenges (e.g., the need for an improved references database - sequence data and taxonomy), it did provide very promising results and indications that it can greatly improve verification of species identification and monitoring in the future. Overall, squid winter studies proved to be a valuable addition to salmon studies."

Page 64 "Sustainable use of salmon resources is based on accurate forecasting of stock abundance. In Kamchatka, forecasting of the Pacific salmon stock abundance is largely based on the Ricker model, i.e.,stock-recruitment (Ricker 1954; Shepherd 1982), or standard sibling model that forecasts abundance of a given age-class for a given year based on the abundance of the previous age-class in the previous year (Peterman 1982). Autumn surveys in the southwestern Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk study juvenile salmon seaward migration. Trawl catches from these surveys are used as empirical data for pink and chum salmon in the model “juvenile fish at sea-offspring returns”.

Forecasts also utilize data on juvenile salmon abundance in rivers. These data were obtained by enumerating salmon juveniles in traps at selected streams in Eastern and Western Kamchatka. Ecological indicators can play an important role in making decisions about the catch forecast. Math modeling is always limited by a number of predictors and by the method’s errors. Fish abundance is the main and often the only predictor used in forecasting. In such a case for Pacific salmon, multi-factor characteristics of the environment is hardly considered that reduces the forecast informativity (Urawa et al. 2016)."

Page 72 "Introduction - A major objective of the two expeditions was to improve the understanding of the winter ecology of sockeye salmon in the open ocean with a specific focus on fish originating from British Columbia (BC). Methods and preliminary results are summarized in two reports by Pakhomov et al. (2019) and Somov et al. (2020). In this report, we repeat some of the catch results from these two reports, but focus on the highlights as they relate to new analyses and interpretations with a focus on sockeye salmon originating from the Fraser River in BC.

Most sockeye salmon spend 1 to 3 years in fresh water before migrating into coastal areas in the spring. They move offshore in the summer and winter where they remain for 1 to 3 years before returning to natal rivers to spawn in the late summer and fall (Burgner 1991; Farley et al. 2018). Average annual commercial catches of sockeye salmon by all countries in recent years from 2000 to 2020 averaged 16.5% of the total weight of all commercially caught Pacific salmon. Since 2000, the commercial catch of sockeye salmon by all countries has an increasing trend with an average from 2000 to 2020 of 148,904 MT. Over the period from 2000 to 2020, Alaska catches averaged 109,537 MT, Russian catches averaged 32,933 MT and Canada (BC) averaged 6,427 MT. However, in BC, the recent catches in 2019 and 2020 were 2.4% and 2.7% of the average catch from 2000 to 2020. Thus, as commercial catches were increasing in Alaska and Russia, they were declining in Canada with a major collapse in 2019 and 2020. There is no clear understanding of the cause of this collapse; however, the first two expeditions are providing new information on the ocean residency of sockeye salmon that will help direct future research.

General results

The Gulf of Alaska expeditions were conducted from February 19 to March 17, 2019 and March 12 to April 6, 2020. In 2019 fishing was conducted by the Russian research vessel Professor Kaganovskiy (Pakhomov et al. 2019) and in 2020 the fishing was conducted by the Canadian commercial trawler Pacific Legacy (Somov et al. 2020). There were 64 sets completed in 2019 and 52 sets completed in 2020, however sampling locations varied (Fig. 1) due to a combination of weather and a requirement to refuel mid-trip during the 2020 expedition. In both years most sets were conducted south of 52oN and west of 137.5oW (2019 - 50%; 2020 - 65%; southwest quadrant; Table 1). In 2019 the northwest region of the survey area (north of 52oN and west of 137.5oW; northwest quadrant) had 37.5% of the sets with no sets in the northeast (north of 52oN and east of 137.5oW; northeast quadrant; Table 1). In comparison, in 2020 there were only 2% of the sets in the northwest quadrant but 31% of the sets in the northeast quadrant. Additionally, in 2020, 25% of the sets were conducted in the southeast region of the study area (south of 52oN and east of 137.5oW; southeast quadrant) whereas in 2019 13% of the sets were in this region (Fig. 1; Table 1)."

Page 75 - "Ocean migration pattern of sockeye salmon from the Fraser River and other areas around the Gulf of Alaska: Juvenile sockeye salmon from the Fraser River and other rivers from Washington State to SE Alaska mostly spend two winters in the ocean (Burgner 1991; Farley et al. 2018). Ocean entry times vary, but in general, the coastal residence time is short, with juveniles moving offshore in summer and migrating quickly in a counterclockwise direction north. The counter-clockwise movement was proposed by French et al. (1976) and by Hartt and Dell (1986). The reasons for this interpretation were summarized by Burgner (1991) and Farley et al. (2018). More recent stock identification methods using DNA generally support this proposed interpretation of a rapid movement northward with residence in the Gulf of Alaska for two winters before returning to spawn in natal rivers (Tucker et al. 2009; Beacham et al. 2014); however, sampling for the work supporting this migration model was focussed within the coastal areas. "

Page 77 "There should be little doubt that it is time to understand where sockeye salmon are in the two years of their ocean residence and what might affect their distributions. As ocean warming events (Bond et al. 2015; Cavole et al. 2016; DiLorenzo and Mantua 2016) increase in frequency and other climate related changes in ocean conditions occur that affect sockeye salmon, this understanding becomes an essential contribution to forecasting returns and to understanding the future of sockeye salmon production in the Fraser River and other rivers."

"Conclusion We suggest that the surprising poor returns of sockeye salmon returns to British Columbia in 2019 and 2020 identify the necessity to expand research to provide a bigger picture and more complete understanding of the factors that regulate sockeye salmon abundance in the ocean. We suggest that the data collected in 2019 and 2020 should not be dismissed as being too small to be of use, but to be the first indication that more effort will provide new methods of forecasting and stewardship."

Page 119 "British Columbia and Washington State sockeye salmon indices of BC sockeye salmon systems are run reconstructions for major river systems to account for
differences in fishery removals over time; these indices include the Nass River, the Skeena River, Barkley Sound sockeye (southwest coast of Vancouver Island), and the Fraser River (Fig. 4). These reconstructions involve multiple sockeye populations within each watershed. To account for the cyclic dominance in Fraser River sockeye salmon and wide differences in the abundance between lines (Roos 1991), baseline averages and deviations were calculated within cycle lines. Each reconstruction is based on quantitative estimation of spawning abundance, total catches in fisheries along their adult migration routes, and were consistently conducted during this period.

For these BC indices, sockeye returns have been less than baseline averages in recent years: Nass River, -33 to -51% since 2016; Skeena River, -15% to -59% with the greatest reduction in 2019; in Barkley Sound, -46% to -72% with the largest deviation in 2019; and for Fraser River, a progressive decline from -42% in 2015 to -90% in 2020. In Washington State, sockeye indices were examined for Baker Lake (Skagit River, Puget Sound), Lake Washington (Puget Sound), and Columbia River. Trends in these sockeye populations each differ. Returns to Baker Lake have been rebuilding from hundreds of sockeye in the 1980s to ~20,000 during the past decade. Pattern of sockeye returns to Washington Lake (Fig. 5) in 2019 and 2020 were 89% and 86% less than their baseline average, and have similar trend to Fraser River sockeye. In the Columbia River, sockeye returns have been improving over the past decade but reductions were observed between 2017 and 2019, followed by an above average return in 2020 (Fig. 5). Other smaller sockeye populations in Washington State (Gustafson et al. 1997) were not assessed."

Page 128 "Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) While the abundance of coho salmon was expected to be very limited compared to sockeye, pink, and chum salmon in the deep-water environments of the Gulf of Alaska, coho salmon were widely distributed and commonly caught in both 2019 and 2020 winter expeditions (Beamish et al. 2022 this volume). The distribution of coho salmon throughout the Gulf of Alaska was one of the most interesting observations."

Read the report in its entirety here: https://npafc.org/wp-content/uploads/technical-reports/Tech-Report-18-DOI/Technical-Report-18.pdf

This Condensed Material from NPAFC Publications was posted to McColl Magazine as a review, and assembled by Mack McColl on July of 2022

April is Construction Month

Carpenters' Regional Council of BC

By Mark Derton, CRC of BC President

This year, B.C.’s construction industry celebrates the fourth annual Construction and Skilled Trades Month in April.

I would like to thank and recognize the sacrifices and important efforts made by our members every day in every region of B.C. When the women and men of our union lace up their boots and head out the door to provide for their families, they contribute to the economy, help sustain jobs in other sectors, and help build the community. In B.C., up to $100 billion in construction projects can be underway at any given time, which represents over 8% of the province’s gross domestic product.

Our industry was declared an essential service throughout the pandemic, and CRC members have consistently provided their talents and commitment to contractors and clients, working safely under Covid guidelines and additional regulations. Large projects have introduced strict safety protocols, and we have had to adapt new practices. There have been very few cases of Covid-19 in the construction industry, with union jobsites being among the safest. Thank you for staying safe and looking out for each other.

The construction sector and trades-workers are set to play a major part in the province’s post‑pandemic economic recovery plan. Skilled tradespeople are going to be crucial and relied upon for major industrial projects and massive infrastructure investments.

Today, the CRC is busy training the next generation of construction workers to carry on the important work UBC members have been doing in B.C. for over 100 years.

Submitted by CRC of BC and Canada to McColl Magazine

Major Economic Damage, Job Losses, If Salmon Farm Licenses Are Not Renewed

  Feb. 23rd, 2022

BC COASTAL COMMUNITIES FACE MAJOR ECONOMIC DAMAGE, JOB LOSSES IF SALMON FARM LICENCES ARE NOT REISSUED BY DFO CAMPBELL RIVER, BC –

NEW ECONOMIC ANALYSIS REVEALS MORE THAN 4,700 JOBS and $1.2 BILLION IN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY AT RISK IF 79 LICENCES NOT REISSUED

BC Salmon Farmers Association

The BC Salmon Farmers Association have released an independent economic analysis outlining the consequences to BC’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous coastal communities if 79 salmon farming licenses are not reissued by the federal government by June 2022. The report by RIAS Inc. found BC would lose more than 4,700 jobs, $1.2 billion in economic activity annually, and $427 million in GDP if these licences aren’t renewed.

An additional $200 million in economic activity and 900 jobs would be lost outside of BC. Federal aquaculture licences at 79 BC salmon farms are due to expire on June 30, 2022. Eighty per cent of these salmon farms operate in agreement with the First Nations in whose territories they operate in. For these salmon farms to continue producing a sustainable alternative to declining wild salmon stocks, while working with First Nations, their licences must be reissued by the new Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Minister Joyce Murray.

In December 2020, former DFO Minister Bernadette Jordan failed to reissue licences for salmon farms operating in the Discovery Islands, creating economic hardship and uncertainty for many of BC’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous coastal communities. In making her decision, Minister Jordan ignored the scientific consensus that salmon farms do not pose more than minimal risk to wild Pacific salmon, as well as her own department’s advice.

The decision is currently before the courts in the form of a judicial review. If the 79 licences up for renewal are not reissued, Indigenous and non-Indigenous coastal communities will face even greater devastation. “Coastal communities in BC deserve better, especially during an ongoing pandemic that has already caused severe stress, mental health strain, and economic pressure on many families, households and communities,” says Ruth Salmon, Interim Executive Director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association.

“After years of instability and concern, these communities deserve a secure and prosperous future,” says Salmon. To minimize any further loss to coastal communities, BC Salmon Farmers need legitimate reissuance of all 79 licences. The reissuing of these licences would drive BC and Canada’s economic recovery, deliver on Indigenous reconciliation, support the restoration of wild salmon populations, safeguard Canada’s food security and sustainability, enhance Canada’s contribution to climate change mitigation, and align with the federal government’s Blue Economy agenda as outlined in the 2021 Speech from the Throne. “We invite Minister Murray to visit the affected rural, coastal communities to better understand the integral role salmon farming plays to the socio-economic wellness of these small towns,” says Salmon.

Find the full report here: https://bcsalmonfarmers.ca/licences/

Find the Impact Map on Coastal Communities here: https://map.bcsalmonfarmers.ca/

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: BC’s salmon farming sector is the provinces #1 seafood export, #1 agri-food export, and is designated an essential service by Federal and Provincial governments. BC Salmon Farmers hold agreements with 17 First Nations on B.C.’s coast. 79 (all remaining) federal finfish aquaculture licences will expire on June 30, 2022. More than 4,700 well-paid jobs are at risk in communities like Courtenay, Comox, Cumberland, Port Hardy, Port McNeil, Tofino, Ucluelet, and Port Alberni. About the BC Salmon Farmers Association: Farm-raised salmon is B.C.’s highest valued seafood product, the province’s top agricultural export, and generates over $1.6 billion towards the B.C. economy, resulting in thousands of jobs. The B.C. Salmon Farmers Association represents over 60 businesses and organizations throughout the value chain of finfish aquaculture in B.C. Our members account for over 95% of the annual provincial harvest of farm-raised salmon in British Columbia.

Made-in-BC Semi-closed System Installed at Grieg Seafood BC Farms in Esperanza Inlet

After trialing a made-in-BC semi-closed technology solution at its farms off the Sunshine Coast region, Grieg Seafood BC Ltd. (Grieg) has announced it will be proceeding with the installation of these semi-closed system at all three of its farms in Esperanza Inlet, off the west coast of Vancouver Island.

The new CO2L Flow system (pronounced Cool Flow) is a form of semi-closed containment, which allows for farmers to raise or lower custom designed farm enclosures – ensuring the farmed fish benefit from natural ocean conditions, while also providing protection for wild salmon. The system has been used successfully to rear several generations of fish at Grieg’s farms in the Sunshine Coast region. 

In all the trials, farmers noted better growth, lower mortality, better feed conversion rates (meaning the fish are more effective at converting feed into growth), and most significantly - a dramatic reduction in the need for sea lice treatments.

“As a company, we are always looking for ways to improve our operations, and this includes transitioning from standard farming equipment, to new, cutting-edge technology aimed at reducing potential impacts from our operations. This new system utilizes retractable barriers, which are capable of being lowered to 15 metres, fully encapsulating the sides of the farm. This has several benefits, including preventing the lateral interaction of wild and farmed salmon populations, providing protection for farmed populations from harmful algae, and allowing our farmers to better control water quality in the system using a unique aeration technology,” says Rocky Boschman, Managing Director for Grieg Seafood BC Ltd.

“As ocean-based farmers, one of the most common questions or concerns we hear is regarding sea lice, and the transfer of lice between wild and farmed populations. The CO2 L Flow system with its barrier protection has resulted in drastically reduced sea lice numbers on the farmed population, which in turn reduces the need for us to treat. During the trial period at our west coast site, we were able to keep sea lice levels so low that the fish did not require treatment for lice. Overall, we are pleased with the results and there is no denying that this new system represents a transition towards what in-ocean farms can one day become.”

What sets this system apart from others is the use of local knowledge, and on-the-ground learning to guide the development of a system which would work in partnership with nature to address challenges.

“I have been farming in these waters for over 30 years. In that time, I have learned that nature is the best engineer. If you want to find a solution, you need to work with the ocean and the natural conditions. So, when we started looking at how we could adapt semi-closed technology into our operations, we looked first and foremost to the oceans’ naturally occurring deep, clean water as a guide,“ says Dean Trethewey, Seawater Production, Certifications and Regulatory Director.

“The CO2L Flow Max system has taken some tried and true technology, such as sea lice curtains, and paired them with cutting edge aeration technology, to create a completely new system. During sensitive wild salmon migration periods or times when we know there is harmful algae in the region, we can lower the barriers on the farm, forming a barrier between the wild salmon and the farmed population, this prevents lateral interaction, and significantly reduces the transmission of sea lice between the populations. The barriers can be fully lifted outside of these periods, allowing the farmed fish to benefit from natural ocean conditions, temperatures, currents, and oxygen levels.”

To bring this technology to life, Grieg relied on the expertise, knowledge and successful collaboration with several Vancouver Island based technology and services companies – like CPI Equipment and Poseidon Ocean Systems. A leading international oxygen solution company, Oxzo Technologies, was also involved in the creation of some components for the system.

Although the system has shown amazing results in initial trials, Grieg continues to look for ways to improve the system to help further reduce any potential impacts from its operations.

“As a company, we will continue to look for ways in which we can innovate and continue to improve our operations. Currently, the new system already has tremendous benefits through the elimination of lateral interaction between wild and farmed populations and provides both welfare and performance benefits for our farmed salmon – but it doesn’t collect solid waste which is the next opportunity we want to address. We are continuing to look for solutions that will support the recovery of solid waste and ways in which it could be used for some type of value-add product like fertilizer or soil enrichment,” added Boschman. “We will continue to look to nature, local technology, and our farmers to help provide us with solutions as we continue to innovate, transition and improve.”

The system will be installed at all three farms in Esperanza Inlet (Lutes Creek farm, Steamer Point farm and the Esperanza farm) in time for the outmigration of juvenile wild salmon in early 2023.

CO2L Flow system quick facts and additional Information: 

• Grieg Seafood launched the first trial of the system in 2019

• Since then, three pilot cycles of fish have been raised in the system

• Overall, fish raised in the system see an average increase of 40 per cent in growth, a 19 per cent (19%) increase in survival, and a 13 per cent (13%) improvement in feed conversion ratio (FCR)

• The system uses retractable barriers to ensure there is no lateral transmission between wild and farmed salmon populations – which is important during the critical in and out wild salmon migration periods

• During periods when the barriers are down, the system uses an innovative, cutting-edge oxygen technology, to address low-oxygen levels within the farm system - helping to ensure the welfare of the farmed population

• To date, Grieg Seafood BC has seen a dramatic reduction in the frequency or need to treat farmed populations within the system for sea lice

• The system is unique in that it can be adapted to fit existing Grieg Seafood farm sites

• The system is sourced and built locally, contributing to the local economy and supporting the development of innovation and technology on North Vancouver Island

• Moving forward, Grieg Seafood will continue to look for ways to collect solid waste for value added products such as fertilizer or enriched soils

Kris McNichol, President, CPI Equipment Inc., says, “CPI Equipment Inc. is proud to partner with Grieg Seafood BC on their full-scale CO2L Flow semi-closed system in 2022. Over the past two years, CPI has worked diligently with Grieg Seafood on trials to improve the efficiency of oxygen transfer to seawater in their sea pens by using CPI’s ODiN Aerations system in conjunction with Moleaer’s nanotechnology. By achieving a greater supply of water quality within the semi-closed environment, we have been able to support the creation of a new ocean-based system. Working with our customers for over 20 years and striving to develop better technology within the aquaculture market both locally and internationally is an important part of our company's success. The knowledge-sharing and teamwork between Grieg Seafood and CPI Equipment shows how people, ideas, and new technology can collaborate to meet the needs of aquaculture for the future.

Heather Clarke, Co-Founder, Poseidon Ocean Systems, says, “When we were first approached by Grieg Seafood to collaborate on the new semi-closed technology they were developing, we jumped at the opportunity as this project will not only provide solutions to global problems, but also addresses some of the biggest challenges faced by the industry in terms of sea lice, algae, and improved conditions within the farm system. Poseidon is a Campbell River based company, which was founded only six years ago. Because of the vision of industry leaders like Grieg Seafood who are committed to constant improvement, evolution and working head-on to address the concerns raised regarding salmon farming, we have been able to expand our business internationally to assist producers like Grieg Seafood and others meet their biggest challenges.”

Gonzalo Boehmwald, Commercial Assistant Manager Oxzo Technologies Canada, says, “This project – the CO2L Flow system - is demonstrating what is possible in salmon farming in terms of using innovation and new technology to improve operations, and Oxzo Technologies Canada is proud to be part of the team working on delivering these new systems for Grieg Seafood BC Ltd. Oxzo has been helping farmers find unique solutions for more than a decade using innovative and cost-effective solutions of supplemental aeration and oxygenation. Our proven, patented technologies and Grieg Seafood’s drive for innovation and overall operational improvements are a perfect fit."

A Red Seal takes you to next-level carpenter

Carpentry and building is the right choice of jobs and careers

Ryan Barker 31, was born and raised in Port Alberni, B.C.. "I went to school in Port Alberni, Nanaimo, and Victoria." The building industry caught his attention early, "I started in carpentry between grades 11 and 12 and that's why I went to Victoria to take a construction class in my final year of high school." Even as a teenager, "I was a construction labourer, mostly in roofing, and later I moved into house construction and renovation. I wanted to apprentice as a carpenter and within the first five years after school I think I had enough hours to do a Red Seal challenge," he laughs.

Work was sometimes sporadic, however, and there were times when getting the hours under apprenticeship was difficult. 'Basically I did the first year of apprenticeship early, then years later I did 2nd year," and he persisted in getting the work until finally, "I decided it was time to challenge the exam."

Enter Richard Dickenson, Integrated Carpentry Tutorials, "I found out about his course -- actually my wife saw it on Facebook, and she said I should apply to get on the list. I did the Prep for the Red Seal Exam course, which was delivered in Courtenay over three weeks."

Barker says, "I liked it, it was informal, with lots of information. It's math and a refresher to the memory on things like calculating volumes on concrete," (carpenters do a lot work in concrete; every inch of concrete has to be poured into a form) and all the intricacies on building stairs, trusses, joinery.

"The course was set at the right pace. You have to pay attention, you have to go ahead with all the assignments. For me it was right place at the right time."

On June 20th, 2017 Barker received his certificate of qualification for Red Seal Carpenter. All those years of building houses on the west coast of the island paid off. "I was employed by two different employers in all those years. We built dozens of houses in Ucluelet and and 100 houses in Tofino." He was experienced indeed.

So the time came to start his own business. "I started my own company five months ago, called R. Barker Contracting, in Port Alberni. I decided, why not? I had all the knowledge and all the tools over the years, and had been waiting for my journeyman ticket. Me and my wife made a couple of calls to the business bureau."

It was another move at the right time and the right place for Barker. "We've been super busy since then and I have six guys working for me now. We've been doing concrete slabs, sidewalks, retaining walls, concrete stairs, a lot of different projects keeping us busy through the summer, and now, two weeks ago, we started a house."

To be a contractor on a house construction you need to be a Red Seal. "We continue to do decks and siding and roofs and fencing. Whatever comes up, our name is out there for everything."

R. Barker Contracting is working in the city of Port Alberni. "I've got 2 carpenters and rest are labourers, two guys I picked up had run out of work, and I put an ad on Facebook to hire others."

Port Alberni is where the jobs are happening, which is great for a young man who spent so much time, 10 years, working out on the west coast of Vancouver Island. "Now I am home with the family at dinner time."

The current house building project is from start to finish, "Footings and foundations were done, now the floor system is being built, next is framing and then siding. It's 2,300 square feet and we will be on it for about six months on this build. We started it at the beginning of November and it's progressing well."

Running a business has its challenges, "The stress is there, I can sympathize with the people who employed me over the years. This past summer we would have four or five jobs on the go and I found myself trying to be in several places at once."

Barker's wife Tess does the bookwork and paper work, permit applications, other office duties. Tess and Ryan have two children, Ryson, 7, and a daughter of 4 named Brynlee.

The construction business in Port Alberni is competitive, "but we've managed to keep finding the work, There are quite a few other companies in town. At least the economy is pretty good for building right now."

R. Barker Contracting works right through the year, "Winter jobs are good, and we're enthusiastic about working year-round," including new builds, additions, and renovations.

Barker is from Tla-o-qui-aht Nation in Tofino, "I maintain connections and we spend time with family on the west coast."

Carpentry and building is the right choice of jobs and careers. "We're working anywhere from 8 to 12 hours a day. The Red Seal means everything to me. Ever since I was in high school I wanted to attain this designation." and being on job sites since his teenage years, he learned from the experienced hands that, "Having a Red Seal makes you a next-level carpenter."

Now he's apprenticing others in the trade, hours are going on the record, "Some of these guys are working toward the Red Seal certification and they have their hours going on the books."

Freelance Writing by  Mack McColl  

Seafood Section of McColl Magazine

B.C.’s Salmon Farmers Call for Reconsideration of Discovery Islands Decision: Feb. 23, 2021 - Based on the findings of an independent economic analysis released today, B.C.’s salmon farming community is calling on the federal government to set aside its decision to force the closure of farms in the Discovery Islands area and engage a new process.

North Pacific salmon study preparing for second expedition

What regulates salmon abundance?

The $1.4 million required to go ahead with the second North Pacific Salmon Study was raised over the winter of 2020, according to Richard Beamish and Brian Riddell the co-organizers of these important science expeditions to discover the unknown factors in Pacific salmon winter feeding behavior.

"We have one Canadian vessel, called the Pacific Legacy, and we leave March 11 for 25 days for the Gulf of Alaska," says Beamish.

It's a new, modern commercial trawler, he says, holding 12 scientists on this trip. The purpose follows last year's North Pacific salmon study expedition with the goal of understanding more about the salmon's winter feeding grounds of the Gulf of Alaska, when the five species of salmon are widely dispersed over this huge body of water.

The challenge is to understand what regulates salmon abundance from a multi-disciplinary and multi-national point of view. The expedition will be identifying fish by their DNA to produce the data on country of origin, including the river of origin. Scientists from Japan, Russia, USA, and Canada are involved.

They are looking at the behaviour of the fish under these winter conditions, only the second time a comprehensive expedition of this kind has been conducted in the North Pacific in winter. The focus is to understand what regulates the abundance of salmon. The study is in the winter because this is the most stressful period ,in the year for salmon. This year, the very warm water, named ‘The Blob” has returned and the scientists will determine how this warming event affects salmon survival. "Is the food source for the salmon affected by the water temperatures, and in what ways?" Are the salmon forced to deeper water with less food?

Support for the expedition comes privately and with some government funding and by the commercial fishing industry from Canada and USA.

"They survey a large area of the gulf where fish are widely dispersed," says Beamsh, "taking numerous samples from the salmon. The expedition follows a sampling plan that allows a large area to be surveyed. It's like polling for politics, taking small samples over a large area gives us population information including abundances. condition, health, diets, age, behavior and growth rates."

Beamish agrees this is a complicated scientific undertaking, and it requires a hardy spirit to take on the many tasks involved. The payoff is the new knowledge in understanding the behavior of these fish at a time when they face challenges of a changing environment and apparent losses in their survival rates.

Basic Need for Management Data

Brian Riddell has been raising money on behalf of the Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) and their involvement in Richard Beamish's scientific expeditions to study salmon on the North Pacific.

"Basically we have been reaching out to donors, especially in the commercial fishing industry, and they came forward with significant funding to put the second expedition in the North Pacific this March 2020," says Riddell.

He says the commercial fishermen are concerned about what they're seeing in salmon. "They want to help in identifying the changes. It's not the same picture everywhere on the west coast of Canada, but the Fraser sockeye return in 2019 was the lowest in the historical record."

The Fraser run is customarily huge, often exceeding 10 million fish, "These fish have met challenges this year as well, including the landslide called the Big Bar Incident: "In late June, a landslide in a remote, rugged canyon along the Fraser River north of Lillooet was reported to authorities. Huge pieces of rock from a 125-metre cliff had sheared off and crashed in to the river, creating a five-metre waterfall."

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/plants-animals-ecosystems/fish/fish-passage/big-bar-landslide-incident

"This incident made it worse because last year most of the returning fish were destined for the Upper Fraser watershed."

Riddell has spent his scientific career in the study of Pacific salmon. "I worked for many years in DFO doing stock assessments and genetics. I moved to the Pacific Salmon Foundation for 11 years and I retired, although I am presently working on raising funds on behalf of the PSF and acting as a science advisor to the organization."

PSF is a federally registered charity operating since 1989, providing funds to restore streams and operate conservation programs in B.C.. The Vancouver-centred organization fluctuates in size depending on the programs engaged.

The PSF supports the North Pacific Salmon Study endeavors of Beamish, "These expeditions require experienced people. Last year was atypical because they had good weather. It's difficult to travel out there in winter and work under those conditions."

The science will be conducted and results will flow to the Tula Foundation for data processing and management of the results. The process requires interpretation of data to learn the important details of fish numbers, condition of fish, genetic origins, "The goal is to learn what the fish are doing that is consistent with their returns to rivers of origin."

Ultimately they will be learning how to better forecast the timing and size of salmon runs. "There is a basic need for management data in every season."

Learning the Habits of Salmon

Eric Peterson started the Tula Foundation with Christina Munck at the end of 2001 with the general objective of pursuing "Innovation and Solutions in the Public Interest." They’ve run a number of programs including since 2010 the Hakai Institute, which pursues "Science on the Coastal Margin" of BC. That science includes a focus on oceanography and salmon science.

The Tula Foundation did early work with sockeye in Rivers and Smiths Inlets starting about 15 years ago, working with scientists from UBC and SFU. "At that time the mystery was the reason for the collapse of those two sockeye runs. Later it became evident that their collapse was part of a more general trend across the coast."

"At the end of 2009 we decided it was time to get serious, to establish a base of operations on the Central Coast, to hire staff, and to work more systematically with a long term plan,' says Peterson. They established an "ecological observatory" on Calvert Island, roughly halfway between Port Hardy and Bella Bella, and a few years later a second one on Quadra Island.

"We are soup to nuts on environmental data gathering (acquisition) to managing our own and our partners data." Peterson notes that he sat at the table where the North Pacific Ocean salmon studies were hatched in discussions about learning the habits of salmon in their winter feeding grounds, a task never before undertaken.

Tula Foundation offered to put data management resources on the table to the North Pacific Salmon Study partners. The organization has been engaged with DFO, Ocean Networks Canada, and other agencies and organizations involved with sustaining Pacific fisheries.

Tula Foundation will be presented with data on the oceanography as well as the feeding and food supplies of salmon, a second look after this area was visited in the Year of the Salmon 2019.

"Part of the challenge is to work with data and run it through a major process, and disseminate it. First of all, getting it organized to do this by taking data in Russian, Japanese, Korean, and English."

Peterson says it is an interesting challenge, "We are enthusiastic about being able to take this data and harmonize, analyze, and bring it all together. It will have scientific purpose and commercial purpose."

Peterson notes that the reasons for the collapse and lack of recovery of the Rivers Inlet and Smiths Inlet runs remain a mystery. Many factors — harvesting pressure, spawning habitat destruction, disease, may all have been factors — but there is no one "smoking gun".

"Confronted with such mysteries, experts have often said to me, 'oh it’s probably because of factors beyond our control out there in the open ocean.' I see these expeditions to the North Pacific as a positive step toward tackling these questions directly and resolving some of those mysteries. We like the fact that the nations around the rim of the North Pacific are all engaged in this effort."

The Tula Foundation also operates Hakai Magazine which publishes stories on "Coastal Science and Societies."

Freelance Writing  by Mack McColl

Wild Pacific salmon studied in North Pacific winter habitat

The study of salmon in their winter feeding grounds of the North Pacific will continue with the impending voyage of the Pacific Legacy, leaving Victoria March 11 and returning April 4, 2020.

"The intent is to investigate the winter ecology of salmon and the effects of changing water conditions," says Richard Beamish, who has been spearheading deeper research into the survival rates and behaviors of wild salmon in their ocean environment along with Brian Riddell.

Survival of salmon in their first year at sea seems to be the basis for essential understanding of the return rates of spawning salmon, says Beamish The effort of scientists from several Pacific Rim nations is focused on gaining new insights about the five Pacific salmon species in their winter habitat of the Gulf of Alaska.

The 12 scientists from Canada, USA, Japan, S. Korea, and Russia, will examine how much food is available when they spend their first year at sea. "To test the idea of the importance of the first year in the ocean you have to be out there," and this second voyage builds on observations made last winter in the gulf.

In 2019 British Columbia had the lowest salmon catch in history. It was only 1.5% of the total record high commercial catch in 1985. What are the basic fundamentals determining the survival rates? What is regulating the ocean? How do we become professional stewards of this resource?"

The ocean conditions for the fish are a complete mystery. One cannot stress the point enough about the lack of knowledge there is regarding the ocean effects of the salmon's life. Salmon spend about 75% of their life in the ocean and most of it is a secret.

"What is happening with ocean water temperatures? Salinity?" Wind, weather, and climate change. All these effects need close examination, and to do it you need to sail out and be there.

"There are changes affecting preferred prey, including currents and water chemistry.

The 12 scientists of various disciplines are funded by private donations from a wide variety of sources, especially commercial fishing companies in both Canada and the United States, and BC Salmon Farmers, "The donations have come both small and large," says Beamish. We were able to raise one million and three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

At the end of summer 2020, a major conference about Pacific salmon occurs in St. Petersburg, Russia, in September 21-23, 2020, where all participants and others will interpret results and publish the findings.

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Science of wild salmon report on North Pacific Ocean

The North Pacific Marine Science Organization held the PICES-2019 Annual Meeting in Victoria, B.C., Oct. 16-27, 2019, "Connecting Science and Communities in a Changing North Pacific"

Dr. Richard Beamish, one of the scientists behind the 'Year of the Salmon' expedition to the North Pacific last February by an international team of scientists of various disciplines, was in Victoria, B.C., to hear the emerging reports from the first expedition.

Meanwhile, Beamish and Brian Riddell are working with the Pacific Salmon Foundation to organize a second scientific expedition to the North Pacific the late winter/spring 2020.

Beamish says, the first expedition was very successful. They estimated that there were about 55 million salmon in the survey area. Abundances were large for chum and coho but much smaller for pink salmon (which should have been the most abundant).

Fraser River sockeye abundance was very low, possibly an indication of what is now expected to be returned. Fraser River sockeye were found farther west than previously known. Pending are the reports of the overall health of fish that were caught in the North Pacific and a test of the idea that abundance of salmon is determined by the end of the first ocean winter.

Beamish and Riddell with the support of the Pacific Salmon Foundation are raising funds for a second expedition. They have receive strong support from the British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund, a five-year funding program, established late in 2018, with 70 percent from Federal money and 30 percent from B.C. province money. The fund has been instrumental in supporting the study of salmon throughout B.C..

The underlying purpose of the salmon study expeditions to the North Pacific is to understand the mechanisms that regulate salmon abundance. "There is a mechanism that ensures a small percentage of salmon survive to return to the rivers to spawn."

Beamish has said the surviving 'spawners' have to be the 'fastest,' 'quickest' fish in the fight for survival in the oceans and that the eventual spawners must show a lot of strength in the early development phase of their four-year life-cycle. It's a fight for survival in the ocean.

In addition to the normal challenges to the salmon's survival, scientists are studying how climate change is changing ocean ecosystems. in the North Pacific. "The international scientific community has joined together as part of the International Year of the salmon to work cooperatively, to understand the effects of climate change on the salmon in the North Pacific," says Beamish.

The privately organized Gulf of Alaska Expeditions are an important facet of the salmon studies being done by researchers from several Pacific salmon producing countries.

Beard House Seafood Collaboration Dinner included Creative Organic Salmon

NEW YORK, NY - Chef Ned Bell celebrates sustainable seafood in all its forms. The Three Cheers for Seafood! dinner October 16 at The Beard House in New York, NY, was another fine example and for this meal, Creative Salmon Organic was on the menu.

Creative Salmon Organic is the first certified organic farm salmon producer in Canada and the only major farmer of Chinook – King – salmon in North America.

“This event was a celebration of National Seafood Month in the United States,” says British Columbia-based Chef Bell. “It was an opportunity to engage people in talking about and appreciating sustainable seafood.”

Chef Bell visited Creative Salmon Organic’s operation in Tofino, British Columbia, in 2017.

“Creative is organic. Creative is small scale. The focus is quality and it shows. Creative is a showcase for responsible salmon farming and it’s a pleasure to work with this product.”

Among the many spectacular menu items, the chefs prepared Slow-Roasted-and-Smoked Creative Salmon with Roasted Apples and Watercress, Black Pepper, and Brioche.

“It’s been a pleasure to collaborate with Chef Bell these past couple years. His passion for sustainability and environmental responsibility fits our company’s philosophy perfectly,” says Creative Salmon Organic General Manager, Tim Rundle.