Salmo g

Determining a rivers “carrying capacity” radiates a false sense of understanding that many scientists are beginning to acknowledge. Trying to manage escapement levels to hit a target number of return spawners based on the maximum perceived juvenals needed to fill a particular river ecosystem ignores the basic Darwinian premises as well as all the new data concerning the indigenous salmonids role as nutrient vectors in aquatic and riparian ecosystems.

I also feel that you have underestimated the impacts that over harvest and hatcheries have had on our regions native wild runs. Habitat is important for without even the minimalist amounts we cannot expect any restoration of wild salmon. Hatcheries have historically lead to the perception that “oh we can mitigate the loss of this pristine area with a hatchery”. Hatcheries have further lead to the misconception that “we have a hatchery on this system so we must have plenty of fish to harvest”. Scientifically there is no consensus that hatcheries produce more total fish that a natural river system would if left alone. It is theorized that hatcheries may only replace wild fish and not augment the total number of returning fish in many river systems.

Although when most people speak of habitat they are referring to spawning and rearing habitat the most important may be the river estuary. Out of all the data that is available the only models that explain why salmonid returns vary in the way that they do are ones that view the roles of the estuary and ocean conditions as paramount. If rearing habitat is the main limiting factor in salmon production then bypassing this habitat by the use of hatcheries would have produced a large and steady population of salmon for the past 40 years. Since that did not occur, more than likely looking at the whole picture, rearing habitat may not be key. Consequently, if returns were based solely on ocean conditions then we would more than likely see an equal increase in all populations from mid BC south to California (PDO theory). Because populations are not all increasing unilaterally it could be the interaction between estuary health and ocean conditions that is driving the returns. Although there are far too many factors that influence salmonid returns to try and discuss all at once, taking the most macroscopic view may be the only way to see the underlying trends that need to be fairly and openly addressed.

Thanks

POS Clerk