For more information view our poster.

View the full poster.

For more information, contact:

Maureen Carroll, Conference Administrator

Phone: 1-855-205-NAFF

Email: maureen@mcarrollconsulting.ca

Although there have been no commercial herring fisheries on the west coast of Vancouver Island since 2006 due to low abundance, this year’s forecast left some room for a small commercial spawn-on-kelp fishery. One of four commercial herring fisheries in B.C., the spawn-on-kelp (SOK) fishery could provide a welcome source of income for nations if successful. Currently there are 46 SOK licences in the fishery. Sixteen First Nations operate 26 of those licences, while individuals fish the remainder.

This year’s plan for herring expected about 320 tonnes to be available for a commercial spawn-on-kelp fishery. Four Nuu-chah-nulth Nations hold commercial spawn-on-kelp licences, and three initially expressed some interest in taking part. At press time, however, none of the nations had done so due to complications with equipment and a desire to preserve herring stocks.

Unlike the commercial roe fishery where whole herring is harvested, the spawn-on-kelp fishery involves the harvest of herring spawn only (k’^waqmis, siihmuu, or siihbuu).

To harvest the eggs, licence holders string kelp onto lines submerged underwater in areas where herring are likely to spawn. Others submerge kelp in open or closed pens where captured herring are corralled prior to spawning.

After the herring spawn on the kelp, they are released from the pens. Harvesters gather, trim, and brine the spawn-coated kelp before shipping it for processing. Most spawn-on-kelp is destined for Japanese markets.

Some Nuu-chah-nulth elders believe that herring season always follows stormy weather. This is nature’s way of cleaning off the kelp and eelgrass so herring eggs can better adhere to the blades. Spawning generally takes place in sheltered bays and inlets where submerged vegetation is abundant. Along the west coast of Vancouver island, herring spawn has been found below 100 feet.  According to Canada’s Integrated Fisheries Management Plan for herring (2012), female herring may produce as many as 20,000 eggs in one spawn. 

To date, DFO has reported spawning activity in the Barkley Sound area near Salmon Beach, David Island,
the Stopper Islands, and along the north side of St. Ines; and in Clayoquot Sound throughout Matilda Inlet, Sidney Inlet, Bawden Bay, and near Ahousaht. Light spawning activity also occurred near Marvinas Bay, and north of Harbour Island in the Nootka area.

Although this year’s returns didn’t make it easy for Nuu-chah-nulth Nations to take part in a commercial spawn-on-kelp fishery, nations took part in the fishery in other ways.  This year DFO contracted Hesquiaht, Ahoushat, and Ucluelet First Nations to survey local waters for herring and herring spawn using small charter boats. The information gathered helps Canada manage herring stocks for future sustainability.

Some Nuu-chah-nulth Nations also harvested herring and spawn for food and ceremonial purposes, though that too was a challenge.

“Some people got some spawn on bough—but not very much,” says Kanupiit (Rocky Titian) of Ahousaht. “This year wasn’t good for us, but it was good for the herring. They spawned all over the bay, in one or two layers…My grandfather used to say that the bottom layers don’t hatch [when the spawn is thick]. They get smothered. So this year was better for the herring.”

For more information and to register for this 2 day workshop, please contact Sally Hill at 250-724-5757 or by email at sally.hill@nuuchahnulth.org.

1. Fish Knife,  Jeffery Blondeau, Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations
2. Fish knife/hat, Ben Clappis, Huu-ay-aht First Nation
3. Personal Floatation Device, Clayton Jack,  Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations
4. Fish knife, Kenneth R. Werner, Huu-ay-aht
5. First Aid Kit, Clifford Nookemus Sr.,  Huu-ay-aht
6. ICOM VHF, Mathew Edgar, Ditidaht First Nation
7. Fish knife, Arnold Thomas, Ahousaht First Nation
8. Flares, Carl Charlie, Ahousaht First Nation
9. Crab trap, Pat Charleson Jr., Hesquiaht First Nation
10. Fish knife, Steve Charleson Sr., Hesquiaht First Nation
11. Binoculars, Daniel Savey Sr., Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations
12. Ace Line Hauler, Wilson Tom Joe, Huu-ay-aht First Nation
13. Fish knife, Danny Mundy, Ucluelet First Nation
14. First aid kit, Kadin Snook, Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations
15. ICOM VHF, Sidney Sam Sr.,  Ahousaht First Nation
16. Fish knife, Dennis Hetu, Toquaht Nation
17. Binoculars, Louie Joseph, Ditidaht First Nation
18. Scotty electric downriggers, Melvin Antoine, Toquaht Nation

Every year the Commission sets catch limits for Pacific halibut in Canada and the United States after hearing from Commission staff and representatives and scientists from both nations. The Commission doesn’t allocate halibut between Canada’s recreational and commercial sectors, but instead focuses on the overall catch limits for the entire Pacific halibut fishery.

This year’s limits continue the downward trend seen in past years. BC recreational and commercial fishermen will see a reduction of 600,000 pounds overall.

Uu-a-thluk biologist Jim Lane attended last week’s Commission meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. Also present were Philip Edgar and Chuck McCarthy. The Nuu-chah-nulth representatives were the only participants representing First Nations in Canada. Canadian representatives provide advice to Canada’s Commissioners on issues such as catch limits and fishing times and areas.

Going into the meeting, Commission staff were recommending a catch of 6.63 million pounds for Canadian waters. Canada’s position was that although the staff’s assessment model indicates halibut abundance has declined from last year, the assessment data does not indicate declines of abundance in BC waters.  As such Canada could not support the Commission staff’s  recommendations. Instead, Canada ended up with a catch of 7.04 million pounds, a reduction of 8% over last year. Alaska was the hardest hit, with reductions of up to 35% in some areas.

“Due to the uncertainty of the model used to calculate the total allowable catch, Canada was willing to take a decrease, but not to the level that the Commission staff suggested. The science just doesn’t support it,” Lane says.  

According to the Commission’s website, halibut harvests are about 40% below the maximum seen in 2004, reflecting a decade long decline in Pacific halibut stocks. Reasons for this decline include smaller fish (a 20-year old halibut today is smaller than a 20-year old halibut in 1990), natural fluctuations in halibut abundance and possibly an overestimate by scientists of halibut abundance in past years.

What does all this mean for Nuu-chah-nulth fishermen?

“For those who have commercial licences, there will be a reduction of about 8%,” Lane says. “Since food and ceremonial fishing is not abundance-based, these catch limits will make little difference to the food and ceremonial fishery.”

The exception is for Maa-nulth Nations, whose treaty permits them a fixed amount of fish plus a portion of the total allowable catch for food and ceremonial halibut. This portion will see the same 8% reduction as the commercial fishery.

The Commission also made other decisions affecting halibut during the meeting. Most notable was a commitment to work to reduce the millions of pounds of halibut taken as bycatch mostly in Alaskan groundfish fisheries. This included the Commission agreeing to set up a specific working group to address the issues, including a technical workshop to address bycatch in all fisheries.

“Canada has been pushing for the U.S. to start making significant improvements in reducing bycatch. It has been estimated that other fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea reduce the amount of halibut for Canada by a minimum of one million pounds per year,” Lane says. 

The Commission also approved the development of a five-year research plan that will set goals and review the current assessment model used to calculate catch limits.

“They’re going to take the whole model, strip it down, all the parameters, and see if there are any problems,” says Lane. “That’s a big step.”

This bodes well for Canada, who has consistently expressed concern with the Commission staff’s assessments and the method they use to allocate halibut between fishing areas, seeing it as fundamentally flawed. Lane hopes it also bodes well for Nuu-chah-nulth fishermen, who have struggled with declining catch limits under the current model.

The retirement program is part of a two-year, $ 28.5-million strategy designed to reduce harvests in the commercial salmon troll fishery. The strategy also includes an initiative to modernize the Department of Fisheries and Ocean’s salmon allocation framework and funds to support economic development on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. It’s part of the chinook chapter of the Pacific Salmon Treaty, which was renewed by Canada and the United States in December 2008.

But neither the program nor the strategy is proving popular in Nuu-chah-nulth communities.

“First of all, it’s all taxable, so even if you were able to get $100,000 for your licence, the government would take thirty or forty thousand dollars,” says Errol Sam, one Nuu-chah-nulth fishermen who received the government’s retirement package in the mail. “Then you have to deduct any existing debt, which many people have in business, and think about how you can survive in the future. When you look at what’s left over, it’s probably not a heck of a lot.”

For Sam, who has been active in the commercial fishery for more than twenty years, there are alternatives to licence retirement. “We know there’s a need for a reduction now, but we don’t know what will happen with those stocks in the future. They might rebound…Could we not have done what they call a licence bank, where the government purchases the licenses and puts them in a bank while the stocks rebound?”

NTC President Cliff Atleo was part of an advisory group that recommended scenarios to DFO to help mitigate the losses faced by west coast fishermen under the renewed Pacific Salmon Treaty. Retiring licences was not one of them.

“We proposed real mitigation, and provided a lifeline for those licences to stay alive, just barely, that would last the ten years. It was a well thought-out plan, fully consultative in terms of the players and licence holders. But it was totally ignored, because it fell outside of DFO interest,” Atleo says.

For Atleo, retiring Area G licences is just one more nail in the coffin of a fishery that the government abandoned in favour of other industries long ago. These industries include fish farming.

“When you see the reduction of budgets that are supposed to be looking after our stocks…when you see the loss of local officers that used to be stationed in Tofino to look after our area, you know what’s going on,” Atleo says.

Instead, Atleo and other members of the advisory group, which included Uu-a-thluk Program Manager Don Hall, and members of the West Coast Aquatic Management Board, looked at the big picture. “Our recommendations were about not giving up on the west coast stocks, but about looking at things positively, and saying ‘we’re going to rebuild,’” Atleo says.

During treaty negotiations, Atleo and others calculated it would cost $100 million to rehabilitate west coast watersheds. “But you know what?” he adds. “If we did that, the long-term investment would be immeasurable. Then we’d be talking about real sustainable communities.”

Instead, Nuu-chah-nulth fishermen and others from the Area G Troll fleet have a tough choice to make. After March 2, the government opens the retirement program up to licence holders from other areas.

Says Errol Sam, “It wasn’t clear during the negotiations how things would be delivered and spelled out—now we’re ending up with this…If I choose to take part, will I have any future access? It’s a difficult choice to make for anyone.”

“The kids are really responding to what they’re hearing,” said Kim Johnston, Education Coordinator for the Tofino-based organization who delivers the program. “This is partly thanks to the pilot materials produced by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council… which are very closely inspired by the [DFO-based] Salmonids-in-the-Classroom curriculum.”

Using Nuu-chah-nulth words and stories, the NTC pilot materials add a Nuu-chah-nulth element to the standard salmon curriculum. The program led by Johnston also includes visits to streams, rivers, and hatcheries where children can see salmon in different phases of their life cycles.

“Previously when we visited communities it was a onetime visit. It was suggested that we do a follow up—one phase in the fall…and another in January,” Johnston said.

Getting outdoors at different times of year helps children see changes in salmon first hand. It also helps them learn concepts they might not get in the classroom. “The connection between our forests and our oceans was a real ‘aha’ moment for lots of kids,” Johnston said. “That link is really important.”

To date Johnston has taken the program to over five schools including Maaqtusiis, Haa-huu-payak, Ray Watkins Elementary, Captain Meares Elementary, and Ucluelet Secondary. She hopes to squeeze in a visit to Zeballos in the New Year.

“I think it’s wonderful,” said Chris Cooper, a teacher from Ray Watkins Elementary School in Gold River. Cooper’s grade seven class visited the Conuma Hatchery as part of the program.  Here they witnessed controlled egg fertilization with descriptions by a biologist. A classroom workshop by Johnston followed the field trip.  

“The session was all hands-on, which means a lot,” Cooper said.

Rebecca Miller, a grade five teacher at Maaqtusiis School in Ahoushat, agreed. “The students had a wonderful time exploring for themselves the terrain of a salmon spawn site… The program has brought to life, in a tangible way, the importance of the salmon spawn, in a much larger context than what most of the students were aware of before.”

Miller also liked the cultural content. “This program has enriched the grade five’s understanding of the relationship between themselves as Nuu-chah-nulth people and the integral role salmon play in their lives in a variety of forms… Learning from people who specialize in the natural environment presented the information in a way that simply would not have been the same without their expertise.”

The salmon education programs will continue into 2012 and will feature a salmon symposium for youth.

Registration prior to March 2, 2012 is required.

Read the full announcement for details.