DFO managers meddling in steelhead science

B.C. Wildlife Federation alleges DFO managers meddling in steelhead science

"Steelhead, they are the canary in the coal mine. They're showing us what poor ocean survival, poor in river habitat and non selective fishing can do," to a species. — Jesse Zeman, executive director, B.C. Wildlife Federation.

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B.C.’s commercial fishers are anticipating a lucrative Fraser River sockeye salmon harvest this season, but conservationists fear critically low Interior steelhead trout remain at risk due to a federal decision not to list them as endangered.

In 2019, federal officials declined to list the Thompson and Chilcotin river steelhead under the Species at Risk Act, because of the adverse impacts of closures on First Nations and commercial fisheries, despite an emergency recommendation of the scientific group that advises government on endangered wildlife.
Now, the B.C. Wildlife Federation alleges Department of Fisheries and Oceans managers are overriding scientific advice in making decisions and prioritizing commercial opportunities to fish at the expense of steelhead conservation.
“The challenge right now is that DFO is going to continue to use science that was not supported through (the Canadian science advisory secretariat) to justify openings,” said Jesse Zeman. “There’s a fundamental failure in that approach.”

DFO was prompted to take action after a 2018 emergency assessment of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife warned of dismally low 2017 returns of just 104 fish to the Thompson River and fewer than 50 to the Chilcotin River.
Historically, the Thompson River saw 3,510 spawners and the Chilcotin 3,149 as late as 1985.
Instead, DFO’s decision was to work with the province to put an “action plan” in place aimed at improving in-stream habitat and reduce fishing pressure with rolling closures to try and avoid interception by commercial fishers.
An endangered listing, federal authorities deemed, “would produce suboptimal ecological, social and economic outcomes,” versus the “long-term collaborative action plan.”

The wildlife federation recently received the results of a request for DFO communications under the federal Access to Information Act that turned up a 481-page chain of emails and documents on how to present the plan.
It included media lines on how to rebut questions about why the species weren’t listed as endangered.
However, with expectations for even more catastrophically low steelhead returns this year, estimated at just 19 fish to the Chilcotin River and 104 to the Thompson River, Zeman said that plan won’t be enough to protect the species when every individual matters.
An endangered listing under the Species at Risk Act would have made it illegal to “kill, harm, harass, capture of take an individual” of a species, requiring more comprehensive closures to avoid any bycatch of steelhead in commercial or recreational fisheries.

The DFO’s Recovery Potential Assessment for Thompson and Chilcotin steelhead, compiled in response to the COSEWIC emergency report, acknowledged that “any harm will inhibit or delay potential recovery” of the stocks due to their very low abundance.
However, it also declared “(allowable) harm should not be permitted to exceed current levels and should be reduced to the maximum extent possible.”
Zeman said DFO hasn’t made public the background reports from the review process for that Recovery Potential Assessment that justified the decision to not list steelhead as endangered.
And to fisheries scientist Eric Taylor, the objective to not allow harm to increase sounds “ridiculous, it should be eliminated,” considering the critically low numbers.

“The issue is that the politicians are not getting the real truth,” said Taylor, a conservation biologist in the University of B.C. zoology department and past chair of COSEWIC.
In one instance, the DFO played down scientific concerns about the threat of burgeoning populations of seals and sea lions to fragile steelhead stock, Taylor said.
In another, steelhead face risks of being caught as bycatch in mixed-stock gillnet fisheries, which are still being allowed, “so nothing’s being done in terms of the major threats to these fish.”
“There are changes to documents that are being made that are watering down the threat and giving a biased picture of what’s going on,” Taylor said.
For its part, DFO “is committed to sharing information on Interior Fraser River steelhead,” according to a backgrounder emailed to Postmedia by communications manager Dan Bate in response to questions.

The response also states that the process isn’t over. In 2020, COSEWIC reassessed the steelhead stocks after its 2018 emergency finding and confirmed their endangered status.
“A new process to support a (federal cabinet) decision on whether or not to list them under the Species at Risk Act is underway,” according to the DFO response.
“DFO is working with (the province) on identifying the science advice needed to advance the listing process,” it said.
In the meantime, DFO’s integrated fisheries management plan for the region includes “management measures to reduce steelhead bycatch mortality.”
Zeman would prefer to see DFO support research into selective fishing methods, such as fish wheels and fish traps, instead of net fisheries on steelhead migration routes.

Steelhead are like salmon in that they migrate out of their natal streams to mature in the open ocean, returning to spawn on four-year cycles.
Unlike salmon, some steelhead survive spawning and return to the ocean for another two to three years and return to spawn again as larger, more productive fish.
“The Thompson has not had those second returns for decades,” Zeman said. “The other thing about steelhead, they are the canary in the coal mine.
“They’re showing us what poor ocean survival, poor in river habitat and non selective fishing can do,” to a species.

B.C. wildlife federation alleges DFO meddling in steelhead science | Vancouver Sun