September 2014
Another month rolls by while we await with
anticipation the return of our Wild Salmon to local streams. With no rain or
very little over the summer months all streams and rivers all over the Island
are experiencing dry conditions which means we need lots and yes I said lots of
RAIN to allow the spawning fish to travel upstream to there home birth gravel
beds. After last years spectacular runs we think this year will be as good if
not better but that remains to be seen.
After almost 30 years trying to get Wild
Salmon to survive in our local streams after the degradation of habitat over
the preceding years and un thinking actions by contract biologists who ran around chasing the almighty
dollar inventing projects to get there share of the funds intended for the
recovery of Salmon stocks. We now can look at some of these projects that were
done for the money today after all these years and see which ones in fact
contributed and which ones failed to do anything to benefit the fish. One case
I remember was a small stream with a wetland fed by springs which historically
had no Salmon or if it did were very few but none in recent history. First they
dug out the wetland then proceeded to anchor woody debris using pressure
treated posts as anchors of which when I questioned this use was told that it
was okay? again a big DUh. Now the stream is once again impacted with sediment
and all the gravel placed for so called spawning is now buried under muddy
sediment with no fish habitat remaining for any species even Sticklebacks can
not find a home. Once the money is paid everyone walks away with no ongoing
monitoring to see if it worked.
Putting their trust in the hatchery program they went around the mid
Island area and parts beyond and installed many yes many small hatcheries in
the misguided hope that the stocks would recover. First they took the few
remaining Wild fish to use for so called brood stock under the illusion that
they could do better than nature. First the Chum went then the iconic Coho,
though this time they took hatchery fish from the major hatcheries and poured
them into every wet spot they could find. After all these years we now know
that that action was very misguided. Oh we have lots returning they said, yes
at the big hatcheries after they pumped out millions to get only a few hundred
thousand back yes it seemed like success and as far as the discrepancy between
what had been released and what returned they blamed everything form Ocean
warming to over fishing all the
while ignoring the two main reasons which was lack of habitat and genetic
failing of mismatched fish in the hatchery. Due to economic pressure to log
every watershed on the coast to line the corporate pocket the rush was on to
build more and more hatcheries pumping out millions of fish every year. Now we
do not need Wild fish we have hatchery fish selected for the right size for the
fish packing industry was the cry as they had now or so they thought conquered
nature. Domestication of these Wild Salmon could only spell disaster in the
long run as natures cycles are endless and not limited by mans desire to be the
control freak he often becomes. Thanks to some dedicated scientists down in
Oregon we started to see some opposition to the hatchery program or at least
for anyone who by this time had not become brain washed with all the hatchery
rhetoric of If we had no hatchery
we would have no fish. Wow when I first heard that from a biologist I just
about fell over, first the arrogance that man could do better than nature and
secondly what a sad thing to admit especially from a fish biologist that we had
destroyed one of natures miracles and replaced it with man made domestic fish
Ocean Ranching. My personal awareness of the hatchery model and its failings
came about when a biologist ridiculed me for not believing in science when I questioned the reason for taking
the remaining few wild Salmon for brood stock on a small stream south of
Nanaimo which where taken to the hatchery for incubation which ended up being
killed over the winter by infection and the subsequent drugs they where given.
So much for that years run, luckily there were a few fish which escaped capture
and went on to spawn as nature intended. Being the inquisitive kind that I am I
started my own research into the hatchery model and low and behold all the
SCIENCE pointed towards the hatchery as one of the leading contributors to the
genetic decline of not only
Steal-head but also applied to all the other Salmon species. When I spoke of
this I was told that the information was from the States [ U of Oregon] and did
not apply to our fish, as if the fish know there is a border Duh as the kids
say. So here we are awaiting the returning Salmon again this year with
anticipation knowing that we have done what we can to preserve Wild Salmon for
our future generations.
Now is the time for a paradigm shift away
from exploiting nature for our own wants to being inclusive and respect all
life both flora and fauna before all we have is memories. As one friend said
now is the time to change the way we do all things and begin to think about the
future and not the next TV show.
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