Jan 31/08: David Suzuki Foundation: Pacific Salmon Stocks are Declining, at Critical Point ...

Urgent action is needed to save wild Pacific salmon and to protect the freshwater and coastal ecosystems where they live and spawn, according to a new report from the David Suzuki Foundation.

In An Upstream Battle: Declines in 10 Pacific Salmon Stocks and Solutions for Their Survival, the Foundation explores the factors contributing to the loss of Pacific salmon, as well as solutions to save them.

Salmon experts examined escapement, catch, and harvest-rate data going back to at least 1980 for four stocks of sockeye, three of coho, and one each of chum, chinook, and steelhead on the mainland and Vancouver Island. These stocks have declined from 70 per cent to 93 per cent since the early 1990s and demonstrate that declines have occurred across the range of Pacific salmon in Canada. Many other stocks have faced similar declines and much of the diversity of Pacific salmon has already been lost.

“This report shows that we’ve reached a critical point,” said Jeffery Young, an aquatic biologist with the David Suzuki Foundation. “These 10 stocks are examples of the challenges facing all wild Pacific salmon. It’s clear that urgent action and comprehensive fisheries and habitat-management changes are absolutely necessary.”

The initiatives needed include:

* increased enforcement of habitat regulations;
* more selective fishing;
* precautionary fisheries/habitat management;
* legislated protection for endangered stocks;
* full implementation of the federal wild salmon policy.

Mr. Young noted that salmon are key to the both a healthy environment and a healthy B.C. economy.

“Salmon spend part of their lives in freshwater and part in the ocean, so they are an excellent barometer for the overall health of the environment,” he said. “They’re also an important food source and support thousands of jobs.”

Salmon fishing employs about 25,000 people in B.C. and contributes more than $500 million a year to the B.C. economy. Wild salmon also provide food for a variety of animals, such as whales, eagles, and bears, and supply ocean nutrients to inland forests.

“We have to address all the threats to salmon survival, including fishing, habitat loss, and global warming,” Mr. Young said.

The federal government must do more to enforce existing habitat-protection laws and monitor salmon diversity, and the B.C. government must work with the federal government to better manage resource extraction, development, fish farms, pollution, and water use, the Foundation said. Citizens can also play a role by making sustainable choices when buying seafood and asking government to implement the report’s recommendations.