Salmon Steward is the official publication of the Pacific Salmon Foundation in British Columbia, Canada
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/300930
Strategic Salmon Health Initiative local communities over the past 20 years! DESIGNING A SCIENCE- BASED SOLUTION So naturally, when the Paci c Salmon Foundation was asked in 2009 to address this loss, we took the bait. We designed an ecosystem-based study to determine the factors limiting production of wild Chinook and Coho in the Strait of Georgia 14 2014 psf.ca salmon Steward magazine 15 and its tributaries, and the management actions needed to restore sustainable sheries in these waters. Known for its core grassroots initiatives, encapsulated by its slogan "Bringing them back, stream by stream," such a large-scale marine program was a major deviation from the Foundation's past activities. But our efforts in the Strait will be a very natural extension of our community efforts in freshwater systems. (See Community Science article on pages 12 and 13.) And frankly, there is no other effort we could undertake with the same potential for bene ts to British Columbians and all Canadians, than restoring this lost shery in our backyard. Fact: 75% of British Columbians live on or around a tributary of the Strait. The Foundation started the design process through six public meetings with communities around the Strait to identify changes they'd observed locally over the past decade. While there was surprising conformity in what people reported (loss of kelp beds, loss of local herring spawning sites, disappearance of "bait balls" formed of small forage shes, and others) there were also some incisive questions: 1) How is a charitable foundation going to address such an issue when others couldn't? 2) Who is going to undertake this work when the Paci c Salmon Foundation doesn't have its own researchers? 3) How are you possibly going to fund such an ambitious project? PARTNERING ON A GRAND SCALE The issue is not that others couldn't do this work; they simply hadn't; and a mainstay of the Foundation's past success has lain in collaboration and strategic partnerships. For example, the Paci c Salmon Foundation and the Paci c Salmon Endowment Fund Society partnered with the University of British Columbia's marine mammal research group to bring together nancial resources, leadership and scienti c expertise to develop a key study of the diet of harbour seals in the Strait. The study has been successful in helping to unveil the impact of seal feeding-behaviours on salmon, and has lead to a brand-new technology innovation that will greatly enhance data quality in the next phase of the study. (See Innovative Technology feature on page 19.) In fact, partnerships have been key in reaching every milestone of the project up to now. The Strait of Georgia Data Centre, an integral rst step for the project, came to fruition through a $300,000 grant from the Sitka Foundation and the donation of space, infrastructure and resources from the University of British Columbia (story page 17). Major corporate donors, Goldcorp and Port Metro Vancouver, have been supporters since the rst planning stages of the project, funding a key planning workshop in 2012. The workshop engaged a multidisciplinary group of 20 federal, provincial and state agencies, tribes, First Nations, academia and non-pro t organizations from both sides of the border. As such, the Foundation doesn't need to undertake the work, but rather, initiate collaboration between experts already in local universities, government labs and NGOs, and then jointly design a program building on past research to identify the unknowns and next steps. Until October 2013, the third question (the question of funds) proved to be our only hold-up. We had the people, the equipment and laboratories, but simply lacked the money. Fact: The Salish Sea Marine Survival Project is budgeted at $20 million over fi ve years and is the largest-scale and most important research e ort of its kind. AN INTERNATIONAL SOLUTION FOR LOCAL ISSUES Our opportunity to conduct the study has resulted from extending the Strait of Georgia study into Puget Sound. Our U.S. neighbours in the shared waters and ecosystems of the Salish Sea have experienced many of the same changes and concerns. Collaboration meant the ability to leverage resources from both sides of the border. Partnering with Seattle-based non- pro t Long Live the Kings, the Foundation's study was expanded into the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project. Thanks to a funding kickstart of $5 million over ve years, the project launched in 2014. The money came from the Southern Boundary Restoration and Enhancement Fund associated with the Paci c Salmon Commission; the fund was created to support the Paci c Salmon Treaty. To date, the majority of funding has been used to improve management of sheries and address factors affecting the freshwater phase Above: Catch of Coho salmon by hook-and-line gear in the Strait of Georgia, 1970-2008. The straight line is the average catch (704,000 per year) before the crash after 1995. RESTORING A LOST SALMON FISHERY restoring salmon in the Salish Sea Background photo: 1982 – Some troll, some mooch, some cast from shore in search of winter Chinook in Burrard Inlet. Inset photo: From 1940-1984 the Vancouver Sun's Salmon Derby was one of the largest free derbies of its kind, bringing thousands to launch from Sewell's marina in Horseshoe Bay. Photos courtesy of the Vancouver Sun Archives. 2008 p14-17Brian feature_data centre.indd 15 14-04-16 2:57 PM