A12 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 18, 1997

Coho run may be good

Measures to
cut bycatch
still debated

By DAVID TAYLOR
POOR COHO returns ex-
‘pected in- southem B.C.
rivers doesn’t necessarily
mean a bad year on the
Skeena, according to .a
biologist at the Depariment
of Fisheries and Oceans,

And he says the DFO is
working to make sure
Skeena runs of both coho
and _ steelhead aren’t
decimated to southern
levels. ;

“We're haping to have a
good coho retumn this year,”
says DFO biologist Les
Janz. ‘‘We had a good
brood escapement last year,
but we don’t know what's
happened in the ocean since
then so we’re keeping our
fingers crossed.”

Few coho are expected to
return to southern rivers this
year because 1994 escape-
ment levels were very poor.
That means fewer mature
coho are returning to their
rivers of origin to spawn.

“In 1994, mackerel

Locals
sell net
obituary

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miunched down all the juve-
niles,’ Janz says. ‘Those
would have been the fish
rclurning to spawa this year.
It's causing tremendous
heartburn down south,”’

Fortunately, Skeena coho
are multi-aged, so one bad
year is not as likely to
decimate the stock.

Janz also points out
measures iniliated by the

DFO should help reduce

bycatch .of. coho and. stecl-...

head.

“There is complete non-
relention of coho on scine
boals,’? he says. ‘‘We're
also looking at closing some
areas and limiting openings.
Look at the August com-
mercial fishery. It used to be
three or four days a week.
Now it’s just one day right
at the beginning. That’s
pretty drastic,”’

Janz also says the use of
Alaska twist style gill-nels
will help reduce steelhead
bycatch. A 1.2 metre gap
near the surface of those
nets (known as a weedline)
is supposed to help the
shallow-swimming _ steel
head avoid caplure.

“Weedline is a proven

benefit to steelhead,’ he
says,

But provincial biologist
Dana Atagi isn’t as op-
lim istic. =
_ “Holy cow there’s been a
lot of faith put in those (to
reduce. bycatch),’’ he says
of the weedlines. ‘But I'm
nat convinced of their suc-
cess. It’s very hard to judge.
Catches are so variable that
it’s hard to say with con-

fidence. that, these, nets ‘are.

better.’ ;
Atagi says that because of
the steelhcad's complex life

cycle, it’s impossible to tell:

what this year’s return of
steelhead will be. Last
year’s retum was the best of
the 1990’s Dut still low
compared to historic levels.
‘Meanwhile, Bruce Hill of
the Steelhead Sacicty says
the use of weedline nets
may be a step in the right
direction, if used properly. ©

“They might help reduce
steelhead bycatch,’’ he says.
“But using the nets is
voluntary, which com-
promises the effectivencss
of the project. And with 800
boats out there, steelhead
will still get caught.”’

Hill says the Steelhead
Society doesn’t discourage

-the use of weedlines but he

doesn’t think they will solve
conservation problems. e¢i-
ther.

“**Weedlines don’t. work
in dirty water,’ he says,
‘And the nets go deeper
which could increase the
bycatch of coho. The fact of
ihe matter is gillnets are ex-
tremely difficult to make se-
lective, They catch every-
thing,’ including some
endangered birds and har-
bour porpoises,”

Hill also says be would
have preferred the DFO go
to 12 hour openings, as op-
‘posed tothe 18 hour open-
ings planned for this season.

“Tf the. commercial
fishery is to survive it bas to
be more selective,’ he says.
‘*] foresee a situation where
if the DFO ‘and commercial
fishery’ doesn’t make_ big
progress in increasing es-
capement they will end up
in court. First’ Nations and
canservation groups will
force the DFO to get more
fish - to - the spawning
grounds.”

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