Nothing fishy about record salmon returns in BC

Guest Commentary
By Jeremy Dunn

The photos and video being shared by the more than 200,000 people visiting the Adams River near Kamloops over the past few weeks are spectacular.
The shallow water of the river is completely red with millions of mature spawning sockeye. The Sockeye Festival wrapped up last Sunday – it’s been a banner year and when the final count is in, this will be one of the top years in recorded history.
Returns have also been big for Chinook and pink salmon; video from Campbell River on Vancouver Island shows the river absolutely teeming with pinks. But this won’t be repeated every year. 
That’s the thing with wild salmon in the Pacific Ocean– some return years are big… some years are low. It is completely cyclical and always has been. There are hundreds if not thousands of factors for a big year or a low year. In B.C., it seems each time the return does not meet expectations, we hold an inquiry, launch a study, or convene a commission.
As Dr. Don Noakes, Dean of Science at Vancouver Island University and one of the foremost experts on wild fisheries assessment and management wrote this June in the Vancouver Sun, “Clearly too much focus is put on ‘the number’ and not enough attention is paid to the full message with respect to forecasted returns. Notwithstanding their inherent lack of accuracy and precision, too often when returns are less than the pre-season prediction (often the result of natural and uncontrollable fluctuations or changes in ocean conditions or climate) there has been a tendency to concentrate on ‘missing’ salmon that existed only on paper. The reality is that managing salmon resources is extremely complex, and in British Columbia salmon fisheries and stocks are managed as well as or better than anywhere in the world”.
Over the past several years, some groups and individuals have theorized about these missing paper salmon, and these theories have included unfounded criticisms against the practices of the members of the BC Salmon Farmers Association. Sea lice specifically have garnered a lot of headlines – each time being called out by some environmental activists as the absolute reason wild salmon were not returning in the numbers expected. Salmon farming companies invest heavily in science, research and development, and have participated in collaborative studies with government, academics, and environmental groups. The results of studies show that sea lice are a naturally occurring external marine parasite, and while farm-raised salmon may be one source of sea lice to juvenile wild salmon, there is no evidence that sea lice from salmon farms have negatively impacted the survival of wild salmon populations.
There have been accusations that salmon farms spread novel viruses, but the fact is that viruses are the most abundant organisms on the planet – there are more than a million viruses in every drop of surface seawater. Most viruses are not harmful to fish, and fish viruses are not a risk to humans. All fish viruses present in wild or farm-raised salmon in B.C. naturally occur in the Pacific Ocean.
Although salmon management has become much more conservative since the early 1990s, there has been little improvement in the accuracy or precision of pre-season forecasts of run strength. Fortunately, improvements to in-season management have reduced but not entirely eliminated risks to wild salmon stocks. While this year’s salmon returns are positive news, long-term success will be measured by the ability to balance responsible resource use and conservation. B.C’s salmon farmers are proud to be providing fresh, affordable fish to feed British Columbians and markets around the world on a daily basis, without impacting the wild salmon people have such a deep connection with.

Jeremy Dunn is the executive director of The BC Salmon Farmers Association.

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