From the Archipelago: Some Good Signs

October-November 2005

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Alexandra Morton

The encouraging scene of a lunging humpback whale catching a mouthful.

The Broughton Archipelago’s timeless beauty remains unmarred by the controversy that surrounds her. Some days she is bright as a baby fresh from her bath; on others, silver tendrils cling to the moist planes of her face. She breathes deeply at the new and full moons, pouring children out from the inlets into the sea and welcoming home the weary and ripe.

This summer, pilchard infused the Broughton with open ocean energy, and many lingered longer than expected. The Pacific white-sided dolphins are usually winter visitors, eating pollock, herring and capelin, but by mid-July, hundreds of dolphins were still here. The pilchard this summer were large, approximately 30-40 cm long (12-16 inches). They are powerful swimmers and dedicated schoolers, and when the dolphins surround them and attack from below, these fish rush to the surface, many becoming airborne, producing a sound nearly identical to the blow of a great whale.

These calorie-rich fish attracted the female humpback whale named Houdini, a long time visitor, along with her third baby. Houdini knows these waters well. She uses specific geological contours to corral fish, then rises from below and engulfs even those fish which swim skyward. One night while I was at anchor, Houdini rose beside me, gleaming in the phosphorescence in a massive burst of life and death. Because food was so abundant this year, Houdini was granted hours of play with her youngster and the two breached, rolled and touched each other for hours.

Up to five more humpbacks have been feeding and frolicking in Blackfish Sound where pilchard and other small fish are schooling in abundance. The continuing success of the return of the humpback whale to this coast is a great inspiration to me. When the needs of an animal population are met, they thrive. In this case it was the cessation of whaling. When we put our minds to it, we actually do know how to benefit our neighbors.

By contrast, the story on salmon is much more complicated this summer. Rumors, expectations, theories and sightings swirl through conversations on boats, docks and small town streets. Some salmon runs were late, such as the Bristol Bay sockeye in Alaska and Columbia River Chinook, but they did appear. Pink salmon runs to the north came, in some cases, several times larger than expected. In addition, the pinks are very big this year. This would indicate the fish found lots to eat during their time at sea. Coho looked like a complete failure in the Broughton until the second week of August, when some moved into the area. They were large and beautiful; clearly they had done well at sea. But the cliff-hangers this season are the Fraser River sockeye and the Broughton pinks. At press time the commercial fishing fleet of Area 12 remains tied to the dock. Every year they are allowed to fish less and less, and yet the Fraser sockeye returns fail to increase in numbers.

Why has Fisheries and Oceans Canada had to close the Fraser sockeye fishery? After the hard lessons learned here in the Broughton, this spring I looked at the cluster of marine feedlots stretching from Campbell River to mainland British Columbia, and alarm bells rang loud for me. Most Fraser River sockeye and east Vancouver Island salmon move north through the narrow passages around Quadra Island. These passages are now lined with large populations of domestic salmon and, like all feedlots, disease is an issue. With the very dedicated help of volunteers, I had a good look at the juvenile pink and chum salmon and some herring and sockeye off Campbell River and can report serious problems. Sea lice are infecting pink, chum, Chinook and sockeye, as well as the very young herring. One juvenile steelhead examined was also infected. If sea lice are appearing on wild fish near the feedlots, what about the virus IHN that swept through many of these farms? IHN, often called ‘sockeye disease’, has been a persistent problem on these farms over the past few years. Our most valuable fisheries are now being exposed to feedlot pathogens at the two most vulnerable stages of their life cycle: when they leave and return to freshwater. Will they survive this challenge? We get to find out.

So far this year, the large runs of pink salmon seen on the north coast have not materialized in the rivers of the Broughton. The pink salmon runs of eastern Vancouver Island have also failed in recent years—runs that pass north through the marine feedlots off Campbell River.

Pink salmon smolts passing fish farms become infested with lethal loads of lice.

I believe the only reason the Broughton has any pink salmon returning this year is that open ocean conditions have been favorable. So we have another chance to get this right. But make no mistake: when open ocean conditions shift into a less favorable regime (as they will do), no pink salmon will survive the mistreatment they receive in the vicinity of the salmon feedlots. Several broughton pink salmon runs have already failed completely during this time of abundance.

Don’t be fooled. Wild pink salmon in the Broughton are in serious jeopardy and these marine feedlots are affecting other BC stocks as well. The tough part for me is telling you that I am failing to protect the wild Broughton salmon. Despite the science, collapsing salmon runs, election indicators and efforts of our top conservationists, this insatiable industry is demanding expansion in the Broughton and even access to the waters off the North Coast’s Skeena River. Every last man, woman and child who thinks they might someday want wild Pacific salmon must peacefully, but resolutely, make it known in any way you can, that it is not OK with you to lose wild salmon.

I published a third scientific paper on sea lice this summer. This one said when you take the fish out of the feedlots on the migration route, sea lice decline and wild salmon increase. We have our answer, but no one in charge is listening. Critical areas of this coast must be cleared and stay clear of salmon farms. Since few people get a chance to read my work in the scientific journals, here is the abstract and the web link to it:

Temporal Patterns of Sea Louse Infestation on Wild Pacific Salmon in Relation to the Fallowing of Atlantic Salmon Farms - Alexandra Morton, Richard D. Routledge

Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada

• ABSTRACT: We report on a 3-year study of the infestation rates of the sea louse, Lepeophtheirus salmonis, on wild juvenile pink salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, and chum salmon, O. keta, in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia. In 2002, the British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food ordered farm fallowing (i.e., the removal of farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, from net-cages) along the presumed migration route of wild juvenile Pacific salmon in this area. The goal was to protect wild juvenile fish from sea louse infestation. We assessed the effectiveness of this decision by comparing sea louse infestation rates on wild juvenile salmon near three Atlantic salmon farm sites prior to, during, and after fallowing. Overall, L. salmonis levels were significantly reduced (P < 0.0001) at the study sites during fallowing, but returned to the original level after fallowing. The decline was age specific. While the abundance of the earliest attached sea louse phase (the copepodic stage) declined by a factor of 42, the mean abundance of adult L. salmonis did not decline significantly. Changes in salinity and temperature could not account for the decline. This study provides evidence that the fallowing of Atlantic salmon farms during spring juvenile salmon migrations can be an effective conservation and management tool for protecting wild salmon. While this correlation adds to the increasing weight of evidence linking Atlantic salmon farms to increased parasite loads on wild salmon, greater cooperation between researchers and farmers will be necessary to isolate the causal mechanisms and provide safe seaward passage to wild juvenile salmon.

Here is the link: http://afs.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-pdf&doi=10.1577%2FM04-149.1

Editor’s Note: Don’t forget to ask ‘Is it wild or farmed?’ when you buy salmon. If it says ‘fresh’ and it’s winter time, you can be pretty sure it’s not wild.

© Alexandra Morton, R.P.Bio., is a marine mammal researcher and author. www.raincoastresearch.org.