Comox Valley Nature

One of the first signs of spring in the Salish Sea is the arrival of spawning herring, and they are almost here! Comox Valley Nature has organized a series of online talks concerning Pacific herring and other fish in the region. There will be one talk each day from Monday February 22 through Friday February 26.

These are free events, but “seating capacity” is limited, and advance registration for each talk is required. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Note that the start time for each talk is 10:00 am.

Day 1:
Salish Sea Herring 101, Biology Human Use , Status and Management

Monday, February 22, 10:00 am

Speaker: Dr. John Neilson

In this talk, John provides an introduction to Pacific herring, the critical foundation of the Salish Sea marine ecosystem. John discusses its biology, recent human use, and the current status of the resource. He concludes by describing how Pacific herring will become one of the first Canadian fish stocks to be managed using the so-called Precautionary Approach, and what that means for the future.

Register for Day 1

Day 2:
The Legal Protection of Forage Fish Beaches

Tuesday, February 23, 10:00 am

Speakers: Ellen Campbell (Environmental Law Centre, U.Vic.), Jacklyn Barrs (Specialist, Ecosystems Restoration, WWF Canada), Ian Bruce (QEP, Dip. Restoration of Natural Systems, President – Watershed Ecological Services Ltd., Executive Coordinator – Peninsula Streams Society)
Additional panelists: Calvin Sandborn QC (Legal Director – Environmental Law Centre), Megan Buchanan (former ELC student)

Discussion of the ELC report, Saving Orcas by Protecting Fish Spawning Beaches—including necessary law reforms and field measures to protect forage fish spawning habitat.

Register for Day 2

Day 3:
Assessing Seabird Ecological Correlates to Inform Conservation

Wednesday, February 24, 10:00 am

Speaker: Dr. Ignacio Vilchis

Seabirds are known indicators of ecosystem status and change in marine environments. This is because most marine birds are long-lived, migratory, and at upper levels of food webs and therefore ideal indicators of changing productivity and ecosystem structure across broad spatial and temporal scales. In addition, marine birds are highly visible in habitats where most other animals are underwater, making them much more accessible to count than other marine life.

In this seminar Dr. Vilchis will argue that marine monitoring programs assessing ecosystem-wide trends in biodiversity and abundance of entire communities can reveal important clues about the commonalities of species that are more likely to stop frequenting an ecosystem. And that this is particularly true for seabirds, as syntheses of long-term trends in a marine predator community will not only provide unique insights into the types of species that are at risk of extirpation and why, but can also inform conservation measures to counteract threats—information that is paramount for species-specific and ecosystem-wide conservation.

Register for Day 3

Day 4:
Rebuilding Fisheries: Unlocking Canada’s Potential for Abundant Oceans

Thursday, February 25, 10:00 am

Speaker: Dr. Robert Rangeley

Healthy fish populations are critical to healthy ecosystems and coastal communities. Our oceans are facing growing threats and greater uncertainty, putting the marine life we all depend upon at risk. Bob will summarize the current state of Canada’s fisheries and fisheries management recommendations for restoring abundance to our oceans.

Register for Day 4

Day 5:
Salish Sea Archaeology of Herring

Friday, February 26, 10:00 am

Speaker: Dr. Iain McKechnie

For many Indigenous peoples, the right and ability to fish is inseparably linked to their history, social relations, economy, and physical well-being. In British Columbia, salmon are iconic and have greatly enriched perspectives on the importance and antiquity of these fish for people’s livelihoods and life on the coast. However, in archaeology, an emphasis on salmon has received much attention relative to other species, particularly as small fish such as herring, anchovies, and smelts tend to not be as readily recovered during excavation and screening.

In this presentation, Dr. McKechnie describes zooarchaeological fisheries records from over 222 heritage sites from Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington to provide measures of Indigenous fisheries catches spanning the past several millennia. In particular, he observes that herring (not salmon) are the most common and abundant fish in the majority of zooarchaeological assemblages (NISP) but particularly in the Salish Sea. He advocates for consideration of archaeological datasets for contemporary management and harvesting plans and for considering restoring the past abundance and former spawning locations of herring.

Register for Day 5

Comox Valley Nature is pleased to host a free online lecture by Dr. Carrie Holt. The lecture entitled “Genetic risks of hatchery enhancement for Pacific salmon.” is on Sunday February 21, 2021, 7:00 pm PT and is open to the public (see the registration link below).

Under Canada’s Wild Salmon Policy, the conservation of wild salmon and their habitat is the highest priority in the management of Pacific salmon. Hatchery production is used as a conservation tool for wild populations by DFO’s Salmon Enhancement Program and can increase the availability of fish for harvest, but is a risk factor to wild genetic diversity. This risk requires management and mitigation to safeguard Pacific salmon biodiversity.

In this presentation, Dr. Carrie Holt will describe these genetic risks and outline a proposed approach for classifying populations that reflects the adaptive state of the population based on proportions of natural- and hatchery-origin fish. She will further explore approaches for minimizing genetic risks of enhancement to wild populations. Except for populations near extirpation, limiting hatchery size by scaling the hatchery program to natural production is an effective way to reduce these risks. Limiting hatchery program size also limits the production of fish for harvest, resulting in a trade-off between genetic risk and socioeconomic benefits in enhancement programs implemented for harvest augmentation.

Carrie Holt is a Research Scientist with Fisheries and Ocean Canada at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, BC.  She was raised in Toronto where she completed her MSc in limnology on the recovery of lakes from acid damage from acid rain. She found her way to the ocean for her PhD on the management and ecology of Pacific salmon at Simon Fraser University in the School for Resource and Environmental Management. She draws from her multi-disciplinary background in ecology, mathematics, and resource management in her current work evaluating assessment methods for Pacific salmon using quantitative models of population dynamics. She has also applied those models to evaluate genetic impacts of hatcheries on salmon that spawn in the natural environment.

Given the current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, Comox Valley Nature has made arrangements to have a live, online webinar for the presentation. You will need to register in advance. Check the system requirements for attendees here.

Register here

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

This is an excellent opportunity for the public to learn more about this vital topic.

If you are new to Comox Valley Nature, find out more about us here.

Although CVN lectures are free, donations of any size ($4.00 is suggested) from non-members who attend are always appreciated.

CVN’s guest speaker on January 17 via webinar was Dr. Jason Toft whose topic was Restoration Effectiveness of Living Shorelines in the Salish Sea. The talk was well-attended and stimulated a variety of questions from the audience.

If you missed this event or would like to see it again, the recording is now available here. To access it you will need to provide your name and email address.

For more information about this talk, see the announcement in our earlier post.