Chinook Salmon Designatable Unit 1 (Southern Mainland Boundary Bay, Ocean, Fall population): Consultations on listing under the Species at Risk Act

We would like to receive your comments on the potential impacts of adding or not adding Boundary Bay Chinook to the List of Wildlife Species at Risk under SARA, designated as threatened.

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Engagement

Let your opinions be heard

Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) provides legal protection for wildlife species at risk to conserve biological diversity. It also acknowledges that all Canadians have a role to play in the conservation of wildlife species. Before deciding whether to add Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) designatable unit (DU) 1 (Southern Mainland Boundary Bay, Ocean, Fall population; hereafter Boundary Bay Chinook) to the List of Wildlife Species at Risk as threatened, we would like to hear your opinion, comments, and suggestions regarding the possible ecological, cultural, social, and economic impacts of listing or not listing this species under SARA.

Adding a species to the List of Wildlife Species at Risk

The process of listing a species under SARA consists of several steps. It begins with a status assessment by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and ends with a Governor in Council decision on whether or not to add the species to the List of Wildlife Species at Risk. Public engagement is conducted to gather the opinions of Canadians, and is an important step in this process.

Facts about Boundary Bay Chinook

• Boundary Bay Chinook are not managed as part of a stock management unit (SMU), or a population aggregate of Chinook salmon which exhibit similar life history characteristics and return timing
• Adults migrate up the Serpentine, Nicomekl, and Little Campbell rivers between September and November where they spawn from October to November. These rivers flow into Boundary Bay and are located within Metro Vancouver, British Columbia (BC; Figure 2)
• Eggs incubate in gravel over the winter before emerging as alevins (newly hatched salmon still attached to the yolk sac) in the spring, and shortly after migrate downstream to rear in estuary and marine environments (ocean-type life history) The specific location of Boundary Bay Chinook juvenile rearing habitat is unknown but they are thought to rear in the Boundary Bay estuary
• Boundary Bay Chinook are thought to have a local distribution during their marine phase in the Strait of Georgia, west coast of Vancouver Island and coastal Washington, with a portion migrating farther northward along the BC coast and into southeast Alaska. This population’s marine habitat is inferred from the similar Samish River Chinook salmon in Washington. After spending three full winters in the marine environments, adult Boundary Bay Chinook migrate back to their natal streams as four-year-old fish

Boundary Bay Chinook has been enhanced at the Little Campbell River, Nicomekl River, and Tynehead hatcheries since the mid-1980s. Spawner counts have occurred since 1980 at the Little Campbell River. All Little Campbell River Hatchery Chinook were coded-wire-tagged (CWT) and adipose fin clipped (AFC) starting in 2021 to help distinguish between returning natural origin, Little Campbell hatchery, and stray hatchery fish. These CWT and AFC fish will also be used to assess fisheries exploitation rates, distribution, and marine survival. Boundary Bay Chinook appears to descend from Washington origin Chinook, not other nearby Chinook populations, such as Fraser River fall Chinook. Chinook salmon is highly significant to Indigenous peoples, both for cultural and subsistence purposes, and a target species for commercial and recreational fisheries.

Who assigned the threatened status to Boundary Bay Chinook?

COSEWIC is an independent committee of experts that assesses the status of each wildlife species it considers to be in some danger of disappearing from Canada and identifies existing and potential threats to the species. It conducts its assessments based on the best available information including scientific data, community knowledge, and Indigenous Knowledge. COSEWIC assessed this DU as threatened in 2020, initiating the current SARA listing process. This is the first assessment of this DU by COSEWIC and it is currently not listed under SARA. Under COSEWIC, a threatened species is defined as one that is “likely to become endangered if nothing is done to reverse the factors leading to its extirpation or extinction.”

Why are Boundary Bay Chinook at risk?

Hatchery releases, which are ongoing and have included fish from other populations, have allowed the total population size to increase while threatening the genetic integrity of the remaining wild fish. Boundary Bay Chinook occurs in highly altered marine and freshwater habitats. Persistent low abundances, low marine survival, bycatch, and fish culture effects are continuing threats to this population.

If a species is listed under the Species at Risk Act

If this DU is listed as threatened under SARA, prohibitions would immediately come into effect in Canada, making it illegal to kill, harm, harass, capture, take, possess, collect, buy, sell, or trade Boundary Bay Chinook. Activities affecting the species or its critical habitat may be permitted or exempted under SARA, provided certain purposes and conditions are met. A recovery strategy would be developed and further measures to address known threats may be identified in a subsequent action plan. Critical habitat (the habitat necessary for survival or recovery of Boundary Bay Chinook) would be identified, to the extent possible, in a recovery strategy and protected from destruction. Regardless of the SARA listing decision, Boundary Bay Chinook will continue to receive protection under the Fisheries Act.

Additional information

• COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report (2020)
• Recovery Potential Assessment (2023)
• Management Scenarios Summary
• Socioeconomic Analysis Summary