Chinook salmon, Okanagan population: Consultations on listing under the Species at Risk Act

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 the Okanagan population of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha; hereafter Okanagan Chinook) should be added to the List of Species at Risk as Endangered, 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.

Join in: How to participate

Share your ideas online

The Government of Canada is engaging with Canadians to potentially add Chinook salmon (Okanagan Population) to the List of Species at Risk as Endangered.

Please fill out the online survey. Thank you.

We ask that food, social and ceremonial fishery participants and stakeholders fill out workbooks, online tools designed to collect initial input on the potential socio-economic impacts of listing.

Adding a species to the List of 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 Government of Canada decision on whether or not to add a species to the List of Species at Risk. Public engagement is conducted to gather the opinions of Canadians, and is an important step in this process.

Facts about Okanagan Chinook

Chinook are the largest salmon species in British Columbia (BC), with adults sometimes exceeding one metre in length. Okanagan Chinook, a summer migrating ocean-type population, are the only remaining Columbia River Basin Chinook population in Canada. Okanagan Chinook spawn in the Okanagan River above Osoyoos Lake, and rear in surrounding lakes and rivers. Juveniles migrate downstream through the Okanagan River watershed, and the United States portion of the Columbia River watershed to the Pacific Ocean, where they feed.

Okanagan Chinook likely rear in coastal areas similar to other ocean-type Chinook populations. After returning to freshwater in summer as three- to seven-year-old adults, Okanagan Chinook spawn in the fall and subsequently die.

Minimum estimates for non-adipose-fin-clipped Okanagan Chinook spawners have averaged approximately nine individuals from 2008 to 2012, increased to approximately 50 individuals from 2013 to 2017, and decreased to 10 spawners in 2018.

Key questions for discussion

Who assigned the Endangered status to Okanagan Chinook?

COSEWIC is an independent committee of experts that assesses which wildlife species are in some danger of disappearing from Canada and assigns a status to these species. It conducts its assessments based on the best available information including scientific data, local ecological knowledge, and Indigenous Knowledge. COSEWIC assessed this population as Endangered in 2005 and re-examined it as Threatened in 2006. The Government of Canada declined Okanagan Chinook for SARA listing in 2010. Most recently, COSEWIC reassessed this population as Endangered in 2017, initiating the current SARA listing process for Okanagan Chinook. Under SARA, an Endangered species is defined as one that is facing imminent extirpation or extinction.

Why are Okanagan Chinook at risk?

Key reasons for COSEWIC's assessment of Okanagan Chinook as Endangered include: reduced population size due to construction of multiple dams along the Columbia River and historical overfishing in the Columbia River and ocean; poor marine survival; deterioration in the quality of Canadian spawning habitat; and non-native predators and competitors.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Recovery Potential Assessment identified the following high ranking threats: population decline due to biological resource use (i.e., fishing, harvesting), habitat impacts due to transportation and service corridors, natural system modification (dams and water management/use, other ecosystem modifications), pollutants, invasive species and genes, and geological events (i.e., landslides).

At this time Okanagan Chinook are not managed as a stock of concern in the Pacific Region Southern Salmon Integrated Fisheries Management Plan, and there are no directed fisheries in Canada for this population. Okanagan Chinook were prescribed as a major fish stock of the Fisheries Act in April 2022 will likely require a Rebuilding Plan by April 2024. If SARA-listed, a Rebuilding Plan would not be required.

If a species is listed under the Species at Risk Act

If this population is listed as Endangered 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 Okanagan 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 based on this, further measures to address known threats may be identified in a subsequent action plan. Critical habitat (the habitat necessary for the survival and recovery of Okanagan Chinook) would be identified, to the extent possible, in a recovery strategy and protected from destruction. Regardless of the SARA listing decision, Okanagan Chinook will continue to receive protection under the Fisheries Act.

Related information

Before completing this survey, you may wish to review the following:

• COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report (2017)
• Recovery Potential Assessment (2019)
• Management Scenarios Summary
• Socio-economic Analysis Summary
• Other information can be found on the Species at Risk Public Registry.

Contact us

Species at Risk Program, Pacific Region
200-401 Burrard Street
Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 3S4
DFO.PACSAR-LEPPAC.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca