Coho Salmon (Interior Fraser designatable unit): Consultations on listing under the Species at Risk Act

We would like to receive your comments on the potential impacts of adding coho salmon Interior Fraser designatable unit to the List of Species at Risk as threatened.

Send comments to DFO.PACSAR-LEPPAC.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca or see below for other contact information.

Engagement

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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 coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) Interior Fraser designatable unit (DU) (Figure 1) to the List of 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 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 Species at Risk. Public engagement is conducted to gather the opinions of Canadians, and is an important step in this process.

Facts about Interior Fraser Coho

• Interior Fraser Coho are managed as a population aggregate, or stock management unit (SMU), of the same name. They are distributed in approximately 100 rivers and streams across the Thompson, Cariboo-Chilcotin, Nechako, Fraser Canyon, and Upper Fraser watersheds in British Columbia (Figure 2)
• Adults migrate into the Fraser River watershed from August to November and spawn upriver from Hells Gate during fall and early winter
• Fry emerge from the gravel the following spring and remain in freshwater for one or sometimes two years before migrating to the ocean as smolts. They remain in the highly developed Fraser River estuary for an unknown period and many spend their first summer in the Strait of Georgia, leaving for the coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean in October or November.
• Most Interior Fraser Coho spend 18 months at sea before returning to freshwater to spawn and complete a three-year life cycle, with about 12% completing a four-year life cycle

Hatchery production of Interior Fraser Coho began in the late 1970s and at its peak in the 1980s and 1990s there were up to 13 enhancement projects in operation. Annual releases have declined since then and recent release numbers are less than one-third their historic peak. Coded-wire tagged (CWT) hatchery coho are adipose fin clipped and are used to assess fisheries exploitation rates, distribution, and marine survival. Coho 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 Interior Fraser Coho?

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 Interior Fraser Coho as endangered in 2002 and in 2006 the Governor in Council decided not to list the DU under SARA. COSEWIC reassessed this DU as threatened in 2016,  initiating the current SARA listing process. Under SARA, 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 Interior Fraser Coho at risk?

The population increased in abundance from 2005 to 2012 but escapements in 2014 and 2015 were very low and marine survival had deteriorated. Fishing mortality is believed to be a significant threat to Interior Fraser Coho, though exploitation rates have been substantially reduced since 1998 and there has been a concurrent reduction in the rate of population decline. Their reliance on coastal marine environments in highly developed areas makes them vulnerable to estuarine habitat loss, predation, and pollution. Additionally, there are several threats to freshwater habitat such as:

• invasive species
• drought
• higher water temperatures
• land use
• increased urbanization

Interior Fraser Coho are managed as a stock of concern (DFO Southern Salmon Integrated Fisheries Management Plan [IFMP] 2024/2025). In April 2022, Interior Fraser Coho were prescribed as a major fish stock under the Fishery (General) Regulations, making them subject to the fish stocks provisions (FSP) of the Fisheries Act. The stock is above its limit reference point (LRP) so an FSP rebuilding plan is not required at this time (IFMP, Appendix 11).

If a species is listed under the Species at Risk Act

If the 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 Interior Fraser Coho. 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 the DU) would be identified, to the extent possible, in a recovery strategy and protected from destruction. Regardless of the SARA listing decision, Interior Fraser Coho will continue to receive protection under the Fisheries Act.

Additional information

• COSEWIC assessment and status report (2016)
• Recovery Potential Assessment (2020)
• Species at Risk Act management scenarios summary for Coho Salmon: Interior Fraser population (Interior Fraser Coho)
• Summary of the socio-economic analysis of the potential Species at Risk Act (SARA) listing of Coho Salmon: Interior Fraser population (Interior Fraser Coho)

Contact person

Pacific Region
Regional Manager, Species at Risk Program
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
200 - 401 Burrard Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6C 3S4
Phone: 604-666-7907
DFO.PACSAR-LEPPAC.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca