New research project aims to “renew interest” in Kennedy Lake’s sockeye salmon beach spawning population
Very little is known about a “unique population” of sockeye salmon that spawn on Kennedy Lake’s shorelines, said Jessica Hutchinson, Redd Fish Restoration Society executive director.
Due to a lack of funding and resources allocated to fisheries management, “no one has looked at the sockeye habitat in Kennedy Lake since the 80s,” she said.
In partnership with Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, Redd Fish launched the ʔaʔukmin Sockeye Research project to do just that.
Formerly known as Central Westcoast Forest Society, Redd Fish is a non-profit organization based in Ucluelet that works to rebuild wild salmon populations through watershed restoration.
In developing a better understanding of spawning habitat conditions and by mapping historic drainage patterns, Hutchinson said the project’s aim is to recreate the lake’s downstream habitat and generate more spawning habitat along the lakeshore.
“We’re trying to build momentum to better understand these populations,” she said. “And we’re seeing that is creating a positive change. There’s a renewed interest in these stocks.”
The 14 Nuu-chah-nulth nations along the west coast of Vancouver Island were historically known as the cedar and salmon people, said Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation Natural Resource Manager Saya Masso.
Longhouses used to be full of salmon that would hang from racks to dry throughout the summer months so communities could “feast and potlatch throughout the winter,” he said.
“We survived on the abundance of our rivers,” Masso said. “And sockeye salmon were our favoured on the west coast for their really rich flavour.”
As the largest run of salmon, sockeye were a primary food source for Nuu-chah-nulth communities and benefitted the ecosystem at large.
“All salmon are keystone species, but some provide bigger value than others,” said Tom Balfour, fish program manager at Redd Fish. “It’s these big returns of sockeye that bring nutrients from way out at sea into places like the Kennedy.”
Kennedy Lake used to be one of the largest producers of sockeye salmon on Vancouver Island, with anywhere from 300,000 to one-million fish returning annually, according to Uu-a-thluk, an aquatic resource management organization administered by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.
The 2009 Final Kennedy Watershed Recovery report by J.A. Taylor said that from the end of the 19th century, sockeye fisheries supported a cannery in the lower Kennedy River for nearly 40 years.
“Over the ensuing century, sockeye escapements have fallen to a fraction of these levels of abundance,” the report read. “Sockeye numbers presently show a continuing downward trend with the estimated loss of 40 percent of spawners in the Upper Kennedy River over the last decade.”
Despite shutting the fishery down after the stock collapsed from overfishing, Balfour said it has not recovered.
“It's definitely been a mystery to everyone involved in studying salmon,” he said. “There's quite a negative feedback [loop] when you pull salmon out of these systems and remove that nutrient source. From an ecological standpoint, it's incredibly devastating.”
Since the project’s launch two years ago, Redd Fish has been monitoring sockeye returns in Kennedy Lake to observe what habitats they’re using through snorkel surveys.
Unlike swimming downstream with the current of a river, Hutchinson said swimming in a lake is a slower, more laborious process.
But, she said, “it’s the best way to actually visualize and do accurate estimates of the number of returning adults.”
Before snorkel surveys, a lot of the assessments in Kennedy Lake were done by looking over the edge of a boat to count sockeye beach spawning populations, Hutchinson said.
Overhanging vegetation, cloud coverage, glare and wind all impact the ability to do accurate estimates from a boat, she said.
“Getting your head in the water is a more highly effective way to observe what habitats they’re utilizing,” she said. “The highway has disrupted the natural drainage pattern by rerouting creeks into ditches and reducing the number of tributaries that enter the lake. This might have potentially reduced the amount of area available for spawning to occur – it’s these creeks that oxygenate the gravel along the beaches, and allow the salmon eggs to survive.”
There are very few lakes on Vancouver Island that have healthy sockeye salmon populations, Hutchinson said.
“We really wanted to create a research program that can be replicated elsewhere,” she said. “If we were able to help this population rebound, it would be amazing for the nation, but also for the health of the whole region.”
To set up interviews with any of our spokespeople, please contact:
Sarita Mielke | (250) 713-6755 | sarita@reddfish.org