The manager of the Chapman Creek Hatchery says poor salmon runs on the creek this year are, in part, a reflection of past droughts.
David Burnett told Coast Reporter this week that this could turn out to be one of the worst years they’ve ever seen, and salmon runs have been looking bad elsewhere in B.C. as well.
“For pinks, on this creek, it’s been minimal. It’s not even close to the runs of a few years ago,” Burnett said. “We’ve caught just 10 or 11 coho in the trap. That’s way down too.”
Burnett said one reason for the drop in coho numbers is the devastating impact of the 2015 drought, when low water flows were combined with high temperatures and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) closed Chapman Creek to sport fishing.
That year saw a 90 per cent drop in the number of coho the hatchery was able to harvest for eggs, and there was a 60 per cent drop in 2016.
“That’s all going to have an effect on returning fish, because it’s a 17-month salt water cycle for coho. Whatever we released last year in March and April are coming back now,” said Burnett.
Runs on Chapman Creek typically end with the arrival of chum salmon at the end of October, and Burnett said the first have already started to appear – but whether they’ll be able to get up the creek in significant numbers will depend on the rainfall and how much water the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) has to hold back.
Stage 4 water restrictions are now in place on the Chapman system, meaning the hatchery could still have to stop drawing water from the creek because conditions of an order from the provincial environment ministry prohibit the hatchery from taking water if the flow is 200 litres-per-second or lower.
“[The SCRD has] been doing a bit more than that, which has given us a buffer,” Burnett said.
Under new rules the hatchery has been told it can’t use back-up wells for water until it gets a licence, which requires costly tests and engineering studies.
