2009 Field Season Summary
Introduction
The Lake Babine Nation Fisheries Program (Ned’u’ten Fisheries) was created in 1992 under the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy. The Fisheries Program is partially funded by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)
The purpose of the program is to co-manage salmon stocks within the Lake Babine Nation’s Traditional Territory. The Lake Babine Fisheries Staff value the fisheries resource within their Territory and therefore, actively participates in all aspects of Fisheries Management.
Program Objectives:
- To ensure productivity and viability of the fisheries resources for future generations.
- To actively participate in fisheries management decisions.
- To monitor the health of salmon and their habitat within the Nations Territory.
- To actively participate in proposed projects that may have impact on the fisheries resource.
- To monitor and research the impacts of uncertainties, such as Climate Change and the Pine Beetle Epidemic, on fish and fish habitat.
The Programs Mission Statement is "To Protect and conserve the fisheries resources and habitats within the Lake Babine Nation’s Traditional Territory for the benefit of all members present and future"
In this year’s agreement, the following projects were completed by the Fisheries staff:
- Stream spawner Enumerations
- Food, Social and Ceremonial (FSC) Monitoring Program
- Fulton Creel Survey
- Sutherland Project
- Babine River Fence Operation
1. Stream Spawner Enumerations
The Stream Enumeration Program consists of three Spawner Enumeration Crews situated at For Babine, Tachet and Donald’s Landing.
Each Crew consists of one Crew Foreperson and 2 Technicians.
Crews are required to conduct Surveys on each of their creeks on a schedule of every 8-10 days.
In addition to counting spawning salmon, all three crews monitor and record the physical characteristic of the creeks.
When time allows crews also monitor the Food, Social and Ceremonial Fishery at fishing camps on the lake plus conduct boat counts of Sports Fishers.
Crews also monitor fish passage, which includes the removal of beaver dams.
2. Food, Social and Ceremonial (FSC) Monitoring Program
Approximately 5-6 years ago Lake Babing Nation (LBN), and DFO entered a Co-Management Agreement to guide the gradual transfer of the operations at the Babine River Fence. Since this Agreement began, more and more LBN members have been returing to the practice of harvesting their sockey from the fence.
There has been an extremely positive step, as prior to this, much of the FSC (food) harvest was limited by access to gillnets and a boat and motor.
The Lake Babine Nation Fisheries Program ha been monitoring the number of sockeye harvested by LBN fishers since 1992, as required by the funding agreement with the DFO. Each year the LBN Program has provided DFO with a final number of the FSC harvest.
Monitoring of the fishery will aid the Lake Babine Naiton in understanding the effects of climate change on the sockeye stocks, and their food needs.
3. Fulton Creel Survey
The purpose of the Fulton Creel Survey is to determine angler’s catch and effort statistics, which are used to determine an estimation of total angler effort and number of fish harvested. The survey usually takes place August 1st to September 15th. The Survey in 2009 was the 3rd Creel Survey conducted in this area.
4. Sutherland Project
The purpose of this project is to enumerate sockeye in the Shass Creek, which is a tributary of the Sutherland River, located approximately 20 km from the mouth of the Sutherland River.
The Sutherland situation at the very east end of Babine Lake, and is considered an ecologically intact watershed. The Sutherland/Shass sockeye stock is considered a unique wild Babine stock, with unique return timing, relative to the Fulton and Pinkut enhanced stocks.
5. Babine River Fence Operation
The data collected from the Babine River Fence plays an important role in the in-season and post season management processes for the Skeena River watershed’s salmon stocks. The Fence usually begins operations when the rier water levels drop enough to allow for the deployment of the grates, and closes operations the first week in October.
Since the Fence was constructed, it has been fully managed by DFO; historically, DFO Hired non locals for th eoperation with minimum opportunity for members from the nearby community of Fort Babine.
In June 2003, LBN, and DFO entered a Memoandum of Understanding (MOU); where DFO would begin the transfer of operations of the fence gradually to the LBN. The table below shows the targeted time frame for the transfer of operation of the Fence.
The 2009 Field Season
The Stream Enumeration employees from 2008 continued their roles in 2009, with the exception of one position in Tachet, Leanne Miranda is the overall Supervisor of the Stream Enumeration Program. Teh Donald’s stream crew and the Stream Crew Supervisor began work on July 8th, with all crews working by July 20th. The late start of the Fort Babine and Tachet crews was due to boats that were not operable and had to be repaired. All crews were required to conduct an initial inspection of their creeks and report back to the supervisor. Once crews observed fish in their assigned streams they were required to provide a schedule to the Stream Crew Supervisor to ensure that all streams were counted every 8-10 days.
All of the crews started the year by installing depth guagues and trail clearing along their creeks. The warm weather and lower water levels, as well as the lower numbers of fish returning to Babine in 2009, resulted in later than normal dates for the arrival of spawners in the creeks. By the endof July very few fish had been observed.
Donald’s Crew:
- Craig Patrick
- Ray Abraham
- Bruce Alec
- Eugene Patrick
This crew started the year by doing inventories of equipment then getting the equipment and supplies ready for the other 2 crews. The Donald’s crew is responsible for Twain, Pierre, Cross, Deep, 4 and 6 Mile creeks. Cross Creek is no longer accessible to fish because of a multitude of Beaver Dams.
Tachet Crew:
- Marvin Tom
- Jason Michell
- Eugene Alec
The Tachet Crew is assigned teh Morrison, Sockeye, Tachek and Big Loon creeks. Big Loon Creek has not had any spawning salmon for a number of seasons due to several large Beaver Dams that have become barriers to fish migration.
Fort Babine Crew:
- Ivan West
- Reggie William
- Kevin Abraham
The Fort Babine Crew is responsible for 5 and 9 mile creeks on Babine Lake, Tsezakwa Creek at the inlet to Nilkitkwa Lake and Boucher Creek at the outlet of Nilkitkwa Lake. They also do spot checks on Nicheyeskwa Creek, which drains into the Babine river just downstream of the bridge over the Babine River. This yera the crew was also assigned Tahlo Creek, which is at the head of the Morrison Lake. In years past this creek has been assigned to the Tachet crew, but the barge used to access the area is no longer running on a regular scheduel. The Tahlo Creek is now accessed from Ft. Babine by an ATV trail, which the crew has been cutting and upgrading. The crew was laid off a couple of weeks early due to boat/mechanical problems and the sockey run in their area.
In general, the number of sockeye returning to spawn in Babine Lake and its tributary streams in 2009 was very low.
Fulton Creel
The survey started late due to delays in the hiring process for the project, which caused a loss of 17 days of data collection (out of the total duration of the fishery of 45 days). This year’s data was extremely important due to the low numbers of sockeye that returned to Babine Lake. The survey design consisted of random surveys at REd Bluff, Coyote Lodge and Babine Lodge. A total of 3 technicians began the survey August 18th and finished September 15th. Once the data is entered into the database a final report will be completed. The 3 technicians were:
- Alex Joseph
- John George
- Crystal West (replaced during the project by Eugene Alec)
Sutherland Project
This season over-flight enumerations of spawning sockeye were conducted on September 17th and September 22nd. In future years LBN Fisheries would like to conduct additional over-flights to determine the start, peak and end of the sockeye run in the Sutherland system.
Stream Temperature Monitoring
Each year for the past 4 years crews have placed thermographs in each of the spawning streams enumerated to collect baseline data on stream termeratures. The data collected allows monitoring of strea temperatures changes.
Food Social and Ceremonial Monitoring Program
Prior to the opening of the sockeye FSC (food) harvest, all communities received a memo stating dates and times that members can get sockeye at the Fence. Members are also given a limit that is dependent upon the predicted run size. This year the limit to members was 100 sockeye per person and a maximum of 200 per vehicle, provided there were two LBN members in the vehicle. All members were required to verify their LBN Status, and obtain a transport permit from the Monitor in site. Monitors were asked to work 7 days per week from August 4th to September 5th. LBN Commercial Harvest Staff and the Fence Staff filled-in when the Monitoring Crew was unavailable. This year it was extremely busy, as the number of members who utilized the fence to obtain their food fish had increased from previous years.
The 3 FSC Monitoring Technicians at the fence were:
- Vickey Madam
- Tani Williams
- Ron Aslin
Babine Fence
The Technicians for this crew are as follows:
- Shane George Site Manager
- Jimmy Michell
- Ken Aslin
- Colin Williams
- Jason Balczer
As per the MOU between LBN and DFO, the 2009 operation fo the Fence was fully managed by the LBN members, with DFO oversight provided by Barry Finnegan. The Fence empoyed a total of 5 LBN members, including a manager and 4 technicians that were all residents fo Fort Babine. It is important to not that the Manager (Shane George) and two fo the technicians (Jimmy Michell and Ken Aslin) have been employees of the Fence for the past 5 years.
The crew started on July 8th as specified by the contract. The crew began the season by installing the Fence compounds, and completing maintenance of the camp facilities. Once the fish arrived crews began doing daily counts and weekly biological sampling. This year was an extraordinary year as over 450,000 pinks were counted throught he Fence up to September 15th. The large return of pinks created difficulty for the Fence Staff in regards to removing the pink mortalities that were piling up on the grates. The carcasses pose a risk to the fence as they block water flow. The crew was spending much time removing the dead pinks throughout the daylight hours. This resulted in the decision to close the Fence 1 week early, due to safety concerns.
LBN 2010-2011 Field Season
2010-2011 Field Season LBN Fisheries will carry out its usual array of Projects with one new short term project which will be cleaning debris from the Fulton River and Babine River.
Presently the Chief and Council are trying to negotiate the AFS Agreement.
If you have any questions regarding the Fisheries,
please feel free to contact me,
Donna Macintyre at (250) 692-0344
Thank You! Have a great Day!
