There are more than 172,000 road crossings over fish-bearing streams in BC, with an estimated 92,000 of these crossings being either partially or fully impassable to fish. The Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) is working with the province of British Columbia’s Fish Passage Technical Working Group (FPTWG), Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), the Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF), and the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation (PsKF) to develop a BC Fish Passage Restoration Initiative to remediate these crossings and other barriers to fish movement in a strategic way that provides the most benefit to salmon and federally listed fish species-at-risk.

Canton Creek wetland is a large (approximately 4,000 m2) salt marsh located west of Canton Creek on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The wetland connects to Canton Creek though only during high flows, and through a ditch that otherwise dries out and strands fish. There are two culverts under Head Bay Forest Service Road that connect the wetland to the ocean, and the wetland is used by rearing Coho Salmon. Chinook Salmon juveniles also rear in the wetland. Connection to the ocean is tidally influenced, and the culverts are perched at lower tides. We have retained a contractor to develop a remediation plan for the wetland, which entails upgrading the two culverts connecting to the ocean with fish passable structures. Culverts will likely be replaced with open-bottom structures, though designs will determine whether a full replacement or a retrofit is the most effective way of achieving fish passage at variable tide levels.

The degradation of freshwater habitat from forestry operations is believed to be a leading factor in the decline of Chinook populations in Tranquil Creek, Clayoquot Sound. Chinook populations along the west coast of Vancouver Island are declining, yet the problem is particularly acute in Clayoquot Sound. Tranquil Chinook populations are believed to be at just 3% of their historic abundance. In-stream and riparian restoration works are proposed for the prime rearing and spawning habitat in Tranquil Creek. This project was designed to address specific high-risk limiting factors to production in the freshwater life stages. Historically, Tranquil was one of the largest Chinook runs in Clayoquot Sound. Habitat restoration in this watershed can significantly contribute to regional recovery strategies for Chinook in the WCVI conservation unit.

MC Wright and Associates Ltd. (MCW) is proposing to construct an off-channel juvenile salmon rearing habitat in the lower Nitinat River to restore habitats lost due to impacts from forest harvesting. In the first year of the two and a half-year project, MCW will collect baseline data and conduct field surveys of the potential restoration sites (only one will be selected) to collect the data necessary to support prescription development (i.e., LiDAR and total station topographical data, groundwater, discharge, and water quality monitoring, fish sampling) and finalize the  prescription. In spring and summer of the second year, MCW will procure and mobilize heavy machinery to the work site, construct the channel, and complete a total station as-built survey and report. MCW will conduct post-construction monitoring the following spring to fall to assess fish use of the newly restored habitat (by minnow trap and electrofisher), fry size, habitat characteristics (e.g., water quality, channel stability, riparian vegetation cover composition).

We are developing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or “Drone” based enumerations of chum salmon within Clayoquot Sound and applying Artificial intelligence (AI) based software that aids in the detection and enumeration of salmon within the output video footage. By the end of the Project streamlined drone enumeration methodology will be produced that can then be applied to other species and stocks. AI-based software used to for ecological research applications will be optimized to be used for processing the drone video footage that is collected during the enumeration process. For this application fish can be detected and counted by the automated software making the process highly efficient. Streams will be enumerated traditionally by snorkel or bank walks at the same time as the drone-based surveys so the methods can be compared, and a survey efficiency can be determined. We are working with researchers from Uuathluk Fisheries, Quest University, University of Toronto, Pacific Salmon Foundation, CDFO, and other local organizations and to ensure the UAV based enumerations and analysis is designed to meet management requirements of expanded chum enumerations.

The goal of this study is to validate if the Discounted Survey Life (DSL) /Hydrology method of indexing residence time related to flow timing developed at Burman River can be used more extensively.  More specifically we hope to estimate escapement of the adjacent and neighboring Pacific Salmon Treaty (PST) wild population indicators in the Nootka-Kyuquot Conservation Unit (CU) and the Southwest Vancouver Island CU, (Kaouk, Tahsish, and Artlish, Megin, Mooyeha, Bedwell). Modern mark-recapture (MR) methods  will be employed at Conuma River and Tranquil Creek, to precisely estimate spawning escapement of Chinook salmon. Although these two streams are not current Pacific Salmon Commission indicators of natural Chinook salmon escapement we believe they contain sufficient fish from hatchery production or supplementation to successfully conduct MR studies, estimate the DSL parameter, and validate if the new method can be applied more broadly to WCVI Chinook in general and specifically to the wild PST escapement indicator populations established in the new Agreement.

Current efforts in assessing the health and recovery of Chinook salmon have been primarily focused on adult escapement to their natal spawning grounds while data and information around the health and available resources at other life-stages is lacking. Cohort survival is generally determined in the early life phases. Identification of limiting factors is important for improving production and recovery. This project is unique along the WCVI in assessing the health, distribution, and out-migration timing of wild Chinook smolts. We propose installing a Rotary Screw Trap (RST) in the lower reaches of the Bedwell River which will capture and allow for sampling of the juvenile salmon out-migration in the Spring.  Results from the project will contribute to a multi-year comprehensive assessment of the limiting factors for southern west coast Vancouver Island (WCVI) Chinook recovery.