Climate Change - Cohen Commission

4. Are the recommendations provided in this report supportable? Do you have
any further recommendations to add?
I have two additional recommendations:
1. All six of the recommendations in this report should be implemented by DFO‟s
core operational program, and not be viewed as optional by DFO management;
2. A inventory and analysis should be conducted in the Fraser River watershed to
quantify the volumes, effluent temperatures and thermal warming potential of all
large municipal water (i.e., sewage treatment plant discharges) and industrial
water discharges (mainly pulp and paper mills) to determine if these discharges
could have a cumulative effect on water temperature of the Fraser River, or any
key tributaries, during the critical upriver migration phase for adult sockeye.
Response: Suggestion has been incorporated. See research recommendation
(viii) on Section 4.
5. What information, if any, should be collected in the future to improve our
understanding of this subject area?
Most of the subject areas on en route mortality have been thoroughly researched and
documented. It is noted in the report that the study of intergenerational effects in wild
Pacific salmon is in its infancy, and the results to date are limited, and equivocal, hence
this should become a priority research area.
The remaining topic area that is not well understood is the causal mechanisms for the
early migration of Late run sockeye.
The fact that these sockeye arrive physiologically stressed at the Fraser River estuary,
and the apparent correlation between open ocean wind speed and river entry timing of
some Late-run stocks indicates the causal factor is occurring in the open ocean at some
time during the adult, and possibly sub-adult life history of the sockeye. Logically, this
warrants increased research efforts towards understanding the relationship between
climate, oceanographic conditions and sockeye behaviour. Knowing where the sockeye
are in the North Pacific during their open ocean phase, and the physical, chemical and
biological conditions they encounter, is a major knowledge gap in terms of
understanding sockeye life history, as the near-shore, estuarine, river and lake
components of their life history range from sufficiently to very well understood, as
compared to the current „black box‟ state of open ocean knowledge.
Until relatively recently, it was technologically impossible to conduct high seas tracking
of sockeye. However, the recent development of real time and archival microelectronic
tags, and integration with acoustic, satellite, and oceanographic buoys should make this
technologically possible now, or in the immediate future.
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