Fraser River sockeye salmon: data synthesis and cumulative impacts

The twelve highest priority recommendations are shown in bold, but the entire set of 23recommendations form a cohesive whole. Since the early marine environment appears to be amajor potential source of declining productivity, it is particularly important improve informationon potential stressors affecting sockeye along their migratory path from the mouth of the FraserRiver through Queen Charlotte Sound, including food, predators, pathogens, and physical,chemical, and biological ocean conditions. Information on pathogens, including potentialrelationships to aquaculture, is a particularly important data gap.Further work is required to prioritize, sequence, define and integrated these recommendedactivities. Management decisions must still be made despite considerable uncertainty, and theinformation requirements for those management decisions should guide the elaboration,prioritization and integration of our recommendations. In other similar efforts we have found ithelpful to apply the Data Quality Objectives (DQO) process developed by the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 2006). Adapting some of the guiding principles of theDQO process to the sockeye situation leads to the following questions, which we believe shouldbe applied to each of the recommendations in Table 5.2-1:1. How exactly will the information be used? Example uses include: increasing ourfundamental understanding of what is going on; directing strategic decisions onmanaging fisheries, hatcheries and other human activities (e.g., land use, pollution,aquaculture); managing expectations on sockeye returns 1 to 2 years later; helping to helpmake short term in-season harvest management decisions.2. Given the intended uses of this information, what are the appropriate time and spacescales of interest, and the required/achievable levels of accuracy and precision? Forexample, given the myriad and highly variable factors affecting sockeye, what level ofaccuracy and precision is required/achievable with pre-season forecasts of run returns?How much effort should be allocated to pre-season forecasts versus in-season forecastsand management?3. What activities need to be done first? Are there some activities which are contingent uponoutcomes of the primary activities (i.e., if we learn X, then we need to do Y), butotherwise can be deferred? Are rigorous adaptive management approaches feasible forkey management uncertainties?4. Given the answers to questions 1-3, what are the most cost-effective research andmonitoring designs of a fully integrated, multi-disciplinary program? What pilot studiesneed to be done to develop such designs?107