Coastal Cutthroat Trout as Sentinels of Lower Mainland Watershed ...

5249 adult cutthroat were counted (73 % hatchery fish). However, counts in this river inother years in late summer were low (0-5). Whether other seasons may generate highercounts of cutthroat is uncertain, but it is likely that peak timing of adult entry differs ateach system. This is likely associated with the availability of salmon eggs and the onsetof freshets that facilitate spawner migration into small tributaries. Although counts arelow, they are still of value overall as historical count and should be continued, largely inconjunction with steelhead enumerations. Further, counts in late summer to early wintershould also be “tested” at key cutthroat systems because late summer-fall counts havebeen useful indices of adult cutthroat abundance in Bella Coola streams (R. Ptolemy pers.comm. 2004).Table 3. Maximum observed count of adult cutthroat (wild + hatchery) made duringsteelhead enumerations in the Lower Mainland Region (from A. Hanson, BCCF 2004)._______________________________________________________________________Stream Year Maximum CountCheakamus River several 0Mamquam River 2004 8Capilano River 1999 12Lynn Creek 03-04 1Seymour River 1988 8Norrish Creek all years 0Chilliwack River 2004 6Chehalis River-winter 2002 4Chehalis River-summer 2003 49Big Silver Creek 2002 14Lower Silverhope Creek 2004 2Coquihalla River 03-04 0Coquitlam River 2003 10Upper Pitt River 3 years 0Alouette River 2001 (May) 54Kanaka Creek 2001 8Phillips River 2003 9Oxford River 2004 1Quantam River 03-04 0Chapman Creek 2004 2Rainy River 2004 1________________________________________________________________________Cutthroat brood catch per unit fishing effort is also available from historical fish culturerecords in the Lower Mainland Region. Catch per day has declined in the Lower FraserRiver basin over the years. However, because of shifting capture methods with variableuse of volunteer anglers, the data is unreliable for trend analyses on Fraser stocks.