3.6. Fish
Introduction
There have been 33 species of fish identified within the geographic boundaries of the plan area. Major river systems include the Fraser and Thompson. Smaller river systems include the Bridge, Seton, Yalakom, Cayoosh and Portage. Four species of pacific salmon are found in the plan area; namely sockeye, chinook, coho, and pink. Steelhead, bull trout, white sturgeon, rainbow trout, kokanee and brook trout are found within major stream and lake systems throughout the plan area. As well, valuable native fish stocks inhabit high alpine lakes and many non-game fish species are found in all types of habitats throughout the region.
Coho salmon, steelhead, bull trout (blue-listed) and white sturgeon (red-listed) populations are of special concern. Population numbers, habitat quality and quantity are concerns that require special management attention in order to bring the populations of these species back to sustainable levels relative to habitat capacities.
The vast majority of the fish populations in this plan area are wild stocks. There is limited stocking of rainbow trout and brook trout carried out in several small lakes that help sustain sport fisheries. Fishing is important from an economic and cultural perspective for commercial, sport, recreation, tourism and native food fishing purposes. Fisheries inventory is not complete for the plan area. For example, bull trout and small lake inventory is ongoing and will eventually add valuable information to resource planning processes.
The key fisheries issues are the protection of fish and fish habitat in both rivers and lakes. Even the smallest creeks may support wild salmon, trout or char species. Although many very small headwater streams may be barren of fish, they often flow into fish bearing waters and thus are an integral part of the ecosystem. It is important that riparian areas along fish bearing waters and direct tributaries be properly managed for the protection of fisheries resources. Forested lands near water bodies are critical for maintaining channel/bank stability and complexity, cool water temperatures, food supply (invertebrate production), nutrient supply and long-term woody debris input. The steep-sloped nature of the planning area, coupled with unstable surface materials, make intact riparian areas critical to ensuring natural control of sediment into streams and lakes. These steep slopes also limit the portion of the area that is suitable for timber harvesting – approximately 26% of the total area, and 44% of the forested area is within the timber harvesting land base – and thus subject to potential impacts from harvesting. However, the timber harvesting land base is extensive in lower elevation, less steep areas where fish habitat values are highest.
There are also habitat issues concerning the operation of hydroelectric dams and their impacts on both in-reservoir and downstream riverine habitats. There are concerns over the temperature sensitivity of some streams within portions of the plan area, which reflects the very arid climate of this part of the province. More fisheries land use management effort is currently being directed at this key habitat issue.
The goals of the provincial fisheries program are to conserve the natural diversity of fish and fish habitat and to sustainably manage fresh water sport fishing in British Columbia. The first priority (for the province) is conserving wild fish and their habitat including wetlands and riparian areas, and ultimately the conservation and maintenance of genetic and ecosystem biodiversity. The Ministry of Water, Land, and Air Protection’s (MWLAP) fisheries program definition of conservation is “the protection, maintenance and rehabilitation of native fish and their habitat to ensure ecosystem sustainability and biodiversity.” The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) also has the responsibility to protect fish and fish habitat, under the authority of the Fisheries Act. The long-term policy objective of DFO is to achieve an overall “net gain” in the productive capacity of fish habitats. A fundamental strategy for achieving this objective is to prevent further erosion of the productive capacity of existing habitat by applying the “no net loss” guiding principle. This guiding principle is key to the conservation and protection of fish and fish habitat.
Issues
· Degraded fish habitats, where these exist in the plan area, require restoration.
· Key habitats for bull trout may be at risk due to temperature sensitivity and sedimentation. This species also congregates in defined locations during particular times in their lifecycle, making them vulnerable to overfishing and poaching in easily accessible locations.
· Existing hydroelectric facilities have had the greatest negative impact on fisheries in the plan area and annual operations continue to have impacts. The large water control facilities in the plan area modify stream flows that impact on fish and fish habitat. Also, fish are killed in the hydroelectric turbines (entrainment), stranded in isolated pools during drawdown, and lost in the Seton canal water diversion.
· White sturgeon is a provincially endangered (red-listed) fish species that inhabits the Fraser River, and likely the Seton/Anderson River system in the Lillooet plan area. Provincially, the quantity and quality of suitable habitat for this species is declining. The lack of a complete inventory may also be putting this species at risk in some locations. The populations in the plan area are relatively stable, compared to other reaches of the Fraser River, because much of the main stem of the Fraser River within the plan area is inaccessible. Increasing access to the river at locations with key sturgeon habitat, without adequate law enforcement, will increase the potential for illegal fishing for sturgeon and be detrimental to the species.
· The eastern portions of the plan area experience extreme summertime temperatures, which can result in stream temperatures that exceed the tolerance ranges for resident fish species. Coho salmon, steelhead, and particularly bull trout (blue-listed) are at least three species that require cool to cold water to successfully carry out their life processes.
· Losses of, and impacts to, fish habitat (e.g., loss of riparian areas, inadequate instream flows, etc.) during construction of transportation and utility corridors, roads, subdivisions, etc.
· More detailed inventories and site specific information on fish species distribution and fish habitat is needed to address interactions between development, land use activities and fish and fish habitat within the plan area.
Goal
To conserve, protect and restore the natural diversity of fish and fish habitats in the plan area.
Objectives & Strategies
1. Increase knowledge and information of the fisheries resource throughout the plan area.
1.1 Complete fish and fish habitat inventories according to priorities identified in consultation with all agencies and interests. Coordinate inventory efforts with MWLAP and MSRM agency workplans.
1.2 All spawning, rearing and staging/holding congregation areas within all streams should be identified and mapped during inventories.
1.3 All fish bearing streams and direct tributaries to fish bearing streams should be identified and classified accordingly.
1.4 Government agencies, Crown corporations and others completing inventories should provide their data and maps to the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management.
1.5 The fish distribution map (see Fish Distribution Map), and the database of fish distribution and fish habitat should be maintained and updated as new information becomes available.
1.6 Government agencies are to make this information available to resource users and resource managers. Maps and data indicating locations where species are vulnerable (e.g. bull trout congregation areas, key sturgeon habitat) must only be used for resource management planning, and must not be widely distributed.
2. Complete priority watershed restoration projects in the plan area.
2.1 Annually the MWLAP, the Ministry of Forests (MOF) and the DFO should work co-operatively with licensees to rank priority watershed restoration projects, and define project responsibilities, using the Lillooet Forest District Watershed Screen Tool (August, 2000) and detailed watershed assessments.
2.2 Restoration activities such as road deactivation, and re-vegetation of riparian zones should be implemented within priority watersheds, where watershed management plans indicate, to restore watershed integrity to pre-disturbance conditions where possible.
3. Maintain and restore suitable bull trout habitat to maintain existing populations within the plan area (see Fish Distribution Map).
Intent: Consistent with the objectives for bull trout provided in “Managing Identified Wildlife: Procedures and Measures Vol. 1, February 1999”, retain functioning riparian areas around bull trout habitats.
3.1 In bull trout watersheds, development proponents should inventory reaches with gradients greater than the usual 20% default to ensure bull trout habitat is not overlooked. Stream inventories for bull trout and other ‘best available information’ should be used during forest development planning.
3.2 After the fisheries inventory has been completed, Wildlife Habitat Areas (WHAs) should be established under the Forest Practices Code for key bull trout staging/holding congregation and spawning areas. The intent of the “Identified Wildlife Management Strategies” (IWMS) for bull trout (anadramous and non-anadramous) under the Forest Practices Code should be followed in the approval of operational plans in WHAs.
3.3 On a priority basis, appropriate watershed assessments should be completed for all stream systems supporting bull trout to assess previous forest development activities, and guide future activities, as described in the IWMS for bull trout.
3.4 Instream works should be conducted during the established in-stream work windows. In special circumstances, where fish habitat is not put at risk, a variance to in-stream work windows can be approved by the MWALP and the DFO.
3.5 The Access Evaluation Process (defined in the Access section) should be used to manage any road developments or improved access within bull trout watersheds to minimize impacts on bull trout habitat.
4. Establish and/or maintain adequate water flows and hydroelectric reservoir levels to maintain fish and fish habitat.
4.1 Gaps in reservoir inflow and outflow data should be filled through further inventory by government agencies and hydroelectric operators.
4.2 Address the Seton, Lower and Middle Bridge watersheds through the Bridge River Water Use Plan.
4.3 Using procedures defined by WALP and DFO, operators of existing small scale power plants or proponents of new facilities should determine water flow regimes necessary to maintain fish and fish habitat for review by WALP and DFO during proposal evaluation.
4.4 During water use planning for existing or additional hydroelectric facilities, the following should be considered:
· fish and fish habitat should not be adversely affected
· the water budget should be reallocated to meet fish needs.
· impacts from regulated flows on natural hydrological and sediment regimes, such as lack of gravel recruitment and disruption of natural fish movement patterns, should be reduced by developing flow and sediment transport regimes that mimic the natural hydrological cycle as much as possible.
· the frequency and magnitude of damaging spills should be minimized at facilities on Bridge and Seton River (thresholds are needed to define damaging spills).
5. BC Hydro and WLAP should work cooperatively to improve the understanding of how fish are funneled (entrained) into hydroelectric turbines, and implement initiatives to reduce funneling (entrainment) at each facility.
5.1 Alternative operational practices to reduce fish entrainment and mortality should be examined during the water use planning process.
5.2 Initiatives to minimize fish kill in turbines and intakes (i.e., hydroacoustics, screening, louvers) should be implemented.
6. Maintain current populations of white sturgeon throughout the plan area.
6.1 Baseline population and habitat inventories for sturgeon should be completed throughout the plan area.
6.2 Sturgeon populations should continue to be monitored at least every 5 years.
7. Minimize impacts to white sturgeon populations by limiting the creation of additional public access on Crown land near key white sturgeon habitat.
7.1 Agencies reviewing proposals that would increase access to the Fraser River and other rivers systems where key white sturgeon habitat is identified should refer these proposals to the MWLAP.
8. Identify and designate temperature sensitive streams within the plan under the Forest Practices Code of BC Act.
8.1 The MWALP, the MOF and the DFO should prepare a rationale explaining why designation of temperature sensitive streams is important and necessary in the Lillooet Plan area, and detailing an approach to identify streams for designation.
8.2 Fish distribution maps and biogeoclimatic zone maps should be reviewed to identify areas where temperature sensitive streams may exist.
8.3 The Crown land versus non-Crown land impacts on temperatures in potentially sensitive streams should be considered.
8.4 Additional information should be collected on stream temperatures (particularly in upland areas) to identify remaining cool water refugia.
8.5 A rationale to explain why specific streams should be designated as temperature sensitive under the Forest Practices Code should be jointly prepared by the MOF, the MWLAP and the DFO.
9. Develop and implement appropriate practices on designated temperature sensitive streams to ensure stream temperatures do not increase.
9.1 Practices that are appropriate for the conditions in Lillooet should be developed in operational plans to provide shade on identified temperature sensitive streams and their direct tributaries.
9.2 Aspect, slope, and other biophysical features of the basin(s) around temperature sensitive streams and their tributaries should be considered when developing appropriate practices for particular sites.
10. Where stream temperatures are above tolerance levels for fish, where feasible, implement strategies to reduce temperatures to tolerable levels. See the Riparian Ecosystems section for enhanced riparian buffer recommendations.
10.1 The MWLAP and the DFO should communicate the temperature sensitive streams needing rehabilitation broadly in local communities and to stewardship groups to encourage rehabilitation projects.
10.2 Rehabilitation projects should be reviewed by and the MWLAP and the DFO for technical feasibility.
11. Maintain fish and fish habitat during such developments as utility corridors, roads and subdivisions.
11.1 Communication between development proponents and agencies will occur through the application of referrals and other existing operational level procedures.
11.2 Minimize sedimentation and loss of riparian habitat from developments such as utility corridors, roads and subdivisions.
12. Avoid introducing non-native fish species in the plan area.
12.1 Native fish should be used in stocking lakes or streams within in the plan area, except in unusual circumstances.