Okanagan Nation Alliance fisheries biologist Richard Bussanich spoke to Osoyoos town council last week about fish monitoring in Osoyoos Lake. (Richard McGuire file photo)
An estimated 40,000 to 60,000 sockeye salmon will migrate through Osoyoos Lake between July and October this year, Richard Bussanich, a fish biologist with the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) told Osoyoos council last week.
Bussanich, who appeared at council’s committee of the whole meeting on Jan. 18 along with colleague Colette Louie, told council that the current expectation is for between 100,000 and 120,000 adult sockeye salmon to pass by the mouth of the Columbia River to begin the upstream migration.
This would be considerably lower than recent years in which more than half a million sockeye passed the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River east of Portland, Ore.
In 2013 and 2014, Osoyoos Lake saw successful salmon fisheries, but last year the fishery collapsed as most fish died during migration as a result of heat and drought.
Only two per cent of the fish that passed the mouth of the river made it upriver to spawn last year, Bussanich said.
Despite this update on the forecast for the salmon migration, Bussanich’s main reason for addressing council was to update councillors on fish monitoring activities that will be taking place this year at the Highway 3 bridge and at the mouth of the Okanagan River at the north end of Osoyoos Lake.
Bussanich asked council to help with communicating to the public about the monitoring activities, which could affect boat traffic at certain times during the spring.
Between March and June, an estimated five to seven million sockeye smolts, young salmon, will migrate downstream and through the narrows at the Highway 3 bridge, Bussanich said.
ONA’s goal will be to capture between 40,000 and 100,000 smolts at the narrows to estimate survival from the lake and through the Columbia River. They will also be monitored for trends in age, origin and condition.
The collection will take place between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. at the narrows using nets. Tagging of smolts will occur during the daytime.
Bussanich asked council to help communicate about the smolt work at the bridge and to advise boaters to be aware and proceed with caution.
He said the ONA will place signage and staff will be there during the daytime for tagging and will try to communicate with boaters about the work.
During the summer, ONA will be “creeling,” which means they will speak to fishers on the lake about the fish they are targeting and what they are catching.
Barry Romanko, town chief administrative officer, asked Bussanich whether some of the ONA’s fish monitoring activities would be suitable for visitors and local residents to watch.
“We’re always looking for activities for visitors,” he said. “Is there any opportunity like that? Even for locals to experience and know what is happening with the fish monitoring program in the lake.”
Bussanich said the ONA would be receptive to this and several initiatives came to mind as suitable for this type of program.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
