MCC feedback to DFO on options for Chinook management to aid Southern Resident killer whale recovery

This letter is submitted as feedback to DFO on options for prey management through Southern Resident killer whales critical habitat.

The MCC’s submission is framed within three intersecting contexts: enhanced recovery efforts for endangered killer whales; recovery efforts for threatened, endangered, and at-risk spring and summer stream-type Chinook salmon returning to the Fraser River; and lastly, the structure, scale and management realities of the recreational Chinook fishery on British Columbia’s south coast. 

In summary, the MCC stresses that continued access to Chinook fisheries within Southern Resident killer whale habitats must be tied to stronger accountability and measurable limits on fishing activity.  Since DFO lacks fishery-independent tools to monitor catch and releases, it should instead cap fishing effort in SRKW critical habitat at or below the 2020–2022 average levels, regulate guided fishing effort, and implement verifiable, independent monitoring of all recreational fisheries.

Without these controls, technological advances and unlimited licence sales will increase impacts on SRKW. The MCC supports DFO’s Option 2 only if these limits and monitoring systems are adopted; otherwise, it urges a full closure of SRKW habitats to salmon fishing from March 01 through August 15 to safeguard this endangered population.