With the recent death of J32, a young and malnourished pregnant female resident killer whale, it is imperative that we begin a discussion about a recovery plan for south coast chinook salmon stocks.
Chinook that frequent the Juan de Fuca Strait and are a vital source of food to these whales are not as plentiful as they once were. These include stocks from the Fraser, Cowichan and Sooke rivers.
Only 77 southern resident killer whales are left, of which only 17 are females capable of reproducing. Losing any more of these whales will mean local killer whale families will disappear. Quick action is needed to replenish their food supply.
Possibly the quickest and most cost-effective local action would be to ramp the Nitinat Hatchery back up to its full capacity of 10 million chinook salmon beginning next fall. That hatchery is using only 50 per cent of its capacity due to budget cutbacks. These five million chinook smolts could be brought down to the Sooke and Victoria area and released to return again through Juan de Fuca Strait four years later as adults.
The Sooke Enhancement Society has annually transplanted about 300,000 Nitinat chinook smolts into the Sooke River for years, and while that number has kept the Sooke River chinook runs from disappearing, it hasn’t been enough to provide a stable and plentiful supply of food for the whales. It is time to raise the money to get the Nitinat Hatchery production back and save our local resident killer whales.
Rollie Rose
Victoria
