Evaluation of the condition and survival of coho salmon bycatch encountered in the Area B commercial purse seine fishery of British Columbia

B区塞纳河协会是代表公元前一个商业渔业组织的一个协会，该组织使用围网在沿海水域以太平洋鲑鱼为目标。商业围网渔业受到这样一个事实的限制，即当以某些物种(例如红鲑鱼或粉鲑鱼)为目标时，他们无意中捕获了濒危的Coho鲑鱼种群。目前，监管机构假设胡安德富卡海峡的鳕鱼副渔获物死亡率为70%。一旦整个行业遇到Coho的次数乘以70%的死亡率超过一个门槛，捕鱼就会停止，即使目标物种仍然很多。在不列颠哥伦比亚省水域的其他围网渔业中，DFO使用的死亡率没有超过25%，这突出了胡安德富卡海峡目前使用的70%的Coho死亡率估计值的反常。需要一个可靠的、有科学依据的对围网捕获的鲑鱼死亡率的估计，以便为管理行动提供信息。库克和他的团队将使用现代和可辩护的研究方法为行业合作伙伴产生必要的可信生物学知识。研究活动的实地部分将在不列颠哥伦比亚省沿海水域的一艘商业围网渔船上进行(工业实物捐款为50K美元/天至5000美元/天，为期10天)，并在科学研究许可证下作业。当遇到COHO时，我们会从渔民那里截获它们，并立即评估它们的状况(获取非致命性血液和DNA样本，并评估反射)，并将一个子集保存在船上的坦克中，以评估短期死亡率，或释放一个子集，用遥测标签评估放生后的死亡率。解决这一副渔获物问题有可能极大地增加捕捞机会，这将对渔民和相关行业(如加工厂、食品服务业、造船、净制造、燃料销售)产生重大和直接的社会经济利益。

The Area B Seine Society is an association that represents a commercial fishing industry group in BC that uses seine nets to target Pacific salmon in coastal waters. The commercial seine net fishery is constrained by the fact that while targeting some species (e.g., sockeye or pink salmon) they inadvertently capture endangered stocks of coho salmon. At present, regulators assume a 70% mortality rate for coho salmon bycatch in the Juan de Fuca Strait. Once the industry-wide encounter of coho multiplied by the mortality rate of 70% exceeds a threshold, fishing is halted even though the target species remain abundant. In no other seine fishery in BC waters does the mortality rate used by DFO exceed 25% emphasizing the anomaly of the current coho mortality estimate of 70% used in Juan de Fuca Strait. Needed is a reliable and scientifically defensible estimate of mortality for coho salmon captured by seine to inform management actions. Cooke and his team would generate the necessary credible biological knowledge for the industry partner using modern and defensible research methods. The field component of the research activity would occur in the coastal waters of BC aboard a commercial purse seine vessel (industry in kind contribution of $50K - $5K/day for 10 days) operating under a scientific research permit. When coho are encountered we would intercept them from the fishers and immediately evaluate their condition (obtain nonlethal blood and DNA samples and evaluate reflexes) and hold a subset in onboard tanks to evaluate short term mortality or release a subset to evaluate post-release mortality with telemetry tags. Addressing this coho bycatch issue has the potential to dramatically increase fishing opportunities which would have substantial and immediate socio-economic benefits for the fishers and associated industries (e.g., processing plants, food service industry, boat building, net manufacturing, fuel sales).