Sakinaw Lake Population

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) recently listed the Sakinaw Lake sockeye population (Sechelt Peninsula, Strait of Georgia, BC) as endangered. A biological review concluded that if present conditions continue, Sakinaw Lake sockeye salmon are likely to become extirpated in the foreseeable future. The evidence indicates that this population of Sockeye Salmon has collapsed mostly because of overfishing, including incidental bycatch, and insufficient water flow and water levels to allow adult fish to enter the lake. This genetically unique and geographically distinct population has declined so drastically that the few remaining fish are at risk of extinction from even minor changes in local predation, incidental catch in mixed-stock fisheries, poaching or impediments to spawning migration.

Cultus Lake population

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) recently listed the Cultus Lake sockeye population (Lower Fraser Valley, near Chilliwack, BC) as endangered . The genetically unique population is now at an extremely low level and at risk of extinction if harvest pressure continues and prespawn mortality remains high. Fortunately, the emergency assessment recognized the population as endangered before the dominant 2003 run, which is likely key to the conservation of Cultus sockeye. In assessing this population, scientists concluded that unsustainable harvest levels in most years from 1952 through 1995 and extremely high pre-spawn mortality from 1995 to present (reaching 90% in 2001) are the two main factors that caused the collapse of the Sockeye Salmon population of Cultus Lake.