Community-led decision-making for sustainable management of vulnerable

fisheriesKristin Hynes, Fisheries Joint

Management CommitteeEllen Lea, Fisheries & Oceans Canada

Dolly Varden co-management in the Gwich’inSettlement Area and Inuvialuit Settlement Region:

Sarah Lord, Gwich’in Renewable Resources Board

Colin Gallagher, Fisheries & Oceans CanadaPhoto: GRRB

Outline

• Dolly Varden biology• Range: Gwich’in Settlement Area &

Inuvialuit Settlement Region• Stock History• Stock Management• Integrated Fisheries Management

Plan (IFMP)• COSEWIC & SARA Listing• Rat River Working Group• West Side Working Group• Conclusions

Photo: GRRB

Photo: DFO

Photo: DFO

Anadromous (sea-run) fish related to Arctic char, Bull Trout, and other char• Scientific name: Salvelinus malma malma• Gwich’in name: Dhik’ii• Inuvialuktun: Iqaluqpiq• Common names in our region: Dolly Varden, char, trout

Male spawner Female spawner

Silver (likely female)Silver (likely male)

Dolly Varden (northern form)

Photos: DFO

Range: Gwich’in Settlement Area & Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Rat RiverBig Fish River

Babbage River

Data: from DFO CSAS reports; recent years are preliminary (not yet peer-reviewed)

Stock History

Stock History

• Decline in Dolly Varden populations since the 1970s• Voluntary Closure: Rat River 2006-2008. • DFO Closure: Big Fish River and its tributaries 1987 – present.

Photo: GRRB

Stock History

• In 2000, the Minister of DFO supported co-management of Big Fish River Dolly Varden if a management plan would be developed and approved by DFO• Knew of impending Dolly

Varden assessment under SARA • Development of 2011-2015

Integrated Fisheries Management Plan (IFMP) for Dolly Varden char stocks in GSA & ISR

Photo: GRRB

Stock History

• Deliberate planning for future actions even at very early stages• Make sure the IFMP would

meet requirements of a future SARA management plan• All parties wanted to ensure

management recommendations came from the communities, rather than being imposed by external agencies

Photo: GRRB

Traditional management practices:• Taking only what you need• Sharing the harvest• Gear restrictions• Rotating harvest pressure among rivers

Photo: GRRBPhoto: DFO

Stock Management

Fishing Plans are based on:• Traditional Gwich’in and

Inuvialuit knowledge and management practices• Western scientific knowledge

and technical advice• Gwich’in and Inuvialuit beliefs

about showing respect to fish:• No overharvesting• Quick and humane killing• Clean handling• No derogatory talk about

fishPhoto: GRRB

Stock Management

Modern management practices:We have many tools at our disposal, but they are all ’just words’ until people actually use them.

How to make sure a tool is useful? Have the people who will use it, be the ones to develop it!

Stock Management

Integrated Fisheries Management Plan (IFMP)

IFMP Objectives:• Long-term conservation, rebuilding, and

sustainable use of Dolly Varden stocks for the benefit of present and future generations• Maintain healthy stocks throughout the

GSA and ISR• Preserve and protect habitats in rivers and

Beaufort Sea coast • Use adaptive co-management processes

with full community participation

Photos: DFO

Integrated Fisheries Management Plan (IFMP)

IFMP Objectives:• Long-term conservation, rebuilding, and

sustainable use of Dolly Varden stocks for the benefit of present and future generations• Continue to provide subsistence food and

support traditional Gwich’in and Inuvialuit culture• Manage fisheries in a manner consistent

with Gwich’in and Inuvialuit cultural practices

Photo: DFO Photos: GRRB

• Gwich’in:• Ehdiitat RRC• Tetlit RRC• Aklavik Elders• Fort McPherson Elders• Char Monitors

• Inuvialuit:• Aklavik HTC• Aklavik Elders• Char Monitors

• Co-Management:• Gwich’in Renewable Resources Board

(GRRB)• Fisheries Joint Management

Committee (FJMC)• Government

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)• Parks Canada (PCA)• Yukon Territorial Parks (YTP)

Integrated Fisheries Management Plan (IFMP)

IFMP Signing: Nov 3, 2011

The northern form of Dolly Varden was assessed by

COSEWIC in 2010, and listed in May 2017 as a species of ‘Special

Concern’ under SARA

Northern form of Dolly Varden: COSEWIC & SARA listings

• A SARA management plan is required within 3 years of the listing (i.e., by 2020)• Purpose of SARA

management plan: manage all risks to allstocks of Dolly Vardenchar in the Western Canadian Arctic• The IFMP manages the

harvests of Dolly Varden• SARA plan to manage

other threats, and other stocks

Northern form of Dolly Varden: COSEWIC & SARA listings

• The SARA plan is a new management tool (national level)• But, the Rat River Working Group

(RRWG) and West Side Working Group (WSWG) have been doing research, monitoring and management of Dolly Vardenstocks in the Western Arctic since the 1990s • RRWG & WSWG make harvest

recommendations each yearà Management decisions for these stocks are being made at regional & local level

Northern form of Dolly Varden: COSEWIC & SARA listings

Photo: GRRB

Habitat assessment Movement patterns Population estimate

John & Tyler Carmichael recording fish length and weight. à

John Carmichael, Ellen Lea (DFO), and Kris Maier (GRRB) checking index nets

• Catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE)

• Timing & duration of runs

• Population demographics

Research & Monitoring: Rat River

Fish body condition & health

Dennis Semple with archival-tagged fish

Ryan McLeod with a juvenile fish, Rat River

Freddie Furlong releasing a satellite-tagged fish

Steven Tetlitchi floy-tagging a seined fish

Habitat use

Research & Monitoring: Firth, Babbage, Big Fish Rivers

Colin Gallagher (DFO) and Frankie Dillon –Babbage River 2011

• TEK Study• Population estimates (mark

recapture)• Habitat monitoring• Movement patterns and habitat use• Summer coastal mixed-stock harvest

monitoring• Big Fish River harvest monitoring

Danny Gordon, Sam McLeod and Frankie Dillon – with a chum salmon at the Babbage

River in 2017

Photo: Karen Dunmall, DFO

Photo: Colin Gallagher, DFO

Deon Arey collecting a water sample from BFR in 2016. BFR mark recapture 2010

Research & Monitoring:Shingle Point (mixed-stock)

Andrew Gordon Jr – FJMC Char Monitor (2014)

Jordan McLeod – Lead Monitor, with Jr. Monitor Cecilia

Greenland (2014)

Dennis Arey – Lead Monitor, with Mary Ruth Meyook (2014)

• The purpose of collecting all of this research & monitoring information is to inform decision-making by the RRWG and WSWG• How do these working

groups make decisions?à Decisions for annual

harvest recommendation are made through consensus at local meetings, and based on all available information.

Rat River Working Group & West Side Working Group

Photos: DFO

• Each working group Chaired by a local community leader:• Eugene Pascal, Chair, RRWG• Jordan McLeod, Chair, WSWG

• Meets in March every year • All community members are

invited, with travel support provided for working group members• Interpretation and

discussion of best available information by local experts

Rat River Working Group & West Side Working Group

Leslie Blake & William Koe (TetlitRenewable Resource Council)

Colin Gallagher (DFO) & Selwyn Kay (Rat River Char Monitor)

• Information is reviewed and discussed by all:• Char harvest monitor reports

on fish health, habitat, run timing, catch, demographics• DFO Science (stock estimates,

monitoring, genetics, other research)• Harvest reporting (AHTC,

ERRC, TRRC)• Emphasis on traditional and

local knowledge• Decisions for annual harvest

recommendation are made through consensus at the table

Rat River Working Group & West Side Working Group

WSWG Meeting – October 16, 2001

WSWG TEK Study on Dolly Varden: Mary Ruth Meyook, Nellie Arey, Sarah Meyook

Rat River Working Group

• Stocks: Rat River• Rat River and its tributaries –

voluntary closure in 2006-2008• Community harvest monitoring

program began in 1997• The same monitors are still on the

river in 2017! (John Carmichael, Selwyn Kay, Billy Wilson)

• Extensive ongoing communication between communities and user groups esp. during fishing season – char harvest monitors, Aklavik HTC, Aklavik RRC, Fort McPherson RRC, DFO, GRRB

Eugene Pascal RRWG Chair

“It’s a very important thing that we are doing here. We’re doing this cooperatively and our people are cooperating. There’s no laws, there’s no game wardens or Fisheries officers looking down your back -- it’s our groups and our people cooperating with us on saying this is the best for the Dolly Varden. We can do things if we all have the same mind for it.” – Eugene Pascal, 2017

Since 1997, John Carmichael, Billy Wilson, and Selwyn Kay:• Monitor the harvest• Collect biological samples• Population estimate (mark-

recapture)• Catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE)• Report on environmental

conditions• Traditional and local

ecological knowledge• Teach youth traditional and

modern harvesting practices• Communicate annual harvest

rec’s to community fishersJohn Carmichael, Aklavik

Rat River Char Harvest Monitors 20 Years of Monitoring!

Selwyn Kay, Fort McPherson

• Stocks: Firth, Babbage, Big Fish• Big Fish River and its tributaries –

DFO closure since 1987• Inuvialuit TEK Study• Development of science and TLK

indicators • Community harvest monitoring

program at the Fish Hole approved through DFO licence (ACFL) since 2014

• Inuvialuit Monitoring & Management of the Big Big River (2014-2016; GNWT CIMP183): Funding for community water monitoring and elder and youth involvement in Fish Hole program

• Management recommendations for 2017: recommended annual harvest level of 175 Big Fish River char (~2% of estimated population size, ~15% increase from 2016)

West Side Working Group

2014 BFR Fish Hole Program Crew

Jordan McLeod – WSWG Chair

• Formed by senior staff of management bodies:• Gwich’in Renewable Resources Board (GRRB) à Burt Hunt

• Fisheries Joint Management Committee (FJMC) àVic Gillman

• Fisheries & Oceans Canada (DFO) à Larry Dow

• Parks Canada (PCA) à David Tavares

• Review and approve annual recommendations• Strong support for community

recommendations

IFMP: Steering CommitteePhotos: Colin Gallagher, DFO

Jacob Archie – BFR Fish Hole, Oct 2015

• Management recommendations from both working groups have been effective at conserving and rebuilding the stocks• Stocks are stable-to-

increasing• ’Buy-in’ from community

fishers is high: people follow the voluntary harvest recommendations

• Learning more about Dolly Varden habitat & biology• Learning more about other

stocks in the region (Komakuk, Vittrekwa)

Photo: GRRB

IFMP: Is it Working?

Photo: DFO

Photo: DFO

• IFMP 2011-2015: currently being updated; the new draft will cover 2018-2022• 2018-2022 update needs to be compliant with SARA

• Because the initial draft was planned with SARA in mind, minimal updates will be required to meet SARA requirements

SARA & IFMP: Complementary Plans

SARA plan will also evaluate other threats:

climate change, habitat changes, development, transboundary issues,

invasive species, and more.Photo: GRRB

• Community-led decision-making to set management actions à critical for community support• Voluntary recommendations are effective when the

recommendations come from the communities• Importance of communication between stakeholders

as well as the public

Conclusions

Photo: GRRB

• Focus on adaptive co-management à continuously review and improve management activities• Our role as co-management board staff à to provide

a space for these discussions and facilitate the review of information by Gwich’in and Inuvialuit decision-makers

Conclusions

Photo: GRRB

• Gwich’in & Inuvialuit fishers & communities• Gwich’in & Inuvialuit Char

Monitors• Eugene Pascal – RRWG Chair• Jordan McLeod – WSWG Chair• Ehdiitat RRC• Tetlit RRC• Aklavik HTC• Aklavik Elders• Fort McPherson Elders• Funding for Inuvialuit

Monitoring & Management of the Big Fish River: GNWT CIMP (project 183)

Acknowledgements• DFO staff: Kate Snow, Ryan

McLeod, Karen Dunmall, Neil Mochnacz, Rob Bajno

• Parks Canada staff: David Tavares, Nelson Perry

• Herschel Island – QikiqtarukTerritorial Park staff: Richard Gordon, Sam McLeod, Edward McLeod

• And many more! Thanks to everyone from from DFO, GRRB, FJMC, and PCA that have contributed to the successful co-management of Dolly Vardenover the years. Mahsi cho!