Another Great Cowichan River Chinook Return!

Drift Fishing Cowichan Photo Joel Unickow

The 2024 Chinook escapement numbers are in. It was another fantastic year for Cowichan Chinook as 25,900 adults and 16,600 jacks returned to the river. This was not a one-off event. Adult returns have exceeded the escapement goal for the last 8 years in a row, and have topped 20,000 for the last three in a row.

The escapement goal for the Cowichan is 6,500 adult Chinook. Initially it was 11,000 but that was reduced during the early years of the Salmon Treaty process. From 1995 to 1997 there was a short term bump in escapements ranging from 8,000 to 17,000. Improved ocean survival, perhaps helped by reduced harvest rates on Canadian troll and sport fisheries, are the likely reasons. However success was short-lived. A precipitous decline followed for a decade with returns crashing to just 500 adults in 2009.

Cowichan Bay was a world class recreational salmon fishing destination until the early 1970’s drawing celebrities and avid fisherman from the US and Canada, with most anglers coming from southern Vancouver Island. They mooched or trolled Chinook from late July until mid-September, followed by bucktailing for Coho until the first heavy rains appeared. Cowichan Bay wasn’t as well known as Campbell River, but it was close.

It’s hard to recognize this history if you visit the Bay now. The old buildings are there and wharves still jut into the bay, but it’s become a trendy destination for tourists and locals alike. Some come just to see scores of sea lions lazing on the docks and doubling as local celebrities. Few visitors connect their presence to the salmon that return to the river each year. Sixty years ago it was just as busy. However it was anglers, not tourists, walking the streets and filling the coffee shops after the morning bite ended.

My father started taking me to Cowichan Bay in the 1960’s when I was a teenager. We’d leave Canoe Cove Marina in pre-dawn darkness and slowly make our way up Satellite Channel. While I don’t remember all the fishing details I do remember the feelings I got from being there. The anticipation started when lights from the Bay slowly came into view. These weren’t the village’s lights. These came from a floating city of anglers waiting for the early bite to start. I also remember how tricky it was navigating through the mooching flotilla that hugged the ‘weed line’ at the head of the Bay.

A decade later I bought my first boat, a 17 foot Hourston hardtop equipped with a fold-down seat and a head. It was the perfect boat for Friday night trips to Cowichan Bay, where I usually found a tie-up at the government dock. Before daylight I’d climb the ramp to the main walkway and listen for jumpers. River mouth Chinooks roll and fin but there was always some jumpers to indicate salmon were there. Fall bucktailing for Coho used to be a big draw, and I still I regret losing my favourite fly, right in front of Wilcuma Lodge, with a Cowichan River Coho attached to it. Yet those experiences could be long gone for today’s anglers.

Cowichan Chinook Recovery

Cowichan Chinook recovery is an exceptional achievement. How did it happen?

Retired senior Fisheries and Oceans (DF0) biologist, Brian Tutty, was part of the early discussions on rebuilding Cowichan Chinook. He confirms “by the early 2000’s Chinook were in an escapement crisis”. Tutty recalled “the fall droughts and extreme low water over riffles in the lower river required trapping and trucking Chinook to their spawning grounds”. There was also heavy seal and sea lion predation in the estuary, salmon were vulnerable to poaching in the shallow water, and a crisis was building over water use priorities.

According to Tutty a meeting was called to address the water crisis. Participants came from the Cowichan Tribes, Crofton Pulp Mill, Cowichan Community hatchery, Cowichan Lake weir operations and the Cowichan Valley Regional District. Later DFO’s science branch developed a science based approach to guide rebuilding.

Initial planning sessions laid the groundwork for the formation of the “Cowichan Stewardship Roundtable that has met monthly ever since”. Tutty added “the Cowichan community engagement with Federal, Provincial and Local governments is a case study in how to improve social stability and rebuild salmon futures”. With assured water flows in place recovery of Chinook took a giant step forward.

In 2006 the Stoltz Bluff sediment remediation project got underway to stabilize the loose terrain. The Bluff were estimated to contribute 35%-45% of the total suspended solids in the Cowichan River. This project substantially improved 27 kilometers of downstream habitat. However, work to minimize sediment slippage into the river needs to be maintained.

Smaller volunteer projects, like those undertaken by the Cowichan Lake Salmonid Enhancement Society under the guidance of Bob Crandall, contribute to the river’s overall recovery. This group operates a small hatchery in Lake Cowichan, educates school children, rescues stranded fry, restores habitat and is rebuilding a summer Chinook run.

Crandall credits Chinook recovery to improved ocean survival conditions, coupled with work done by volunteers on stream and riparian zone restoration, fry salvage operations and side channel reconstruction, while crediting the money received through community fund raising efforts.

Additionally fishing restrictions were implemented through a series of moving closures from Campbell River to Cowichan Bay. Unlike today’s Chinook-non-retention regulations, these closures were strategically designed to benefit Cowichan Chinook, while avoiding excessive economic disruption angling opportunity losses.

Tutty is concerned about DFO’s handling of First Nation and recreational fishing opportunities during this period of Chinook abundance, suggesting that now that we have an abundance of Chinook DFO doesn’t know how reward the Cowichan partners for their good work.

Grant MacPherson, past president of the Sidney Anglers Association agrees. The Anglers are part of the Cowichan round table process, and have helped fund projects like the Cowichan-Kokosilah estuary reconnection, DNA testing on Shaw Creek, and fry salvage. However Grant adds “fishing opportunities have not materialized”. Perhaps that will change and angling opportunities will come, but when that happens is the million dollar question.