Estimated Steelhead Smolt Capacity & Returning Adults (assuming 13% marine survival):

• Approx. 300 fish, extremely low productivity but significant parr habitat available if adequate flows can be maintained, summer run habitat cut off by Cleveland Dam and reservoir.
• Conservation Concern Level @ 30% of capacity is approx. 90 adults

Existing Habitat:
Watershed area (km2):	172		Comments
Mean annual discharge (m3/s):	20.2		Heavily Impacted by GVRD diversion and storage dam. Very low summer base flows Lower reaches heavily urbanized and channelized. Dam east abutment project did not likely significantly impact the river below the dam for one year during upgrade construction but monitoring is continuing. Biomass 80g/unit
Summer base flow (%mad)	2.8%
Accessible length (km):	5.5
Productivity:	Low

HABITAT RESTORATION TO DATE

• Side channel development underway.

SPECIAL HABITAT PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS

• Special GVRD Initiative under development. *A request for proposals is currently being released to look at feasibilities of temperature augmentation (by blending water from different reservoir levels), providing a significantly higher summer base flow and improved ramping rates, upstream production and passage of smolts and adults around the dam.
• Prevent gravel removal from the lower river.

STEELHEAD OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES

• Reduce steelhead by catch in in-river coho fisheries through consultation with affected parties and DFO.
• Investigate potential of improved steelhead angling through a combination of hatchery production and potential headwater stocking* to support 2,600 rod-days per annum.

IDENTIFIED RECOVERY OPTIONS

• Enrich system below dam and hatchery - consider reintroducing carcasses from hatchery.
• Reduce fishing-related pre-spawning mortality of summer runs.
• Introduce gravel into the main stem.

NOTES: Smolt trapping for steelhead using RSTs has been successfully employed in the upper Capilano River above the lake if sufficient fry or adults were available it may be possible to reintroduce. Steelhead management is complicated by occurrence steelhead and coho in the river together. Regulation changes to protect summer steelhead would impact salmon angling opportunities even though coho are not easily caught in-river. Dialogue needed with Squamish Band fishers to reduce by catch. Results of current radio-tagging program need to be reviewed. Cold water temps impact fish culture for steelhead. Unnatural flow ramping is causing severe or harmful habitat alteration, disruption or destruction.

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Estimated Steelhead Smolt Capacity & Returning Adults (assuming 13% marine survival):

• Not available - see notes below. Biomass 150g/unit. Few large woody debris and very low summer base flows limit potential

Existing Habitat:
Watershed area (km2):	36.3		Comments
Mean annual discharge (m3/s):	6.04		Lower reaches heavily urbanized, landfill site adjacent. Boulder cascade habitat, low nutrients, high runoff, problematic base flows. Few large woody debris and very low summer base flows limit potential. Biomass 150g/unit.
Accessible length (km):	5
Productivity:	Low- moderate

HABITAT RESTORATION TO DATE

• NA

SPECIAL HABITAT PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS

• Protect against urban encroachment

STEELHEAD OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES

• Determine wild stock levels and timings.
• Initiate steelhead recovery and develop a new management plan with public consultation.
• Determine feasibility of Low Flow Augmentation.
• If stock levels are very low, could consider hatchery introduction and reclassification if a suitable donor stock is available to diversify angler effort away from Seymour.

IDENTIFIED RECOVERY OPTIONS

• Enrich system below an old weir - water testing done in 01 shows it is feasible

NOTES: Published report available from UBC Research - investigation by Hume and Parkinson early 1980s.

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• Approx. 3400 smolts / 450 adults (MAD model -low range)
• Conservation Concern Level @ 30% of capacity is approx. 135 adults

Existing Habitat:
Watershed area (km2):	176		Comments
Mean annual discharge (m3/s):	16.1		GVRD Water Supply Dam, urbanization in lower reaches. System is gravel deficient because of lack of recruitment. Has reasonable base flows and juvenile habitats based on intense juvenile analysis in mid 1980s. Seal predation identified as a major concern. Serious lower river flood plain constriction. Estuary significantly altered by dredging, infilling on tidal flats and port development. Biomass 150g/unit.
Summer Base Flow (%mad):	15%
Accessible length (km):	18.5
Productivity:	low

HABITAT RESTORATION TO DATE

• Several off-channel developments (multi-species aimed) in the vicinity of the Seymour Hatchery.
• DFO removal of an obstruction that MLAP felt had potentially negative impacts on summer steelhead.

STEELHEAD OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES

• Initiate a comprehensive recovery program to halt the apparent serious decline in steelhead abundance and rebuild wild stocks into the routine management zone so they can be sustained while angling is conducted targeting hatchery fish and other species.
• Conduct an immediate review of existing regulations to provide enhanced protection of sharply declining steelhead populations.
• Survey reported otter predation and ensure that there are no structures or conditions in-river that facilitate unusually high predation on adults or kelts.
• Upgrade habitat capability (including flow regime) for wild steelhead production.
• Review the existing two-year smolt augmentation program with a view to finding ways of improving hatchery smolt survivals and/or re-balancing the mix of hatchery and wild production.
• Improve public awareness of habitat protection requirements.
• Improve stock assessment to provide more reliable annual estimates of wild and hatchery escapements and smolt marine survivals.

IDENTIFIED RECOVERY OPTIONS

• Extend bait ban to the lower river and increase closed periods/areas to protect steelhead.
• Institute flow regime modifications through a Water Use Plan.
• Conduct annual stream enrichment with slow release pellets as soon as available.
• Augment gravel recruitment to improve spawning conditions by modifying culverts associated with the dam access road and water pipeline or redistributing gravel removed from above culverts further downstream and/or by providing spawning platforms for steelhead.

NOTES: Community Hatchery and BCIT Training facility. Steelhead management is complicated by occurrence of summer steelhead and coho in the river together. Regulation changes to protect summer steelhead would impact salmon angling opportunities even though coho are not easily caught in-river. Seymour has the lowest catch of wild fish (35%) reported from all systems in the region.

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Nutrient Enrichment of the Seymour River in North Vancouver

Enrichment of the Seymour River, in North Vancouver, began in late-June when members of the Seymour Salmonid Society and the Greater Georgia Basin Steelhead Recovery Program opened the tap on a small tank of liquid fertilizer (Photo 1). The small increase in nutrients, in the otherwise nutrient poor river, will increase natural food for juvenile steelhead and, thereby, contribute to their long-term survival.

Photo 1: Marc Guimond, Chris Peters and James Weger (L to R), staff at the Seymour Hatchery, and members of the Seymour Salmonid Society turn the tap on the fertilizer tank to start adding small amounts of nutrients to the Seymour River.

Wild steelhead in the Seymour River are in decline, and the river is classified in the Conservation Concern Zone (Graph 1). Nutrient enrichment is the first step in the restoration plan for the Seymour River, which has abundant juvenile steelhead habitat (Photo 2). Planning is underway to replace large woody debris along the banks of the river, where logging, which began about 1875, removed the riparian old growth forest. Important fish habitat is created when these large trees fall into rivers. A habitat assessment and water chemistry analysis conducted by the Steelhead Recovery Program identified these habitat restoration options for the Seymour River.

Graph 1: The steelhead catch for wild and hatchery fish, and fishing effort on the Seymour River, 1968-2002. Data from Steelhead angling questionnaires.

Photo 2: Seymour River looking north from twin bridges.

The nutrient enrichment portion of the project will run from mid-June to mid-September, 2003 by the controlled addition of approximately 300 litres of phosphorus based liquid agricultural fertilizer. Background phosphorus concentrations will be increased by approximately 2 micrograms per litre (essentially doubling current total phosphorus concentrations), downstream from the Seymour Dam.

The Greater Georgia Basin Steelhead Recovery Program is working with the Seymour Salmonid Society, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Greater Vancouver Regional District and the South Coast Steelhead Coalition to help restore steelhead and salmon populations in the Seymour River. The Seymour Salmonid Society, which was formed in 1987, operates the Seymour River Fish Hatchery and Education Centre. The hatchery staff, society members and volunteers are active in sustaining fish stocks and creating fish habitat in the Seymour River.

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• 2400 smolts/300 adults (MAD model - low range)
• Conservation Concern Level @ 30% of capacity is approx. 90 adults

Existing Habitat:
Watershed area (km2):	181		Comments
Mean annual discharge (m3/s):	11.7		Long history of logging in watershed, inaccessible falls well upstream from mouth. Estimated stream width based on MAD is 19.2 metres. Summer base flows are excellent for parr rearing. Biomass 80g/unit.
Summer Base Flow (%mad):	29%
Productivity:	low

HABITAT RESTORATION TO DATE

• DFO work towards pink enhancement should help steelhead productivity

STEELHEAD OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES

• Undertake a one-time biophysical inventory and stock assessment to upgrade existing information on steelhead stock status, capacity of the watershed to produce steelhead, recovery/improvement opportunities and watershed specific constraints to effective management
• Establish a basic cost-effective regular monitoring system on stocks and habitat conditions for management.
• Check enrichment potential especially in off years for pink salmon escapements.

NOTES: Accessible by logging road from Squamish. Anecdotal reports indicate this system to have supported a small fishery on large steelhead several years ago. SHQ results show much reduced effort and catch in recent years.

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