Anglers' plan to feed endangered B.C. orcas given green light, but met with some criticism

A group of fishermen in British Columbia say the federal government has given it the green lightfor a project designed to feed endangered killer whales. But it's a unique plan that not everyone supports.

In summer, southern resident killer whales usually travel around the inland waterways of B.C.'s Strait of Juan de Fuca and Strait of Georgia.

The J, K, and L-pod orcas are massive, majesticandendangered. They're also an important part of B.C.'s identity and tourism industry. But theirnumbers have dwindled to only 83 whales despite several new births in the last year.

According to a study released earlier this year, more than 98 per cent of the whales' summer diet is chinook salmon, a stock also struggling along many areas ofthe West Coast.

So for the past two years, fishermen at the south end of Vancouver Island have had a somewhat wild plan in the works. They want to feed the whales by releasing youngchinooksalmoninto the water.

"They're the top of the food chain in the marine environment.Them not being well is an indication that the whole of the marine environment isn't doing well," saidChristopher Bos, president of the South Vancouver Island Anglers Coalition.

"If it's their preferred food that needs to be boosted, we as a society need to get on it and do it."

The group says theDepartment of Fisheries and Oceans has given it the green light to buy and raise chinook at a hatchery in Port Alberni, B.C.

When they reach the correct size, the fish will be trucked to the Sooke River, near Victoria, for release.The fish will be tagged so their travel in the ocean can be tracked.

"Then DNA samples, scat samples, from the killer whales can be identified to see if those fish are being used in the opportunity of putting more food in the water for those southern killer whales," said Bos.

Conservation group opposes plan

The Raincoast Conservation Foundation is opposed to the idea and foundation biologist Misty MacDuffee says she is shocked DFO approved the plan. There are problems integrating hatchery salmon with wild salmon, she says.

"Competition on feeding grounds, dilutionof gene poolon spawning grounds," MacDuffee said. "There's all sorts of subtle ways that hatchery and wild fish interact and that usually comes with a cost to the wild fish."

But Bos disagrees.

"One of the unique things about doing this in the Sooke area is a lot of the things that would be related to genetic diversity, related to the transplanting of fish from different systems, none of that has any major bearing on the Sookeinitiative," said Bos.

"A lot of those sort of scientific hurdles have been worked through just by the sheer fact that it's a unique environment and we can do this without any serious harm to any others stocks on the coast."

Fraser River restoration as key?

The Centre for Whale Research in Washington State has studied southern resident orcas for over four decades.

'Restoration of wild chinook stocks in the Fraser River is really what is needed...'- Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research

Executive Director Ken Balcomb says anglershave been trying to put more chinook in the Sooke River for several years, but mostly for the benefit of sports fishermen, not killer whales.

In a written statement, Balcombsaid that "...restoration of the wild chinook stocks in the Fraser River system is really what is needed to feed the whales.The Fraser is much larger and potentially a much greater producer of salmon than any of the Vancouver Island rivers."

The fishermen's project will be privately funded, with the first year costing $50,000, mostly to tag the fish.The anglers willrelease their first batch of 200,000 chinook next May.