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Date:Oct. 26, 2012
Venue: Conference Call
TIME:14:00 – 15:25
Prepared by: Lana Ciarniello
Tel: (250) 923-8881; E-mail:
The purpose of thisconference call meeting was toprovide brief highlights from the 2012 season, discuss the Recovery Facility, the Recovery Strategy and Ecojustice lawsuit, and the issue of the proposed geomorphology workshop.
Project Updates and Planning for 2012-13 Research Projects
Physical Monitoring of Gravel Pads: We continued the physical monitoring of thegravel pads that was started in 2011. NHC came to Vanderhoof and sampled 4 sites.
•We added an additional site downstream of the bridge where we detected a fair amount of spawning activity.
•We added the upper most site where water velocities are highest (upstream of the bridge and island, top end of braided section).
•Approximately 20 cores were taken, representing 4-5 at each of the 4 sites. An underwater camera took thousands of photographs.
•Eggs and larvae seem to correlate nicely with substrate conditions; most samples were obtained closest to shore with the fastest moving water.
Wild Spawn Monitoring (CSTC): Egg mats were placed in locations similar to past years. Approximately 20 larvae were caught in total.
•The majority of the larvae were caught downstream of the bridge.
•On of the last day of sampling a spawning was detected and it occurred quite a bit later than was ever seen before; one day olds were detected during the 15 day old sampling period. This indicated that there was a spawning window of more than a month.
JuvenileIndexing – Sampling occurred from mid-September to mid-October from Vanderhoof to km 110. A total of 27 juveniles were caught.
•Recapture rates were ~50%, which is similar to the last few years.
•A 2008 hatchery fish was caught. However, no 2007 hatchery fish have been caught yet. The remaining hatchery catches were all 2006 releases.
•The recapture rate of hatchery fish is getting higher each year.
Adult Tagging - 13 new tags were placed on fish through the latter half of September and into the first week of October.
Upper Fraser – the primary objective was to continue monitoring the 22 active radio tags.
•In total, 14 fish were caught so some new tags were placed as well.
Biochronology and Land Based Investment Strategy Funding: This RFP has been placed on BC Bid. We have $19,932.00 to utilize the available samples (finrays and otoliths) gathered from juvenile fish from the Nechako. The work will be conducted this winter.
Geomophology Workshop – NHC will be aiding the TWG to put this workshop together. The workshop will attempt to bring the key players in this field together to informally discuss the issues. The TWG decided to try for the second week of January. This workshop will help define our future research priorities.
Recovery and Conservation Facility Updates
Facility Design: The redesign process went very well and Cory thinks it may be better than the original design. The next step is to work with the rest of the building engineers (mechanical, electrical, civil) to complete their designs. By the end of November all of the procedures should be complete.
NEEF Funding: we do not have operational dollars in place yet so we cannot build at this time. The NEEF recommendations were announced 12 September 2012, and there is $800,000 a year allocated to fund sturgeon recovery focused on the recovery centre; our budget would be $500,000 a year to run the hatchery and $300,000 a year to run associated programs. The catch is that it is based on matching dollars and we do not have full matching funds at this time.
•In the short term, we will continue looking for operational funding.
Recovery Strategy and Ecojustice Lawsuit
The goal for the Recovery Strategy is to get it completed and approved as soon as possible. Todd Hatfield has been hired and the national recovery team will be going over the document shortly. However, the document then goes to Ottawa and then Victoria and it is those stages where it can get stalled.
CWG Updates – Lana provided updates on the new NWSRI display tent, Rivers Day in Prince George and Vanderhoof, the Boat Kit program, and the upcoming school presentations.
Other
Congratulations Dr. McAdam: Stevesuccessfully defended his dissertation on 21 September 2012 at UBC. Cory noted that he has done a lot of significant work that has implications for white sturgeon and other sturgeon species.
Website Updates: Lana has completed an update of the web site and requested that the TWG review the current webpage content. She would also like to update the ‘journal articles’ section with relevant manuscripts.
7th International Symposium on Sturgeon: is taking place July 21-25, 2013, in Nanaimo. The TWG is beginning to think about what work they will present at the conference.
Next meeting: The TWG decided that a full TWG meeting will take place on the last week of November.
TWG Meeting Minutes Summary for the CWG Meeting Oct. 26, 2012Page 1 of 2