| Abstract/Description or Keywords |
In November 2009, the Governor General in Council issued Order in Council 2009-1860, establishing this Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River and appointing me, Bruce Cohen, sole Commissioner under Part 1 of the Inquiries Act. The Report of this Inquiry consists of three volumes. I describe the Terms of Reference of this Commission in Volume 1, Chapter 1, and set them out in full in Appendix A to each volume of this Report. In Volume 1, The Sockeye Fishery, I set out the background information necessary for the reader to understand the complexity and breadth of the Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery. The chapters in Volume 1 cover several topics: • an overview of the Commission’s mandate; • a description of the life cycle of the Fraser River sockeye salmon; • an overview of the legal framework governing the Fraser River sockeye fishery; • an overview of the organizational structure of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO); • a description of the management of the Fraser River sockeye fishery; • a description of the management of the Fraser River sockeye habitat; • a description of DFO’s enforcement activities related to the fishery and fish habitat; • an overview of the management of salmon farms – an activity that may affect Fraser River sockeye; • an overview of fish health management related to wild and cultured fish; • a discussion of DFO’s Wild Salmon Policy; and • a case history of the Cultus Lake sockeye salmon. Some subject matter is repeated among the chapters and volumes. Often, to describe aspects of how the fishery is managed (as set out in Volume 1), it is necessary to describe the technical and scientific information upon which management decisions are based. That scientific evidence may be repeated in Volume 2 in discussing the causes of the decline. |
