When we have had as dry a summer and fall as this one it takes a fair bit of rain to saturate the ground and then get water into the rivers in quantity. At least it has started and every drop helps.
Don’t know the FN spear fishing situation but it does occur to me that the basic principle would be the same as other fisheries by other sectors which in this case would be no spear fishing until there has been sufficient escapement for spawning to insure future generations of Cowichan Chinook. This is especially true in years such as this one which may well become more frequent with climate change. If the FN leadership wants to be taken seriously as self governing and concerned about the future of salmon and the interests of their people in the long term they need to say “no” more often to their own people and yes I know they take the heat for it when then do it. Welcome to politics, you are not always popular.
The other solution is a no brainer; raise the level of the weir to provide more water in the lake to be released as needed in the summer to keep the small fish growing in the river alive, support spawning in the fall and keep the water temperature down. The FN’s are perhaps the only ones with sufficient political power to push this through in light of the political clout of very powerful, wealthy lake front property owners who have been permitted to build on the flood plain like lake front and don’t want to be inconvenienced by having a higher water level in the summer impinging on “their property” even a little. They have a strong sense of entitlement and the clout to have our own politicians at all levels apparently afraid to take them on. Because of this a world class river in terms of fish will die and not only do the fish suffer but also the economic, cultural, social and quality of life benefit they provide to all. Once they are gone they are pretty much gone forever.
Let’s remember that it is man that has changed the environment over the last hundred and fifty years with logging and development etc. so that a number of our watersheds no longer have the same capacity to hold water and release it slowly over a long dry summer to support rivers like the Cowichan and of course there are other demands for the use of that water such as pulp mills and the related "jobs" mantra.
What you have here is a failure of political leadership and will on all sides and at all levels.
Continued on to the single lane bridge on the Tsolum and it had a small increase in the trickle that was there, not nearly enough for salmon to make their way up. Needs to keep raining is the conclusion that I made for any significant flow to happen.
