OldBlackDog
Well-Known Member
Bob Hooton
Welcome to another update on the shifting sands surrounding endangered Interior Fraser Steelhead. The attached article is an excellent summary of much of what has transpired to date. It's well worth the time spent to read and think about what may lie ahead.
The issue of habitat compromises associated with the now infamous Kinder-Morgan pipeline upgrade is a very welcome addition to the public profile around those beleaguered steelhead. The First Nations emphasis on this component of the picture certainly gives it far more weight than anything else seems to have mustered. Carry on Chief Lee Spahan. The steelhead advocacy community and many others fully support you there.
But, lets not forget a couple of things here. The only factor influencing the abundance of those endangered steelhead that we can adjust immediately is harvest. This is where hypocrisy reigns. As you read through the article below, find me any reference to the one fishery that has more influence than all others combined - the in-river net fisheries conducted by the First Nations themselves. I keep calling it the elephant in the room. There is no better description.
The fishery most damaging to the few fish hanging on in the Thompson and Chilcotin is the one targeting enhanced chum salmon originating from our federal government hatcheries on the lower Fraser. The fact that there is a striking relationship between the dramatic escalation of the in-river harvest fisheries for those enhanced chums and the demise of T & C steelhead has gone completely unnoticed (purposely?) by those we pay to "manage" an iconic public resource. If the Coldwater Band is serious about restoring Thompson steelhead abundance they might want to start by bringing pressure to bear on all those downstream FNs that have reduced the number of steelhead reaching Thompson tributaries ever since they began ratcheting up their net fishing for enhanced chums (mostly for their roe).
Another sadly neglected component of the steelhead picture here is the simple and obvious fact that we can't keep blaming compromised freshwater habitat, pinnipeds and the deep blue sea for the T & C ills. One only has to look at winter steelhead in the lower Fraser tributaries and, more importantly, summer steelhead in the tiny little Coquihalla River. The latter represents a minute fraction of the steelhead habitat of either of its two upstream neighbours and it has been seriously compromised by the Coquihalla Coldwater highway, not to mention the original Kinder Morgan pipeline. Yet, it continues to produce a relatively steady supply of steelhead that exceeds the combined total of the T & C. Those lower Fraser winter steelhead tributaries may not be as good as we'd all like but they too absolutely do not demonstrate the same unidirectional trend in abundance as T & C.
The only factor that differs between these other examples and the T & C is in-river netting by the lower Fraser FNs. The former do not see nets because they immigrate during times when they are not deployed. End of story! All good if pipeline upgrade habitat issues rule the day but that is still far out there in the fog. In the meantime, how about we start with the recovery of the revered Thompson steelhead by putting the crosshairs where they belong here and now?!
https://www.nationalobserver.com/…/canada-considers-emergen…
Welcome to another update on the shifting sands surrounding endangered Interior Fraser Steelhead. The attached article is an excellent summary of much of what has transpired to date. It's well worth the time spent to read and think about what may lie ahead.
The issue of habitat compromises associated with the now infamous Kinder-Morgan pipeline upgrade is a very welcome addition to the public profile around those beleaguered steelhead. The First Nations emphasis on this component of the picture certainly gives it far more weight than anything else seems to have mustered. Carry on Chief Lee Spahan. The steelhead advocacy community and many others fully support you there.
But, lets not forget a couple of things here. The only factor influencing the abundance of those endangered steelhead that we can adjust immediately is harvest. This is where hypocrisy reigns. As you read through the article below, find me any reference to the one fishery that has more influence than all others combined - the in-river net fisheries conducted by the First Nations themselves. I keep calling it the elephant in the room. There is no better description.
The fishery most damaging to the few fish hanging on in the Thompson and Chilcotin is the one targeting enhanced chum salmon originating from our federal government hatcheries on the lower Fraser. The fact that there is a striking relationship between the dramatic escalation of the in-river harvest fisheries for those enhanced chums and the demise of T & C steelhead has gone completely unnoticed (purposely?) by those we pay to "manage" an iconic public resource. If the Coldwater Band is serious about restoring Thompson steelhead abundance they might want to start by bringing pressure to bear on all those downstream FNs that have reduced the number of steelhead reaching Thompson tributaries ever since they began ratcheting up their net fishing for enhanced chums (mostly for their roe).
Another sadly neglected component of the steelhead picture here is the simple and obvious fact that we can't keep blaming compromised freshwater habitat, pinnipeds and the deep blue sea for the T & C ills. One only has to look at winter steelhead in the lower Fraser tributaries and, more importantly, summer steelhead in the tiny little Coquihalla River. The latter represents a minute fraction of the steelhead habitat of either of its two upstream neighbours and it has been seriously compromised by the Coquihalla Coldwater highway, not to mention the original Kinder Morgan pipeline. Yet, it continues to produce a relatively steady supply of steelhead that exceeds the combined total of the T & C. Those lower Fraser winter steelhead tributaries may not be as good as we'd all like but they too absolutely do not demonstrate the same unidirectional trend in abundance as T & C.
The only factor that differs between these other examples and the T & C is in-river netting by the lower Fraser FNs. The former do not see nets because they immigrate during times when they are not deployed. End of story! All good if pipeline upgrade habitat issues rule the day but that is still far out there in the fog. In the meantime, how about we start with the recovery of the revered Thompson steelhead by putting the crosshairs where they belong here and now?!
https://www.nationalobserver.com/…/canada-considers-emergen…
