OldBlackDog
Well-Known Member
Steelhead Politics, by Bob Hooton
Today we saw Green Party MLA Adam Olsen rise in the legislature to raise concerns about steelhead, more specifically, the beleaguered Thompson and Chilcotin stocks. That is certainly good news. Raising the level of awareness at the most critical point in their history is commendable. Thank you for that MLA Olsen.
Now, lets drill down a bit on the information Mr. Olsen is working with and trumpeting. My question is, how much of this is related to incomplete briefing and how much to political theatre? Consider a few facts.
A last point – all the habitat fixing investments government and the public might want to invest in pale to insignificance relative to the potential benefits of ridding the lower Fraser and all its approaches of gill nets during the full IFS run timing period (i.e. 60 days minimum). Besides, what sense does it make to try and save endangered steelhead if they are still going to be victimized by those same gill nets? Commonly accused boogeymen like climate change, predators, species interactions on the high seas, or whatever are outside any reasonable prospect of being addressed in the foreseeable future. In contrast, harvest management can be accomplished immediately if we have the political will to do it. Dear MLA Olsen, Ministers Donaldson and Popham and Premier Horgan, commercial fishermen are no longer the problem.
Today we saw Green Party MLA Adam Olsen rise in the legislature to raise concerns about steelhead, more specifically, the beleaguered Thompson and Chilcotin stocks. That is certainly good news. Raising the level of awareness at the most critical point in their history is commendable. Thank you for that MLA Olsen.
Now, lets drill down a bit on the information Mr. Olsen is working with and trumpeting. My question is, how much of this is related to incomplete briefing and how much to political theatre? Consider a few facts.
- Comments related to his original questions in the legislature in February 2018 are not exactly an accurate description of the events that followed. Whereas steelhead were the entire focus of Mr. Olsen’s comments and the genesis of the Premier’s Wild Salmon Advisory Council, any reference to steelhead was quickly buried in all subsequent dealings and outputs. I questioned Premier Horgan on this at a public meeting in Victoria on February 19 of this year when the report of the Council was in the final stages of what was marketed as public consultation. He didn’t answer. MLA Olsen, the primary voice that led to the Council’s formation, one of its 14 members and the representative of a riding mere minutes by vehicle from the meeting location didn’t attend. Two previous posts right here are worth reviewing to put all these things into perspective. June 28, 2018, Kickin the Can and January 11, 2019, Consultation – Mission Accomplished).
- It is true that DFO has made every effort to avoid listing Interior Fraser Steelhead (principally Thompson and Chilcotin stocks) as endangered under Canada’s Species At Risk Act. It is equally true that there has been a huge roadblock constructed by DFO to avoid and delay response to a Freedom of Information request by the BC Wildlife Federation for all correspondence related to the manipulation of the scientific advice and measures required to conserve those fish. Thus the 822 years reference.
- MLA Olsen keeps putting steelhead related questions to the Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, Doug Donaldson. If there is one patently obvious conclusion from all events related to federal and provincial government interactions on steelhead, it is Minister Donaldson is not the provincial voice. Every joint announcement, every significant forum, every signal available indicates clearly it is the Province’s Minister of Agriculture, Lana Popham, who does the talking. That can’t possibly be unknown to Mr. Olsen.
- Donaldson’s response to Olsen’s question emphasizes his lack of awareness of pivotal events surrounding federal/provincial interactions leading to the current circumstance. He needs to get his story straight on 27 days vs 40 days vs 60 days. The 27 days applied only to First Nations in-river gill netting and didn’t include the areas immediately adjacent to the inner estuary of the Fraser. Sixty days was what his staff recommended, 42 was all that arrived, in spite of the recommendations of the science community. So much for science base decision making. Granted, this isn’t Olsen’s bailiwick so I’ll not criticize him for not pressing Donaldson on this point
- Minister Donaldson referred to the joint federal/provincial Salmon Restoration Fund as if he had something to do with it. In fact it was Minister Popham who was the province’s designated hitter on that too. Even more interesting is the fact that she and her staff refused to fund 4 proposals for selective fishing demonstration projects intended to wean fishers off their addiction to gil nets. If I have sources that readily provide such information, how can Mr. Olsen who is trying to be the steelhead voice here not be privy to the same information?
- Donaldson’s remarks re the Big Bar slide are more illustration of being well outside the steelhead loop. There is nothing to suggest Chilcotin steelhead were endangered or saved by anything that has transpired since the slide occurred almost one year ago. Chilcotin bound steelhead from 2018 would have been past the slide location before it occurred and this years’ return probably arrived when the river was low enough they didn’t need any help. What is more important is the fact there was one of the last remaining IFS plucked (dead) out of a gill net not far below the slide and only a single steelhead encountered in all the capture and transport efforts made at the slide site. Two fish, one of which is dead, ought to have been something the Minister responsible for steelhead would be aware of. Once again, I’ll not fault Mr. Olsen for anything in this regard.
A last point – all the habitat fixing investments government and the public might want to invest in pale to insignificance relative to the potential benefits of ridding the lower Fraser and all its approaches of gill nets during the full IFS run timing period (i.e. 60 days minimum). Besides, what sense does it make to try and save endangered steelhead if they are still going to be victimized by those same gill nets? Commonly accused boogeymen like climate change, predators, species interactions on the high seas, or whatever are outside any reasonable prospect of being addressed in the foreseeable future. In contrast, harvest management can be accomplished immediately if we have the political will to do it. Dear MLA Olsen, Ministers Donaldson and Popham and Premier Horgan, commercial fishermen are no longer the problem.
