The Prince George Citizen

Chilcotin, Thompson steelheads face extinction

- Randy SHORE

The Chilcotin and Thompson River steelhead trout are at “imminent risk of extinction,” according to a committee of scientists that advises the federal government.

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) has recommende­d an emergency listing order under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA).

Both runs have been assessed as “endangered” by COSEWIC.

This year, 57 steelhead reached spawning grounds in the Chilcotin River system and 177 in the Thompson.

The COSEWIC assessment employed a seldomused fast-track process to expedite their recommenda­tions to Catherine McKenna, the federal minister of environmen­t.

There is no firm timeline for her decision, according to COSEWIC chair Eric Taylor, a zoologist at the University of B.C.

“When you get down to less than 100 – or less than 60 – fish in a river system full of tributarie­s, every fish counts,” said Taylor.

“We are talking about very small numbers.” Steelhead migrate to salt water and return to their home river systems, much as salmon do, which puts them at risk of being caught in Pacific salmon net fisheries.

The federal government has a “poor record” of protecting fish deemed to be endangered, especially where it could interfere with commercial fisheries, he said.

If the steelhead are officially protected under SARA, it becomes illegal to “kill, harm, harass, capture or take an individual” of the species, which would effectivel­y shut down any salmon fishery that might intercept them.

Eight of the 24 distinct sockeye population­s that spawn in the Fraser and its tributarie­s are now regarded as “endangered” by the committee.

None of the population­s have been listed under SARA.

DFO prefers to try to conserve endangered fish population­s through fisheries management, said Taylor, “but the proof is in the pudding.”

“Here are the steelhead and despite lots of talk and people trying to work together, they continue to dwindle,” he said.

A Freedom of Informatio­n request by the B.C. Wildlife Federation for correspond­ence concerning steelhead intercepti­on during chum and pink fisheries show a serious disconnect between Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and B.C. ministries with an interest in conservati­on, said BCWF spokesman Jesse Zeman.

The email trail provided by the provincial government paints a portrait of DFO and B.C. officials squabbling over the timing of a First Nations net fishery that would kill steelhead of “extreme conservati­on concern.”

While the net fishery under discussion would meet the DFO’s steelhead conservati­on goals – 20 per cent of returning steelhead can be killed by salmon nets – the Thompson River run is a spawning population measured, not in millions or thousands, but hundreds.

“What the FOI reveals is that our government­s are fighting over who gets to fish when, while the fish disappear,” said Zeman.

“They aren’t talking to each other, they are using different models and, in some cases, throwing each other under the bus.”

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