Photos show anglers abusing threatened fish
Photos posted on Facebook show several fishermen with the Sts’ailes First Nation violating guidelines by manhandling a huge threatened white sturgeon netted in the lower Fraser River.
While the fate of that particular fish remains unknown, what’s clear is that a large sturgeon should never be held out of the water as depicted in the photos. There is a popular catch-and-release sport fishery for sturgeon in the lower Fraser.
B.C. government “guidelines for angling white sturgeon” clearly state: “Never lift a large sturgeon out of the water. Fish suffocate out of water. Large sturgeon are at risk of internal injuries due to their own weight.
“Never squeeze or hug sturgeon. Keep your fingers away from the gills and out of the gill plates. If you want photographs, always leave large sturgeon in the water. Have your camera ready and be quick.”
Ken Malloway, chair of the Aboriginal Lower Fraser Fishing Alliance, said he too saw the photos. He investigated and was told that the giant sturgeon was released alive after the photos were taken.
The sturgeon was caught incidentally during beach seining for salmon last week at Fergie’s Bar in the Fraser, just below the confluence with the Harrison River, he said.
“They’re not supposed to pick them up,” Malloway said Monday. “I don’t know why they did it. Maybe they don’t know better.”
He said First Nations have no legal right to catch sturgeon in the lower Fraser, although Aboriginals have asked the federal fisheries department for the right to keep a “very minimal amount” caught as bycatch.
“They have steadfastly refused. We have to release them, no matter what,” Malloway said.
At least six men are depicted struggling to hoist up the sturgeon for photos. Facebook responses from friends and family members range from “totally awesome” to “that’s a dinosaur” to “how much did you get for it?”
Neither Sts’ailes Chief Ralph Leon nor chief administrative officer William Charlie responded to requests for an interview.
Mark Angelo, the rivers chair for the Outdoor Recreation Council who has fought for years to save sturgeon, said that “even if still alive at the time and then released, that kind of handling of the fish would greatly lessen its chance of survival.”
Marvin Rosenau, a former provincial fish biologist who now teaches in BCIT’s fish, wildlife and recreation program, said the sturgeon “may have suffered sub-lethal effects that were not particularly benign.”
He argued the greater issue is harm done by sport fishermen playing large sturgeon for extended periods. The stress on sturgeon “may cause large females to resorb their eggs” just before spawning, said Rosenau, former director of the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society.
A Canadian-led study released last year simulated fishing conditions using 24 wild-but-captive sturgeon in winter and 24 in summer at a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service facility in Longview, Wash.
The results found that sturgeon suffered wide-ranging physiological
stress and some even died during the experiment.
Researchers noted that actual fishing conditions could be worse due to warmer summers in the lower Fraser and the potential for some large sturgeon to be played for more than two hours before being reeled in.
“Despite the growing popularity of recreational fishing for white sturgeon, there has been limited published work focusing on the potential impacts of acute angling stressors,” the study noted.
A threatened species in the lower Fraser, white sturgeon are the largest freshwater fish in Canada, capable of exceeding six metres in length, weighing up to 635 kilograms, and living more than 100 years.