Our beloved “best of class” in the world fishery — the wild Thompson River Steelhead — has seen a bit of a resurgence this season.
Every year the Albion Test Fishery (which is a boat, the Witch Doctor) puts their nets down twice a day at the mouth of the Fraser. They catch every species of salmon that happens by, but they also catch our beautiful steelhead.
This is not intentional: the steelhead travel the same path as the salmon, so they occasionally get caught up in the nets. These steelhead are tallied and the numbers posted every day on the Albion Test Fishery website.
As of the posting of Oct. 6, there have been 15 steelhead caught with both the chum and chinook nets. This number suggests a steelhead return of nearly 800, which is about the number needed to actually open the fishery to the sports fishermen and -women.
Therein lies the rub. After many years of seriously low numbers, should any consideration be given to opening this fishery? I would make an argument for no.
I have two observations here. First, the Thompson Steelhead has always been an important part of the Indigenous community as a food and as a ceremonial resource. They have chosen a conservation path because we would all like to see this precious resource thrive again one day for our children and grandchildren.
Second, if we can collectively bring back the Thompson Steelhead to our Indigenous family, then the “catch and release” sports fishery would most likely also come back.
So, as exciting as it is to see these numbers, we are by no means at a place where we can comfortably say this “one of a kind” fishery is somehow back. A return of 800, though the highest in many years, is still just a beginning at best.
We have an opportunity…the door has opened a crack. With the rebuild of Highway 8 we will have millions of dollars of resources at the river’s edge for the next three years. This screams opportunity!
I have been told by the powers that be that habitat for our salmon and steelhead is part of the overall plan during the Highway 8 rebuild. We certainly hope this to be the case, because never again will the equipment, the manpower, and the money be available to address this rapidly deteriorating resource.
British Columbia is home to some of the best salmon and steelhead in the world. Is it worth saving? You’re damn right it is!
We must be patient, we must be diligent, and we must hope that this door Mother Nature opened on Nov. 14, 2021 — through a horrific natural disaster — can let some light in.
The story of the great flood of the Nicola River is a book of many chapters. Our governments will be writing the last chapter of this epic disaster. Let us hope and pray that the final chapter of this tragic story leaves us with a happy ending we can all share with our children.
