Eric Reesor
New Member
Not to anger anyone here. I just hope beyond hope that the crucial upper river ecology returns to a semblance of what I remember. If the aquatic insect base is damaged any more then the chances for smolts reaching a level of maturity to transit to the ocean is reduced even more. I keenly remember steelhead smolts, coho and chinook taking small emerging bugs on the upper river in huge numbers and the feeling of seeing the future mature fish returning being reasonable even when many were hatchery released. Until the base of the river which is the insect base is addressed with careful water management the river will continue to decline, it really is that simple. If the water has too low O2 saturations and is too hot and low the fry cannot possibly survive in numbers good enough to sustain a fishery at all. Sad as it seems this is the core of the issue on many streams all over the province and it is where we either save some of what there once was or we give in and watch the decline until there are no real fisheries left period. That is the way I see the issues on the Cowichan especially and all the other great rivers that we once adored and venerated.
