OldBlackDog
Well-Known Member
Bob Hooton
2h ·WAKE UP PEOPLE
How about a current snapshot of the Skeena steelhead situation?
• The recreational fishing world is well aware the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ test fishery just upstream from the commercial fishing boundary on the lower Skeena River has estimated steelhead numbers no one expected to see this year. That has obviously become the excuse for authorizing commercial and First Nations fishing unprecedented in recent years. Whereas DFO produced its annual “plan” known as the Integrated Fisheries Management Plan that supposedly promised no commercial fishing beyond “the first few days of August”, all bets were off when a few steelhead showed up. As of today (Aug 14) there have been or will be nets in the water on 27 of 28 days between July 24 and Aug 19. Add on 7 days of gill netting prior to July 24. All the extra days in late July and August come under the heading of “demonstration fisheries” or “economic development opportunities”.
• Various First Nations throughout the Skeena are the exclusive beneficiaries of these latter opportunities. We’re not talking dugout canoes here. These fisheries are prosecuted by the same commercial gill net and seine vessels typically employed in the conventional commercial fishery. I encourage all to look up the DFO Fisheries Notices web site for details. https://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm... Whereas there is an abundance of ink outlining the conditions associated with participation in those fisheries, pay attention to the add on buried in there (“dual fishing”). What that amounts to is appropriately designated individuals are free to retain any by-catch (steelhead for example). They’re just not supposed to sell them. In the background of all the variously labeled commercial fishing openings we still have all the Food, Social and Ceremonial fishing occurring throughout the Skeena. Here’s an August 11 quote from an eyewitness that speaks to that: “Have you seen Gitxsan's new state of the art drift gillnet boat ? 25'ish with a commercial gillnet drum on the front of it. They are drifting from Anderson Flats downstream to the island above the Peeing Tree.... roughly 10km and when they can deploy the full length it's bank to bank.”
• Blended in with all the unexpected additional fishing opportunities was one other eye catcher. It involved upriver Gitxsan and Gitanyow fishers striking a deal with the Lax Kw’alaams at the mouth of the Skeena to harvest 10,000 sockeye in the latter’s traditional territory. Supposedly this was based on historic utilization of sockeye in that time and place. No one ever questions why or how a Gitxsan fisher travelled almost 200 miles downstream long before a road or railroad to catch the same sockeye that would be arriving in their own territory two weeks later. There was a caveat attached to the 10,000 figure stating that if the sockeye run was strong, it could be increased. Who knows what may have happened?
• What makes those economic opportunity fisheries particularly offensive is the latest announcement calling for an unprecedented opening (with “selective gear only”) on the mainstem Skeena between July 13 and 19. As with all FN fisheries, self-monitoring and self-reporting of catches is promised but never forthcoming for weeks following conclusion of any such fishing. What I found curious (see the notice on DFO’s web site) is that fishing is authorized 24 hrs per day. What does a selective fishery look like in darkness?
• The web site of the Williams Lake First Nation indicates it is purchasing sockeye harvested by Skeena FNs. Does this qualify as economic opportunity or political opportunism? I note that the Williams Lake FN is nowhere near as badly off in terms of sockeye supply as the upper Fraser/Stuart/Takla FNs.
• The man in charge of the fish and wildlife program in the Smithers office of the Ministry of Water Land and Resource Stewardship sent a heads-up message to the Bulkley and Kispiox angling guides on August 8. No audience other than those guides was privy to the same message. It warns of impending complete angling closures if the water temperature reaches a mean weekly maximum temperature (MWMT) between 18C and 20C. The same message indicated the recent series of temperature recordings for both the Bulkley and Kispiox had reached that level as of the first week of August. My question to the author of the message was how can his Ministry not recommend immediate cessation of the steelhead mark/recapture population estimation exercise at Witset? That pointless exercise imposes far more harm to the steelhead handled than any catch and release angling ever has. Also, compounding that and coincidentally we have another economic opportunity fishery that has Wet’suwet’en fishers harvesting pink salmon and selling them at roadside? How many incidentally caught and released (?) non-target victims are there pursuant to selling pink salmon that were virtually worthless to the tidewater commercial fishers, let alone 2 or 3 weeks later at Witset? I’ve asked the Smithers man why no mention of Witset. He hasn’t responded.
• There is no angling of consequence occurring on either the Bulkley or Kispiox and unlikely to be anything more before the MWMT has already dropped below the threshold for closure. Besides, in the case of the Kispiox, low water is certain to see Kispiox fish kegged up in the Skeena awaiting a rainfall generated pulse in streamflow. So, who are we doing all this for? I’m advised various FN voices have been actively lobbying the Victoria office of WLRS demanding implementation of closures. The standard line is it’s against Gitsxan law that anglers play with their food.
• Now, about that steelhead catch reporting. The most recent summary (August 13) from DFO speaks volumes. It tells us the seine fleet that operates in Area 3 (the narrow area between Southeast Alaska and the northern boundary of Area 4 which includes the remaining approaches to the Skeena) has caught and released very slightly less than 1 steelhead per boat day. The gill net fleet in the same area has reported slightly less than 10% of the seine total per boat day (32 for 307 boat days). Moving down to Area 4 we have the seines reporting just short of 7 steelhead per boat day while the gill netters reported 10% of that rate (612 for 792). There is no data on any of those extra FN fisheries. Contrast the reported commercial catches with DFO’s test fishery. I’ve asked DFO for the precise number of steelhead accounted for, a figure that has to be immediately available given they produce a daily index. Once again, no response. However, one can make a reasonable guess at how many. It has to be at least 400. That would be the result of one vessel fishing one hour sets on every slack tide during daylight hours. That would amount to about 2.5 sets per day or a small fraction of the number made by an average gill net fleet size of 72 vessels operating almost within sight of the test fishery. One can make all sorts of assumptions relative to comparing the test fishery catch to the reported commercial catch but the inescapable conclusion is the fleet figures are simply a continuation of the chronic, well known pattern of denial and coverup. The First Nations steelhead catch reporting is essentially non-existent.
• Think about that catch reporting relative to the anti-Alaska “dirty secret” campaign we are bombarded with. Town councils, First Nations from throughout the province and even our own provincial government have all registered their condemnation of Alaska. Is there a better example of the kettle calling the pot black?
