There is a lucrative gill net fishery on the lower Fraser River that, unfortunately, has a very large and negative impact on Interior Fraser Steelhead.

Steelhead returns to the Thompson and Chilcotin Rivers has dropped to unbelievably dangerous levels.

From BCWF’s website:

The news that Interior Fraser steelhead (IFS) are spawning this month at historic low numbers is alarming. It requires immediate intervention by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the Province, and cooperation from lower Fraser River First Nations to ensure the conservation of these populations. The iconic and world-renowned Thompson River steelhead that numbered in the low thousands a few decades ago now number less than 200. The Chilcotin numbers in 2020 are less than 50. There is only one measure that can be implemented immediately to ensure that higher numbers of adult steelhead reach the spawning grounds on the Chilcotin and Thompson rivers next year (2021). Governments should announce a moratorium on the 2020 chum salmon gillnet fishery that incidentally catch and kill these steelheads as they migrate upstream during October-November.

DFO and the Province are responsible for the decline in these steelhead populations. Ineffective measures to mitigate the gillnet by-catch of IFS steelhead have been in place for over a decade. BCWF President Bill Bosch states, “these measures have been a failure as evidenced by the continuing downward numbers of steelhead, so the time has come for the responsible parties to get serious about steelhead conservation, which is the mandate of both government levels.” Bosch points out that conservation groups have sent numerous letters and have had meetings with governments over the last number of years to express concerns. These concerns have been ignored, and most often, there has not even been a reply to such communications! A review of the chum salmon fishery by an outside government expert is required.

For more information on this issue, as well as a simple way to send a letter to the government about this, visit the BCWF’s page “BCWF Calls For a Moratorium on Lower Fraser Chum Gillnet Fishery”