Letter to DFO: Independent oversight needed to meet conservation concerns for Interior Fraser River Steelhead
Wednesday October 16, 2019
Conservation groups and other fisheries experts are challenging the federal fisheries department (DFO) to do the right thing and restore independent monitoring of Fraser River chum fisheries.
Interceptions of Thompson and Chilcotin river steelhead in Fraser chum gillnet fisheries are a major culprit in the decline of those prized sport fish.
The Steelhead Society of BC has added its voice to those of the BC Wildlife Federation, the Spences Bridge Steelhead Advocate Association and others in rejecting DFO’s decision to allow these fisheries to self-report their catch. This decision comes at a critical time — conservation objectives should compel the federal government to be fully transparent rather than obscuring the impacts this fishery has on endangered populations of Interior Fraser steelhead.
Here is a link to the letter