Hi SSBC members.
We hope you had an enjoyable summer and managed to get in some angling time while staying safe.
We have exciting news to report in this edition of the newsletter, along with updates about some of our ongoing steelhead conservation projects.
ONLINE SSBC FUNDRAISER POISED FOR LAUNCH
As you know, we were forced to cancel our popular annual Pub Night Fundraiser last autumn due to the sudden and unexpected closure of our preferred venue. Then COVID-19 put a damper on plans for a spring fundraiser event.
Now, thanks to a determined effort by SSBC Director Gillian Steele and the timely generosity of some prize donors, we’re preparing to launch our first online raffle and 50/50 draw. If you loved Pub Night with its raffles, auctions and 50/50 draws, you’ll love this event — and you’ll be supporting steelhead conservation. A $20 ticket gives you a shot at some really great prizes, including guided trips and gear. The more tickets you buy, the better your chances. If every SSBC member buys just two tickets, it would go a long way to making up for the revenue we missed with the Pub Night cancellation. All net proceeds go to the society’s conservation projects. More details are coming later this week. Please watch the Steelhead Society of BC Facebook page and your email inbox for updates.
NEW SSBC WEBSITE IN DEVELOPMENT
Special thanks to Dave Georgelin of D7 Digital, who has been working for several months on an update to the SSBC website. The new site will be user-friendly as always, with some enhancements both you and your Society directors will appreciate. We’ll give you a heads-up when the new site launches.
CONSERVATION UPDATES
Gold River steelhead struggles
Following a crash in the 2020 winter steelhead return to the Gold River, Society President Brian Braidwood and Director Dan Cahill wrote a letter to Forests and Lands Minister Doug Donaldson demanding a focused effort at understanding the reasons for the collapse. We told the Minister it was time for government to stop using angling closures as a fallback position in lieu of swift, science-based actions to understand the reasons for the collapse. “Closures are a poor substitute for action,” they said.
The Society indicated its willingness to support the province’s efforts, including funding for on-the-ground research. Stream habitat in the Gold is good for support and survival of juvenile salmonids. However, we’re concerned about ongoing seal predation on migrating steelhead in the lower reaches of the river. Gold River winter steelhead in particular are threatened by seal predation, with SSBC proposing an independent study to determine the scope of this problem.
SSBC provided $3,000 in funding to support photo and video documentation of snorkel survey efforts (conducted by provincial staff) on the Gold River in fall 2020. The media materials gathered will be used by Nootka Sound Watershed Society and others to tell the story regarding the plight of the wild winter run steelhead population on the Gold River. (The underwater photos are poster-quality. We can’t wait to share them with you when our new website goes live!)
In September 2020, an in-stream steelhead count determined there were 100 adult steelhead in the Gold and 75 in the tributary Heber River.
On a related note, SSBC is providing funds for installation of conservation-themed signs along several Vancouver Island streams including the Elk, Upper Cowichan, Stamp, Nahmint and Tsitika). The signs focus on topical issues such as fish handling and release, conservation and stream-specific regulations.
Litter a serious streamside threat to steelhead streams
In September 2020, SSBC President Brian Braidwood wrote a letter to Forests and Lands Minister Doug Donaldson regarding the deplorable behaviour of short and long-term campers along the Coquihalla River and Silverhope Creek in the upper reaches of the Fraser Valley.
“As part of our partnership with FLNROD, we draw your attention to an appalling situation unfolding on the banks of the Coquihalla River and Upper Silverhope Creek. As you are aware, many residents are taking to the outdoors to enjoy what BC has to offer as part of the new reality facing our province during the current pandemic. Unfortunately, this is leading to serious overcrowding in some popular areas along these special and irreplaceable waterways. Even worse, departing revellers are showing a disturbing tendency to leave behind garbage, abandoned camping equipment and even trailers along the banks of these special waterways,” Braidwood wrote.
A short time later Donaldson forwarded a letter he’d sent to Opposition Critic Jackie Tegart following her inquiry on the same topic, stating that Natural Resource Officers had inspected the areas in question and are “applying appropriate cross-ministry measures” to find alternate accommodation for long-term campers as well as working to mitigate the environmental impacts already suffered by these streams.
LOWER FRASER SELECTIVE FISHING PROJECT
The Society remains committed to research leading towards adoption of selective fishing activity in the Lower Fraser River, including a transition from gillnets to other methods that allow live release of non-targeted species such as steelhead during fisheries for other salmonids such as chum.
We continue to work with the Harrison Fisheries Authority, representing the Sts’ailes and Sq’éwlets First Nations, through the Harrison Salmon Producers Limited Partnership. The Partnership recently submitted a proposal, A First Nations Demonstration Selective Fishery in the Lower Fraser River, which is now in the hands of government for review and hopefully, approval. There is broad interest in both conservation and Indigenous communities regarding this opportunity — Harrison Salmon Producers is working with the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance which represents First Nations that fish the Fraser between Mission and Hope.
SSBC Northern Branch
Amid what looks like a year of exceptionally low steelhead returns to the Skeena River and its tributaries, SSBC’s Northern Branch continues to promote steelhead conservation. The Branch helped fund Indigenous artist Kari Morgan’s steelhead mural, The Wild Ones, on the side of a building in downtown Terrace as part of this year’s very colourful and imaginative Skeena Salmon Arts Festival.
The Northern Branch is also looking at initiating funding for rehabilitation of several spawning pools on Copper River tributary Simpson Creek. The pools were washed out by debris in 2017 and their rehabilitation would support spawning by chinook, steelhead and other salmonids.