Saw this on twitter this morning….
From this 13 July Globe and Mail article (Skeena River Caught up in Land Rights Claim by Gitxsan Treaty Society) the cease and desist order for all sport fishing activities on the Skeena wasn’t supposed to to kick in until the 4th of August.
This comment posted with the article would suggest that (as in Washington) fisheries management issues as related to government and tribal / First Nations approaches are far, far from settled.
I have been along the Skeena river for the last week . The river has been completely netted off . The spawning Chinook salmon are unable to get through, to complete their journey up the river to their spawning ground. This is going to wipe out the salmon if these nets are left in the river. The Sockeye are running now also. Not only are these First Nations along the Skeena River, stopping the salmon from spawning, but they are also preventing the First Nations people from further inland and Babine Lake from being able to harvest any fish for food…. Something needs to be done to stop this, or the salmon will become extinct.
Talking about ‘evicting’ sport fishermen is one thing, running people off the river is quite another. This could get interesting…
Image via Oceanecology.ca.
