Sport fishermen 'steel' themselves for loss of species
By: Robert Koopmans
Prince George Citizen
November 21, 2008
Source: The Canadian Press
The rocky banks of the Thompson River through Spences Bridge are seldom empty of people in October. This is supposed to be steelhead fishing season, when anglers from around the world gather in the B.C. Interior to cast hook and line with the hope of feeling the pull of the giant sea-run trout.
But for the first time in decades, the osprey and deer and the blowing autumn leaves are the only ones criss-crossing the banks, with little prospect things will change.
Today, as it has been since Oct. 1, the river is closed to sport angling. That's not new -- in 2004 the provincial Ministry of Environment implemented a new management policy saying the river would not open to fishing until enough fish had been counted in the river to justify the season.
What's different this year is that numbers the biologists depend on to make such predictions show steelhead have not returned in sufficient quantity to allow steelhead anglers a crack at them.
Biologists fear there may not even be enough to ensure the Thompson River strain of steelhead will perpetuate. In a river that once supported tens of thousands of steelhead, biologists believe less than 800 will return this year to spawn in the Nicola, Deadman and Bonaparte rivers.
And as a result, a sport fishing season will not likely open at all.
For the first time in decades, humans will let steelhead trout quietly pass, with the hope this is not the beginning of the end -- of an era, and a unique and valuable strain of trout.
Every morning and afternoon, Steven Rice, co-owner of the Heritage Packing House Coffee Shop, checks a Department of Fisheries and Oceans website that reports the results of a Fraser River test fishery at Langley.
His eyes quickly scan the Internet page, hoping the results will show that steelhead trout have been captured, because it is those numbers that biologists use to predict spawning populations.
The capture of just a handful of fish in the course of a week or so -- especially if the fish are seen in mid-October -- is usually all that's needed to allow a sport season to open, as such data allows biologists to comfortably predict spawning numbers in excess of 1,000 fish.
Rice said there was a flurry of several steelhead caught in the test fishery in late-September, buoying hopes this would be a good year.
"People were high-fiving each other here. Everyone was excited," he said.
But the numbers dried up after that, and no more steelhead were captured until Oct. 17, when one fish found its way into the test fishery gillnets. No more have been seen since. As a result, ministry biologists have not been able to conclude this year's return of steelhead will surpass the necessary threshold.
And the fishing season remains closed.
It's the scenario that Rice and other businesspeople in town have long feared. If there is no open fishing season, there will be no anglers. No sportsmen means no income in a period that has traditionally provided most businesses with 50 per cent or more of their annual earnings.
"We make more money in 2 1/2 months than we do the entire rest of the year," Rice said. "People who come here (to fish) spend a boatload of money. For us, it's devastating. We're trying to keep a small business going."
There aren't many small businesses left in Spences Bridge. The inn down the street from Rice's coffee shop remains open and there is a convenience store and pub on the other side of the river, across the bridge.
In the years since Spences Bridge's heyday, numerous shops, motels and gas stations have closed. Today, about 200 people remain, half the number that populated the town a couple of decades ago.
That steelhead are important to the town is apparent in the signs that greet visitors as they enter. "Welcome to Spences Bridge," the large wooden signs proclaim, each with a large carved steelhead emblazoned to the side.
"We can't lose this valuable resource," said Rice.
Thompson River steelhead have a huge reputation. They are international stars of the sport angling world. Anglers have long prized their size and tremendous strength and say that, kilogram for kilogram, they are the strongest fish to be found anywhere.
Over the decades, fishermen from around the world have travelled to Spences Bridge in October, November and December. The noteworthy have included Jack Hemingway, the son of Ernest Hemingway, and Sasha Tolstoy, grandson of the great Russian novelist, Count Leo Tolstoy.
Many more have made Spences Bridge an annual pilgrimage. They come for days or weeks and fish for hours a day, hoping to feel the pull of even one fish. Some who make the trip every year have never caught a Thompson River steelhead -- it's the reputation alone that keeps them coming.
Kamloops fly angler and fishing guide Steve Jennings said the reputation is well deserved: Thompson River steelhead are bigger and feistier than other runs. He has caught 20 or so of the fish over the years, all of them on a fly rod.
He's travelled to all of the West's best steelhead rivers, including the Skeena and Bulkley rivers in the north, and said Thompson River steelhead are clearly in their own class.
"They are hard to hook, and very hard to land," he said.
It's not known why these steelhead tend to be larger -- fish in excess of 14 kilograms have frequently been caught -- but some speculate at least some of them stay in the ocean an extra year before returning to freshwater.
For their strength, some credit the nature of the Fraser and Thompson rivers.
Both rivers are fast and steep and fraught with natural hazards and it's believed only fish with sufficient strength to make it through survive to pass on their genetic material.
Jennings said he's saddened to see this year's season remain closed because of what it signifies.
"It's a dying species," he said. "It doesn't look good."
Many in the sport fishing community believe governments have not done enough to protect the fish from the ravages of commercial fishing, particularly the Fraser River chum fisheries.
Those runs have often been targeted by gillnetters at the very time Thompson River steelhead were passing through. While steelhead today are more on the radar of fisheries managers, in the past it wasn't always the case.
"Get the gillnets out of the Fraser River," Jennings said. "There is simply too much pressure."
Ian McGregor, the ministry's fisheries section head in Kamloops, said he's not certain the answer is so clear. He believes much has been done to protect steelhead -- including alterations to commercial fishing seasons and habitat improvement -- meaning the reasons for the continuing decline must be found elsewhere.
Poor ocean survival, due to ocean warming or some other unknown variable, is now considered the main reason among most in the scientific community for the steady decline in Thompson River steelhead.
McGregor said this year's lack of sport fishing is a significant development. It does not mean there won't be fishing next year or in years after, he added. It's possible the fish will bounce back and seasons will open as they have in the past.
"Time will tell," he said.
There are only a handful of people left on the Spences Bridge Steelhead Advocate Association. Jim Ryan, a long-time town resident is one of them. He has never fished for steelhead, nor is his home or business dependent on whether a sport season opens.
His interest is purely in the survival of the fish themselves. He wants to see the government step up and develop a complete steelhead recovery plan, making the fish the priority they need to be.
"It's not just about business interests," he said. "People here don't want to see the fish die out. Maybe there is nothing we can do. There is something definitely going on out at sea."
"But I haven't given up hope."
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Topic: Thompson river steelhead (Read 3601 times)