Nechako Sockeye Taking the Biggest Hit: One Man's Opinion

By Ben Meisner

A few weeks ago former Socred Government Environment Minister, Bruce Strachan, was preaching the idea that in fact the agreement he signed in 1987 led to a renewed salmon stock along the Nechako River.

It was Strachan who signed off the Kemano 2 project for the provincial government and suggested at the time that the completion project posed, "an acceptable level of certainty”.

Given the latest information on how the fishery is going, it is hard to understand how Strachan can continue to preach that acceptable level of certainty, but then that is common practice for a politician. He likes to use the Chinook salmon on the Nechako, which, according to him, have shown an increase in numbers. It also may have slipped his mind that when Alcan began using a different method of counting the fish, to no ones surprise, the numbers suddenly went up.

Michael Lapointe, the chief biologist with the Pacific Salmon Commission paints quite a different picture and I would be  inclined to listen to him speak before I listen to  Strachan.

Lapointe says that the Stellako and Stewart Sockeye fisheries continue to drop at an alarming rate every single year. Now there could be a host of different reasons for this such as climate, we do know for example that the Fraser lies at the southern end of the sockeye habitat. But the runs in other rivers along the Fraser have not taken the same hit as those that feed into the Nechako. That is a fact that cannot be disputed.

So you now have a common denominator. Under the agreement that was signed by Strachan, Alcan is only obligated to ensure a certain temperature is maintained in the Nechako to a point above Finmore, less than half the distance of the Nechako River.

So do we have a problem here? Consider this, the Stellako and Stewart fishery in days gone by was worth about $70 million dollars a year. Take that out of the pocket of the people of the province and it does have an affect.

There may be a number of reasons for this years poor Sockeye run on the Fraser, the problem on the Nechako system is much, much larger.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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