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[paddy]

I am not one to usually rant, but it is Sunday and I am waiting for the rainfall to hit the Cap.  Here goes.

For years I have been fishing the Birkenhead with one of my favourite spots being below the bridge near Lillooet Lake.  I know that I am fishing right beside the reserve and have gotten to know some of the locals by always filling for gas on the reserve and pitching up hitch hikers on their way to and from town.

Last week I was fishing there hoping for an errant rainbow chasing the Chinook run.  The Chinook were sitting in the pool just above the bridge and a group of young natives were snagging them with treble hooks.  Fine, it's there land and they have a right to be there.  Their right to salmon for food is proper and protected by law.

What I first objected to was how much of the fish (and eggs) was being wasted by what had to be the worst job of filleting I have ever witnessed.

The second objection came later on our return from backwater lake where we fished the afternoon.

The same fish I witnessed being snagged were being sold by the side of the road to tourists and Pemby's.

So is it a native fishery for food/ceremonial purposes when this type of thing is happening?

Here endeth my rant.

[Fish Assassin]

DFO doesn't care

[silver ghost]

This issue seems to surface far too often on here. Hopefully this will clear things up.

Natives have an entrenched right to harvest fish for food. Even though they aren't always allowed to sell food fish, there is much grey area there because they have historically traded fish for other items (ex. guns and other amenities). Even though it is technically unlawful to sell fish that do not fall under a economic opportunity license, folks on the enforcement side of things do not approach these individuals simply because those are not the types of charges the crown prosecutors will pursue, both due to the pettiness and widespread happenings of the act, and the fact that the right has been affirmed by the supreme court of Canada. (google is your friend for the cases)

[Burbot]

We have two tier laws in this country and the DFO is scared of Indians/FN/Natives. (no the term 'Indian' is not racist. hell we call it Indian affairs..)

[VAGAbond]

The Birkenhead sockeye run is doing well and it should be well within the management needs to permit the natives to make a traditional harvest.

I understood that the Birkenhead  Chinook run was in serious trouble and everybody, including the natives were not harvesting.

Anybody know the truth?

[bkk]

You are correct in the status of both Birkenhead sockeye and chinook stocks. Sockeye are strong and the chinook are not but the Birkenhead chinook stock has been improveing relative to the other spring run 5-2 stocks. However they are harvested by native fishers in both the lwr. Lillooet River, Lillooet Lake and the Birkenhead River. There has been and continues to be a harvest every year but in what amount I do not know. I do know that in some years back in the late 80's and early 90's the harvest was very significant relative to spawning populations. Numbers have improved in the last few years but anything over 1000 spawners is a "good" run. Will be interesting to see what this years escapement comes in at.

[bkk]

Correction on this years Birkenhead sockeye return. It has turned into a disaster with about 50 000 spawners entering the river but about 90 % prespawn mortality at this point. This is extremely abnormal for this stream and DFO diagnostics is up there takeing samples of the dead and near dead to try and determine what is killing the fish. Water temperature is good so it's not's temperature related. Hopefully more info will follow in the future.

[firebird]

I was just up there a few days ago and thought the dead sockeye looked a little too plump and unruffled. I'm surprised to hear the estimate of 50,000 spawners. The numbers seemed very low to me ... I was thinking in terms of less than 30,000. I'm your old Upper Pitt River sockeye enumeration partner from around '78 or '79 bkk and did a few years of enumeration on the Birkenhead  . I noticed a few dead chinook and one live in a quick jaunt from Spetch Cr downstream a kilometre or so. I used to see a lot more in that stretch back in the day but it was quite late in their spawning season. Fly fishing for trout was fun though.

[Dave]

Good to see your'e still getting around firebird
bkk, as you stated PSM is rare for this system ... was the run timing normal?
DP and company sampling?

[dnibbles]

Correction on this years Birkenhead sockeye return. It has turned into a disaster with about 50 000 spawners entering the river but about 90 % prespawn mortality at this point. This is extremely abnormal for this stream and DFO diagnostics is up there takeing samples of the dead and near dead to try and determine what is killing the fish. Water temperature is good so it's not's temperature related. Hopefully more info will follow in the future.

Probably European salmon viruses. Or more likely Parv.

The fish health folks were at a system nearby last week doing some sampling on PSM sockeye. Hopefully they got back into the Birk this week to see if they can figure it out.

[Dave]

Thanks nibs.  European viruses, hmmm ... I'd bet a pension cheque that isn't the cause   I'm with you - more likely parvicapsula resulting from early entry into freshwater.