An iconic fish could soon disappear from British Columbian waters, according to the province’s fisheries manager, who worries Thompson River steelhead may be on the brink of collapse.
Mike Ramsay, assistant director of B.C’s Fish and Game branch, said if management practices in the federally regulated commercial salmon fishery don’t change, Thompson steelhead may not be able to recover from low returns.
Officials estimate a record low number of steelhead — just 290 — will return from the ocean to the Fraser River and eventually into the Thompson watershed this year.
Each year, up to a quarter of the returning fish are killed because they get caught in commercial fishing gillnets that target chum salmon, according to provincial estimates.
LINK (via: CBC News)
I wonder if these knuckleheads caught any Fraser steelhead while they were net seining.
