Editor,
According to Environment Canada’s Hydrometric site located at Quick, the lowest river flow for Oct. 9 (over the period of record, 80-plus years) was 39.6 cubic meters per second.
Today the river flow at the Quick site is 37.5 cubic meters per second — a new record low flow for Oct. 9.
Your eyes are telling you right; it’s seriously low.
And you might say, “So what?”
Well, right now there are quite a few people out there fishing for Steelhead. The river is at record low, the water is clear and the fish are vulnerable to the angling pressure currently being applied. And while you might think catch and release is a nice “clean” way to sport fish the Steelhead without reducing the total Steelhead population currently residing in the Bulkley River system, your thinking might be seriously wrong. These critters will remain in the river till next May/June and until water temperatures warm to a point when spawning is possible. That equates to near 10 months of fresh water residency during which time the primary energy source is body fat accumulated during time in the Pacific Ocean. And I suggest to you these critters are at critical energy for survival during this 10-month time period. Catch and release is an indisputable stress on the fish; it is a drain on their energy storage. And while fishers delight in a really good long fight with a life form attempting to survive, the longer the fight, the greater the stress and depletion of the energy reserves of the Steelhead. Also, every fish caught that is landed and released requires handling of the fish. It is well understood that not all fishers handle fish properly during the landing and releasing phase of having fish fun.
There is a provincial government agency in this town responsible for managing this extremely valuable fish species in the Skeena Region — a species that is, provincially, under extreme duress from anthropocentric activities impacting watersheds, river systems, annual migration and, ultimately, declining Steelhead populations. I find it rather odd our provincial and local government agency is absolutely mute on this matter and specifically, today in the Bulkley River with record low flow, high visibility and substantial daily angling pressure, nothing is said — nothing is done to curtail the catch and release sport Steelhead fishery.
There is an old saying: “You don’t know what you got till it’s gone.” I dread the day when the Bulkley River Steelhead go the same way of the Steelhead in most southern river systems. Absolutely unforgivable.
J Bruce McGonigal
Smithers