BURSTThe BC Wildlife Federation (BCWF) is ringing the alarm bell after zero steelhead trout were detected in the Fraser River this year.
During the steelhead’s 12-week migration window this summer, the BCWF said the DFO Interior Fraser Test Fishery at Albion did not detect a single Interior Fraser steelhead during the test fishing period. This is the worst result since records first began being kept back in the 1970s.
“The Fraser River late-run summer steelhead is a group of 10 discrete spawning stocks, four of which return to the Thompson River, two to the Chilcotin Watershed, and four to tributaries of the Fraser,” the BCWF stated in its release. “A total return of zero fish from this test fishery is unprecedented, though not completely unexpected.
“These runs have been scuffling along at Extreme Conservation Concern levels for 10 years while the federal government, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) resist the recommendations of their own experts.”
Over the last 10 years, the BCWF said the number of fish returns has ranged from a few dozen fish to a few hundred.
In 2018 and 2020 Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) conducted two emergency threat assessments on the steelhead populations in the Thompson and Chilcotin. Both times, they determined it to be endangered and at imminent risk of extinction.
“Despite those dire warnings from COSEWIC, the body of scientists assembled to advise the federal government on the status of wildlife, the federal government has repeatedly rejected adding these populations to the List of Endangered Wildlife in Canada under the Species at Risk Act,” the BCWF said. “A listing would compel the government to take immediate action to protect these populations, including reducing bycatch from non-selective fisheries.”
On Nov. 19, the provincial government released a status update on the Fraser River Late Run Summer Steelhead. In it, biologist Robert Bison noted that while zero fish were caught in the Chilcotin and Fraser regions, one was caught by the Brownsville Bar Test Fishery, which is believed to be a Fraser Steelhead.
Based on this catch, Bison estimates that the spawning population for the Thompson watershed is less than 19 steelhead this year, while the current spawning population for the Chilcotin could be as few as nine fish.
“The current forecasted spawner abundance for the Thompson ranks 49th over a 49-year monitoring time frame,” Bison reported. “The current forecast for the Chilcotin ranks 54th over a 54-year monitoring time frame.”
B.C. Wildlife Federation Executive Director Jesse Zeman said these figures are the definition of an emergency for the steelhead population.
“One hiccup, like a slide or a storm, could wipe out one or more of these spawning populations forever,” Zeman said.
Zeman said that the BCWF has been calling for an emergency listing of the Thompson and Chilcotin Steelhead since 2018. The steelhead fishery has been heavily curtailed, but Zeman said there are other oceanic pressures reducing its population.
The BCWF noted that steelhead spend part of their lives in the ocean and that selective fishing techniques would provide substantial benefits to the fish. They further accused Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) of ignoring a “growing body of scientific evidence” that suggests a high population of seals, sea lions and potentially even orcas is having a devastating effect on Pacific salmon and steelhead trout populations.
In a report made by the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, several recommendations were made to the DFO. They included conducting more research on the impact of pinnipeds, carnivorous marine mammals like seals and sea lions, on fish stocks and reintroducing some form of population control.
The committee agreed with the witnesses it spoke to that some degree of a sustainable seal harvest is needed to reduce the apparent negative impacts of pinniped overpopulation.
The BCWF believes that reducing predator populations will help fish stocks, like the Chilcotin and Thompson steelhead, bounce back. Zeman claims the DFO has taken no such action, thus far.
“They might as well call the Steelhead Action Plan the Steelhead IN-Action Plan,” Zeman said. “We’ve said for years that the provincial and federal governments are managing these fish to zero, and here we are, at zero.”
The BCWF sponsored a study by Dr. Murdoch McAllister, who found that a variety of hatchery program methodologies could be applied to the issues facing steelhead populations in the B.C. Interior. Many variables were considered, including using wild broodstock and timing the release of juvenile fish to help them avoid predation.
“Simply releasing large numbers of hatchery fish and hoping for the best isn’t always a winning strategy, as they draw the attention of predators such as wild birds and pinnipeds, who then scoop up so many fish that the number of wild-origin fish can be driven down even further,” the BCWF stated.
Any steelhead that did make it past Hells Gate into the Thompson and Chilcotin Watersheds will now overwinter in the region and complete their migration and spawn in the spring. Biston noted in his report that an update on their numbers will be released in the summer of 2026.
“If the number of returning steelhead truly is zero, the government will have stood by for nearly a decade without taking appropriate action to stop their extirpation,” Zeman said.