More than 50 years after the Gitanyow first raised concerns over the diminishing Kitwanga sockeye salmon population and halted harvest of the vulnerable species, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is building a hatchery to be operated by the nation.
The Gitanyow and DFO have been working on a rebuilding plan for 25 years and this week announced they will start construction in the fall, with hope that the hatchery will help increase numbers of the salmon that are a vital food source and cultural touchstone for the Gitanyow people. Funding for the project is coming from the ministry’s Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative, a five-year plan to support the rebuilding of salmon stocks.
The Gitanyow hatchery has a $10 million budget for associated costs and construction on the First Nation’s lands, says Adam Silverstein, regional manager of hatchery reform and modernization with the DFO. It will be owned by the government and operated by the Gitanyow. An additional million dollars was granted through the B.C. Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund for the nation to conduct a feasibility study for the hatchery.
Silverstein says the numbers of Kitwanga sockeye have been dropping for years, and while DFO has been working towards recovery with the Gitanyow First Nation for a long time, enhancement efforts have been mired in complications. Hatching eggs and raising smolts requires a specific facility, and transporting hatchlings in a way that allows them to survive is challenging.
Increasing the numbers of salmon is hugely important to the Gitanyow people, who hope to see the return of one their most culturally significant resources, says Mark Cleveland, head biologist and program director, who has worked with the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs for the last 26 years.
I'm not especially hopeful regarding the success of DFO rebuilding plans based on a lot of experience working closely with stocks that have been managed under rebuilding plans for decades now with nothing to show for it. This is definitely a step in the right direction compared to the traditional (aka very problematic) way that DFO approaches indigenous fishing rights and fisheries management though, and between a hatchery that will likely use local broodstock to supplement wild fish and the state of habitat on the north BC coast compared to areas further south this could definitely turn out much better.