Commercial salmon fishers and environmentalists in British Columbia are crying foul — for opposite reasons — after U.S. fisheries officials let American fishers hit the water while the Canadian government kept their counterparts ashore.
After several years of historically low runs, the Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC), an international fisheries management organization, estimated last week that enough sockeye — about 4.4 million — would return to the Fraser River to support a commercial fishery.
American fisheries managers adopted the commission’s estimate, opening a small commercial fishing window over the weekend. But in a rare disagreement, Canadian officials did not, citing concerns the run would be nearly one million fish smaller than predicted, and kept Canada’s waters closed.
That left Canadian fishers frustrated and disheartened, said James Lawson, a Heiltsuk commercial fisher and president of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union.
“It’s a Canadian river (but) our government keeps us tied up to the dock. I guess America just cares more about their commercial fishermen.”
Meanwhile, environmentalists are “commending” the federal government’s “precautionary stance,” the B.C.-based organization Watershed Watch said in a statement.
Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs fisheries representative Chief Dalton Silver of the Sumas First Nation said his most pressing concern is ensuring Indigenous people in the province can fish enough for their needs. He is also pushing for equal power in the federal government’s fisheries management decisions.