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Thompson Steelhead/Water licenses
Poul Bech
Ms. Joyce Murray
Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection
Province of British Columbia
(by e-mail)
Dear Minister Murray
Re: Thompson River Steelhead
The Steelhead Society of B.C. is extremely concerned
about the continuing population decline of Thompson
River steelhead. The world-famous Thompson River steelhead
catch-and-release sport fishery was on the verge of
closure this fall due to the lowest predicted escapement
in 25 years of records, much to the dismay of both anglers
and the local communities that depend on them.
As I’m sure you are aware, one
of the most critical issues facing Thompson steelhead
is insufficient summer stream flows in the Nicola, Coldwater,
Deadman and Bonaparte River systems. Until these issues
are resolved, the Steelhead Society supports a moratorium
on issuing any new water licenses on these important
rearing tributaries. Such a moratorium would also benefit
endangered Thompson River coho salmon stocks.
In September, 2003, the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation
Council published a report titled "Conflicts
Between People and Fish for Water: Two British Columbia
Salmon and Steelhead Rearing Streams in Need of Flows"
(the full text of the report is available at www.fish.bc.ca).
The report made several recommendations specific to
the Nicola/Coldwater systems at page 56. In their news
release (click
here to read news release), the PFRCC summarized
these recommendations as follows:
"1. The establishment of a moratorium on water
licensing for diversion or extraction.
2. A review and update of the Nicola Basin Strategic
Plan, now 20 years old.
3. The development of a hydrological budgeting process,
throughout the watershed, in order to allocate water
to fish and agriculture in a fair, transparent and legal
manner.
4. The launching of a license-compliance and beneficial-use
audit of existing water licenses and water use in the
basin.
5. The updating of the flow-release regime that is part
of the Nicola Lake dam-operation plan to protect fish
and meet appropriate water requirements.
6. The exploration of opportunities to buy back water
licenses for fish and ecosystem values similar to initiatives
undertaken in parts of the western United States."
The Steelhead Society asks if the provincial government
supports these recommendations, and if so, what steps
have been taken to implement them.
The Steelhead Society was distressed
to learn that the provincial regional fisheries management
section in Kamloops was very recently cut from a total
of four positions to three positions. Ironically, one
of the major duties of the lost fisheries biologist
position was resolving water use issues. In our view,
particularly given the critical state of Thompson steelhead
populations, provincial fisheries management capability
was inadequate even prior to this recent cut. We urge
you to provide sufficient additional funds in order
to meet what we is considered a crisis situation for
Thompson steelhead, and also to reinstate the cut position.
We look forward to your response.
Yours truly,
Poul Bech
Vice-President,
Steelhead Society of British Columbia
cc Premier Gordon Campbell
Joy Macphail, MLA
Dave Chutter, MLA
David Anderson, MP
BC Federation of Fly Fishers
BC Federation of Drift Fishers
BC Wildlife Federation
Kingfisher Rod & Gun Club
Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council
Pacific Salmon Foundation
The Osprey, c/o FFF Steelhead Committee
Watershed Watch
Wild Salmon Center
Wild Steelhead Coalition
Mark Angelo
Jim Ryan, Spences Bridge
Laurie Kingston, Spences Bridge
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