| Fish wheels may see action Grim sockeye iy runs expected | EVEN Kitselas band mem-. bers who run a_ selective fishery with a giant fish wheel aren't optimistic that they’ll be allowed t com- mercially fish this year, ‘'The sockeye run for the Skeena for the next two years is pretty grim,’’ said Wilfred McKenzie, who runs the band’s fish wheel program. ‘“‘They’re barely going to get enough for es- capement,”’ He’s still hopeful — par- ticularly in light of com- ments by federal fisheries’ minister David Anderson | that he favours increased use of selective fisheries that can catch sockeye sal- mon without a bycatch of endangered coho. He's weighing options of whether to allow any commercial fishery on the coast this year in light of dangerously low levels of coho, The Kitselas operate fish J wheels upstream on the Skeena in Kitselas Canyon in the summer. The large rotating wheels scoop salmon out of the river and deposit them in floating holding tanks, The fish are then dip- Coho report lauded A REPORT on the coha crisis facing B.C. has good ideas for Keeping both fish and local economies alive, says a local sportfishing group representative. Jim Culp, of the Sportfish Advisory Board, said the lo- cal group agrees with many of the recommendations set out in-the coho crisis report written for the province by SFU fisheries economist Dr. Parcival Copes. Copes’ report called for a range of restrictions in both commercial and recreational fisheries to prevent further losses of endangered runs of coho salmon. But he also recommended that coastal communities get tos fish = non-endangered stocks as much as possible so a human crisis doesn't result. t He also recommended the; federal Department of. Fisheries and Oceans in- tensify efforts to develop se~ lective fisheries that can’ catch non-endangered stocks of salmon, while releasing threatened stocks. ' Culp said sportsfishermen agree there’s a crisis in coho stocks, particularly in upper Skeena runs, including some on the Copper and Kalum. rivers, Culp said the pressure on: coho stocks has grown over! the years and led to a precipitous decline in recent years. He said people gradually got used to the idea that: there were fewer fish in the river. He noted that in 1989’ sportsfishermen voluntarily proposed that summier-run: coho in the Skeena River be: made catch-and-release only. “We didn’t think it was right for us to be catching! them,’ he said. ‘‘So we have move than done our part.” Over the years, he added, summer-rin upper Skeena coho have declined sharply from the more than 10,000° fish that used to pass the’ fish gates at Babine Lake in peak years, down to just hundreds today. This year, the sportsfish- ing community is voluntari-, ly proposing a halving of the number of coho allowed! to be caught by sportsfishermen. He noted that coho stocks. further downstream in the Lakelse River and Git-, nadoix River are not’ ’ threatened, and that anglers: should be allowed to fish: ‘those runs, i! SELECTIVE FISHING is done inriver here by native groups such as the Kitselas band, which operates fish wheels on the Skeena River. FILE PHOTO. netted out live, identified, and released if they’re coho, and then either harvested if steelhead or other less they’ te sockeye, or counted plentiful species. NO CHARGE AIR CONDITIONING _ON ALL QUAD CABS” 1998 QUAD CAB 246 PACKAGE INCLUDES: ' First A-door Pickup? * Lealier wrapped steering wheel # §21 230 hp Magnum ¥8 © Chrome bumper/grills * 4Spoed automalls transmissign © Tinted windows * “Next ganeration” dual alr bags © Alr conditioning _ Wihpassanger an/off switch » Cruise contrat © AN/20/40 Split front bench » Till steering. + AM/FM Sterao cassette * 7800 Ibs. towlng capacity wid spoakars » Power windows/door locks/mirrors ‘We're waiting to see. what the commercial fishing plan is on the coast,’’ McKenzie added, '‘We are anticipating a fishery, but to what extent we're not sure: yet’’ He said the band has a ‘ proposal in to the Mifflin plan and Fisheries Renewal B.C. to operate the wheel this summer for research Purposes. They’d count and in some cases tag coho and steelhead scooped up by the wheel be- fore releasing them. Tagging the fish would al- low researchers to lace their migration roules in the upper tributaries of the Skeena, he added, ~ ‘We're hoping that we may be able to tie it in with a commercial operation if there is surplus sockeye,’’ McKenzie said, ‘‘otherwise we'll do it as an experimen- tal fishery for this year.”’ McKenzie noted the band has refined its design of the fish wheel, switching from a wooden model to an aluminum one in recent years. 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