Some very sad news from the B.C. government landed in our inboxes a few days ago. It appears the once-mighty Thompson and Chilcotin steelhead trout populations are now on the brink of extinction, with zero fish being caught to date at the main test fishery.

It was one of the great rivers of our time

I first fished the Thompson with my dad in 1995. We were from Skeena country and it was new terrain for us. I still remember our excitement at being on that big, powerful desert river flanked by sagebrush and ponderosa pine. It was my first time fishing in rattlesnake country. We stayed at a cheap motel and gathered every night with my dad’s chums from the Steelhead Society at the iconic Log Cabin Pub in Spences Bridge. I listened intently as they swapped fishing stories and debated the merits of various conservation strategies while downing pints in the blue cigarette smoke haze. One night we had dinner with Sasha Tolstoy and Jack Hemingway—descendants of legendary authors, and notorious fishing bums.

Executive Director Aaron Hill

That’s the kind of scene it was, and it’s all gone now. The run started struggling in the late 2000s and since 2016 it has been in the B.C. government’s “extreme conservation concern” zone. The recreational catch-and-release fishery closed in 2018 and it hasn’t re-opened. Anglers don’t flock to Spences Bridge in the fall anymore, and the loss of the steelhead fishery has devastated the local economy. I drive through at least twice every year along Highway 1 and I get sad and wistful every time.

The Thompson steelhead run used to fluctuate between roughly 1,000 and 3,000 fish. In a Nov.19 email update, provincial biologist Rob Bison states that the number of spawners this year is predicted to be less than 19 fish. The Chilcotin run is predicted to be less than nine fish. Yes, you can now count the number of fish on your hands. And they don’t provide estimates for the smaller runs that make up the larger Interior Fraser steelhead complex. This feels a lot like a death rattle. Our provincial and federal governments have failed in their duty to protect and rebuild this magnificent race of fish.

Who are these strange and wonderful beasts?

For those who don’t know, steelhead are ocean-going rainbow trout. They often grow to around 10-20 pounds (roughly 5-10 kg), with the largest on record up around 40 pounds (18 kg). They are prized by anglers for their beauty and strength. 

Because steelhead return to their home rivers in smaller numbers than the commercially valuable salmon species that swim alongside them, most steelhead populations have been heavily overfished. In general, they have been mismanaged and have not received adequate protections from the full range of impacts they suffer.

The Thompson River run is the most famous of the Interior Fraser steelhead, which are made up of a handful of genetically and spatially distinct populations that return in late summer and spawn in an array of Fraser River tributaries upstream of Hell’s Gate. 

Interior Fraser steelhead are crashing for several reasons. The experts mostly agree it is some combination of the following: bycatch in commercial and Indigenous net fisheries targeting chum salmon in the Fraser River and Salish Sea, predation by seals and sea lions, and poor conditions in the ocean and in some of the freshwater habitats. The ocean and freshwater conditions are largely due to climate change, exacerbated in the rivers by loss of forest cover and over-extraction of water. The catastrophic flooding in 2021 caused by an atmospheric river may have also played a role in this year’s terrible run. Climate change is intensifying flooding and drought, which are being made even worse by loss of forest cover due to excessive clearcut logging, wildfires and bug-kill. 

Thompson River steelhead returns since the late 1970s. Source: Government of B.C.

It’s a story of negligence and corruption

Some strong government action could have come in handy for Interior Fraser steelhead. Back in 2019, when the returns were still in the hundreds, the scientists on the federal government’s Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada assessed the Thompson and Chilcotin populations and designated them as “endangered.” The committee recommended listing these endangered steelhead under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, which would have kicked off strong protections and recovery efforts. But it never happened, due in part to corruption of the process by officials at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. It was a massive scandal in the world of B.C. fisheries management and the whole story is worth a read. 

The short version is that B.C.’s Deputy Minister of Environment outed DFO bureaucrats for fiddling with a crucial science advice document after it had been peer-reviewed and finalized by an array of government and independent scientists. The document was to inform the federal Minister of Environment in her recommendation to cabinet on whether to protect Thompson and Chilcotin steelhead under the Species at Risk Act. The result of DFO’s fiddling was to downplay the benefit that could be gained by reducing the numbers of Interior Fraser steelhead killed in fisheries targeting chum and other Pacific salmon. It was a sleazy and shameful subversion of science.

In the end, Prime Minister Trudeau’s cabinet decided not to protect Thompson and Chilcotin steelhead under their endangered species law. In an Orwellian turn of phrase, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna informed Canadians that “The Governor in Council (GiC) has decided that not listing Thompson River and Chilcotin River Steelhead Trout under the Species at Risk Act would result in the greatest overall benefits to current and future generations of Canadians and the conservation of these wildlife species.” She might as well have said “one plus one equals three.”

What we got instead was a watered-down action plan that did very little to curb the things that are killing Interior Fraser steelhead. At the very least, we could have finally gotten serious about shutting down unselective salmon fisheries that use gillnets and kill significant numbers of fish from non-target species, and opening new fisheries using selective types of gear that allow non-target fish to be released alive and healthy. Some will say it wouldn’t have made enough of a difference, but there was only one way to find out.

Action is the antidote for despair

Let’s not let this sad moment turn into apathy. There’s a small glimmer of hope to be found in the Thompson and Chilcotin Rivers’ healthy populations of resident rainbow trout (the smaller, non-steelhead version that doesn’t go out to sea). They share the same genetics as steelhead and their descendants may harbour the ability to go to sea and become steelhead. Things may look grim for this particular year class of Interior Fraser steelhead, but they’re not gone. 

Now that it is clear that B.C. and federal governments’ action plan is failing, as predicted, they should immediately convene stakeholders to devise a plan that will actually work. The first step in any serious rescue plan for these valuable fish would be to severely restrict the use of gillnets along their migration route and support fishers in switching to selective fishing gear, like fish traps and fish wheels. And Interior Fraser steelhead require protection under Canada’s Species at Risk Act now more than ever. The best time to do that was five years ago, but the next best time is now.

Locations of Interior Fraser River steelhead populations. Source: Review of Fraser River Steelhead Trout, by B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, and Department of Fisheries and Oceans. 1998.

We must also learn from this disaster and keep it from unfolding elsewhere. There are scores of salmon and steelhead populations around this beautiful province that are struggling but still hold the potential to bounce back if we give them a chance. Let’s fight for them.

Let’s take some inspiration from this year’s return of Fraser River sockeye. They came back this year in numbers that exceeded official expectations by millions of fish, and this was the same year class that crashed hard in 2009 and led Prime Minister Stephen Harper to launch the Cohen Inquiry on the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River. That set the stage for Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan removing virus- and parasite-spewing fish farms from a large swath of the Fraser sockeye migration route in 2022.

Whether it’s transitioning to selective fisheries, or opening up vital salmon nursery habitat that’s being blocked by obsolete flood control structures, or getting the remaining salmon farms out of the water, there are things we can do that will make a difference for our fish and all of the people and other animals that depend on them. So let’s do those things. And keep fighting.