Once upon a time our wonderful federal government, the de facto political body in charge of West Coast salmon fisheries, looked after our salmon, our coast and our best conservation interests.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans employed a substantial force of able bodies, skilled at walking coastal creeks and rivers to perform salmon counts and monitor stewardship goals. It was a program vital to ensuring the health of Pacific Salmon and subsequent coastal ecosystems.
For some reason, somewhere in around the Stephen Harper as Prime Minister era, the feds cut the program along with many others crucial to a healthy coast. Hatchery programs were cut all along the coast and ultimately Atlantic salmon farms started popping up from the West Coast of Vancouver Island to the Broughton Archipelago, Port Hardy and Northbound.
These were some defining and profound moments of government ignorance and the fragility and stupidity that exists around political whim. Ugh. These decisions all had real impact and have led many to question just why our Pacific Salmon fishery and conservation was managed from Ottawa.
Where our governments failed us the people and our beloved salmon, some First Nations stepped up and filled the gap. This was very much the case around the Klemtu and the Kitasoo/Xai’xais Nation, which had some pretty sturdy stewardship beliefs. The Klemtu crew started their own creek walking program and have never looked back.
A small group of four or five creek walkers, along with assistance from Coastal Guardians, now kicks things off each August. It’s a comprehensive monitoring program, which sees the creek walkers don waders and get deep into Great Bear Rainforest. The Kitasoo/Xai’xais monitor 22 different creek systems and salmon counts are performed three times on each system: pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn or dead pitch. That’s a total of 66 creek walks in some of the most remote systems on the entire coast. And that’s some serious boots on ground!
I’ve been privileged to work with the K2 crew and my good friend Vern Brown and spent a number of truly awesome days creek walking and helping the team. It’s not easy work but it can be spectacular. There is some large boat trips involved, running up to several hours and many nautical miles. And when you reach the targeted system, the dinghy comes off the roof and a small outboard motor and/or oars come into play. Just getting to these systems isn’t easy, let alone walking their spawnable length.
I got to check out systems in the heart of Princess Royal Island, up the mainland Coast off Princess Royal Channel and beyond. One of the most amazing days saw us circumnavigate Aristazabal Island and counting pink and chum salmon on three different systems. You want to talk remote. Most systems wouldn’t see a human for years if it weren’t for the creek walkers. There is, in fact, only one fishing lodge in all of Kitasoo/Xai’xais Territory, and that’s North King Lodge on the North end of Aristazabal.
In addition to status as a serious salmon monitoring program, this is the Spirit Bear Conservancy and some of the wildest and remote rainforest anywhere. Grizzlies really rule the day and creek walkers have to be extremely proficient at moving around in serious bear country.
