Desperate times call for desperate measures, and catastrophes such as last August’s CN Rail spill of caustic soda into the Cheakamus River call for the provincial government to implement all necessary measures to set the river’s aquatic ecosystems on the road to recovery.

Those measures should include an aggressive plan that includes habitat improvements, the fertilization seeding of feeder streams and yes, a hatchery-based steelhead augmentation program.

Coincidentally perhaps, those visiting to the B.C. Ministry of Environment website on Wednesday were greeted by a picture of Minister Barry Penner showing off pink salmon smolts at a hatchery on the Chilliwack River to his niece and nephew. The smolts, the caption said, were destined for the Cheakamus, where they are intended to augment the recovery of that species. The photo gave viewers a warm, fuzzy feeling about the minister and the government's effort to return the Cheakamus to health. Why not steelhead? Well, no official decision on whether hatchery augmentation will be part of the government’s Cheakamus plan has not been announced, but from what we're hearing, the prospects don’t look good. For the reasons you should talk to government biologists, but apparently there’s a strain of thought in fish biology that says it’s better to let a small population regenerate itself on its own over long periods than take more aggressive measures that may or may not succeed.

Others seem to disagree. According to an entry on www.fishbc.com, the Ministry of Environment recently cancelled a steelhead broodstock collection program at a federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) hatchery along the Nitinat River on Vancouver Island by refusing to issue the required collection permit. Among the reasons cited by MOE included a claim that the Nitinat did not meet the criteria for hatchery augmentation, a lack of evidence to support the need to augment the wild winter steelhead stock to sustain angling and perceived protocol issues relating to programs involving steelhead in DFO facilities.

“The program cost extremely little and provided visible, identifiable and tangible benefits,” the commentator wrote. “…It is most likely that we will have to realize their (steelhead’s) ‘diminished stock status’ before reconsidering this action. Wonder how long THAT will take?”

As for the Cheakamus, angler Dave Brown says he’s perplexed over what he’s hearing from the Ministry so far. “They’d rather sit back and have 40 steelhead in the river and stand there proudly say, ‘We saved the last 40 steelhead,’” said Brown, vice-chair of the local Sportfishing Advisory Committee. “It’s just ludicrous. It’s the Ministry of Environment and Barry Penner playing high-stakes poker with our steelhead population even though the mayor of Whistler, the mayor of Squamish and everyone else says they want hatchery enhancement.”

Fortunately, no decisions have been announced. To register your concerns, write or email to:
Hon. Barry Penner
Minister of Environment
P.O. Box 9047, Stn Prov. Gov’t
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
env.minister.gov.bc.ca

Hatchery enhancement is just a small part of a long-range Cheakamus recovery effort, but it's an important component. The CN spill, after all, wasn’t a natural occurrence, but it has altered the river’s systems significantly. Undoubtedly, the effort will take time, but aggressive, effective action now can and should help restore the river to health sooner rather than later.

© Whistler Printing & Publishing Ltd. 2006