Article by Bob Hooton
Reconciliation or ?
One of the personal messages that came to me following publishing of my latest piece (Who Are You Going to Call?) did not deal with the Skeena circumstances. Rather, my contact wanted me to appreciate what was happening in the Meziadin system immediately to the north of the Kitwanga River. The Meziadin system is included in the traditional territory of the Gitanyow First Nation, the same one that lays claim to the Kitwanga and the Skeena for some distance above and below the Kitwanga confluence. As noted in that previous piece, over the past 20 years a tremendous amount of money has been invested in facilitating the Gitanyow assuming management of the Kitwanga salmon resources, principally sockeye. More recently came the federal commitment for $10M to construct a sockeye hatchery on the Kitwanga. It would be operated by the Gitanyow. Then there’s the Meziadin.
The Meziadin is the largest producer of sockeye in the Nass system. It was disputed territory for a very long time with both the Nisga’a and the Gitanyow insisting it was theirs. I’m not familiar with details of precisely when and how that long standing conflict was resolved but I can see plainly that the Gitnayow’s claim to Meziadin has been confirmed. From a fisheries perspective the important component is Meziadin sockeye and how they are allocated under present arrangements.
The history of the sockeye fishery at Meziadin was all about dip netting those fish at the falls below Meziadin Lake. One of the Gitanyow web sites provides an instructive overview of past and present.
https://authenticindigenousseafood.ca/fisheries/gitanyow-fisheries/ A clip from that web site clearly describes the sockeye fishery:
“The fishery is done exclusively by dipnet at a location below Victoria falls and the DFO fishway (ladder) where they are accurately counted every year. The Fishway is located some 200 km from the ocean, and it creates easy and safe access for returning sockeye to the productive headwaters, including Meziadin Lake and its three main spawning tributaries.”
The Victoria Falls fishway history is thoroughly documented and illustrated in the following link. https://cdnsm5-hosted.civiclive.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_12415106/File/map%20pdfs/Meziadin%20Fish%20Ladder%20SOS%20Final.pdf
This second link, independent of the first, similarly identifies the only harvesting method prosecuted by First Nations was dip netting at Victoria Falls. DFO’s in-season report of August 27, 2024 stated the Gitanyow “economic demonstration fishery” prosecuted at the falls, exclusively with dipnets, opened on July 28 and closed for the season on August 24 with a total of 13,755 sockeye harvested to that date.
Next up we have several fishery opening announcements (FNs 836, 847, 869 and 899) that appeared on the DFO Fisheries Notices web site between August 20 and September 3, 2024. For details see https://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=search_results&ID=all&Regions=&Fisheries=3&Areas=&year=2024
Those openings come under the label of “economic opportunity” fisheries which is somehow distinguishable from “economic demonstration fisheries” or “escapement surplus to spawning requirements (ESSR)” fisheries. DFO states they were identified and approved via its Integrated Fisheries Management Plan well in advance of the season. No one I know is satisfied that comments on draft IFMPs have ever altered those voluminous annual documents that amount to policy statements commonly modified depending on what events unfold in-season. Mind you, soliciting public comment on draft IFMPs satisfies the political optics that consultation has occurred. Those economic opportunity fisheries were to be prosecuted with “selective gear” only. As per the same sort of announcements for fisheries on the Skeena, the details around such fishing are never identified.
According to DFO’s August 27, 2024 weekly summary of all north coast fishery happenings, The Gitnayow Economic Demonstration Fishery at Victoria Falls (aka Lax An Xok) opened for the season on July 28 and closed on August 24. That fishery specified dip nets only. The reported harvest was 13,755 sockeye. Between July 1 and August 25, the Victoria Falls fishway count was 333,214 sockeye, a figure similar to the previous three years, vastly in excess (2-3 times) of counts over the readily retrievable period of record before then (2016 – 2020) but obviously well above the 180,000 fishway count which was the trigger for those in lake fisheries, whatever their label. The next most abundant species was coho at 3,077. Steelhead numbered 3.
Now, what about the observations provided by the individual who contacted me concerning events at Meziadin Lake? The Department of Fisheries and Oceans opened the lake to a harvest fishery for sockeye anglers on July 26. The opportunity was scheduled to continue until September 6. The daily limit was set at one fish. On August 3, DFO increased the daily limit to two fish, still with a season ending date of September 6. However, days before the Labor Day weekend (i.e. August 31 to September 2), the gated access to Meziadin Provincial Park was closed, thus eliminating access to the only boat launch available under the low water conditions that prevailed. Decision makers contended that measure was required to prevent interactions with grizzly bears. A day later my informant took a number of pictures of the selective harvesters in operation. The fleet involved is impressive, as are the catches. Apparently grizzly bears are selective in terms of who or what they might threaten. Exclusive access to the boat launch by the impressive fleet of what appear to be new, or nearly so, vessels obviously facilitated a major harvesting program. I have no idea what that harvest has been but it was comprised of 100% wild fish that were anything but “surplus” to the ecology of Meziadin Lake and its surroundings.
We’ll hear all the claims about huge sockeye harvests since time immemorial when anyone questions the justification for what has transpired at Meziadin Lake in 2024. The published records of federal government officials from years before there was ever any remedial work done at Victoria Falls say otherwise but we can’t let historic facts alter the perceptions of today. Given the already major investments in construction and operation of the Kitwanga River enumeration facilities, the impending $10M DFO allocation for a sockeye hatchery on that system and now the benefits accruing from a commercial fishery in Meziadin Lake, I’m left to wonder what the sum of benefits to a relatively small Gitanyow population amounts to. Don’t forget, all these Meziadin sockeye are in addition to the undisclosed but large harvest of multiple salmon species and steelhead in the Skeena. According to government of Canada data dated August 2024 the officially registered Gitanyow population is 861. More than half of those (56%) do not live in the area. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking the number of fish per Gitanyow FN member is large, as is the taxpayer contribution to their supply. Is this indicative of the future of reconciliation?
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