An official with Department of Fisheries and Oceans said Friday it supports teaching young Skeetchestn Indian Band members fishing on the Deadman River.
But the federal department takes issue with characterizations that it is not consulting with the band or taking action to conserve Pacific salmon stocks that return to the Deadman River to spawn.
Skeetchestn band said this week it is ending a self-imposed moratorium on fishing the small Deadman River, which drains into the Thompson River west of Kamloops. The band is starting a program to show children traditional ways of fishing for chinook and other species on the river.
A spawning sockeye salmon makes its way up the Adams River in Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park in this file photo.
Anglers planning to catch salmon in local waters this weekend are happily leaving their fishing poles at home after the Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced a fishing ban on all salmon species until further notice. Good, said Mo Bradley of the Kamloops and District Fish and Game Association on hearing the news. The DFO says There s no more salmon fishery. I say OK. They re closing it for one reason and that s to enhance the population later.
On Wednesday, the DFO announced that recreation fishing for salmon is prohibited until further notice in Kamloops Lake and the Thompson River from the outlet with Kamloops Lake downstream to the confluence with the Fraser River.