Thompson River- Endangered declaration

[BCWF]

http://cfjctoday.com/article/517443/thompson-river-added-endangered-river-list


MLOOPS — The Outdoor Recreation Council has placed the Thompson River on its annual list of endangered rivers in British Columbia.

Rivers Chair Mark Angelo says one of the main reasons for the designation is because of the dwindling Thompson River steelhead salmon population.

Angelo says the population is about 400 fish total.

He adds several actions could be taken to help preserve the Thompson, such as enforcing stricter water licenses on its tributaries.

"Tributaries like the Nicola, close to Merritt, or the Deadman between Kamloops and Cache Creek, or the Bonaparte near Ashcroft, those are tributaries but they play a really important role in terms of rearing and spawning. They also get hit really hard from a water extraction point of view," said Angelo.

Angelo adds industrial operations like the KGHM-Ajax mine must be made to prove their operations will not contribute to leeching into the Thompson system.

[Wentrot]

How many Thompson steelhead are caught in nets and bonked by the meat heads flossing for salmon in the fraser I wonder?

[Big Lew]

The South Thompson River is a sad story really. I remember when it not only had excellent
fish populations, but was a beautiful emerald green in colour and so clear you could see the
rocks it flowed over. Then came the pulp mill and sewage from the expanding city of Kamloops
which filled the bottom of Kamloops lake with their polluting sludge until it poured out into the
river, coating everything with a slimy black-gray mess. Now even though there's been strides
to lessen that pollution, and the river runs much cleaner now, it likely will never be anywhere
as pristine as it once was. Take a drive by it and you can still see the gray crap on the shoreline
rocks...try to walk along those rocks when they're wet and you'll understand.

[dereke]

How many Thompson steelhead are caught in nets and bonked by the meat heads flossing for salmon in the fraser I wonder?

While I'm sure does happen far bigger issues have decimated this population and these actions are probably way too little and way too late...

[Whonnock Boy]

I've never heard of one Steelhead being caught by bottom bouncers, but I have heard of a lot of them being caught in nets, and being used for ceremonial purposes. The sport fishery will take its fair share in the way of catch and release mortality rates as well.

How many Thompson steelhead are caught in nets and bonked by the meat heads flossing for salmon in the fraser I wonder?

[guest]

Late Chum openings, set nets, drift gill nets by the KEEPERS of the LAND and those that don't manage them are the main problem with this Rivers demise. Again, mismanagement and no one with any guts to truly do something about it.

how truly sad, keep going Fed Gov , DFO and Gov of BC, you've done a great job so far ........ NOT!

[Wentrot]

I've never heard of one Steelhead being caught by bottom bouncers, but I have heard of a lot of them being caught in nets, and being used for ceremonial purposes. The sport fishery will take its fair share in the way of catch and release mortality rates as well.

I havn't seen it while on the river either however have seen several over the years on the fishing forums. I'm sure it's a drop in the bucket but can't help but wonder about the impact nets must take. I'm doubtful it's as insignificant as some may think.

[Whonnock Boy]

In regards to government, the blame should be directed at the federal level, as the province has no say in commercial and aboriginal fishery, and so far, our federal government has been doing business as usual in their infancy.


Late Chum openings, set nets, drift gill nets by the KEEPERS of the LAND and those that don't manage them are the main problem with this Rivers demise. Again, mismanagement and no one with any guts to truly do something about it.

how truly sad, keep going Gov of BC, you've done a great job so far ........ NOT!

[Big Lew]

I've not seen any studies on the impact of the massive pollution that filled the Kamloops Lake bottom
many years ago, but do remember people being warned not to eat fish caught in there. As a layman
though, I would think it had to have negative complications to migrating fishes when considering how
long they would be in the river and lengthy lake. Recently the indigenous net fishery in the lake seems
to be thriving, so hopefully it's not still a serious concern, but I personally won't eat any trout from the
system below Kamloops.

[guest]

In regards to government, the blame should be directed at the federal level, as the province has no say in commercial and aboriginal fishery, and so far, our federal government has been doing business as usual in their infancy.

true ...... A ton of thanks to DFO and the fed Gov. Yet the BC Gov continues with its pollutive ways to aid the Rivers.

[markomoose]

Pretty sad state on the once Mighty Thompson River.Fished it a few times in the nineties and didn't have much success then.They closed it last fall as well.Same story on the once great Atnarko River.Both were awesome Steelhead rivers in their heyday.It's sad!

[lovemywinchester]

Rivers Chair Mark Angelo says one of the main reasons for the designation is because of the dwindling Thompson River steelhead salmon population.

Steelhead TROUT population. The least we can do is call the animal by the correct name. Just saying.

[wideopenthrottle]

Rivers Chair Mark Angelo says one of the main reasons for the designation is because of the dwindling Thompson River steelhead salmon population.

Steelhead TROUT population. The least we can do is call the animal by the correct name. Just saying.

all trout are salmonids so don't sweat the terminology
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Osteichthyes
Order: Salmoniformes
Family: Salmonidae
Genus: Oncorhynchus
Species: mykiss

[Stone Sheep Steve]

My buddy worked as a deckhand on his uncles commercial fishing boat during the summer months back in the mid eighties. The by-catch of steelies in their nets during the sockeye openings was pretty substantial.

[tubby]

The 24/7 legal and non legal netting starts in the summer and combined with fall chum fishery is the main reason why this stock will go extinct. The water issue is definitely not helping things.
Stop the netting and these stocks will rebound, but the native food and cerimonial and illegal night netting will never end. Same way sockeye will be soon extinct as well....
Flossing has zero impact on these fish compared to netting. A piss poor comment that shows your lack of knowledge and understanding of the problems these fish face.

[tubby]

Another thing that will help any fish that return will be a complete closure of the river end of September.When you have 20/30 guys pounding the river daily in October before it closes and beating on the few that still return early just to get a pic of a fish with there Spey rod up on the rocks or after enduring a 5 minute photo shoot just to be an Internet sensation.

[butcher]

all trout are salmonids so don't sweat the terminology
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Osteichthyes
Order: Salmoniformes
Family: Salmonidae
Genus: Oncorhynchus
Species: mykiss

Say what??
By that logic there's no difference between any of the deer species either.

[wideopenthrottle]

Say what??
By that logic there's no difference between any of the deer species either.
terminology...all trout are salmonids but not all salmonids are trout.....so I can refer to a white tail or mule or blacktail or Sitka but I could also just call them all deer....

[butcher]

terminology...all trout are salmonids but not all salmonids are trout.....so I can refer to a white tail or mule or blacktail or Sitka but I could also just call them all deer....


Try that with a CO sometime. Kill a steelhead during the sockeye opening and tell him it's a salmonid so no difference.

And what the hell it's a deer so I'll cut whichever tag I happen to have. They're just cervids after all, elk, muley, whitetail, what's the big deal?

[wideopenthrottle]

Try that with a CO sometime. Kill a steelhead during the sockeye opening and tell him it's a salmonid so no difference.

And what the hell it's a deer so I'll cut whichever tag I happen to have. They're just cervids after all, elk, muley, whitetail, what's the big deal?

ok you win...i'll have to stop calling my 4runner a truck too I guess..
have you ever noticed a bad attitude all the time, from people when you try to correct them ?....never did I say there was no difference...I tried to say that you can describe things specifically or generally ie to be specific, I have to call Thuja plicata western red cedar instead of just red cedar or cedar or evergreen. The alternates are correct, just less specific....ever used the term flat fish for a flounder or shark for a dogfish (whoops that is supposed to be spiny dogfish)....that is why scientists use the latin names instead of common names if you want to be sure..

[butcher]

Yeah maybe I win but the Thompson River Steelhead don't.

And yes you should stop calling your 4runner a truck. It's barely a SUV.........LOL

[wideopenthrottle]

Yeah maybe I win but the Thompson River Steelhead don't.

And yes you should stop calling your 4runner a truck. It's barely a SUV.........LOL

i'll take a Toyota over any other vehicle you suggest cuz I hate spending a ton of money in repairs (especially with those damn shop fees) but I guess you got me again cuz in truth I am more likely to call my 4runner a car than a truck but it didn't fit the example I was trying to make...heheheheh...

[GoatGuy]

Here is some terminology:

Thompson river steelhead are now classified as EXTREME CONSERVATION CONCERN, they are headed for EXTINCTION.

Suggest that might be the point of focus - the fish don't care what genus they fall under, it's the fact that they are disappearing which is important.

[tubby]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sakohunter]

It is really sad to think that in a modern intelligent society that we can even consider the extinction of a species as beautiful as the Thompson river Steelhead. There are so many user groups that feel their economic existence has a higher priority than the Steelhead. There have been many suggestions on how to improve the mortality of the Steelhead, but no one level of government wants to rock the boat to make the necessary changes. Maybe we could get the PM to take a selfie with a Steelhead, but until the governments want to impose changes that have detrimental financial impacts on the user groups nothing will happen.

[butcher]

Thanks Jesse.