For decades now I have listened to many blame each other for the demise of our fish. Sports fishermen blame ocean trawlers. Ocean trawlers blame First Nations. First Nations blame sports fishermen. BC blames fish farms. North America blames Asia. I do believe they all play a part, some more than others, but for generations we have always fished the oceans and rivers. Instead of blaming each other lets look to what changed when we suddenly saw a decrease of fish. We will go back a few decades. I have fished on many rivers and one thing I have seen that is common between many. Instead of describing all of the rivers I will talk about the Coldwater river. A river in BC that is one that is in extreme danger. When I was young I used to fish in this river every summer. The water was cool, slow flowing, many insects thrived in many of the pools adjacent to it, and there were numerous log jams in which I would fish from. These log jams provided shade for cooler temperatures for the fish, insects that would feast on the decaying matter within the log jam, provide sanctuary from predators for the fish, and slowed the speed of the river in which the water would leave the mountains and proceed to the ocean. By day I would stand on many of these log jams as the beaver slept. There was at least six of these log jams on the Coldwater Indian reserve. Today I have found none. The rivers are now warm, the river flows fast, and the insects are gone along with the fish. There are no longer any deep channels that offer sanctuary for the fish. Where have our beaver gone?
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 21:32:33 +0000
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