In 2019, federal officials declined to list the Thompson and Chilcotin river steelhead under the Species at Risk Act, because of the adverse impacts of closures on First Nations and commercial fisheries, despite an emergency recommendation of the scientific group that advises government on endangered wildlife.
An endangered listing, federal authorities deemed, “would produce suboptimal ecological, social and economic outcomes,” versus the “long-term collaborative action plan.”Article content An endangered listing under the Species at Risk Act would have made it illegal to “kill, harm, harass, capture of take an individual” of a species, requiring more comprehensive closures to avoid any bycatch of steelhead in commercial or recreational fisheries.Article content
And to fisheries scientist Eric Taylor, the objective to not allow harm to increase sounds “ridiculous, it should be eliminated,” considering the critically low numbers.Article content “There are changes to documents that are being made that are watering down the threat and giving a biased picture of what’s going on,” Taylor said.
“DFO is working with on identifying the science advice needed to advance the listing process,” it said.