The Kitselas First Nation has received approval to conduct an inland commercial fishery for sockeye salmon this year following the success of last year’s pilot fishery near the Kitselas Canyon. Kitselas members had gathered at the Kitselas Canyon Boat launch yesterday, July 9th, for an official blessing ceremony of the new fish wheel, conducted on the river itself.
We all partnered together to do a pilot year and it was a huge success, and that kind of led into our first full year of operation right now where we were able to do an improved design on the fish wheel
– David Hansen, Executive Director of Kitselas 5 Tier System LP
The commercial fishery builds on the long and successful fishing history of the Kitselas First Nation, and marks the next phase of community efforts to revive and revitalize the practice of selective fishing with fish wheels on the Skeena River, something that had not happened for decades until last year’s pilot project.
So as a value system we wanted to find a way to fish more selectively and in a more controlled way. The fish wheel allows us to pull salmon from the river live and store them in live wells, then we can select the fish that we need to retain and release, unharmed, the species that are not targeted.
– David Hansen, Executive Director of Kitselas 5 Tier System LP
David confirmed that the fishery will operate in accordance with Provincial regulations, and also confirmed that members of the public will get the chance to legally purchase sockeye salmon sourced from the Kitselas selective fishery in the near future, either from the Kitselas Canyon site, or at K5T on Queensway Drive in Terrace.
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