Salmon Fisheries

 Okanagan Sockeye

The ONAFD has been actively involved in the conservation, protection, restoration, and enhancement of the Okanagan River salmon stocks. The Okanagan River sockeye population is one of only two remaining populations of sockeye salmon in the international Columbia River Basin. Historically, chinook, coho, chum and steelhead were also indigenous salmon species in the Okanagan Basin, but today they are either extinct or found in very low numbers. Construction of dams, channelization, urban encroachment, water management practices and predation have all contributed to depletion and extinction of salmon stocks within the Okanagan River basin. Recently, the annual return of Okanagan sockeye adult spawners varies between a low of 2048 (recorded in 1998) and a high of 34,490 (recorded in 2001).

The upstream spawning migration limit of the sockeye is controlled by the operation of McIntyre Dam, located downstream of Vaseux lake, near Oliver BC. Harvesting in the lower portion of the Columbia River, hydroelectric dams, and high water temperatures contribute to adult sockeye losses during upstream spawning migration. The majority of the spawning occurs within a 7-km stretch of Okanagan River, running through Osoyoos Indian Band reserve lands. These reserve lands remain in natural state while the remaining portions of the Okanagan River were channelized and dammed for flood control measures in the mid 1950s. Once fry emerge from the gravel, they spend one year of their life rearing in Osoyoos Lake, before beginning their migration to the Pacific Ocean. Predation and competition with introduced species (large mouth bass, small mouth bass, mysis shrimp), high water temperature and low oxygen concentrations contribute to salmon mortality during rearing stages. During their migration journey to the ocean, a proportion of the sockeye smolts (juvenile salmon) will incur mortality while migrating through hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River. Table 1 outlines the major affects during the freshwater life of the sockeye salmon.

Table 1 – Major Affects during Freshwater Life Stages of Okanagan Sockeye Salmon

Shuswap River Chinook

With the construction of Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in the 1930s, all salmon stocks that spawned within Okanagan Nation Territory in the Upper Columbia , Kettle Basin and Arrow Lakes were extirpated. The only other salmon fishery within the Okanagan Nation Territory is for chinook salmon in the Middle Shuswap. Over the past few years, as fishing opportunities in the Okanagan River have decreased, an increasing number of Okanagan Nation members are relying on the fishery in the Shuswap River .

At one time, there were likely significant populations of sockeye, chinook and coho and other species that returned to the Shuswap River that would have provided significant harvest opportunities for members of the Okanagan Nation. The Shuswap River Interior Coho population has been a conservation priority because of record low returns during the 1990s and was recently designated as an Endangered Species under Canada’s Species at Risk Act.