Steelhead Paradise – lost? Think we have Pebble figured out? Not yet. And now there’s another plan to screw up a different one of the world’s most prolific fisheries
Op Ed by Roy Tanami – Angling Trade – June 2014
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s you read these words the last stronghold of robust steelhead populations in healthy, wild rivers in North America, if not the world, is under real and serious threat. In fact, plans are in place now that will all but guarantee the extinction of major runs of steelhead and Pacific salmon in northwestern British Columbia. These iconic fish and those who depend upon them are in dire need of your help.
Most immediately, the waters in question include all the tributaries and main stem of the Skeena—BC’s second-largest river system. These are the famous rivers of dreams that fly anglers from all corners of the earth flock to each year, such as the Babine, Kispiox, Bulkley, Copper, and Morice to list just a few.
The threat to their survival, and to steelheading as we know it?
Literally billions upon billions of dollars of proposed oil and gas mega-projects and associated industrial infrastructure across the entire span of northern BC from east to west.
The list includes: one very well publicized bitumen (heavy crude from the Alberta tar sands) pipeline and export terminus on the coast called Northern Gateway, and twelve separate not-so-well publicized LNG, or liquid natural gas projects, which involve pipelines and LNG liquefaction and export plants in, or very close to, the Skeena River estuary. If approved, it is also widely anticipated that any number of these proposed LNG pipelines will eventually be switched over to carry bitumen rather than gas.
Add to these physical threats two levels of Canadian government, federal and provincial, both hell bent on industrializing this wilderness region beyond all recognition regardless of the collateral damage to existing economies, cultures, or livelihoods—including the fly-fishing industry.
Hail, hail, the gangs all here. They don’t like tar in their waters either. Photo No More Pipelines – Canada.
In recent years, the Canadian federal government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper has systematically disemboweled the environmental laws of this country, unabashedly paving the way for oil and gas development. With the oft-stated goal of turning Canada into a global “energy superpower,” this government has rendered virtually every Act related to water and fisheries protection toothless and/or put regulatory bodies under direct partisan control. Federally funded scientists were muzzled or fired, long-standing environmental research programs were eliminated, and institutions and research libraries were simply closed, including one of the world’s most comprehensive, specialized libraries on freshwater biology.
