Tsilhqot'in First Nation closes fishery, forgoes Aboriginal right to steelhead

The Tsilhqot’in National Government has closed its steelhead fishery and relinquished its Aboriginal right to fish local steelhead due to a low return in the Chilcotin River last fall.

The Chilcotin River steelhead population has declined by 80 per cent over the past three generations — only 58 steelhead returned to the river last year.

“That’s very alarming,” said Tl’etinqox First Nation Chief Joe Alphonse. “That’s on the brink of extinction.”

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada,