Interior Fraser steelhead face extinction, fishery and conservation groups warn

Fishery and conservation groups in British Columbia warn a unique species of ocean-going trout faces a “severe conservation crisis” and must be added to Canada’s Species at Risk Act.

Fifteen groups, including the B.C. Wildlife Federation and the Steelhead Society of B.C., have written to the federal environment and fisheries ministers urging immediate action on behalf of dwindling stocks of Interior Fraser steelhead, a variety of rainbow trout.

The species, a member of the salmon family, migrates to the ocean for much of its life but hatches and spawns in B.C.’s Thompson and Chilcotin rivers.

The letter, also signed by