The Canadian government joined representatives from the Gitanyow, B.C.-based Hereditary Chiefs to sign a 10-year Incremental Fisheries Reconciliation Agreement to strengthen the Gitanyow Fisheries Authority’s roll-out of fisheries stewardship initiatives.
According to a release by the Canadian government, the agreement will strengthen both new and existing initiatives – such as the Kitawanga Sockeye Recovery Program – and support participation within the commercial fishing sector. The area is currently operating fisheries management practices for salmon conservation and recovery measures.
“Our people have carried the responsibility of caring for the salmon and fisheries within our Lax’yip for thousands of years,” Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs Office Executive Director Joel Starlund/Sk’a’nism Tsa ‘Win’Giit said in a release. “This agreement strengthens our ability to continue that work while creating greater opportunities for Gitanyow people to participate in the fisheries that have sustained our Nation. We look forward to continuing to build a strong relationship with Canada based on respect, collaboration, and our shared responsibility to ensure healthy salmon populations for generations to come.”
Present at the signing were Canadian Minister of Fisheries Joanne Thompson and Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Rebecca Alty.
“This agreement is a step forward in reconciliation, and it is built on the leadership Gitanyow has shown in caring for the salmon in this watershed,” Thompson said in a government release. “It covers the next ten years of making decisions about this fishery together, and that is what keeps salmon healthy and the fishery strong for Gitanyow families.”
According to the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs’ website, the Gitanyow Fisheries Authority (GFA) has been in full-time operation since 1994 and employs three full-time biologists, one full-time fisheries coordination, and 8-10 seasonal technical staff. The fishery conducts salmonid stock assessments, watershed restoration, environmental monitoring, fish and wildlife habitat assessments, environmental impact assessments, and research and planning efforts.
The announcement comes shortly after the Canadian Government and Gitanyow First Nation began construction on a new Kitwanga River hatchery for Skeena sockeye salmon. The project is valued at over USD 7.5 million (EUR 6.4 million, CAD 10.3 million) and will be completed by Progressive Ventures Construction on the Wilp’Ho Dix Hatchery.
The hatchery will contain a rearing tank farm, aeration tower with supporting infrastructure, underground water supplies and roadways, and a sustainable and energy-efficient fish culture system for water reusage during incubation stages, according to a Canadian government release. At capacity, the hatchery will be able to raise 300,000 juvenile sockeye salmon and can further expand to add another 100,000.
"The new Wilp'Ho Dix Hatchery will raise 300,000 young sockeye a year for the Kitwanga River, and Gitanyow Nation and Fisheries and Oceans Canada are building it together to bring that run back,” Thompson said in the release. “Community hatcheries across British Columbia pull volunteers, Indigenous partners and government together to protect and rebuild salmon, and they keep communities connected to the fish that sustain them. Wilp'Ho Dix will carry that important work forward for generations.”
Funding for the hatchery project is coming from a one-time capital investment for construction and equipment, the release said, which fall under the first phase of the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative (PSSI) through the Canadian government. On 31 March, the Government of Canada announced a USD 412.9 million (EUR 354.8 million, CAD 569.2 million) investment into PSSI until 2031, and national law requires five percent of the total awarded PSSI contracts go to Indigenous businesses.
“Thirty years ago, Chief Biiyosxw of Wilp Gwaas Hla’am was raising salmon in a small wooden shed beside the creek because we understood then, as we do today, that we have a responsibility to care for the salmon and the waters that sustain them,” Starlund/Sk’a’nism Tsa ‘Win’Giit said in the release. “To see Wilp’Ho Dix now taking shape at the entrance to Gitanyow Village is incredibly meaningful. This new hatchery builds on generations of Gitanyow knowledge, stewardship and determination, and will help ensure that Kitwanga sockeye are here for generations to come.”
