Recapitulation of Salmon and Trout Problems--Importance of
Preserving British Columbian Fisheries--Possibility of Introducing
Atlantic Salmon--Question of Altering Present Close Season for
Trout--Past and Present Neglect of Trout Fisheries--Need for
Governmental Action--Difficulties in the Way of It--Conclusion.
It will be very evident to those who have read the foregoing chapters
that there is a great deal to be learnt about the fish that inhabit the
British Columbian waters, and that several interesting problems require
solving. These facts should render the greater interest to the fishing.
The salmon perhaps present the most difficult questions, for their
life-history is evidently almost unknown. Their eggs germinate in the
hatcheries, and the fry are turned out into the lakes, but from that
moment to the time they return from the sea their movements are unknown.
It is not known at what age they seek the salt water, nor at what age
they return; while in the case of the sockeye their feeding grounds in
the Pacific are an unsolved mystery.
The most interesting trout problem is the identity of the silver trout
of the Kamloops and the Okanagan Lakes, whether it is a distinct and
new species, or merely a variety of the rainbow.
The identity and life-history of the small silvery fish which runs from
the Nicola, Anderson, and other large lakes into the small streams ought
to be a matter of some interest. This fish has been alluded to as a
miniature sockeye. It certainly presents the curious phenomenon of a
sockeye run in miniature from the deep waters of the lake into the small
streams, where it also turns red and spawns. It does not seem to be
known whether it also dies after spawning. It certainly takes no bait of
any kind.
In concluding this most imperfect attempt to give some slight idea of
the fishing in these waters, it is certainly not out of place to allude
to the immense importance and necessity of preserving the fishing for
the future. It is but lately that the British Columbian Government seems
to have awakened to the great importance of its fisheries, and even yet
it seems but little to appreciate the actual value and even more perhaps
the potential value of its inland waters from a sporting point of view.
It is almost superfluous to point out, in illustration, the value of the
sporting rights of the rivers of Norway and Scotland and their large
annual rental.
The value of the British Columbian rivers in this respect is at present
only small, serving merely as an attraction to a few visiting anglers
from England and the States, and a fishing ground for the residents of
the country. But even so they form one of the chief attractions of the
country, and will undoubtedly become more important, while their
potential value if the Atlantic salmon could be introduced is hard to
estimate. The evidence brought forward tends to show that the Pacific
fish is fitted for long journeys entailing more endurance and greater
swimming powers than the Atlantic fish possesses, but that the latter
can leap small waterfalls which are impassable barriers to the former.
One fish is a long distance runner, the other is a hurdle racer.
This fact is fully worthy of further investigation and thought. It might
lead to important results. By introducing small hatcheries which would
only cost a few pounds on suitable streams, the Atlantic fish might be
introduced in a few years. Salmon ladders might be placed round falls
which this fish could easily surmount, though they would be impossible
to the Pacific species, and by this means numerous useless streams could
be turned into valuable salmon rivers. From the lease or sale of such
rivers the Government would reap a handsome reward. The Atlantic fish
would probably have no difficulty in holding its own in the sea; for the
shoals of herring and oolachan would afford an ample food supply.
Large silvery fish have been caught, as has been said in a former
chapter, in a certain part of the Shuswap Lake by surface trolling,
whose exact identity is not well established, though they are probably
silver trout. Also many silvery fish have been caught lately on the
minnow at the mouth of the Nicola River where it joins the Thompson at
Spence's Bridge. These fish have been alleged to be salmon, though no
proof has been given that they are such. They have always been caught
late in the autumn, at which time all salmon would be red and out of
condition. These fish might be steel-heads, but it is far more probable
that they are silver trout, collecting at the mouth of the Nicola
preparatory to running up it for spawning purposes.
It is quite certain that very large rainbow and silver trout inhabit the
deep pools of the Thompson, but as yet no one appears to have captured
any of very large size on the rod. Possibly if the pools were tried
later in the fall, when the river has become low, by deep fishing with
live or dead bait, or the prawn, some very large fish might be landed.
The best time to attempt this fishing would be after the present close
season on October 16th or very early in the spring as soon as the ice
has gone. It is thought by the local anglers that the present close
season might well be extended for another month or so, to the middle of
November. For in October the rainbow are in splendid condition and show
no signs of spawning. Conversely, the spring season might be delayed, as
many stale fish can be seen in May and even in July. It is quite certain
that the rainbow spawns very late in the year, and further inquiry into
this question is needed.
It is unfortunate that trout have had little but nominal protection in
British Columbia. Their best protection has hitherto been natural
conditions and the social condition of the country--many fish and few
fishermen. For in a new and sparsely settled country there is no wealthy
leisured class who have much time to devote to fishing. Also many rivers
and lakes have been difficult of access. But these conditions cannot
last; they have changed much in the last ten years and are now changing
still more, in some districts not without more or less disastrous
results. Vancouver City has now grown to be a large place with some
forty thousand people, and the fine fishing of the Coquitlam and
Capilano is almost a thing of the past. The Kootenay mining district has
been opened by railways, and the once phenomenal fishing at Slocan Falls
and round Nelson has immensely fallen off; report says that here it has
been ruined by market fishing or worse, and in other parts of the
province saw mills have been allowed to dispose of their waste in the
rivers, and dynamite has been used for other purposes than mining. And
though the white man is liable to be occasionally pulled up by the law,
the Indian is apparently allowed to use spear, net, and salmon roe
without any interference.
The same remarks apply generally in the same way to the protection of
large or small game. The Nemesis which has fallen on many of the States
of the Union will undoubtedly overtake British Columbia unless the
Government fully rouses itself to the urgency of the matter before it is
too late and before these invaluable assets of the province have passed
away for ever. Many States of the Union have enacted too late the most
stringent game laws, and have spent vast sums in vain attempts to
restore what British Columbia still possesses and which could be so
easily retained at but a trivial expense and by the exercise of a little
foresight and trouble.
For some years small societies for the protection of game and fish have
existed in Vancouver, Victoria, and Kamloops, and, with most
praise-worthy perseverance in a good cause, have attempted to rouse
public opinion and stimulate the Government to take action. And it would
appear that at last their pertinacity has met with some measure of
reward, for the Government has appointed a head game-warden for the
whole province and local wardens for different districts. This method of
game preservation has been employed for many years in the older parts of
Canada and is in vogue in California, Montana, and probably all the
States. If properly carried out it should be of great benefit to British
Columbia.
In the past, unfortunately, whenever the question of game protection was
brought up in the Provincial Parliament, the ridiculous cry of "class
legislation" was always heard, generally raised by some labour member.
It should be quite clear to anyone that an efficient game law and
efficient provision for carrying it out will preserve sport for everyone
equally. The poor man is just as fond of fishing as the rich, when he
can get it; and the sacred fire burns as brightly in both peer and
peasant. But the rich man can buy a river or a tract of land and
preserve it for himself; and this he can do just as easily, and far
more cheaply, in British Columbia than in Norway and Scotland. Therefore
the best way is to preserve the game and the fish, so that there may be
sport for all, rich and poor alike. As they say in California, "preserve
it for the people and by the people." For unless this is done and proved
effectual, the time will soon come when the wealthier people will form
clubs for both shooting and fishing, and private game preservation will
close gradually the free waters of the province.
There have been other obstacles to proper protection. A most mischievous
and, I am firmly convinced, most false argument on the part of the
salmon canners has often been alleged as a strong reason why no
protection should be given to trout and why the law of the province
should be disregarded. The canners state that the trout are the salmon's
worst enemies, destroying both eggs and young. There is, of course, no
question as to the truth of this accusation. But the reasoning deduced
from it is wrong. It is quite impossible to destroy all the trout in the
British Columbia waters; and if it were not, no possible advantage would
be gained by so doing, because, by the inexorable laws of the survival
of the fittest and of supply and demand, the position of the trout would
be occupied by other fish which prey on the eggs and young of the
salmon. The decrease of trout would be supplied by an increase in the
numbers of the squaw fish and various species of char which are just as
bad enemies of the salmon.
Both the Federal and Provincial Governments are afraid to prevent the
Indians from taking fish or game in or out of season or to interfere in
any way with their usual methods of procuring them for food. The Federal
Government is the worst offender, because it erroneously believes that
if the Indians were in any way curtailed in their food supply, the
Government might have to supplement the want by rations, and thus be put
to great trouble and expense. It is as well to note that the Indians are
under control of the Federal Government. On the other hand the Indians
are amenable to the laws of the Province, except under certain
conditions on their own reserves, which in British Columbia are very
small, generally merely a few acres. The Provincial Government is,
however, naturally unwilling to act in opposition to the wishes of the
Federal power.
This attitude of the Federal Government is based on ignorance of the
actual conditions in British Columbia. The Indians of the province are
self-supporting and very good workers, having long ceased to depend on
hunting and fishing for their livelihood. They differ most essentially
from the Blackfeet and Crees of the plains. The British Columbian Indian
is quite capable of understanding the fact that it is inadvisable to
kill game or fish during the breeding season. Except, perhaps, in the
most remote parts of the province, he should be promptly taught that he
is just as much liable to penalties under the Game Act as the white man.
It would take a very short time to enforce the lesson, and until it is
done no Game Act will ever be really efficient, because the white man
will never respect and keep a law which is not enforced on Indian and
white alike.
This small volume is merely intended to give some idea of the fishing in
British Columbian waters, from facts gathered in twelve years'
experience of the province. It probably contains errors of commission,
perhaps, as well as of omission, and makes no claim to be authoritative
in scientific detail. But at least it contains some of that strange fish
lore which can be only gained on the river bank and by intercourse with
others of the same craft. It fairly represents what is at present known
among the fishermen of the province, with almost all of whom I am
personally acquainted. It is my sincere hope that someone better
qualified will, in the near future, deal more ably with the subject.
The ordinary Englishman often appears to be under a strange delusion
that British Columbia is situated in a part of the world which he
vaguely alludes to as South America, and it is somewhat curious that the
country is not better known, for it is a glorious land of great
mountains, forests, streams, and rolling hill, in which game and fish
are very plentiful, with a climate and conditions of life peculiarly
suited to Englishmen, especially those who have the instinct of sport.
An attempt has here been made to describe the fishing; but there is also
fine big game shooting, for the interior fastnesses of Vancouver Island
are the home of thousands of that finest of the deer tribe, the wapiti;
in the northern forests and the mountains moose, sheep, goat, and bear
are numerous; everywhere the large mule deer is common; ducks and geese
abound in the waters.
The soil of the valley is very fertile; gold, silver, copper, lead,
iron, and coal are among the natural products; there is an inexhaustible
supply of the finest timber in the world.
Surely British Columbia is a splendid jewel--still rough-hewn and uncut,
it may be, but one which will yet shine forth as one of the brightest
stars in the Imperial diadem.