Photo: Kerry Reed
A unique fishing event that lasts all summer and into the fall aims to help kokanee salmon rebound in Kootenay Lake.
The British Columbia Ministry of Forests along with Angler’s Atlas and other B.C. businesses have come up with a unique way to help conserve the salmon.
The Kootenay Angler Incentive Summer Event offers cash prizes to help bring the kokanee back into balance with some of the other species that have taken over Kootenay Lake.
Kokanee salmon used to be the dominant species in Kootenay Lake but their numbers have dropped, and according to recent studies, about 95 per cent of kokanee fry don’t survive a year, largely thanks to other voracious lake predators.
“You just can’t recover kokanee when that is happening,” says fisheries spokesperson Matt Neufeld, “so we’re working to increase kokanee numbers both by stocking kokanee, and reducing predator pressure so more survive… we’re encouraging people to harvest rainbow trout and bull trout.”
Scientists aren’t certain why the shift has happened. Kokanee salmon have been a key part of the Kootenay Lake food chain for roughly 9,500 years, when Bonnington Falls formed and created a migration barrier, cutting these sockeye ancestors off from the Columbia River and, ultimately, the Pacific Ocean.
The new program encourages anglers to focus on rainbow and bull trout to help re-establish the predator-prey balance in the main body of Kootenay Lake.
“This program has reduced rainbow and bull trout abundance faster than any other recovery action implemented to date,” says biologist Molly Teather.
The Ministry of Forests hopes that by decreasing the abundance of these two trout species, kokanee fishing closures, and other recovery actions will restore the kokanee to historic levels.
The summer-long event runs until October 31, 2023. There is $30,000 in cash prizes and $20,000 in other prizes up for grabs for participants who enter the events. The weekend events will happen on the following dates:
- August Long (August 5-7)
- Labour Day (Sep 2-4)
- Thanksgiving (Oct 7-9)
This year anglers can register online and record their catches by downloading and using a mobile app called MyCatch by Angler’s Atlas, directly from their boat or the shoreline. Once the catch team reviews the fish and it meets the rules, it qualifies as an entry and appears on a live leaderboard where anglers can see where they rank.
“We know biologists face many hurdles when it comes to managing the recovery of kokanee in Kootenay Lake,” says Sean Simmons, founder and president of Angler’s Atlas. “We believe anglers hold the key to supporting their recovery plan simply by participating in these summer angling events.”
