Partners in Change
The SkeenaWild Certified Program is a partnership between SkeenaWild Conservation Trust, the Gitsxan fishers of the Git Daa Oot Sip An Sa Hun, and the North Coast Steelhead Alliance. This initiative encourages selective commercial fisheries in the Skeena watershed which release unharmed steelhead and non-target salmon.
Expanding selective fisheries is not only good for conservation and steelhead fisherman, but it makes a huge difference in the lives of First Nations in the Skeena Watershed. For example, the sockeye used in this project comes from traditional fishing sites around an isolated First Nation’s village of about 650 people, enduring unemployment rates in excess of 80%, high teenage suicide rates and drug and alcohol problems. The 2008 selective fishery employed over 80 people this year and injected over $500,000 into the community.
Gitsxan fishers of the Git Daa Oot Sip An Sa Hun, fishing in their Wilp’s (House Group’s) traditional territory, set a small beach seine, pulling the net in by hand to within a couple of feet of the bank. There the steelhead, coho, chinook and pink salmon are carefully lifted out of the net and returned to the river to continue their journey.
Change is possible, and it starts with you and your friends helping to create a market for SkeenaWild Certified sockeye. Together we can transform this fishery into a sustainable fishery that truly benefits local First Nations, Skeena residents, and people like you.