A natural rite of spring is filling up Alberni Valley rivers as schools of sockeye salmon make their annual journey home, but this year, they’re encountering unprecedented high water levels due to recent rainy weather.
Willard Gallic Jr. untied his boat excitedly from the Clutesi Marina dock Wednesday, eager to hit the water as sockeye salmon made their way through his Tseshaht First Nation territory, and the Somass River that he’s fished his entire life.
“This river runs through our veins, we love fishing here. That’s our livelihood,” said Gallic Jr.
The Somass system is the first commercial sockeye fishery on the coast every year, and fish caught in this run will fill up pantries and freezers depleted from winter.
So Friday, Tseshaht member Marilyn Watts was smoking, freezing, and canning all the sockeye she could to feed her family and anyone who might need it.
“There’s pride in this because I know this is going to feed people hey, and that’s what I do,” said Watts.
According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, sockeye numbers on the Somass system are strong in 2022, with up to 500,000 fish forecast to move up Alberni Valley rivers in the month to come.
But they’re facing extremely unusual conditions for this time of year.
“Well it’s a very unique year, in fact it’s got us all on edge. Weather, high flows, low temperatures, this is the highest flow in both the Stamp and Sproat River in all the years we’ve been recording and the lowest temperature,” said Bob Cole, with the Alberni Sport fishing Advisory Council. “There’s good to that, in that it’s really healthy for fish.”
The silver lining to all the relentless rains is the deep rivers they have created, to allow the maximum number of fish to make it into area lakes, where remarkably they will hold all summer long before spawning in the fall.
“It sustains just about everything around here and it’s mostly the reason Alberni was settled in the first place is the fish in this river right here,” said Cole.
It’s a natural wonder that’s been counted on for generations in this valley, as sockeye return to the Somass system that’s now providing one of its healthiest welcomes yet.
Skye Ryan
