Drought prompts B.C. First Nations group to close central Interior fishery

KELOWNA, B.C. – Drought conditions in British Columbia have forced the closure of another fishery in the province’s southern Interior.

The Okanagan Nation Alliance has suspended the commercial and recreational sockeye salmon fishery on Osoyoos Lake after high water temperature led to more fish disease, infection and death.

Okanagan sockeye salmon numbers appeared healthy earlier this year, with more than 500,000 fish counted swimming up the Columbia and Okanagan rivers.

But the tribal alliance says only 5,000 to 15,000 sockeye have so far made it to Osoyoos Lake.

Fishing on the nearby Kettle River south of the lake was banned earlier this summer.

Both B.C. and the Department of Fisheries have also suspended angling on the Middle Shuswap River to protect fish stocks vulnerable to warm water temperatures and low flow rates. (CKFR, The Canadian Press)