Monitoring fish habitat alterations
Kisuk kyukyit!
Change is good... sometimes!
With the world awakening from the pandemic it seems that some people have not been as “sleepy” through the pandemic as others.
I am referring to the amount of fish habitat alterations and shoreline destruction that we are encountering that happened in the last two years and this is a big change but not a good change.
Jaydon Francis, Dean Nicholas, Lance Thomas and I have been out on the land and patrolling lakes and rivers in the ʔamakʔis Ktunaxa in increased intensity and regularity in the past two months.
Why more intensely?
We are patrolling more intense than in the past to help reduce alterations to fish and fish habitat that has occurred since the start of the pandemic. This level of alteration is unprecedented since I started working for Ktunaxa in 1999.
For example, on Kootenay Lake, we are seeing an alarming level of fish habitat alterations.
Realizing the need to protect Kootenay Lake fish and fish habitat the KNC along with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Province of BC and Regional District of Central Kootenay initiated a Foreshore Inventory Mapping Program (FIMP) in 2013 to inventory, assess and protect shoreline fish habitat and cultural and archeological values.
This exercise took several days to complete and the entire shoreline of the lake was inventoried.
This information was use to produce a Shoreline Guidelines Document or two that agencies and the public can access to understand what types of development and shoreline alterations are permitted. The FIMP was re-assessed in late 2021.
It is through participating in the review of the 2021 FIMP that we learned just how much habitat has been lost since we were out on the water before the pandemic lock-down occurred.
Kootenay Lake has lost an additional two percent of the available fish habitat.
Two things to keep in mind here:
1) Kootenay Lake shoreline fish habitat was not intact and had already been significantly altered by shoreline developments before the 2013 FIMP and
2) this two percent equates to approximately four kilometers of Kootenay Lake shoreline.
Let that sink in – four kilometers of habitat LOST! FOREVER, with most of these alterations happening in the last to years since we were not able to get out on the land to intervene.
“What are these alterations?” you may ask.
Shoreline alterations are almost entirely comprised of the actions of homeowners or land developers who clear the land and remove the trees and rocks that provide shoreline shelter and a home for small fish and the bugs that fish feed on. As Chris Luke Sr. once told me “If there is no fish habitat there are no fish!” In one recent case a landowner blasted away at a cliff face to put in a house and then dumped the blasted material in to the lake and covered up fish and native freshwater mussel habitat.
So is there any good news, Kenton?
Yes absolutely!
Not all of the waters we patrol are as impacted as Kootenay Lake.
I have also been able to work with the agencies to have restoration orders put in for some of the altered areas. I am also hopeful that by being more present on the land and waterways that we can make a difference as we did before the pandemic. The KNC saw the need for abilities to enforce Ktunaxa stewardship and provided support for me to train as a Fisheries Guardian. This means I am now able to use the federal Fisheries Act enforcement authorities that I have been appointed with to help protect fish and fish habitat in ʔamakʔis Ktunaxa and I am very excited that Dean, Lance and Jaydon are also interested in becoming your next Fishery Guardians. They will go through the same training that I have gone through and carry the same legal enforcement authorities to help protect Ktunaxa values. More Fishery Guardians means more protection for fish and Ktunaxa values! This year we have taken direction from Ktunaxa First Nations to protect fish and fish habitat values more intensely than before and you will see us more often in the red Ktunaxa patrol boat on Kootenay Lake, Slocan Lake, Arrow Lakes Reservoir, Moyie Lake, St. Mary Lake, Columbia River, Kootenay River, St. Mary River and Bull River along with several other smaller water bodies.
We welcome any staff or community members to join us on our patrols on the lakes and rivers so that you can see first hand the work that we do to help protect the land and water for all living things and for all Ktunaxa. If you are interested in joining us please contact Dean, Lance, Jaydon or myself.
Taxas!
Kenton Andreashuk
Sr. Fishery Guardian
Ktunaxa Nation Lands and Resources
