The Okanagan Nation Alliance has scrapped its annual community harvest of fish for 2025 and is calling on local fishers to take only what they need due to dramatically low returns.
Following a record year, c虛win (sockeye salmon) to make their way back to Osoyoos Lake, high water temperatures in the river south of the border have made a thermal barrier, with only a quarter of the usual salmon numbers making it through.
According to the July 22 release from the ONA, the majority of the salmon run has stalled out in the Columbia River, where the waters are colder.
"This prolonged delay in a warm environment depletes their crucial energy reserves, increases their susceptibility to disease and predators, and dramatically raises the risk of pre-spawn mortality, jeopardizing the success of the entire spawning season," the ONA stated.
The waters in the Okanogan River, south of the U.S.-Canada border, ended the month of June in excess of 22 C , and as of July 14, only 50,000 salmon have been recorded passing over the Wells Dam on their way to the Okanagan.
In comparison, by August of 2024, there were between 250,000 and 260,000 salmon that had made the journey back. The pre-season forecasted return was over 350,000.
At the Bonneville Dam, the count is the fourth lowest in the last decade, with just over 152,000, of which 60 per cent are salmon stock that would normally return to the valley.
"Our sc虛win are incredibly resilient, but in order to support their recovery, it is crucial to limit harvest activities to help ensure as many sc虛win as possible survive to spawn," the ONA stated. "Therefore, we must advise that when fishing, please only take what you need."
In 2024, ONA fisheries biologist Ryan Benson said that they were hoping to reach the point of the salmon population becoming self-sustaining. It is unclear what impact the severely curtailed return will have on the spawning season in the Okanagan.
The ONA Fisheries program was also rocked in 2024 when the Confederated Colville Tribes in the US announced their exit from the program they had collaborated with ONA on getting up and running.
Work is also still ongoing on the salmon passage at the Okanagan Lake Dam at the top of the River Channel in Penticton.
The passage was aimed to be completed by the end of June, but complications related to the removal of material from the historical 1928 dam complicated the project.
A revised deadline had been set for mid-July, but by July 24, heavy equipment and fencing were still in place, and construction was ongoing.
Once the passage is completed, it will allow salmon to pass the last major barrier to more than 350 kilometres of historical habitat for the keystone species.
