Roderick Haig-Brown, Presentation to the Steelhead Society, Vancouver, British Columbia

Roderick Haig-Brown discourses on the distribution of steelhead in the Pacific Northwest, explaining the relatively low fertility of the British Columbia coastal stream, and the mutually beneficial relationship between Pacific salmon runs and steelhead runs. He discusses the lack of effective stream management by government and the recent legislation designed to protect steelhead and salmon runs. He proposes a remedy of prioritizing land use decisions to center on recreation and fisheries rather than development, arguing that enough is known to put best practices into place. He explains the importance of the estuary in the life cycle and survival of fish and emphasizes the need to manage them with fisheries in mind. He disparages the use of hatcheries as an overly expensive and politically facile solution that should only be used as a last resort, producing inferior and disease-prone fish among other serious disadvantages. He summarizes the discussion on fisheries management and hatcheries at a recent American steelhead society meeting in California. As an aside, he touches on the possible solutions to the puzzle of identifying the major coho spawning streams on the Strait of Georgia. He recommends a program for improving the quality of the fishermen themselves as well as fisheries management through licensing programs that charge more for licenses and incorporate fishing education. In responding to a question from the audience, he discusses fish ladders. Audio available in-house at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies.