8/6/19 - Day 39 - Skeena River Challenge

Can you see the two men standing
on the rocks?
On the Yellowhead Highway is a town named Whitset. We had noticed a neat waterfall on the Skeena River as we made our way north, but hadn't wanted to stop at that time. We made that a lunch stop on our way south. Wow, more than a neat view!

We soon realized that some of the First Nations people were using dipnets to catch fish in the falls by standing on rocks along the waterfall. As we watched, a man climbed down the rocks above the foaming cauldron and peered into the water. We don't know if he actually saw the fish there, or just looked for some indication in the swirling water.
Then he reached the pole down into the swirling water and held it a few seconds before hand-over-hand pulling the net back up to the rocks he stood on. Most of the time he had four to six fish in the net. A few times he had a lot more fish than that evidetly because he  had to struggle to carry the squirming fish. The man would carrry them back up to the top of the rock and transfer them into a large basin another fellow was holding. The second person carried them to a third group who had a trough and some clipboards.

We read an information board telling that the Wet-suet-en people have been studying the fish run. They use a seine net lower in the river to collect fish to put tags on. When they dip fish at this waterfall, if they get a tagged one, they measure them, record the information, and release the fish above the waterfall.

It was very interesting to watch, but even if I was wearing the climbing harness these guys had on, I don't think I would want to stand on the edge of that waterfall! We are glad they are working to maintain the fish run though.
Skeena River gorge
below the waterfall

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