Tristan Baptiste-Hall was selling freshly caught sockeye salmon from a stand at the Petro Canada station last year for the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre. There are plans for another location downtown this year. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Members of Town of Osoyoos council were informed last Monday that the successful reintroduction of sockeye salmon into South Okanagan lakes and rivers is being applauded and studied around the world.
Charlotte String-am, general manager of the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre, Richard Bussanich, a fish biologist with the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA), and Ingrid Jarrett, the general manager of the Watermark Beach Resort, made a special presentation about the success of the sockeye reintroduction program that has been spearheaded by the ONA over the past decade.
Bussanich told members of council that after more than 18 years in the fish biology business, including several in the United States, he has never been part of a fish reintroduction program that has been so successful as the one currently being undertaken across the South Okanagan.
“Ottawa’s eyes are on us,” he said. “The eyes and ears of leaders in America are looking at us … and what we’re doing here.”
Jarrett said Watermark Beach Resort is close to full every single day during the prime tourist season and she has no doubt many customers will take advantage of buying salmon and learning more about the success of reintroducing salmon to Osoyoos Lake and the regional water system.
“Our resort is full and people getting together with other people to tell stories and sell fish is something we’re confident will work,” she said.
Salmon dishes have been part of the luxury resort’s regular menu for many years and that won’t be changing, she said.
The success of bringing large salmon stocks back to the South Okanagan is being recognized not only across Canada, but many parts of the world, said Jarrett.
The program has been looked at and studied by leaders at the United Nations looking to establish similar success stories in Central and South America, she said.
“We are showing the world the success story of what can be done,” she said. “This story … is the story going around the world.”
Management from the Watermark is so excited about the possibilities involved with the salmon fishery program that it has invited journalists from across Canada and the United States to Osoyoos later this summer to stay at their resort and write about and broadcast what’s going on, she said.
Stringam and Jarrett also announced the Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB), which owns and operates the Nk’ Mip Desert Cultural Centre, will expand the public sale of sockeye salmon this coming summer to a downtown location near the Watermark Beach Resort in downtown Osoyoos.
“The Osoyoos Indian Band has always believed that partnerships are better,” said Stringam.
She is currently working with Jarrett and staff with Destination Osoyoos to expand the current summer salmon market from its current location at the PetroCan gas station in the east end of town to a downtown location yet to be determined near the Watermark, said Stringam.
“We’re hoping that by working together that we can make our current fish program work even better,” she said.
Once the annual recreational fishery on Osoyoos Lake opens in late July or early August, the plan is to continue selling salmon brought in on OIB land at the PetroCan convenience store as well as the new downtown location, she said.
After the recreational fishery closes, all seven First Nation bands that belong to the ONA will continue their tradition of catching enough salmon to last them for the remainder of the year, she said.
The fish market run by the OIB last summer brought in more than $14,000 in revenue, she said.
The recreational salmon fishery on Osoyoos Lake brings in many tourists to this community and provides significant economic impact, said Stringam.
First Nation interpreters from the ONA are also looking for a good location to showcase canoe carving skills to members of the public near the Watermark resort during the summer tourist season, said Jarrett.
Public boat tours during the recreational fishery are also being planned, she said.
Mayor Sue McKortoff said plans to expand the salmon market downtown and promote the success of the local salmon fishery nationally and internationally is very exciting news for the town and its residents.
“I think your ideas are terrific,” she said.
Coun. C. J. Rhodes applauded all three presenters and said the restoration of salmon stocks in Osoyoos Lake is wonderful news considering the salmon fishery almost died off completely less than 20 years ago.
‘There was a lot of doom and gloom … and now there is so much better news,” he said.
Bussanich and Stringam invited McKortoff and all members of council out for a boat tour on Osoyoos Lake once the recreational fishery opens near the end of July.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
