Sophie Carrigan Gray

Local Journalism Initiative

Fishers might see a new face out on the South Okanagan waters this summer.

The Okanagan Nation Alliance has teamed up with the provincial government to launch the Okanagan/Similkameen River Guardian Program. The program aims to provide a presence on the lakes and rivers of the South Okanagan to better understand and inform recreational fishing in the area.

Ryan Benson, fisheries biologist for the Okanagan Nation Alliance, is involved with the River Guardian program. He said the region struggles with high rates of non-compliance fishing, which the guardian program hopes to help control.

“I guess the provincial government’s red flag was looking at the non-compliance rate within this region and within the Okanagan and Similkameen systems,” said Benson, who recalled reading numbers that put the non-compliance rate for fishers in the Okanagan at close to 50 per cent. “When you go out and 48 per cent of the people aren’t following the regulations, that’s pretty alarming.”

Previous versions of the program ran in the Kootenays in 2007 and along the Kettle River in 2015. The Kettle River also had high rates of non-compliance or illegal fishing, and the provincial government wanted to find out more information, so they brought in the River Guardian program.

Guardians are a presence on the waters, conducting interviews with fishers and educating them on regulations in the area.

“From what I’ve heard from the province, the work in the Kettle River, it was really successful,” said Benson. “The non-compliance rate really dropped. A lot of times it’s just informing people that hey, you can’t use this gear, there’s certain size limits, depending on time of year and stuff.”

Benson was clear that handing out tickets or enforcing fishing regulations is not part of the program, but instead it aims to educate and inform. By having a bigger presence on the lakes and rivers, Benson believes non-compliance fishing rates will drop like they did on the Kettle River.

The information gathered by guardians during interviews is used to help inform fishery regulation changes and keep stock of yearly populations.

When asked why this work is important, Bensons said it all comes down to management.

“I think the ultimate idea is to, you know, potentially make changes– management changes. Some of the things might be catch limits, or specific closures. A lot of times they’ll close a stream to recreational fishing to protect the spawners, so it’s just adding more information for fisheries management and potential regulation changes.”

Benson hopes the program will be a success and gain enough momentum to expand to include the Similkameen fishing areas in the near future.

There is currently only one employee in the program in the South Okanagan area, from the Osoyoos Indian Band.