Streamkeepers volunteering to keep salmon stocks healthy might not bring down the federal government. But they could surely pour a little rain on the federal Liberals' sunny day parade.
There are few groups as dedicated and hardworking as those working to rehabilitate urban streams and, recently, their efforts were hit by funding cuts that will make their jobs harder.
They will no longer have access to technical help for habitat restoration projects or hatchery issues after Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced the elimination of a Resource Restoration Unit (RRU) as well as contracts for technical support and the Salmonids in the Classroom program.
Together, these programs account for a fraction of DFO spending but the feds say the cuts were needed to enable them to deploy resources in other areas, such as search and rescue services and protection of the marine environment.
Sadly, it seems like a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, as the biblical saying goes, because while we support more resources in the areas of search and rescue and salt water fisheries, we surely don't want to see an end to education programs and technical support to volunteer groups that have the energy but not always the expertise required for proper hatchery management.
Nowhere is this issue more important than in the Tri-Cities, where there is a large number of stream and river hatcheries whose volunteers have spent the last 30 years replenishing salmon stock and educating the public about the importance of this province's iconic fish. This is something Liberal MP Ron McKinnon (Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam) should know and should share with his colleagues.
These groups have relied on the services provided by the RRU for improving creeks and salmon enhancement while many Tri-City schools have introduced children to the wonders of salmon through the Salmonids in the Classroom project.
It may be a small thing to put an aquarium in a classroom and let children marvel at the growth of tiny fish from eyed-eggs to live fry, which they then release into local streams. But if it is so small, why kill it?
And these programs are being cut just as the federal government is trying to strengthen salmon protection, with Fisheries and Oceans Canada saying they are no longer part of the core mandate.
Like the many Tri-City streamkeepers, we beg to differ.
