Sockeye fry released today

Photo: CTV

Mother Nature will get a helping hand today when the Okanagan Indian Band releases thousands of sockeye fry into Okanagan Lake.

The fish will be released into Six Mile Creek – which spills into the lake.

Prayers and songs will be held at 6:30 p.m. with the fish being released at 7 p.m. behind the OKIB fire hall, followed by hotdogs and hamburgers and give aways.

Similar fry releases were also planned for Trout Creek near Summerland and Mission Creek in Kelowna.

The release of sockeye fry at Six Mile Creek is the first release in the northern end of their habitat.

The releases are in recognition and celebration of the Syilx peoples’ continued efforts to bring sockeye salmon back to the Okanagan, and in particular to Okanagan Lake.

According to the Okanagan Nation Alliance, the releases are critical given that sockeye salmon were nearly extinct in the Okanagan basin. In the 1960s, the Columbia River Treaty and other developments led to the creation of industrial reservoirs and the building of hydro-electric developments on the Columbia River, making it impossible for fish passage, while deeply impacting Syilx cultural and food systems.

Years of hard work and political advocacy, particularly in the last decade, have seen the ONA working with provincial, federal and U.S. tribes and agencies to rebuild this sockeye run from 3,000 up to 500,000 salmon returning annually.

The conservation efforts are especially critical as last year’s drought and heatwave devastated an expected robust Okanagan sockeye salmon run.