Anthony Quock with a beautiful gēs̱ (King/Chinook) caught on the lower river assessment program. Photo by John Nole

It’s a hot start to summer for the Fisheries Department. Staff down at Lower Stikine are assessing the strength of our returning chinook and sockeye. Crew have just flow into Little Tahltan in preparation for the video weir, where they’ll be counting chinook spawners in that system. We have a table set up at the Dease Lake Fishing Derby weigh-in station with staff taking small muscle tissue samples. We are looking to determine levels of mercury, lead and other metals in the fish our community members are consuming. Stop in, give us a sample, and enter for our daily and grand prizes! It’s a privilege to serve our community, whether that’s monitoring chinook numbers while they recover or keeping an eye on the health of trout.