Lake Babine Nation – Ned’u’ten Fisheries

The Lake Babine Nation Fisheries, also known as Ned’u’ten Fisheries, is a program developed within Lake Babine Nation (LBN) in a working relationship with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (FOC), formerly the Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO).This is a department on the Government of Canada, that is responsible for the management and care of Canada’s fisheries resources.

An agreement was signed in 1991 between the Lake Babine Nation and Fisheries and Oceans Canada to run operations on LBN’s traditional territory of Babine Lake, which has the largest sockeye run within the Skeena Watershed. A watershed is a region that consist of several lakes and rivers with their tributaries or creeks that pour into a major system that allow salmon to travel back from the ocean to the lakes and rivers. Babine Lake is one of many systems that feed into the Skeena River, which is the gateway for all returning salmon to our lakes and streams. Babine Lake boasts the largest sockeye return from the Skeena as it is reported that ninety percent of all sockeye entering the Skeena enter Babine Lake.

The Tradition of Babine Lake

Babine Lake and its surroundings have been our source for hunting, fishing and other food sources, such as berry picking and trapping for many years. Our ancestors have utilized the territory to continue our traditional way of life, which they have passed down to each generation. The use of gill nets to catch salmon for food fish is still being used throughout fish seasons. Our people set a net, retrieve them in the morning to clean and gut the fish to either can or dry the fish to prepare them for a smokehouse. The process helps to prepare for the upcoming winter. LBN’s traditional territory has also been rich in other resources that have created job opportunities such as forestry, mining and commercial fishing, in which commercial fishing was introduced more recently within LBN. The most important resource for our traditional territory has always been fishing, which is why it is important that the Lake Babine Nation work together with FOC to create the Ned’u’ten Fisheries.

Work Expectations

Ned’u’ten Fisheries have managed Babine Lake since 1991, in which our primary concerns are stock assessments, which is collecting data on the number of salmon that enter in rivers and creeks that are spawning grounds, and stream restoration, which is to make sure that the rivers and creeks are free from obstructions or any other problems that prevent salmon from entering the system to spawn. Also, our stream-crew are required to do stream assessments, which is surveying the condition of the system by its physical surroundings for any changes that may occur during time. As an employee of the Ned’u’ten Fisheries, it also reflects on the spiritual influence of our people that we continue doing the job to the best of our abilities. It gives us the feeling of protecting our environment and giving back to our territory what it has given to us for many generations.

Main Locations on Babine Lake

The Lake Babine Nation has several communities around Babine Lake with Donald’s Landing (near Burns Lake), Tachet (near Granisle) and Fort Babine (near Smithers) being the three that are the main communities under the LBN banner. They are also the communities that have representatives working for them in the Ned’u’ten Fisheries as we have three different locations on Babine Lake with the Lake Babine Nation band office of the Woyenne community (in Burns Lake) controlling all operations. FOC have three locations of operations in Babine Lake that are important to the survival of the different species of salmon that return to the system. The Babine Fence, which is located near Fort Babine, monitors the amount of returning salmon from the Babine River, which feeds into the Skeena River. The Fulton River Spawning Channel, which is near the Tachet reserve, and the Pinkut Creek Spawning Channel, which is near Burns Lake, are salmon enhancement facilities. All three locations are also the sites for LBN’s commercial fishing, which has been introduced to our Nation in 1993 and has since been a growing business for our communities.

Stream-crew Job Description

The amount of dead is also recorded to give a percentage of how many fish die of spawning or from predators such as bears, wolves and birds. Depending on the species, salmon usually travel approximately 2 to 4 kilometers in streams and rivers. There are factors that prevent fish from going further into a creek or river, much less enter the system at all, such as the condition of the river bed, the amount of cover for fish to hide, how clear the passage is to the system and the temperature of the creek. All information about the condition of the system is important for the survival of the salmon species that return to each creek or river, which is why it is important for our stream workers to do stream assessments. Stream assessments are information collected in the field that include every aspect of the system such as the distant of the stream, the amount of potential cover, the water condition, hazards that can prevent fish from entering and surveying bed materials. When there are obstructions of any kind, such as beaver dams and/or logjams, the stream workers are to ensure that the system is clear of obstructions by cleaning out the debris in a way that it will not harm the salmon that are already present.

Commercial Fishing

It began as a small operation with twenty to thirty workers setting a coast net and pulling the net full of fish to shore to verify the quality, count how many that are taken, pack them totes full of ice and haul them into reefer trucks for transport. The fish is transported to a processing plant provided by the company, that agree to purchase the harvested fish. Sockeye salmon is the only species harvested in Babine Lake.

The Fulton and Pinkut spawning channels are salmon enhancement facilities that serve as backdrops for the harvest. Enhanced salmon from the spawning channels are harvested for fear that the wild stock may deplete in Babine Lake, which would result in a very low or no return of sockeye in the future.

The harvest employs approximately three hundred-fifty members each year, which has improved dramatically from its start in 1993. Also, LBN purchased a customized seine boat to improve the work rate in a growing business that will no doubt bring a lot of prosperous years for our Nation.

Program Objective

Since the Ned’u’ten Fisheries’ inception, LBN has been given the opportunity to protect the resources within our traditional territory of Babine Lake, which has been a concern among our ancestors from the past to our elders of the present to all the members of Lake Babine Nation. Along with FOC, the fisheries program is focused primarily on the survival of the salmon stock in Babine Lake, which is a positive step towards a goal set forth by our ancestors to continue living our traditional ways and prosper from our own traditional territory. The people of Lake Babine Nation have a lot of history in and around Babine Lake, which is considered the home of our people for many generations and it is our intention to give back to our territory what it has given us.

Contributed by Bernard Patrick, Stream Crew Coordinator