Hunks of plastic found inside Fraser River steelhead
by Justin McElroy
Global News
Global News
Anglers around BC are being urged to report any foreign objects they find in their catches. This comes after two Chilliwack fishermen discovered bits of plastic and garbage inside of the steelhead they hooked last week. Jeremy Hunka reports.
Jordan Butt has been fishing the Vedder River for years, but what he saw on February 13 after catching a steelhead was a first.
“I hooked a seemingly normal fish,
it was a good eating-sized fish,” he says. “I noticed there was a gravelly feeling inside…I started scooping it out, and it was just piece of plastic after piece of plastic.”
“Disgusted is the only way I can say it. It was so unnatural, to see a fish feeding on something that would inevitably kill it.”
Dr. Peter Ross from the Vancouver Aquarium stresses that it’s just one incident and they haven’t received similar reports. But he says it’s concerning nonetheless.
“This has got to be one of the most disturbing pictures I’ve seen in a long time,” he says. “It poses a very significant question, and that is to what extent is this representative of what is happening out there in the ocean? To what extent are salmon picking up pieces of plastic?”
Ross says the concern is fish are mistaking pieces of plastic for food. “What we have to do is figure out where these plastics are coming from, why they’re getting in the ocean, how we can stem the flow of those products in the ocean,” he says.
