Moricetown

Moricetown is a First Nations community on the Bulkley River where you can watch fishing done in a more or less traditional manner.  In the past spring-type spears were used but now more modern dip nets are employed in much the same way.

It is both fascinating and scary to watch as these people are fishing right on the edge of a raging river at the top of a very narrow and violent gorge.  They are tied at the waist by a rope which from my observations would not prevent them from falling into the water nor would anyone be able to easily pull them back out of the water should they slip.  The rope would merely serve to make recovery of the body somewhat easier.

The reward for their efforts are Spring Salmon and the ones we saw being caught looked to be in the 7-10 Kg. range.  Hauling one of those up the steep rocks and out of the current would be beyond my abilities for sure!  One really has to admire people fishing in this manner!

This guy is smiling now but within five minutes he had pulled an 8 Kg Spring out of the water and was even happier!

Here you might be able to get a sense of the work involved.

And after you get it out of the water you have to get it all the way up the bank!

And now an even happier smile!

Note the rope holding this guy back!  At least this one looked like it would prevent him from being able to reach the water but it would still hurt I bet.

We spent a couple of hours watching these guys and man was it ever exciting!  It's hard to think of the term 'Native Fishery' the same after witnessing how these people do it.