Okanagan Select
The Okanagan Nation Alliance is located in the interior of British Columbia.
Our journey begins with a devoted effort to re-establish a sustainable population of Okanagan Sockeye Salmon in 2003. The Okanagan Nation Alliance is committed to bringing our salmon back by creating partnerships and by integrating modern science with traditional practices.
Our goal for the future is to protect, enhance, conserve and continue to restore our salmon stocks so that we can have salmon for tomorrow.
Responsible fisheries and quality management are eco-labeled Ocean Wise and independently certified to meet our high standards of Quality, Value, and Sustainability.
Location & Significant Feature
Salmon is a historical part of the Syilx First Nation culture that makes up Okanagan Select.
As part of the Okanagan Nation Alliance, the goal of Okanagan Select is to protect, enhance, conserve and continue to restore local salmon stocks so that they exist for future generations. The Okanagan Nation Alliance is located on Westbank First Nation’s territory in the interior of British Columbia.
They began in 2003 as a devoted effort to re-establish a sustainable population of Okanagan Sockeye Salmon. The Okanagan Nation Alliance is committed to creating partnerships and by integrating modern science with traditional practices.
Their strategy for bringing the salmon back includes – cooperation between the Canadian and USA Columbia River governances, maintaining sustainable water management decisions, and adding more lakes and river access for migrating and spawning salmon. Proceeds from Okanagan Select sales are used for the enhancement, restoration, mitigation, and conservation of native fish and aquatic resources within the Okanagan Basin.
Mission
Beliefs and traditions are a very important part of First Nations’ culture and often reflect a deep understanding and respect for nature. Okanagan Select honors their roots by using holistic traditional practices of selective fishing—handed down from our ancestors.
The Okanagan Nation has a dedicated group of fishermen who are committed to these methods and harvest only a small artisanal fishery. This fishery allocates annually- appropriate harvests, respecting community food and social needs, followed by economic opportunities.
Traditions
The beliefs and traditions of the fishermen at Okanagan Select are a very important part of the First Nations’ culture and reflect a deep understanding and respect for nature.
Okanagan Select honors their roots by using holistic traditional practices of selective fishing and processing methodology handed down from the community’s ancestors. Their goal is to provide a high-quality product from sustainable fisheries, ensuring the stability of future salmon populations.
By utilizing abundance-based selection, the fish are able to fulfill their biological cycle, from migration to spawning. The Okanagan Nation has a dedicated group of fishermen who are committed to these methods and harvest only a small artisanal fishery. This fishery allocates annual harvests, respecting community food and social needs as well as economic opportunities.
With help from the Okanagan Nation Alliance, Okanagan Select has been able to modernize traditional fishing concepts to minimize bycatch and maintain healthy local salmon populations.
History
Salmon has always been central to Syilx culture one of the main foods of our People. Colonization, especially the construction of hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River, meant the loss of our fisheries and pushed our sockeye to the brink of extinction.
kł cp’elk’ stim’ is a dedicated initiative to re-establish a sustainable population of Okanagan Nation Sockeye Salmon. The ONA is committed to bringing our salmon back by creating partnerships and by integrating modern science with traditional practices.
Today, the years of hard work and dedication are paying off. For the first time in over 75 years, we have seen sockeye runs in the hundreds of thousands. Our goal for the future is to protect, enhance, conserve and continue to restore our salmon stocks so that we can have salmon for tomorrow.
Only two populations of Sockeye remain in the Columbia River, and Okanagan Sockeye is one of them. Bringing our salmon back from the brink of extinction required six complementary initiatives. The combined impact of these projects has been remarkable.
How we brought the salmon back
Only two populations of Sockeye remain in the Columbia River, and Okanagan Sockeye is one of them. Bringing our salmon back from the brink of extinction required six complementary initiatives. The combined impact of these projects has been remarkable.
- COOPERATE
Partnerships have been key – in both Canada and the USA.
The work was too big to do alone. - KEEP THE WATER FLOWING
If a stream dries up because the water has gone to irrigate fields, then salmon can’t spawn. So one of the first things the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) did was to participate in water management decisions to improve water flows along the Okanagan River system, helping to keep water levels as fish friendly as possible. - ADD ANOTHER LAKE
Young salmon hang out in lakes while they grow up enough to migrate. After their return from the ocean and epic journey up the Columbia, mature salmon wait out the summer heat in lakes before spawning. In 2003, with much excitement, the ONA introduced Sockeye fry back into Skaha Lake. - ADD MORE RIVER
For more than 60 years, McIntyre Dam stopped salmon in their upstream swim. By facilitating fish passage over McIntyre, salmon gained another 8 kilometers of river and access to tiny Vaseux Lake. - RESTORE WHAT WE HAVE
Fish like rivers that meander. Trees create cool shady pools where leaves fall, adding bugs and nutrients. When rivers are channelized, fish suffer, therefore another project has been the restoration of a section of the Okanagan River. - OUR PRAYERS BROUGHT THE SALMON BACK
Year after year, while our salmon struggled, the Annual Salmon Feast was held at our traditional fishing grounds of Okanagan Falls – giving thanks for the salmon and praying for its return. Today, the ceremony continues with the Nation offering prayers of thanks for the abundant fish.
Sustainability
Modern Fishery
Our goal is to provide a high-quality product from sustainable fisheries that will not jeopardize our future wild salmon stocks. We want to honor the resiliency and prosperity of our natural environment by using only selective fishing methods.
Using selective harvesting methods and quality control, we’re keeping an eye on the future without forgetting our past.
We utilize abundance-based methods to allow the fish to get to the spawning grounds, honor ecosystem-based fishery, and practice lifecycle analysis to understand the fishery and its impacts.
To ensure the sustainability of the salmon and our local ecosystem – fish are hand-picked with fish-friendly methods – e.g. troll, seine, traps, and dip net. The ONA has turned traditional concepts into modern selective fishing practices to minimize by-catch.
Our Products
Wild Sockeye Salmon
Sockeye Salmon are slim, streamlined, and brilliantly coloured, found in the rivers and lakes of the Pacific Northwest.
A major source of valued nutritious food for First Nations cultures has a firm, rich, orange flesh and flavourful meat. Its rich oil content makes them a favourite for those who prefer a milder salmon flavour.
Sockeye flesh is brilliantly colored–almost fluorescent orange–red and even when canned, smoked or not it is sold as gourmet-grade fish.
It’s perfect when paired with any kind of vegetables or just grilled and served on top of a pasta dish.
Our Products
Wild Sockeye Salmon
“Although ocean-going sockeye is silver in colour, with small black speckles along the body, the recollection many people have of this fish is that of the sockeye returning to freshwater to spawn. As sockeye approach their home streams, they turn varying shades of red – resulting in a brilliant scarlet fish with a green head by the time they have arrived at their point of natal origin. It is this deep colouring, along with the rich cultural, economic and ecological history that continue to make sockeye a symbol in the Pacific Region.” (Source: DFO)
This code denotes a traceable sustainably harvested product. Product traceability is validated by Authentic Indigenous Seafood.
