A federal agency has now placed the BC Interior and Fraser River steelhead salmon on its endangered list meaning the fish are close to extinction.

The Senior Regional Manager of the Fraser Basin Council Mike Simpson says The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada made the recommendation to the federal fisheries minister.

Simpson says the minister has 90 days to respond with an action plan.

“It is pretty significant on a number of fronts because it is acknowledged in that report that the key factors affecting them have been the buy catch of the commercial salmon fisheries lower down in the Fraser and in the ocean. Also the ocean conditions. This is a good step I think in terms of hopefully recognizing the declines, what the factors are, and recommending some actions to get them listed.”

Simpson says the latest numbers had just 145 steelhead returning to the Thompson river system to spawn and 50 to the Chilcotin.