"More than 2,600 pages of government documents shed new light on allegations Fisheries and Oceans Canada ignored scientists when forgoing protections for disappearing Thompson and Chilcotin steelhead".
"Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) watered down a scientific report to downplay threats to endangered Thompson and Chilcotin steelhead, documents obtained by the B.C. Wildlife Federation through access to information legislation reveal.
The nearly 2,700 pages of internal documents and emails show DFO scientists, as well as their provincial and independent counterparts, were caught off guard by edits the DFO Assistant Deputy Minister’s Office made to a report regarding the potential for the two declining steelhead populations in B.C.’s Fraser River watershed to receive special protections.
The report, which was meant to inform the DFO’s decision on whether to list Thompson and Chilcotin steelhead under the federal Species at Risk Act, was weakened to downplay the risks to steelhead, to the dismay of scientists involved in the process, the documents show."
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