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The Chilcotin and Thompson River steelhead trout are at “imminent risk of extinction,” according to a committee of scientists that advises the federal government.

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) has recommended an emergency listing order under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA). Both runs have been assessed as “endangered.”

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This year, 57 steelhead reached spawning grounds in the Chilcotin River system and 177 in the Thompson.

The COSEWIC assessment employed a seldom-used fast-track process to expedite their recommendations to Catherine McKenna, the federal minister of environment.

There is no firm timeline for her decision, according to COSEWIC chair Eric Taylor, a zoologist at the University of B.C.

“When you get down to less than 100 — or less than 60 — fish in a river system full of tributaries, every fish counts,” said Taylor. “We are talking about very small numbers.”