Stakeholders Meet over Possible Regulations

Interested stakeholders gathered Thursday morning in Greater Vernon to present their views on possible boating regulations for the Shuswap River.

The Regional District of North Okanagan has hired a consultant to explore the issue and try to find common ground to develop some regulations.

Chair Bob Fleming says each of the interest groups is represented at the table.

“They sort of act as a spokesperson for the group they represent and the idea is to work towards a solution that would maybe balance the interests of as many users as possible.”

Fleming says some thought has been given to breaking the river down into sections with different regulations for different sections.

“It may be that this group says well those arbitrary divisions were not the right ones. Maybe we should be looking at some other form of dividing the river up into sections where its more appropriate to have certain uses in this area than others.”

Fleming says each of the interest groups is represented in hopes overall agreement can be reached.

“If they reach a consensus on any particular thing and some element of what they come to agreement on says we would recommend regulation on this portion of the river or whatever, then that would be brought forward. The goal is consensus on approach.”

More meetings are planned, but its hoped recommendations could be presented no later than June.