The allegations come in part from B.C. Wildlife Federation executive director Jesse Zeman, who said the federal government still won't make public peer-reviewed scientific research that concludes that fisheries should be restricted in order to save steelhead in the Thompson River and Chilcotin River from extinction.

The species, a member of the salmon family, migrates to the ocean for much of its life but hatches and spawns in the two rivers.

Zoologists and conservation groups in B.C. have been warning of its perilous state for years, and an annual update on the species last month by B.C.'s Ministry of Forests warned that its numbers are now at historic lows, with preliminary estimates that only 104 Thompson River steelhead and 19 Chilcotin River steelhead are spawning this year.