Gillnetters wait for their opening to catch the prized Fraser River sockeye near Steveston, B.C., in August 2006. (Chuck Stoody/Canadian Press)

RCMP are investigating a violent confrontation between sports fishermen and some native fishermen on the Fraser River east of Vancouver over the weekend.

Chief Willie Charlie of the Chehalis Indian Band says he was drift net fishing for chinook salmon with several other band members near Chilliwack during a native fishing opening on Sunday, but one boat of sports fishermen refused to move from the area to allow the native fishermen to drift through with their nets.

The chief told CBC News after their drift net became entangled in the sports fishing gear, the two sports fishermen pulled out a knife and something that looked like a pipe and threatened them.

Charlie also said one of the men aimed what looked like a pellet gun at his face and fired, hitting him in the chin.

After the gear was eventually untangled, the sports fishermen rammed their boat repeatedly into his, Charlie said.

The suspects then fled in their boat but a search of the river and nearby boat launches by police and others failed to find them.

The chief was not seriously injured and said band members are not going to be scared away from the Fraser River, but he is worried about tension escalating as the number of fish available dwindles.

Salmon shortage raises tensions

Last week the Department of Fisheries and Oceans closed the Fraser River to all sockeye salmon fishing after millions of fish failed to return for the annual summer run, but fishing of other species on the river is still permitted.

The chief says he's seeing more and more sports fishermen working the gravel bars on the Fraser River, but the violent incident was in stark contrast to the cooperation they normally receive while driftnet fishing, he said.

"Every bar that you can think of, they're lined up on the bars out there. There's so many of them. But not all of them are like that. There are only a few ignorant ones that do stupid things that make it really bad for everybody. And it just so happens we got the ignorant ones there," said Charlie.

If people understood how much salmon meant to his people — both as food and from a spiritual perspective — it would change their attitudes, he said.

"I like to believe that there's very few prejudiced people. Maybe they just don't know the whole rationale for the aboriginal fisheries," said Charlie.

The Upper Fraser Valley RCMP are looking for two caucasian men in relation to the incident, one aged 60 with gray hair and a moustache and the other aged between 35 and 45 with scruffy brown hair and facial hair. Both had heavy accents, described as possibly English or Scottish.

The boat involved is described as a 19-foot cream coloured fiberglass boat with an outboard motor.