capt hook
Well-Known Member
Get ready boys and girls....there is pressure on sport and commercial fishing , FN.
Like Bill says...we need to get vocal and united also.
DFO would like nothing better than sporties fighting commie and we all fighting FN
If we want to have a salmon fishery , we need to speak up and get a cull of seals.
and factual science , not fake news like the Province paper likes to print.
Hi Vic ; It's been difficult for most people, including myself to separate the facts surrounding Orcas. this has been an on going discussion for at least 15-20 years that I'm aware of. At the salmon commission meetings it's been discussed lately, but more to do with , seals and sea lions that seem to hang around river mouths and eat the out going salmon. that cute seal will eat his own weight in a matter of a few days. They aren't eating the vegetation, but the small out going smolts. That amounts to 10s of thousands of fish .Perhaps more like millions of fish in total. It's become a real concern of a few biologists ,especially in the Puget Sound area. It's likely everywhere here in Canada but our people don't seem to be as vocal as some of the Americans can be.
In the Salish Sea (Gulf of Georgia ) the Orca population has hovered around 78 resident Orcas. With a slight bump a couple of years ago, to 81 resident orca and then reduced by a couple 2 or 3. That seems to be now fairly stable and perhaps sustainable . Given their food supply. Chinooks seem to be their preference ,but they are opportunists and will eat other salmon when available. That is the local residents Orcas.
Although it's admirable of some to think the quick fix is to reduce effort, It's heartless to think ,by cutting off fishing effort would be the answer. Especially when we all know that ,this plays a very small part of the fix to a big problem. Without addressing the seal problem ,it's not going to change for the benefit of all, including Orcas.
Under the present political environment ,a seal cull doesn't seem to be forth coming.
The wailers or lobbyists don't want to face the real facts, These people are unrelenting in their efforts. If facts won't persuade ,fake facts will do. Many of our politicians now would prefer to address fishing effort rather than face the real problem. Especially those involved with the fishing effort seem not to be organized enough to put up an argument or resistance. A little push on their behalf would go a long way.
In Alaska ,those orcas hang around hatcheries and eat both out going smolts and in coming salmon. According to my counter part, They now have to take the smolts in packers out to holding pens and release them away from the hatcheries to give them a fighting chance, but it's almost a loosing battle in some instances, because the predators just follow. The predators being seals sea lions ,grey whales and orcas to some extent just follow the packers.
Minister Leblanc has been convinced the adding a few more hatcheries or boasting the present ones could be the answer to the perceived orca problem, only has to look at the Alaska hatchery program. Which is now struggling with their predator problem .They have basically turned into feed lots for predators. He will soon see ,after spending millions of dollars, that he only encourages the predator population ,as their numbers will increase as well.. It's going to be a very expensive vicious circle.
Of course as fishermen we might enjoy some benefits. That is if we are not phased out. as the so called quick fix....of course that's not the real answer.
We most certainly will be,phased out.... if we aren't heard loud and clear. That is address the real problem at the source. Organize would be a start, and get the word out.
O yeh, Vic I'll be heading west after the 23 of Oct. See you soon. Take care Bill de Greef
Like Bill says...we need to get vocal and united also.
DFO would like nothing better than sporties fighting commie and we all fighting FN
If we want to have a salmon fishery , we need to speak up and get a cull of seals.
and factual science , not fake news like the Province paper likes to print.
Hi Vic ; It's been difficult for most people, including myself to separate the facts surrounding Orcas. this has been an on going discussion for at least 15-20 years that I'm aware of. At the salmon commission meetings it's been discussed lately, but more to do with , seals and sea lions that seem to hang around river mouths and eat the out going salmon. that cute seal will eat his own weight in a matter of a few days. They aren't eating the vegetation, but the small out going smolts. That amounts to 10s of thousands of fish .Perhaps more like millions of fish in total. It's become a real concern of a few biologists ,especially in the Puget Sound area. It's likely everywhere here in Canada but our people don't seem to be as vocal as some of the Americans can be.
In the Salish Sea (Gulf of Georgia ) the Orca population has hovered around 78 resident Orcas. With a slight bump a couple of years ago, to 81 resident orca and then reduced by a couple 2 or 3. That seems to be now fairly stable and perhaps sustainable . Given their food supply. Chinooks seem to be their preference ,but they are opportunists and will eat other salmon when available. That is the local residents Orcas.
Although it's admirable of some to think the quick fix is to reduce effort, It's heartless to think ,by cutting off fishing effort would be the answer. Especially when we all know that ,this plays a very small part of the fix to a big problem. Without addressing the seal problem ,it's not going to change for the benefit of all, including Orcas.
Under the present political environment ,a seal cull doesn't seem to be forth coming.
The wailers or lobbyists don't want to face the real facts, These people are unrelenting in their efforts. If facts won't persuade ,fake facts will do. Many of our politicians now would prefer to address fishing effort rather than face the real problem. Especially those involved with the fishing effort seem not to be organized enough to put up an argument or resistance. A little push on their behalf would go a long way.
In Alaska ,those orcas hang around hatcheries and eat both out going smolts and in coming salmon. According to my counter part, They now have to take the smolts in packers out to holding pens and release them away from the hatcheries to give them a fighting chance, but it's almost a loosing battle in some instances, because the predators just follow. The predators being seals sea lions ,grey whales and orcas to some extent just follow the packers.
Minister Leblanc has been convinced the adding a few more hatcheries or boasting the present ones could be the answer to the perceived orca problem, only has to look at the Alaska hatchery program. Which is now struggling with their predator problem .They have basically turned into feed lots for predators. He will soon see ,after spending millions of dollars, that he only encourages the predator population ,as their numbers will increase as well.. It's going to be a very expensive vicious circle.
Of course as fishermen we might enjoy some benefits. That is if we are not phased out. as the so called quick fix....of course that's not the real answer.
We most certainly will be,phased out.... if we aren't heard loud and clear. That is address the real problem at the source. Organize would be a start, and get the word out.
O yeh, Vic I'll be heading west after the 23 of Oct. See you soon. Take care Bill de Greef
