Are you ready? The Feds get ready to close fishing areas.

That is pretty much what I have posted many times so we don't really disagree. Fishing restrictions in of themselves will not bring the runs back without fixing the other issues you mention. However they are I think a necessary evil to buy time, but time that will be in all likelihood wasted I fear. But we cant just keep fishing at the same rate in the face of declining runs. The catch statistics are from the attached publications. My theories on which runs may be the most impactful for SRKW are just that, theories they have not been to my knowledge researched formally. In 2015 the sport sector caught 306K Chinook commies 188K and FN (legal fisheries) 35K , In 2016 Sport 210K, Commies 213K and FN 31K. Of the sport caught fish about 45% were south coast, and 30% WCVI. It doesn't break out which specific stocks.

Thanks for the catch data. I agree with the conservation logic that says that we cannot keep fishing at the same rate with declining returns. However, we cannot just ratchet back the rec and commercial sector and do little else to increase Chinook numbers.

Unfortunately this is no longer much of a conservation issue now as a political one. As such we need to educate and pressure our politicians to take a holistic, multi-pronged, multi-sectoral approach to solving this problem. If we don't in the long term it could result in a greatly reduced rec and commercial sector, damaged local economies with decreasing Chinook numbers and SRKW's possibly going extinct. We do not want this!
 
I can only speak for the Vancouver area but the winter feeding fisheries are interesting topic for debate for sure. I personally winterize my boat from October to April. I would say that during October to April its probably like 70% guided Chinook catch 30% Chinook rec catch. Then recently we have had a good April and May fishery that probably like 50 Guided vs 50 not guided. Then June and July happen this is when the Vancouver angler starts going north/west Time to head to WCVI or Port Hardy, Campbell river ect. I would say its probably still a 50/50 split but catch rates are not very good locally in Vancouver. Then August and September happen, I would say at this time it starts being like 80% fish caught are from non guided operations. During this time tho the AVG size of Chinook is much nicer. Its obvious that winter and spring fisheries in Vancouver area are critical for guided businesses, I don't no if its critical for the general rec fishery in its whole.

Catching small feeding Chinook Is catching next years/summer big returning Chinook , once a Chinook reaches that 45-62mm size its chance of survival to return is very high. I we are going to make reductions lets make reductions that work. Allowing people to move around the coast or adjust to fishing feeding Chinook vs returning Chinook is not a solution. To me the reductions will have to be designed to limit recreation fishers movement. To me reducing possession limit coast wide are the only way to stop an extra 1000 boats from the south coast(SOG/JDF) from fishing somewhere else.

I guess we don't have long to wait now to see what will happen.
 
This is all about politics and science is not involved.
It is about who has the Ministers ear.
Who is constantly in Ottawa talking to the right people.

Have you ever noted how well the commercial sector in the Maritimes is always in the press and getting their politicians to get involved?
Ever notice how we have no one here doing that on our behalf?
 
That is great, however bet the greens have someone there a lot more often.
You can be sure the commercials do.

If we want to fish in the future then more lobbying will be required.
That means more money needs to be collected.
Wonder how much money the boat mfg are putting in?

SFI and BCWF just returned from Ottawa Thursday 2nd trip this year for SFI....
 
California...everyone would be onside if they thought the plan would actually result in a reversal of the declines and would be the start of consistent good news each spring. If the government announced tomorrow that all fishing would be shut down for all, that they were going to dump millions into stream rehab, fix water supplies, cull seals frequenting estuaries, start moving fish farms into closed containment and work to recover herring stocks I would agree to it. That WOULD lead to a recovery and those young enough would have something to look forward to in the future. Sadly that isn't going to happen.
 
That is great, however bet the greens have someone there a lot more often.
You can be sure the commercials do.

If we want to fish in the future then more lobbying will be required.
That means more money needs to be collected.
Wonder how much money the boat mfg are putting in?


it always leads back to money
 
If I had to promote one group that lobbies on behalf of sports fishermen it would be Sports Fishing Institute. When I joined they sent me a nice letter that they were doubling their lobbying efforts in Ottawa (imo thats where its needed). I can understand why some would rather join SVIAC or Fraser river sports fishing alliance as they feel there lobbie better for their direct fishery. However I would say that you should join both. Also from my limited experience it seems SFI is the only group that lobbies on behalf of all BC fishermen something that people here say is not happening.

BCWF is more of a conservation body IMO as that were alot of their funds are directed too.

If you have not joined SFI,BCWF,SVIC or FRSA. GTFO this forum, I don't want to read anything you half to say. In fact send me a PM so I can block you
 
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http://www.news1130.com/2018/05/25/commercial-fishermen-support-cuts-chinook-catches/


Good PR move although he didn't get very deep into the commercial fishery. Wonder what the troll fleet has to say.

Perhaps is the commercial fleet is so concerned about chinook they should forgo any fishing for sockeye this year.



“If we’re targetting sockeye salmon, we use a type of gear that attracts sockeye salmon,” he explains.

And if Chinook are accidentally taken in, they are easily returned to the water."

“All three commercial salmon-harvest methods – hook and line, gillnet, and seine – have methods for releasing non-targetted by-catch.”

gillnets are selective for sockeye, WOW JUST WOW, what a dumb commie,

Slick PR move tho

You just sent my blood pressure through the roof thanks for that.
 
Seals a major factor in fewer salmon
Re: “Ottawa cutting chinook catch to save orcas,” May 25.

The article concerning the decline of chinook salmon and orca populations fails to mention the influence of seals.

article continues below

According to the University of British Columbia marine mammal research unit, seal numbers in the Strait of Georgia increased from about 5,000 to more than 40,000 from 1970 to 2008, and now kill about half of the juvenile coho and chinook. Reducing the salmon sport catch without addressing the exploding numbers of seals will not help the orcas much.

Is it possible that seal numbers are unsustainably high because they were severely culled prior to 1970, which in turn eliminated their natural predators, the transient killer whales? The transients have not yet returned in sufficient numbers to adequately control the seal population.

If it is now politically incorrect to kill seals directly, perhaps ways might be explored to increase the transient killer whales, which would also support the whale-watching industry.

The salmon also have a new predator to deal with — California sea lions, which have recently invaded in large numbers. I understand transient killer whales find this U.S. invader tasty, as well as seals.

Bruce Pendergast

Victoria
 
Seals a major factor in fewer salmon
Re: “Ottawa cutting chinook catch to save orcas,” May 25.

The article concerning the decline of chinook salmon and orca populations fails to mention the influence of seals.

article continues below

According to the University of British Columbia marine mammal research unit, seal numbers in the Strait of Georgia increased from about 5,000 to more than 40,000 from 1970 to 2008, and now kill about half of the juvenile coho and chinook. Reducing the salmon sport catch without addressing the exploding numbers of seals will not help the orcas much.

Is it possible that seal numbers are unsustainably high because they were severely culled prior to 1970, which in turn eliminated their natural predators, the transient killer whales? The transients have not yet returned in sufficient numbers to adequately control the seal population.

If it is now politically incorrect to kill seals directly, perhaps ways might be explored to increase the transient killer whales, which would also support the whale-watching industry.

The salmon also have a new predator to deal with — California sea lions, which have recently invaded in large numbers. I understand transient killer whales find this U.S. invader tasty, as well as seals.

Bruce Pendergast

Victoria

I couldn't agree more. I used to fish areas 17, 18, 20 back in the late 70's to mid 80's, left off for 30 years, and started fishing again in 2015. The one thing I noticed was the shocking increase in the number of seals plying these waters. I was out a Renfrew a week ago hali fishing and counted at least a dozen seals in 2-3 groups offshore. Someone correct me if my memory is failing me but I don't recall seeing hardly any seals at Renfrew back then. In areas 17-18, on some trips, I would hear shots in the fog early in the morning. On other trips I saw dead seals floating in the tide lines, shot of course. Everyone knew seals ate fish. In light of the SRKW issue I sent an email to DFO expressing my concern that the seal population had increased substantially over the past 30 years and that they look at seal numbers when considering factors affecting SRKW's.

The other thing I'm noticing is the almost total lack of DFO enforcement out there. Take away the highway radar and what do you think is going to happen.
Ok, this is looking to me like a rant but what the hell...There are simply too many people, boats, houses, infrastructure, pollution and loss of marine and stream habitat loss taking place. Putting a band aid on rec fishing is not going to help SRKW's much unless the other problems are reversed as well. How about the raw sewage and pollutants being pumped out into the marine environment off Victoria's Clover Point. There's a place to start. Is DFO going to address that? A killer whale found dead at the mouth of a Washington state river was found to contain extremely high levels of PCB's, DDT, and other contaminants. Pollution is known to be a major suspect in the health of SRKW's. So why isn't there a ministerial announcement that something is being done about pollution. How about an announcement that the feds and province are going to get together and draft laws to protect/restore small streamside habitat areas, areas that support fry, smolts, coho, chinook, killer whales. How about an announcement that the feds are working on protecting marine shoreline habitat (ell grass, kelp) from development. We all have to take on some responsibility here and share in some pain but its totally unjust and irresponsible of DFO to single out recreational fishing without addressing other serious fundamental factors affecting SRKW's. And by the way I believe historically the SRKW population has never been much more that 100 in number before the white man came and that the population naturally varies up and down over the decades. Also the northern killer whale population is doing well and there is speculation that the northern pods may even be trying to push out the southern pods. A kind of natural selection taking place. Truth is DFO knows squat about it all and needs to do a lot more research before singling out and trouncing on rec fishing.
 
I couldn't agree more. I used to fish areas 17, 18, 20 back in the late 70's to mid 80's, left off for 30 years, and started fishing again in 2015. The one thing I noticed was the shocking increase in the number of seals plying these waters. I was out a Renfrew a week ago hali fishing and counted at least a dozen seals in 2-3 groups offshore. Someone correct me if my memory is failing me but I don't recall seeing hardly any seals at Renfrew back then. In areas 17-18, on some trips, I would hear shots in the fog early in the morning. On other trips I saw dead seals floating in the tide lines, shot of course. Everyone knew seals ate fish. In light of the SRKW issue I sent an email to DFO expressing my concern that the seal population had increased substantially over the past 30 years and that they look at seal numbers when considering factors affecting SRKW's.

The other thing I'm noticing is the almost total lack of DFO enforcement out there. Take away the highway radar and what do you think is going to happen.
Ok, this is looking to me like a rant but what the hell...There are simply too many people, boats, houses, infrastructure, pollution and loss of marine and stream habitat loss taking place. Putting a band aid on rec fishing is not going to help SRKW's much unless the other problems are reversed as well. How about the raw sewage and pollutants being pumped out into the marine environment off Victoria's Clover Point. There's a place to start. Is DFO going to address that? A killer whale found dead at the mouth of a Washington state river was found to contain extremely high levels of PCB's, DDT, and other contaminants. Pollution is known to be a major suspect in the health of SRKW's. So why isn't there a ministerial announcement that something is being done about pollution. How about an announcement that the feds and province are going to get together and draft laws to protect/restore small streamside habitat areas, areas that support fry, smolts, coho, chinook, killer whales. How about an announcement that the feds are working on protecting marine shoreline habitat (ell grass, kelp) from development. We all have to take on some responsibility here and share in some pain but its totally unjust and irresponsible of DFO to single out recreational fishing without addressing other serious fundamental factors affecting SRKW's. And by the way I believe historically the SRKW population has never been much more that 100 in number before the white man came and that the population naturally varies up and down over the decades. Also the northern killer whale population is doing well and there is speculation that the northern pods may even be trying to push out the southern pods. A kind of natural selection taking place. Truth is DFO knows squat about it all and needs to do a lot more research before singling out and trouncing on rec fishing.
The Southern Resident Killer Whale population is currently estimated at about 80 whales, a decline from its estimated historical level of about 200 during the late 1800s. Beginning in the late 1960s, the live-capture fishery for oceanarium display removed an estimated 47 whales and caused an immediate decline in Southern Resident numbers.4 The population fell an estimated 30% to about 67 whales by 1971.5 By 2003, the population increased to 83 whales. Cannot find anything in regards to your stated "speculation" the northern pods trying to push out the southern pods.
 
June 1 to Sept. 30: Recreational salmon fishing closure in Subareas 29-7, 29-9 & 29-10.
June 1 to July 31: Recreational and commercial salmon fishing closure in Subarea 29-6.
Aug.1 to Sept. 30: Recreational and commercial chinook non-retention in Subarea 29-6.
Also complete closures of Strait of Juan De Fuca.

?
 
I cut and paste this announcement straight off of DFO website and now the announcement has been removed, very weird, The announcement came with full maps and explanations and now it’s gone. Hmmm, sorry if I cut and paste a bit early but it was from the dfo site
 
I cut and paste this announcement straight off of DFO website and now the announcement has been removed, very weird, The announcement came with full maps and explanations and now it’s gone. Hmmm, sorry if I cut and paste a bit early but it was from the dfo site

Ah okay ty, I guess the announcement will be this week before June 1st then.
 
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I cut and paste this announcement straight off of DFO website and now the announcement has been removed, very weird, The announcement came with full maps and explanations and now it’s gone. Hmmm, sorry if I cut and paste a bit early but it was from the dfo site
Someone at DFO jumping the gun on posting the restrictions then realizing the mistake?
 
We met with a UBC scientist who also suggested that as the northern residents population increases they may be pushing the southern out.
 
I guess if the commercial guys are going to support a complete Chinook closure than we should support a complete sockeye shut down....they are doing worse.
 
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