Joy-riding jet boaters destroying Pitt River salmon

[Capilano]

Joy-riding jet boaters are killing salmon and destroying thousands of eggs on the upper Pitt River, says the owner of a fishing lodge on the remote waterway near Maple Ridge.

Dan Gerak said the number of jet boaters on the upper river, which feeds into the north side of Pitt Lake from its source in Garibaldi Provincial Park, has increased as jet boats have become “the latest toy” for those with money to burn.

On some weekends, Gerak said he has seen at least 20 boats speeding over the shallow water near Pitt River Lodge, which is seven kilometres upriver from the lake.

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-...oaters-destroying-pitt-river-salmon-fishermen

 

[Whitebuck]

Yes the Pitt is a gong show with all the guide boats up there!!!
But this is really just about Dan wanting a complete monopoly of the river to himself and not have anybody else guiding up there!

 

[Mo]

Quote from Dan's 2016 interview with Van. sun

“This river is plugged with salmon,” he said in an interview. “We have the biggest runs we’ve probably seen in 10 years. They put in the closure and didn’t even come up to see what’s happening here. It seriously affects my business. They put on the closure for no reason.

“It’s crazy. They’ve had way worse runs than this before and they never shut it down.”

Jennifer Nener, Fisheries and Oceans Pacific region salmon director, said in response that the federal government is taking a cautionary approach given only about 250,000 early summer sockeye are expected to work their way up the Fraser — half of original estimates. Even catch-and-release fishing can result in fish mortality, she noted, adding that a First Nations fishery on the Pitt River system had been shut down.

"2015 it was an un-navigable river Van Sun interview" and now its jet boaters have destroyed stocks on a river that is plugged with fish

 

[Whitebuck]

If Dan was concerned about the salmon, steelhead and trout he would maybe look at the AREAS within the Pitt he guides..