I agree gentlemen, but lets start with the white elephant in the room. Every Chinook salmon that swims into Juan De Fuca Straight also swims through the North Pacific, Gulf of Alaska, and down either side of the Queen Charlottes (Haida Gwaii to you youngsters). If DFO wants to increase Chinook numbers in South Coast waters, should they not start by increasing the escapement numbers from the North Coast?
Closing areas and reducing catch numbers on the South Coast and ignoring what is going on on the North Coast is akin to finding someone with a severed finger and putting the bandaid on the severed finger rather than on the stump on the hand!! I flew to Sandspit last week via Air Canada and over 50% of the flight cargo was fish boxes ( two flights a day, 7 days a week). And lets not forget that many lodges have thier own flights so we never see those fish moving through the airport. I was personnaly disgusted with what I saw. What a way to treat a resource.
It may be time for some serious changes to lodge rules.
To me it seems pretty simple, you want more Chinook for the starving Orcas of the South Coast, let more escape the North Coast.
Also...... let us not forget that DFO's own study shows over 80% of salmon caught in the Gulf of Alaska, are fish destined for BC, Washington, Oregon and California rivers. TIME TO ACT?!
Just an Old Mans thoughts.....