fishingbc
Active Member
THE SPORT FISHING ADVISORY BOARD (SFAB) and its local committees (SFAC) are supposed to be set up to be transparent, accountable, efficient, effective and to have inclusive representation, sadly our local area 14 SFAC is none of the above….
Transparent- hardly. How can anyone consider this local committee to be transparent when it holds its regular meetings virtually in private behind closed doors? All local meetings held by this area 14 board are held in the morning during the week when most of recreational anglers are at work. Can you or will you sacrifice a days wages to attend one or all of these important daytime meetings?????????
ALL OTHER SFAB & SFAC’S IN THE PROVINCE MEET IN THE EVENINGS OR ON THE WEEKENDS WITH FULL PARTICPATION FROM DFO STAFF & WHEN THE GENERAL PUBLIC CAN ATTEND
The chair and co-chair have stated their reasons why this happens, and all of these excuses are without merit
1-They say they have to meet at the DFO office in Comox so DFO staff can attend…false…all other SFAC in the province submit requests to DFO and DFO makes sure that staff can attend. This is standard procedure province wide, except here in area 14. DFO staff is here tonight !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2-The chair and co-chair think by having OUR concerns e-mailed or phoned in to them, and then dealt with behind closed doors is an open and transparent process, hardly.
3-Area 14 envelopes a huge area from Salmon Point to Nanoose and virtually all anglers south of Fanny Bay know little or nothing about what this board does, when it meets, who is making decisions that effect them, and why these decisions were made etc, etc……this has to change. Meetings south of here in Parksville or Qualicum to include the anglers in those areas have to take place.
4-The SFAB was set up to get recreational anglers involved in the sport fishing decision making process, not shut them out. There are many larger meeting places; (Courtenay F&G has been offered up more than once for evenings or weekend meetings by their V.P), as well as meeting places in Qualicum and Parksville. Using the limited space at the Comox DFO office as an excuse for daytime meeting is laughable. It holds about 12 ppl. Do the Port Alberni and Victoria committee do this?..NO they make sure there is room for as many rec anglers as possible.
5-The chair and co-chair would have you believe that these once a year “information meetings” are all that is necessary to keep the public informed of their decisions and future plans. Some of these decisions will and are affecting you directly. In Port Alberni which holds ALL of its meeting in the evenings and on weekends regularly has large numbers of rec angler in attendance when hot topic issues come up for OPEN DISCUSSION. In Victoria which also hold its meeting in the evenings or on the weekends regularly has over 100 plus recreational anglers and members of the general public in attendance. This scenario plays out over and over again PROVINCE WIDE, but NOT HERE………we deserve and need to be heard. DFO’s mandate for the SFAB and SFAC states so…..men, women, children, seniors, the disabled all have a democratic right to be involved in this important process. DFO’s rep Bill Shaw’s staged performance at the “information meeting” last night lacked any backbone. There were several persons sitting at the committee tables last night who have spent their lives promoting public involvement in angling and to sit back and see them either walk out of the meeting or support the daytime meeting agenda when this topic was brought up was a joke. Getting more people involved is the only way to go. Preaching public involvement and conservation etc then turning your back on them is inexcusable.
Bob Cole Chair of the Port Alberni SFAC was kind enough to send along his support in an e-mail prior to the meeting and after hearing of the situation here and I quote” all I can say is that in order to get good input and output to the recreational fishing community, you need as many rec fisher as possible to attend your meetings and that can only be accomplished with evening or weekend meetings. Sure, the core half dozen often think they have all the answers but that is not always the case and it’s good to give the rational for certain directions that we take. We had 45 and 31 attendees at our last two evening meetings and some good (and a few whacky) ideas put forward. Good Luck Bob
Both Devona Adams (DFO) and Bill Shaw (DFO) had a copy of this e-mail prior to the “information meeting” last night and Bill Shaw chose to ignore it completely instead passing the buck to the chair and co-chair who again turned the meeting into a gong show swearing and getting way out of order, just like the meeting last year when anyone questions their “my way or the highway” running of this local committee. “If you don’t have a vote the your S#@T OUTTA LUCK” as stated by one committee member last night…….After several extended phone conversations with Devona Adams (DFO) regarding the lack of transparency and inclusive representation at the local regularly scheduled meetings she assured my that Bill Shaw (DFO) and herself would make sure that things would change and that evening and weekend area 14 meetings would take place to ensure rec anglers and the general public could attend. She also assured me that meetings would now be split between Parksville (or close by in Qualicum Beach) to allow full and fair access to residents of that area to a process that is supposed to open to ALL. Well what a difference a week makes, instead standing up for what is right all Bill Shaw could do was wave around the Terms of Reference and say how open and fair the process is…….with backing of chair, co-chair the meeting was quickly shut down. A total of 12 people (including three commercial fishermen) attended this meeting and with the co-chair ranting and raving about how many groups, NGO’s etc he contacted was only able to muster this kind of attendance. I guess that’s the direct result of a committee that meets behind closed doors when 99% of people who wish to attend SIMPLY CANNOT…….this group can get pissed off all they want but the only way to make sure the SFAB process works FOR ALL is to have meetings in the evenings or on the weekends…..end of story……if you live in the area from Salmon Point to Nanoose and you want your voice heard in an open forum (the way the SFAB is designed to operate) put the pressure directly on Devona Adams or Bill Shaw from DFO. Hope you have better luck than I did…..here is their e-mail addresses. Don’t bother with the local SFAC you’ll get nowhere…….
Devona.Adams@df0-mpo.gc.ca
Bill.Shaw@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Transparent- hardly. How can anyone consider this local committee to be transparent when it holds its regular meetings virtually in private behind closed doors? All local meetings held by this area 14 board are held in the morning during the week when most of recreational anglers are at work. Can you or will you sacrifice a days wages to attend one or all of these important daytime meetings?????????
ALL OTHER SFAB & SFAC’S IN THE PROVINCE MEET IN THE EVENINGS OR ON THE WEEKENDS WITH FULL PARTICPATION FROM DFO STAFF & WHEN THE GENERAL PUBLIC CAN ATTEND
The chair and co-chair have stated their reasons why this happens, and all of these excuses are without merit
1-They say they have to meet at the DFO office in Comox so DFO staff can attend…false…all other SFAC in the province submit requests to DFO and DFO makes sure that staff can attend. This is standard procedure province wide, except here in area 14. DFO staff is here tonight !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2-The chair and co-chair think by having OUR concerns e-mailed or phoned in to them, and then dealt with behind closed doors is an open and transparent process, hardly.
3-Area 14 envelopes a huge area from Salmon Point to Nanoose and virtually all anglers south of Fanny Bay know little or nothing about what this board does, when it meets, who is making decisions that effect them, and why these decisions were made etc, etc……this has to change. Meetings south of here in Parksville or Qualicum to include the anglers in those areas have to take place.
4-The SFAB was set up to get recreational anglers involved in the sport fishing decision making process, not shut them out. There are many larger meeting places; (Courtenay F&G has been offered up more than once for evenings or weekend meetings by their V.P), as well as meeting places in Qualicum and Parksville. Using the limited space at the Comox DFO office as an excuse for daytime meeting is laughable. It holds about 12 ppl. Do the Port Alberni and Victoria committee do this?..NO they make sure there is room for as many rec anglers as possible.
5-The chair and co-chair would have you believe that these once a year “information meetings” are all that is necessary to keep the public informed of their decisions and future plans. Some of these decisions will and are affecting you directly. In Port Alberni which holds ALL of its meeting in the evenings and on weekends regularly has large numbers of rec angler in attendance when hot topic issues come up for OPEN DISCUSSION. In Victoria which also hold its meeting in the evenings or on the weekends regularly has over 100 plus recreational anglers and members of the general public in attendance. This scenario plays out over and over again PROVINCE WIDE, but NOT HERE………we deserve and need to be heard. DFO’s mandate for the SFAB and SFAC states so…..men, women, children, seniors, the disabled all have a democratic right to be involved in this important process. DFO’s rep Bill Shaw’s staged performance at the “information meeting” last night lacked any backbone. There were several persons sitting at the committee tables last night who have spent their lives promoting public involvement in angling and to sit back and see them either walk out of the meeting or support the daytime meeting agenda when this topic was brought up was a joke. Getting more people involved is the only way to go. Preaching public involvement and conservation etc then turning your back on them is inexcusable.
Bob Cole Chair of the Port Alberni SFAC was kind enough to send along his support in an e-mail prior to the meeting and after hearing of the situation here and I quote” all I can say is that in order to get good input and output to the recreational fishing community, you need as many rec fisher as possible to attend your meetings and that can only be accomplished with evening or weekend meetings. Sure, the core half dozen often think they have all the answers but that is not always the case and it’s good to give the rational for certain directions that we take. We had 45 and 31 attendees at our last two evening meetings and some good (and a few whacky) ideas put forward. Good Luck Bob
Both Devona Adams (DFO) and Bill Shaw (DFO) had a copy of this e-mail prior to the “information meeting” last night and Bill Shaw chose to ignore it completely instead passing the buck to the chair and co-chair who again turned the meeting into a gong show swearing and getting way out of order, just like the meeting last year when anyone questions their “my way or the highway” running of this local committee. “If you don’t have a vote the your S#@T OUTTA LUCK” as stated by one committee member last night…….After several extended phone conversations with Devona Adams (DFO) regarding the lack of transparency and inclusive representation at the local regularly scheduled meetings she assured my that Bill Shaw (DFO) and herself would make sure that things would change and that evening and weekend area 14 meetings would take place to ensure rec anglers and the general public could attend. She also assured me that meetings would now be split between Parksville (or close by in Qualicum Beach) to allow full and fair access to residents of that area to a process that is supposed to open to ALL. Well what a difference a week makes, instead standing up for what is right all Bill Shaw could do was wave around the Terms of Reference and say how open and fair the process is…….with backing of chair, co-chair the meeting was quickly shut down. A total of 12 people (including three commercial fishermen) attended this meeting and with the co-chair ranting and raving about how many groups, NGO’s etc he contacted was only able to muster this kind of attendance. I guess that’s the direct result of a committee that meets behind closed doors when 99% of people who wish to attend SIMPLY CANNOT…….this group can get pissed off all they want but the only way to make sure the SFAB process works FOR ALL is to have meetings in the evenings or on the weekends…..end of story……if you live in the area from Salmon Point to Nanoose and you want your voice heard in an open forum (the way the SFAB is designed to operate) put the pressure directly on Devona Adams or Bill Shaw from DFO. Hope you have better luck than I did…..here is their e-mail addresses. Don’t bother with the local SFAC you’ll get nowhere…….
Devona.Adams@df0-mpo.gc.ca
Bill.Shaw@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
