Commercial Prawn Boats In Saanich Out of Control

[jriptide]

Has anyone else found the commercial prawn boats getting out of hand in Saanich Inlet. I have lost 4 traps this year, close to $600 in gear. One had the float recovered in Mill Bay and another was found in deep water (Arbutus Ridge) by a local, far from where I had the traps (Pat Bay). Safe to say it is one of the aluminum prawn boats out of Cowichan Bay. I have taken the names of the nearby commercial floats to report to fisheries and see what can be done here.

The real **** off here is that when I pulled my traps that had commercial lines on top of them, I did not cut their lines and I come back the next day and two of my traps have gone missing in the same area.

I also found that almost every time I left my traps over night the commercial boats were dropped right on top of me. I was lowering my traps one afternoon and boat came right out at me and put trap lines right around my boat.

Last year I had 4 traps pulled and dumped in shallow water, this year they are cutting my trap lines and dumping traps where they will be lost forever.
It would seem they are trying to intimidate the sport fisherman from prawning in Saanich.

All I can say is that it is a good thing I am too old to do what I would have done back in my commercial fishing days, we did not waste time discussing things.

 

[jeffywestcoast]

I learned this lesson first hand off nanaimo , guess they figure or at least a few of them figure the two months they get to fish the ocean is for them, some interesting reading in my thread MUTTHERFUGGER, i understand they are trying to make a living in a short time but they way they are treating the sporties is unacceptable. And there will be a day when a less level headed sporty will have had enough. after talking with one of them in that thread i know they are not all bad but there is some that think they own the seafloor and it is okay to pin down your sporty gear. makes me sick as i too lost about 200 worth of gear.

 

[Cuba Libre]

DONT, DONT, DONT leave your traps overnight during commercial season. They have just a short time to make THEIR season so give them room. If you cant find the bugs in a two hr set-- MOVE!

 

[jeffywestcoast]

Your 100% right Cuba Libre i myself learned my lesson first hand and will respect the fact that they have only a short time and alot of ocean to cover, I think the DFO should close the prawning to sporties durring the commercial season or misshap like this will continue to happen untill they do so.

 

[trophywife]

Your 100% right Cuba Libre i myself learned my lesson first hand and will respect the fact that they have only a short time and alot of ocean to cover, I think the DFO should close the prawning to sporties durring the commercial season or misshap like this will continue to happen untill they do so.

oh jeffy,, now dont start that,, think a lil,, a whole lot of us prawn where there is no commie pressure....

 

[jeffywestcoast]

True enough i guess hope to find a place like that someday cause over here there are prawnlines everywhere, did they not kick the commies out of the inlet because it was over fished already this year? That might be why so many prawn boats over here, anyways im done prawning here till they call it a season, gear costs to much to lose it when i can just wait it out a month or two.

 

[Finished Business]

you guys know prawn strings are clearly marked by cans at BIG A5 Buoys at either end right? lol...not too hard. Be smart about where you're setting, and for the lub of jeebus DON'T suggest a sportfishing closure.

How those swedish traps working out for you jeffy? have you found the secret yet? I gave up on mine and replaced it with a crab trap....nothing interesting yet for me down 300' crabbing but I'm having more luck catching prawns with it than I did my swedish trap jk

 

[jeffywestcoast]

Finished Business..How are my swedish traps working out for me?? they are fishing great! just they are fishing remotely in 350 feet of water off five fingers your more then welcome to dive down in get them for me,you will find them next to the commercial prawn lines anchor where they broke of my line after repeat attempts to get the boat to free them, on day two they cut and re-tied my line and reset on top of them. I had no choice but to have my line extracted from the area ,line weights and scotchman free , swedish prawn traps...not so much so ya they are fishing the best they ever have.

 

[hambone]

Sounds like its back to back poor seasons for the commercial prawners.... I'm guessing they get shut down well before the end of the month so just hold tight for a few weeks. Setting sport traps anywhere near a commie set is asking for trouble.

 

[GDW]

I wonder how many years of prawning saanich inlet has left at this rate. If commies can clean out the Alberni inlet it shouldn't take long to clean little saanich inlet. Last fall a few people were complaining it was slow off saanich (by slow I mean next to nothing there) but I did find prawns each trip out.

Maybe it was it the slice from fish farms that used to be in Alberni that severely damaged that population?

I don't understand this derby style 2 month season why not have less boats working less gear all year and keep them nice and spread out? But im off topic in the current environment why are guys still risking their gear trying to prawn around commercials?

 

[jriptide]

I learned this lesson first hand off nanaimo , guess they figure or at least a few of them figure the two months they get to fish the ocean is for them, some interesting reading in my thread MUTTHERFUGGER, i understand they are trying to make a living in a short time but they way they are treating the sporties is unacceptable. And there will be a day when a less level headed sporty will have had enough. after talking with one of them in that thread i know they are not all bad but there is some that think they own the seafloor and it is okay to pin down your sporty gear. makes me sick as i too lost about 200 worth of gear.

I have tried to put my traps away from the commercial traps, but literally at least one of the boats out of Cowichan Bay with a very young captain aimed his boat right at me and went out of his way to make sure his trap lines went around mine. Note while they do put buoys on either end of their trap lines they zig-zag their trap lines all over so you have no idea where they actually are.

As for making a living, I was a commercial fisherman so I can relate, but that does not justify their actions. I realize this is a few bad apples that are targeting traps when they can easily avoid them and continue to make a living. They are also are choosing to make the traps they snag unrecoverable. Imagine the cost to them if someone started cutting up their gear or dumping it into the deep. Which is why, I assume an older wiser prawn skipper came over to me when I was circling looking for my traps to make sure I knew he did not screw with my traps.

 

[Finished Business]

Finished Business..How are my swedish traps working out for me?? they are fishing great! just they are fishing remotely in 350 feet of water off five fingers your more then welcome to dive down in get them for me,you will find them next to the commercial prawn lines anchor where they broke of my line after repeat attempts to get the boat to free them, on day two they cut and re-tied my line and reset on top of them. I had no choice but to have my line extracted from the area ,line weights and scotchman free , swedish prawn traps...not so much so ya they are fishing the best they ever have.

Oh Sh*t, duh, I didn't put two and two together on that one! My bad. I lost 2 prawn, and 2 crab traps to what I believe are nefarious actions...so I know the feeling (though it was not a commercial situation). You almost do want to throw in the towel! But keep it up. They are to tasty not too.

PS There is not skrimp or prawn to be seen anywhere where I fish....the comms got em all! And it wasn't even a good spot

 

[hambone]

If the prawn boat your having troubles with is there.... why not go over and talk with him or get him on the radio. I guarantee they don't want to see a bunch of tangled sport gear come up on their ground line every morning. My skipper last year did all he could to recover snagged gear and be generous with the sporties nearby. Yes you can screw them over, some guy on the WCVI had the scotsman snipped from both ends of all 6 of his strings a few years ago.... That's 300 traps you need to drag for to try and recover.. The season is probably going be to a month and a half! There's gotta be somewhere else to set gear in the meantime!
Obviously there is a few bad apples out there... Maybe some of you are having tough luck and competing for a spot with a bully. Most skippers I met last year were really nice people...

 

[jeffywestcoast]

Agreed, And would repeat NEVER cut anyones buoys as i know how hard it is for them to make a living at it however , repeated attempts to contact the boat skipper fell short, he wouldn't come anywhere near me even though i was in the wrong, tried several times to contact him via VHF and your right the majority of these prawn boat captains are good hardworking people i even met a few at the spot prawn festival in cowbay. As for the Bully..be a cold day in hell before he will collect even one of my prawns. Like stated here before i learned my lesson the hard way and will wait until they are finished for the season.

 

[Rockfish]

We have a responsibility to protect and enhance sport fishing opportunities for future generations. The best way to do that is to ensure that critical sport fishing locals are completely protected from commercial fishing competition at all times and forever.

In the greater Victoria/Sooke area that should include the elimination of commercial Prawning in Saanich inlet and commercial Crabbing in Sooke Harbour. These are critical sport fishing locals that are small boat safe and located in close proximity to a major population centre with a high percentage of sport fishers.

This is how you protect sport fishing interests and maximize economic opportunity for local coastal communities. In order to accomplish this it will take a combination of political Lobbying and some mechanism to remove the bitter taste from the mouths of commercial fishermen which would likely involve fund raising and lobbying for sufficient funds to buy them out.

Commercial Salmon fishing is not permitted in JDF why not move to include other species.

Perhaps something for SVIAC to add to the already long agenda for future consideration.

 

[Gear'n'beer!]

I set my traps last thursday in Saanich inlet and a younger commercial guy was setting his also...he stayed clear of me and I stayed clear of his lines. He waved when I went by to fish and when I came back to retrieve. I thought it went pretty well being I don't have much prawning experience and after reading some of the stories on here was a bit apprehensive but I was well clear from where I thought his set would end up. I was doing a little experiment with bait and the results were as I expected. Trap with just pellets had like 3 prawns in it. Trap with pellets soaked in absurdly nasty crap got like 40 in a couple hours. Crab traps yielded only one keeper I gotta find a spot that gives up a few sooner or later, tired of dumping traps with just starfish in them.

 

[sawbill]

there should not be commercial prawning in high use rec areas period. No pulse openings for rec guys during winter months. If we need pulse openings then commies shouldn't be around. They wonder why the log tows run over their traps. lol

 

[Last Chance]

My advice? Just stay out of the way. Like us guys that battle with the ships in the fog off Swiftsure, if it's too crazy, then fish elsewhere.

I am a sportie, with a business that depends on access to sport caught fish, but in this case, the commercials get a season measured in 2 months. That is 10 months that "we" can go out and hammer prawns. Chuck a few extra bags in the freezer, and wait. In a month after the season is closed, it will be back to normal.

I am by no means a commercial advocate, and I sit on the board of SVIAC, but these guys get 2 months to fish and that is it. They are only allowed to pull once every 24 hours, so a lot of the time will be in the dusk. I spent a few days on a prawn boat years ago out of Ladysmith Harbour (With Tony Degraf and Jessie of the Western Gambler). They went out of their way to avoid other gear, but let's face it, it's damn hard. Try setting in a 2Knt current, you will be all over the place.

Spot Prawns happen to be a somewhat sustainable harvest. I prawn regularliy off the Victoria waterfront (Where we have no spot closures), and do very well in March/April. Then, I take my traps, my little anchors, and winch, and put them away because I have more prawns then I can eat (Which is a lot), and go fish for Halibut. This fishery is not like Halibut, where %85 was given to license holders, it's not like Salmon where they have been "managed" to extinction, and even David Suzuki approves..

BTW, the prawns of Victoria are not as numerous as in Saanich inlet, but a darn big average size. You just put a small 5 lb Bruce anchor with 10 ft of chain at the float end of your string, and they will stay put.

Hell, if the Halibut guys were only allowed to fish 2 months of the year, we would all jump for joy. Or the commercial crabbers, Area 2 G trawl, etc etc.

 

[sawbill]

Well LC theres about 5000 plus traps soaking a day up here and within two months that = 85%. Natives prawn cerimonially all winter too . Commies are doing the ***** and lots have left. It's not sustainable

 

[jriptide]

Lastchance, just curious if you would advocate closing salmon sport fishing during the commercial salmon fishing, as they too only get two months to make their money.

I do try and avoid the commercial traps but I swear there are more commercial boats each year. I am fishing in the same spots I have for years and this is the first time I have paid the price with losing traps.

As for finding the person, I grew up in Cowichan Bay so it likely would not be too difficult and I have considered it. But first I have to confirm the culprit.