Worst catch numbers for any Derby ever held here. I am OFF the water for the first time ever</u> on the last day. No fish = NO Point. Will post final numbers as they become available...
A little more light on the matter at hand:
These fish are sold to standard Buyers, who this year offered a whopping $ 1.50 a pound. These are NOT</u> the quality of ocean trolled fish, and are generally destined to become cat food. For the FN's this means little, as their related expenses are quite low. For the gillnetters, most did not recover fuel expenditures.
The seiners are another story. While the price of the fish themselves was a mere buck fifty, the price of the ROE was better than 7 clams per pound. Thus, when they fished to a number, high-grading of course was occurring. There were several reliable Folks who sat by and watched the brailing of this year's haul to the seines. And while they did include large amounts of mostly DOA sockeye, that also included reasonably large volumes of male chinooks - both mature and jacks. They were worth basically nada, and counted against the number, so were discarded. As a consequence there are many "floaters" in the Inlet, a result of being captured, net squeezed, then "released". The seiners actually did not quite reach their target, but their catch consisted of chiefly large mature hens ripe with mature eggs. NO onboard observers ensure this tasteless practice continues... [V]
All in all a VERY</u> sad performance, and especially so for the resource. The early run was all but decimated, and especially so with the targeted removal of the female component. And at this juncture, there is very little in the way of hope for any late showing to at least attempt to meet escapement requirements.
DFO in action once again. I don't blame the working stiffs who participated - they were only doing what The Dino decreed they could. I am however gravely concerned that the greatest single threat this run faces is the actions of the current "management" regime. [xx(]
Nog
