Old enough to know what’s been lost in B.C. salmon – Victoria News

There is little doubt that we Have equipment that is better then ever before.

That does not mean we catch more fish.
 
Fishing methods and type of pressure has clearly changed. The straight of Georgia seems pretty common to troll down 200 feet plus. I don't think that was done heavily in the past. I have a feeling we are doing a better job of catching what is available to catch than in the past.
 
Fishing methods and type of pressure has clearly changed. The straight of Georgia seems pretty common to troll down 200 feet plus. I don't think that was done heavily in the past. I have a feeling we are doing a better job of catching what is available to catch than in the past.

This is also true but we have to be out their and the fish have to be under the boat. What I think is happening here is a big shift in effort to stocks that were never on our plate before.


It truly would be interesting to see if this statement from your posted data is still valid or not. Perhaps it has changed greater or less than as implied than it is today.
“Ten percent of the fishermen catch more than half of the total catch, while nearly 40 percent catch no salmon at all”

We know that 50% of the Chinook catch is from guides. However I think people are far better at catching fish today. Put an anchovy down and if there is fish below your boat good odds you will catch one.

Again this does not mean that we are catching more salmon. They still have to be there to catch. Coho have all but dispersed from the inside and chinook in the jdf are a fraction of how many migrated though there in the past.
 
The 50% figure is from Irec and was presented to the SFAB a few years ago by dfo.

We don’t have to believe any of the data but it is what it is.
 
Therefor the natural shift has been onto what is available for the angler to target at that time of participation.

We also have to acknowledge that some effort is not shifted and it simply just goes away and so does the anglers .i think we saw this last year, many expected that effort would be shifted to halibut and lingcod.

That did not happen people just stayed home. I see this with sockeye, some people come out once in 4 years to fish sockeye.
 
No idea don’t have access to that information. Nor do I think it exists as we don’t account for 1 persons annual catch it’s estimated based on a number of different things. Although I did hear that the Annual catch limit of chinook would have to get to below 6 before it started to make a difference.

Tho antidotal I’ve seen people limited out while talking to people at the ramp no one was catching anything.
 
No I said based on irec data and guides don’t catch 50% of the Chinook, guided operations account for 50% of the Chinook catch.
 
For the record…"Its sad to see all these old guys come out against a fishery"
Most of the old guys you are referring to, including myself, fished only occasionally in the summer months in boats that were generally 16' or smaller, didn't have downriggers or depth sounders and took nowhere near the salmon the big boats of today take who are the fully equipped with electronics and downriggers and can fish most anywhere in most any weather!

For the record, I am one of the old farts as well and I can show you photos of us in a 12' tinny knee deep in salmon. I think springs had a limit of 8 each a day back then and it was not uncommon to have 1 or 2 in the 30s each, maybe even a 40 and several between 18 and 30 pounds. Add some real nice coho to the mix, it was a slaughter sometimes. Not always but regularly. I have not had days like that for many years now. And all this a stone throw from home. Without sounder, gps or downrigger.
 
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