Wonder why you didn't get any Crabs today ...we caught a poachers.

Sorry if this tainted your day out on the water... I've had a few encounters over the years with people pulling my traps.... most of the times I am not fortunate enough to catch them.. I don't think I'd be ask forgiving as you... But interestingly enough, the 2 times that I caught someone red handed it has been a Caucasian group(1 dad with 2 young kids) and 3 thirty something guys on a 19ft hewescraft. Bay all means, I am not suggesting any bad intentions or anything of that nature from your post.. but not sure why you needed to identify that it was an Asian Family. Would you have identified them as "We caught this Caucasian family" if they were of European origin? They are crooks, low-lifes and scumbags … and yes they also happen to be Asian.

The reason I point this out is that I have a few close Asian friends and they are my close fishing buddies.... Our fishing group has always adhered to the rules and laws from the fishing regulations. They have respect for our resources, volunteer their time during past years with salmon conversation programs but there is definitely a negative sterotype towards Asians with regards to breaking the rules. Some of that is warranted and I understand that and so do they. In fact, they have scolded a few people of Asian background when we happen to stumble on someone trying to cheat the system when we have gone for walks on a pier that is popular for crabbing. A few years back, my fishing buddies were enjoying a nice summer day with their family and friends... They were having a BBQ and picnic near a park that had access to a pier. They had 2 crab traps in the water and where in the middle of a conversation when 2 guys approached them and starting talking to them... asked them how the crabbing was.. My buddies responded with telling them so far they had 2 keepers.. They then said can we have a look? At which point one of my guys opens the cooler up and with the other hand pulls out a crab measuring gauge and starts measuring the 2 crabs to ensure it was legal. Let's just say it wasn't a very pleasant experience for my friends and it took great efforts for them to restrain themselves from kicking the **** out of the 2 guys. The 2 guys walked straight past another 3 non-Asian crabbers without inspecting their catch. It was not a good experience for them as they were racially profiled... assumed to be guilty and treated like crooks...

Gokart, I am sincere in stressing that I am in NO way pointing any fingers or accussing you of anything with your post. I trust you are a standup person. My point is we just need to make sure we are sensitive in our communications so that we dont' unintentionally propagate negative sterotypes against certain groups of people because while there are crooks and scumbags who happen to be Asian, there are scumbags from all corners of the world.

I will take responsibility that I am ALSO guilty of the same.... As an avid angler(more so with rivers and lakes and more recently turned to the salt) I am familiar with the negative stereotypes us anglers have towards commercial fishermen and First Nations.... I have been guilty in painting good people from those 2 groups with the same paint brush and have more recently been more careful in my approach and communications because I've met some very good people who happen to be commercial and/or First Nations as well and have come across shady people from the same 2 groups.
Sorry if this tainted your day out on the water... I've had a few encounters over the years with people pulling my traps.... most of the times I am not fortunate enough to catch them.. I don't think I'd be ask forgiving as you... But interestingly enough, the 2 times that I caught someone red handed it has been a Caucasian group(1 dad with 2 young kids) and 3 thirty something guys on a 19ft hewescraft. Bay all means, I am not suggesting any bad intentions or anything of that nature from your post.. but not sure why you needed to identify that it was an Asian Family. Would you have identified them as "We caught this Caucasian family" if they were of European origin? They are crooks, low-lifes and scumbags … and yes they also happen to be Asian.

The reason I point this out is that I have a few close Asian friends and they are my close fishing buddies.... Our fishing group has always adhered to the rules and laws from the fishing regulations. They have respect for our resources, volunteer their time during past years with salmon conversation programs but there is definitely a negative sterotype towards Asians with regards to breaking the rules. Some of that is warranted and I understand that and so do they. In fact, they have scolded a few people of Asian background when we happen to stumble on someone trying to cheat the system when we have gone for walks on a pier that is popular for crabbing. A few years back, my fishing buddies were enjoying a nice summer day with their family and friends... They were having a BBQ and picnic near a park that had access to a pier. They had 2 crab traps in the water and where in the middle of a conversation when 2 guys approached them and starting talking to them... asked them how the crabbing was.. My buddies responded with telling them so far they had 2 keepers.. They then said can we have a look? At which point one of my guys opens the cooler up and with the other hand pulls out a crab measuring gauge and starts measuring the 2 crabs to ensure it was legal. Let's just say it wasn't a very pleasant experience for my friends and it took great efforts for them to restrain themselves from kicking the **** out of the 2 guys. The 2 guys walked straight past another 3 non-Asian crabbers without inspecting their catch. It was not a good experience for them as they were racially profiled... assumed to be guilty and treated like crooks...

Gokart, I am sincere in stressing that I am in NO way pointing any fingers or accussing you of anything with your post. I trust you are a standup person. My point is we just need to make sure we are sensitive in our communications so that we dont' unintentionally propagate negative sterotypes against certain groups of people because while there are crooks and scumbags who happen to be Asian, there are scumbags from all corners of the world.

I will take responsibility that I am ALSO guilty of the same.... As an avid angler(more so with rivers and lakes and more recently turned to the salt) I am familiar with the negative stereotypes us anglers have towards commercial fishermen and First Nations.... I have been guilty in painting good people from those 2 groups with the same paint brush and have more recently been more careful in my approach and communications because I've met some very good people who happen to be commercial and/or First Nations as well and have come across shady people from the same 2 groups.

To answer you quickly, yes if the ppl stilling the crabs happen to be Caucasian I will describe them that way . I don’t see any problem to identify them so other ppl can keep eye on them. Btw my wife is Asian so there is nothing racism in my post .
 
To answer you quickly, yes if the ppl stilling the crabs happen to be Caucasian I will describe them that way . I don’t see any problem to identify them so other ppl can keep eye on them. Btw my wife is Asian so there is nothing racism in my post .
Very hard to describe people, who you feel may be serial poachers and are warning folks to look out for in our political correct society. If you use race you’re racist, it you use male or female, you’re sexist, young or old you’re ageist. Sadly reporting people as “bad people” doesn’t really help. In fact one of the few descriptions that seems exempt from the rules is “old white man (or boomer)”, now why is that? Lol
 
Seriously there are pirates everywhere on and off the water. Photos and reporting may help but it’s pretty hard for rcmp or dfo to track someone down based on the BC # if they never registered the boat to them. If we all just assume that everyone out there plays by the same rules that we do and treat each other the way we would want to be treated then shame on us for being so naive.

Best bet is to do as you have done, report and inform as many as possible to watch for this boat and operator.
 
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Going to remind everyone, again, posting text that condones illegal activity is prohibited on the forum and, more importantly, could be used against you somewhere down the road if you find yourself in a confrontation that goes sideways. We have had law enforcement agencies contact us in the past regarding posts made by our members. We also expose ourselves to potential problems if we don't edit or remove such content as it appears we then condone it as well. Hence, you will notice that some posts have been edited or removed.

Brian
 
Reporting is best way. Always people say I going to throw **** at them. Break a window kick their butt whatever. Go for it. The poacher will go away free and you will get criminally charged. Ya let's get violent on water. Good combo. Assault. Maybe even manslaughter over a crab. Just saying don't do anything stupid go thru correct Avenue. I hate getting pots raided. But hey honest responses here who here has never in thier life pulled a trap that wasn't theirs? Come on be honest. They don't give a damn about someone having thier pot pulled. Over limit or under sized maybe. But resources aren't there to enforce it. Loosing battle. My stainless traps I sit on. When I fish I get cheap fold up one's and leave them. Zap strap em shut so I know if they been raided. Oh if u raid em atleast re bait them so I might get atleast a few.
 
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I used to do this to that big boat that came out of the Fraser with all it's fenders out, can't remember the name. I'd do a couple circles around him every time I saw him doing the "I'm watching you" thing. They're not around anymore.
Yep I have done the same as well. They all get real nervous, look the other way, pretend you are not even there. Glad to know they have disappeared for now.
 
And how do you legally " zip tie"
A trap shut...?

If it is a standard commercial style trap with a hinged half lid on top there is a thick rubber band spring loaded rot cord with a plastic hook on the other end with an eye in the plastic hook that the rot cord attaches to. When it is stretched tight over the half lid, the hook is attached to the wire mesh on the top of the trap holding the lid down under pressure caused by the rubber band on the other end of the rot cord. To zip tie it, you place a zip tie through the eye of the hook and around a couple of the stainless mesh wires that is over the frame of the trap. Should the trap be lost on the bottom, the rot cord is not interfered with by the zip tie and when it rots through the lid will be free to open, thus making it legal. If the zip tie is missing when you pull your trap it tells you that the trap was pulled, the zip tie cut and the trap lid opened and then closed again without being zip tied. You could also of course cut the rot cord or the rubber band. PS the rubber bands look to my eye like they are made out of cut up inner tubes.
 
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We caught this asian family ( yes, family with young kids) in the act emptying our traps between Jericho and UBC. When we questioned them, the answers was ,"sorry sir we didn't know that's yours ", and they ask us not to call fish cops. Just to let you know my traps well-marked so no one will mistakenly taken by others. Be aware ....and yes we report them. View attachment 50804


I would have turn them in in a hart beat.
 
I sure hope I never catch someone poaching my traps
I'd be doing time, I made a note of BC # and will report if I see
 
I'm so glad we are talking about the bastards poachers. I have witnessed and approached boats in act of pulling my traps out of the water despite the fact that my name was very obvious on each trap. The poachers were from different backgrounds. One was full of young caucasian guys and the other 2 times Asian with kids inside. Not the same boat as was posted and unfortunately I did not get a chance to take pictures of the boats.
 
It's really a shame you can't just leave prawn and crab traps and expect them to be unmolested. The expectation is now that it's at least about a 50% chance they will be checked if left overnight in my area anyway, and that's just pretty frickin' sad. I rarely use my traps for this exact reason.
 
I'm quite certain one of my traps was pulled by the crew on on of the freighters in the harbour today ...they did however leave 1 crab in it which happened to be legal size.
 
Really annoying that people spend thousands of dollars on a boat, then are to cheap to spend a couple hundred more on crab or prawn traps. They would certainly get every thing they deserve if some honest person decides to act on their impulse.
 
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