SpringVelocity
Crew Member
Thanks that's a great question.
Emergency SFAB Meetings About Proposed SRKW Fishing Closures
- Thread starter Whole in the Water
- Start date
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
Very true.
oldtimer - they have aerial pictures of the Orca's; you can clearly see them being much thinner.
I have been fishing BC since 1978 & have seen numerous Chinook conservation restrictions come & go on both coasts. 10 years is probably a short time. Yeah, DFO has some severe issues. I used to camp with somebody who worked for DFO back in the 80's when the Chinook limit was 2 ECVI & 4 WCVI. This guy said the only reason it was 4 on WCVI is "they are all US fish". I have seen so many 4 fish limits of fish all over 25# caught nearshore north of Ucluelet being cleaned at the Island West resort it now makes me wanna barf. Even the Robertson Creek hatchery run could not tolerate this TAC. Didn't know about the 1994 FUBAR, but it's typical DFO "cut-off-my-nose-to-spite-my-face" mentality. That & the commies TOTALLY own them.
Today DFO's science & field employees seem fine but somewhere up the food chain it's a disaster. It also seems like funding (as in lack of) seems to be an issue over the last 20-25 years.
I for one think we need more restrictions. We need them up in SEAK as well as their troll fleet catches 68% of all WCVI chinook that are harvested:
http://wildfishconservancy.org/images/news/CaughtFarFromHome2011journalchart.jpg
As you can see they don't go too easy on anybody's fish.
As for what people seem to want on this forum, it is hard for me to tell. I am all about the future of THE FISH.
I have been fishing BC since 1978 & have seen numerous Chinook conservation restrictions come & go on both coasts. 10 years is probably a short time. Yeah, DFO has some severe issues. I used to camp with somebody who worked for DFO back in the 80's when the Chinook limit was 2 ECVI & 4 WCVI. This guy said the only reason it was 4 on WCVI is "they are all US fish". I have seen so many 4 fish limits of fish all over 25# caught nearshore north of Ucluelet being cleaned at the Island West resort it now makes me wanna barf. Even the Robertson Creek hatchery run could not tolerate this TAC. Didn't know about the 1994 FUBAR, but it's typical DFO "cut-off-my-nose-to-spite-my-face" mentality. That & the commies TOTALLY own them.
Today DFO's science & field employees seem fine but somewhere up the food chain it's a disaster. It also seems like funding (as in lack of) seems to be an issue over the last 20-25 years.
I for one think we need more restrictions. We need them up in SEAK as well as their troll fleet catches 68% of all WCVI chinook that are harvested:
http://wildfishconservancy.org/images/news/CaughtFarFromHome2011journalchart.jpg
As you can see they don't go too easy on anybody's fish.
As for what people seem to want on this forum, it is hard for me to tell. I am all about the future of THE FISH.
Thanks Eric for your thoughtful comments. I also can remember the pre 1994 days in Campbell River when we used to mooch the big back eddy at the Lighthouse with live herring and 12 foot leaders and 10.5 foot mooching rods, when the limits were 4 Chinook a day and the fishing was fast and easy and a lot of fun. Everybody thought that this fishery was going to go on forever? We are facing some challenging times ahead of us and I hope that this story has a happy ending? The system is ROTTEN and this kind of backroom DFO bull **** has been going on forever and hopefully it will change?
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tincan
Well-Known Member
I strongly agree that seals are currently a serious and immediate threat to salmon populations in the SOG. I have been following the seal predation studies closely for many years and have had a chance to speak directly with many of the researchers conducting their work and they are more or less unanimous in stating that 'something' must be done to ensure seals don't prey on juvenile salmon at such a high rate. However, the fact that seal predation is a major problem NOW doesn't address the root cause of the issue. The main reasons for increased juvenile salmon predation are: loss of habitat in estuaries, loss of preferred forage fish for seals, etc. Of course seal population increases are a factor but if it weren't for decades of estuary degradation, other habitat loss and the subsequent overfishing and loss of herring and other forage fishes we wouldn't be in the mess we are.
A seal cull is a bandage on an axe wound. It could temporarily help but there are much bigger issues to tackle if we actually care about the long term health of wild salmon. Habitat is the elephant in the room as it's a long term and expensive fix and is at odds with the development plans of the port, resource extraction, and real estate developers across the province. No wonder everyone is desperately looking for a 'silver bullet' fix (excuse the pun) to this issue. Unfortunately, it does not exist.
A seal cull is a bandage on an axe wound. It could temporarily help but there are much bigger issues to tackle if we actually care about the long term health of wild salmon. Habitat is the elephant in the room as it's a long term and expensive fix and is at odds with the development plans of the port, resource extraction, and real estate developers across the province. No wonder everyone is desperately looking for a 'silver bullet' fix (excuse the pun) to this issue. Unfortunately, it does not exist.
Apparently, the FN have the legal right to harvest Seals and Sea Lions and we are actively exploring this option. I will keep the members posted as to our progress, but, it looks like this movement to cull the seals is gaining a lot of traction. There are a lot of people getting involved in trying to resolve this issue.
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wildmanyeah
Crew Member
Last FM I know to harvest seals legally was an old FN guy in Campbell river and this is going back to like 1987. He was a really old elder back then and considered it part of his culture and heritage. Others may have different examples but this is the only one i know personal to be true. FN pretty much stopped harvesting seals in the early 1900's. It's no longer considered part of their culture and heritage. Don't ask me how that makes sense I dont get it. It seems like it stopped being part of their heritage when they started to commercial fish and the fur trade ended but hey what do i know.
"In the “pre-contact” days, hundreds of Mowachaht people occupied the village in the summer, taking advantage of the area’s abundant marine resources, including fish, seals and sea otters. Rows of cedar longhouses lined the spit of land.
The village was also the reputed epicentre of the Nuu-chah-nulth people’s storied whaling culture. Generations of whale hunters are said to have performed secret purifying rituals at a shrine behind the village before heading out to sea.
The arrival in 1778 of British explorer, Capt. James Cook and his crew ushered in a period of dramatic change. Villagers eagerly traded sea otter pelts, fish hooks and carvings for knives, nails and anything else with metal.
The natives left a favourable impression on the Europeans, who dubbed the harbour “Friendly Cove.”
As the fur-trade era ended, natives turned to other pursuits, such as seal hunting and commercial fishing. The 19th century, however, saw a sharp decline in the native population due to disease, inter-tribal warfare and the advent of residential schools.
in the mid-1900s, Yuquot still buzzed with about 300 residents, some having returned after the closure of a nearby cannery. But by the late 1960s, the numbers dwindled. With the closure of a day school and little federal support for the unemployed, villagers began moving to Gold River, B.C., with promises of pulp mill jobs that largely went unfulfilled."
http://nationalpost.com/news/canada...tory-and-the-village-where-one-couple-remains
ILHG
Crew Member
wildmanyeah
Crew Member
Fisheries Minister makes some scary comments at the end!
searun
Well-Known Member
Maybe the Fisheries Minister is foreshadowing closure or significant reductions of the Area G and F troll fisheries, reducing rec fishery by 35%, including a coast-wide max chinook size retention. 
then,...handing over to FN to create economic opportunity and reconciliation. Excellent, party on Garth!
then,...handing over to FN to create economic opportunity and reconciliation. Excellent, party on Garth!wildmanyeah
Crew Member
Maybe the Fisheries Minister is foreshadowing closure or significant reductions of the Area G and F troll fisheries, reducing rec fishery by 35%, including a coast-wide max chinook size retention.
Yep Fish are easy currency for reconciliation. Rather then the government give them other economic opportunities we are getting Scrwed over.
We need to make a seal market so they can make Some money off that and not salmon.
I think that the DFO have been blindsided by the overwhelming pressure that they are now getting regarding the ongoing damage that the seal and sea lion problem is having on our fisheries. The focus of finding a solution to this massive problem is shifting from studying the effect that the seals are having on the inbound salmon to the decimating affect that they are having on the millions of outgoing salmon smolts. This problem is a lot bigger than anyone has ever imagined and there are now a lot of high level folks involved in this issue and this movement is really starting to get some traction. The most powerful lobby group that the Sporties and Commercial sectors have are the FN and they are now getting actively involved. To no ones surprise, the FN community now own Ottawa. Closing small areas to fishing or to whale watching is not going to solve the problem of the starving whales. The whales are starving because millions and millions of salmon smolts each year are being intercepted by the seals and are not reaching the ocean. A delegation from the 100 Fraser River FN chiefs are in Ottawa as we speak and my bet is that we will soon see some action on the part of the DFO re the seals.
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1stLite
Member
Me too. But this is serious stuff this time around and what is coming down here if the DFO doesn't step up to the plate and deal with this issue is a massive law suit concerning the mismanagement of our fisheries by the FN which they will win as they have won many of their other suits against the DFO.
'It's the Wild West out here': Gulf Islanders raise alarm over too many whale-watching boats
Industry says it has voluntary guidelines but new federal regulations expected to be tougher
Eric Rankin · CBC News · Posted: May 26, 2018
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...-over-too-many-whale-watching-boats-1.4677303
Derby
Crew Member
Protest what? where? who will tee it? pay for it? Protest FN fisheries? Best to learn to embrace the new land lords, work with them & build a relationship....
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