How Effective are SKRW Sanctuaries...Really?

[mbowers]

Also the V2V ferry launched around the same time 3 years ago. So simultaneously there are 2 new huge catamarans running around at ludicrous speed trying to get as close to whales as they may and then the whales leave..

https://www.timescolonist.com/news/...tarts-service-may-1-fares-revealed-1.10005191

Thankfully one cat down.

https://www.goldstreamgazette.com/n...ompany-shuts-down-all-operations-immediately/

No more whale disturbances and no more swamping the transom or throwing the boat onto the ramp at Cattle Point from ferry waves either. Whew!

 

[SpringVelocity]

That wasnt a suprise. I hope clipper does the Vancouver route.

 

[ziggy]

Not effective at all, apparently the whales thought they were banned as well, must have got the same memo. Seriously what’s the point of a sanctuary when the whales don’t show up. Makes more sense to declare it a sanctuary only when the whales are there, too bad DFO can’t figure that out. ENGO’s are happy though their closure plan probably dragged in a fair bit of money and they proved their Mastery of the Minister!

 

[beemer]

Not effective at all, apparently the whales thought they were banned as well, must have got the same memo. Seriously what’s the point of a sanctuary when the whales don’t show up. Makes more sense to declare it a sanctuary only when the whales are there, too bad DFO can’t figure that out. ENGO’s are happy though their closure plan probably dragged in a fair bit of money and they proved their Mastery of the Minister!

Lets not forget the waterfront residents of Pender and Saturna. The largest number of complaints fielded by DFO regarding whalewatching activities were from this group.
Whalewatching needs to be regulated like any other fishery. DFO needs to create a "Pay to Play" system based on area and seat capacity.

beemer

 

[halimark]

All this whale crap is just a smokescreen to get more chinook into the native gill nets up and down the Fraser. By all accounts DFO succeeded in their mission to do this.
Natives, somewhat happy but looking for more, everybody else, not so much.

I am dumbfounded that people on here still believe or think that any closed area or sanctuary has anything to do with dam whales. onefish you see it as I do, REALITY. Did those who attended any of the meetings not see things as I did. Its all BS, smokescreen and has NOTHING to do with more safer whales. When the scientist told me/US that SRKW will starve to death because there are no springs while swimming thru schools of chum, pinks and other species. Only a fool thinks DFO's plan is to save a whale.

As for the noise created by any ship, boat or log, has ANYONE seen whales swim away to avoid this noise that hurts them?? I have never seen whales act like they are being disturbed or impacted by a boat. This includes 450ft warships doing 18+ knts with killer whales, dolphins, porpoise playing in bow wakes or stern waves.

Its all BS guys. There are ulterior motives to DFO and Mr Trudeaus idiots.

HM

 

[ziggy]

Lets not forget the waterfront residents of Pender and Saturna. The largest number of complaints fielded by DFO regarding whalewatching activities were from this group.
Whalewatching needs to be regulated like any other fishery. DFO needs to create a "Pay to Play" system based on area and seat capacity.

beemer

I have to say if the residents of Pender and Saturna are complaining about whale watching activities as opposed to fishing, I’m all for it. Where does DFO publish number and type of complaints?

 

[profisher]

Whale watchers should be regulated and tbey are. Complaints about infractions that can be verified are perfect. One user group medling in anothers business is not. I don’t want whale watchers working against my interests in the industry. We will all likely loose in that scenario. If infractions of the rules are a problem then more enforcement is justified. Us and them.

 

[Derby]

agree with u on that Pro fish...that being said the Whale watchers were working against us last spring... it would be some much better if we all worked towards a common goal..

 

[SpringVelocity]

agree with u on that Pro fish...that being said the Whale watchers were working against us last spring... it would be some much better if we all worked towards a common goal..

100 percent agreed.

 

[agentaqua]

...As for the noise created by any ship, boat or log, has ANYONE seen whales swim away to avoid this noise that hurts them?? I have never seen whales act like they are being disturbed or impacted by a boat. This includes 450ft warships doing 18+ knts with killer whales, dolphins, porpoise playing in bow wakes or stern waves.

Ya, agreed it's mostly BS - however there is some science out there if we were to use it in determining effects - like this report: https://b-ok.cc/book/671342/54fba4

 

[profisher]

I would say that not agreeing on boat distance to whales issues is not really them working against us. We don’t agree with them as well. An example of what I’m talking about is their group retaliating against us by lobbying DFO to shut us down to save more Chinook salmon. That could happen if they perceive that we are lobbying to get them shut down. As I said then nobody wins. Right now we are both on the same side of the Chinook/Orca food issue, we both want more fish. That is good. As far as proximity to whales...let them fight their own battle on that one and we fight ours. They don’t have to be linked as we operate in totally different ways when interacting with whales. They need to get as close to them as possible without hindering their foraging, we don’t.

 

[Derby]

Are you sure that they didn't lobby to shut us down? As for the distance issue.... of a course a group can lobby for what works best for there them.. The question I ask is what does the best available science tell us that will work for the SRKW & there well being?.... I saw on more then one occasion in 2019 of both Public sport fishers & Whale watchers well within 100m of marine animals... We as sport fisherman & whale watchers need to learn to turn away .... not towards whales when we see them and respect the bubbles either it be 200m or 400m ( are we loving them to death?) i do agree that the Public sport fishery shouldn't throw any groups under the bus but learn to work together based on the best science available...

 

[fishin solo]

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6_E-5ThKOX/?igshid=kzf3deot31k7

here’s a link this rich kid always on the whales well within the bubble. He’s always claiming they come to him every single time no matter what..... he’s taken a lot of his videos down now though...... pretty ****** he’s also a relief guide sometimes as well. He’s one of the Doman kids

 

[ziggy]

Are you sure that they didn't lobby to shut us down? As for the distance issue.... of a course a group can lobby for what works best for there them.. The question I ask is what does the best available science tell us that will work for the SRKW & there well being?.... I saw on more then one occasion in 2019 of both Public sport fishers & Whale watchers well within 100m of marine animals... We as sport fisherman & whale watchers need to learn to turn away .... not towards whales when we see them and respect the bubbles either it be 200m or 400m ( are we loving them to death?) i do agree that the Public sport fishery shouldn't throw any groups under the bus but learn to work together based on the best science available...

Agree bubble vs sanctuary makes the most sense. Bubble ensures the vessels stay away from the whales wherever they happen to be anywhere on the coast. The sanctuary on the other hand is just an artificial area in one small area that is closed whether whales are there or not. Isn’t rocket science! One provides protection for whales wherever they are, the other provides protection for them on the odd occasion they are in one small area. DFO logic?

 

[bryce]

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6_E-5ThKOX/?igshid=kzf3deot31k7

here’s a link this rich kid always on the whales well within the bubble. He’s always claiming they come to him every single time no matter what..... he’s taken a lot of his videos down now though...... pretty ****** he’s also a relief guide sometimes as well. He’s one of the Doman kids

There’s a reason he has been fired from most of the lodges on the coast lol

 

[profisher]

Ziggy, the bubble we proposed works best for us...but probably not as well for them and is why they didn't agree with us. ...they don't like the sanctuaries either, so we have that in common. The bubble wouldn't work for most larger commercial traffic either....what would the Spirit of VI do in Active Pass if it had to jog over 400m to avoid a pod of SRKW's...go aground?

 

[ziggy]

Ziggy, the bubble we proposed works best for us...but probably not as well for them and is why they didn't agree with us. ...they don't like the sanctuaries either, so we have that in common. The bubble wouldn't work for most larger commercial traffic either....what would the Spirit of VI do in Active Pass if it had to jog over 400m to avoid a pod of SRKW's...go aground?

I get your point but it sure blows a hole in DFO’s claim that noise is a problem, but only noise from recreational fishing vessels. As you point out Commercial vessels may have to voluntarily slow down, but we get banned. I’d like to see the science behind that! I mean really the massive tonnage of a cargo freighter compared to a small fishing boat? I call BS. Either noise is a factor or it isn’t. Currently we have closures because they are an easy solution. Just send out a message, the honest people will abide by it and you can tell the public you’re taking action. No actual resources expended!

As for whale watchers, pretty sure they have relaxed regulations already concerning approaching the whales, which once again from a noise perspective makes absolutely no sense.

 

[searun]

Ya, agreed it's mostly BS - however there is some science out there if we were to use it in determining effects - like this report: https://b-ok.cc/book/671342/54fba4

I agree, there is good scientific evidence to support vessel noise and physical disturbance does indeed impact forage behaviour. We all know SRKW by virtue of their entire range being within waters choked with vessel traffic are not really boat shy in general terms, but when it comes to forage events vessel traffic does have an impact. As others stated, we are all (rec, whale watchers, commercial etc) responsible, and all need to learn to turn away and slowly leave areas where SRKW are present. I witnessed both WW and Rec boats getting within the 400m/200m avoidance zones last summer...we all have a long way to go in terms of learning to avoid whales and let them forage without us being too close.

I would also suggest in light of the recent NOAA and U of WA research, prey availability concerns have a lot more to do with NRKW and Alaskan cousins getting the bigger chinook long before they migrate into the range of SRKW...so those spatial closures or sanctuaries are nothing more than politically motivated feel good actions than actually accomplishing anything that could be scientifically verified.

Also noted, the data clearly demonstrated SRKW were rarely in the actual sanctuaries, so explain this one to me...how can a sanctuary be a sanctuary if it isn't where the whales go?

NOAA paper:
https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/116/52/26682.full.pdf

 

[profisher]

Hungry whales are going to spend the vast majority of their time where the most abundant supply of food is available. The same very reason why so many Transients are now frequenting the south Island waters when a decade ago they were way more scarce. A static sanctuary is a waste of time as fish swim and as fishermen we all know fish are where you find them, here today gone tomorrow.

 

[ziggy]

Hungry whales are going to spend the vast majority of their time where the most abundant supply of food is available. The same very reason why so many Transients are now frequenting the south Island waters when a decade ago they were way more scarce. A static sanctuary is a waste of time as fish swim and as fishermen we all know fish are where you find them, here today gone tomorrow.

Yeah, I guess though the ENGO’s have sold the “Resident” monicker to an unwitting Public for so long now that many believe the whales simply stay here. The fact that they are actually migratory within a pretty vast area is rarely stated because it doesn’t fit well with the ENGO agenda. I guess admitting they are residents of California, Oregon ,Washington as well as a large chunk of the BC Coast makes local fund raising for our whales difficult. Hunters hunt which means searching out prey, it’s the way nature designed them.