South Resident Killer Whale - DFO Preliminary Management Proposal for 2020 Season

[Derby]

Good afternoon IMAG and TWG members,


The Government of Canada has announced the second year of enhanced measures to protect Southern Resident Killer Whales. We look forward to discussing the suite of 2020 management measures later this afternoon as part of the technical briefing.


News Release:

https://www.canada.ca/en/transport-...-protect-southern-resident-killer-whales.html


2020 Southern Resident killer whale management measures:

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/whales-baleines/srkw-measures-mesures-ers-eng.html


Thank you,

Andrew J L Thomson

Regional Director | Directeur régional

Fisheries Management Branch | Direction de la gestion des pêches

Pacific Region | Région du Pacifique

Fisheries & Oceans Canada | Pêches et Océans Canada

 

[Ringo]

I saw Wilkinson on the 6pm news, talking about the new measures and that the “fisherperson” must turn off their sonars when in 1km radius of whales and I thought about our tax $$ that go into this pig’s pocket. What a fuc*in’ bunch of incompetents at the helm. Sad days....

https://globalnews.ca/news/6917222/new-killer-whale-rules-b-c/

 

[halimark]

Come on its SUNNY WAYS, I remember lots on here calling me out for election time, something about how Rec fishers and the resource will benefit after Mr. Harper left. How's that working out? No worry, if their plan works there wont be rec fishers very soon. Bet the river will be netted like normal. Poor starving whales. Also seen the part about whale watchers bubble closer with Fed approval? Lets send a letter, petition or email??

HM

 

[wildmanyeah]

I know pender is still screwed but this a lot better then it was. Without everyone's support and letters we would been way worse off. Remember that they basically wanted to shut down basically the whole south coast fishery from area 20 to area 29.

 

[SpringVelocity]

I know pender is still screwed but this a lot better then it was. Without everyone's support and letters we would been way worse off. Remember that they basically wanted to shut down basically the whole south coast fishery from area 20 to area 29.

Correct.

 

[agentaqua]

Sunny ways? - well I never subscribed to that narrative irrespective of what politician nor what party got elected - and Harper's reign was abysmal wrt impacts to checks & balances on protecting wild salmon - thanks for agreeing.

My perception on politicians and parties is that you can't trust any of them - and as far as parties go - they are basically all the same and focused on getting & maintaining power & scooping up the extra goodies like extra pensions if appointed to cabinet for supporting their once party leader and getting rewarded for not disagreeing. And afterwards - there's a legal firm or PR firm awaiting them.

I believe that the current crop of crooks running Canada felt it had to mirror NOAAs SRKW restrictions to keep seafood flowing into the USA - and then used the self-proclaimed hand-picked marine mammal experts to justify that response. I see they didn't come out and admit other impacts and other responses like seals and seal culls.

 

[ziggy]

I know pender is still screwed but this a lot better then it was. Without everyone's support and letters we would been way worse off. Remember that they basically wanted to shut down basically the whole south coast fishery from area 20 to area 29.

Needless to say I won’t be celebrating. Hopefully the area fishers that didn’t get shut down won’t assume a “sucks to be you” stance”. I’ll be watching to see if there’s any pushback from our reps. This is how divide and conquer works folks, every shutdown/sacrifice of an area reduces the potential pool of people who will join the fight for public fishery. The sanctuary makes no sense wherever they put it! Let’s not forget that! The move will to expand them, with a reminder that we were OK with the Bluffs so if it was a good idea there..........

 

[wildmanyeah]

Needless to say I won’t be celebrating. Hopefully the area fishers that didn’t get shut down won’t assume a “sucks to be you” stance”. I’ll be watching to see if there’s any pushback from our reps. This is how divide and conquer works folks, every shutdown/sacrifice of an area reduces the potential pool of people who will join the fight for public fishery. The sanctuary makes no sense wherever they put it! Let’s not forget that! The move will to expand them, with a reminder that we were OK with the Bluffs so if it was a good idea there..........

I sent you a pm

 

[High Time]

I think that they should rename Pender Bluffs, "Sacrificial Lamb Bluffs". DFO was not alone in writing us off... I wrote my letters,I sent my emails,I went to the meetings and demonstrations,
I'm out of this fight...

 

[SpringVelocity]

Needless to say I won’t be celebrating. Hopefully the area fishers that didn’t get shut down won’t assume a “sucks to be you” stance”. I’ll be watching to see if there’s any pushback from our reps. This is how divide and conquer works folks, every shutdown/sacrifice of an area reduces the potential pool of people who will join the fight for public fishery. The sanctuary makes no sense wherever they put it! Let’s not forget that! The move will to expand them, with a reminder that we were OK with the Bluffs so if it was a good idea there..........

 

[ziggy]

View attachment 52734

Only when it makes a difference and to the best of my knowledge I’ve seen no current organization that fills that role. Tell me who I need to volunteer with to open the Bluffs? Tell me what organization is advocating for the Recreational Fisherman. I write my MLA, my MP, the Fisheries Minister and Fishery critics and point out what I see as wrong! The cartoon is great I assume the question was who wants to fetch the coffee for the next meeting. Or who wants to organize the meeting to decide when we have the next meeting!

 

[searun]

Only when it makes a difference and to the best of my knowledge I’ve seen no current organization that fills that role. Tell me who I need to volunteer with to open the Bluffs? Tell me what organization is advocating for the Recreational Fisherman. I write my MLA, my MP, the Fisheries Minister and Fishery critics and point out what I see as wrong! The cartoon is great I assume the question was who wants to fetch the coffee for the next meeting. Or who wants to organize the meeting to decide when we have the next meeting!

Oh boy here we go again. Maybe take a moment and attend your local SFAB meeting and ask some questions and learn what is going on. It might make you feel better to beat up on the volunteers who participate in these Technical Working Groups advancing science-based proposals that strike a balance between economic and social activity while providing solid protection for SRKW ensuring we can better manage human impacts - but is that really a responsible and productive approach???

This is a multi-year process with significant political influence from Ottawa - many many efforts have been made to advance alternatives. These kinds of comments simply **** off anyone who has worked hours and days on your behalf. I won't say what I'm really thinking - it would get me banned from this site.

The real key here is people need to learn to avoid whales - leave them alone and stay back 400m...if we ever arrive at a place where it is the social norm to see a whale and drive the other direction, perhaps then these ill conceived sanctuaries would not be in vogue.

 

[ziggy]

Oh boy here we go again. Maybe take a moment and attend your local SFAB meeting and ask some questions and learn what is going on. It might make you feel better to beat up on the volunteers who participate in these Technical Working Groups advancing science-based proposals that strike a balance between economic and social activity while providing solid protection for SRKW ensuring we can better manage human impacts - but is that really a responsible and productive approach???

This is a multi-year process with significant political influence from Ottawa - many many efforts have been made to advance alternatives. These kinds of comments simply **** off anyone who has worked hours and days on your behalf. I won't say what I'm really thinking - it would get me banned from this site.

The real key here is people need to learn to avoid whales - leave them alone and stay back 400m...if we ever arrive at a place where it is the social norm to see a whale and drive the other direction, perhaps then these ill conceived sanctuaries would not be in vogue.

As has been said so often on here the SFAB is an Advisory Group and not an Advocacy Group, so what’s got your knickers in a knot. What pisses me off is DFO makes a decision and hangs the volunteers out to dry and defend it. That should **** them off as well! Do you agree with the whale sanctuaries? Do you think they are science based? Should we all be quiet about them and just accept that some areas simply need to have them? In favour of one in your area? Sounds like in your post you disagree with them, so why the anger when people directly effected do as well?
Nothing in what I posted should offend anyone, maybe go back and read the thread! The cartoon( seems to have disappeared)If that offended you was in reply to a previously posted one ( seems to have not disappeared) that implied if you don’t volunteer at meetings (undefined) then you must be doing nothing. That offended me because it attempts to divide based on age (ageism) and implies advocacy meetings are taking place! Anyone know where these Advocacy meetings are being held? I also will avoid saying what I’m really thinking, but suffice to say I’m more interested in Advocacy than Advisory. Then again my area is hosting a whale sanctuary that I see no science to support and I have no intention of letting the decision makers in DFO forget.

 

[Pearl dog]

What I find interesting is that the sanctuaries aren’t really about fishing per se. As fishermen on this forum it’s often our focus but the closures are to (almost) all vessel traffic. A friend of mine who is a marine pilot finds them as ridiculous as “we” do. And all of us who frequent the area know full well how the recreational boaters ignored or were ignorant of it. Every day, all summer, dozens of boats transited the area off pender after clearing customs or just visiting bedwell/poets. There was little to no visible enforcement. Not unlike gun bans, it was really only the honest people being punished.

So my question to anyone who knows is, was enforcement discussed? Who makes the decisions on enforcement and implementation? Is there a plan? Is there an increased budget? What department is responsible? I know none of my letters with questions were even responded to. My recent conversation at the bluffs just last week with both Dfo and RCMP made it clear that the troops on the “ground” have no idea. So who do I ask? And the big question that so far no one can answer for me is....why are these areas closed when the whales aren’t even there? Which is most of the time. Were flexible closures even discussed? Who advocated for them and who said no? Why? The whole thing seems totally shrouded in mystery. That’s what’s so frustrating. Everyone wants to save a whale but these measures aren’t doing anything or they are really about something else.

 

[wildmanyeah]

April 16- 2020
SOUTHERN RESIDENTS - Thur, Apr 16 - Strait of Georgia/Active Pass - 19:45 - 21:00 - We spotted J pod (J38) just offshore of Galiano Island at 7:45pm last night. We heard them pass Active Pass and continue down the Strait of Georgia at 9pm in the dark. -Rachelle Hayden

April 5 - 2020
SOUTHERN RESIDENTS - April 5 - Strait of Georgia - Enjoy these as the #chiefwhalespotter and I did, as it was a much needed encounter and a breather from days that have felt like weeks. There was some foraging at the Hump and as they crossed the Willaby Shoals area of Cape Mudge. Then back south they went, next stop Kitty Coleman, I thought, then a friend from that way messaged earlier......she was listening to blows in the dark off her beach house, awesome. a J pod orca tail slapping, J16, J38, J40, J36, J31, and J56 -Nick Templeman

 

[wildmanyeah]

Its interesting it seems J pod decided to go quite north into NRKW territory this spring.

 

[High Time]

Wildman, would be very interested to know where and if that info on SRKW is available to the public. If a website, would very much like the address. Thanks

 

[wildmanyeah]

Wildman, would be very interested to know where and if that info on SRKW is available to the public. If a website, would very much like the address. Thanks

http://www.orcanetwork.org/Main/index.php?categories_file=Sightings

 

[terrin]

Its interesting it seems J pod decided to go quite north into NRKW territory this spring.

↑
Can't say that I concur with your assessment of DFO. I think they were caught between a political rock and a hard place, largely manufactured by the ENGO's. Once that train started rolling down the track, no amount of science and reasonable thinking could stop it. The politicians were falling all over themselves wanting to be seen to be taking "strong action" to earn political brownie points. The so called ENGO experts all used this as a glorious opportunity to pursue their pet theories, which are really no more than informed guess work.

So far all their solutions have done is ruin local economies creating unemployment, and not really accomplished anything of substance (supported by objective science). So I lay blame at the feet of the ENGO groups and their supporters who masterfully spin doctored this into a marvellous fund raising scheme. Once this issue fizzles, they will be off to the next great campaign.

I just hope we (I include recreational fishers in that) can learn to leave the whales alone, give them room and allow them to forage in peace. They will need it, because their northern cousins are putting the squeeze on their food. The good thing is SRKW appear to have learned to move where there is food, spending a lot more time off the Sacramento where there we good returns of Chinook and also where they didn't have to compete with NRKW.
Might also be that the NRKW sent a scout down and found nobody home so some decided to come down for a spell. Next year the scout might find them up further in the SOG and the NRKW will stay up North. In this way the NRKW can flush out some seals that compete with the SRKW diet and everyone wins. I'm pretty sure the SRKW have not just recently learned to find and follow the food. Like I said they fo;;ow the Food NRKW has nothing to do with it.

 

[wildmanyeah]

Wow you sure are inferring a lot from what I posted lol

All I did was provide a few sitings

Also NRKW don’t eat seals they eat fish.