Sports fishing to be banned on Skeena next year?

OldBlackDog

OldBlackDog

Well-Known Member
Bob Hooton,
A sign of things to come. If anyone dares challenge such unilateral pronouncements the usual labels come out - racist, bigot, re neck, etc.

When do we begin to hold First Nations feet to the fire? When do we expose the fish carnage atrocities they never admit to and are never held accountable for? How much longer does the fastest growing segment of the BC population get a blank cheque to exert whatever pressure it likes on a supply of target animals that is trending in the opposite direction as its own numbers? When do the spokespersons for this new government, empowered by far off Ottawa, begin to walk the talk about conservation and sustainability?

Is anyone paying attention to the proportion of that evil commercial fishing sector now comprised of First Nations vessel owners? I once wrote in a book the FNs don't get to kill the same fish twice. Either they are commercial fishers or they are food, social and ceremonial fishers.

If the people behind this latest unilateral declaration think they're doing anything to promote a brighter future for themselves they're living in another world.

http://cfnrfm.ca/gitxsan-government-announces-recreational…/


CFNRFM.CA

Gitxsan Government announces recreational closure of Skeena River for 2019 season - CFNR :: First Nations Radio
 
OldBlackDog said:
Bob Hooton,
A sign of things to come. If anyone dares challenge such unilateral pronouncements the usual labels come out - racist, bigot, re neck, etc.

When do we begin to hold First Nations feet to the fire? When do we expose the fish carnage atrocities they never admit to and are never held accountable for? How much longer does the fastest growing segment of the BC population get a blank cheque to exert whatever pressure it likes on a supply of target animals that is trending in the opposite direction as its own numbers? When do the spokespersons for this new government, empowered by far off Ottawa, begin to walk the talk about conservation and sustainability?

Is anyone paying attention to the proportion of that evil commercial fishing sector now comprised of First Nations vessel owners? I once wrote in a book the FNs don't get to kill the same fish twice. Either they are commercial fishers or they are food, social and ceremonial fishers.

If the people behind this latest unilateral declaration think they're doing anything to promote a brighter future for themselves they're living in another world.

http://cfnrfm.ca/gitxsan-government-announces-recreational…/


CFNRFM.CA

Gitxsan Government announces recreational closure of Skeena River for 2019 season - CFNR :: First Nations Radio
Click to expand...
Scary stuff. Especially when Trudope will back them in the name of reconciliation.
 
Get ready here comes a 4th level of Government! As a Canadian, I'm getting tired of being taxed to death. I'm all for respecting the rights of FN's, but I'm not at all in favour of another confusing level of government. Doing business in Canada is about to get mired down in yet more bureaucracy. The Feds have to think this through very carefully. I want either or...either a Federal Government and delegated authority to the Provincial and Municipal level or a FN Government to replace one of those 3 tiers, but not both. They have to figure this out or we will be so entwined in yet more levels of confusion. Sort it out Justin, this was once a "self-government" for FN's which I totally support, but now its spilling over into a new 4th level of government which will make doing business in Canada impossible.

https://www.westerlynews.ca/news/first-nations-ecosystem-service-fee-in-the-works-for-tofino/
 
Reconciliation or Chaos?
Yesterday’s announcement by the Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs can hardly be brushed aside as inconsequential. Whereas I have zero faith in Fisheries Minister Wilkinson’s intervention here to address an increasingly hostile situation, I refuse to just sit and watch without at least some attempt to hold his feet to the fire. So, one more letter:

Dear Minister Wilkinson:

On Friday, December 6 the airwaves in northern British Columbia bristled over an announcement on radio station CFNR, Canada’s First Nations Radio. A copy of the message is cut and pasted below.

Screenshot-2018-12-07-06.54.56.png


Mr. Minister, I have several questions I believe command answers. However, before I get to those I wish to bring to your attention some recent background.

In 2017, with virtually no advance notice, your department closed all recreational fishing for salmon in the Skeena River and its principal tributaries. The closure was justified by your staff as a desperately needed measure to conserve seriously depressed chinook salmon stocks. The angling and tourism communities along the Skeena suffered major damage as prepaid trips were cancelled and normal business activity eliminated. To say it was a bitter pill for the community of Terrace, in particular, to swallow is an understatement.

As the days of closure passed it became obvious conservation did not apply to the First Nations community. Eventually it surfaced that your staff had engaged in government to government discussions with the Skeena FNs and a very significant allocation of chinook salmon had been agreed to. As you might imagine, closed door sessions that resulted in gill net fisheries for the same species non-indigenous anglers were forbidden from angling for (even on a single barbless hook, artificial lure only, catch and release basis) do nothing to build confidence that a public resource is being managed according to any reasonable conservation standards.

Now, fast forward to yesterday’s declaration by the Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs. Here are my questions:

  1. What specific action does your department and government intend to take to protect the interests of the non-indigenous taxpayers of this province and country, the people who pay for your department to manage fish and fish habitat for all Canadians?
  2. How far does your department and government intend to take the growing recklessness of reconciliation? Clearly there are many conservation concerns evident for salmon and steelhead in the Skeena drainage and elsewhere in British Columbia. Do you think those resources can absorb continuing pressure by FN fishers who are obviously no longer bound by your once upon a time clearly and exhaustively trumpeted priorities whereby conservation took precedence over any FN fisheries?
  3. What do you think such self-serving unilateral proclamations by the FN community do for any future relationship building between it and non-indigenous people in the Skeena area (or anywhere else)?
  4. Do you understand the perceptions of non-indigenous Canadians and how offensive this proclamation is? Do you appreciate how widely publicized messages such as this influence the entire economy of the Skeena area and threaten to destroy its reputation as a desirable or accessible destination?
Myself and many others anxiously await your thorough response to these questions at a pivotal moment in the history of fisheries management in British Columbia.

Sincerely,

R.S. Hooton

CC Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development

Quinn Bender, Editor, Terrace Standard

Chris Gareau, Editor, Smithers Interior News
 
If the FN's continue to do stuff like this all on their own, one can easily see it ending up in a court case. The outcome could be interesting for sure!
 
Will be interesting to see if the North Coast SFAB first of all puts a motion to DFO to deal with this.

Second, if they question the Minister as to who actually controls the fishery.

If the FN are going to take a stand on this, do you think they will enforce it with weapons?

Could get very interesting. This is not happening in Vancouver area so, the rules can change in the country.
 
The Sparrow case is largely considered a significant victory for Indigenous rights in Canada. The ruling provided a code for interpretation of section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, and it confirmed the Crown’s constitutional duty to provide certain guarantees to Indigenous peoples (seeLaw of Fiduciary Obligation.) However, some critics argue that, while the Sparrow ruling upholds Indigenous rights, it also confirms that the government can legally justify infringing on those rights.



wildmanyeah said:
Sparrow!

View attachment 41796
Click to expand...
 
The Gitxsan did this last year as well. Would be interesting find out how many recreational anglers or guides were asked to leave the Skeena and how many actually left.
 
I will be back up there fishing again next year regardless of their BS closure. Unless it comes from DFO, that is the only way I will not be fishing. It’s 2018...one law and equal rights for all Canadians.
 
Gitxsan forming cross-sector salmon management team
Nation again declares closure of fishery in territory for 2019
Quinn Bender
Citing Ottawa’s mismanagement of wild Pacific salmon, the Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs are establishing their own crisis management team to act in an advisory role to the Gitxsan Government. Members will be invited from all sectors, including First Nations, commercial, recreational and both municipal and band councils.

The announcement Dec. 6 comes as the Hereditary Chiefs have also proclaimed an immediate closure in their territory of the Skeena recreational fisheries, in advance of the 2019 angling season.

READ MORE: Recreational catch and release creates lowest impact, highest value: report

In a press release the chiefs say DFO routinely ignores fishing plan recommendations to close the fisheries in the interest of conservation by the Skeena First Nations Technical Committee and Gitxsan Watershed Authority. They say there was no legitimate data to support DFO’s opening of the 2018 recreational fisheries.

“This drastic action is necessary to ensure fish for future generations and to stop DFO actions that cause over fishing, “says Catherine Blackstock (Geel). “It is purely mismanagement for economic purposes.”

The chiefs issued a similar announcement in the 2018 season. Hereditary Chief Cliff Sampare (Simogyat O’yee) said the Gitxsan feel the declaration of a closed fishery is supported by the Supreme Court of Canada’s Delgamuukw Case, a ruling in part against the province to grant the Gitxsan aboriginal title on the land based on evidence of oral histories.

Because the Gitxsan are still in treaty negotiations, Sampare said the federal government however excludes the Gitxsan from meaningful involvement in natural resource decisions.

READ MORE: Salmon closures a devastating blow to businesses

DFO spokesperson at the time said the department does not recognize Gitxsan fishing closures.

“[It] is not a DFO closure and will not be enforced by DFO fishery officers. However, anyone thinking of fishing in the area should be aware of the potential for conflict.”

Sampare stressed their position is a non-violent action. Fishers will be treated as trespassers and asked to leave.

On the recent closure announcement, Sampare asks the governments of Canada and B.C. to join their crisis management team. “We understand that this industry is worth at least $50 million [annually]. We will work together. Until then all must stay away.”
 
Bob Hooton
It just keeps getting better. To those of us familiar with the Gitxsan fishing practices on the Skeena over the many years of observation, this latest is about as hypocritical a statement as one could imagine. Its been abundantly clear since the first recreational fisher descended on the Skeena country that First Nations people took a dim view of angling. That got much worse when steelhead conservation initiatives imposed on the commercial fishery (made up of a high proportion of FN gill netters) began to turn the screws on their fishing time and conditions. Dissatisfaction escalated when catch and release regulations descended ("playing with our food"). The perception was the "rights" of commercial fishermen were being compromised. After all, they were the good guys saving steelhead being sent upstream to be harassed and killed by those evil anglers.

So, the Gitxsans claim there is a chinook conservation problem that was crystal clear to them going into the 2018 fishing season. DFO certainly agreed and slam dunked the recreational fishery. With all this going on, DFO and the entire Skeena First Nations community were behind closed doors developing an allocation of chinook for FNs. Something in excess of 4,000 chinook met their end courtesy in-river gill nets as a result. That is only the legally authorized and reported harvest. Don't ever think it represented the total harvest.

Ah, but its those evil anglers that are the conservation issue and the Gitxsan's have every "right" to close the river and deny any non-indigenous person access anywhere in their territory. Any bets that the sweet deal between guides and the Gitxsans on the lower Kispiox and adjacent Skeena will prevail?

I think its time to trot out the definition of anarchy.

https://www.northernsentinel.com/…/gitxsan-forming-cross-…/…
 
Whitebuck said:
I will be back up there fishing again next year regardless of their BS closure. Unless it comes from DFO, that is the only way I will not be fishing. It’s 2018...one law and equal rights for all Canadians.
Click to expand...
Actually now I recall that last year DFO did agree with the band partially and closures were enacted in certain areas and tribs.
 
OldBlackDog said:
Reconciliation or Chaos?
Yesterday’s announcement by the Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs can hardly be brushed aside as inconsequential. Whereas I have zero faith in Fisheries Minister Wilkinson’s intervention here to address an increasingly hostile situation, I refuse to just sit and watch without at least some attempt to hold his feet to the fire. So, one more letter:

Dear Minister Wilkinson:

On Friday, December 6 the airwaves in northern British Columbia bristled over an announcement on radio station CFNR, Canada’s First Nations Radio. A copy of the message is cut and pasted below.

Screenshot-2018-12-07-06.54.56.png


Mr. Minister, I have several questions I believe command answers. However, before I get to those I wish to bring to your attention some recent background.

In 2017, with virtually no advance notice, your department closed all recreational fishing for salmon in the Skeena River and its principal tributaries. The closure was justified by your staff as a desperately needed measure to conserve seriously depressed chinook salmon stocks. The angling and tourism communities along the Skeena suffered major damage as prepaid trips were cancelled and normal business activity eliminated. To say it was a bitter pill for the community of Terrace, in particular, to swallow is an understatement.

As the days of closure passed it became obvious conservation did not apply to the First Nations community. Eventually it surfaced that your staff had engaged in government to government discussions with the Skeena FNs and a very significant allocation of chinook salmon had been agreed to. As you might imagine, closed door sessions that resulted in gill net fisheries for the same species non-indigenous anglers were forbidden from angling for (even on a single barbless hook, artificial lure only, catch and release basis) do nothing to build confidence that a public resource is being managed according to any reasonable conservation standards.

Now, fast forward to yesterday’s declaration by the Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs. Here are my questions:

  1. What specific action does your department and government intend to take to protect the interests of the non-indigenous taxpayers of this province and country, the people who pay for your department to manage fish and fish habitat for all Canadians?
  2. How far does your department and government intend to take the growing recklessness of reconciliation? Clearly there are many conservation concerns evident for salmon and steelhead in the Skeena drainage and elsewhere in British Columbia. Do you think those resources can absorb continuing pressure by FN fishers who are obviously no longer bound by your once upon a time clearly and exhaustively trumpeted priorities whereby conservation took precedence over any FN fisheries?
  3. What do you think such self-serving unilateral proclamations by the FN community do for any future relationship building between it and non-indigenous people in the Skeena area (or anywhere else)?
  4. Do you understand the perceptions of non-indigenous Canadians and how offensive this proclamation is? Do you appreciate how widely publicized messages such as this influence the entire economy of the Skeena area and threaten to destroy its reputation as a desirable or accessible destination?
Myself and many others anxiously await your thorough response to these questions at a pivotal moment in the history of fisheries management in British Columbia.

Sincerely,

R.S. Hooton

CC Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development

Quinn Bender, Editor, Terrace Standard

Chris Gareau, Editor, Smithers Interior News
Click to expand...
OldBlackDog said:
Bob Hooton,
A sign of things to come. If anyone dares challenge such unilateral pronouncements the usual labels come out - racist, bigot, re neck, etc.

When do we begin to hold First Nations feet to the fire? When do we expose the fish carnage atrocities they never admit to and are never held accountable for? How much longer does the fastest growing segment of the BC population get a blank cheque to exert whatever pressure it likes on a supply of target animals that is trending in the opposite direction as its own numbers? When do the spokespersons for this new government, empowered by far off Ottawa, begin to walk the talk about conservation and sustainability?

Is anyone paying attention to the proportion of that evil commercial fishing sector now comprised of First Nations vessel owners? I once wrote in a book the FNs don't get to kill the same fish twice. Either they are commercial fishers or they are food, social and ceremonial fishers.

If the people behind this latest unilateral declaration think they're doing anything to promote a brighter future for themselves they're living in another world.

http://cfnrfm.ca/gitxsan-government-announces-recreational…/


CFNRFM.CA

Gitxsan Government announces recreational closure of Skeena River for 2019 season - CFNR :: First Nations Radio
Click to expand...
 



Bob Hooton
The declaration by the Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs that the recreational fishery on the Skeena will be closed in 2019 continues to attract the attention it deserves from all except our governments. The latest round involves a new group, Salmon for the Future, that looks to have been formed shortly after the Chiefs' December 6 announcement (which can be found by scrolling down a few posts). Late last night a member of that group sent me a document with the label "News Release for distribution". It is very useful background.

Predictably, the move by the Chiefs is fast becoming a line in the sand. Local people are angry, businesses are wondering what they should be telling prospective customers, service providers are worried the dark cloud of uncertainty now created will polarize communities as never before. If governments, all three of them in this case, don't recognize all this they must be anaesthetized.

The news release is evidence of the hypocrisy inherent in the Gitxsan Chiefs' position. The illustration of who harvests what proportion of Skeena bound chinook puts an exclamation point on that release.

Wake up governments!!! Your silence is gas on the fire.
 
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