wish it weren't so :(

[saltydawg]

http://www.timescolonist.com/sports...almon+wasted+First+Nations/5461518/story.html

VANCOUVER — B.C. sport fishermen are set to launch a complaint with federal authorities about the waste of hundreds of pink salmon at a First Nations fishery.

"I can't imagine wastage like that, it's unbelievable," said Brian Braidwood, president of the Steelhead Society of B.C. and manager of the Sea Run Fly and Tackle shop in Coquitlam, B.C.

Braidwood said he plans to submit photos taken by Randy Lee to the federal Fisheries Department.

Lee, a sport fisherman and retired captain with the North Vancouver, B.C., fire department, said he photographed the salmon in totes as well as in piles near Chilliwack, B.C., last week.

Lee said the eyes of the salmon had already been plucked out by birds.

"I don't care who is doing it — waste is waste. I stand up for what I saw. I'm only speaking the truth," he said.

While Lee was there, he said some aboriginal fishermen showed up to load some of the fish by hand into a large vessel, raising questions about whether such fish are fit for human consumption.

"If they were going to take that to market, some poor soul is going to buy an old rotten pink because it had been sitting in the sun," he said.

Grand Chief Ken Malloway of the Sto:lo Tribal Council said that he suspects the breakdown of a commercial buyer's skiff may have contributed to the fish not being picked up as planned. "I don't like it," he said. "I feel bad about fish going to waste."

Malloway said the fish and totes were all gone on Wednesday, one day after the photos were taken, and two days after the native fishery closed.

He doesn't know what ultimately happened to the fish, but said they might have been used as fertilizer.

Fishermen of all sectors this summer have caught about seven million pink salmon in the Fraser River system — the highest in about a decade — out of an estimated run of 17.5 million fish, a figure that is subject to further revision in the coming days.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver S


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/...irst+Nations/5461518/story.html#ixzz1Z8OME3ou

 

[Cuba Libre]

Apologize for the poor quality-- but these were taken recently

Those little white dots are all dead fish.

The text attached to them is as follows:

FOR THOSE WHO SUPPORT THE NATIVE FOOD FISHERY AND BUY THEIR PRODUCT







Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:50:01 -0700

I just got back for a trip up north today, and having too little time to get any work done, and a fine sunny day, I took the opportunity to fly up the Fraser Valley and do a few gravel bar landings that I haven’t had the chance to do for months, whether due to high water or busy work schedule.

What I saw horrified me! All along the river in the Chilliwack area were large scale shore line net fishing operations, many with piles of dead fish rotting in the sun on the beaches, hundreds of dead fish drifting in the shallows in some cases hundreds of yards downstream from the netting location. Since these are shore line netting operations I must assume they were native fisheries since it is an illegal method for all others.

There were large plastic totes of fish, some dumped over with contents spilling out onto the beach, and in many cases nobody around to collect these fish. Other places where gathering of fish was going on while traveling upstream, were abandoned when I flew the return flight about a half hour later.

It was a hot sunny day, and these fish will rot in very short order out of the water.

Normally I support native food fisheries for their own use, but this kind of waste leaves a bad taste of rotting fish in my mouth that will rapidly sour my support for the native fishery.

I intend on notifying the federal fisheries department tomorrow, and also local news media outlets.

DFO says it is a big mystery what happened to the fish stocks in recent years. I think part of the mystery has been solved!

Photos attached. Spread the word, go out there and take your own photos, and tell the world this waste is simply not acceptable!

Rick

Langley BC

 

[Heavyc]

Makes me want to puke with all that waste.

Reminds me of my last trip to coal harbour when the local band had hauled in a load (Im guessing about 70 totes or more) of Pilchards. All the totes didn't have lids and the fish were just wrapped in a plastic bag.

Then left unattended for hours while the ravens and crows had a chowdown.

 

[FishBC.org]

This is disgusting.
Who's managing this fishery exactly?
Obviously isn't DFO.
I know some DFO officers who also would not agree with this, but it's the "bosses" who have their heads up their asses, and up Harper's.

 

[Sculpin]

This is disgusting.
Who's managing this fishery exactly?
Obviously isn't DFO.
I know some DFO officers who also would not agree with this, but it's the "bosses" who have their heads up their asses, and up Harper's.

I totally agree it is with shame that the front line officers have to bow to this kind of crap. Time for it to end. It is good that this kind of crap is hitting the news big time lately. I hope for the sake of the salmon that someone will step in and put an end to this.

How can we let the first nations control the stocks? That is the direction the Fed's and DFO are going. Who is going to stop the madness?

 

[FishBC.org]

I totally agree it is with shame that the front line officers have to bow to this kind of crap. Time for it to end. It is good that this kind of crap is hitting the news big time lately. I hope for the sake of the salmon that someone will step in and put an end to this bu**sh*t!!!!!

How can we let the first nations control the stocks? That is the direction the Fed's and DFO are going. Who is going to stop the madness?

The only way would be challenging the laws probably in a supreme court setting in a unified action of people with a vested interest (EG sportfishermen), but it's getting everyone on the same page that's the problem.
If we stand alone, and sit by watching mismanagment, nothing will ever change. There may be some things in common law, and older law that could help with this. Some research needs to be done.. The Federal Govt is great at hiding behind new laws, when no realizes that there are old laws that can still apply. They'd have people believe everything they're told if they could. Really need a lawyer who's also a fisherman in on this.

Where there's laws there's loop holes, but this could be a long expensive venture , but change always is.

 

[fish4all]

Just a drop in the bucket. here is some more sickening math for you

Natives were allocated 950,000 sox, commercial 350,000

The commercials were kept out of area 13 because there was a higher encounter rate for sockeye in that area when they were attempting to catch there pink quotas. Encounter rate was approx 20-25% sox.

So if the natives took 950,000 sox from the lower straits(where most of the food fishery takes place) then they had to disguard 3,000,000 plus pinks dead as the natives refuse to eat(or cant sell) the pinks.