When you compare on a per capita bases what the USA has spent on Pacific salmon habitat restoration and salmon enhancement over the last 10 years or so it is pathetic what our Federal government has spent on Pacific Salmon. We are many billions underfunded compared to the US and for much of this period we did not have a major recession as they did and were in a position to spend more than the US per capita yet spent virtually nothing. All we see is tiny amounts like 5 million over years, usually for more studies and recently perhaps a 100 million or so again over years to try and buy an election, usually announced with great fanfare and with very little of it going to actually directly increasing Pacific Salmon in the ocean. These pathetic amounts are the equivalent of one grain of sand on long beach. It is not like they don't have the tax dollars. When it comes to rolling out the pork and corporate welfare, especially in Central Canada, they always seem to have billions, many, many billions.
In BC it has usually been those associated with the Public Sector Fishery that has had to fund raise and volunteer on small salmon habitat restoration projects and salmon enhancement with Ottawa and DFO doing little and in some cases not only not helping with even token amounts of financial support, but actually getting in the way to block and limit those efforts. Even a few hundred thousand would make a huge difference to stream keepers and volunteer hatchery and Chinook enhancement projects. There are many other great examples like barrier projects on poison creosote coated pilings to protect herring eggs which would make a difference. You can't have more salmon without salmon food. A lot of the funds raised by anglers for projects like these are drying up as fishing derby fund raisers are being cancelled.
Why do we have a thread on this forum to try and raise $10,000 towards the Sooke Chinook Enhancement Project. Why are the Public Sector Fishery volunteers having to work themselves to death to fund raise and put more Chinook into JDF where the SRKW occasionally travel through. They should not be having to fund raise, the volunteer work they do with the salmon is enough. We should have a Federal Politician turn up with a check for half a million and tell our volunteers here it is, get more Chinook into JDF and get everyone of them tagged and clipped, how soon can you scale up and how can we help, --- now that is a fantasy. That could be done for a great many Public Sectors Fishery volunteer projects all along this coast and there are many worthy examples. That would actually be Sunny Ways.