Area 19/20 SFAB meeting - Victoria/Sooke - Sheraton 7:30 this Wednesday (16th)
- Thread starter Deewar25
- Start date
fish stalker
Active Member
I'm broke as heck but I'm born and raised here, under 35 but have about 4 grey hairs and am female. I am all for russeling up fisherman at boat ramps. I think we need to prove areas are mismanaged and take all info and consernes above the dfo to the fisheries in Ottawa
Sculpin
Well-Known Member
Great post Deewar25. That is why I asked a couple of questions in another thread. These meetings need to be advertised better. If everyone at the meeting threw in a few bucks for an add in the paper I'm sure it would generate more folks. Maybe it's been done before? The radio is pretty good but more expensive. I can't talk as I have never been to one. Going to change that real soon.
The most efficient (cheapest) way to advertise a meeting is email. Finding out about an upcoming meeting is no more difficult than finding out that Sockeye are about to open. I really think that it is more about you want to know about Sockeye opening than an upcoming meeting. It is really easy...there is a meeting each fall and another every spring. Get on the email list, pick up the phone and ask someone if they know when it is, ask the next time your buying gear at the stores....its not an excuse to say I didn't know. I'm not saying everyone has to make every meeting but the room booked should be full of regulars and a good number of newbies.
I've been a director of the Juan De Fuca Salmon Restoration Society since inception in 2001. Up until the last 2 1/2 years we had meetings usually monthly. For the first 7 or so years the meetings seemed fairly fruitless. Lots of ideas, lots of arguing and little actual progress on any project. It would have been easy to have quit and walked away. Some did. Then out of the blue things began to happen, quickly. Now we have acquired a long term lease on a beautiful parcel of land, have restored a section of river (which is now full of spawning salmon) and have a nearly completed Interpretive Centre and hatchery. Yes meetings are mostly boring and often you feel like you would have achieved more by banging your head up against the wall. But just remember the beer is cold in the pub after the meeting!!!!
I've been a director of the Juan De Fuca Salmon Restoration Society since inception in 2001. Up until the last 2 1/2 years we had meetings usually monthly. For the first 7 or so years the meetings seemed fairly fruitless. Lots of ideas, lots of arguing and little actual progress on any project. It would have been easy to have quit and walked away. Some did. Then out of the blue things began to happen, quickly. Now we have acquired a long term lease on a beautiful parcel of land, have restored a section of river (which is now full of spawning salmon) and have a nearly completed Interpretive Centre and hatchery. Yes meetings are mostly boring and often you feel like you would have achieved more by banging your head up against the wall. But just remember the beer is cold in the pub after the meeting!!!!
Little Hawk
Active Member
Class Action! I'm in! Let's CORN-HOLE THE PECKERS IN A COURT ROOM AND SAVE OUR SALMON!
Need a meeting; Chris, Scott, Wolfie, Rollie and any other forum heavy-weights, let's meet for coffee. Where & when?
Serious Coffee across from the casino on the Old Island Hwy, next Thurs night @ 7:00 pm.
Topics for discussion: Organization/fundraising/developing a game plan
Who's in?
P.S. Now that notice of the meeting has been posted - we'll be changing it at the last minute cause the cops/DFO will have the joint bugged.
Need a meeting; Chris, Scott, Wolfie, Rollie and any other forum heavy-weights, let's meet for coffee. Where & when?
Serious Coffee across from the casino on the Old Island Hwy, next Thurs night @ 7:00 pm.
Topics for discussion: Organization/fundraising/developing a game plan
Who's in?
P.S. Now that notice of the meeting has been posted - we'll be changing it at the last minute cause the cops/DFO will have the joint bugged.
Whole in the Water
Well-Known Member
Class Action! I'm in! Let's CORN-HOLE THE PECKERS IN A COURT ROOM AND SAVE OUR SALMON!
Need a meeting; Chris, Scott, Wolfie, Rollie and any other forum heavy-weights, let's meet for coffee. Where & when?
Serious Coffee across from the casino on the Old Island Hwy, next Thurs night @ 7:00 pm.
Topics for discussion: Organization/fundraising/developing a game plan
Who's in?
P.S. Now that notice of the meeting has been posted - we'll be changing it at the last minute cause the cops/DFO will have the joint bugged.
I'm in Little Hawk. Send me a PM to confirm time and place. Thanks.
D
DHA
Guest
If you truly want something, you have to work for it in order for your actions and effort to be long lasting. Sit and do nothing, get exactly that in return. There are very few people working towards change and the betterment of all. Entitlement stems from hard work and effort, a force to recon.
DHA.
DHA.
Theb55
Active Member
Great idea. You need a really good lawyer to set it up as you would have to go to court to get the ok. This issue would be extremely technical but it might be worthwhile but would take 5 years and millions to pull it together. Of course, the government would immediately counter by pulling precious $ out of fishing funding. The key is how best to manage fish stocks on the west coast. Which takes priority. Commercial fisheries or recreational fisheries. Sign me up as a supporter.
Dave S
Active Member
Not enough of the local young fisherman do know about these sort of meetings. Hell, they don't even know that there are people fighting locally for our rights as sporties. I see lots of opportunities. Facebook fan page! People become "fans" of the page and then they would see updates on their facebook regarding meetings, minutes, outcomes of battles, etc and that information helps engage them in the fight. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I couldn't find a website anywhere for SFAB. That can affect the groups credibility and offers the ability for donations. If money is needed to pay for website build, hosting, etc lets hold a fund raiser. Burger and beer at a pub would be one option. Poker tournie is another option. Swap meet with donated items always seem to work well. I am open to throwing a little money into a website build asap. Maybe someone on here is a website designer and would donate their services, or offer at discounted rate?
My 2 cents.
Cuba Libre
Well-Known Member
Dave-- Have a look at the DFO discription of the SFAB process..... You will not see the SFAB as an organization , participating in any sort of class action. That is NOT within their mandate or within the Terms of Reference... They are the Official ADVISORY group that provides input to DFO on sport fishing matters http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/sfab-ccps-eng.htm What is needed is the type of organization that was put together to fight for our halibut fishing rights.
Some are saying that the SFAB is broken-- that is partially true because over the last few years, DFO has show little willingness to listen to us..... It even got to the point where members were threatening to walk away from the process in frustration. But if that happens-- It would make life a lot easier for the Mandarins in Ottawa, and really not help our cause at all.
But realistically-- as pointed out, we are looking at at least $1M for court challenges, with no guarantee of success. But it frustrates the hell out of me, when I see the same pitiful turn-outs for anything that might provide a positive influence on sport fishing in BC. We are our own worst enemies.
Some are saying that the SFAB is broken-- that is partially true because over the last few years, DFO has show little willingness to listen to us..... It even got to the point where members were threatening to walk away from the process in frustration. But if that happens-- It would make life a lot easier for the Mandarins in Ottawa, and really not help our cause at all.
But realistically-- as pointed out, we are looking at at least $1M for court challenges, with no guarantee of success. But it frustrates the hell out of me, when I see the same pitiful turn-outs for anything that might provide a positive influence on sport fishing in BC. We are our own worst enemies.
Duffer
Active Member
Dave agree with you on the Facebook Page idea most fisherman u know are on facebook, good way to get the word out about meetings. Now dragging there asses of the couch is another thing. Agree with High Five big time also on improving our hatcheries. One interesting discussion on that note though, at are meeting that was brought up also were over all the fish were smaller size this year. I found that in Area 13 and 14 this past summer every run and type the fish in general were smaller. Exception I guess were the pinks I did get bigger pinks than normal this yr. Probably because the eat anything. The point brought up though was do the fish have enough food left out there to substantiate boosting the #s of fish raised in the hatcheries? Hell they have the Herring fishery, Krill fishery, Squid, whats left for these Salmon to survive? Strange though offshore West Coast the salmon over all seem to be very healthy which we really didnt discuss, and as we know those are from our friends in the South so the majority of those runs dont have to migrate through area 13 and 14. Did you guys on the West Coast find the fish overall bigger in general? So if your talking about a Law Suit you have to have a Direction to help manage the Fish Stocks better, in other words I guess tell the Government what needs to be done better by DFO. LOL which can go many directions when u think about it. Really is scary when u think about it.
fish stalker
Active Member
Before people get all crazy raising money for lawsuits. What is the lawsuit for? Thats the question we could talk about at meetings. What differently do we want to get out of our fisheries? The main thing ive heard is regulation on timing of openings and closures. The dfo sort of addressed that (tho as a biologist I dont know he had the right to say) we had way to survey and count they might take that into consideration. So what does that entail, is this a actually possibility.
Is it just 'making more fish'? I got a funny vibe with some comments he made about the Fraser salmon 'flooding' the other salmon and seemed to say with a negative connotation. Does this mean the dfo would try and stop the production... I have so many questions. Profisher are you up at Charters on certain days? Id like to learn about what it takes to really make streams viable and productive agian.
We dont have the big rivers like they do up island so we will never have the killer fishery like they do with Big and Little Q.
I still think SFAB getting together and doing projects mabey getting some of that AIMAP money will give us more pull with our 'advice'.
This is the goverment and going up against them in court... I think there are more fruitful ways to spend time effort and money.
Is it just 'making more fish'? I got a funny vibe with some comments he made about the Fraser salmon 'flooding' the other salmon and seemed to say with a negative connotation. Does this mean the dfo would try and stop the production... I have so many questions. Profisher are you up at Charters on certain days? Id like to learn about what it takes to really make streams viable and productive agian.
We dont have the big rivers like they do up island so we will never have the killer fishery like they do with Big and Little Q.
I still think SFAB getting together and doing projects mabey getting some of that AIMAP money will give us more pull with our 'advice'.
This is the goverment and going up against them in court... I think there are more fruitful ways to spend time effort and money.
Dave S
Active Member
Just wanted to state that I am not in favor of a lawsuit. I think more effective would be gathering numbers and creating awareness amongst local recreational fisherman. Not the hardcore guys out 3 times a week. They know the deal. I'm talking bout the guys that get out once a week if lucky.
The fund raising I was in favor of was to create funds to build a website and host events to come up with strategies to fight for our right to fish. If the group can't or shouldn't be SFAB like Cuba Libre was saying, then we need to build an organization to represent us. It's crazy that we don't have a group like this, yet put all the fight into SFAB, which if I am hearing correct, has little success with persuading DFO.
The fund raising I was in favor of was to create funds to build a website and host events to come up with strategies to fight for our right to fish. If the group can't or shouldn't be SFAB like Cuba Libre was saying, then we need to build an organization to represent us. It's crazy that we don't have a group like this, yet put all the fight into SFAB, which if I am hearing correct, has little success with persuading DFO.
What we need beside the SFAB is a lobbying group. This was formed as an adhoc group during the last halibut protests and was called something like the south coast anglers coalition. We should bring this back and maybe have this group operating permanently and parallel to our continued and ramped up efforts through the SFAB channel. That sounds most promising to me. However, I am open to any reasonable ideas and would support almost anything.
Lobby groups have been started in the past and a few bucks get passed along to get them started. Then the fight of the day that got everyone riled up in the first place fades away and with it so do the lobby groups. People don't seem to be willing to open their wallets once a year to support a group representing their interests longterm. A group ready at a moments notice to get in DFO's face over issues that effect us.
D
DHA
Guest
Isn't that the truth.
fish stalker
Active Member
If were going to try and start something starting off saying were going to be expecting you at least once and year to open your wallet isnt to motivating for people to get involved.
Chris you must have had a sense of others who wanted this and the interest shown here. I think to figure out if we all have similar agendas in mind we need to discuss what we would like to accomplish as a group. Is it purely a lobbying group that will come together when things arise (to late mabey) and stand outside the legislature etc and hold signs... Work as a group to fundraise and do dna testing.. Work on projects like river and stream maintenance keeping a eye on logging and holding them accountable for rivers they effect. There are so many things we need to see if were on the same page.
The internet is great because im sure there are people who would like to be involved but live up island. They would drive down for a meeting but we would need to get things in order a bit first. Finding a time were everyone who wants to be involved can meet is hard and has probably been part of the demise of groups. We could try a poll to pick a date which im sure many will find harder closer to xmas. Mabey plan far enough head people can plan to be there like Feb. This is part of the problem and what the internet is great for. I think with this vbullitin type website you can make a hidden section that you have to asked to be let into. And only those can see it. Then only let people in who someone knows is a trusted person.
Good article http://www.connexions.org/CxLibrary/Docs/CX5234-LobbyLikeAPro.htm
also good http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/activist.html
Chris you must have had a sense of others who wanted this and the interest shown here. I think to figure out if we all have similar agendas in mind we need to discuss what we would like to accomplish as a group. Is it purely a lobbying group that will come together when things arise (to late mabey) and stand outside the legislature etc and hold signs... Work as a group to fundraise and do dna testing.. Work on projects like river and stream maintenance keeping a eye on logging and holding them accountable for rivers they effect. There are so many things we need to see if were on the same page.
The internet is great because im sure there are people who would like to be involved but live up island. They would drive down for a meeting but we would need to get things in order a bit first. Finding a time were everyone who wants to be involved can meet is hard and has probably been part of the demise of groups. We could try a poll to pick a date which im sure many will find harder closer to xmas. Mabey plan far enough head people can plan to be there like Feb. This is part of the problem and what the internet is great for. I think with this vbullitin type website you can make a hidden section that you have to asked to be let into. And only those can see it. Then only let people in who someone knows is a trusted person.
Good article http://www.connexions.org/CxLibrary/Docs/CX5234-LobbyLikeAPro.htm
also good http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/activist.html
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