TW:
From such a strong response you seem to be very defensive about the FN harvest at Goldstream and I maybe right in thinking you are FN yourself.
First off I have no complaints about any FN individual or band fishing (or spearfishing for that matter) for food, social and ceremonial purposes as is part of their heritage. I fully understand that FN have a court-proven constitutional right to catch fish for FSC purposes and I am certainly not against that either.
However, DFO is the government agency that are supposed to manage fish harvesting. If DFO aren't managing the stocks properly, they must be pressured to change and do it right. Simply put DFO wrongly estimated the 2009 "harvestable" catch of chinook (as they have in other years too) and as a result the returns to the rivers are just too low in southern BC. As no one can uncatch what has already been caught (Alaska down as you rightly state) when it becomes obvious that there are too few of a certain species returning in to the river, let's ALL make arrangements to avoid the very few returning salmon to get them to spawn and not wipe them out completely.
My finger is clearly pointed at the managers (more like mismanagers) not the harvesters. In my earlier post I stated ...["let's all sit down together to work this out". It's way overdue!]. Again I am not pointing fingers but using this forum to spark dialogue and seek solutions. I want dialogue from all sectors on avoiding this same sad pathetic outcome of too few fish on the spawning grounds. We need to conserve our wild salmon for the future.
So my point is DFO are wrong here not FN, sport or commercial. All the harvesters are only undertaking what they are permitted to do. Name calling and finger pointing are useless. If we all see that there is way too few of a certain salmon population arriving in a river, let's all do what we have to to get them on the spawning grounds. DFO does make forecasting errors but should we all not do something proactive when it becomes obvious an error has been made? Or should we just carry on as normal and say 'oh well when there are no fish left we'll worry about it then'? Let's all start talking to eachother to avoid this same pathetic repeating failure. There are other solutions. DFO have to be held accountable for their actions.
My earlier question was to get forum members to consider how to resolve the chinook river harvest issue when returns are mis-forecast and very low.
FWIW - You should also know that I respect your efforts at the hatchery and your passion to rehabilitate the Tetayut. Anything any of us can do for the sustainability of wild salmon is a just, worthy and laudable cause. I too have a passion for wild salmon, not only do I love to angle for this amazing resource and eat it too, but I personally give hundreds of hours of my own time each year to its betterment. I do that through my volunteer endeavours on the Colquitz Creek, through my volunteer attendance at SFAB process and through my volunteer lobbying efforts regarding improving SEP, Cowichan chinook and Thompson steelhead to name but a few.
Gov
God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling - Izaak Walton
