Herring Fishery

[MRWood]

are you saying there was not enough herring for salmon under the past/current harvest regime? and if so how does pumping the straight full of hatchery salmon (mainly for a recreational fishing harvest) make sense then? if they have to compete with wild salmon for food.

don't be surprised when more things get shut down when your pushing the , there is not enough herring, wild salmon are plummeting, whales are starving,salmon are starving faster than ever ENGO BS

you guys are yours own worst enemy

I'm saying more herring is better for everything, including hatchery salmon, wild salmon, whales and whatever else feeds on herring and whatever else is feeding on things that feed on herring. Herring are the keystone species. They're pumping the straight full of hatchery fish because of the lack of wild salmon and these fish need herring.
I think we can agree that we want salmon around so we can continue to enjoy our sport of choice, which is sportfishing. What I'm hearing from you and others is that you're not wanting to disturb the herring fishery because you think it leads to closures in salmon retention. I think that kind of thinking has some merit but the flaw is that you want to keep commercially fishing for herring and further depletion of the stocks. It's a catch 22. I think more herring is better for the ecosystem and would lead to better production of both wild and hatchery salmon.
In regards to your comment "you guys are your own worst enemy", I'd say the same to you.
We're on the same side just a different view point.

 

[wildmanyeah]

Chinook fishing restrictions increased in effort to protect B.C.’s southern resident killer whales

DFO aims to reduce chinook mortality to 5 per cent. Current mortality rates are closer to 20 per cent, according to conservationists.

www.thestar.com

MacDuffee said she wants to see even stronger restrictions. She hopes the DFO will halt fishing activity for all salmon species in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia because even the catch and release of chinook can cause mortality.

At this point, the ailing southern resident orcas need all the help they can get, said MacDuffee.


She is also calling for a decrease in the number of hatcheries — where juvenile salmon are raised by humans before being released into the wild — because human-reared salmon weaken the genetic pool of wild fish, she said.

Vanessa Minke-Martin, Aaron Hill, Greg Knox, Misty MacDuffee, Jeffery Young: Spending stimulus money on hatcheries will harm wild salmon

OPINION: The hatchery approach assumes that increasing the number of young salmon entering the ocean will increase the number of adult salmon that return, but…

theprovince.com

The hatchery approach assumes that increasing the number of young salmon entering the ocean will increase the number of adult salmon that return, but it’s not that simple.

Our rivers and ocean can only produce so many salmon, because they have limited food. Numerous young hatchery salmon can outcompete young wild salmon, making them less likely to survive.

 

[gone fishin]

Chinook fishing restrictions increased in effort to protect B.C.’s southern resident killer whales

DFO aims to reduce chinook mortality to 5 per cent. Current mortality rates are closer to 20 per cent, according to conservationists.

www.thestar.com

MacDuffee said she wants to see even stronger restrictions. She hopes the DFO will halt fishing activity for all salmon species in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia because even the catch and release of chinook can cause mortality.

At this point, the ailing southern resident orcas need all the help they can get, said MacDuffee.


She is also calling for a decrease in the number of hatcheries — where juvenile salmon are raised by humans before being released into the wild — because human-reared salmon weaken the genetic pool of wild fish, she said.

Vanessa Minke-Martin, Aaron Hill, Greg Knox, Misty MacDuffee, Jeffery Young: Spending stimulus money on hatcheries will harm wild salmon

OPINION: The hatchery approach assumes that increasing the number of young salmon entering the ocean will increase the number of adult salmon that return, but…

theprovince.com

The hatchery approach assumes that increasing the number of young salmon entering the ocean will increase the number of adult salmon that return, but it’s not that simple.

Our rivers and ocean can only produce so many salmon, because they have limited food. Numerous young hatchery salmon can outcompete young wild salmon, making them less likely to survive.

You make a good point and no doubt there is cause for concern, BUT this thread is "Herring Fishery"
I think you need to start another Thread

 

[wildmanyeah]

You make a good point and no doubt there is cause for concern, BUT this thread is "Herring Fishery"
I think you need to start another Thread

if you can't see how this is all interconnected then it is what it is,

but i can tell you there is no world that exists where recreational fishermen will still be fishing when everyone else is pushed off the water.

 

[gone fishin]

if you can't see how this is all interconnected then it is what it is,

but i can tell you there is no world that exists where recreational fishermen will still be fishing when everyone else is pushed off the water.

I get it....but prefer you promote your doom and gloom theory on the appropriate thread

 

[wildmanyeah]

I get it....but prefer you promote your doom and gloom theory on the appropriate thread

i'm not the one promoting doom and gloom with herring, you guys are

sometimes lol

all im saying is there is room for a herring harvest like there is room for a salmon harvest.

 

[SpringVelocity]

are you saying there was not enough herring for salmon under the past/current harvest regime? and if so how does pumping the straight full of hatchery salmon (mainly for a recreational fishing harvest) make sense then? if they have to compete with wild salmon for food.

don't be surprised when more things get shut down when your pushing the , there is not enough herring, wild salmon are plummeting, whales are starving,salmon are starving faster than ever ENGO BS

you guys are yours own worst enemy

2nd that.

We have to stop making up stuff on this forum.

 

[MRWood]

2nd that.

We have to stop making up stuff on this forum.

Please let us know what is being made up. I hope you're not saying I'm making things up. I'm offering up my opinion on the herring fishery.

 

[steeler]

Pretending that all is good for salmon populations and whale populations and herring populations will do little to help us keep our sports fishing opportunities it only gives the appearance that sport fishers are a bunch of dinos with their heads in the sand. A more pro active approach admitting that most populations of salmon and herring are struggling while emphasizing the important role that sports fishers play in monitoring and protecting populations would go along way to getting sports fishers out of the cross hairs of other groups and regulators. Herring are more important feeding salmon than sold as roe and byproduct for international markets. The head in the sand approach hasn't worked out well recently for salmon farming or forestry, getting ahead of an issue works out better in the end. If increasing salmon populations is actually what we as rec fisherman want why would anyone in their right mind support taking away what was once their main food source for thousands of years before we destroyed their populations.

 

[wildmanyeah]

Herring are more important feeding salmon than sold as roe and byproduct for international markets.

yes and salmon are more important for SRKW and first nations, rather then played with for sport.

we get it..just shut it all down so first nations and the animals dont starve

 

[SpringVelocity]

At end of day our fisheries have to based on science and not based on opinion/politics. Herring, chinook fisheries, SRKW etc is right now based on politics, and lobbying by MCC Caucus.

In 15 pages not one has convinced me otherwise.

And get real @steeler I don't think your one of us just for record.

 

[onefish]

"you guys are yours own worst enemy"
I say lets get our Herring stocks coast wide return to historic higher end levels.

Well, just to play devils advocate. I say, lets get our Salmon stocks coast wide to return to historic higher end levels. That means ALL fishing for salmon must be stopped now. This would include all rec fishing and commercial sport fishing.
My salmon opinion is just as valid as your herring opinion, just saying.

 

[gone fishin]

Well, just to play devils advocate. I say, lets get our Salmon stocks coast wide to return to historic higher end levels. That means ALL fishing for salmon must be stopped now. This would include all rec fishing and commercial sport fishing.
My salmon opinion is just as valid as your herring opinion, just saying.

Oh my, you are the devil aren't you.
Your salmon opinion argument doesn't hold water. "I say, lets get our Salmon stock coast wide to return to historic higher levels"
You are suggesting to accomplish this "All fishing for salmon must be stopped now"
We can allow the herring stocks to rebuild much much easier.
What do you have against allowing rebuilding the herring stocks.
We are making progress in the last two seasons by cutting the harvest rate in Georgia Straight in half.
That's a good thing wouldn't you agree?

 

[salmonkiller01]

If commercial fisherman get Zero fishing opportunities DFO will have an easier time shutting down rec fishers. We just need DFO to listen to unbiased science

 

[onefish]

We can allow the herring stocks to rebuild much much easier.

So, easier means, as long as it is some other guy getting screwed by DFO that is ok, but don't come after me?

 

[SpringVelocity]

So, easier means, as long as it is some other guy getting screwed by DFO that is ok, but don't come after me?

Nailed it

 

[onefish]

We are making progress in the last two seasons by cutting the harvest rate in Georgia Straight in half.
That's a good thing wouldn't you agree?

If it was science based, yes. Because it is politically based, no.

 

[gone fishin]

So, easier means, as long as it is some other guy getting screwed by DFO that is ok, but don't come after me?

My oh My
So it's all about who is "getting screwed" as you put it when we look at rebuilding our herring stocks and other problems that need to be addressed.
Sport Fishermen have made some substantial sacrifices.
Some choose to say we are “getting screwed”
We have great sport fishermen, some are members of this forum, working with DFO on our behalf which whether we like it or not is the only way for the future of Sport Fishing.
We seem to have some very angry members on this forum who don't like changes that effects them personally and I understand their anger but the "who is getting screwed" complaint is not going to accomplish anything.

 

[wildmanyeah]

The problem is what your selling is just simply untrue,

Your saying that all we have to do is stop harvesting herring and the population coast wide will rebuild.

The s small harvest in the SOG is not the fundamental driver of herring populations from California to alaska.

 

[wildmanyeah]

There were 396 individual humpback whales photographed in the Salish Sea in 2022, the highest number documented in a single year in at least the past century, according to researchers with the Canadian Pacific Humpback Collaboration.

The humpback comeback also includes a record-breaking 34 mothers with calves who traveled from their tropical birthing waters in Hawaii, Mexico and Central America.

The previous record of 21 humpback calves was set in 2021, according to the PWWA.

Why so many sightings?​

Gless said the high number of sightings boils down to food. Killer whales, for example, go to areas where there are many seals, sea lions and porpoises to eat.

"We've got lots of food for them. And so, every year, we've been seeing more and more of them," she said.

Researchers are also reporting more sightings of grey whales, which normally feed in Alaska, because of a food shortage in that region, Gless said.

"It shows us how important we are as a region for them that they're choosing to come here instead," she said.