I disagree with this opening. The WHOLE of Georgia Strait has 5000 lings over 65 cm to spare? THIS IS BS. I don't believe this to be a sustainable number.
I know of a boat load of people who regularly run from Vancouver to the Gulf Islands to RAPE the ocean of rockfish. There are normally 5 or six anglers who head over in their 19 foot boat with the BIGGEST cooler in the bow of the boat.
I played dumb once and they opened the cooler for me and I can assure you that is it was CHOCK full of all species of fish. In fact, I would suggest that if it swims in Georgia Strait, it was dead in the box. We're not talking dogfish either.
On the average, these people run over 2 to 3 times a month. They no longer let me see inside their cooler and see fit to ignore me after I asked why they are killing so many.
After going down to the fish docks at Steveston, I can see why..the incidental catch of many of the commercial guys is UP for grabs by EVERYONE.
How will DFO monitor this? Do they have every launch and dock staked out? I doubt it. Creel Surveys are only done at random too.
In my opinion, 5000 is not a sustainable number and it should remain closed. Personally, after having dragged along some of the famous ledges for groundfish while fishing for salmon...NONE have been caught.
In my opinion, this is a WRONG decision. Also, from my knowledge of fishing for groundfish in the Charlottes as a guide, relatively speaking, there should be commercial closures and RCA's within a 10 mile radius of fishing lodges up there. Sad! And this is the Charlottes!
this is a sad day that REEKS of DFO incompetence.
Do you think that someone isn't just going to lose their license or "forget" to record a ling on their license or start recording when they see a DFO boat coming their way? What a joke.