Native band taking legal action against non selective salmon fishery.

[Birdsnest]

http://www.langleyadvance.com/news/387489221.html

Three First Nations, including two with reserves in Langley, have launched a legal challenge against DFO management of Fraser River salmon stocks.

The Kwantlen, Katzie, and Seabird Island First Nations are challenging the management of the spring Chinook salmon, which has seen a decline in numbers in recent years.

Kwantlen’s main reserve is in Fort Langley, and the Katzie First Nation has a reserve on the shore near 208th Street.

The suit wants to block sport fisheries off the coast of Vancouver Island, which they allege are impacting the stocks as they return to the Fraser.

The three First Nations allege that DNA analysis of sport-caught fish show that Fraser River spring Chinook are being caught in “substantial numbers” in the ocean.

“For thousands of years our people have maintained a special relationship to these fish on the Fraser River,” said Councillor Les Antone of the Kwantlen. “That is what’s at stake for us. Going out and fishing for spring Chinook to begin each season is a part of our culture and way of life.”

The decline is impacting both food security and the ability pass along traditions, Antone said.

“We are now lucky to catch a handful each season,” he said.

“DFO has flipped the constitutional priority on its head by giving priority to sports fishermen over the serious conservation concerns and the needs of our communities,” said Katzie Chief Susan Miller.

Court decisions have affirmed that conservation is the highest priority, then the Aboriginal right to fish for food, social, and ceremonial purposes. Then recreational and commercial fisheries can take place.

 

[Birdsnest]

The first question that comes to mind is whether or not they are using a selective methods to harvest these specific spring salmon. If not this lawsuit could inspire a domino effect of lawsuits for the same reasons.

 

[OldBlackDog]

The second question is who is going to fight it on behalf of sports fishing and where is the money going to come from?

 

[scott craven]

“DFO has flipped the constitutional priority on its head by giving priority to sports fishermen over the serious conservation concerns and the needs of our communities,” said Katzie Chief Susan Miller.

What a crock, we have taken more and more restrictions over the years while the netting continues to ramp up in the river.
let them take their share by rod and reel like we do.

 

[SpringVelocity]

“DFO has flipped the constitutional priority on its head by giving priority to sports fishermen over the serious conservation concerns and the needs of our communities,” said Katzie Chief Susan Miller.

Speechless. They need a pair of binoculars because the lenses are out of focus. Very narrow view of the issue with Chinooks, and very typical of this group. Selfish comment. You have the Fraser river with unprotected stretches areas in habitat. Deregulated fisheries act. Little money thrown into enhancement. No plan or no future to save fish stocks. How is that the recreational fisheries fault?

And end of day you want to swipe opportunities from a group that makes a small dent in population, so you can net them for your self = SELFISH. Good luck hope it gets struck down in court and they waste lots of money of fighting it.

 

[Derby]

we'll this should be interesting

 

[Clint r]

Seems to me that the common denominator of all these "reduced catch allowance" or "decline of so and so stocks" threads is the "DFO". I can get behind us sporties launching out own case against the DFO. Or conversely, using our sport fishing license fees for buying/building hatcheries. Those fish should then become "ours" and we could be in court restricting the catch limit of commies and FN.

 

[JuandeOne]

“DFO has flipped the constitutional priority on its head by giving priority to sports fishermen over the serious conservation concerns and the needs of our communities,” said Katzie Chief Susan Miller.

For the year - to July 10, total estimated/reported chinook catch by First Nations Fraser River fisheries - 3,310.
Southern Vancouver Island waters - slot restrictions!!!

This does not support the aforementioned statement.

 

[trophy fisher]

Let me fix that for you SV;

“ so you can net them for your self = SELL-FISH.

 

[TheBigGuy]

First Nations are obviously way off base in this law suit. Sports fishers take the smallest portion by far in the fishery.

We can not claim we have no impact on this fishery though. I'm sure many of the pictures posted on this and other sites will be used as evidence in this case. What difference will the change in slot limit accomplish, if the fish to be released are removed from the water for pictures. All those fish that were netted, left to beat there heads on the deck, then subjected to a bunch of picture taking were as good as dead. I'm sure all those pictures will be the first piece of evidence introduced in this case to substantiate how we are impacting this fishery. There is plenty of greed and blame to go around in this case.

The first nations should however, be cleaning up their own non selective harvesting practices before they point the finger at sport fishers.

 

[bones]

wow this will be good.

finished killing all the sockeye, looking to kill all the chinook and i dunno whats happening to all the chum. i do know that DFO Does not support hatcheries. there funding is down and so are there release numbers. DFO needs to put money into our system and increase numbers not take it away. then at least there will be some fish

 

[Big Green Machine]

On the Serengeti, when the water dries up, the animals start looking at each other differently.

 

[Whitebuck]

Funny the Sea bird island band has one of the most effective areas that they drift net legally and illegally.
The numbers that are reported this year are way off as they are every year. Knowing people from many bands up along the Fraser, it is common knowledge amongst them not to report what is actually caught each opening. By doing this they are ensured to get longer and more frequent openings. As with the 159 sockeye that have been reported this year, that is a crock of ****. There was 2 natives that had that by beginning of June lol.

If you look back on the catch rates so you can see how high the FN catches used to be. Not hard to figure out that taking that many spawners out of the return what is going to happen.

The worst part is that the FN that are above spuzzum use traditional methods and rod and reel, those are the ones that are actually only getting a handful. They absolutely hate the lower Fraser FN cause of the raping and pillaging.

Just like the sockeye, Thompson steelhead and now most stocks of Chinook all these stocks will be netted to extinction.

 

[profisher]

It is time to "Band" together and take these other bands to court to save our salmon and the iconic wildlife and sea life that depend on it. I would like to see an evidence gathering campaign begin immediately with the use of video taken from drones which can get into the most sensitive areas and where road access is not possible. Document what is going on, when, where and how much is taken...building our case. I think those bands knowing we are gathering video evidence and that we in fact have that evidence might be enough to at least get them to stop pointing fingers at others for fear of what we could expose. That would be a cheap endevour if we all pitch in and pay someone to gather this evidence on video.

 

[searun]

I agree 100% with profisher. Time for rec fishers to join an organization....don't care which, you need to have a large organized "VOICE" to help advance and protect our fishery and sport. People need to recognize that as individuals we amount to a whole lot of nothing but white noise (no pun intended), but organized into large groups we can effectively lobby and bring forward issues.

Sadly however, most anglers will simply complain without putting their money, time and talents to good collective use!

We also need cold hard cash....lawyers and legal actions chew through money faster than a fart in a wind storm.

 

[Fishtank]

Point me in the direction to donate to this investigation,let's make this happen!

 

[Whole in the Water]

We all know that eventually this would end up on court.

We need to make sure the interests of the rec sector and the vital socio-economic importance it has on local economies on the coast is well represented in this and undoubtedly future court cases to come.

If you haven't joined SVIAC, SFI-BC, BCWF or similar organization that fights on behalf of the rec sector, NOW is a good time to do so as these groups will need some money to help defend our sector.

http://anglerscoalition.com/

 

[profisher]

Christopher...the most important part of any court case is evidence to support your position. We need to start gathering this immediately so that if we end up in court the evidence supports our arguments and makes it more likely for a favourable outcome. For me the best outcome would be that DFO is forced to really put conservation first and if that means no one fishes when necessary..that is what happens. In my mind...no one should be fishing Fraser River sockeye, other than the one remaining dominant Adam's River run. Secondly I would hope that all sectors would be held more accountable to their catches and that catch figures are reliably accurate, allowing managers to make informed and effective decisions.

 

[shuswap]

On the Serengeti, when the water dries up, the animals start looking at each other differently.

Very short, but very accurate.

 

[Whole in the Water]

Christopher...the most important part of any court case is evidence to support your position. We need to start gathering this immediately so that if we end up in court the evidence supports our arguments and makes it more likely for a favourable outcome. For me the best outcome would be that DFO is forced to really put conservation first and if that means no one fishes when necessary..that is what happens. In my mind...no one should be fishing Fraser River sockeye, other than the one remaining dominant Adam's River run. Secondly I would hope that all sectors would be held more accountable to their catches and that catch figures are reliably accurate, allowing managers to make informed and effective decisions.

I completely agree with you Rollie. We need to gather good, current, accurate information to support our sector and lead to a more fair and sustainable resource management decisions. To do that we need volunteers and money to collect and present this data to the decision makers.