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PACIFIC SALMON

DFO leaves sport angler reeling
Fishing guide says Ottawa bowing to commercial trollers, depleting salmon stock

MARK HUME

mhume@globeandmail.com

E-mail Mark Hume | Read Bio | Latest Columns
August 25, 2008

VANCOUVER -- You can hear the tension crackling in Walter Schoenfelder's voice as he calls from the deck of one of his boats, using a client's satellite phone.

Mr. Schoenfelder is a salmon fishing guide and the operator of Quatsino Lodge, a beautiful fishing resort he built with the help of friends and family on the rugged northwest coast of Vancouver Island.

Out there on the bright blue water, where grey whales surface next to the boat and gulls wheel over schools of bait fish, Mr. Schoenfelder should be kicked back in the captain's chair, with the folded green mountains of Vancouver Island behind him and a relaxed grin on his face.

Instead he is pacing the deck, giving a tense interview over the phone to a reporter in Vancouver.

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"I can't believe what's happening out here!" he says. "It's outrageous. They are destroying our salmon stocks."

The "they" Mr. Schoenfelder is talking about is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the federal bureaucracy that is supposed to be rebuilding British Columbia's salmon runs with leading-edge fisheries management.

Instead, Mr. Schoenfelder, and a growing number of others in B.C., fear that Ottawa is kowtowing to the commercial fishing industry, and in the process is shepherding Pacific salmon stocks to the same disastrous end as Atlantic cod.

Are our salmon really being managed out of existence?

As he trolls the increasingly barren waters off the west coast of Vancouver Island, Mr. Schoenfelder fears that's the case.

What's got him going on this bright August morning is not the fact that, once again, his clients are having a tough time catching a Chinook, but rather that, all around him, a fleet of commercial fishing boats is stripping the seas of the few fish available.

On Vancouver Island's west coast, salmon are in such short supply that the commercial trolling fleet has generally been restricted from fishing in the summer months, which is high season for sports anglers.

To protect endangered stocks of salmon bound for Vancouver Island rivers, many inlets are closed to sports anglers in the summer.

When a commercial opening does happen, the sports fleet and the trollers can find themselves pushed together on the same water, about eight kilometres offshore.

Neither group has had great fishing this summer. In a three-day August opening, 57 commercial trollers took a total of about 9,000 Chinook - well short of an allotted catch of 10,000 fish.

Mr. Schoenfelder's clients meanwhile were lucky to catch one fish each over the same period and often were going from dawn to dusk without getting a single strike.

Mr. Schoenfelder calls this being forced to fish "under the boom," because his small sports boats, with two lines out, find themselves trolling behind commercial boats dragging 60 lures from boomsticks.

Mr. Schoenfelder learned last week that the commercial fleet is expecting to get another opening in the area, for several days next month, because they caught so few fish in August.

With stocks declining, DFO is increasing the commercial pressure, he says.

"This is crazy. ... They are targeting a depleted fish stock ... [and] it is killing my business."

Instead of giving the commercial trollers more time on the water, DFO should be restricting them, says Mr. Schoenfelder, so that sport fishery - which is more lucrative and has a lower impact - can enjoy at least a modestly successful season.

Kathy Scarfo, president of the commercial West Coast Trollers Association, disagrees.

She thinks sport lodges are just as "commercial" as her fleet and she wants both sectors to have equal opportunities to fish.

"There seems to be a sense that because we have not fished much in the last eight years in the summer ... we are not allowed into what is now seen as an exclusive sport-charter fishing time, period!" she said in an e-mail.

She says commercial boats were shut down in June and July while sports anglers continued to fish, and the fleet now deserves a September opportunity to catch up.

"Why the hell are they complaining?" she asks of the resort operators. "They are open seven days a week."

That may be true. But during those seven days, the sports boats are catching almost nothing and when the commercial fleet moves in to compete for the few fish that are available, it is pretty tough to take.

No wonder Mr. Schoenfelder is angry.

And it's not just a season he fears is slipping away, but also a way of life.

"I want my grandkids to fish, but I wonder if they will be able to," he says.

 

[Tsquared]

I'm sorry--who is the commercial operator here and who is not? I have little sympathy for him since he is far out on the banks where commercial trollers used to have a 6 month opening with nary a sports boat in sight. The commercial trollers have such a pathetic little season now, I don't see the beef. I was a troller for 12 years but am now a sports fisherman. Watching the stocks deplete more and more every year is depressing but it certainly isn't the fault of the poor shmucks who are participating in the extremely limited commercial troll fishery.
T2

 

[Dogbreath]

quote:who is the commercial operator here and who is not?

Good point!

DFO thinks there are enough Springs for a short commercial opening-how does Schoenfelder know more about the fishery than they do?

Remember that the plural of anecdote is not data.

Have Spring stocks in fact collapsed that far?

Have a look @ this report from some WA guys who just did very well on the highway.
http://www.bloodydecks.com/forums/washington-state-usa/117815-nootka-sound.html

Also-Schoenfelder isn't the sharpest corn chip in the bag if he tells all and sundry about how lousy fishing apparently is, how many people are going to book with him next year after reading his tale of woe in the Vancouver Sun/doing a web search on his operation and seeing what he's had to say?

Temperance is always the order of the day when dealing with public perception.

 

[IronNoggin]

quote:Originally posted by Tsquared

... Watching the stocks deplete more and more every year is depressing but it certainly isn't the fault of the poor shmucks who are participating in the extremely limited commercial troll fishery.

That's Bang On Tsquared. I am one of those "poor shmucks" you referred to, and poor is very much the operative word these days. The openings we now see for Area G cover fuel, moorage (where the rig sits much more often than not) and if you're good, and lucky, maybe enough to grab a beer or two at the end of it all. Sad, when The Dino actively, openly and aggressively supports Pattison et al's bag fisheries that do an exponentially larger damage ratio to any stocks in the vicinity of their openings. Trolling was once a proud way to make a living, wresting it single fish by single fish from the sea, supporting your home port Community, while providing a quality product to the wider consumer community. Now it has sadly become a "sunset industry", lingering with effort, but definitely fading over the horizon. Taking with them the lifeblood of many of our coastal communities. Sad that the ONLY selective harvest mechanism is the one The Dino decided to actively destroy.

There are many folks out there that mistakenly adopt the mindset that commercial trollers played (and continue to) a large role in causing the collapsing salmon stocks we are witnessing today. Some do so simply because they are misinformed (or uninformed as the case may be). Others have ulterior motives as I believe the case with Mr. Schoenfelder to be. I have been privy to his rantings in this regard, both public and private for far to long not to believe this way. He is not alone in that way of agenda tending, as there are indeed many who would love the fleet simply to disappear, not surprisingly the majority of these are found amongst the recreational sector.

But... for a handful of years now, and likely to prove this one once again, the recreational fleet coastwide realized a larger harvest in terms of numbers (and individual size having the luxury of fishing mature spawners) of springs than the troll fleet in question. Obviously a larger impact on the viability of future returns. Which then bears another question: Is the real</u> concern here conservation, or simply business profitability? Aka Greed? Or maybe simply butt-covering by pointing to another to misdirect unwanted attention in your own back yard?

There are several blatant mistakes in the G&B article, of which I have neither the mind nor desire to address now. Those in the know will understand exactly what I'm saying here...

And yes, I AM headed out there again shortly now. A lot of operations had a bit of a tough go on salmon this year, Quatsino Lodge is but one of many. I too had the odd off day for them out of Ukee, that's why we call it "fishin" not "killin". Happens to trollers too, anyone who fishes seriously already knows that. I am both, and I consider the "commercial sportfishing" (for that's what it very much is) to be of at least the equivalent, if not greater than the troll fleet in terms of negative impacts being imposed on apparently dwindling stocks. I do not blame either sector, instead choosing to hang that hat on the door of whom it belongs on. Methinks you can figure out who that might be...

As for Mr. Schoenfelder, anyone that knows him, feel free to bring him in on this conversation... anytime...[}]

Cheers,
Nog

 

[Tsquared]

quote:Trolling was once a proud way to make a living, wresting it single fish by single fish from the sea, supporting your home port Community, while providing a quality product to the wider consumer community.

I know Nog understands the context, but for those who don't,my "poor shmucks" comment was made with the greatest sympathy and respect for those who continue to be commercial trollers. I share his pride in this industry and will always be proud of that period of my life. It is my fervent wish that those who remain in it are able to hang on until it becomes viable again. The survival of the wild fish stocks are too important for user groups to be squabbling amongst ourselves when we should be working together. (it would sure make the fish farmers happy if those pesky commercial salmon fishermen disappeared, huh)
T2

No Rigours

 

[gimp]

na I think I will start on some of this nice fresh alaskan sockey, might last me a month or two. Only salmon I eat is the salmon I or my family catchs....... Sorry, If people like salmon that much they should just go and try to catchem themselves. No need for it in resturants. Let the lazy people eat the farmed stuff BUT only if its grown on land =P[)]. I am not against farmed fish if its done right but when certian companys (the biggest ones) that have opperations all over the world. Continue to have outbeaks of ISA, sealice cultivation, and escapement on leased public water to raise an alien(not native to these waters) food commidity for profit while wild salmon populations suffer is just plain stupid.

 

[Cuba Libre]

Agreed Nog-- I had this dream that when I retired , I would get a "B" license and fish my way into the sunset..... Great lifestyle. But with buy-backs and getting rid of that license level etc-- that never happened.

But I have to put my .25 in on the "bag fisheries" comment.

I spent several years, not that long ago as a contract observer in Johnson Straits. I worked the seine, troll and gillnet fleet. What I saw, year after year was NOT wholesale devastation of "bycatch" by the seine fleet. They CAN fish selectively. And how many know that coho and springs will rise to the top of a pursed bag and can be easily dipped back . Even springs and coho taken off the sort table do just fine, if put back quickly. revival tanks on seiners however, dont do that much-- but they look good. The key is getting them back QUICKLY!

But gillnetters????? Should be renamed "Ribbons of Death" Even short sets dont help if there are any number of fish in the net--- by the time the fisherman gets a quarter of his net picked, the "bycatch" is DEAD! By the time he gets to the far end of the net- the coho and chinooks are STIFF!!

And the trollers-- my observer experience is limited to sockeye and pink fisheries, so I have to be a little careful about what I say-- but from what I have seen, the trollers are the "cleanest" BUT NOT TOTALLY CLEAN The way some of the fishermen treat the fish in the rush to make a buck , can be painful. Rip, slash and jerk-- pity the poor coho or spring that gets in the way.

Now-- all that being said--- the DFO allocation policy says that I, as a sportsfisherman, have access to no more than 5% of the "net species" But while I dont have exclusive rights to coho and chinook, I DO have PRIORITY ACCESS to chinook and coho.

If this is really the case--- how come I am not up to full limits of 4 coho/person/day if the troll fleet is open????

Yes-- Its sad to see what has happened to a way of life. But times change . And you are very nicely positioned to work the commercial sports side of the fishery. As a good friend once said to me--" Why all the yelling from the fishermen??? At least they get thier boats and licences bought back--- the government isnt going to buy my skidders when there are no trees left...[V]""




20ft Alumaweld Intruder

 

[rln]

anybody have accurate numbers on the sport kill of saltwater chiooks verus the commercial kill? Just want to compare apples to apples. If the commercial trollers got 9,000 fish this year (number in the first post) how many have the sporties killed? DFO should have some sort of number for this. I also thought DFO made a statement a few years back that gave sport fishing priority access (not exclusive rights)to chinook and coho. Has DFO lived up to this promise as well?
Also still trying to be a buffalo hunter may not be the best choice of occupations to still be in and the way salmon are managed, being any sort of commercial fishermen will be buffalo hunting in the future.