quote:Originally posted by nine eyes deep
fishin magician,
I agree with some of your points, but I think you need to take a breath. If you think the west coast had a tough year, you obviously were not out there!!! Hakai pass had a normal year. Rivers Inslet had a normal year. I know this because I was there. You are right about the coho in Georgia strait. I will give you that. You forgot Gold River, it had a normal year. I dont remember hearing any complaints from sooke except the fish were a little late, which was the case in every place. Bamfield, Ucluelet, Tofino all had a great season. Ya coho fishing was bad inshore. But they were not to bad offshore. You watch, next year will be a different story. Port Renfrew, another good year. Port Mcneil started out great, ended not to bad either. Same goes for Port Hardy. I hope you dont get all your information from joe blow down at the dock or some government report. Just because some places on the coast had below average returns doesnt meen the whole coast is in jeoperdy. Fishing must not be very much fun for you when you take such a negative approach to it.
I was out there as a matter of fact. Quite a bit over the coast. I know more than a few guides on the coast too...from Victoria..to Sooke..to Bamfield...to Nootka...to Winter Harbour...to Langara Island..to Knight and Rivers Inlet...to Campbell River...to right here in Vancouver..and the general information and consensus seems to be what most people are posting on this board.
I get my information from colleagues who guide, fellow fishers, observations from myself out there fishing personally and guiding, commercial fishers of all types..., etc..
If you want to say that cuz "certain areas" did ok, that they shouldn't be affected or we shouldn't be painted with any paint from a same brush..you're sadly mistaken, the trend from year to year is stock decline as a whole.
At last I checked, fish have fins and they swim, and they swim free...free to go whereever they want---and ultimately...there weren't as many fish going up the rivers.
Well..if you had yourself what you consider a good year....that's good...you probably managed to make some $$$, put that in the bank, buy food for the winter, service the boat and live to guide another season---however it doesn't mean that DFO should come up with some kinda of piecemeal solutions which don't do FIDDLESTICKS.
That's EXACTLY what DFO has been doing, and we now have Georgia Strait DEVOID of Coho, and spring fishing sucks in all but the peak times. Ever driven the Old Island Highway 30 years ago, 25 years ago? 10 years ago? Now go and drive it and see the difference?
According to 2 lodge owners this year was a DEADZONE in Rivers Inlet, and people fishing up there for 20 years said this was the worst year they'd ever seen.
The west coast did have a tough year, and I'd have to disagree with you.
When DFO gets rid of that stupid 45 cm size limit on Chinooks and makes it hatchery Coho only, and bring back slots....now let's see what kind of year you're going to have??? All the "negative press" is sure to affect the fishing industry..but hey...us sporties NEVER have "bad years", especially those making a living off the resource right?
Part of the problem is that we're fishing runs of fish earlier and more effectively, more efficiently than we ever were before.. with our larger boats, downriggers, better fishfinders, going further distances, etc..THIS is contributing to stock decline---we're effectively "changing" and impacting the "balance" of nature so to speak---because we are part of the food chain.
Just 'cuz next year may be different story doesn't mean that we shouldn't be making sustainable changes to our form of recreation NOW. Oh..one year was crummy..so that's no big deal? We went with the "next year" mentality as a matter of fact. Do you remember 1996? Chinook fishing was closed? Do you remember thousands of Coho slashing through herring and needlefish schools in Georgia Strait? You don't see too much herring anymore....cuz we're now fishing the LAST major spawning area into oblivion...DFO doesn't even know what is sustainable..but the spawn has been getting smaller.
Anyways..that's just my opinion and I'm personally tired of watching a resource be raped (by some user groups) and pillaged by all user groups, and the DFO who has a dual role of 1) promoting the sport and resource and 2)conserving the resource and does an equally bad job of both 1 and 2!!!!!
Anyways..enough ranting on my part..but honestly, I just one of hundreds of thousands of people whose enjoyment of the resource is going downhill because of the SAME static rationale of the DFO years over.