My related rant over on FishBC of today, titled "Aggressive Sea Lions":
For many years, decades actually,
The Dino has encouraged aggressive extraction of the herring stocks along our entire coastline. While this generated for a fortunate(?) few some pretty hefty economic returns through the years, the cost is now starting to effect all west coast fishery resources in a negative fashion. Management of the stocks has been geared towards maximizing removal, with but token thought towards sustainability of the target stock, and apparently even smaller concern towards the impacts upon those others stocks that rely heavily upon the at-one-time huge feeder base the herring represented. Nearly everything that swims, flies and wanders the chuck can be correlated directly to the abundance of groceries available to sustain them, and in this, herring play a MAJOR role.
Jump now to this most dismal spring. Dismal in that it very much appears that the extremely efficient industry, with the Dino's blessing and encouragement, has now collapsed the herring stocks to the point of no return. Surverys conducted the entire west coastline of
The Rock indicate the spawning component of the herring stock has all but completely dissapeared. Untold volumes of taxpayer dollars were expended in the desperate hope that some,
any, sign could be discovered to suggest there might be a glimmer of hope for the future, and thus justify a return to the
Glory Days of get rich quick madhouse slaughter. Unfortuneatley, the results of these surveys cannot be interpreted as anything else but a complete failure of this year's spawning activities along the WCVI as a whole.
Now I just know that someone is going to point at the fisheries that occured along the east coast of the Island as some means of hope in this regard. But, facing facts, the numbers simply weren't sufficient to provide for the usually lucrative fishery. Mesh size reductions promoted by
The Dino did result in an increased harvest, but that was chiefly an inferior product which resulted in many boats realizing but packing fees for eventual fishmeal. Nope, not much of a shining light there for the future of the the most basic foodstock of the
Mistress Pacific's many hungry denizons!
Witnessing this event unfold this year has been heartbreaking to say the least. Sea birds reliant on the herring are dying off in numbers unheard of, fish stocks are directly suffering, including salmon but also every other organism out there.
Now to relate this to the title of the thread: Sea lions, overabundant due to decades of thoughtless over-protection are also very much feeling the hit. Yes, the
Tourist Critters in Ucy appear to be in good shape, but that is completely due to their immediate access to the volume of foodstuffs delvered daily at the working fishplants there. Outside, in areas where there is no easy
Gravy Train, the animals are showing signs of decreasing vigour - many appear ragged and skinny as they slowly starve due to the lack of basic foodstuffs required to maintain their enormous bodies. Breeding success is declining at a rate not witnessed previously, and it very much appears that blanket protection, coupled with the intense fisheries on their prey species is simply serving to kill them off - perhaps kindness was the original intent of the protection, but starvation is a very slow and lingering death. One that I certainly wouldn't intentionally foist on even my most bitter of enemies.
The result of this impact is sorely being felt by any who ply the coastal waters, especially those in pursuit of salmon. I have personally witnessed days when up to a dozen and more desperate lions literally glue themselves to any unlucky troller they can find, and snatch anything that fishing machine manages to hook so fast there is simply no hope of even seeing what the captured prey might have been. Sport fishers are as incensed as the commercial lads, as they present as much of a target as those who hunt the salmon for pay. Most are reporting serial attacks as the new norm, something that is now considered a
Given if headed out to enagage silver fish in the chuck. The reports all the way from Hardy down through Renfrew are the same, and for the first time, range as far out as 30 plus miles (where one could usually expect to leave the starving robbers behind in the past).
The whole of the system is hurting, the lions but an indication thereof. Those of us who love and work out on the chuck are deeply troubled, and we fervently hope this is but a year class failure (herring) as the driving mechanism thereof. Sadly, it just may be that the light at the end of the tunnel we so much yearn for is but a runaway frieght train headed right at us!
For all that is Holy DFO, lose the blinders and get on with some
REAL management activity! Self-justification no longer cuts the mustard! Dispite all the cheap double talk, your actions are indeed turning our once magnificent west coast fishery resources into a barren wasteland. But then again, that is exactly what you did to the East Coast, so why would we have any reason to expect anything different in out here in the West?? :unsure:
Shaking the ol' noggin yet again...
Nog
And yes, I AM one of those knuckle-draggin' commercial troller types[}
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