Seal/Sea Lion Problem On The West Coast!

[reel easy]

Although fisherman 14 hasn't learned to think before he posts and be less offensive and for sure use spell-check, some of his points are very valid, I too have witnessed the shameful waist of netting on the Cowichan River, believe me it does happen and the digital is coming on river walks from now on maybe you should do the same there is nothing like a picture to make skeptics take note.

 

[roscoe-pco]

I live on the fraser river so many times I've seen piles of sockeye at the edge rotting from not being sold, this is how I stand on the native issue, let them fish as much as they like when they like because it's their traditional way, but it needs to be done the traditional way, no power boats, commercial nets etc etc, a canoe the way it was. It should be their traditional right their traditional way. BAN FISH FARMING!!!

 

[Little Hawk]

Howdy!

Salmonfever;

Your cries for sympathy towards the fish-farming industry have fallen on deaf-ears with me. Sorry, I've learned too much about it.

Truth is, when I hear people/government promoting the industry and trying to 'pull the wool over our eye's' telling us all the wonderful things salmon-farming does for us - my pulse quickens and I become enraged.

Yes, fish-farming has created some jobs here and there in remote communities where they are sorely needed, and to those 'relatively few' who can help feed their families with that income, my heart goes out to them. My heart also goes out to the vanished -nearly extinct- commercial fleets and the once proud skipper's and crews of those boats that are sitting idle in marina's up and down our coast or are gone as a result of our government's wonderful 'fleet-reduction' program.

But since you raised the issue of the great benefit of 'job-creation' by the salmon-farming industry, allow me a moment to enlighten you.

From the outset our government (your's and mine!) has so grossly overexaggerated the employment (job-creation) benifits to our Province resulting from the growth of the industry that it more aptly should be termed - a LIE.

Each salmon-farm creates 8 to 10 jobs directly or indirectly; not hundreds/thousands like our government and the industry claims. The industry has become highly mechanized, and will continue to become moreso, requiring fewer and fewer employees to pollute OUR waters, endanger OUR wild-fish in order to feed the American's and send the lion's share of the industries' profits - out of the country.

First and foremost I am a sport-fisherman, and like most (if not all) on this forum, I want to see 'WILD' salmon around for my kids and future generations. I see fish-farming and my government's sanctioning of the industry as the single greatest threat to that end. Certainly not the 'only' threat.

Meanwhile, I fear I may be stepping outside forum-protocol here (off-topic) and since my aim is not to offend anyone (least of all fishfu#*69), perhaps a 'New topic' on the subject of 'salmon-farming' is warranted.

I'll dig out my research notes and data that I've collected (it's all in a box somewhere hiding in my house) and in the mean-time, if any of you are truly interested to learn more about this industry - the stuff our government and the industry don't want you to know - by all means, encourage me to do so, let me know it won't fall on deaf ears, as did the 'Leggatt Report' on our governments'.

Cheers,
Terry

 

[fishman69er]

owch, havnt been called a "fishf#%69" before, well thats a good way to start a good adult debate, but now that i see the maturity level that this topic will take i am not even going to waste my time,if you want to see some of my last posts on the subject, which you probley wont because people are not intrested in the truth if they dont want to know it, then there are some very good informative posts on the subject, from past debates, but one thing i would like to know is Terry do you fish for steelhead,ever take the love ones to a nice little lake for the day, or are you a chuck only kind of guy, because you stateing wild fish only is never going to happen, what happens if you stop stocking the SSS with hatchery fish? what happens when you stop stocking all the lakes in BC with hatchery fish?just a few things to think about before running off at the BEEK,Salmonfever, if you show any remorse for farms, you will be lambased, as most people that are anti-farming, are soo closed minded and pigheaded that even when you prove them wrong and provide facts that dispell THEIR ideas, they still dont give credit. Rosco, great point, said that here on this site many times,but then the ban fishfarms, Why?

 

[Barbender]

quote:This is a sport fishing web sit not a pro fishfarming site

So if it is only a anti fish farming site? No debate? No reasoning, no science. Just salmon farms are bad. Hmm. Interesting logic. I am not sure I understand your comment. So we can only post if it is inflamatory and anti aquaculture. Then this site is ok. However if you want to contradict with perhaps another view then it cannot be done here. Dont want to fan the flames here as this is a hot button topic. Especially with declining stocks every year. I think the best thing we can do to save wild salmon is stop salmon farming altogether and eat more wild salmon. That will improve their numbers for sure.

 

[Bosinova]

Yup, I can tell where this is going. Not worth the time really. Little Hawk, I encourage you to share your research. Make sure to include the author, date etc.. As for the rest of the salmon farming bashers out there... Just an idea but what other food source do we have that is raised in the wild? How are wild salmon populations, requiring much more fish protein/lb supposed to be sustainable without a mass produced alternative? How would this work in 10 years? What would all the wild salmon necessary to meet the demand eat? The salmon farming industry is working on alternatives to fish protein by the way. As for health concerns? Slam another Pepsi and think about it....

 

[Captain Dudds]

Terry,

I'd like to hear more about your research. I'm currently against farming but am open to knowledge and am not "closed minded and pigheaded" as someone kindly generalized. From what I know, fish farms seem to be a negative thing and I haven't heard any strong evidence to negate that. There are some very strong opinions from the other side but so far, you seem to be the only person that has done extensive research on it.

It was said that it created jobs. However, it seems it does not create as many jobs as suggested, and it destroys commercial jobs at the same time.

It was said that farming is a new technique and will improve, but it turned out it has been in Europe for quite some time and didn't improve to the point to be sustainable there. How long will it take them to make this possible...too long?

I'm not sure how concrete the "kills 3 wild for every 1 farmed fish produced" statistic is. I really hope it is not true.

Is fish farming even worth it? The point has been made that it is the only way to meet demands, but is that a good enough reason to destroy our wild stocks? Would we rather have only farmed salmon and meet the demand or vise-versa?

Personally, I'd rather have high flourishing wild stocks which would profit out province in the commercial and tourism industries.

Once again, I am open minded and encourage people to dispute my points.

Geoff

 

[Little Hawk]

Howdy.

Fishman69er...

Forgive me, in my haste to finish my post yesterday before heading off to work, I managed to get your handle confused with another member's. Not at all very professional of me.

I'm going to dive in here on the off chance some of my fellow 'sporties' might be interested to learn more about the salmon-farming industry. I was involved in the opposition to our Government's proposed lifting of the moratorium on expansion of the industry. If memory serves me, it was back around 2002, about the same time my article was published in BC Outdoors Magazine.

I'm ashamed to say that since that time I, like many others, have become somewhat apathetic on the subject. Our government was/is hellbent on supporting this industry and that concerned me as much as all the envirionmental/ecological issues attributed to fish-farming.

Got a late start this morning (that's when I post) and I have yet to find my research material on the topic; when I do, I'll start a new thread (I know there's already another one running) and we'll see what happens from there.

Thanks to all for your interest in this subject.

(Now... after a brief word from our sponsor, it's back to a story from the West-Coast where fed-up sportfisherman are packing magnums and grenades to deal with a burgeoning seal and sea lion population...)

Cheers,
Terry

 

[fishman69er]

Terry , thanks for the reply, it makes me feel better about this subject,let me first start off with a little background on myself, no research, no publications, no mounds of documents,what i do have is about ten yrs workin for the fish farms,(dont work on the farms anymore and havent for about ten yrs), there are two things that is ecential to the topic to understand,first those who oppose fishfarms are goin to put out bad info, and the fishfarm gods are goin to try to make the farms sound like heaven, its ALL propanganda, for both sides of the show, now you all probably think that i am pro fishfarms, well your wrong, i am for the idea but i,like many,feel there is a better way to do it, again, i feel like i have typed all this before, wait i have, i will post a link to the past fourms that delt with the same topic.
Captain; i am sorry you took offence to my comment, but in all realality thats what MOST people are that dont agree with fishfarms, because they have read or heard all the negative so called facts from the people against fishfarms decided to put on paper, or they did a 'study', i never saw anyone doin any 'studies', in my time and i worked for three farms in the Broughton area, and a couple more on the west coast, out of Tofino. Well thats about it for now
Ensure the future C&R

 

[fishman69er]

Terry , thanks for the reply, it makes me feel better about this subject,let me first start off with a little background on myself, no research, no publications, no mounds of documents,what i do have is about ten yrs workin for the fish farms,(dont work on the farms anymore and havent for about ten yrs), there are two things that is ecential to the topic to understand,first those who oppose fishfarms are goin to put out bad info, and the fishfarm gods are goin to try to make the farms sound like heaven, its ALL propanganda, for both sides of the show, now you all probably think that i am pro fishfarms, well your wrong, i am for the idea but i,like many,feel there is a better way to do it, again, i feel like i have typed all this before, wait i have, i will post a link to the past fourms that delt with the same topic.
Captain; i am sorry you took offence to my comment, but in all realality thats what MOST people are that dont agree with fishfarms, because they have read or heard all the negative so called facts from the people against fishfarms decided to put on paper, or they did a 'study', i never saw anyone doin any 'studies', in my time and i worked for three farms in the Broughton area, and a couple more on the west coast, out of Tofino. Well thats about it for now
Ensure the future C&R

 

[fishman69er]

ok, dont know how to insert links to the past posts but the heading is 'FISHFARMS HAVE GOT TO GO', check it out its a good one

 

[fishman69er]

ok, dont know how to insert links to the past posts but the heading is 'FISHFARMS HAVE GOT TO GO', check it out its a good one

 

[Captain Dudds]

No problem fisherman, I understand. Its very frustrating when people strongly support something and don't listen to reason. And you're right, most people probably are ignorant and stubborn.

However, it goes both ways. A guy I work with is very pro farming and won't listen to anything I try to say. His only argument is that "people who couldn't afford salmon now can" and he won't listen to my arguments or discuss it or anything. He's got his opinion and thats that.

Anyways, I agree with you that the idea of fishfarms is good but must be gone about another way. What concerns me is that until they find that other way, they will continue as is, and possibly do permanent damage.

 

[Captain Dudds]

No problem fisherman, I understand. Its very frustrating when people strongly support something and don't listen to reason. And you're right, most people probably are ignorant and stubborn.

However, it goes both ways. A guy I work with is very pro farming and won't listen to anything I try to say. His only argument is that "people who couldn't afford salmon now can" and he won't listen to my arguments or discuss it or anything. He's got his opinion and thats that.

Anyways, I agree with you that the idea of fishfarms is good but must be gone about another way. What concerns me is that until they find that other way, they will continue as is, and possibly do permanent damage.