URGENT: Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery - DFO Online Survey-Deadline March 2nd (Salmon Fishing Area Closures 2022)

I would add that the SFAB will be holding special SFAC meetings in those areas impacted by the proposed management measures to gather in local knowledge holder expertise. Those inputs will be summarized and shared, so folks wishing to see the SFAB response and then complete the survey are welcome to do that. The SFAB meetings will be next week, so the summary document will be available week of Feb 21. The survey is open for comment until March 2.

Please note that within the survey there are 24 questions, and many allow for additional comment within dialogue boxes that drop down after you select an answer. If the option you are providing comment on doesn't fit your expert views on areas of high SRKW foraging, you can offer alternatives.

The comment sections will of course be of utmost value and interest to DFO.

Strongly encourage additional comments related to ways we could improve upon the protective efficacy of the 400m bubble and 1000m voluntary fishery avoidance. In addition to that, the SFAB proposed to DFO that adaptive management measures such as monitoring some select areas for actual presence of SRKW before enacting fishery restrictions. This was done in 2021, and by all reports was successful. The 2021 approach was to allow the area to be open until detection of SRKW, then closed - not reopened. Under potential consideration are mechanisms to also re-open fisheries if SRKW are not continuing to be present within a sanctuary area. These are adaptive management measures the SFAB feels help achieve a balance between protecting whales, while allowing responsible on water activities such as fishing. If you agree or value those adaptive approaches, please comment.

Also important to note that one of the key areas of the Minister's mandate letter was to work with communities to support the blue economy - feel free to provide commentary on how the recreational fishery contributes to local jobs, economies, social and cultural well-being of coastal communities.

From Minister's Mandate Letter:
  • Continue working with business, academic institutions, non-profits, provincial and territorial governments, and Indigenous partners to grow Canada’s ocean and freshwater economy and support the long-term sustainable growth of Canada’s fish and seafood sector, ensuring Canada is positioned to succeed in the fast-growing global ocean sectors of the blue economy and advancing reconciliation, conservation and climate objectives.

Thanks all who contribute to the survey - its your fishery, have your say.
 
As this is a very important piece of information for the upcoming Salmon fishing season, I have moved the thread that was already started in the Conservation forum. We all know the challenges facing the public fishery when it comes to the closures already in place and those being proposed, so let's not turn this into a non-stop complaint fest about what hasn't been done in the past or point blame at anyone that has been trying to prevent this situation from happening. The best thing you can do is make your voice heard and show up at the meetings in your area in large numbers to support the cause.

This is a copy and paste by Searun from a previous post, which provides some tips on how to structure your feedback to DFO.

Brian

The SFAB will be holding special SFAC meetings in those areas impacted by the proposed management measures to gather in local knowledge holder expertise. Those inputs will be summarized and shared, so folks wishing to see the SFAB response and then complete the survey are welcome to do that. The SFAB meetings will be next week, so the summary document will be available week of Feb 21. The survey is open for comment until March 2.

Please note that within the survey there are 24 questions, and many allow for additional comment within dialogue boxes that drop down after you select an answer. If the option you are providing comment on doesn't fit your expert views on areas of high SRKW foraging, you can offer alternatives.

The comment sections will of course be of utmost value and interest to DFO.

Strongly encourage additional comments related to ways we could improve upon the protective efficacy of the 400m bubble and 1000m voluntary fishery avoidance. In addition to that, the SFAB proposed to DFO that adaptive management measures such as monitoring some select areas for actual presence of SRKW before enacting fishery restrictions. This was done in 2021, and by all reports was successful. The 2021 approach was to allow the area to be open until detection of SRKW, then closed - not reopened. Under potential consideration are mechanisms to also re-open fisheries if SRKW are not continuing to be present within a sanctuary area. These are adaptive management measures the SFAB feels help achieve a balance between protecting whales, while allowing responsible on water activities such as fishing. If you agree or value those adaptive approaches, please comment.

Also important to note that one of the key areas of the Minister's mandate letter was to work with communities to support the blue economy - feel free to provide commentary on how the recreational fishery contributes to local jobs, economies, social and cultural well-being of coastal communities.

From Minister's Mandate Letter:
  • Continue working with business, academic institutions, non-profits, provincial and territorial governments, and Indigenous partners to grow Canada’s ocean and freshwater economy and support the long-term sustainable growth of Canada’s fish and seafood sector, ensuring Canada is positioned to succeed in the fast-growing global ocean sectors of the blue economy and advancing reconciliation, conservation and climate objectives.

Thanks all who contribute to the survey - its your fishery, have your say.
 
Last edited:
SpringVelocity said:
That quote you got is ridiculous. So now they are eating other salmon.

Pretty quiet on here. I am really surprised of how little everyone is interested in this. It will close half of the Juan de fuca fishery if it goes through. I don't think people get it honestly.
Click to expand...
My progress report on fighting the "Cancel" clowns as of January 3rd, 2022:
- 2 x Letters to the DFO minister, my useless potato-head Liberal MP on salmon habitat protection and access to hatchery marked fish
- Letter to my NDP MLA on dike protection/upgrade funding and access for smolt and returning salmon in the lower Fraser
- Letter to the DFO minister on the re-occuring closures
- This "Survey" and spam emailing it to anyone who I think might care in my small network of anglers

I'm thankful to our SFAB members and the work that they're doing on our behalf but to be perfectly honest, I think this is the last year that I'm going to do all this until a there's a new government in Ottawa. This process hasn't worked in the past, there are very active political motivations that are driving our fisheries and we will not be able to influence the decisions with the existing group of stakeholders and the biased governance. Add to that the whole Covid fatigue and the lack of certainty/transparency on what the different levels of government are doing in the name of "Pandemy Response" and you get a better sense of why it's so quiet here.
Bottomline is that we shouldn't be expecting a huge setback, now that we've seen these closures for the last few years. In our area (Vancouver), things won't be changing much, sadly. Closed for all salmon species? Who gives a fart? It's been a depressing scene for the last couple of years and the minority Liberal government isn't going to change course on this - no matter who the DFO minister is. It's sad and very frustrating for us sporties but no one in the higher ranking of the federal government seems to worry about the socio-ecenomic impacts of these blind closures.
 
I filled it out but as far as I was concerned the choice was ”which would you rather lose a leg or an arm”, “based on your previous answer, left or right”. At the end of the day DFO will report it consulted local fishermen and gave them their chosen option. This is beyond disgusting that they would produce a document like this and pretend they are actually listening or consulting. They must think we’re congenital idiots. The whole plan is totally unacceptable and they know it but could give a crap. This is not negotiating and certainly not negotiating in good faith. I believe they are asking you which fellow fishers you wish to throw under the bus next.
I moved my boat from where I lived due to the closure of Pender Bluffs as well as the annual closure on August 1 of the Inlet, Coal Island etc. Essentially fishing is only permitted in this area during the winter now. I always thought once they grabbed one area they would continue to expand the closures one bit at a time. Each time an area gets hammered like the Sidney Gulf Islands area DFO wins because they have less voices to oppose them. People give up and DFO focuses on the next area. If you foolishly think it isn’t coming your way soon, just wait. Divide and conquer.
While I filled out this POS for DFO, I made sure to mention I thought it was the poorest excuse for staff work I’ve ever seen from a Federal Department. I hope even taking part in this survey doesn’t give it any undeserved credibility.
 
Filled out the form as best I could and used the following statement a lot when asked 'Why'

"Firstly pods J and K numbers have hardly changed in the last 20 years and pod L has decreased from its peak high in 1995 but it is still higher than the numbers in 1973 (66) so lets stop fearmongering and telling everyone there are "only" 72 as if that number should be in the hundreds. Closures will impact my ability to harvest salmon for food."
 
All done gentlemen and thank you. Answered most questions as best I could with the limited knowledge I have on the local whales. But I do understand business and the impact this has had on many out there.
 
In the Vancouver area, we've had closures in areas 28 and 29 for the last two years. The "survey" seems to be suggesting that they're lifting the closures in area 28 and will only close parts of area 29 from Aug 1- Sep 30. I think they're going to use this thing to make the blanket closures running even longer than last year's just so the entire Fraser's sockeye run can go to where it's supposed to go...

Can we not outsmart the breucrat monkeies in this game??

1644535856058.png
 
Ringo said:
In the Vancouver area, we've had closures in areas 28 and 29 for the last two years. The "survey" seems to be suggesting that they're lifting the closures in area 28 and will only close parts of area 29 from Aug 1- Sep 30. I think they're going to use this thing to make the blanket closures running even longer than last year's just so the entire Fraser's sockeye run can go to where it's supposed to go...

Can we not outsmart the breucrat monkeies in this game??

View attachment 75336
Click to expand...

yes this is in addition to all the closures
 
I feel like our opinions might make a very small dent, however this is just their way of getting their foot in the door for what they want in the future. Which is complete closure. They will just keep taking away little by little until were done here.

My whole life and career. Sport and commercial fishing industry. Spent my whole life so they can eventually bankrupt my company. Fuuck them. Starting to not like canada

Survey says... that some environmentalist knows more about whats going on in the gulf islands and southern straight then the guys who have spent their lives out there. Those whales are happy. They eat everything. They are the best fishermen in the ocean. Im shaking my head at how canada is royally destroying our economy little by little. Im not filling out that survey.
 
ship happens said:
I feel like our opinions might make a very small dent, however this is just their way of getting their foot in the door for what they want in the future. Which is complete closure. They will just keep taking away little by little until were done here.

My whole life and career. Sport and commercial fishing industry. Spent my whole life so they can eventually bankrupt my company. Fuuck them. Starting to not like canada

Survey says... that some environmentalist knows more about whats going on in the gulf islands and southern straight then the guys who have spent their lives out there. Those whales are happy. They eat everything. They are the best fishermen in the ocean. Im shaking my head at how canada is royally destroying our economy little by little. Im not filling out that survey.
Click to expand...
Filled out what I could. Feels futile. I fish, like many, to get away from politics et al. Everyone knows catching fish one at a time is not the problem. mtc
 
I filled it out, but I feel this is the government just covering their butt to able to say they consulted with the people.
IMO the decision has already been made.
 
This is certainly moving in the direction of a full coast-wide closure, so if you think your area is safe this is the time to wake up. The “survey” is clearly a tool for the government to justify their politically motivated decisions. The cost of this closure to our economy would be in the billions. Are we going to sit back and watch the clowns taking this away from us in the name of conservation or do we have enough smart people in the sport sector who know how to engage with stakeholders and use the media to shift the decisions? I mean look at the truckers. The Libs have crapped their pants failing to organize their own bases let aline responding to them.
 
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