Where are the herring ?

Its done all the time by certain other groups (ie salmon in the south arm) why not "WE" , are WE all not Canadians with an equal right ?? Or do we just wait until a another special group gives the Gov't false information resulting in seasonal or permanent shut down of more of our already limited sportfishing areas to "PROTECT THE HERRING AND ANCHOVIES" ???? As Sportfisherman we all get screwed when in reality it wasn't because of us things went sideways. Time for someone else to get that $hit end of the stick (and suck it up) so WE can enjoy our sport .
first of all there is no commercial fishery on anchovys in BC.. seems that the howe sound Anchovies have move over to the island for time being( not commercial fished out) I'm sure they will be back over on the other side in the next couple months.. One needs to remember that there is the first reaction response and there is what actually should be done with best science... You are generalizing and lumping a whole lot of different issue into one basket, were as each one needs to be looked at and asset as a stand alone issue.. I would put it this way.. If you were a commercial fisherman 2nd or 3rd generation do you think they wouldnt be saying the same thing right now? Salmon , Herring & ground fish fishery ? Remembering these folks feel just as strong about there fisheries as we sportfisherman do.... Been fishing since I was 4 .. trout . Steelhead salmon ect
 
Government seems to print money at will. Those commercial licenses should be bought back as with many other types of fisheries .
I think we have all learned that commercial fishing is no longer sustainable for most species.
its being transfered right now for the most part to the FN... as I stated before just like you been fishing mostly since you were a kid and fishing is your passion in your life. Of course you dont like whats happening..The commercial guys feel equally the passion and the being on the water, the smell of the saltwater and sun on there face on a good day... there just like us, connected to the water and its surrounding just like the rest of us..
 
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No slight on the commercials, I get that they need to make a living but the world is not the same as it was 50 years ago. We need to adapt or the planet will do it for us.

We don't have the laws to make what you want a reality, As derby said above we are transition to a mostly FN fishery. Even if abundances of salmon greatly increase we are not going to see greater access without a change in government. Kinda sad that an NDP protest vote now is a Liberal vote.
 
As much as I care about them, and I really do. I just can't see the argument of they've been doing it for generations and have an attachment to that water and all that really having any weight when it comes to very few people having such a large take for very little benefit to the people of BC and Canada. Something has to give. Besides that, all of those commercial guys can still be rec guys and enjoy fishing and the water. Maybe those guys can become fishing cops and go sink the Chinese super trawlers offshore, who are probably the way bigger issue. It's a very crappy situation for all those involved. The realist in me just can't see this going any other way.
 
These are the latest figures from this year and i dont think they will change much, unless there is late herring that show up but it does not look that way. Looks like about 4300 tons.

The commercial roe Herring seine fishery opened in Area 14 at 04:00 hrs on March 3, 2022 (see FN0178). The validated catch is 819.719 tons of the 832.571 ton catch target. The seine fishery closed March 5 at 14:00 hrs (see FN0196). Seine fishing efforts targeted the Lambert Channel, Chrome Island, and Scallop Farm areas.

Effective 08:30 hrs Saturday March 5, 2022 and until further notice, portions of Areas 14 and 17 are open to Gulf licensed roe herring gillnets (see FN0195). The validated catch to date is 3,407 tons of the 6,788.44 ton catch target. The gillnet fleet is looking for opportunities.

Have to go back to pre pandemic in 2019 for a big harvest.

ALL GEAR
Total Quota 2019: 19,783 tons
Total Catch 2019: 15,552 tons
Percent of total roe fishery quota achieved: 79%
Trying to figure out the year to year total Herring harvest numbers.
From Wildmanyeah…
Total Catch 2019: 15,552 tons

Total Catch 2020 ?

2021 DFO report is below
Total catch 2,995.65 8,268.55 = 11,264.2 ??
Wildmanyeah sees it as
“2022 Looks like about 4300 tons ?”


“2021 COMMERCIAL FISHERY SUMMARY
As described in FN0258 the Strait of Georgia roe herring seine fishery closed at 19:00 hours March 13. Validated catch is 2,995.65 tons of the 3,227.68 ton quota.
As described in FN0274 the Strait of Georgia roe herring gillnet fishery closed at 18:00 hours March 17. Validated catch is 8,268.55 tons of the 8,716.19 ton quota. After discussions with the remaining active Pool Captains and the HIAB appointed gillnet representative, the roe herring gillnet season is now closed for the balance of the season.”


For a layman like me it’s hard to understand exactly what the total catch is to year to year in the inside waters of VI

These numbers must be available. Can you make it simple for me Wildmanyeah

Thanks for your help
 
Trying to figure out the year to year total Herring harvest numbers.
From Wildmanyeah…
Total Catch 2019: 15,552 tons

Total Catch 2020 ?

2021 DFO report is below
Total catch 2,995.65 8,268.55 = 11,264.2 ??
Wildmanyeah sees it as
“2022 Looks like about 4300 tons ?”


“2021 COMMERCIAL FISHERY SUMMARY
As described in FN0258 the Strait of Georgia roe herring seine fishery closed at 19:00 hours March 13. Validated catch is 2,995.65 tons of the 3,227.68 ton quota.
As described in FN0274 the Strait of Georgia roe herring gillnet fishery closed at 18:00 hours March 17. Validated catch is 8,268.55 tons of the 8,716.19 ton quota. After discussions with the remaining active Pool Captains and the HIAB appointed gillnet representative, the roe herring gillnet season is now closed for the balance of the season.”


For a layman like me it’s hard to understand exactly what the total catch is to year to year in the inside waters of VI

These numbers must be available. Can you make it simple for me Wildmanyeah

Thanks for your help

What are you struggling with just add the gillnet numbers to the seine numbers of the validated catch

here is the 2020 figures

The Strait of Georgia roe herring seine fishery opened on Friday, March 6, 2020 and closed on March 7, 2020 with fishing occurring on March 6 in Upper Baynes Sound.
The total validated catch was 2,018.862 tons of the 2,024.75 ton quota.

The Strait of Georgia roe herring gill net fishery opened on Friday, March 6, 2020 and closed on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Fishing took place on the east coast of
Denman Island and along the Vancouver Island shoreline from French Creek to Parksville Bay. Total validated catch was 7,071.509 tons of the 7,215.25 ton quota.
 
What are you struggling with just add the gillnet numbers to the seine numbers of the validated catch

here is the 2020 figures

The Strait of Georgia roe herring seine fishery opened on Friday, March 6, 2020 and closed on March 7, 2020 with fishing occurring on March 6 in Upper Baynes Sound.
The total validated catch was 2,018.862 tons of the 2,024.75 ton quota.

The Strait of Georgia roe herring gill net fishery opened on Friday, March 6, 2020 and closed on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Fishing took place on the east coast of
Denman Island and along the Vancouver Island shoreline from French Creek to Parksville Bay. Total validated catch was 7,071.509 tons of the 7,215.25 ton quota.
would this be correct?
2019 total catch 15,552 tons
2020 total catch (7,071.509 plus 2,018.862} 9,090.37 tons
2021 total catch (8,268.55 plus 2995.65) 11,264.2 tons
2022 total catch ??
Hopefully Wildmanyeah can provide this number for me
Thanks
 
Here is a better graph i found as it includes food and bait use as well as some of the other special use fisheries. The other numbers I provided earlier were the just from the Roe fishery in the SOG. If i remember correctly I don't think there was a big bait and food fishery this year as they wanted to save the Quota for the more lucrative Roe fishery.

1648145894331.png
 
Here is a better graph i found as it includes food and bait use as well as some of the other special use fisheries. The other numbers I provided earlier were the just from the Roe fishery in the SOG. If i remember correctly I don't think there was a big bait and food fishery this year as they wanted to save the Quota for the more lucrative Roe fishery.

View attachment 77072
The bait catches were screw over as there was a 6 week delay in opening up the fishery....
 
Perhaps.. But regardless of the recreation, heritage and tourism with a tax benefit to the whole country we are still using the resources and when you sit down to the table there is a pie there that is needed to shared... Recommations of following the best Science and cut backs based on that science is important.. A 50% cut was done this year and will need a couple years to asses what that does to the herring population.
Ya and a lot of people screamed like stuck pigs when that 50% reduction was brought in. The numbers this year were much lower than expected so it was a saving grace that we reduced the catch.
 
The hypocrisy in this thread is ripe, let’s bonk endangered puget sound reds chinook all winter in howesound.

While complaining about the non exsistant anchovy fishery and a small herring commercial fishery.

while complaining about SRKW closures but then also saying how importing herring are for wildlife as if chinook also don’t provide things for wild life.

let’s point fingeres and demand closures. One should not be surprised when the r fingers get pointed back demanding the same thing.

kinda demoralizing reading this, makes me not want to battle with DFO for opportunities when everyone seems so eger to take others opportunities away.
 
Wildmanyeah has this very accurately framed. There are far bigger issues here than a poor commercial catch of herring in the gulf. Those of you wanting to ignore using science and just close things will find that everything will be closed. I have skin in the game in the commercial industry and a passionate lifelong love of catching salmon. Sectors need to work together if we want to have access to fish in the future. Too many whiskey driven quarterbacks at times posting on this forum.
 
Wildmanyeah has this very accurately framed. There are far bigger issues here than a poor commercial catch of herring in the gulf. Those of you wanting to ignore using science and just close things will find that everything will be closed. I have skin in the game in the commercial industry and a passionate lifelong love of catching salmon. Sectors need to work together if we want to have access to fish in the future. Too many whiskey driven quarterbacks at times posting on this forum.
"will find that everything will be closed" says Redfisher
It is hard to understand this logic which has been posted many times before.
How is it that if we allow the Commercial herring harvest to reduce our herring runs to a fraction of historic levels....
that this will then help us to keep salmon fishing less restricted?
AND I can assure you that I am not a "whiskey driven quarterback" nor are those who support reducing the Herring harvest.
 
Okay I’ll give you an example in sitting in a meeting with DFO this spring and they are going over the chum returns. We all know we had horrible chum returns last fall and it got shut down.

well they were telling us about all the feedback they were getting from groups like the commercial fishery demanding that they close the recreational fishery for chum. So I think we all agree yeah returns were horrible so okay let’s close it. Even tho the Rec impact on chum is pretty much non exaist when compared to total returns. Okay fine

well that was not good enough they they started getting feed back. Instead of non retention, they wanted DFO to implement no fishing for salmon closures because of catch and release mortality.

well you know what no fishing for salmon would mean it would mean no acesss to hatchery coho fishery’s.

these guys that hold chum licenses also hold herring licenses. They see all the feed back all over social media demanding closures for them.
 
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