One wonders what behind the scenes discussions transpire between the various players on the provincial fisheries front. Short days after the much publicized shot across the fed's bow by the province's Deputy Minister of the Environment (Mark Zacharias) over DFO spin doctoring of the scientists' recommendation for conservation of Interior Fraser Steelhead we have the Premier, his Minister of Agriculture and the minority Green Party's MLA Olsen at the podium. DM Zacharias who boldly and justifiably took the feds to task and that other Minister, Doug Donaldson, who owns the steelhead portfolio were nowhere to be seen.
And, what were the podium owners announcing? The same old same old - we'll throw money at fixing the unfixable and engage community groups to crank up hatchery production to "save" endangered stocks like Thompson steelhead. Nary a word about the most obvious and immediate conservation measure that could and should be taken - start managing the harvest of fish by all user groups with non-lethal means that will actually achieve conservation and rebuilding objectives.
Wouldn't it be interesting to know what Premier Horgan and Minister Popham had to say about DM Zacharias' entirely legitimate blast on behalf of a resource Minister Donaldson is on record (multiple times) as claiming responsibility for.
Bob Hooton
