Commercial FN Fishery Granted

And a Paradigm Shift in the Allocation Policy Goes Hand in Hand:

A group of West Coast First Nations has won the right to harvest and sell fish commercially after a 12-year court battle.

In the 400-page judgment, Humphries sets out the parameters for the Indigenous fisheries involving species including a variety of salmon, groundfish, crab, prawn and shellfish.

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story...6-3-.htm#224196

Here follows the Minister's full statement. The most significant decision is NOT the court case, rather it is the Minister's reference to changing the allocation policy as soon as possible. Placing FN Commercial rights above all others except FN FSC rights is a paradigm shift, and there aren't any more fish to go around... meaning many will soon be off the water to pay the cost of "reconciliation"...

https://www.canada.ca/en/fisheries-oceans/n...nd-and-nat.html

Paragraph 1267 of the Judgment for reference:

Result

[1267] I have set out several areas of unjustified infringements arising from the licencing regime above, in the section Aspects of Infringement and Justification Applying To All Species, as set out above. The following conclusions are specifically applicable to the salmon fishery:

The Salmon Allocation Policy insofar as it accords priority to the recreational fishery over plaintiffs’ right-based fishery for chinook is not justified;

Canada’s allocations for AABM and ISBM chinook, insofar as they have been set based on giving priority to the recreational fishery pursuant to the Salmon Allocation Policy, are not justified;

The use of PICFI to provide salmon licences to the plaintiffs is justified, but the mitigation policy itself, in the event of an inability to allocate sufficient chinook to the plaintiffs through PICFI alone, is not justified;

http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/...18BCSC0633.htm

Salmon, and other saltwater species fishing as we knew it, have just met their painful demise. :frown:

Sadly,
Nog

Yup, beginning of the end :(
Time to move the boat back to the interior for trout, Kokanee and burbot to fill the freezer...

Salmon Allocation Policy

(917) Canada’s position from the beginning of the Negotiations has been that the plaintiffs have been given a commercial right of unknown scope; that is, the right takes its character from the word “commercial”. However, I agree with the plaintiffs that the right is an aboriginal fishing right. Its essential character is as an aboriginal right. Because it is also a commercial right, Gladstone states clearly that it is not an exclusive right, and does not extinguish the right of public access to the fishery. Nevertheless, as an aboriginal right, it has priority over the other sectors, after FSC and treaty rights (limitations the plaintiffs acknowledge), as long as the other factors in Sparrow are properly balanced.

(925) However, the fact that the declared aboriginal right is to fish and sell fish into the commercial marketplace does not lessen the priority to be accorded to the aboriginal right -- it does not allow Canada to start out on the allocation process by treating the plaintiffs’ fishery as simply another commercial fishery. To accord priority to the recreational fishery over the plaintiffs’ aboriginal commercial fishery is not justified.

http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/...18BCSC0633.htm

:evil:

I sure hope this ruling comes with a big check and a teary eyed apology from the Prime Minister of this country. (Insert sarcasm here)
That should help with the ongoing reconciliation/exploitation process.

I have ZERO issue with FN rights to traditional resources but the growing concern is it's becoming disproportionate with no accountability on harvest or enforcement. If the boys stick to tight and quantified quotas it will be somewhat encouraging. If it goes the other direction......we are in for some interesting times and a guaranteed change in Gov.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IronNoggin

Salmon Allocation Policy
...

it does not allow Canada to start out on the allocation process by treating the plaintiffs’ fishery as simply another commercial fishery. To accord priority to the recreational fishery over the plaintiffs’ aboriginal commercial fishery is not justified.

[/B]http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/...18BCSC0633.htm

:evil:

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That is the line I don't understand. It is a commercial fishery! These fish will be sold to the exact same processors as any other non First Nation commercial catch. Therefore they should come from the internationally negotiated commercial quota catch limit. To have 2 seperate commercial operations with only quotas being taken from sport fishers will doom all species to extinction.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ourea

... I have ZERO issue with FN rights to traditional resources but the growing concern is it's becoming disproportionate with no accountability on harvest or enforcement. If the boys stick to tight and quantified quotas it will be somewhat encouraging. If it goes the other direction......we are in for some interesting times and a guaranteed change in Gov.

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They have already well proven they have NO interest in sticking to government issued quotas or areas of operations to date (yes, this same group). There is absolutely NO reason to believe they will now, even when handed "priority" over every one else. Another government will not be setting this right out of fear. Really. :cry:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mulehahn

That is the line I don't understand. It is a commercial fishery! These fish will be sold to the exact same processors as any other non First Nation commercial catch. Therefore they should come from the internationally negotiated commercial quota catch limit. To have 2 seperate commercial operations with only quotas being taken from sport fishers will doom all species to extinction.

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DFO has slashed Area G's quota to about a week's effort (for the entire season) and merrily gifted that to the FN's. They will drive the "competition" in that regard off the water for their favored buddies. Personally, that means I am now destitute at 60. Unhappy is an understatement... :shock:

For years the sporties thought themselves immune in this process, and actually giggled at times when we (the real commercial trollers) took hit after hit to accommodate more forced FN involvement. Well, they sure as hell ain't giggling now. And you can bet your sorry ass just where these "new" quotas are going to be wrestled from. No lube for the recreational fleet either, simply understand you just lost (Big Time) in the priority game, meaning if they feel any empathy for you, you might realize one or two measly fish to feed your families with. Oh, right, forgot who we're dealing with here. How does Alberta Beef sound instead... :roll:

Pissed,
Nog

Not beginning of the end... another piece of the puzzle leading to the end

At what point have Canadians been pushed far enough past the point of meaningless online petitions?

Had a more lengthy reply but decided against it....

You are right Nog, and I am truly sorry for what this means for you. Just last week I helped a friend get rid of the last of his river nets. He was a 4th generation commercial and finally had to admit that he would never use them again.

What affect will this have on all the lodges? I’ve been saying this for years on the Fraser when it was being decimated; we need a protest fishery, but of course nobody would take the time to show up. Here we are again losing out on the sport we love. Such bullshit.

Guiding and lodge industry will take a huge hit. It's bad enough with the regs we have now...

"For years the sporties thought themselves immune in this process, and actually giggled at times when we (the real commercial trollers) took hit after hit to accommodate more forced FN involvement. Well, they sure as hell ain't giggling now. And you can bet your sorry ass just where these "new" quotas are going to be wrestled from."

You got that right Nog.

Sporties were pretty goddamn smug after Chinook were declared "Recreational priority" fish for Anderson's lodge and guiding friends.

And back when quota systems were introduced in halibut effectively privatizing the resource the sport fishing community was silent because "it doesn't affect us."

Well how do they feel about that now?

Time to share the pain.

Hmmm.. kissing native ass again, pretty soon there will be nothing left for the non-native people except to work and pay taxes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hublocker

"For years the sporties thought themselves immune in this process, and actually giggled at times when we (the real commercial trollers) took hit after hit to accommodate more forced FN involvement. Well, they sure as hell ain't giggling now. And you can bet your sorry ass just where these "new" quotas are going to be wrestled from."

You got that right Nog.

Sporties were pretty goddamn smug after Chinook were declared "Recreational priority" fish for Anderson's lodge and guiding friends.

And back when quota systems were introduced in halibut effectively privatizing the resource the sport fishing community was silent because "it doesn't affect us."

Well how do they feel about that now?

Time to share the pain.

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Although true, I'll point out the fact that the $ per # of sport caught fish put into the economy is staggering, unlike the commercial sector. Just saying...

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Originally Posted by Mulehahn

... You are right Nog, and I am truly sorry for what this means for you. Just last week I helped a friend get rid of the last of his river nets. He was a 4th generation commercial and finally had to admit that he would never use them again.

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Thank you Sir.
I am an Area G (WCVI) Troller as many here know.
Our quota has now been shaved down to about a week's catch. For the entire year.
The balance was freely given to the FN's.
There is no way any of us can survive on what is left. It is over. :-(
I find myself destitute at the age of 60. As does every single other member of our fleet.
"Upset" is a gross understatement.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by .264winmag

Although true, I'll point out the fact that the $ per # of sport caught fish put into the economy is staggering, unlike the commercial sector. Just saying...

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Not even a remote consideration in this process.
Economy and affected livelihoods be damned, they count for naught.

Just Sayin'... :icon_frow

Nog

Hmmm.. kissing native ass again, pretty soon there will be nothing left for the non-native people except to work and pay taxes.

[1142] Canada put the LTO into context within some of the factors relevant to the Sparrow/Gladstone justification analysis: there are 71 aboriginal groups in British Columbia with a treaty or a treaty claim, and 73 groups with a claim to fish. There are 20 aboriginal groups on the WCVI with communal licences, and 480 such groups in the Pacific Region; there are 76 aboriginal groups on the BC coastline; there are 141 groups with access to Fraser River sockeye. Aboriginal groups hold 41% of the commercial salmon fishery licences, so further mitigation would have to come from non-aboriginal participants. Despite the many interests affected by this fishery, so far the consultation process has been bilateral only.

Typical. Sell everyone else out without so much as a so long been good to know you line... :evil:

Pissed & Escalating...
Nog

This is a BC Supreme Court ruling. I would hope and expect it will be appealed to the Supreme Court. What that means (I think, I am not a lawyer) is that, it may be the law right now in BC, but for sure other aboriginal groups in the rest of Canada are "champing at the bit" to have it interpreted for their own communities: commercial fisheries, guiding for hunting, etc. It is not law in the rest of Canada, but it does have sway, and may sway lower court's decisions in other Provinces. But Provincial courts have been overruled on this issue in the past, and it is not a definitive right until the Supreme Court rules on it. I just hope that the current gov't has the intelligence to appeal it, but I admit that might be hopeful thinking.

I could see this coming many years ago, and the train is just beginning to pick up speed.
As each court ruling takes place, it fuels even more to be put forth, and as the earlier ones
set precedence, each new one grabs a little more. One day in the not too distant future,
the Indigenous communities will control all fish and wildlife as well as most recreational
areas....hopefully at age 72, I might be able to get in a few more years before having to pay
them....something I refuse to do!
Maybe it's about time we set up our own road and floating protest blocks...it seems to work for
the indigenous communities without any interference from the authorities even though most are
totally illegal. Maybe once they've acquired some toys etc we can wantonly roam about in their
communities while drunk and steal their possessions without being charged....seems to work for them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 303savage

Hmmm.. kissing native ass again, pretty soon there will be nothing left for the non-native people except to work and pay taxes.

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Sure glad I'm close to retirement so I can move to where there are no asses that need kissing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IronNoggin

Thank you Sir.
I am an Area G (WCVI) Troller as many here know.
Our quota has now been shaved down to about a week's catch. For the entire year.
The balance was freely given to the FN's.
There is no way any of us can survive on what is left. It is over. :-(
I find myself destitute at the age of 60. As does every single other member of our fleet.
"Upset" is a gross understatement.



Not even a remote consideration in this process.
Economy and affected livelihoods be damned, they count for naught.

Just Sayin'... :icon_frow

Nog

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I couldn't imagine your frustration right now, sorry to hear of all this going down...... we literally need a government with backbone and testicles that is going to say by year x everything is going to be equal for all...I bet if there was one that would run with that political platform, enough of us have had enough and would vote them in...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HarryToolips

I couldn't imagine your frustration right now, sorry to hear of all this going down...... we literally need a government with backbone and testicles that is going to say by year x everything is going to be equal for all...I bet if there was one that would run with that political platform, enough of us have had enough and would vote them in...

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Unfortunately it's the Courts not the government. "They" continue to interpret the Charter as "they" see fit. Probably need the Charter changed but good luck with that. Thank Pierre for the mess we are now dealing with.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Keta1969

Unfortunately it's the Courts not the government. "They" continue to interpret the Charter as "they" see fit. Probably need the Charter changed but good luck with that. Thank Pierre for the mess we are now dealing with.

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Nailed it. Started out as erosion, has lead to the landslide

Sorry to hear of your plight Nog, and others in the same boat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Keta1969

Unfortunately it's the Courts not the government. "They" continue to interpret the Charter as "they" see fit. Probably need the Charter changed but good luck with that. Thank Pierre for the mess we are now dealing with.

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That's too bad...if my wife allowed me, I'd run for Prime Minister and say exactly what I said:that when I would be voted in, they got 1 year and then everything is equal for all...and if they don't like it, they can start their own country on Baffin Island..we need a Canadian Trump, not Turdeau..

Troubled Waters

April 25, 2018UncategorizedComments: 0

Every now and again I lapse into believing we live in a democracy. Then something happens to jerk me back to reality. The latest is the BC Supreme Court’s April 19 announcement of a decision respecting the fishing rights of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations (there are five of them) on the west coat of Vancouver Island. This would be the case the federal conservative government under Prime Minister Harper allegedly spent $19M dollars fighting from 2006 but the Liberals under Prime Minister Trudeau abandoned almost a decade later. We can thank background issues such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) and PM Trudeau’s headlong rush to embrace that as the theme for reconciliation for all the alleged atrocities our forefathers brought to bear on the FNs of this province.


Here’s the judge’s decision for those with lots of time and an appetite for masochism:
http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/...18BCSC0633.htm

Lets put this into perspective. A judge has handed over the fish resources of a 9 mile wide swath of water that extends from the Brooks Peninsula in the north to well beyond Port Renfrew to the south. Somewhere in the 400 page ruling the judge states the area is 160 miles long. According to the maps of the Nuu-chah-nulth territories I make the straight line length between Brooks and Renfrew to be closer to 190 miles but what’s 30 miles in the grand scheme of things here? That swath includes notable steelhead streams like the Gold, the Stamp/Somass, the Nahmint, the Nitinat, and the San Juan/Harris.

https://i0.wp.com/steelheadvoices.co...size=614%2C455The Nuu-chah-nulth territory. The Brooks Peninsula is the end of the dotted line boundary to the northwest. Port Renfrew is near the southern end of the dotted line.

On the demographic side, the judgement notes the plaintiffs’ population is 4,855, which is 46% of the West Coast Vancouver Island FNs, 15% of Vancouver Island FNs, and 7% of British Columbia FNs with reserves in coastal areas. They are 8% of the total WCVI population and 1% of the total Vancouver Island population. Slice it whatever way you want. A very small component of our population has now been given primary access to all fish and shellfish resources not needed for conservation. In fact, if we don’t know it already, we soon will understand that amounts to virtually exclusive access to a lot of fish and fishing in times ahead.
What other natural resource is handed over in this fashion – timber, minerals, water? Why fish (and wildlife?). Why are the fish that we have all paid to have managed (yeah, I know, it ain’t exactly perfect) now the currency of reconciliation? Where else in Canada has this been done? What makes us special? If this was New Brunswick, home of Minister LeBlanc, how long would he last if a similar court decision re-allocated fish in any fashion similar to what BC is now going to experience?

Here’s the press release from Minister LeBlanc that spins the story just right for all the bleeding hearts stretched along the 49^th parallel who don’t have a clue what is going on but vote Liberal because that spin has been carefully crafted:

https://www.canada.ca/en/fisheries-oceans/news/2018/04/statement-from-the-minister-of-fisheries-oceans-and-the-canadian-coast-guard-following-the-bc-supreme-court-decision—ahousaht-indian-band-and-nat.html

Please explain the implementation plan to us PM Trudeau and Fisheries Minister LeBlanc. You’re going to turn over the farm to people you would have us believe are going to replace your staff as the fisheries management experts of the future. How’s that model been working for us so far? Could we cite the Fraser example where your trained and experienced professional staff oversee a multitude of FNs and their surgical management of their own people? How are all those sockeye, chinook and steelhead stocks we keep seeing as recommended for listing as Species At Risk doing? I guess that will be next, after we fix the west coast of Vancouver Island. (Better hurry!)


Yes, I know you have the Nisga’a Treaty and the subsequent fisheries management program to hold out as an example. I’ll remind you, however, you’re talking one FN (except for that very small overlap with the Skeena’s Gitanyow FN that concerns Meziadin sockeye ) along a very sparsely populated Nass River and untold millions of dollars paid to high priced non-FN consultants over the past three decades to get that scenario together. And, yes, I’m aware Haida Gwaii where you also have only one FN is very likely next in line. Those are simple. It gets a lot more complex when you get to the Skeena and its multiple FNs. The west coast of Vancouver Island isn’t dissimilar. Then there’s that Fraser again.


Who is going to pay for implementation of this latest court decision? What does the opportunity cost of that look like? What happens to all the other people of every non-FN description who have spent their lives and taxes associated with the same fish and fisheries now handed over? I find it just a bit ironic that some of the voices demanding compensation come from currently licensed commercial fishermen who are going to be ruled off the water to accommodate the new kids on the block. A lot of those voices are FNs who would seem to be double dipping. Are we going to pay them out for the loss of access to fish now re-allocated to FN fishers but re-label their boats so they they get to fish that re-allocation just as if nothing ever changed? That should make for some great relations in those WCVI communities.


In the meantime there will be an unprecedented amount of money spent to get this wonderful new system installed. DFO is not going to just hand over the farm tomorrow, although that might be the most cost effective approach. No, instead they’ll drown everyone in the sea of consultation and process first. The consultants will make some very big money through all of this but that will never be made clear. And, no, there isn’t an unemployed equivalent of DFO’s downtown Vancouver staff sitting around waiting for a call to arms. It will take training, years of it. Look at the ledger for the Nisga’a treaty implementation for an idea of what lies ahead. (On a relative micro scale we might try the Moricetown steelhead mark/recapture population study, now a quarter century old and a few million $$$ spent to produce nary a shred of useful steelhead management information and nothing more than seasonal jobs for a revolving door of local band members.)


If anyone thinks the trend in fish abundance (take your choice – chinook, sockeye, halibut, other ground fish, steelhead, etc.) is going to reverse itself while all this reconciliation unfolds, I say take a serious look around. What we are going to experience is increasing pressure by the fastest growing segment of British Columbia’s population on fish supplies that are nowhere near stable, much less capable of increasing to meet all the demands and expectations coming their way. The first losers will be those of us of the non-FN persuasion. Ultimately there isn’t going to be enough for the FNs either, even if by some magic there is an airtight management system complete with rigid adherence to things like quotas, catch reporting, compliance. Then what?


Getting back to steelhead, where is the province? I may have missed it in that 400 page output by our BC Supreme Court judge but I didn’t detect the word steelhead anywhere. What happens when the gill netting of steelhead begins (again) in the Somass River and the local sales flourish? That would fall squarely between the judge’s goal posts. DFO certainly isn’t going to step forward with a case for steelhead conservation anywhere in this province when they are still supporting a chum roe fishery on top of the last 225 Interior Fraser steelhead. The same story will unfold on the Skeena sooner or later. (Moricetown will be back on line in that regard before we know it.) Has anyone heard a word from either Minister Donaldson or Minister LeBlanc on any of the Draconian measures soon to be levelled against recreational angling there? Even Minister Donaldson hailing from downtown Hazelton, right there in the center of the last and best steelhead fishing in this province, isn’t enough to warrant his presence or voice while his colleagues blunder their way through their own interpretation and application of UNDRIP and reconciliation.


Steelhead and those with enough years under their belt to have watched this unfold are going to know a very different world soon. The people who created it will be nowhere to be found when that inevitability descends.



http://steelheadvoices.com/?p=941

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Originally Posted by HappyJack

Sure glad I'm close to retirement so I can move to where there are no asses that need kissing.

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Where is this magical place, I will be heading that way myself 1 day?

From Bob Hooten’s blog

Back on that Nuu-chch-nulth fish allocation decision again. Here is a clip from an email that arrived earlier today in response to my "Troubled Waters" blog at steelheadvoices.com The author, Dr. Ehor Orest Boyanowsky, is a well known wild fish advocate and Thompson steelhead aficionado. Forgive my bias but I think Dr. Boyanowsky's message warrants circulation beyond those on his distribution list.

"This news is as bad as it could possibly be. A tiny race based minority are now the princes of the kingdom recreating the exclusive right of people of a specific racial origin to a vast, previously common property resource as it existed with kings and their immediate relations in Scotland, England and Europe for centuries. That monarchic system, based on the families, the chieftains and lords, who originally owned those lands, was why our forefathers fled for a better life in Canada. For democracy. Good bye democracy and public sport fishing on Vancouver Island. I dread the backlash coming when the implications sink in to the consciousness of BC’s nonaboriginal population - when they stop holding their breath in hoping this will go away.

I hope the law professors and judges who created the climate that allowed this travesty turn over in their graves. That is the problem with allowing people not bright enough to realize the implications of their rulings to possess the ultimate power to determine our destiny. That is why a small group of us founded the Canadian Constitution Foundation when the Nisga’a Treaty was proposed and took it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada prompting the NDP govt of the time to brand me a racist. Why because I wrote editorials arguing against allowing race based semi sovereign states to be created in BC. How ironic can you get? But unfortunately, we lost and ‘apres moi, le deluge.’ This ruling is not reconciliation, it is the fuel that eventually ignites into hatred."

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they have a right to harvest any species of fish in their court-defined fishing territory except geoduck

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Why were Geoduck excluded?

It seems like they are giving every thing to F.Ns and all we will be able to do is stand by and watch. :cry: