The Public Fishery Alliance Position on the BC Public Salmon Fishery’s Future

[IronNoggin]

The Public Fishery Alliance Position on the BC Public Salmon Fishery’s Future

https://islandfishermanmagazine.com/...sherys-future/

[ratherbefishin]

My guide that I fished with for 20 years, sold his boat and moved back east,and I quit salmon fishing..I see the latest restriction banned even halibut fishing west of sooke..anybody ever seen an orca eat a halibut?they going to ban putting crab pots next? Question- if recreational salmon fishing scared off feeding orcas, then why did they swim freely right through the fleet of salmon boats?

[Gr8 white hunter]

It's all BS they are protecting the American salmon.

[ratherbefishin]

Most of the reasons,propeller noise, marine traffic etc blamed for the southern orca number decline ,apply to the Northern resident orca population which has burgeoned How come the northern orcas don’t seem to be bothered by it?…and if marine traffic were a factor, then why do the orcas cousins, the porposes ,seek out boats and ride the bow waves??.
I suggest it’s all about votes and a stupid vote is worth just as much as a smart vote and a lot easier to get

[Bugle M In]

But then there is all that “whale viewing bs” in full steam ahead mode.
Spend a day out Hali fishing and you will know what it is I am talking about.
I know some of the local guides are really up in arms.
They need to know if they have to hire more guides, or start considering selling off their boats.
It’s a tragic situation occurring.
And yes, we are talking about a lot of US bound fish.

[ratherbefishin]

Farmed salmon supplies the fresh fish market and the seiners supply the commercial market , basically the recreational fishermen and trollers don’t count.Look at all the effort volunteers have put in to enhance conservation and pen released smolts - huge success, but they just don’t have the votes to count..too bad a way of life has disappeared

[Bugle M In]

Again, if the cons don’t get it next election and that one government politician fro BC (can’t think of his name?) does get elected but not hold that portfolio, we are all F’d!!
Honestly, that’s our best shot!

What is his name???

[ratherbefishin]

The once full marinas are half empty, bait and tackle shops can’t pay the rent, guides have sold their boats,the salmon fleet of several hundred boats off otter point has disappeared …and frankly, I see absolutely no benefit to the whales..their numbers have always fluctuated from a low of about 60 to a high of around 90, from the first time they were counted all during the time of a flourishing recreational salmon fishery …and one other point, if all the alleged boat noise is scaring the southern resident whales away, then why are the transient orcas routinely seen in the same waters and not bothered at all?
as far as ‘conservation’ is concerned, volunteers have restored streams, built dams for water management ( destroyed by DFO because of some claimed flood risk of an earthquake) and pen raised Chinook to restore the sooke river Chinook runs..all of the aforementioned not recognised nor rewarded by minimal retention ,in fact they were cut out…

[Bugle M In]

True, the transients had no problem navigating thru all the recreational boats who were out salmon fishing this past summer around Nanaimo.
Didnt affect them at all.
Especially when all the boats are chugging along at under 3 knots.
Dame out of pet Renfrew, we were out there for Chinook and coho and whales swam around us all day long.

[ratherbefishin]

I have never seen orcas change course or be bothered by boats..they will swim right tHrough the fleet ,vine alongside or dive right under your boat.When the DFO says they ‘consult ‘ with fishermen they’re lying.IMO its all about votes and claims they are ‘doing something’