Chinook Feedback Summary March 2019

[IronNoggin]

Summary of Feedback Received by DFO in consideration for the 2019/2020 Chinook Management Approach March 2019

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A1e61f87a-2842-46bd-993c-b72dfbb1bb44
Have a look at the numbers here folks. The NGO's are ruling the day, with a full 74 % of the input to date.

Then take a look at the various key issues identified by each group.

By any stretch, the recreational fishing sector is floundering.

Get your letters in ASAP if you want to fishing at all down the not-too-distant road...

Minister Wilkinson: min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Jeff Grout, Regional Resource Manager, Salmon
Jeff.Grout@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

DFO Pacific Salmon Team
DFO.PacificSalmonRMT-EGRSaumonduPacifique.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

There are some good suggestions what to include in your letter here: https://www.sportfishingbc.com/forum/index.php?threads/important-chinook-information-feedback-required.73642/


Nog

[BlacktailStalker]

I was going to post something.
Good to see.
ive submitted mine and asked anyone I know who fishes to.
People need to spread the word. I’m amazed at how many people have no idea this is going on.

[IronNoggin]

This matter is going to directly effect every single person who wants to catch a spring salmon ever again.


The ENGO's are focused and organized.


The FN's are even more so. If you fish for salmon at all, you have more than ample reason to be nervous.

VERY Nervous that is:


https://i.imgur.com/nB3IKAw.jpg


LFFA: Lower Fraser Fishery Alliance


Their letters all focus on UNDRIP and Reconciliation, as well as their court / constitutionally defined rights.


They want it all, and screw everyone else. Period.


Best be getting every single one you know to write in repeatedly!!


Worried!

Nog

[Fosey]

Where is the BCWF in this?

[ratherbefishin]

The once predictable winter spring fishery off Sooke has been declining and has virtually collapsed this year, so this comes as no surprise.We’ve seen it coming but all we got was ‘studies’ with the usual conclusion’more study is needed’( why klll the golden goose?) What we needed,and didn’t get was a massive increase in the supply ,the feed was there,but no fish. Volunteers fed and released pen held smolts into sooke harbour in an effort to increase the supply,but the results are at least two more years away to see returning Chinook.Even if the DFO acted NOW by increasing the supply the results are at least four more years to see any tangible results .A complete cock up.They took our licence fees and did virtually NOTHING to help the recreational fishery that supports both local and tourism.I greatly fear the days of seeing hundreds of boats off Otter point to Sheringham at first light are just a memory to tell my grandchildren about.Fishfarms supply the commercial market so who worries about a ‘few’ sports fishermen? Looks like about the only chance to get out on the water this year will be to wait until August and get some pinks....
As a sign of the idiocy that runs the show,remember they ordered the distruction of the water control dam that volunteers built to INCREASE the stream survival,because a massive earthquake might collapse the dam and cause flooding downstream?( the same idiots shut down the campground at Jordan river because of the dam up in the hills that could break ... nobody mentioned that an earthquake of that magnitude would destroy the whole city of Victoria....

[IronNoggin]

... People need to spread the word. I’m amazed at how many people have no idea this is going on.

What I find so surprising is that even when directly shown just how important these matters are, just how much of an impact they will have on every single person who fishes salmon, that so damn few actually care enough to send in a letter outlining their concerns.

It is that exact type of behavior DFO (among others) has relied upon for decades to get their way with us.
Humiliating, especially when it doesn't have to be this way... :oops:

Sadly,
Nog

[tigrr]

Good luck. I am watching some liberal mp from Toronto give the FN all the land north of me from bella coola to Mc Bride. There goes my hunting. Squeaky FN's will now get all the salmon and sell it to the white guy. Hard to swallow how the socialist government have given the province away. How do we curb it, what affects us, but doesn't affect the people in the LML who make the decisions. Sockeye in Langley are selling for $15 a fish from the FN. Get them while you can. Sad day.

[ratherbefishin]

This whole problem could be solved by putting more fish in the system,then we can talk about wild salmon ,habitat ,allocation to FN and all the other issues,but FIRST get more fish in the system,it’s not rocket science

[IronNoggin]

The Enemy is Organizing Against YOU:

https://www.sportfishingbc.com/forum/index.php?attachments/1bb74d5a-1e2a-450e-a9e9-9f461749083d-jpeg.44195/

[steel_ram]

This whole problem could be solved by putting more fish in the system,then we can talk about wild salmon ,habitat ,allocation to FN and all the other issues,but FIRST get more fish in the system,it’s not rocket science

Maybe it's not rocket science but cranking out too many fish will back fire. We don't want to overwhelm what's left of the habitat, from micro-organisms to bait fish, salmon to top predators, including ourselves.

Complex issue where unfortunately those that run things, haven't a clue. Or maybe they do and are deliberately trying to F things up.

[ratherbefishin]

The risk of ‘Cranking out too many fish’ in order to restore Chinook levels seems unwarrented given the historical swings in other salmon populations. The feed is there ,the only thing missing is chinnook.I submit the reason DFO hasn’t done anything is they had some idea of ‘wild salmon’which basicaly means doing nothing,and the results show it

[IronNoggin]

“I say this with regret, but I think we are going to have to have very substantial restrictions on catch. It’s one thing you’ve got that you can control,” said Anderson, who was fisheries minister from 1997 to 1999. He subsequently served as environment minister from 1999 to 2004.


https://www.timescolonist.com/business/substantial-chinook-restrictions-likely-needed-says-former-fisheries-minister-1.23664363

[whognu]

thanks for all your ongoing work on this mr nog

sent my letter to the 3 different peeps; awaiting the response...........eventually

xo

chris


Dear sir:

Seems to me you are between a rock and a hard place

With a grossly wrong decision you risk bankrupting both an economy and the spirit of many BC residents

My 2 cents:

- fund hatcheries

- cancel fish farms – period

- cancel the herring fishery

- kill 70% of seals and sealions that have habituated themselves at all BC rivers and deltas (UVIC reports 10,000 pinnipeds in the 60’s in local waters; now over 60,000)

- reduce annual sporty catch, yet allow same retention so people can actually catch 2 a day vs 1 per day and fill the limit sooner; or have the one per day throughout the season (not just the 5 weeks of august/sept) (makes no sense burning gas for 1 fish – yet I am fully prepared to do so)

A dream I have…………return the DFO to either Vancouver/Victoria or Prince Rupert…………and populate it with people that have actually held a fishing rod in their hands – not political hacks from ‘back east’ that have no interest, intellectually or otherwise, in the heritage of the salmon fishery

salmon fishing IS a birthright to all cdns

sadly we all know full well that the measures as presented will not save one SRKW; all you are doing in appeasing the voting public by appearing to ‘do something’

what has taken decades to break, you cannot expect to fix in one year

measured steps

thanks for your time

chris

[IronNoggin]

Great Job Chris!!! https://www.tnof.ca/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/Pozitive.gif

I certainly wish more would take your lead, and fire off a letter or two themselves.
Get's kinda lonely over on this side of the fence from time to time.

Really like how you presented that Sir.
Right to the point.

Cheers & Thanks!
Matt

[ratherbefishin]

The survival of any species at risk should not be subject to whatever squeaky wheel happens to be making the most noise at the moment.What frustrates me is the decline in both numbers and size of Chinook salmon was well known by anybody who fished off Sooke but nobody would listen.Whether the resident orca population is actualy in danger of imminent extinction or not is a moot point,the current number(74) is about the same as first noted in the 60’s (76) with the high (98) several years ago,the number fluctuating about 20 animals.But be that as it may, it finally got the attention of the public and now the politicians are jumping on the bandwagon after ignoring the fishermen who tried to get somebody to listen and DO something .....whether the current measures will restore Chinook to historical numbers is unknown, even at best we are four years away from knowing. In the meantime the recreational salmon fishery and the infrastructure that supports it are starving too...but does anybody care?

[IronNoggin]

... In the meantime the recreational salmon fishery and the infrastructure that supports it are starving too...but does anybody care?

Apparently it is not a significant matter for most.
Of the 300K folks who bought a License last year, only around 900 letters came in for consideration.
Given that many who did write did so several times, it is more than apparent the APATHY continues... :icon_frow

Sad,
Nog

[ratherbefishin]

I looked at my 2018-19 licence and I only had 6 chinooks on it....2 in January / February this year,(the winter spring fishery collapsed) ,that’s 8 Chinook .I took a few hatchery coho and 3 or 4 sockeye on the short opening.Will someone please tell me why I should have to accept further restrictions.I am NOT impacting the resource. I spent my usual $2500 year on charters,because I really like getting out on the water, but not this year( my guide that I’ve fished with for 20 years sold his boat) I’m only one guy,but how many more are there like me?

[IronNoggin]

... someone please tell me why I should have to accept further restrictions. I am NOT impacting the resource.

Because YOU and the recreational sector are "THE Low Hanging Fruit".
There are no perceived political ramifications in taking you off the water.
DFO well recognizes the recreational sector could not lobby it's way out of a wet paper bag, and prefer to fight among their own internally rather than for their own fisheries. So much so, they count on it.

The FN's are apposed to anyone but them fishing whatsoever (I have in hand letters from the Fraser Coalition and other FN groups to this exact effect). They are DEMANDING both the recreational and commercial sectors face draconian cuts NOW, while citing "constitutionally protected rights", UNDRIP and Reconciliation.

And, the Feds have to be seen as "doing something" or face extremely sweeping fisheries bans due to SARA imposition.

So... regardless of how little your (or anyone else's for that matter) impact, you are on the chopping block.

Capice yet?
Send a letter or two yet?

Nog

[ratherbefishin]

Yup, sent letters in but as you say,the recreational fishermen are expendable because are a small segment of the population and we do not control a voting block.This Chinook implosion did not suddenly appear out of thin air,we’ve seen it coming for years ,in both size and numbers.The Americans ramped up their hatchery program and put fish in the system while the Canadians said they were concentrating on ‘wild salmon’ meaning doing nothing. Because it wasn’t politically correct to shoot seals and sea lions that sat in front of river fronts picking off the returning spawners the seal population exploded- and no,seals don’t eat tofu. I have no issue with FN netting in the river for sustenance ,as long as there are enough escapment to spawn,but selling fish should be illegal and the bands should be enforcing it( yeah,I have FN blood too)

[dougan]

If someone told you three years ago you could smoke a joint and bonk a spring but the bonking would be illegal what would you have said?

[ratherbefishin]

I am absolutely disgusted with the whole missmanagement of the salmon fishery which seems to be reactive rather than proactive .The ONLY criteria should be science based, with ZERO political interference...and if that means stepping on some toes ,so be it
yes,they may bring the Chinook back, nature is amazingly resileant ,but only if we give it a chance and if that means shooting some seals and sea lions, stopping ALL net fishing in the rivers and then doing what the sooke recreational fishermen are doing- releasing smolts after holding them in pens to imprint the sooke river before releasing, then they can bring the Chinook back to historical numbers ....but at age 72,I fear I may not see it,or take my grandchildren out off Otter point to have the thrill of boating a big spring after multiple runs ripping out line off single action reel and the only salmon I have for a barbeque will be a frozen farm raised Atlantic salmon fillet from Costco...not a salmon I caught that morning