DFO Minister Announcement

[IronNoggin]

Just received this from SVIAC

Minister Murray … “Time’s Up!!” The Southern BC Public Chinook Fishery is stuck in crisis. From April until August, now for the fifth straight year, non-retention of Chinook has been implemented in Georgia, Haro and Juan de Fuca Straits. This is a call to action for all salmon anglers.

Abundant hatchery fin-clipped Chinook, mainly of US Washington State origin, are present in our waters right now and Canadians anglers should have reasonable access to those fish. The SFAB and DFO Pacific fisheries staff have designed clean defensible hatchery Chinook retention opportunities so anglers can regain a smidgeon of their spring fishery back. They only want to keep ONE hatchery fish and these proposed fisheries will not negatively impact Fraser River stocks of concern.

South Vancouver Island Anglers Coalition, the Public Fishery Alliance and the Fraser River Sportfishing Alliance have come together to fight against these injustices. The angling community must also unite and make our displeasure known in the Halls of the House of Commons in Ottawa. Please check out the South Vancouver Island Anglers Coalition Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SouthVancouverIslandAnglersCoalition and the Public Fishery Alliance Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/publicfisheryalliance

Keep an eye open for these future activities –


An Upcoming Paper Petition – (we’ll need you to sign it)
The Victoria Outdoor Adventure Show April 21 – 23 – PFA and SVIAC are sharing space (booths 514 and 515) – come on out and see us at the show
Two Town Hall meetings in Early May – one in Victoria and one in Vancouver – a strong turnout of anglers will be critical

--- PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS INFORMATION TO YOUR ANGLING BUDDIES AND THE ALL BUSINESSES THAT SUPPORT OUR SALMON FISHERY ---

I trust you value our salmon fishery enough to go sign our petition and attend the show and town halls

Many thanks!
Chris
_____________
Christopher Bos
President SVIAC
Director PFA

[IronNoggin]

https://forum.flybc.ca/uploads/monthly_2023_04/image.png.c9bfb173eda684704ee3912b483e6254.png
MINISTER MURRAY: BC SALMON, MARK SELECTIVE FISHERIES (MSF), AND COASTAL RESIDENTS NEED YOUR HELP AND ATTENTION!

The southern BC angling community continues to face frustration, uncertainty, and socioeconomic harm as a direct result of Minister Murray’s failure to acknowledge the importance of opportunity and timely decision making.

Despite efforts that have spanned years by stakeholders and DFO regional staff to provide Minister Murray with a science-based, conservative, and precautionary approach to support implementation of hatchery-based Mark Selective Fishery (MSF) pilot fisheries in Howe Sound, Southern Gulf Islands, Haro Strait and Juan De Fuca Strait for April 1st, as of today, April 18th, no decision or further information has been provided to the March 31st Fisheries Notices. Already more than 25% of a limited opportunity for these modest but important, precedent setting and time sensitive proposals is lost.

As a West Coast Minister, we were hopeful that fishery related decisions that would help British Columbians by providing a minimum of stability, economic activity, social well being, and improved food security in a highly sustainable manner would be a priority. However, based on the lack of regard for the care, analysis and cautious proposals developed collaboratively by DFO and stakeholders and in the face of consistent indication of the critical importance of these opportunities, we are left to wonder if BC fisheries, citizens and communities are a priority for DFO or the Minister at all.

As detailed and mentioned many times before, the MSF fisheries in question are highly precautionary, are based on decades of stock composition and mark rate data and have undergone extensive analysis and evaluation by DFO stock assessment and science staff to demonstrate virtually zero impact on stocks of concern. Additional stock assessment and catch monitoring resources both within DFO and through collaboration with trained citizen scientists are standing by to provide additional data to further demonstrate the sustainable nature of these types of fisheries and to help inform best use of MSF in the future.

As part of the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative, DFO appears to be moving down the path of Harvest Transformation and have explained that MSF is expected to play a role. But with the lack of decision and reluctance to implement these pilot fisheries, which are as precautionary and sustainable as any fishery could ever be, how can DFO ever implement any MSF fishery anywhere in the province? This is beyond troubling for the hundreds of thousands of British Columbians who are dependent on fishery activity for food, employment and cultural activity and threatens to ignore the millions of dollars already invested by DFO to transform fisheries and an approach to sustainable fisheries management. Based on decades of implementation in the US, MSFs are proven to maintain fishery activity while unmarked stocks of concern are avoided and allowed to rebuild. Rebuilding stocks of concern is a priority for British Columbians and DFO’s mandate so too is allowing for sustainable fishery activity.

For two of the three MSF pilot fisheries in question, April and May are the only months that allow for near zero impact to stocks of concern. Starting and finishing later is not an option due to known stock composition changes through the season and in the specific areas. Each pilot proposal is accompanied by plans for enhanced monitoring and sampling to learn more about how to best implement MSFs in the future. Without implementation of these proposals that learning is not possible. We appeal to DFO, and especially Minister Murray, to acknowledge the critical importance of sustainable access to fishery resources to all British Columbians by implementing these responsible, prudent pilot fisheries immediately.

The SFI Team





April 18, 2023

[IronNoggin]

The Minister's Facebook pages were pulled today...

[Dutch]

You know why they will not open it to hatchery retention, SRKW simple and plain the Whales will have more "food" so we will make it better for them ,political stupidity at its best ..

[Bugle M In]

What’s it going to take?????
Years of DNA testing to show little impact on the early Fraser run.
(I feel bad for all those that have taken the the time to scientifically prove that)
Plus, we are talking about “hatchery” salmon that those in Washington State have no issues harvesting.
Let alone the salmon we loose to the Alaskans.
If the day comes that the Liberals are out and the Cons get in and still no change, then I see no hope after that.

I won’t be surprised if they end up red zoning the entire area they have been discussing out front of the mouth of Fraser as well.

[scott h]

What’s it going to take?????
Years of DNA testing to show little impact on the early Fraser run.
(I feel bad for all those that have taken the the time to scientifically prove that)
Plus, we are talking about “hatchery” salmon that those in Washington State have no issues harvesting.
Let alone the salmon we loose to the Alaskans.
If the day comes that the Liberals are out and the Cons get in and still no change, then I see no hope after that.

I won’t be surprised if they end up red zoning the entire area they have been discussing out front of the mouth of Fraser as well.
They probably will. The long term will depend on how many commercial licences they are able to take off the table, as they're the ones that take 90% of the publics fish. Until that's dealt with everyone will continue to fight over the remaining scraps.

[high horse Hal]

Maybe a trucker rally would get some attention
or does anybody care.....

thanks for the updates Nog

[IronNoggin]

They probably will. The long term will depend on how many commercial licences they are able to take off the table, as they're the ones that take 90% of the publics fish.

Once again wading in on something you know nothing about.
The Rec Sector has taken more springs than any other for years...

[scott h]

Once again wading in on something you know nothing about.
The Rec Sector has taken more springs than any other for years...

So you disagree that 8-9 out of 10 of landed salmon and halibut in BC are taken by a couple of thousand commercial licence holders???? The numbers don't support your opinion. Even considering how grossly unfair that allotment is to the vast majority of the population I can't fathom how they also are allowed to lease those rights to a third party. Really??? Getting paid to sit at home while selling the rights to catch a public resource that's declining in numbers needs a bit more scrutiny (and done by people not collecting those pay checks).

[IronNoggin]

So you disagree that 8-9 out of 10 of landed salmon and halibut in BC are taken by a couple of thousand commercial licence holders???? The numbers don't support your opinion.

Apples & Oranges.
Salmon & halibut are very much different in both catch and the ways in which they are mismanaged.

For halibut, the concerns are obvious and align pretty much with what you said.

for salmon, and specifically chinook salmon, you are out to lunch. Again.

Cheers

[scott h]

Apples & Oranges.
Salmon & halibut are very much different in both catch and the ways in which they are mismanaged.

For halibut, the concerns are obvious and align pretty much with what you said.

for salmon, and specifically chinook salmon, you are out to lunch. Again.

Cheers

At least a partial agreement ;). Maybe a good start would be a requirement that the holder of a commercial licence has to at least be the fisherman on the boat catching the publics fish??? No more leasing licences out to third parties while sitting at home waiting for the cash to role in?? That seems to be a requirement on the east coast, so why not align the rules?

[IronNoggin]

Maybe a good start would be a requirement that the holder of a commercial licence has to at least be the fisherman on the boat catching the publics fish??? No more leasing licences out to third parties while sitting at home waiting for the cash to role in?? That seems to be a requirement on the east coast, so why not align the rules?

Agreed in the halibut (and some other species) case.
Exactly how they designed management to work out East.
Should be the same here IMO.

Cheers

[lorneparker1]

So you disagree that 8-9 out of 10 of landed salmon and halibut in BC are taken by a couple of thousand commercial licence holders???? The numbers don't support your opinion. Even considering how grossly unfair that allotment is to the vast majority of the population I can't fathom how they also are allowed to lease those rights to a third party. Really??? Getting paid to sit at home while selling the rights to catch a public resource that's declining in numbers needs a bit more scrutiny (and done by people not collecting those pay checks).


I am a sport fishermen, but comments like this make you look dumb. This topic is about hatchery marked spring salmon. Spring salmon are harvested in MUCH greater numbers by sport fishermen then commerical fishermen in BC. The spring salmon troll fishery is almost dead and the opening for Non first nations occur when almost all the fish have passed through.

Halbut is a whole other conversation and literally has nothing to do with anything in this thread.

But dont worry, in our life times, you will be buying a licence and/or leasing fish quota from First Nations to take anything out of the ocean. Then you can really bitch.