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[Darko]

https://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&DOC_ID=286475&ID=all&fbclid=IwAR2AQBrRSv2wrFmQkDtY-r_T7xrRUsI3Ka7arzLT9LnMl8zW1y3Nix2Bbhg

wow, this is pretty sad to hear. Really a mandatory fishing course or test needs to be brought in. I was fishing  this whole weekend during camping and did see 2 sockeye caught and release properly. Only 3 chinook, despite lots of hours fishing first light, spot hopping and exploring too. Water was very low and the fishing was just slow. But the swimming was better  .

[Fish Assassin]

Just takes a few to spoil it for others.

[roeman]

Its only 400 meters of the river that is closed... Not a big deal....

[Darko]

Its only 400 meters of the river that is closed... Not a big deal....

yes but the facts they have to close any areas due to illegal activity is sad. and of course there is not enough enforcement as always. I fished the whole weekend and this is considered about the peak of the run and not a single CO seen. I have only seen them heavily enforcing when sockeye was open on the fraser. That run under the bridge is one of the only good runs I was able to find. People should know how to fish ethically and be aware of rules. Which I know you agree with I'm just saying. There were a couple people i met that were not aware of basic rules like fishing restriction on all streams from one hour before dawn to one hour after dusk.

[SuperBobby]

What a complete joke.
Put a couple of COs there for a weekend....
DFO is getting worse and worse (if possible) for taking the lazy road.
Back in the 90s they would have been down there instantly slapping fines on the offenders. Not anymore.....just shut it down for everyone.
The other problem is that the flood of 2021 has ripped all the pools apart in the lower river. As Darko said, that spot was one of the few holding waters left in the lower river.

I'd love to put all 5 pacific salmon species on the ground beside each other.....add a steelhead for good measure....and ask each DFO employee to identify which is which....I think the results would be exactly as we would expect them. Useless overpaid DFO government trash for almost 40 years now....nothing changes (except they get worse) completely useless.

[Blood_Orange]

What a complete joke.
Put a couple of COs there for a weekend....
DFO is getting worse and worse (if possible) for taking the lazy road.
Back in the 90s they would have been down there instantly slapping fines on the offenders. Not anymore.....just shut it down for everyone.
The other problem is that the flood of 2021 has ripped all the pools apart in the lower river. As Darko said, that spot was one of the few holding waters left in the lower river.

I'd love to put all 5 pacific salmon species on the ground beside each other.....add a steelhead for good measure....and ask each DFO employee to identify which is which....I think the results would be exactly as we would expect them. Useless overpaid DFO government trash for almost 40 years now....nothing changes (except they get worse) completely useless.

So easy to lob insults at hard working people you've never met.

Budgets have been slashed repeatedly over the years, leading to fewer COs and less enforcement. COs are not lazy and stupid, they're stretched far too thin to do their jobs effectively. Same goes for health care and education. The people in those fields are expected to do more with less, and the public invariably insults and demeans individual workers instead of demanding adequate funding for effective enforcement. 

[wildmanyeah]

Nahhh DFO has a revolving door of officers that leave as soon as they get a taste of dealing with Fraser river First Nations.

Not worth the bs, far better postings with cheaper costs of living

[roeman]

Nahhh DFO has a revolving door of officers that leave as soon as they get a taste of dealing with Fraser river First Nations.

Not worth the bs, far better postings with cheaper costs of living

They caught you fishing the mouth of the Vedder below the boundary last year and gave you a fine.  So I guess not all is lost.. 

[SuperBobby]

COs are not lazy and stupid,

Read my post again and show me where I said that Conservation officers were lazy and stupid. Oh wait....I didn't say that. You can apologize now.
When I said DFO was taking the lazy road, I mean the white collar DFO losers in Ottawa....and yes....I will confirm my words that those guys are lazy, tax money leeches who couldn't identify a fish much less make proper management decisions.
Everyone here knows the DFO officers themselves don't get to decide how many of them will be on the river and when.
And yet, I've met enough officers on the job at the river to know that they are actually for the most part quite relatable to us sporties. For the most part, I respect those guys.

[wildmanyeah]

They caught you fishing the mouth of the Vedder below the boundary last year and gave you a fine.  So I guess not all is lost..

News to me lol where did u come up with that

[Darko]

So easy to lob insults at hard working people you've never met.

Budgets have been slashed repeatedly over the years, leading to fewer COs and less enforcement. COs are not lazy and stupid, they're stretched far too thin to do their jobs effectively. Same goes for health care and education. The people in those fields are expected to do more with less, and the public invariably insults and demeans individual workers instead of demanding adequate funding for effective enforcement. 

actually I can attest that the current school system is a complete joke.

Every single year of school in elementary and every high school class is a radically different experience. In elementary I had teachers who would make us study so I hard, I did not have that much work or learn that much until I enrolled in engineering school, while at the time I thought the teacher was making us suffer I know realize that experience is what society need to build stronger communities and work habits. While on the other hand you have teachers that will pass everybody and hand out free A's like candy to undeserving students all to their benefit (no grading work) and to the detriment of the students who build bad habits and learn nothing. I know this because it's currently happening to my younger sister. In high school its a similar story. I have had amazing teachers who were passionate about their field and some that just make you dread being there. Everybody is babied and dragged through with next to zero real requirements to graduate. The fact that all the exams were cancelled spells disaster to any students pursuing further education. I know myself because I breezed through high school not having to study, never written any exams. Teachers only teach what they get time for and its up to students to learn on their own time. Like we're going to study trigonometric substitution in our free time  . Then in college you have 3 exams that make up 60-75 % of your mark that cover absolutely everything and require previous knowledge that you might or might not have been taught. And of course again its 50 50 whether your teacher is good or a nightmare. That's my experience growing up here...

When it comes to CO's every one I have meet were kind, helpful and doing their jobs. But I read before that there are something like 180 CO's in BC or something like that and that right there is the problem. The sheer area of BC and the amount of waters and forests even if we had 4 x that number it wouldn't be enough. Of course they have money for international affairs but not internal ones. seems like government roles is given to family and friends rather than to deserving ones who are actually passionate about any topic they "work for"

i just did the math and the salaries for 1000 CO's working at a median 35$ hourly wage would cost 67.2 million. Short of .1% of the BC budget and fiscal plan for this year (about 70 Billion). I know that doesn't account for their equipment and training or whatever, but I'm sure fines can help with those costs .1% for the benefit that would be created is worth our world class land.

[clarki]

What a complete joke.

Save your vitriole for the offender, not the regulator.

[RalphH]

there is some confusion about COs and FOs. COs or conservation officers are employees of the Province. FOs are Fisheries officers and are employed with DFO and part of the Federal public service. Either can enforce fisheries laws and regulations though DFO can't deploy COs. As to what side has 180 I am confused. That's also not a bad number. I know some regions of the Province may have only 1 or 2 COs available you can look that up in the Government Directory. Mostly I have met FOs on the Chilliwack.

[iblly]

I saw a video yesterday posted on a certain social media platform showing a fellow on the Vedder fighting a salmon that neither he or his fishing partner could identify while the fish was in the water. Back and forth banter was “it’s a sockeye” no “it’s a spring” no “it’s a sockeye” etc etc. The fish was not properly identified until after it was dragged 10 feet up onto the rocks. This particular angler was decked out in the most expensive gear, fishing with what appeared to be a high end centerpin and rod. Luckily it was a spring.

[Rodney]

I don't have much time to participate in threads anymore so I'm just going to C&P what I wrote on FB.

As expected, there have been lots of comments since yesterday's announcement on the salmon fishing closure for a section of the Vedder River by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. There is also plenty of misinformation being passed around so here is a post to clarify everything.

This isn't really a conservation issue. The summer red chinook salmon run in the Chilliwack River is an introduced stock maintained by the hatchery. Like other hatchery stocks (fall white chinook salmon, coho salmon), the abundance is quite high and there have been surpluses at the hatchery after brood target is met. The remaining fish do not spawn naturally. See video attached.

Chilliwack River has two stocks of sockeye salmon which recruit naturally in the wild. The Chilliwack Lake stock's run timing overlaps with the summer red chinook salmon. The Cultus Lake stock usually emerges in September.

The salmon closure for the section from 200m upstream to 200m downstream of the Vedder Crossing Bridge until the end of September is introduced due to poor angling practices in a heavily fished area.

There is no sockeye salmon fishing, meaning that anglers cannot intentionally catch and release them. These regulations are in place to ensure the sustainability of the two wild sockeye salmon runs. The Chilliwack Lake stock does reasonably well, while the Cultus Lake stock is critically endangered.
Due to higher water temperature throughout the summer, these fish (or any salmonid really), do not survive well when being caught and released, especially if they are handled poorly. If fish are being held in the shallow water prior to being released, they are not getting enough oxygen to recover due to the lower dissolved oxygen level in the warmer, shallower water. If you accidentally hook a sockeye salmon, release it quickly and avoid touching it too much.

Anglers should also practice selective fishing. Avoid drifting your hook right along the bottom where you are more likely to foul hook fish indiscriminately. By adjusting your float depth so your presentation suspends above salmon (1 or 2 feet off the river bed), you would almost eliminate the chance of foul hooking fish.

This closure does not solve these problems unfortunately, more likely than not it'd just shift the problems elsewhere. The angling community needs to do better if we want to maintain these fishing opportunities. Educate new anglers who may not be aware of their wrong doings, and enforcement needs to punish those who do not adjust their behaviours and ruin it for everyone else.

With low and warmer river conditions, we should be conscious about our actions and how they may impact the resources. Enjoy the fishing, but don't abuse it. Catch your one chinook salmon and voluntarily stop fishing instead of catching and releasing more fish, so other anglers have a chance to enjoy the same and less fish are impacted by C&R mortality.