About a week ago, when the pink salmon fishing was fairly good, Dyke Road in Richmond (approximately 1.5km) had about 100 people lined up fishing for them during the incoming tide. The space between two anglers would be about 30 feet. It was a very friendly atmosphere. Some gathered on the trail to share a few laughs. Some newbies would have troubles casting but only to be helped by more seasoned anglers who saw what was happening. When a fish was hooked, anglers surrounding the lucky inidividual would reel in and await for him or her to finish fighting the fish before fishing again. We saw families out together fishing, the trail remained fairly clean. It was orderly.
Why such a big contrast between this and Peg Leg?
Duration of the opening: By having such a short, late opening that many anglers have anticipated since late July, DFO created a gold rush effect. People are lead to believe the resource is limited, which will be harvested on a first come first serve basis. Under such competitive atmosphere, tension will build up. In my opinion, there should never have been an opening unless we have these social issues worked out.
The value of the resouce: The target species, sockeye salmon, is much more valuable than pink salmon due to its taste. It's apparently so good that some people would disregard all manners to get them. They disregard the people who surround them, the river bank that they stand on, and the fish. In the end, problems such as garbage, trespassing, fights emerge.
Newcomers and oldtimers: A popular area such as Peg Leg is advertised between anglers. Each season it receives many newcomers who are inexperienced in river fishing. Fishing in a crowd can be fun as human beings are social animals, but mixing newcomers and oldtimers can be bad news. It only takes one person who doesn't know the local unwritten rules to create a conflict.
What will happen?
DFO should recognize that there is a safety concern here, eventually someone will get hurt. It might not be this year, it might not be next year, but it will happen. It only takes two type A anglers to get an assault going. In the end, anglers are only limiting fishing opportunities themselves as either the City or DFO will implement a closure in this area if they believe it is unsafe for anglers to utilize.
The issue here is not about the impact that recreationalf fishery has on the Fraser River sockeye stock, as it is insignificant compared to the other two fisheries (First Nations and Commercial). The issue is not so much about whether the fish is biting the hook or not, DFO needs to implement regulations on flossing if it believes that there is a problem. The issue is the degradation of the social and environmental aspects of this fishery at popular shore access locations.
Is it worth to harvest two sockeye salmon knowing that your safety maybe jeopadized by putting yourself in that situation? Is the angling community prepared to go back to these locations once the fishery closes and perform a post-season river cleanup?
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Topic: huge GONG show (Read 7232 times)