...Its a joke.
Why yes Marmot, it
IS very much a joke. A sick one at that.
Vic was right in what Area G caught this year. I was there, and am one of them. Of the number we harvested, but an extremely small percentage were Fraser fish. Yet, with the vast majority of our quota still swimming, we were yanked off the water on June 15. Why you might ask? A couple of reasons actually. First, the early summer run of springs that return to the Fraser is well below the indicator number that coincides with a "
good" year. So low in fact that these fish are now listed as a Level II priority of concern. Under the Dino's own
modus operandii, that directly translates to a necessity for ceasing
all in-river fisheries (yes, including FN's). And at this point, those numbers are still tracking well within the "troubled" range.
For a great many years, the troll fleet has taken genetic samples of their catch. I have been directly involved with that, and from the analysis thereof, it has been shown quite conclusively that these early fish landfall in the closed area of SWVI or just into the States, then swing back up on their approach to the Big River. This means that their interception is largely avoided by the WCVI troll fleet, and this is common knowledge amongst the "management" (sic) authority.
But, the FN's won't have a lot of access to sockeye this year, so the Dino won't even consider shutting them down on springs, regardless of how poor the showings are.
And, the lobby pressure from the Recreational Sector to get us off the water was again intense this year. Worked of course, as we were gone by the time most sporties think of heading out - June 15.
Now DFO freely admits that the FN hit, the recreational hit - both in the chuck from Vic, and in-river easily and greatly exceed any impact Area G might have had on the stock in question were they allowed to continue fishing. But, as Area G is the one they can control, we're the ones that get taken off the water first. Semantics, allows them to say they're doing something, when again, in fact, they are not.
Now don't get me wrong, I am a "
Sporty" too, and my summer employ is completely based on that pursuit. Just I am a tad tired of being referred to as
THE problem when it ain't actually the case.
It is now to the point that recreational fisheries far surpasses the harvest removed by the troll fleet, and this trend is geared to escalate. So, when one sector lobbies intensely to get a low impact fishery shut down, then on the other hand lobbies just as intensely for access to the same diminished run they say they are concerned about, I very much have an issue with that.
Bottom Line IMHO: If the stocks are too low to allow a harvest, we
ALL should be shut down to give it a chance to rebound. Too much common sense there I guess...
Nog