But there is no need for verbal attack of a good intent.
If my intent is to verbally attack, then I'd be questioning your intelligence for keep repeating the same thing without addressing the facts that are used to challenge your speculations. What is the point of posting the same rant in three different threads before starting a new thread of its own? It is poor posting ettiquette, just to get your point across without consideration of other users.
Repetition does not make one's point more correct.
Unlike IronNoggin who has the patience, I find it counter-productive to have a debate on something that is based on speculations and misinformation. It happens each year, Fraser sockeye, steelhead, instead of doing some background research on what actually happens, you come back with the same rhetorics each year, spreading what I would consider as propaganda among the so-called "fishing brotherhood" against those who have the background to manage the resource, just because you're not catching fish or allowed to catch what you want.
What would motivate me to expend an hour to address the false information is that people who are willing to learn on the website would walk away without being misinformed. So here goes.
Although funding by the Ministry of Environment changes from year to year, why people would keep saying "there's another funding cut" without providing numbers baffles me.
Despite of whatever cut people are suggesting,
based on the juvenile steelhead stocking, it has not changed at all since the 80s with the exception of 83 and 84.
And every year I hear about the vedder hatchery struggling with getting enough brude stock.
What struggle? The Chilliwack/Vedder Hatchery has had met its broodstock target each year. The collection is typicall put on hold halfway through the season, to avoid having too many early fish or too little late fish collected. So far this season, 30 fish have been collected and we are less than a month into the collection program.
So why is this year's catch, particularly the wild capture rate, seemingly poorer than other years when the number of hatchery juveniles released has remains pretty consistent? Why would funding cut influence this return? It doesn't. Flood mortality during its brood year.
Pumping more hatchery fish into the river to accommodate those who have been paying the so-called increasing licence fee (by the way, licence fee has not increased in the last five years, it should)? Believe it or not, fish belong to the people of Canada, not just those in the fishing brotherhood. Biologists have the mandate to preserve genetic diversity of steelhead population in each watershed. Is it responsible for anglers to lobby for an increase of Chilliwack hatchery production at a risk of losing that diversity when we in fact do not have an estimate of the wild population. For what? Just so you can catch multiple fish like the good ol' days? Why should there be an expectation of 20+ steelhead per trip like what one would expect during the salmon season? The quality of the steelheading experience might be determined by quantity for some, but most would agree that they do it because the experience is different to what one may see during the salmon season. Do I want to target steelhead in the Chilliwack River as what I would experience at the put and take lake? No, but apparently some do. Slightly more fish would be nice, but have some consideration on the resource rather than yourself for once.
There are many other natural, uncontrollable factors that influence the recent decline of returns. The biggest one would be the unpredictable Pacific Ocean. People should keep in mind that the condition is cyclical, not a constant downward trend. Historic catch data of herring and other planktonic feeders from both sides of the Pacific have illustrated that. While it can be unfavourable for anadromous salmonids, it can be just as favourable in years to come. During years of low returns, shouldn't we be placing more emphasis on ensuring the survival of the remaining steelhead population instead of worrying about how little we are catching?
So, about those funding cuts and selfish fish managers.
100,000 or so steelhead are put into the Vedder and 1%, maybe 2% come back, There will be attrition all along the way but I wonder if something inexpensive might yield results. Other rivers have been enhanced by simply thowing a few sacks of fertilizer into the headwaters each year. Our fisheries biologists are well aware of this. Has it been considered, tried or rejected for the Chilliwack-Vedder? If it is just the cost in the way, lets pony up the few thousand $$ that would take. It could be a good project for a club.
My club, Vancouver Angling and Game is looking for a cause. We don't have many members or much money but a cause might change that.
VAGAbond, the Steelhead Society of BC would be the appropriate group to ask this. You can email Jason at
jtonelli@pacificangler.ca as he is the president. Locally, the Chilliwack River Action Committee and the Fraser Valley Salmon Society are the two groups that have done projects on the Vedder River. You can contact David Lamson at
dflamson@shaw.ca for the Chilliwack River Action Committee. Chris can answer your questions for the Fraser Valley Salmon Society.
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Topic: The Vedder vs the Stamp (Read 14806 times)