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[paddy]

Seine fisherman defends dumping of pink salmon during aboriginal fishery in Johnstone Strait
 
 
BY LARRY PYNN, VANCOUVER SUN

The captain of a seine boat that dumped pink salmon during an aboriginal fishery in Johnstone Strait said Tuesday he is the victim of federal policy and that he takes care not to waste salmon.

“I’ve been doing this 15 years and we’ve been very efficient and very modernized in the way we handle our fish,” said Josh Duncan, a member of the Campbell River band and captain of the 25-metre Western King.

“We’ve never had issues, never had problems. Like all fisheries there is a bycatch and a mortality rate.”

Duncan explained that during the two-week native fishery he kept almost 20,000 sockeye and 16,000 pinks. He also released 52,000 live pinks of which he estimated a mortality rate not greater than 15 per cent — which equates to just under 8,000 fish.

He added that obviously dead fish were not tossed back. “Not every fish lives, but to say we’re out there viciously killing all these fish, well, we’re not,” he said, noting pinks and sockeye tend to swim together.

He said federal Fisheries officers visited daily and “watched us conduct our selective fishing harvest with no questions or concerns.”

Duncan argued that it would be economically feasible to bring in all the pinks and send them to a processing plant if the federal government allowed this bycatch to be sold to cover the costs of the fishery, including fuel and trucking — but it does not.

“It should be allowed ... then it would be no big deal” he said. “This year there are so many pinks, we can’t keep them all.”

A federal Fisheries spokesman could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Last Friday, the 40,000-member B.C. Wildlife Federation wrote to federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea to complain about three seine boats — including the Western King, under charter for native food fisheries — deliberately dumping pink salmon caught as bycatch and keeping the preferred sockeye salmon.

Canfisco vice-president Rob Morley said commercial fishermen are receiving about 15 to 35 cents a pound for pink compared with around $3 a pound for sockeye earlier in the season.

“At the last estimate made by people on site, more than 20,000 pink salmon were not only killed but then discarded back into the sea while harvesting the sockeye salmon being targeted,” wrote federation president Bill Bosch.

While the federation “is in complete support of First Nations harvesting food, social and ceremonial fish in a sustainable manner,” it is also “shocked to discover this terrible harvest practice and horrendous waste of valuable food and life” in Johnstone Strait, he said.

The two-week aboriginal fishery ended Saturday.

Pink salmon are returning in huge numbers this summer, including a pre-season estimate of almost nine million to the Fraser River alone.

Canfisco vice-president Rob Morley said commercial fishermen are receiving about 15 to 35 cents a pound for pink compared with around $3 a pound for sockeye earlier in the season.

[MoeJKU]

Been following this one for a while, it will be nice to see the outcome. $ sure makes people do some unethical things.

[adriaticum]

It's idiotic that powers at be would not create grounds for this not to happen.
It is absolutely retarded that dumping of so much fish has been done for years and nobody raised any questions.
Absolutely horrendous.

[paddy]

I just don't understand why we need to fish for sockeye. 

[trot]

I just don't understand why we need to fish for sockeye.

Money

[adriaticum]

I just don't understand why we need to fish for sockeye.

Especially during low return years.
Greed, lack of care and a lot of "don't give a damn".
I can't believe Newfies allowed the collapse of the cod fishery to happen. By a few greedy men who decided they are going to feed the world and make money.
I suppose we didn't understand the science at the time. Perhaps we thought all resources are limitless.
But now we understand the science better and hope that the scientists are working for the best interest of everyone.
Not just money in the pockets of the government.

[paddy]

Money

British Columbia’s recreational fishery is worth as much to the provincial economy as commercial fishing, aquaculture and fish processing combined, according to a new report from BC Stats.

The report, the first major economic review of the sector since 2007, estimates overall B.C. fisheries and aquaculture sector revenue at $2.2 billion for 2011 including $936 million contribution from recreational angling.

That boils down to a $325 million contribution to gross domestic product from the recreational sub-sector — not including spending on angling gear, boats and other vehicles — compared to $340 million in combined GDP from the commercial, aquaculture and fish processing sub-sectors including commercial boats and gear.

Within the recreational fishery, saltwater activity accounts for just over half of GDP with the remainder going to angling in lakes and streams.

Employment across the entire sector reached 13,900, 8,400 of whom worked in recreational fishing.

[Brian the fisherman]

sockeye fishing should be shut down to everyone. No one is more special than others in this world.  These exceptions just add to the hate that flows daily. If its for foodstuff than why be so picky on a particular species.... pink salmon feed people too.

[Kenwee]

Brian the fisherman,WELL SAID. all men are equal.

[Sandy]

" all men are equal" in a perfect world yes, ours, still a work in progress, but we are working on it.

were I to have the Gavel, all Canadian citizens would equal, landed immigrants, would be probationary Canadians!

as for this BS with by-catch, i say no by-catch anywhere! You go out ,set your net or troll, whatever you caught is yours, it counts in your tonage; if you were after Chinook or socks, and you get dogs , so be it , guess what, you got dogs and your quota includes all fish caught, you need to get better at your trade.

the by-catch discards have to stop, it does not encourage selective methods, and encourages extreme wastage.

[TNAngler]

" all men are equal" in a perfect world yes, ours, still a work in progress, but we are working on it.

were I to have the Gavel, all Canadian citizens would equal, landed immigrants, would be probationary Canadians!

as for this BS with by-catch, i say no by-catch anywhere! You go out ,set your net or troll, whatever you caught is yours, it counts in your tonage; if you were after Chinook or socks, and you get dogs , so be it , guess what, you got dogs and your quota includes all fish caught, you need to get better at your trade.

the by-catch discards have to stop, it does not encourage selective methods, and encourages extreme wastage.

When you say dog's, you mean chum right?  Because I have also heard dogfish as mudsharks.  What about hake(sp?)?  There isn't always something you can do about not catching either of them.  If you are talking salmon though, I completely agree.