We all hold people and groups to certain levels of accountablilty. Sometime we are justified, sometimes we are not. I believe that right now most of us are holding dfo accountable for what we feel should be something different....ie we feel there should have been a sports opening or we feel FN has had too high an allocation etc. This is problematic in that WE don't set the mandates and truely we cant expect much more from them than what they are mandated to do.
Does anyone know what DFO's mandate/goals/mission is on the fraser or in the pacific region?
I spent the last 1.5 hours trying to understand what DFO is MEANT to be doing...this is where we can truly hold their feet to the flames and hold them accountable.
This is really all I found regarding their mission/goals:
Principles (for the Aboriginal Fishing Treaty - AFT:
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/tapd/afs_e.htm )
* Provide for the effective management of the Aboriginal fishery;
* Improve the conservation, management and enhancement of the resource;
* Enable Aboriginal people to participate in the management of their fisheries; and,
* Provide a stable, predictable, profitable fishery for the benefit of all Canadians.
One other HUGE driving force in their management scheme is the Sparrow decision and how the courst said FN must get priority access to resource for food fish (food, social, and cerimonial use).
These are the DFO's drivers in the management scheme for the fraser river (maybe other fisheries too).
A protest fishery...whether sport or comercial needs be well organized otherwise you will be charge and have no leg to stand on. The comercail protest that took place in 2003 (i think) was successful because the commercial boys being shut out during FN commercial fishing was deemed:" inconsistent with the equality provisions of the “Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms”.
If DFO doesnt do its job are each one of you willing to put your name and $200 on the line if you get charged?
I think DFO is doing horribly...but lets evaluate them based on their own "Principles" (as taken fro the their web site):
* Provide for the effective management of the Aboriginal fishery;
* Improve the conservation, management and enhancement of the resource;
* Provide a stable, predictable, profitable fishery for the benefit of all Canadians.
-DFO does not have any control the native fishermen of this province
-DFO has not eliminated poaching from the fraser, its still at an unmanageble level
-DFO has not designed a system to count FN food fish effectively (as Rod vidoetaped FN fish unloading fish away from the counters and DFO counting sites)
-DFO mismanagement caused a disaster last year, their solutin this year...totaly (so far shut out 2 sectors)
-DFO has not provide a stable, predictable , profitable fishery for "all Canadians"
based on this I think that if we could show a sports fishery that doesnt impact the stock or has marginal impact and that this fishery didnt interfer with DFO's #1 mandate (providing FN with priority access to food fish) then a protest could be beneficial.
Can this protest be used to prove DFO's incapacity to the courts and this country...I think so but I am not exactly sure how and I am not sure if us proving DFO's incapacity justifies us breaking the law (unlike the “R. v. Kapp et al.” where the commercial guys proved a conflict in management and our Constitution.
This leaves us on some very shaky ground.
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Topic: protest fishery (Read 33855 times)