Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Eagleye]

yesterday I fished the upper portion of the cap and didn't have any luck so I decided to fish the mouth just below the marine drive bridge (Park Royal side).  As my friend and I approached the river we saw that a native on the other side was landing a spring hooked on the under side of the belly, which he kept.  Another native shouts out to us you guys can't fish here you have to go above the bridge, this is our land.  So we decided not to throw our lines in but instead we watched them fish from further up stream.   These guys (4 of them including a kid no older than 14) were doing the most blatant snagging I have ever seen.  They were casting out without a float and then reefing up on their rods a couple of times and then reeling in and repeating.  Not all natives fish this way as I have been to this spot before and seen them drift fishing and was never told to leave before yesterday.  A little farther down stream there was a native attending to their "weirs".  As previously posted the natives have drastically changed the river bed by building a wall of rocks that covers 2/3 of the river in order to trap more fish in their shopping carts.  I wonder how many fish especially the steelhead (average return 30!) get caught in these traps and needlessly drown.  I know it states in their weirs info doc that the natives release the steelhead above the weirs or brood tubes but these weirs are in the river 24/7.  What about the ones that get caught when the net is not being attended to? So not only have they polluted the river with their unsightly shopping carts they are also snagging fish and to top it off the hatchery gives them an allotted amount of the fish that they don't use.  Another thing I noticed was there was a minivan parked underneath the bridge that had lettering on the side saying Portable Refrigeration and underneath that Domestic Commercial Marine and the back windows were painted black which seemed suspicious to me. Being quite perturbed I called dfo and told them what happened.  They said that the native who told me to leave does have a leg to stand on because it is indeed their land.  I then called ORR to report the blatant snagging.  I also called the hatchery to ask them how many left over fish they give to the natives and what they are allowed to use them for.  I was told that 2500 are used for for broodstock, 100 are used for educational purposes and  5500 are released above the dam in the water shed to spawn and they try to release these smolts below the dam and the remainder of the fish goes to the natives.  I compared this with the average return of fish and figured the natives get about 6650 fish from the hatchery alone! I was also told that "this year the returns have been dreadfully low". I wonder if this has anything to do with the natives altering the riverbed!  I was also told that the natives do sell some of these fish to a commercial buyer, and do not sell them to individuals. Considering the river never used to flow through their land I think they are getting way more than their fair share.  Just because the river now flows through their land they are now entitled to first dibs on the salmon once conservation numbers are met. I further asked why this is the case since historically the river did not flow through their land and what the breakdown of the allotment is for food, ceremony, and commercial use.  The lady I was talking to did not know and suggested I contact Ian Mann at (604) 664 9251. I was also told that decisions regarding natives on the cap and other rivers is based on interpretations of the sparrow decision, which I did not know existed until now.  I will be looking into this sparrow decision and speaking with Ian Mann. IMO  since the natives are being greedy and taking advantage of the situation to the enth degree I would like to see the river reverted so that it doesn't flow through their land.  To raise funds for this I would suggest that the hatchery sell its surplus directly to a commercial processor and use all the profits to revert the river, improve spawning habitat above the dam and to aid the smolts  through the dam after spawning.  What do you guys think?

[Fish Assassin]

Snagging at the mouth and the building of fish weirs have been going on for years. DFO doesn't care.

[Sam Salmon]

Time to brush up on your history-it's 100% Native land and they can do what they want with those hatchery slugs -short of dynamite.

[Eagleye]

From what I understand natives do not have to purchase a license but they must still follow the regs when angling.

[Eagleye]

I could of sworn that I saw a net on the mid to upper section of the river.  The water was high and all I could see was a yellow rope 8ft or which was holding itself straight out in the current so I assumed it was a net.  I just fished around it not knowing they could only net the mouth. If I would have know I would of inspected it better.

[phatwop]

Year after year it's the same thing. Frustrating, but it's their land. I strolled down there to see what they were catching today and they weren't as nasty as they usually are. Alot of the first nations people were using drift gear.
There's a lot of large guts and sperm sacs near the old folks home part of the river. large chum and coho heads everywhere. I'm surprised how dark the fish are so close to the mouth.

[Rodney]

FYI

[Gooey]

If you really want ot educate yourself on the challenges DFO faces read the sparrow descision. that in itself is DFO's biggest obstacle in managing and controlling the FN fishery...I look for the link again.

Bottom line is that under the protection of a Food Fishery and the sparrow descision, FN can get away with just about anything.

[Nostro]

I share in your frustration, Eagleye.
Contrary to Sam Salmon's remark, the land below the high water mark is NOT "their land". It is Crown land. It belongs to ALL peoples of Canada.
The Park Royal land is First Nation land, under the burden of a long term lease. That lease gives consent to ALL to access Park Royal related lands, without trespass.

[Gooey]

Nostro, Sam is correct...the capilano FN own the land "under" the capilano river.  it was their dry land way back when and when the city redirected the river and moved the mouth west the land under the river still remainded under Cap FN title.

My guess is that the park royal lease pretty much ends at the fence line that is opposite to the trailer park.  I cant see a mall needing access right down to the river so I assume that the lease is to that fence line; if you have seen maps otherwise, let us know. 

When I was chased of their under treat of a trespass call to RCMP, I got home and called the RCMP asking them if they knew where the property lines were...they had no clue either.

[Eagleye]

I called dfo and they confirmed that the river bed is indeed their land and the natives can do whatever they want short of building their weir across the entire river. I'm sooo pissed that legally I cannot fish below the marine drive bridge when the water is low. what a sham!
If they can't share the river than why should the hatchery give them the surplus fish.  There should be some give and take.  They should at least let us fish from the Park Royal side and they can fish from the other side. *%!&***! 

[Eagleye]

Here is a link to a document prepared for parliament that explains the sparrow decision and some other complexeties of the conundrum of our fisheries.

[BwiBwi]

Where's the link???

[Nostro]

Yes, Gooey, the FN have the rights to the river bed but only the portion of the Cap that is on the Reserve.
I was thinking of the mouth of the Cap when I posted above.
Nostro

[Eagleye]

oops! here's the link http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/bp341-e.htm

Pecker Point LOL!  Bill makes a good point about the shopping carts.  I wonder if they can prove that they historically relied on the river for food or trade.