So I've been in touch with the victim of the assault both through social media and phone. Yes, I am that nosy.
Some have mentioned that he has autism. I don't know and I'm not going to assume or ask, but I would say that he falls in a more vulnerable minority group. Super nice guy just as others who have met him describe. He briefly explained what happened prior to the incident. He and quite a few anglers were fishing along the narrow stretch just downstream from the railway bridge. Most of them were wading into the water. The jet boat was travelling upstream pretty fast and they thought it was going to slow down once it reached the narrow part where they were standing, but it didn't. As it sped up, everyone was scrambling to get out of the water while cursing at the boat. The occupants in the boat were also shouting profanity back. Immediately after the boat had passed by, The victim threw a rock into the water to show his frustration. Awhile later, as the boat travelled downstream again, he pretended to be picking up another rock and that was when the operator of the boat made the 180 and stopped.
Obviously there is one side of the story, and another side, and... the truth.
so I don't think anyone would know exactly what happened unless you were there. What we do know though, is what has been shown in the video. One individual decided to make some poor judgements without considering the consequences on himself, his family, friends and community.
Originally it was thought that the victim may have a couple of fractured facial bones, but he was just being checked again at the hospital and has a broken nose which does not require surgery.
The physical injuries will most likely heal faster than the mental injuries. When asked whether he has followed up with the RCMP because we want to see charges laid on this individual, he said that he is still very shaken up by it and afraid to follow up because he fears that he may not be able to fish here safely anymore if charges are laid. I said that he must follow up and will have the support from majority of the community.
I posted the following on flybc earlier today btw:
So further to my post last night regarding the restrictions that are already in place, there have been more "clarifications" which made things even more complicated, and really demonstrates the absurdity when it comes to overlap and contradictions between federal, provincial and municipal regulations.
Transport Canada has shared that "There is a universal shoreline speed restriction on all inland waters in British Columbia (10 km/h within 30 meters of shore). This restriction only applies to rivers that are more than 100m wide." Because the Chilliwack River is less than 100m wide, this speed restriction does not apply, not under any federal regulations anyway. Basically TC is saying that no speed restrictions are in place for the Chilliwack River, or any other small tributaries of the Fraser because the width does not meet the requirement.
A petition or having a bunch of people writing in is not enough to implement a ban or speed restriction. There is an application process to do this and the entire process takes about two years. 🤦♂️ That said, with so many groups on the same page, it may speed it up.
Nobody has yet to bring the COs into the conversations so I wonder if they in fact already can enforce some kind of provincial boating restrictions, since the COs do checks on PFDs and other safe boating requirements. I'll be reaching out to them.
Pretty confident that sooner than later we'll put an end to this circus so people can enjoy the river safely.
Some have been saying that they don't fish this river anymore because of incidents like this, I think that's really unfortunate. These incidents are so rare, for the most part I find the community has been getting closer and more positive. The only way to keep this up is to keep using the river responsibly, be nice to others instead of avoiding it and letting it overrun by irresponsible individuals. I get to fish at lots of cool places but I am actually looking forward to spending lots of days fishing the Vedder this September. I'm five minute drive from the river, and I get to see lots of other anglers who I've befriended over the years, and the chinook salmon return is expected to be much bigger this season due to the doubling of smolt production in 2019.
Author
Topic: Assault by jetboat operators on a fisherman on the Vedder (Read 19989 times)