Fishing forum > Native fishing, DFO blamed for Fraser disaster

Author Topic: Native fishing, DFO blamed for Fraser disaster
troutfan

Native fishing, DFO blamed for Fraser disaster
The Vancouver Sun
Tue 22 Mar 2005
Page: A1 / Front
Section: News
Byline: Peter O'Neil

OTTAWA -- A parliamentary committee is expected today to cite unauthorized native fishing and federal mismanagement as two key reasons for the disappearance of up to 1.6 million sockeye salmon from the Fraser River last year.

A draft copy of the House of Commons fisheries committee report, obtained Monday by The Vancouver Sun, rejects the original assertion of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) that unusually warm water temperatures on the Fraser were the likely cause of what the committee calls a "major ecological disaster."
Instead, it says the warm water was probably only a contributing factor to problems related to excessive authorized and unauthorized aboriginal fishing.

The DFO, according to the draft copy, effectively has a "policy" of seeking to avoid conflict when dealing with aboriginal fishermen.

"DFO has been overly cautious in its dealings with first nations out of fear of confrontation," according to the MPs, who held several days of hearings in B.C.

"This 'policy' has led to uneven application of regulations to all participants in the Fraser River fishery."
The MPs, who have scheduled a news conference for today, will call for the creation of a separate enforcement branch within the DFO to crack down on poaching.

They say the government should have reduced the amount of fishing last summer to take into account the stress on fish caused by the warm water.

The MPs support the assertion of some critics who alleged the DFO has unwisely allowed aboriginal fishermen to establish too many nets in the Fraser -- creating the so-called "wall of death" that severely reduces the ability of salmon to get upstream to spawn.

"Higher water temperature in the Fraser River alone does not account for the missing fish," states the draft copy, stamped confidential and dated March 2, 2005.

"Higher water temperature, combined with other factors such as increased fishing pressure, is more likely to have caused significant mortality on the way to the spawning grounds."

Ernie Crey of the Sto:lo Tribal Council issued a statement Monday saying that native fishermen use short gillnets or dip nets to take salmon in the canyon, methods the fisheries department has approved "for over 120 years."

"We have only a short season to catch and preserve the salmon we need to supply our villages; we must fish hard in order to avoid hardship in the winter months. Some call our fishery aggressive, but we call it hard work and we are happy to do it."

The statement also said "there is more enforcement by the DFO on the lower Fraser River than at any previous time in history."

The MPs' report concludes that Ottawa isn't properly managing the native fishery, or enforcing the law, on the Fraser north of the counting station at Mission.
They say the DFO lacks the resources to count the fish, do scientific research, monitor fisheries, and enforce the law.

"No matter what the cause of the 'missing' fish in 2004, everything points back to problems with the management of the fishery and the lack of resources to do the job effectively," the draft report states.
B.C. Conservative MP John Cummins, a committee member, issued a news release Monday saying he will issue his own report outlining his view that the principal problem was aboriginal overfishing.

Cummins said he will cite testimony by fisheries officers before a federal panel, headed by retired justice Bryan Williams, investigating the missing salmon.

"DFO enforcement painted a picture of massive black market operations moving illegally caught salmon into the U.S. and Alberta being largely ignored by the department, and of food fisheries acting as a source and a cover for the black market operations," Cummins wrote.

The committee lists a series of recommendations, though it points out that it made similar suggestions in 2003 which, had they not been ignored by the Liberal government, might have prevented last summer's disaster.
The top recommendation calls on the DFO to establish a separate and beefed-up enforcement branch headed by a regional director "with extensive law enforcement experience" who would report to an assistant deputy minister responsible for enforcement.

Currently, fisheries officers charged with investigating illegal fishing serve within the fisheries management branch, which is run by bureaucrats mandated to set fishing quotas, manage the various fisheries, and deal with aboriginal communities.

Among other recommendations:

- The government should establish an "independent body" to review the various reports into problems on the Fraser over the past dozen years, including commission reports into similar disasters in 1992 and 1994.

- Equip the Mission hydroacoustic station with better fish-counting technology, and establish additional stations along the Fraser and Thompson rivers.

- Establish more stringent guidelines so fishing is prohibited when water temperatures reach dangerous levels.

"In particular, the department should not shy away from limiting all fishing opportunities, both below and above Mission, when the conservation of salmon stocks is at stake."

- The DFO should study the use by first nations of drift gillnets and set gillnets on the Fraser, and ban the use of driftnets until the study is completed.

- Increase funding in part to hire more fisheries officers.

Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan has not announced major initiatives to improve his department's management.
poneil@canada.com

CRISIS YEARS FOR THE FRASER SOCKEYE:

Draft of report on the disastrous 2004 sockeye run compares it to 1992 and 1994, other famous years for "missing" fish; and to 1998 and 1999 when one third of the run disappeared. However, 2004 was in a class of its own because of the small size of the run combined with the high ratio of unaccounted-for fish to spawners.

2004

5.2 million fish

Caught 58%

Spawned 10%

Missing 32%

Diagram shows the various fates of the Fraser River sockeye salmon during the 2004 season

Total run

5.2 million

Commercial

1.8 million

First nations

890,000

Spawning 500,000

Unknown

1.6 million

Canadian test fishing

70,000

United States

190,000

Source: House of Commons fisheries committee
fisher88

ok.....
el-nino2010

without money to hire more CO's it don't matter what they do cause there will not be enough officers patrolling the river especially at night when most of the drift nets are pulled up full of fish by natives.This bullshit will go on and on year after year until the liberals send us more officers or give the bc government more money to hire more fishery officers. Look at what new brunswick did... they just said screw you to the feds and hired a hundred new officers and isseued close to $700,000 in fines and impounded vessels and equipment in just 3 months. We could do the same here easily and in the same amount of time.
nosey

I'm a sports angler living in Laidlaw well upstream from the Cheam band drift fishery, I found that the native fishery made very little difference to the quality of fishing in my area. I did find however that when the non-native commercial fishery was in the water below the Mission bridge after 36 hours there were three days with no fish in the river whatsoever. Talking to fellow anglers that fish below Chilliwack I found that none of them had great sockeye fishing days last year either. The native fishery could hardly of caught fish that hadn't even reached them yet. It's my opinion that the DFO grossly over estimated the amount of sockeye escaping the commercial nets and allowed all user groups way too many days of fishing it's easy to point fingers when you're trying to cover your ass in what was obviously a managment error.
no1important

I for one am not suprised. In reality how many fish does each native eat in a year? I also know they almost net clear across the river around Yale yet DFO does nothing.
jesseryan

gosh, maybe the bass are responsible for all this.
olie'

LOL, I was just gonna say the same thing !!!! LOL
brakeslaurensi

Hey! If your major is programming, you’ll get an essay writers who will implement an IEEE formatting style correctly and contain the information that will benefit your technical research paper. In case your specialization is psychology, then we’ll conduct an examination based on practical studies regarding your paper’s subject.

Fishing forum > Native fishing, DFO blamed for Fraser disaster


 





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