Officers with DFO are spending this holiday weekend cracking down on anyone salmon fishing in B.C. waterways. Sports Anglers protested that today, blaming a lack of consultation and poor management. Jill Bennett reports…
Sportfishing advocates are holding a demonstration fishery Saturday on the Fraser River near Chilliwack to showcase the selective nature of bar fishing.
They say they are heading out despite the fact that Fraser River is completely closed to salmon harvesting by recreational anglers for conservation reasons.
Co-chairs of the Fraser River Sportfishing Alliance (FRSA) say they are confident the “demonstration fishery” will show that bar fishing selectively for chinook salmon has “virtually zero impact” on passing sockeye salmon….
“The closure of the Fraser River to recreational salmon fishing represents a very significant hardship to the many businesses that are dependent on this fishery. It’s estimated that the fishery in years of stock abundance exceeds $100 million in revenues to local communities. Equally important is the loss of family opportunities to enjoy this priceless Canadian heritage…”
Rod Clapton, chairman, Fraser River Sportfishing Alliance
Fraser River salmon returns for 2017 have been very low.
Following conservation in terms of DFO priorities is providing Indigenous communities with food, social and ceremonial (FSC) fishery openings, which have been few so far this year.
The river is closed to recreational fishing right now.
“It is challenging,” acknowledged Jennifer Nener, DFO Pacific Region’s director of salmon management, on a conference call media update Friday.
Complaints about the lack of recreational openings for chinook salmon have been received by DFO in the wake of its cautious management adopted for conservation reasons…..
Salmon enhancement advocates are celebrating a decision to reverse cuts to programs that bring salmon into classrooms and provide support to hatcheries.
Burnaby North-Seymour Liberal MP Terry Beech, parliamentary secretary to the federal minister of fisheries, oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, announced Thursday that the federal government had reversed the cuts and scrapped plans to eliminate the 26-member Sea Island dive team.
Scientists and educators in three areas of the salmonid enhancement program were told in May that their programs would be cut or were vulnerable to cuts, including a $400,000-a-year project that teaches 35,000 students in B.C. and Yukon classrooms each year about salmon….
Fisheries minister is acknowledging concerns coming from communities in the wake of recent cuts
Changes announced to the Salmonid Enhancement Program by Fisheries and Oceans Canada last week aren’t going over too well in Chilliwack and beyond.
Cuts are expected for the Salmonids in the Classroom program under Stream to Sea, along with local steelhead and cutthroat hatchery programs, but DFO officials are stating for the record that they remain “committed to the conservation of wild Pacific salmon.”….
