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[scouterjames]

Have a watch.... sounds like he knew what he was talking about!?!

https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/westland/items/1.0048237

[winter steel]

Scouterjames, nice find. Quite a bit of common sense in that Wayne Shinners man. The end game...increase the number of spawners on the redds...increase the number of salmon. Yes, there are a lot of mitigating circumstances that play an important role but I'm also sure we don't help ourselves or the salmon as much as we could. Thank you for the viewing, it was most interesting.

[RalphH]

How I do remember the program Westland and Mike Halleran. Thanks for posting the link.

While I think the truth of Wayne Shinners talk remains much has changed since 1984. Did anyone notice we have had a 'salmon collapse' more than once since then? Quite a number if you stop to think about. In the mid to late 80s and into the 90s DFO was still strong enough to reverse at least some aspects the chinook salmon collapse Shiner talked about. Since then they have collapsed again as have many other stocks. The Strait of Georgia inside water coho stocks all but vanished within a few years of Shinner's speech never to return and no one has an idea why or what to do about it. It has effectively been written off. Most of our local coho streams that once supported hundreds and even thousands of wild spawning coho every fall are muddy sub-urban streams devoid of gravel and stream cover. Significant habitat has been lost and chances are a good number of you are living in cheap housing developments that were a primary cause. Climate change has hit our salmonid populations big time. Since 1984 the primary significance of ocean conditions has come to be appreciated. Miles of lovey spawning gravel and rearing habitat is useless if salmon can't find enough food to eat once they reach the open ocean and never return.

 DFO is no where close to as powerful as it was then. To a large extent it lost it's power due to it's own draconian policy strategies that eventually were modified by the courts. Now it's squashed between powerful user groups, competing business interests and politicians eager for re-election.

One thing that hasn't changed is the demands of user groups. If anything they have all gotten greedier for a large slice of an ever shrinking pie. The demands for fishing access to salmon stocks at or below critical levels is good evidence of that; just think of last fall's pink opening on the Fraser. Shameful!

[Dave]

One thing that hasn't changed is the demands of user groups. If anything they have all gotten greedier for a large slice of an ever shrinking pie. The demands for fishing access to salmon stocks at or below critical levels is good evidence of that; just think of last fall's pink opening on the Fraser. Shameful!

Spot on Ralph.  We're are own worst enemy and this year's sockeye return will reinforce that.

[wildmanyeah]

Ralph

You bring up many points that fishermen just don’t want to acknowledge

Thanks for bringing up thoes points they are spot on. 

I think many are stuck looking at seals,fish farms, hatchery production as the wishful thinking quick fix.