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[DragonSpeed]

I just wanted to open a thread for this specific issue.  What do you feel is the main mismanagment of the Fraser Fishery in particular? (and others in general if you wish)

My un-statistic backed feeling is that the government has allowed too many commercial licences, and given them too short a time with a dwindling resource to make their income.  The single most effective harvester in the Fraser River has got to be the commercial fleet.  Why can't the government continue to buy out licenses and cut the fleet down?  Why not have a maximum boat count, and have participation based on lottery?  Would that not be one of the most significant forward steps that they could take to help our Salmon stocks?

Reminder - I want this to focus SOLELY on the government's decisions, not the actions of the different groups, who are all motivated by profit, tradition, and love of the resource.

Reasoned thought please.  Let's not attack each others opinions, but let them all be aired.  We will all have different ideas, let's share them, not attack.  Thanks.

[casinoJim]

To further your thought... Are there any relevent correlations between the ill fated east coast fishery and ours??
CJ.

[Bantam_50]

Well DS, just a quick point...IMO I believe that DFO has over the years slowly cut back the original commercial fleet in their netting on the Fraser.

 It seems there could be a movement by DFO to give the FN more fisheries on the Fraser. And with these increased fisheries, the abiltiy to sell said catch. So is the commercial harvest of the Fraser being shifted to new group. Is this the work of good will on the governments part to enable it to have easier settlement negotiations with FN's? Or could it involve goodwill for off-shore oil and gas exploration support?

I really don't believe DFO decisions are being solely handed down from their top brass, but by bigger fish (so to speak).

[grandpa]

If you dig deep enough you will probably find that there  are a lot of different opinions within DFO , each tech will have some ideas based on training and experience , each Biologist will have the same no of opinions , and their decisions will in many cases be changed more or less by their bosses , often based on economics or their feeling of what the political bosses will be happy with . Years ago we had a couple of generations of Biologists who were taught that there should be no fishing seasons because the fish populations  could handle any pressure and that reproduction would increase as fishing pressure increased . All the objecing groups ( public , technicians , conservation officers etc ) were over ridden . Fish populations plummeted and now in many areas we have slot limits to try to maintain fish populations . What are slot limits - only fish above ,between or blow a certain size may be taken .As Rod will tell you Fisheries is a relatively inexact science and it may take many years to prove a certain point . For salmon it may take several generations to prove or disprove a single management process which has been put in place after much study thought and discussion . Hopefully the scientific community , those who fish , the general public and the politicians  are making sgeat steps which will ensure the sutvival and increase in numbers of the great salmon species

[Terry Bodman]

An interesting topic, to say the least. IMO, the "problems" are a result of politicians butting in and not permitting the employees to do their jobs. It's called "playing with the trains." I don't pretend to know anything about DFO but I do know something about bureacracy. The task of the politician (government) is to set sound policy and then permit the experts (employees) to implement those policies. As soon as backroom deals are made or decisions are made by the politician contrary to their own policy several things happen.

1. Rules are broken or circumvented to suit a particular situation.
2. Employees  become disallusioned and demoralized.
3. The users (us) get **ssed off.
4. There is blatant disregard for the rules.
5. Controversy and tension become the order of the day.
6. Protests (silent or otherwise) begin.

The final result of all this is that the resource is depleted and all suffer--- sport fishery, native fishery and commercial fishery. There are no winners...all of us lose.

[DragonSpeed]

Surprisingly little input on this thread. I would have thought that MORE of us would have ideas as to what's wrong, from the Government management point of view.

[Rodney]

Interesting topic indeed. So often when something goes wrong, our first blame lies on the FOC, but a lot of times many make claims without doing the homework.

There are basically three components that a fishery manager looks at when make decisions - environmental, economical, political. That makes the job extremely hard as it is often difficult (more like impossible) to satisfy all three components.

In most cases, as Terry has mentioned, political influences the decisions greatly due to public pressure etc.

Also, the lack of man power. How often do you hear people complaining that conservation officers are "not doing their job" because they phoned him and didn't see any result? Enforcement sector usually goes for the bigger fish and unfortunately a lot of little fish hops through the loop hole as a result. That doesn't mean we shouldn't phone in, we should do so everytime.

Not too sure about the biggest mismanagement. Possibly the Fraser sockeye, I say possibly because a mismanagement would be the complete collaps of the fishery, which we'll find out in the next few decades. Overall I am pretty happy with our fishery management, but I am mostly involved with community outreach programs etc. My opinion might be different regarding the commercial management but I will not comment on that without further understanding it.

At least there is a management. In developing countries, these programs do not exist, and there basically isn't a future for the resource.

[Bantam_50]

Will waiting...I surfed the DFO site and found this...figure some might be interested in the read and be a little more knowledgable in what's transpired with the sock runs in previous years. Look closely at the Cultus lk. run re: Sweltzer creek.

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fraserriver/Escapement/Sockeyeupdate.pdf