This was from todays globe and mail. Pretty sad.
Natives promise to defy ban on sockeye fishing
PATRICK BRETHOUR
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
August 18, 2007 at 2:11 AM EDT
VANCOUVER — Native fishermen are vowing to head out onto the lower Fraser River this weekend to fish for sockeye salmon – defying a federal ban – in part to protest against the continuing recreational fishery.
“A few of the bands have said they're going to go out fishing,” said Ernie Crey, fisheries adviser for the Sto:lo bands in the eastern Fraser Valley. His own band, the Cheam, is considering joining that action.
The Sto:lo are angry, he said, that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans will not allow them or other bands along the Lower Fraser to fish for sockeye, but will allow anglers to ply the river until Monday. Although those recreational fishermen are not permitted to catch sockeye, the Sto:lo say that happens anyway.
“It's now common knowledge that they're killing and keeping sockeye,” Mr. Crey said.
So, today or tomorrow, according to Mr. Crey, natives in fishing boats will cast nets into the Fraser, partly as a gesture of protest and partly as a way to stock their freezers for the winter.
DFO is declining to say exactly how it will respond to such a move. “We'll monitor that situation, and depending on the circumstances, we'll take appropriate action,” said Paul Ryall, head of the department's salmon team.
However, B.C. Conservative MP John Cummins, an outspoken critic of federal fisheries policy, said he believes that fisheries officials will not intervene – even though they should – to protect the sockeye stocks. “They can't tolerate this sort of behaviour,” he said. “But by past performance, [intervention] hasn't happened.”
At the root of the dispute is a stunning collapse in the size of this year's runs of sockeye on the Fraser, and the resulting plummet in the size of the allowable catch. No one is certain why the population has declined so much, but the warm oceans of four years ago are thought to have reduced food sources and increased predators. As a result, there will be no commercial fishery for sockeye this year, and aboriginal bands that last year harvested close to a million fish will be limited to just 180,000. Already, 100,000 fish have been caught, with DFO deciding late Thursday to open fisheries only upstream of Sawmill Creek, north of Hope, and then only until tomorrow evening.
The recreational fishery will remain open until midnight tomorrow. Although the Sto:lo and other native bands are upset that it will not be closed sooner, the DFO's Mr. Ryall said an immediate closing is impractical, and that the department typically tries to give 48-hour notice. A decision was made late Thursday, and a formal notice given Friday morning, with the fishery closing more than 60 hours later.
Donald Sam, fisheries co-ordinator for the Nlaka'Pamux, said he could not say what the effect of unauthorized fishing downstream would be on his bands' legal fishing efforts. But he said the Nlaka'Pamux plan to comply with DFO directives.
Mr. Ryall said there will be a relatively small number of fish caught legally in the Upper Fraser this weekend, around 3,000 sockeye.
What will happen on the Lower Fraser with illegal boats and nets is unclear. Mr. Crey said he's not sure how many native fishermen will head out this weekend. But he is certain that the tide of anger toward the DFO is rising. “The whole community along the lower river is in turmoil right now.”
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