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[nosey]

   On page A21 of todays Province newspaper in an article about th FN rationing of dwindling sockeye stocks it states, "Bill Otway of the Sportfishing Defense Alliance threatened that his group would "go fishing and closures have no basis in fact"
   This to me is the final proof that Mr. Otway although his intentions may be honerable is nothing more than a raving publicity hungry idiot. We, as sports fishermen do not need any more bad publicity from people like Mr Otway stating that we will defy laws and further endanger threatened runs of fish. Anyone from this forum that contributes money to the FDA should seriously think twice before writing out that check, this money doesn't go to enhancement or any form of conservation whatsoever, it goes to a bunch of fat lawyers supposedly representing sports fishers rights. Well I don't know about our rights but I do know ignorant statements like the one in the paper today in times of extreme conservation concerns will destroy any public sympathy that could possibly exist to wards our concerns. How the hell would it look if a bunch of hunters got together and made the statement that "well the Fons are hunting endangered mountain sheep out of season we think we'll just go shoot a bunch too."
   Please if you are a member of the SDA call for Mr. Ottawas resignation, or at least put a gag an him, he is a fool and will make everyone packing a fishing rod look bad in the eyes of the general public and every conservation minded citizens of BC if allowed to ramble on unfettered within hearing range of the media.
   

[Old Black Dog]

get up to speed on the Sockeye run and the numbers coming back.
No where was conservation mentioned by DFO. SO why are you saying there is?

[jetboatjim]

Do you think for a minute the natives will not net for sellable sockeye?

[chris gadsden]

Here is the article for all to digest. Bill's statement seems to be badly worded and in some cases when you are interviewed by a reporter what you say is not reported in the story correctly. In all respect to Nosey I cannot believe Bill would advocate going fishing at any time if there is a conservation concern.

B.C. native bands being asked to ration sockeye salmon
By John Bermingham, The Province
Published: Wednesday, April 30, 2008
B.C.'s native bands are being asked to ration sockeye salmon this summer because of an expected poor run.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has asked all 94 bands that fish Fraser sockeye to come up with a plan to share a smaller overall catch.

Fisheries experts are predicting anything from 1.8 million to 2.8 million salmon this year, compared with the usual 4.4 million.




FOC's Lower Fraser director Mel Kotyk said there's not enough fish left over, once 1.3 million salmon are allowed to go back to their spawning grounds. "At that number, it's unlikely we'll be able to meet the First Nations' food needs," he said yesterday.

First Nations bands have been meeting with FOC and each other to agree on a sharing plan.

Kotyk said FOC will enforce the plan, from issuing fishing licences to monitoring fishing activity.

"If there is any kind of deviation from that, our fisheries officers are also out there and can take enforcement action," including seizing nets, he said.

Ernie Crey of the Sto:lo Nation fisheries program, representing a dozen bands who fish the Lower Fraser River, said the sockeye will be given first to women, children, the elderly and the disabled.

"There's a lot of anxiety, and a great deal of concern," said Crey. Sockeye is the main staple protein for families.

Bill Otway of the Sportfishing Defence Alliance threatened that his group would "go fishing and closures have no basis in fact."

jbermingham@png.canwest.com

[nosey]

     Sorry about the typo's, OBD, I'll do a little better proofreading on my entries in the future. Are you saying that there is no conservation concerns with this years coming run of sockeye? If that's the case maybe I'm not the one one that needs to "get up to speed". As for Mr. Otways statement, it is pretty hard to misquote him "threatening" that his group would "go fishing" one of his methods to attract media attention and solicit funds to pay to the lawyers the FDA employs has been in the past to abuse the courts of our province with "protest fisheries". The majority of the people in BC don't fish and they don't appreciate paying for valuable court time so some special interest group (what they see us as) can abuse the  system by using it as a political forum. As Chris and a lot of others realize we are in a bit of a public relations battle to retain our right to fish and I sincerely think the prosecuting attorney did the sports fishers of BC a favor when they dropped the charges against Mr. Otway the last time he killed a sockeye illegally. Taking him to court and letting him rant on in public about how the natives were allowed to fish in a fishery they had partaken in for ten thousand years while we sports anglers were closed out of it after being fishing for sockeye for four whole years would have made us all look like a bunch of racist fools.
   
    I sincerely hope he was misquoted on this matter, but if he wasn't then I hope that anyone following him onto the river fishing during a closure gets their stupid asses busted, their fishing rods confiscated, their boats sunk and the tires slashed on their pickups.
   In case anyone is wondering I am not a big fan of "protest fisheries" by any user group, I do not care whether it is the Honerable John Cummins leading the commercials, Ernie Crey leading the natives or Bill Otway leading the sports fishermen, it doesn't matter which group is doing it they just wind up looking good to themselves and bad to the public in general.

[Old Black Dog]

Again, this is all about the F/N having to share among themselves.
( Ernie has difficulty getting to the grocery store, so no protein for him).
This is due to some of the F/N almost wiping out this run.

Conservation is not a concern yet, however the fish have not arrived so we will await this decision.

By the way fish are political in a huge way, just look at Ernies remarks.

It is not going to change now or in the future.

[Sam Salmon]

....this is all about the F/N having to share among themselves.

Nice try @ derailing the thread but this is about whether or not Otway said what the paper said he did.

From the brevity of the quote I can see it probably wasn't in context but the words as printed seriously hurt SDA's credibility.

Time for him/his organisation to issue a clarification or suffer the indignity of being associated in the public mind with law breakers.

[typhoon]

It would be unconscionable for any sport fisher to take a sockeye with estimated runs this low.
The estimates have been optimistic for many years and a year like this could effectively mean the end sockeye in this year of the cycle.

[nosey]

This is due to some of the F/N almost wiping out this run?

   Up until just recently the commercial fishery took up to 90% of the Fraser River sockeye that were killed, totally extinguishing many of the runs and pushing others to the brink of extinction, I can still remember when the commercials were allowed in the river every week from early June until late September, it was probably one of the most wastefull and poorly managed fishery in the history of the world, it ranks right up there with the east coast cod fishery. Some of the fn's have contributed to delivering the final blow to some of these runs but they are definitely not the ones that put the runs in such a fragile state in the first place.
  Once again this thread is about the leader of an organization that is supposed to represent the best interests of sports fishermen being quoted in the paper saying something that makes us look like a bunch of poachers and law breakers.
   I, for one would like to see an organization that represents the best interests of the fish not of  the people trying to kill them, everyone seems to think they have a "right" to kill the  sockeye, are we going to continue on with this senseless name calling, finger pointing and saber rattling until every sockeye is gone and then all blame the other guys for killing them.
   As for that article not being about conservation concerns it was all about the FN's surviving on a reduced quota of fish for this summer, I believe that is about conserving the remaining fish.
   The commercials don't like being cut out of the fishery, the sports fishermen are unhappy about it and the natives are definitely not pleased about their allotment being cut back.
    I still stand by my original statement that the quote by Mr. Otway in the paper, whether taken out of context or not make us as sports fishermen all look bad in the eyes of the general public and he should be held accountable for the damage he has done to our credibility.
   If the SDA does not print some sort of retraction or clarification of that quote it may be a good idea for everyone that doesn't support it to write a letter to the newspaper stating "I am a sports fisherman and the SDA does NOT represent me" or something of that manner.
   

[Gooey]

That piece looks very weak and suspect to me...three different sources talking about different aspects of what could or couldn't be the same topic...I don't know.

I think its safe to say that if Bill's comment was in context to the 2008 sockeye run, then we would all agree its a pretty stupid and ignorant comment to make. 

There is no context given there though...it could be an old quote (referring to another closure) or it could be in reference to the late summer run of chinook??? Who knows?

The river is closed now to protect the early run of chinook so if DFO kept the river closed for the late run then I think that Bill's comment in relation to that would make sense.  We all know that if the sporties are fishing for ANYTHING, the FN use that as an excuse to go after sockeye.  If DFO shuts down our mid/late summer chinook fishery just to help placate the native and keep them off the sockeye then I would support a CHINOOK protest fishery. 

Bottom line is I don't trust most things I don't see with my own eyes or hear with my own ears - especially stuff like this in the media.

No doubt SDA needs to do some damage control now.

[tnt]

careful with what you read in the province newspaper... we had all of our words turned around once and we did not even talk to reporters...

BTW the river may be closed to us but last saturday they were fishing hard in the canyon...

[TrophyHunter]

After reading the replies on this matter it seems that all of you just want to give in !! The SDA is the only voice sporties have !! if it wasn't for them Sporties would probably have NO fishing opportunities !!!

This is OUR country, we live here , work here ,pay taxes here !! if us sporties have NO opportunity to fish for Sockeye then NOBODY should have the right to fish for them !!! what kind of BULL$hit is this

We as fishermen need a Voice to stand up for what little rights we have left !! the SDA is doing this while the rest of us hide behind our keyboards !! and then bash the one group that is trying to help us, give your heads a shake !!!
 
TH

[bcguy]

Well put TrophyHunter, it's about time regular fishermen & women get a solid voice, if there is a commercial opening, then it stands the run is strong enough for the rest of us "sporties". Don't quote me, but I would be willing to bet, of ALL the groups pursuing the Sockeye, sport fisherman put the least amount of strain on this run.
Seems to me, the priorities are backwards on who is allowed to fish this run? In fact, I am completely offended when I see Sockeye for sale in Save-on or Safeway, but we have been banned from catching them. If they are not in the river in any kind of numbers, it stands that the run is also being depleted in the ocean, BEFORE it even reaches the river...or am I being too far reaching in my thinking here? STOP THE MADNESS, if the run is endangered, the run is endangered, it not just endangered to some, but not others, what kind of madness is this!!?!?!?!?!

[Gooey]

unless a fish is labeled as local, then it could be from anywhere...just because you see a sockeye in save on, doesnt mean its local.

In fact a large chain like safeway or save on, I would expect them to be buying alaskan sockeye.  The runs there are strong so supply would be more consistent and reliable.

I dont think our commercial fleet even have a sockeye opening last year (in the mouth or the river)? 

[marmot]

Anybody that reads the crap that Otway writes in BCoutdoors would call for his resignation anyways!

I wouldn't put it past the guy to say something that stupid, but thats based only on some of the things I've read from him in the past.