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[chris gadsden]

FISHERIES

Native leaders given options on salmon
Conservation 'the top priority' in determining solution for bands dependent on meagre Fraser run


MARK HUME

 
June 5, 2008

VANCOUVER -- Native leaders who have been asked to work out a strategy among themselves to ration a meagre salmon run on the Fraser River this year have been given four options to consider.

In closed meetings yesterday and today, with about 40 native representatives at the Richmond Inn, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans presented a working paper discussing how to share salmon harvested for food, social and ceremonial (FSC) purposes.

Nearly 100 bands depend on the Fraser's salmon run, but early predictions are that so few fish will return this year that commercial and sport fishing will be banned, and even the traditional native harvest will be curtailed.

Several weeks ago, native leaders were asked to come up with a plan on how the bands, which are often in competition for salmon, might "ration" the few fish that can be caught.




The paper presented yesterday by the DFO states that under all options, "Conservation is the top priority." It outlines four possible approaches:

Option one calls on bands to "work out any sharing issues" by establishing a group specifically to manage the FSC harvest levels, with the DFO's role yet to be defined.

Option two suggests early-run Stuart River fish would be allowed to swim through the lower Fraser without being harvested, and that any catch allowed would be in the upper watershed, close to the spawning grounds. Bands in the Stuart basin would be "assigned priority access to these stocks as there are very few other Fraser stocks available to these groups," the paper states.

Option three calls for "a proportional sharing approach" among bands on the Fraser, with a formula used to calculate the total allowable catch.

Option four suggests moving FSC catches from the main stem of the Fraser to tributaries and to the ocean, where fish not bound for the Fraser could be caught "to reduce the pressures on Fraser stocks."

The paper warns, however, that because there is a lack of data on many tributaries, it would be difficult to determine how many fish could be caught without raising conservation concerns. Native leaders were warned earlier this year that there was a high probability the Fraser would only get a run of 1.2 million sockeye, which is far below the river's historical annual average of 9.7 million.

 

[Fish Assassin]

A more prudent move in my opinion is to ban all sockeye fishing to protect the "meagre" salmon returns.

[goodoldays]

its to bad that when it comes to our government, the rulings are done more on political than what is "right". Our government cant even keep classified documents classified! What makes us think they can protect fish stocks when they are cutting funding for it in the first place. You would think something black and white like this should be so simple........

[fyrslyer]

Lol conservation, they are already netting beneath the Aggasiz bridge

[kingpin]

they have been netting since march as usual. i wonder how many steelhead they got.