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[Steelhawk]

This is the latest fishery notice update on Fraser sockeye run.

http://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/xnet/content/fns/index.cfm?pg=view_notice&lang=en&DOC_ID=111498&ID=recreational


One statistics which stands out to me is that FN in Canada has caught 252,000 fish for food & cermonial purpose, where as FN in the States only caught 1400 fish. Why such a HUGE difference? Tell me why our government still allows this group to keep on fishing the dwindling sox when they had taken so much more than the American side? How much fish meat is enough for this group? Given that one band has given up their allocation quota in the name of conservation, why the heck FN as a whole cannot take a collective stand to any groups among themselves who have shown nothing but greed towards their precious dwindling resource and may decimate many more sox stocks if they keep on fishing much more than what they can eat? Stop buying sox from FN, people. Report any stores you see selling sockeyes without a legitimate supply source. That is our way to shut down the greed of this so called 'tradition' group.

[dennyman]

A very astute observation Steelhawk on the plight of the Sockeye .  As you can see from the groups involved and the way the DFO reports read, DFO bends to the whims and the desires of the Natives.  Shame to see as no real leadership is being taken by the government agencies which are supposed to be looking after the dwindling salmon stocks.  Unless everybody gets on board, Natives included to work out a longterm solution to try and increase the shrinking sockeye runs,  I think as time passes by it will be a race to see who gets to eat the last remaining Sockeye in  the Fraser River. 

[lucky]

Steelhawk as much as I share your frustration on this matter I believe you are angry with the wrong people. The natives were given the constitutional right to fish from the supreme court of canada, as far as the government is concerned the fish belong to the first nations. You should steer you anger and frustrations towards the people who gave the natives these rights.

Greed is equally present in every race on this planet. If "white"guys could drag nets through the Fraser to catch some fish for dinner as well as for profit without penalties, dont you think the river would be jammed with boats? sure a few of us that are concerned about stocks would stay off the water but we would be in the minority.

[jetboatjim]

they  were selling sockeye @ st miachales school in bby today.

[adriaticum]

Steelhawk as much as I share your frustration on this matter I believe you are angry with the wrong people. The natives were given the constitutional right to fish from the supreme court of canada, as far as the government is concerned the fish belong to the first nations. You should steer you anger and frustrations towards the people who gave the natives these rights.

Aboriginal people were given the right to fish to feed their families and ceremonial purposes, not for commercial reasons.

First Nations fishing is not ceremonial anymore and is commercial as far as I am concerned. They are using boats and nets and selling most of their fish.

This part of the constitution is an out-dated scripture that needs changing.

Btw, sockeye is ceremonially sold @ $12.00 a fish...
And people are buying.

[chris gadsden]

Even though my suggestion will not be popular with many I think they should be given a certain amount of sockeye based on what the run can be harvested so not to threaten the runs as they come in.

They can do whatever they want to do with them, eat them or sell them. The kicker is their catch must be strictly monitored by independent people appointed by FOC.

Any fishers caught not following the rules will be heavily penalized. It may be hard to implement this as some bands would not buy in but can it be any worse than what we see going on now as FOC is told by the government of the day not to touch the illegal sales that go on daily.

If there is a better and workable solution I am sure all will welcome hearing about it.

[BigFisher]

THERE IS NO WAY TO MANAGE HOW MANY SOCKEYE ARE BEING TAKEN BY FIRST NATIONS. Last year we camped out on wellington bar for a bar fishout, and woke up to are bar bells ringing at 2 am in the morning. A woman bumped into our rods that were left in the holders, she was walking the shore line holding one end of a gill net while her husband was in the boat 30-40 feet out holding the other end of the net. They were sweeping the whole side of the bar, the woman was very friendly and said sorry, she told us that both her husband and her were from hawaii, and that her husbands mother was born at some road across the river.....Im guessing she was trying to say gave them the right to be fishing???

So we now have a estimate of 1.5 million sockeye for the 2008 fraser river run. This is the worst its ever been, and yet we open it for commerical, recreational and native harvest, what a joke. Now the native fishery is allowed 500,000 fish? Not only are we see a dismal 1.5 million fish coming, but 500,000 +  more fish will be killed if ends meet, leaving less then a million fish to spawn. This is just stupid, I thought 2006 would be the last year of retention of sockeye, we neeed to be boosting the number of fish not slowly deminishing them, we need to keep the sockeye fishing closed to all.

[salmon river]

Steelhawk as much as I share your frustration on this matter I believe you are angry with the wrong people. The natives were given the constitutional right to fish from the supreme court of canada, as far as the government is concerned the fish belong to the first nations. You should steer you anger and frustrations towards the people who gave the natives these rights.

Yes and encourage your MP to try and get the notwithstanding clause invoked to over rule some of these obscene rulings.

[buck]

Once those  salmonids are removed the system they then can use all the gravel to build Dams.

[testo84]

oh yeah like they will follow the new rules once its applied

you jail them ? you kill them ?

jail = more tax
kill = more riots

[chris gadsden]

oh yeah like they will follow the new rules once its applied

you jail them ? you kill them ?

jail = more tax
kill = more riots

Any ideas that you may have that will improve the present situation?

[spratley]

This is my first post so I am reluctant to wade into a hot topic, but here we go...

I agree with Chris that a FN retention limit needs to be set and enforced.  What good is monitoring the stocks, setting limits, opening, closures etc. if they are not enforced upon every one.

With respect to sockeye retention by sport fishers why not set it up like the steelhead, whereby, each angler has a limit of fish that they can keep per year (run size permiting) and must be marked on the licence as soon as the fish is killed.  This may prevent people from retaining more than they should.

[BwiBwi]

Any ideas that you may have that will improve the present situation?

Yes.  FN caught selling fish 3 times, entire family lose fishing right forever.

[troutbreath]

oh yeah like they will follow the new rules once its applied

you jail them ? you kill them ?

jail = more tax
kill = more riots

Any ideas that you may have that will improve the present situation?

I would suggest their fishing rights for a KFC franchise. Truely a win win situation with nobody going hungry ALL year. Almost an investment in themselves and some basic business skills way above the barter system. Doubt it would fly though.

[Nicole]

How much is enough? Where there are buyers, there is never enough. FNs drift net day and night to fill orders... This is big business.

Sockeye stocks are surely destined for extinction at the rate things are going.

If you want sockeye, consume them on a high cycle year, which occurs every 4 years - the last one was 2006.

Our government is failing to protect sockeye, so we as conservationists must do it ourselves...

Cheers,
Nicole