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[alwaysfishn]

I was out on the Fraser this afternoon and around 5:00 I noticed a whole lot of native nets being set. Now I had checked on the FN fisheries website and the earliest openings posted there are for July 19th. ..... So I called the fisheries hotline.

I started the conversation saying that I didn't actually have a violation to report but I had a question. "Is there a FN opening today?" The person on the line said "yes there is".  So I asked him how long it was open for. He replied "2 or 3 days".  Now the response I'm getting is making me feel like I'm prying but the openings are usually posted on the website so I think I'm entitled to the information. I asked him why the opening wasn't posted. His reply "I dunno, probably a last minute thing"  So now I asked him what they were fishing for? Apparently I pushed him too far and he said "I can't devulge that". I questioned whether he had the opening details in front of him and he assured me that he had it. I asked him why he can't divulge that information as it is normally public. His reply was that he can't because he is a dispatcher, "thanks for your call" and hung up on me.

I'm confused and annoyed! Apparently as a citizen it is my responsibility to report violations but apparently I'm not qualified enough to be able to handle a simple bit of information on what sort of fishery is apparently legally happening in the river.

I feel better now that I've vented a bit  but I'm annoyed at the whole native fishery issue. I see illegal netting going on all the time on the Fraser. I've reported it and nothing was done about it as I watched it continue. Now I get attitude from the dispatcher. I believe the system is very broken.... and unfortunately no one has the political will to fix it.....

[Fish Assassin]

Inexcusable. You should bring it to the attention of the Regional Director General DFO

[Morty]

The openings are posted on the web - just read them.  Target is boh Chinook and Sockeye.

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fraserriver/firstnations/firstnationsLF_e.htm

[norm_2]

What are "Economic Opportunity Licences" fish used for? 

[alwaysfishn]

The openings are posted on the web - just read them.  Target is boh Chinook and Sockeye.

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fraserriver/firstnations/firstnationsLF_e.htm

Try re-reading my post again. Then post a link for me that shows the FN fisheries openings for the 17th and 18th and what they are targeting.......   

[alwaysfishn]

What are "Economic Opportunity Licences" fish used for? 

These are openings that the FN fisheries are given that allows them to sell their fish.....

From the amount of sockeye and chinook sales I've seen this year they must have had several of these openings...   yet they are not posted on the website, unless Morty has a link he can post for us....   

[armytruck]

I 've seen and talked with other friends that are at the river allot and these natives are going 24-7 for weeks now drift netting and selling Sockeye and springs .  They have an opening   ......... nothing suprises me anymore  . As for the fisheries guy you talked to  I don't even want to go there  .

[BwiBwi]

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fraserriver/firstnations/HTMLs/CommunalOpeningTimes_Previous.html

Scroll to the bottom.  You'll see opening for 18th and targetting springs and soxs.

[alwaysfishn]

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fraserriver/firstnations/HTMLs/CommunalOpeningTimes_Previous.html

Scroll to the bottom.  You'll see opening for 18th and targetting springs and soxs.

Thanks, I see the posting now showing openings that have taken place. Why wouldn't the dispatcher have given me that info when I was on the phone with him?

This issue has me riled not because of this particular phone call, but because of the whole native fishery fiasco. I know and I think 99% of the people that go fishing are aware that the amount of fish being caught by the natives is way more than can be consumed by them for food or ceremonial purposes(whatever those are). Most people I know have either bought fish from the natives or know of people that have bought fish. All of these fish have been caught under the pretense that they are neccessary for food and "ceremonial purposes". Last year the Cheam band had a special "ceremonial" fishery so they could have a "We appreciate Chilliwack barbeque" at the Cheam beach up from the Agassi bridge. At the same time fish were being sold in the back alleys of Chilliwack.

I've spoken to Cheam band members over the years and heard their attitudes about the entitlement that they believe they have regarding the salmon. Confrontations between fishermen and the FN happen on the Fraser on a regular basis. I suggest that they happen not only because of the entitlement that the FN feel they have, but also because fishermen are sick and tired of seeing illegal activities going on day after day. Yet our government continues to turn a blind eye to the buying and selling of salmon all along the fraser river which we all know is an illegal activity.

Several of my friends and I saw a confrontation on the beach at Spaghetti bars a few years ago, where several Cheam band members confronted the DFO officers by ramming their boat while they were beached and issuing a full assault of verbal abuse on the officers. The reason was that earlier in the day, the DFO officers had stopped a boat that was illegally drift netting in that area and apparently ticketed them. The Cheam members suggested that the officers had endangered the lives of the fishermen and I believe they laid charges against the officers. Watching how methodical the DFO officers were when this confrontation took place leads me to believe they encounter these confrontations on a regular basis. There were 4 officers in their jet boat and when the boat was rammed, 2 of the officers jumped out of the boat and while one of the officers stood observing the situation the other officer was recording everything on his video camera. Presumably they need this evidence to show in court as their word is likely not enough.

Last year my friend and I were fighting a spring and as we drifted down past some native nets they began shouting and gesturing at us, I suppose because they felt we were too close to their nets. A few minutes later as we were landing the fish on the beach below their net we heard a gun shot and looking up we saw one of the natives waving a gun in the air. Now I don't believe for one moment that he was shooting at us, but this act of intimidation was over the top.

The whole fiasco makes cynics of everyone. I can't count how many times I've seen people double dipping during sockeye season and heard them justify their actions by saying that if the FN can catch whatever they want and sell it then they feel justified in catching whatever they can because it's being used to feed their families. It's a slippery slope....  If an activity is illegal it should be enforced or laws changed so that the activity is legal.

The whole conservation issue is also in jeopardy. As I understand it, the salmon caught by the FN is voluntarily reported. What incentive is there to report accurate numbers? A few years ago the Tswassen band was in the news because the fish numbers they had reported for the year, indicated that they had caught 1.5 fish per person per day for every man woman and child in the band. I would venture to say that after that publicity they will likely be much more conservative in the numbers they report....  DFO apparently uses these numbers to calculate allocations to conservation, FN, sports and commercial fisheries. The term garbage in garbage out comes to mind.

Perhaps if more people spoke out about these issues as opposed to sitting back and saying it's out of my control.... Even worse are people that turn a blind eye because they don't want to be accused of being racist. The worst in my mind is the people that buy fish from natives with the full knowledge that they are doing something illegal but do so anyway because they think they are getting a good deal.

[Morty]

Just like everything else in this world, what actually happens comes down to individuals.

Yesterday I had the boat in the Fraser and was touring around from the Patullo Bridge up toward Douglas Island.  Although there was an opening, I did not see any boats our fishing.  It is not fair to generalize that some whole groups take advantage of a system.  I have been in circumstances where drift netters have come in so close to shore that I had to move my anchored boat to get out of the way.  I have also been at Grassy Bar recently when the drift netters past time and time again but respectfully stayed out far enough from shore to avoid all the bar fishers and bottom bouncer's line.  THAT REALLY IMPRESED ME !

I am finding that we are in fact seeing increasing cooperation as each of the groups involved in using the Fraser resources gets better understanding of the other's needs.  We CAN each get what we need from this river AND help rebuild each of the wild native fishery stocks, plus have fun doing it, if we listen and learn.

[chris gadsden]

Criminal justice vs. native rights
Sto:lo wonder when fishing became a crime
Paul J. Henderson, The Times
Published: Friday, July 17, 2009
Tensions between the Cheam Indian Band, Crown prosecutors, the RCMP, the provincial government and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) may be on the rise after a number of recent arrests and prosecutions have angered local First Nations leaders.

Chief Sid Douglas and the Cheam band council hosted a meeting on Wednesday night attended by, among others, Chief Bob Chamberlain, an executive member of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, Tzeachten Chief Joe Hall who is also president of the Sto:lo Nation Society, and Grand Chief Doug Kelly who is chair of the First Nations Fisheries Council and is on the political executive of the First Nations Summit.

"What we talked about were three community members that are encountering significant difficulties with the criminal justice system--the provincial court of B.C.--on charges related to fisheries," Kelly told the Times Thursday.



The issue came to the forefront when Cheam band member Patricia Elaine Kelly's photo and information was included in the weekly Crime Stoppers advertisement in the June 12 issue of the Times.

The ad said Kelly was wanted for "purchasing, selling and possession of fish against the fisheries act."

The inclusion of Patricia Kelly and her mug shot as someone the RCMP are looking for angered many local First Nations leaders.

"How does a woman from our community become a criminal for practising her right to fish," Kelly said. "We have a constitutionally protected right to fish and so how does a conflict between an aboriginal person and DFO, how does that become a criminal matter?"

Chief Joe Hall agreed.

"There's got to be a more fair way of dealing with these issues rather than turning well-meaning and honest people into what's being perceived as hardened criminals," Hall told the Times Thursday. "In essence, in my opinion, that defames the character unjustly."
Both Kelly and Hall said the next step is to attempt to arrange a meeting with Attorney General Michael de Jong, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation George Abbott, and Solicitor General Kash Heed to talk about how police and the courts deal with conflicts around aboriginal rights.

Crown counsel Finn Jensen did not return the Times' call and the DFO was unable to find someone to comment before press time

Const. Leanne Dunlop of the Chilliwack RCMP said they try to pick individuals they are having the hardest time locating. She also said warrants for arrest come from Crown counsel.

"We have a duty to find someone ourselves, then legally we are able to submit the photos for the purpose of apprehension," she said.

Hall said the laws outlined in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Act are in place to prevent abuse of the harvesting of resources.

"It should be applied to [sports fishers] and commercial people as well, but too often I've heard the largest focus of the law has been directed at First Nations and rather harshly," he said.

Kelly said two Cheam band members in addition to Patricia Kelly have also been targeted for fishing violations recently: Darwin Douglas and Harry Connal Jr.

Kelly said the recent prosecution of Douglas was extreme and he was "thrown in jail" when he voluntarily went to the courthouse after missing a court appearance.

"We in Chilliwack are getting concerned about grow-ops, about gangs, about organized crime, about drugs and drug dealers and it seems to me that's where the justice system ought to be putting its attention," Kelly said. "We need to make sure that we don't have this 150-year-old conflict between cowboys and Indians."

[alwaysfishn]

Thanks Chris, for posting that article.

I wish I could borrow your rosy colored glasses Morty, and maybe I would see things as you do....    Although I may want to give you the point you make that it comes down to individuals, in this situation the problem is way, way bigger. As the article Chris posted indicated, it's the leadership that is defiant of the laws of this land. When the leadership has this attitude you can quickly start to generalize and point fingers at the entire group!

I have no problem calling a spade a spade.

[Terry D]

I don't mind the FN having their quotas, but all nettings should be accurately and 'officially' recorded.  How can the fisheries be managed properly to sustain and improve salmon stocks when they are treated in this way.  If we all fished to FN rules then surely it wouldn't be long before they would decimate the fish stocks.  If we want the fishery to improve then we need better enforcement of the regulations and better recording.  The law's the law and it should be the same for all.

[dennisK]

Personally  I think a justifiable protest is for all sport fisherman stop buying licenses. We create a legal pool fund of maybe $10 each amongst us and use it to pay the fines. Statistically we'd be ahead imo.

We do this to protest the complete mess the fisheries are in and appalling unbalanced enforcement.

[alwaysfishn]

Personally  I think a justifiable protest is for all sport fisherman stop buying licenses. We create a legal pool fund of maybe $10 each amongst us and use it to pay the fines. Statistically we'd be ahead imo.

We do this to protest the complete mess the fisheries are in and appalling unbalanced enforcement.

That's a tough one in my mind.....   If I don't buy a license and keep fishing I'm breaking the law. If I don't buy a license and stop fishing what do I do? ...play golf??