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[alwaysfishn]

I would like to hear some positive (or negative) experiences some of you have had when you have called the Salmon Violations reporting line (1-800-465-4336).

My experience in the last 3 weeks hasn't impressed me much, to the point that I sent off an e-mail to the Minister.

"Dear Minister,

I am concerned about the lack of effectiveness of your violation reporting line on the west coast. In the last 3 weeks I called the hotline twice and was less than impressed with the results.

On the first occasion I was out fishing on the Fraser on a friday afternoon and noticed the natives were putting out their nets. I knew that the fisheries website didn't show an opening so I called the hotline and asked if they had an opening and if not, that I wanted to report a violation. The dispatcher said they did have an opening that had just been opened. I asked what the opening was for and he said he couldn't divulge that... When I asked why he wouldn't tell me, as it is normally posted on the website, he said he was the dispatcher and although he had the info in front of him he couldn't tell me. Then he hung up on me.

On the second instance I was out fishing on the Fraser river and saw some young people hook a sockeye, kill it and put it in their cooler even though the season for sockeye is closed. I called the hotline and got the answering machine. I left the information on the location, description etc. as well as my phone number. Although I fished the same location all day I did not get a return call that day, nor have I received a return phone call since. I did not see any enforcement officers come out to investigate the report during that entire day.

If I receive these kind of response or lack of, I have to assume the public is likely seeing this as well. My complaint is the violation hotline is a vital link to the public and having it staffed with employees who don't understand the importance of good public relations is unacceptable. We as the public become very cynical when we have this type of experience and it is unlikely that we will keep calling the hotline if we get these sorts of responses. This cannot be the results that the department is looking for."

[Fish Assassin]

I called the Violation hotline to report snaggers at the mouth of a local river and was told to watch them til the CO arrive in 20 minutes. After an hour of no show and no return call I left.

[oni_kage]

I saw some FN drift netters netting the Tidal fraser at night. I called the line at around 2 am and someone did answer. She told me that she would look into it and see if there was a permit. Afterwards they landed and unloaded their catch. I am not sure if they had a permit or not, but, all I can say is at least the hotline answered the phone =).

[dereke]

  This issue is consistently brought about poor response/no response at all by authorities. While awful that one particular incident goes down with no consequence to the offender we as sportys must continue to call things in. Everything is recorded i.e. location/offense and if enough calls are made consistently everytime we see something fishy go down eventually they will respond. Persistence by us who actually care for the resource and don't see it as a way for lining our pockets can only be positive in the end. CONTINUE to report all poachers!!!!!! You are no worse for wear after the call and something good might come out of it i.e. illegal netter geting busted. We can't give up.

[Geff_t]

I too think we should continue to call. For years nothing was really being done around the stave river but after getting calls about the same problems happening there they have stepped up patrols. They where hitting it alot harder last year and even set up a surveillance van with spotting scopes to catch violators.

[alwaysfishn]

I finally received a response to my e-mail to Minister Gail Shea......


Thank you for your correspondence of July 31, 2009, addressed to the Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, regarding the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Observe, Record and Report (ORR) hotline.  I have been asked to respond on Minister Shea’s behalf.

I regret to hear that your experiences with the ORR hotline have been less than satisfactory.  I assure you that your experiences are not typical, as DFO fully understands the crucial role of the ORR hotline in protecting our marine resources.

The intent and the primary mandate of the ORR line is to document and distribute violation information that is reported.  It is not an information line, and accordingly, the dispatch staff are not subject matter experts with respect to detailed information that may be contained in the conditions of a licence, such as dates, times, species, quotas, gear types, areas and/or participants in a fishery.

These types of questions are better addressed by local fishery officers who have the experience required to provide the most accurate information.  ORR staff have been asked to provide the contact information of the appropriate fishery officers to callers who request the information in the future.

Although the ORR line is staffed 24 hours a day and seven days a week, occasionally the staff cannot personally answer a call.  During these times, an answering machine records the caller’s message and the information is responded to as soon as possible.  This information is then passed on to the local fishery officer for response.  On a recorded occurrence, callers may request a return call, but unless the caller makes this request, the fishery officer may or may not contact the complainant.

All illegal activity is of interest to Conservation and Protection (C&P) staff; however, there are times when staff will not be able to respond to a reported violation.  Response decisions are based on a number of factors, such as priority, available staff and likelihood of success.

I encourage you to continue to report any illegal activity you observe.  C&P staff will do all they can to respond.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to write with your concerns.
 

Sincerely,

Randy Nelson

604-666-0604 | facsimile / télécopieur 604-666-4313

Randy.Nelson@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Pêches et Océans Canada

Suite 200 – 401 Burrard Street  Vancouver BC  V6C 3S4

Pièce 200, 401 rue Burrard  Vancouver (C-B)  V6C 3S4

Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada

[jimmywits]

I would like to hear some positive (or negative) experiences some of you have had when you have called the Salmon Violations reporting line (1-800-465-4336).

My experience in the last 3 weeks hasn't impressed me much, to the point that I sent off an e-mail to the Minister.

"Dear Minister,

I am concerned about the lack of effectiveness of your violation reporting line on the west coast. In the last 3 weeks I called the hotline twice and was less than impressed with the results.

On the first occasion I was out fishing on the Fraser on a friday afternoon and noticed the natives were putting out their nets. I knew that the fisheries website didn't show an opening so I called the hotline and asked if they had an opening and if not, that I wanted to report a violation. The dispatcher said they did have an opening that had just been opened. I asked what the opening was for and he said he couldn't divulge that... When I asked why he wouldn't tell me, as it is normally posted on the website, he said he was the dispatcher and although he had the info in front of him he couldn't tell me. Then he hung up on me.

On the second instance I was out fishing on the Fraser river and saw some young people hook a sockeye, kill it and put it in their cooler even though the season for sockeye is closed. I called the hotline and got the answering machine. I left the information on the location, description etc. as well as my phone number. Although I fished the same location all day I did not get a return call that day, nor have I received a return phone call since. I did not see any enforcement officers come out to investigate the report during that entire day.

If I receive these kind of response or lack of, I have to assume the public is likely seeing this as well. My complaint is the violation hotline is a vital link to the public and having it staffed with employees who don't understand the importance of good public relations is unacceptable. We as the public become very cynical when we have this type of experience and it is unlikely that we will keep calling the hotline if we get these sorts of responses. This cannot be the results that the department is looking for."

Good response, and yes I share your frustration, as I too have phoned a number of times to no avail in terms of action. The only response I have ever received is reasons why they cannot attend.
However having said that I suppose they are under staffed and simply cannot get to every site, so they prioritize. I will keep calling in all violations that I witness if and when the verbal response I get from the offender is not satisfactory.
tight lines..

[marmot]

There was a guy on our street the other night trying to run in front of cars to kill himself....screaming at the top of his lungs etc.  About 5 people (if not more) called the police.....15 minutes later and still nobody showed up.

If the police don't respond in a timely manner to that what makes you think our stretched out CO's are going to respond to a violation call???

[nosey]

   If everyone keeps voting for governments that promise to cut taxes we will be forever burdened with 3rd. world quality services and policing, it is our taxes that fund the fisheries. I'm afraid things are not going to get any better here unless enough noise is made to bring the attention of the plight of the fisheries directly to the people.
    I've never seen any type of news show actually documenting the illegal activity that takes place on our rivers, yet look how easy it would be to take an infra red news camera out and actually film a few evenings of wtf actually goes on out there after the sun goes down.
    Only a series of news show or newspaper articles documenting the non enforcement of fisheries laws and total abandonment of the Fraser River sockeye would embarrass the dfo into actually suplying the resources to do the job they are mandated to do.
    I would imagine with the political sensitivity involved that there is not a news agency or independent journalist that would have the testicular fortitude to endanger their credibility by reporting on a problem that could be so easily misconstrued as racism.

[nosey]

damn hit "post" instead of "spell check"

[DragonSpeed]

damn hit "post" instead of "spell check"

Done

[poncho]

I know I already posted this on a different thread but I think it applies here:

One of the officers from our Police department called DFO about a specific group of people illegally selling large amounts Sockeye on the docks and there answer was "we're too busy to deal with that". It is a regularly occurring situation involving people who have no regard for the law and the DFO don't seem to care.

Some of our members try and check licences whenever they can etc. But the DFO really needs to step up.