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[Damien]

Who's going to pay lliability if the volunteers get injured ?

Many many cities, towns and municipalities have citizen patrols, or have organizations like the Commissionaires manage the ticket giving for numerous offenses, and also just to be eyes on the 'street'.

Perhaps if there are a volunteers just simply documenting, or reporting incidents then relaying that information to the COs.  This creates a 'verfied' complaint and would perhaps produce a quicker response from the COs, as the COs would know that it is an issue that needs attention.

If not being 'ticket issuing' people, these 'patrol' persons could act from a strictly information offering perspective.  If someone is fishing outside of regs (hook type, time, closure, species, bait, fly fish only etc) the patrol person (with some sort of badge or creditional, logo'd jacket etc) could simply inform the offender of the violation.  Show them the regs, or explain/show them how to change a hook, fish more selectively, not snag, show them the flyfish/no fishing areas on maps etc.

If the patrol person sees what they deem a serious violation they can observe and report to a CO from a distance.

I agree, if we all do the education piece on the water, it might work.  But when you get 10,20,30 people fishing a stretch of water, all snagging its hard to "educate".

[Sterling C]

Something has to be done.  Citizen Co's...whatever...something...

I still don't understand why the RCMP does not take a role in easy to get to spots along the Fraser, Capilano, Allouette etc...Simple things like fishing with barbed hooks, treble hooks, intentional snagging etc...are easily spotted.

Since I fish solo most of the time I do not confront anyone.  I did in previous years and never will again after an almost ugly incident (and I was more then friendly).  I also have a wife and child now and tend to think twice or 3 times before an action.

I make phone calls but have LOW expectations when I do.

I do believe there is a solution to all this illegal fishing and maybe citizen CO's are part of it.

Keep calling it in. Two notorious poachers were busted a few weeks ago because of someone like you calling them in.


That being said, anyone with half a brain knew what was coming this fall. Where do you think these people came from?

[trout80]

Doja, the last time I said something (at the Seymor River), my car was vandalized.  So don't tell me to man up or call me a whiner or tell me that I "did absolutely nothing".  

It is my job to observe, record and report.  Which I did, here;

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/cos/rapp/form.htm

Anyhow, back on track to the broader scope of the issue.  Lots of good discussion around this thought/idea , which was the purpose of the thread.

Good on ya Damien.

[troutbreath]

Having a CO respond in a timely manner would be the best thing. A petition to the government about the lack of enforcement and COs is in order.

[skaha]

http://www.vernon.ca/public_safety/riverlakewatch.html

--something like this as a minimum...if you read the information it is to provide consistent and useable information

-- http://www.riverwatchns.ca/

-- http://www.bcwf.bc.ca/programs/wildernesswatch/index.html 

--these are just examples of potential programs..

[blaydRnr]

believe it or not, there's no such thing as a cost free volunteer program because somewhere down the line, things like supplies, paper work, and administrative duties have to be provided... insurance for liability is also an essential that can't be pro bono'd... that's the reason why the RAPP program was established to include the public in the informative policing of our rivers.

i suppose a committee or volunteer group can be formed to create a block watch, but regardless, it will still fall under the jurisdiction of the RAPP program.

[Bently]

Good idea, but just think if you got some ornery old man out there. He'd be writing you up if you tied the wrong knot for crying out loud    

 A guy like Mr.Gadsden would be a good citizen CO, being that he lives and breathes for the River {Vedder}. Just don't get caught with a Leaf Drennan or he'll throw the book at you, and confiscate it.

[doja]

I have no problem informing people of the better way to fish, but I do this in a very creative way, I don't preach, tell, or impose myself on them but merely start talking about fishing and inject it into the conversation for example, Ya fishing is real good, these colarado's are just nailing the coho, real clean too. People are naturally drawn to what works well but will also naturally resit being told what to do and along those lines.


And yes you did nothing. You could have walked down there and fished right beside him which would have prevented that coho you seem so concerned about from being snagged and retained. You didn't even have to say anything, just create pressure, and with the info you provided it would have worked. You could just even sit down in their area and have a snack, lunch, or just take a break and check out this new piece of water all the while keeping an eye on this angler.

This works great as you are not coming off as an authority figure (preaching, telling, imposing) and gives a great opportunity to make friends with him threw conversation in which you can then take the opportunity to "inject" some helpful tips on how to catch nice clean coho as it seems to be working good for you the last few days. You can also use this opportunity to analyze what kind of a person he is and how he may treat you.
 
Why didn't you just walk down when you suspected what was clearly going on? Heck, you could have shown him how easy it was to catch a fish as you quickly caught one....  

The ones you have to worry about are the ones who don't care what you see in which you watch your words ( I suspect you learned this the hard way, lol).

And FYI, community patrols are nothing more than you and I walking around so don't expect much more from them than what you gave that day....


And rodney said it best, peer pressure is the next best thing to enforcement, and he's right as I've seen it work on some people, not all, but some. The more I think about it I'd think it is safe to say the peer pressure is in some cases more effective than enforcement as enforcement is severely limited.

[glx]

I still don't understand why the RCMP does not take a role in easy to get to spots along the Fraser, Capilano, Allouette etc...Simple things like fishing with barbed hooks, treble hooks, intentional snagging etc...are easily spotted.

Yeah no kidding, its not like they have anything to do anyways

[milo]

Excellent idea, Damien.
I would be the first in line to volunteer my time.
But I would require a certain degree of 'autonomy' to deal with a situation at hand, if you know what I mean.

[t-bone]

i like the idea of river watch programs and would love to see something on the vedder, anything would be an improvement. I don't think liability would be an issue since the DFO would not be part of it, just citizens with an inside channel to reporting infractions.

[t-bone]

oh, and another thing; back in the day on the vedder, you would see DFO officers on a regular basis. Now, you see them once a season. When you compare the number of guys fishing the vedder before with now - it is no comparison. Where is the money going??? Why can't the DFO have more people patroling the river? Even the guys that do the fish counts and checking for tags, they could be assigned extra duty and dont need to be officers.

[StillAqua]

oh, and another thing; back in the day on the vedder, you would see DFO officers on a regular basis. Now, you see them once a season. When you compare the number of guys fishing the vedder before with now - it is no comparison. Where is the money going??? Why can't the DFO have more people patroling the river? Even the guys that do the fish counts and checking for tags, they could be assigned extra duty and dont need to be officers.

It's budget cuts:
1. Retiring fisheries officers aren't being replaced
2. No money for weekend and evening overtime
3. No funding for seasonal fisheries officers anymore (Fisheries Guardians)

That's what the fish cop I spoke to this summer said.

[StillAqua]

i like the idea of river watch programs and would love to see something on the vedder, anything would be an improvement. I don't think liability would be an issue since the DFO would not be part of it, just citizens with an inside channel to reporting infractions.

River Watch is an excellent model.....I don't see any barriers to doing it since there are similar organizations across North America. Just needs a champion to start the ball rolling.

[D.Sams]

I'm a busy guy, but I would absolutely make time to volunteer for, and donate to, a river watch initiative.