nothing we didn't already know.
Really Al? If there's nothing we didn't know already, you wouldn't have written such lengthy posts in this thread.
The last post was just a fun jab of course, but just out of curiosity, would you be ok with those logics and why or why not?
I don't really care whether people go out to the battlefield, ahem, Scale Bar, and attempt to harvest their salmon with a long leader for those who don't already know (note, don't care and don't approve, two different things
). It's perfectly legal and will remain so because Fisheries and Oceans Canada manages resource by numbers, not by which legal manners they are caught with or the quality of angling. Trying to suggest that it is wrong is a waste of breath and I can invest that time more constructively.
The problem with these casual discussions (I say casual because at the end of the day, these would only be filed in the internet archive and have no use when it comes to dealing with the issue at the management level), is that people look at it from the personal level.
"I enjoy it", "I keep my two socks and quit", "I only do this on the Fraser and will never do this in other streams".
Maybe so, majority of the participants in these discussions know exactly what to or not to do, but a good percentage of the participants in this fishery do not.
What you fail to see is the collective impact on the usage of resource and angling quality in this province. The industry promotes this as a family-oriented fishery and welcomes beginners to have their first taste of salmon fishing. For many, this becomes the only way which they know how to "angle" for salmon and they take it to other fisheries. For some, they'll slowly learn other legal and more preferred ways of catching salmon. Also for some, the stubborn some, they'll insist to keep catching salmon in stream with perfect conditions by the same method they would use in the Fraser River.
Is this a problem for streams such as the Chilliwack River? That depends on what you see as a problem. Is it a problem for fishery management? Probably not. They are, after all, only harvesting what they are legally allowed to keep by flossing. Is it a problem for those who know how salmon should be caught in small streams and rate angling quality other than by quantity of catches? I'd like to think so.
The attitude in my previous post is exactly how many so-called fishermen now think after participating in the Fraser River salmon fishery. This year's July fishery in the Chilliwack River is a pretty good example. The Fraser River has been too high for fishing and the slot limit discouraged people from going. They went to the Chilliwack River instead, where water level has also been pretty high. How did they catch their salmon effectively? Take a wild guess. It also wouldn't surprise me to see this Thanksgiving Weekend in the Vedder Canal similar to Peg Leg or Scale Bar in the summer again.
Your problem is not worrying about flossing being banned in the Fraser River. Like I said, it won't happen. You don't have to keep justifying your participation in this fishery and how great it is. As long as escapement requirement is met, recreational sector will get to enjoy catching sockeye salmon once First Nations reach their harvest quotas.
Your problem (or at least I'd hope that you think it is a problem) is how are you going to make sure those who floss salmon in the Fraser River will not floss in streams such as the Chilliwack, Stave, Chehalis, Capilano River?
I'm not looking for answers like, "I always try to tell people not to do it." because that method lacks momentum and will not solve the problem at this rate. I'm also not looking for you to tell me, "Why don't you do something about it with your website?" Well, I am, but I have also not been part of the cause of this problem, so ya, you deal with it.
Finally, when I say "you" in the past few paragraphs, I don't mean Athezone. It is directed at those who are so passionate for the survival of this annual tradition.
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Topic: 2012 floss-out (Read 88667 times)