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[sg6804]

Was out on the river the past couple of days noticed 2 commercial boats out .One down by the golden ears bridge and one at the top of bree island . Was there a opening of some kind and what would they be targeting .

Thanks Pete

[Rodney]

First Nations communal eulachon opening.

[firstlight]

It boggles the mind.
Those First Nations involved  should be ashamed of themselves for fishing a species that is this depleted.
Those that let them should pull there heads out of there bums and do something right for the fish for a change.

[Kenwee]

First Light... Very well said.

[rjs]

It boggles the mind.
Those First Nations involved  should be ashamed of themselves for fishing a species that is this depleted.
Those that let them should pull there heads out of there bums and do something right for the fish for a change.

really boggles my mine !

guess they wont be happy till every native species is gone and the can raise atlatintics in the fraser !

[RalphH]

It boggles the mind.
Those First Nations involved  should be ashamed of themselves for fishing a species that is this depleted.
Those that let them should pull there heads out of there bums and do something right for the fish for a change.

maybe you oughta say something about the post industrial society that put the eulechans in such a state of depletion while you are at  it ... or maybe just pulls yours out for some fresh air. 

[firstlight]

maybe you oughta say something about the post industrial society that put the eulechans in such a state of depletion while you are at  it ... or maybe just pulls yours out for some fresh air.

You seem to know a lot about Oolichans Ralph.
I think you would be better suited to enlighten us how the post industrial society was the cause of the Oolichan collapse and why it is ok for anyone to be fishing a species on the brink of extinction?

[Rodney]

The main factors that have lead to the demise of eulachon are the destruction of their spawning habitat in the Fraser River (gravel extraction, urbanization, decline of water quality due to overflow on rainy days and poor sewage management, and dredging in the lower river for shipping). Another factor which currently plays a big role is the significant by-catch by shrimp trawls. By-catch are dumped overboard as required by regulations.

First Nations' harvest, while seems inappropriate when abundance is low, has very little effect on the overall population. The allocation allowed to be harvested is a few hundred pounds for the year, which is incomparable to the by-catch by shrimp trawls (in tonnes). The total run biomass is over 100 tonnes.

[Rodney]

No, I'm just telling you what the management plans are. Whether I believe it or not is a different issue, I'm not about to suggest any baseless speculations in public, it's counter-productive.

[RalphH]

No, I'm just telling you what the management plans are....

And the plan includes Aboriginal harvest. If you don't believe that there are sufficient fish to support a harvest take it up with DFO and the people on the 1st Nations side who made that call not the ones who are out taking some of the fish.

The depressed state of eulachon runs on the cost is far more wide spread than local environmental degradation can explain:
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/species-especes/eulachon-eulakane-eng.htm


http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/commercial/pelagic-pelagique/eulachon-eulakane/index-eng.htm

  For reasons unknown, eulachon abundance have shown a declining trend in many rivers throughout their distribution in recent years. There was a sudden drop in returns to several rivers in 1994, most notably in the Fraser and Columbia. Eulachon have virtually disappeared in California and in the last two years they have not been seen in several BC rivers. Rivers which experienced virtually no returns in 2000 were: Stikine, Unuk, Skeena, Kitimat, Kemano, Kitlope, Bella Coola, Kimsquit, Owikeeno, and Kingcome Rivers. Concurrently, there has been a recent increase in the abundance of eulachons in marine waters, off BC and parts of Alaska. While this is an encouraging sign, previous observations of high eulachon abundance in marine waters were not followed by any apparent increases in spawning biomass in freshwater rivers.

Factors hypothesized to have detrimental effects on eulachon returns can be broken down into "in-river" and "marine" effects. In-river effects may include: habitat loss, pollution, directed fisheries, logging, and marine mammal predation. Marine effects may include: oceanographic changes due to global warming or other factors, bycatch from commercial fisheries, changes in food abundance or distribution, and predation.

[Rodney]

And the plan includes Aboriginal harvest. If you don't believe that there are sufficient fish to support a harvest take it up with DFO and the people on the 1st Nations side who made that call not the ones who are out taking some of the fish.

Lets clarify a bit. I have no problem with the plan. I was saying that I am not going to suggest whether the FNs are following through with the plan or not, don't really have an opinion on that since I have no information about it.

[firstlight]

A few hundred pounds?
Now that is funny.
Personally I don't think the problems are about habitat or anything at all for that matter in the river.
Im thinking these fish are disappearing offshore where nobody really knows whats going on.
I don't have any facts to back this up either but common sense prevails sometimes I hope.

[big_fish]

I don't have any facts to back this up either but common sense prevails sometimes I hope.

Genius has spoken.

[Rodney]

A few hundred pounds?
Now that is funny.
Personally I don't think the problems are about habitat or anything at all for that matter in the river.
Im thinking these fish are disappearing offshore where nobody really knows whats going on.
I don't have any facts to back this up either but common sense prevails sometimes I hope.

Instead of wasting more of my time citing papers which would suggest otherwise, I'm just going to say, you don't know what you are talking about.

Those who choose to base their decisions on "common sense" instead of factual findings cannot be taken too seriously in a scientific discussion.

[firstlight]

If you have the answers then why not post them for all to see.
I would really like to know more about there demise and what in river event has caused there decline as im sure others would as well.
Maybe the stocks are in much better shape than I think they are and we should all be out there fishing for them once again.