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[chris gadsden]

Sport-angling group claims natives are wasting pink salmon in favour of sockeye
 
 
 


 
 
By Larry Pynn, Vancouver SunAugust 10, 2013
 
 
 













 
 





Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea is being asked to stop what sport anglers say is the squandering of thousands of pink salmon by the aboriginal food, social and ceremonial fishery in Johnstone Strait off northern Vancouver Island.
 
"I am asking her to stop the waste," said Ed George, South Coast chair of tidal fisheries for the 40,000-member B.C. Wildlife Federation. "There is nothing wrong with pink salmon. I've eaten lots myself. It's a food fish."
 
George said that at least three boats involved in the native fishery are tossing out the majority catch of pink salmon and only keeping the more desirable sockeye salmon. He said not all bands are involved.
 
The pink are crushed when hauled out of the water and onto the ship, and are tossed back dead. They should be kept or released live from the net while it is still in the water, he said in an interview Friday.
 
"Wanton waste is not something we can possibly support," he said. "They're crushed being hauled onto the boat. When that net comes out of the water, it's no longer a bit of a swimming pool. All that pressure is on the fish further down."
 
George would not identify his source, but said he knows the individual personally and that he is a lifetime member of the wildlife federation and is working as captain on another boat that is keeping the pinks "the legal and proper way."
 
"I have an eyewitness account of 20,000 pinks being dumped dead back into the ocean for retention of 1,000 sockeye," George said. "It sickens him also. He is an absolutely solid source. I have no doubt as to what he has seen. He's somebody I trust very much."
 
George argued that federal officials are turning a blind eye to the practice. The federal Fisheries department did not make anyone available to comment.
 
One of the three boats identified by the BCWF, the seiner Western King, is fishing for the Campbell River band, said Kim Duncan, administrator of the band's Atlegay Fisheries Society.
 
"I know that the Western King has brought in pinks," she said, adding she is unaware of any instructions to the vessel to dump pinks at sea. "I haven't been told of any complaints or anything."
 
The two-week fishery ends today, she added.
 
The band's receptionist, Dawn Duncan, said that totes of pink salmon from band vessels are routinely made available to natives and non-natives alike for free next to the band's net loft. "A sign goes up that says free fish," she said.
 
Duncan added that her son, Mark Anthony Roberts, 13, and two cousins this week accepted donations of $1 apiece to clean the pinks, raising $506 for BC Children's Hospital.
 
"I just gave the money to the nurse today," she said.
 
"I can't believe people would say they're dumping them. But I am not out on the water."
 
The Pacific Salmon Commission on Friday lowered the forecast for the Fraser River's main summer sockeye run to two million fish from a pre-season forecast of 3.7 million fish, which compares with a pre-season estimate of almost nine million pinks.
 
There is no in-season estimate of the pink runs available to date.
 
lpynn@vancouversun.com
 



Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Sport+angling+group+claims+natives+wasting+pink+salmon+favour+sockeye/8773217/story.html#ixzz2bah2i4aE

[trot]

Take their rights away....the white devils paid them back long ago. Majority of todays FN don't give a crap about OUR wildlife-No that is not racist, its the truth. Once the remaining older generation die off its over.

[zap brannigan]

agreed.

[dave c]

I know a couple of FN fishermen who fish the Fraser.  They have told me that they rip the gills out of pinks and throw them back because they don't want weigh down their boats with pinks.  I asked why they didn't just put them back unharmed and they said "they'd just swim back into our net". Now I know we live in a politically correct society, but IMO most natives I come across blame the white man for all their woes yet are some of the most enethical beings around. Disgusting.

[rickjames_2]

Reminds me of when it happened on the Vedder near the Hopedale train trestle. All the females were retained and the males thrown into a big pile on the rocks. There were at least a couple thousand of them.

[trout80]

Where do I go to get free Pinks?

[notracy]

I am curious. I read a few of these stories every year, yet what i wonder, especially with the ease of technology these days, why dont we see this on video, or even better posted on you tube or the 6 oclock news. Perhaps, some video shot live would not only put some more exposure to these practices, but will also put some public pressure both on the DFO and the first nations to either stop this practice, revoke liscences, or institute some fine?

[Sandman]

Take their rights away....the white devils paid them back long ago. Majority of todays FN don't give a crap about OUR wildlife. No that is not racist, its the truth. Once the remaining older generation die off its over.

Yes, it is.  You are making a broad sweeping generalization about all FN based on, at best, a limited observation of a few.  That is the very definition of racist.  All racists believe what they say to be true, that doesn't make it less racist.

[living_blind]

There's a few bad apples in every bunch.

In my line of work I have met dozens of first nation fisherman on the north and middle arm Fraser. In my experience they have been some of the friendliest people I've encountered, always willing to discuss fishing and when their openings and closings are and always very pleasant in general.

Hopefully some focus on this issue, even if it's just media attention, curtails the problem and opens some eyes among everyone on the river.

[Johnny Canuck]

Yes, it is.  You are making a broad sweeping generalization about all FN based on, at best, a limited observation of a few.  That is the very definition of racist.  All racists believe what they say to be true, that doesn't make it less racist.

A broad sweeping generalization based on a limited observation would be stereotyping wouldn't it.

rasist

stereotyping

[Sandman]

A broad sweeping generalization based on a limited observation would be stereotyping wouldn't it.

rasist

stereotyping

Yes, unless the stereotyping leads to "intolerance of a particular race" (ie: abolition of all First Nation's rights as protected under the Canadian constitution).

[chris gadsden]

http://globalnews.ca/news/783111/fishermen-caught-on-video-killing-prohibited-salmon/

[juno]

WOW,  just because some fn are abusing their rights, it doesn't mean,     (all)    of them are that   insensitive about protecting  the fish stock . from my experience.  fn   I know are very sensitive ppl who  care about Mother  Nature   enuf said

[MoeJKU]

This debate happens every year i know this person, and he knows that person. There are good people and bad people, some with ethics some without. But if you are caught doing something like that doesn't matter who you are you should just lose you licence to fish for good. No exceptions.

[TNAngler]

This debate happens every year i know this person, and he knows that person. There are good people and bad people, some with ethics some without. But if you are caught doing something like that doesn't matter who you are you should just lose you licence to fish for good. No exceptions.

Given a lot of these people probably don't have a license to begin with, I think it would mean more if you lost everything with you on top of no license for good.  You lose your boat, net, truck, everything.

Until the punishment becomes bad enough it isn't worth risking, the rewards are too high for them to break the law.