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[ShaunO]

So this weekend we visited the family cottage in the Gulf Islands.  I have been going here my entire life (11 weeks old for the first trip) and have been fishing the waters near Active Pass for almost 40 years.  Many years ago DFO implemented a Rockfish Conservation Area that pretty much surrounds the island we are on as well as a huge swath of prime rockfish shoreline.  No problem.  According to DFO this is science based and there are no intentions of re-opening it to hook and line fishing.  So we follow the rules and fish elsewhere.  Optimistically I check the regs every couple of months in hopes that hook and line fishing he returned to my front yard.  Literally!  In the past several years there has been a dramatic increase in people illegally fishing in this area.  Occasional you get the boat obviously trolling, targeting salmon making their way through, so I'm not going to get bent out of shape over that.  What has me worked up is that this weekend I made 4 calls on 4 different boats fishing in the RCA, obviously targeting coarse fish.  How do I know?  I have a 60x spotting scope on my sun deck and I watch these boats lift adolescent rockfish after adolescent rockfish up into the air and directly into their coolers.  I've even been describing this to the DFO ORR call taker as it happens.  My spotting scope gives me the ability to see the K numbers of these boats, sometimes the exact make and model and the faces of the people on board.  With all that info passed onto DFO, do you think that a single patrol boat came by at any time this weekend?  Noooooope.  One boat in particular, the Klahanie V fished in about 35' of water off of the Gossip shoals for the better part of today and I sat there watching them take rockfish after rockfish, and the optimist in me was hoping for a Fisheries patrol boat to swoop in and nail these guys. 

Is this really how things are these days?  Has anyone ever had a positive result using the ORR line?  I'm pretty effing pissed off about this!!!

[Flytech]

Don't vote Harper.


There is no budget, and these poachers know it. I have a place on Mayne, and used to catch Salmon off the rocks in the straight.  I feel very much the same as you do, and they never come. Hopefully one day the Canadian Government will wake up and realize our oceans and rivers are really important.


Wow I'm an old man now,

[Fish Assassin]

Sad but not surprising.

[doja]

"Rock fish... what have they done for the economy latley.... nothing! Good by rock fish... "harpers thoughts , not mine, lol

[Rodney]

When phoning the ORR line, always request to have the officer follow up/demand a call-back, this way you at least can get an explanation on why the call cannot be attended.

[doja]

When phoning the ORR line, always request to have the officer follow up/demand a call-back, this way you at least can get an explanation on why the call cannot be attended.

Great idea, makes them more accountable which usally precedes more positive results, nice input rodney!

[bigblockfox]

sad part is its just not dfo. is also the coast gaurd and conservation officers as well. what good are rules if no one is there to enforce them. i keep saying it, our coast should be regulated by bc and not ottawa.

http://www.theprovince.com/technology/conservation+officers+becoming+endangered+species/11031429/story.html

[bigblockfox]

It is the budget.

[swimmingwiththefishes]

 A guy near our families place on Mayne has an airhorn and loudspeaker that goes off when people fish off the RCA in front of his house. From what I've seen it works pretty well.

What's too bad is that there are plenty of places outside of RCA's that hold lot's of fish and sometimes much bigger than the very plentiful smaller rockfish but they do not bother taking the time to try them.

And of course enforcement is key.

[ShaunO]

When phoning the ORR line, always request to have the officer follow up/demand a call-back, this way you at least can get an explanation on why the call cannot be attended.

On all 4 calls this weekend, I provided both my cell and house number, but didn't request a call-back because I didn't think I had to.  I'm going to give them a call today and find out if they even keep records.

[Rodney]

Yep, when you demand a call-back, the officer who receives the report has to call you back. That's my understanding from discussion about ORR at past meetings. The few times I requested a call-back, I did receive one, sometimes immediately, other times an hour or more later.

[doja]

If they don't come to a place like the Capilano river when you watch 5+ people in a group blatantly snagging salmon and call RAPP, then I highly doubt they will pilot a boat all the way up to Timbuktu to respond poachers that could have long sailed off into the sunset for all they know. I honestly don't think they care anymore. They could make bank if they went to some of these fishing hot spots and fined people all day. There are a lot of people fishing illegally but no officers around. I rarely see any. Maybe it is budget? That doesn't explain it though. Some of these places if patrolled regularly could pay $1000's in fines a day.. easily pay their salary for the day at the least.

A part of me belives they want no nature so that farming, daming, and other economic adventures have no resistance...

[ShaunO]

I called and spoke with a DFO officer from the Duncan office.  They had received all of my calls and were about to call me to follow-up.  Without getting political it was pretty clear from the officers persepctive that there is no lack of dedication or desire to enforce the fisheries regulations.  Simply put, the issue is funding.  Now, after a long and productive call with that officer, I learned that they keep a database that is shared between RCMP, DFO and CBSA.  The database is populated with vessel info, owner info and violation info.  In short, they are sending (strongly worded... oooooooo) letters to vessel owners about the violations along with fisheries regs and other info.  What they appreciate is when photos are taken of the boat that identify it by K number or registered name that clearly show them in a closed area with rods in the water.  I've emailed all the photos I took over and got a response back that it was more than what they needed to address this boat.  It still doesn't do anything to prevent the uneducated or ruthless people out there from pillaging, but its something.  I guess if you want results and want to protect these scarce fish, the burden is on the public to give DFO the evidence it needs. 

[TimL]

Yes..I totally agree that it's up to us (the general public) to report violations. With all the funding cuts, there's no surprise that there's a shortage of COs around to enforce the rules. A few weeks ago, while crabbing & fishing off the rocks at Belcarra, I witnessed a police boat pulling in to the pier to check for licences, violations, etc..it's been quite a while since I've seen officers down there (partly because I don't go there anymore), but at least they are still doing something.

[Flytech]

A part of me belives they want no nature so that farming, daming, and other economic adventures have no resistance...

I think your tinfoil hat is broken.