Can someone shed some lite on fishing regulations for FN please. Are FN allowed to fish now? Is there a limit? What are the regulations for using gill nets?
I don't think anyone knows what they are. In short, there probably are some regulations in place, but they probably are very loose, and in reality those regulations therefore do not exist.
Really, as far as I know, they aren't open right now (legally). In the end though, they can pretty much fish whenever they want. CO's and DFO are afraid to touch them/prosecute them, because they are afraid of creating new case law (which in the end could be a worse case scenario - look at the Boldt decision in the USA/Washington and what is happening to their fisheries.)
If the First Nations in this area could prove that their ancestors relied on these fish and had indeed harvested them at this time of year since time immemorial, then they could legally protect themselves in court and therefore, there would be new case law created. Once that case law is created, it becomes a free for all. They powers that be probably assume since it's a grey area/"illegal" now, FN's will do it less than if case law opened it up to be legal. At that point you'd go from having the odd bold person with FN heritage doing it to everyone doing it just because they can. That's just my guess based on discussions I had with CO's throughout university (not particularly on this issue - but on other issues like night hunting deer, fishing for various species in island rivers, over-harvesting, etc). It's a sad state of affairs we are in.
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Topic: Fraser River Spring and Summer 52 chinook - DFO proposed management approach (Read 31821 times)