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[clarki]

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/joy-riding-jet-boaters-destroying-pitt-river-salmon-fishermen

What do you think?

Should there be a complete restriction placed on jet boating in "smaller" salmon bearing streams? Or perhaps restrictions during the period when eggs and juveniles are most vulnerable, say Sept to May? Or, restrictions only on recreational boaters and not on fishing guides who have a vested interest in the health of the river and are less likely to engage in destructive boating activities?

Or, do we accept that all human recreation activities have an environmental impact and the best we can do is to educate to minimize the impacts?

Or, is this just the case of a NIMBY lodge operator wanting the river himself?

[RalphH]

Yes.

[Fish Assassin]

They should be banned. If they want to play with their toys, play in the ocean or Fraser

[Damien]

If they are trying to reduce the amount of traffic and use of sonar in the Straight to quiet things down for the resident orcas.

I can only appreciate the need to reduce the stress on the smaller streams in a similar light.  I can't believe how many of these guys are ripping around up there.  It has be disruptive to the entire ecosystem/food chain.  From the returning salmon, to the fry, bank erosion, damage to native plants, causing silt which can stifle insect hatches that feed fish and birds, chasing away mammals etc.

I agree, stick to the bigger water bodies.  Put in a speed restriction, or something...

[redtide]

i believe cites and communities can apply to transport canada for vessel restriction zones on their rivers.

[wildmanyeah]

There are multiple topics on this forum about this if you do a search. That said...

I don't care much for Danny garick  he is a bit of a nutter.   But I agree with him on this issue.  The upper pitt has show areas that jet boats go over a disturb spawning beds. should be timing restriction same as closure time for Bringing log booms down Harrison River

[bigblockfox]

i am conflicted by this issue being a jet boat owner. i feel that its a slippery slope and if the upper pit gets closed others may follow. i would love to drift that river instead of sledding it but theres no way to get up there unless you are dropped in by helicopter, or pay the lodge and a guide to use there equipment which i already own. if he offered a shuttle service problem solved but he does not. well at least for fishing traffic. i am not into paying a guide just to have access. i personally find no satisfaction in hiring a guide for fishing.

i do see that all this traffic could have negative effects on fish and habitat so its definitely worth a discussion.

[wildmanyeah]

New Zealand being the inventor of jet boat technologies have done a lot of research. Jet boats dislodge salmon eggs from their nests. so it’s not an if they do damage it’s a fact they do If operated over nesting gravels.

That said no jet boats in the upper pit would allow the lodge owner to have a monopoly over the system.

[ShaunO]

I say ban them in the upper Pitt, and every spawning bed area of every river too. 

That said no jet boats in the upper pit would allow the lodge owner to have a monopoly over the system.

I don't think it was your intention, but please don't try and make the Pitt River Lodge look self serving in this request.  Just because nobody else has opened a lodge in the upper Pitt and nobody has put in a road, doesn't make his request protectionist.  There is difficult to almost no access to most of the rivers in BC and if you want to fish them, then you need to figure out how to get there.  Fishing the upper Pitt is not a right, it's a privilege.

[firstlight]

It should be pretty straight forward.
Anyone causing damage to the environment should be fined.
I would include BC Hydro when they open the gates full during heavy rainfalls.
You can go down to the river after it has dropped and find Salmon eggs 50 ft and more from the river in the bushes.
They scour the whole river during these events which could easily be rectified by anyone with even the smallest brain.
Unfortuately they do know what they are doing and its all about squeezing the last dollar out of there systems.

[bigblockfox]

New Zealand being the inventor of jet boat technologies have done a lot of research. Jet boats dislodge salmon eggs from their nests. so it’s not an if they do damage it’s a fact they do If operated over nesting gravels.

That said no jet boats in the upper pit would allow the lodge owner to have a monopoly over the system.

link? would love to read it. for real.

everything a human does effects the environment. where do you think your water and electricity come from? dams, look at the cap, stave etc. how about all the industrial activity in the lower fraser including freighter ships dropping off your new flat screen, i phone's or civic's. or what about all the out dated flood protection equipment the citys used for flood control. not to mention all the logging in that area. the list never ends. but its those dam jet boaters.

i am all for realistic discussions but not every jet boater is jumping banks and pumping rocks, and if you think that you are mistaken.

[Hike_and_fish]

Easy for the owner of that lodge to say when he runs a monopoly on that river.

My two cents.

[Hike_and_fish]

Fishing the upper Pitt is not a right, it's a privilege.

If I could bitch slap you I would.

[canso]

Last year he said the river was "plugged with salmon"
Every year he has something say, keeps him and his business in the public eye.

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/lodge-owner-says-business-at-risk-after-crazy-federal-decision-to-close-sockeye-fishing-on-the-pitt-river

[Ry the fly guy]

You cant use jet-boats on many rivers, if it is truly in the better interest of the fish to ban jet boating then I support it, I fully agree with ShaunO, having easy access to a river is not a right, a right is the ability to fish the river in the first place. This has nothing to do with the lodge owner trying to have a monopoly (as if jet boat owners are gonna pay for guided trips) Im sure the owner (who probably cares more about the river then anyone) doesn't want to see his lively hood effected.