All their trying to do is turn the entire skeena watershed into the patch on the kispiox. Nothing more nothing less. Just a cash grab
Bob Hooton certainly agrees
"They claim up to 90 per cent of its members have abstained from harvesting salmon until the numbers return". With 14,000 Gitxsan members spread all over the western world it is not inconceivable a high percentage was not around the Skeena in 2018 and therefore qualified as abstaining from harvesting salmon. That other 10% (i.e. 1400) must have been pretty busy though because DFO tells us they reported landing more than 8,000 chinook in the mainstem Skeena. If anyone thinks the catch reported to DFO represents the total catch I suggest they do some on the water research.
Thirty-eight hereditary chiefs spread across a vast area and those of us who might like to skate a dry fly across a piece of water in their traditional territory will be compelled to seek permission from the appropriate chief?! I'm betting a large proportion of those chiefs are all but impossible to track down in-season. And, if anyone does, it sure appears as though money will be the ticket to fishing opportunity. Remember the Ecstall? Think about how many deep pocket non-Canadians own fishing lodges and control rod day quotas on classified waters. This Gitxsan ultimatum is another perfect set up for money to buy exclusive fishing privileges those of us who pay the freight for government fisheries management can't begin to outbid the rich and famous for.
How about an audit of that Kispiox Band pay to play program over the past 3 years? How much money and where did it end up? Why did guides get essentially a free pass?
Its all good that the Gitxsan people are taking command of the Skeena (inland) fishery. Perhaps they will wake up and smell the coffee on how many of them are already commercial fishermen and/or vessel owners. That would be the good people whom they claim are the enemy of salmon conservation. In the meantime, beat up on those river anglers who, at best, get to fish with single barbless hooks and artificial lures on a catch and release only basis right beside Gitxsan gill nets.
Remind me why we pay fisheries managers and elect politicians who can do no better than sit on their hands and watch chaos unfold. Hello Wilkinson, Donaldson, Cullen...............HELLO!