This thread is one of the most wholesome thing I've seen in a while re: local fishery.
The pinks is one of those things that seems to bring out the better part of people; generally good attitudes, sharing, and etiquette, which they (hopefully) take to other fisheries. It's not all about the meat, unlike some of the other fisheries around, which seem to bring out the absolute worst.
It's really the perfect gateway fishery. Low barrier of entry for beginners and families, and lots of easily accessible water. Decent chance of success, and no impact on stocks of concern. Nothing else quite like it.
I've been going back and forth in communication with various staff at the department to see how it's going. So far all the feedbacks have been positive. Compliance has been good overall, lots of people out fishing on the long weekend and majority of the participants were all very positive despite of the low catches. Resource managers are now seeing the social and economic benefits from this particular fishery and I'm really happy to see all the effort going into making it successful this year.
It's encouraging to hear managers are keeping open minds and seeing the benefits. Though the lower Fraser pink fishery has pretty much always been the same, so that fact that this is newsworthy seems to illustrate why progress can be slow. Sounds like it takes a lot of advocacy to get buy-in on what would seem obvious to us...