Like most recreational fishermen, most First Nations individuals would like to see the resource that they rely on sustainable. The unfortunate part is, when three groups (recreational, commercial, First Nations) compete for the same waters to catch the same fish, the stocks deplete without being noticed.
The problem is not that simple. Shutting it down completely is not the answer. Who are we to tell the First Nations to stop fishing for the fish that they have depended on for thousands of years because of conservation concerns after most of the stocks were originally wiped out by us in the early part of last century?
Please don't suggest that they should harvest by using traditional methods in a canoe too, when there are hundreds of jet boats roaming around during the season. This is a case of traditional values clashing with industrialization.
It's not about the sportfishing sector is not getting more fish than First Nations. Anglers go fishing because we look for the recreational aspect of it. We request for openings so we have longer fishing time. First Nations fish for food, it's a way of life and quantity of fish is what they are looking for.
This is about decisions being made by DFO based on reasons that contradict each other. If conservation is a concern, then all sectors should be closed. Why is the recreational sector not allowed to fish due to these concerns while an opening is granted to First Nations, especially the amount of fish harvested by the recreational sector is only a small percentage of what First Nations will take out this weekend? We accept the fact that net openings will take place, but we don't accept the fact that they cannot wait for a few more days.
There are other concerns that we have about the First Nations fisheries. Please voice these issues when you decide to send your letters in:
- Management of First Nations fishery should be based on allocation limit, not frequency and length of opening time. The methodology employed by First Nations fishers is a lot more effective than a rod and reel. Once allocation limit (number of fish that can be harvest by a group) is reached, the fishery should remain closed.
- Better monitoring system is required. Currently monitoring and creel recording is done internally by trained First Nations staff. We would like to see a better fish tracking system designed and all monitoring should be done by a third party (ie. DFO) for the purpose of conservation.
- Illegal netting outside of the fishing hours (ie. during closures, at night) should be strongly dealt with. The good news is thre has been improvement on this since last year's episode.
At our last resolution dialogue meeting with some of the chiefs, they also brought up concerns that they have. One of them is fishing access issue. There's no doubt that participations in the recreational angling sector have grown tremendously in the last ten years. This growth has direct negative impact on their fishery. When openings are granted to First Nations, they find it hard to fish as most desired waters are usually lined up with boats or shore anglers. Often they end up drifting a net through the middle channels where the water is deeper. As a result, less fish are in fact caught during the openings.
This is a very valid concern. How do we expect them to net when the waters they plan to fish are already taken up by other boats?
Based on this concern, bands in the Fraser Valley have put forwarded a proposal to DFO. The proposal requests that recreational angling on some of these bars should be closed (I am unsure of the exact proposal, but there are three bars being proposed, one of them is Grassy). That's all the information i have about the proposal at this point, but I will provide updates whenever possible.
Eventually, compromises need to be developed. Conflicts will continue to occur if the management puts two different groups with the same common interest in one area at the same time. Maybe the opening periods need to alternate between the two. The solutions are not easy, but they will emerge eventually.
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Topic: First Nations Fraser River Fisheries July 30th - August 1st (Read 11997 times)