Trudeau Liberals virtue signal while salmon go extinct

[Gone_Fishin]

Sea to Sky sport fishers furious over DFO chinook regulations

JULY 1, 2020 03:09 PM


There won't be chinook salmon brought home from the waters around Squamish this summer.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and MP Terry Beech, parliamentary secretary to the minister of fisheries, announced that chinook retention has been closed for the majority of the South Coast and Vancouver Island from Port Hardy south to Victoria from April 1 to July 15 or Aug. 1, depending on the area.

After that date until August 31, one chinook between 62 and 80 centimetres can be retained.

In an unprecedented move, an extensive area that includes portions of Howe Sound, the Southern Gulf Islands, Vancouver Harbour and the entire Fraser River mouth has been deemed a no-chinook fishing zone, even for catch and release, from April 1 to Sept. 1.

Jason Assonitis' voice shakes with anger and frustration when asked how he feels about the Department of Fisheries and Oceans regulations.

"Basically, the entire peak season has now been closed, not only to the retention of chinook, but also now been closed to targeting them — catch and release them, said Assonitis, who owns Bon Chovy Fishing Charters.

"This has basically destroyed not only the charter industry, but it has also destroyed the sportfishing businesses that rely on the chinook fishery, and it also destroys the integrity of fishing values and conservation values that are passed on from generation to generation."

Dave Brown, a sport fisherman on the Sea to Sky Fisheries Roundtable, says DFO isn't addressing what is really causing impacts on troubled chinook stocks.

"It is not acceptable, there is no recovery plan, and it is devastating for people who enjoy access to the public fishery.

Brown points to 23 chinook gillnet openings that have taken place this year on the lower Fraser River as a sign that conservation of chinook is not the DFO's main focus.

He also points to what he says is a lack of action on seals and sea lions impacting chinook numbers.

"It is now clear that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Liberal government is making a political sacrifice in order to appease different stakeholders, and this has nothing to do with science," Assonitis said, adding he sees it as a bureaucratic maneuver.

Avid angler Perri Domm echoes Brown and Assonitis. Domm has guided and fished out of Tofino for 12 years and fished in Vancouver-area saltwater for 30 years on his 24-foot Grady-White.

He says these regulations "could not be worse."

DFO could be doing more to increase fish stocks and address gravel extraction, Domm says. They organization could also look into exploding seal populations, habitat destruction and agricultural runoff, he continued.

"It certainly does not fall on the single, small, little guy user," Domm says.

"We are just the simple, easy targets that look good but actually do nothing to improve the situation."

Sea to Sky sports fishers plan a rally about this issue on July 6 outside the DFO office in Vancouver.

Sports fishery organizations weigh in

The Sport Fishing Institute of B.C. was quick to chime in the day the chinook measures were announced.

"Appreciating that there are abundant chinook stocks, both wild and hatchery, from other systems in our waters now and that the carefully developed Sport Fishing Advisory Board (SFAB) proposals identified times, areas and limits that reduced or eliminated pressure on Fraser River stocks of concerns, it is unclear why the health and well-being of communities and citizens is being forgone," read the institute's news release.

In an open letter to Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan, the BC Wildlife Federation called the measures "some of the most draconian fishing measures in recorded history."

"There is no transparency, no accountability, and no trust while there are fewer and fewer salmon. DFO is a failed agency that no longer manages for the well-being of fish or the public interest. Instead, DFO is now focussed exclusively on cutting back the public fishery to give the appearance it is doing something while managing for political benefit," reads the BC Wildlife Federation letter, signed by its president Bill Bosch.

"This management approach is unraveling the social fabric of the public fishery, dividing users and communities and bankrupting service providers."

https://www.coastreporter.net/sea-to-sk ... 1.24163470

[mikest2]

It's only a matter of time before they ban our "marine aquatic wildlife military style assault rods and reels". God help you if you own a treble hook ! I would be so embarrassed to have voted Liberal.

[Pete Podoski]

The Trudeau Liberals deliberately changed the reports from D.F.O.'s own scientists to suit their political agenda.

The reports signaled grave danger for salmon and steelhead, but the Trudeau Liberals altered them to say otherwise so that they wouldn't have to impose restrictions on First Nations and other commercial fishers.


According to internal documents, the provincial and federal teams “spent the last six months working in a collaborative fashion in the emergency Species At Risk process, and the science teams came to consensus.” A peer-reviewed joint research paper on the recovery potential of the steelhead was developed to inform the process. But the FOI reveals that wording in the final Scientific Advisory Report released to the public and government decision-makers did not reflect the consensus recommendations in the research document.

{Snip}

“The process used to determine the fate of these fish on the brink of extinction is highly disturbing,” said Calvin Sandborn QC, Legal Director of the UVic Environmental Law Centre. “According to scientists involved, the only report made available to the public was skewed, and failed to reflect the consensus of the scientists.”

Sandborn said this incident is just the latest example of an ongoing problem. “The bigger problem is that the federal government routinely withholds protection for endangered fish species if real protection would affect non-selective net-based fisheries. Protecting endangered species is not receiving the priority it deserves.”

https://bcwf.bc.ca/bcwf-foi-reveals-fla ... steelhead/

[Glacier]

Trudeau and his hypocritical virtue signaling lying *bleep*.

[rustled]

Weiler acknowledged that DFO could be "more transparent with their science."

Uh huh.

[The Green Barbarian]

Weiler acknowledged that DFO could be "more transparent with their science."

Uh huh.

Wasn't it always Harper who wasn't "transparent" and was "muzzling scientists"? Notice the deafening silence from the Liberal pumpers on this. Just amazing the disgusting hypocrisy going on here. Just wow.

[Gone_Fishin]

Conservationists, anglers say it's time to reform DFO

The federal Fisheries agency often lets politics, rather than science, lead, say critics





Conservation and angling groups on the West Coast are calling for radical reform of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, saying it appears unable to protect wild fish while managing commercial fisheries and ocean-based aquaculture.

The B.C. Wildlife Federation, in a letter to Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan,says the federal department should be “independently reviewed and rebuilt” with a mandate to restore and recover failing salmon populations.

Many B.C. salmon runs are considered threatened or endangered, including most South Coast and Fraser River chinook, Interior Fraser coho, Fraser River sockeye and Interior steelhead. Some are down to just a few dozen individuals.

Fisheries and Oceans — widely referred to as DFO — cannot reverse the decline of salmon runs by managing public and commercial fisheries under political influence, said federation president Bill Bosch.

“DFO is making a habit of ignoring its own scientists and researchers, even going as far as editing peer-reviewed science documents in favour of political expedience to justify the status quo,” he said.

“In dismantling DFO, you need to set objectives for salmon recovery and ensure that (DFO) follows the science,” said Jesse Zeman, spokesman for the 43,000-member federation.

“You need to separate the science function from fisheries management and let the science determine how many fish are in the harvestable surplus,” he said. “With DFO, it’s fisheries first, conservation second. They’ve got the order backwards.”

Angling groups are particularly incensed by DFO restrictions on chinook fisheries that prevent them from fishing healthy runs.

A recent petition to Parliament sponsored by B.C. MP Mel Arnold says DFO is ignoring abundant stocks while failing to coordinate and fund as “ecosystem-based recovery plan and strategy to rebuild stocks and habitat for Fraser River Chinook.”

snip

A new group, #defundDFO, is calling for “a complete dismantling and restructuring” of Fisheries and Oceans to create an agency focused on species and habitat protection.

A comprehensive salmon recovery plan would include habitat restoration, science-based fisheries, meaningful enforcement of regulations, the immediate removal of ocean-based salmon farms and immediate action to control burgeoning seal and sea lion populations, said organizer Phil Grassi.

https://vancouversun.com/news/conservat ... reform-dfo