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Date: Wed, 03 Oct 19:52:43 -0700 Sto:lo fishery probed in wake of dead fish Keith Fraser The Province Fisheries officers have launched an investigation after hundreds of fish -- mainly pink salmon -- were found dead on the shores of the Fraser River during a native fishery. The department of fisheries and oceans says it has refused to extend a fisheries licence to the Sto:lo Nation pending the outcome of the probe. Officials are meeting today with the Sto:lo in an attempt to get answers to what went wrong with the fishery near Chilliwack. The Sto:lo had been granted a licence to harvest up to 95,000 pink salmon as well as some chinook during the beach seine net fishery, the licence for which expired Sunday. According to officials, they caught 70,000 fish but left hundreds to die in an area in the vicinity of the catch. Fisheries spokesman Paul Ryall said there wasn't a proper release of fish and non-targetted species were mishandled. "There was high mortality on non-targetted species and there was apparently also high mortality on some pink salmon that they were releasing as well." He said he had heard a report but couldn't confirm it that male pinks were being left to die while females were being harvested for the roe. Some pinks the fishermen believed they couldn't sell may have also been left to die, he added. Canadian Alliance MP John Cummins said there was no sign of DFO enforcement at the site, but Ryall said the dead fish were found outside an area where the department was tagging fish. Ryall couldn't say whether the Sto:lo face any penalties. He said beach seining, in which a net is released from a boat and both ends are pulled into the beach, has been a good method of separating out targetted from non-targetted fish and there had been no previous problems. Sto:lo spokesman Michael Geoghegan said Sto:lo's acting chief Bob Hall is "very much aware" and "very much concerned" about the problem. Hall couldn't be reached for comment. © Copyright The Province Here is what John Cummins said in the House of Commons: Mr. John Cummins (Delta--South Richmond, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, for 21 days ending this past Sunday the minister of fisheries allowed an unsupervised commercial aboriginal beach seine fishery on the Fraser River that has wreaked havoc. In the words of Ken Christian, a recreational fisherman: The stretches located directly below each beach-seine site are literally stacked with hundreds upon hundreds of pre-spawn male pink salmon bodies. Only the male pink salmon and of course the odd so-called endangered coho or steel head were being culled and grabbed roughly by their heads, gills or tails and thrown from the bunt of the net, some 10 to 15 feet in the air, back into the very shallow water. The pink female salmon were being harvested simply for their payload of valuable roe. I witnessed this appalling spectacle as did hundreds of others. Missing from this picture was any sign of DFO enforcement. This fishery, combined with a lack of enforcement, suggest another specifies of salmon may soon be on the endangered or extinct list. * * *
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<16113>
Great news !!! Hopefully this will lead to something....I won't hold my breath though.
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<16114>
It's nice to see that 'set regulations' have to be followed by all. I was starting to think that the ministry was unfairly closing their eyes to select groups when it came to enforcement.
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<16126>
They are!! DFO don't want to have any altrications with the natives, as they've had in the past. I think what they need to do is have some kind of back-up enforcement, but at least THEY should be out there monitoring the harvesting and releasing of the fish. The natives don't seem to give a rat's ass about the fishery, only how much they can take to sell...then they wonder why they have a hang-over.
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<16128>
While Cody's views are pretty extreme, what this whole fiasco shows is that there are no "Great Stewards of the Resource" and that ALL groups are capable of violations and atrocities directed at the resource. We may now conclusively paint the Cheams with the same brush as the commies have been painted with for years and the 'ugly' sportsman has been painted with for the past two or three years. The real tough part to swallow is that the Cheams know they are considered untouchable and they flaunt it in the faces of all who will watch. It also shows that enforcement of the regulations in all sectors is absolutely non-existant. I haven't been asked for my license in years and the violations on the Fraser are increasing at an alarming rate. Poachers know their chances of being caught are about the same as Bin Laden collecting a pension. Once again DFO's incompetence at the senior levels is exposed. When are heads gonna role over this Bullsh*t?
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<16165>
I think an important thing to remember is that one article sent to the right people can be noticed and maybe even change things. Ken Kristian made his views known and others joined in and it got noticed. I would like to publicly thank Ken Kristian for his not giving up and making a difference. It is a sad fact that DFO has to be embarassed to do anything, but that also means that we should embarass them all we can!
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I agree totally, if it wasn't for Ken, the native commmercaial fishery would still be going on. More Thompson Coho, Harrison Chinook and Thompson Steelhead would be DOA or should i say MIA. Thanks Ken for all you have done.
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HOOOOOORAY!! A first step towards an equal fishery, enough of this ceremonial crap. Maybe they wont put a coho net up in our bay this year... Chris
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Don't count on it Chris. If you think this will change anything, you're in for a big surprise. Unfortunately I think it gonna take some real pissed off sporties and civil disobedience before anything even remotely close to change is gonna happen. No I am not advocating that, I just think that is probably the only way it'll change.
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It won't matter if the river's officially closed or not, those damn natives will fish and net it anyway. It's happened before (Sto-Lo) and will happen again and again and again and...
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