Tensions and arrests are on the rise on the Fraser River

[CDNBear]

Tensions and arrests are on the rise on the Fraser River

APTN National News
With sockeye salmon about to return to British Columbia’s Fraser River concern about conflict is growing.
Simply put there are not enough fish to go around.
For years now, First Nation, commercial, and sport fishers have been fighting over dwindling returns
As APTN’s Rob Smith tells us one veteran of the salmon wars says all commercial fishing must be stopped.


Video available at...


Tensions and arrests are on the rise on the Fraser River | APTN National News

 

[petros]

Maybe a fish tax can fix all this?

 

[gerryh]

Sockeye commercial and sport fishery should be shut down. Plain and simple.

 

[CDNBear]

Sockeye commercial and sport fishery should be shut down. Plain and simple.

As a sport fisherman, a serious look into black market fish sales, should be done.

 

[taxslave]

It would be better to shut down the sports fishery than the commercial. In reality sports is a misnomer. There are hundreds of charter boats and probably several thousand true sporties out in the gulf and on the river on any given day. Meanwhile the guys trying to earn a living are tied to the dock. The sporties quite probably kill as much as they keep between those that die from catch and release and the ones they dump back when they catch a bigger one.

 

[bill barilko]

It would be better to shut down the sports fishery than the commercial. In reality sports is a misnomer. There are hundreds of charter boats and probably several thousand true sporties out in the gulf and on the river on any given day. Meanwhile the guys trying to earn a living are tied to the dock. The sporties quite probably kill as much as they keep between those that die from catch and release and the ones they dump back when they catch a bigger one.

I can't remember a bigger bunch of ignorant lying bullsh!t posted on this forum ever-and that's saying something.

 

[damngrumpy]

Its not the commercial or sport fishery that is the problem. It is the undocumented
catches and black market sales that creates shortages. Monitored and regulated
fish openings can be done with the future in mind. Wholesale theft of the resource is
the real problem.

 

[gerryh]

As a sport fisherman, a serious look into black market fish sales, should be done.

and as a supporter of the native fishery on the Fraser River, I agree. That being said, any closures on the Fraser should be commercial, both Native and Non Native, then sport, and only as a last resort, Native ceremonial and sustenance fishery.

 

[taxslave]

I can't remember a bigger bunch of ignorant lying bullsh!t posted on this forum ever-and that's saying something.

Only what ever you post.

But then you are part of the problem.

But then you are part of the problem.

 

[#juan]

As a sport fisherman, a serious look into black market fish sales, should be done.

This problem is not going to go away unless it is made to go away. Guys in small boats towing a gill net....... and selling the fish
at half the food store price........ has been going on since I can remember I don't know the numbers but a substantial
number of uncounted salmon are taken. I used to be a sport fisherman when there were still fish to be caught and I could afford
the fuel for my boat.

 

[skookumchuck]

The buyers are just as accountable as the thieves.

 

[petros]

The buyers are just as accountable as the thieves.

Yup!

 

[#juan]

Yup!

I don't think they are equally responsible. A good number of these illegal fishermen
are First Nations members and the legal hassle is so convoluted that the person
buying the half-price salmon just takes his fish and goes home.

 

[petros]

I don't think they are equally responsible. A good number of these illegal fishermen
are First Nations members and the legal hassle is so convoluted that the person
buying the half-price salmon just takes his fish and goes home.

What is the point of illegally fishing if there is no money from a buyer? If you stop and buy roadside smoked salmon you are a contributor to the crime.

 

[#juan]

What is the point of illegally fishing if there is no money from a buyer? If you stop and buy roadside smoked salmon you are a contributor to the crime.

A contributor yes, but surely the major contributor is the guy who pulled the salmon
out of the river.

 

[petros]

A contributor yes, but surely the major contributor is the guy who pulled the salmon
out of the river.

What is the point of illegally fishing for no money?

 

[#juan]

If we had any brains we would shut down the sport fishing and commercial salmon fishing entirely
for a year; leaving only a bare subsistence for first nations. If that doesn't improve the situation the
next year, maybe we are blaming the wrong people.

 

[petros]

If we had any brains we would shut down the sport fishing and commercial salmon fishing entirely
for a year; leaving only a bare subsistence for first nations. If that doesn't improve the situation the
next year, maybe we are blaming the wrong people.

It would have to be for 4 years.

 

[#juan]

It would have to be for 4 years.

Right!!

 

[skookumchuck]

A contributor yes, but surely the major contributor is the guy who pulled the salmon
out of the river.

And with no buyers?
Around here it has always been very common to hear peeps brag about buying Sockeye from the Natives. If there was an actual commercial aspect where there was accountability for the numbers caught and a strict ENFORCED quota like the regular commercial fishery i would not have a problem with it.

I have seen far too many fish sold that still look not bad but have been unrefrigerated for a day or two then finally iced for sale.
Then there are the piles of rotting fish found dumped in various places near Port Alberni. That issue needs to be dealt with by the bands or they will never garner any respect from the public and when the Fisheries staff are terrified to lay charges due to politically correct feedback from a public who know nothing beyond what the media says, the recipe for disaster is fully in place.