Bye-Bye Barkely Prawns

[IronNoggin]

Had an enlightening encounter with a fellow at the docks over in Ukee yesterday. His commercial prawn boat was down, some mechanical issue that would take a few days to get sorted out. And the fella was fuming over missing out that week of prawn fishing in Barkely Sound. Told him I had heard there 13 vessels in the Sound this year, to which he replied a couple more had wandered in, making the number now 15 rigs, and that many of those were packing double Licenses (stacked licensing apparently OK with The Dino). In fact he noted, at this point there are FIVE THOUSAND commercial traps being serviced DAILY in the Sound. He also noted his frustration at not being in on it, as he suspected that much gear would pretty well "wipe them out" within the week. Then noted the same type of fishery had commenced in Nootka, with 13 rigs also overworking the grounds up that way.

Just a little more "management" West Coast Style for y'all.

And some of us actually still wonder why so many of our marine resources are in such trouble on this beleaguered Coast!

And that ain't so damn cheery...
Nog

 

[the fog ducker]

If your numbers are correct nog , thats fricken rediculous ,
I dont know how licenses are issued , purchased ,transfered , whatever. Fisherman need to
take some accountability here , that can't be good for our future stocks , are any of these guys making money , there cant be enough product
to make a decent living with that many taken , F'n brutal , time for a career change perhaps , sorry , m2b...
sux , but times of change...

Yes i heard from a few , the sound looks like a Large bubble gum machine exploded , rediculous , worse every year...

fd

 

[Fish-Hunter]

Greed, Greed, Greed,,, Fawking GREED!
Take what ever you can, however much you can, as fast as you can. Don't stop for even a second to think about the ramifications of your actions. Somebody else will clean up your F'n mess. He who dies with the most toys,,, he who dies having left the biggest scar on the planet,,, he who dies after proving to the world that he is the biggest asshole, WINS! Who wants to fight for first place??

Sickening

 

[searun]

Sick. No further comment...gota run to talk to Ralph on the great white phone.

 

[Little Hawk]

Question: Are the Commercial prawners under the same pulse fishery regs (2 wks on - 2 wks off)like us rec-prawners are down here in Victoria area?

 

[IronNoggin]

Question: Are the Commercial prawners under the same pulse fishery regs (2 wks on - 2 wks off)like us rec-prawners are down here in Victoria area?

Nope. Here's a few "limitations" from the variation order for this opening:

FN0342-COMMERCIAL - Prawn and Shrimp by Trap - South Coast / Fraser River - Areas 11 to 29, 111, 121, 123 to 127 - OpeningOpen 12:00 hours May 05, 2011 until further notice for all species of shrimp, including prawns, by trap gear, in the following areas: - On the first day of the fishery, May 05/11, fishers will be permitted to set their gear and haul and reset it once only, provided they do so by 19:00 hours. - Effective May 06/11 hauling of prawn and shrimp by trap gear, line and buoys is permitted only once per day as a condition of licence in all areas of the coast. This is referred to as single hauling. - In all areas, after opening day, all setting and hauling of prawn and shrimp traps will be permitted only between 07:00 hours (7:00 am) and 19:00 hours (7:00 pm) and hauling of traps will be permitted only once per day. - Traps must be sorted and undersized prawns released as each trap comes on board. - All berried prawns must be released from opening day May 05 and until June 30/11. - Fishers may fish a total of 500 traps on 10 strings if they stack two licences on one vessel for the season, or 300 traps on 6 strings in regular coastal areas. These trap and string limits do not apply in the special management areas.

 

[drhook]

That's why it's such a joke that there are pulse fisheries and closures to recreationals in these so called "hi-use" areas. The REAL culprit IS and always has been the obscene harvest by commercial enterprises.
DFO doesn't seem to have any restrictions to the amount of boats in these "hi-use" areas. With gas prices up so high many commercials are taking spots where they don't have to run so far. Hey, guess what? These happen to be the same areas that the guy in his 16' lund is trying to catch dinner for him and his wife. The whole affair make me puke!

 

[tubber]

Oh boy. I can see a bumbler from DFO beginning to think that the prawn fishery is too much work to manage under the current opening system. Therefore she is thinking to herself, why not take the average catch of each license for the last ten years, grant the license owner that many pounds in quota and allow him to catch it at his leisure. While she's at it, she will make a random decision to give the commercials 88% and the rec sector 12% since this ratio has been such a highly succesful model in other fisheries.

 

[adrianna3]

I saw a blue pickup truck headed north through Nanaimo last night loaded to the nuts with prawn traps. I wonder if he's headed up there?

 

[lorneparker1]

Have any rec guys tried to catch any since the opening?

 

[the fog ducker]

We prawed right before the opening , Correct , No Spawners were to be found ,I guess your theory is, all the bugs in the traps are going to die ,so lets keep them a'll , give your a head a shake , anything can be wiped out , or damn well close to it, if you sfbc members seen the amount of traps out there at one time , you'd fricken lose it,,,

fd

It will not affect the future stocks. I'm not sticking up for them, but 95% or more of the prawns have already spawned. We just spent a week prawning in Nootka and were hard pressed to find a female that still had eggs. Those spawners will die anyways if they are not caught. In 2009 the commercial guys almost decimated the prawns. I was so pissed off. In the summer I couldn't even catch enough for a fresh feed. I thought the same, it would be f--ked for next year. But in the spring of last year, it was the best prawning I have ever seen!!!

 

[the fog ducker]

Lorne ,

if ur just lookin for a few to put on the table , may be worth it , BUT , typically the pits right after the opening..and the rest of the fricken summer ( compared to before the slaughter ) really sux for all the rec boys that come empty there wallets in the community during the summer ..

5000 pots , mind boggling

on a better note ,
Scoop is ,Hali n Salmon reports sound really good,
may see ya at the Landing ,

FD

 

[Business Time]

Have any rec guys tried to catch any since the opening?

12 hr overnight soak in our regular spot. 4 traps = 20 prawns TOTAL. The other people we talked to had similar results.

 

[Bod]

They hit it hard this year and it didn't take long to clean em' out. Maybe what you some of you guys don't realize is what they target right now are females. This winters spanwers. They just don't have eggs yet. Dfo is supposed to monitor the catch and close it when the spawner index drops. If it is done right the system works.

 

[the fog ducker]

They hit it hard this year and it didn't take long to clean em' out. Maybe what you some of you guys don't realize is what they target right now are females. This winters spanwers. They just don't have eggs yet. Dfo is supposed to monitor the catch and close it when the spawner index drops. If it is done right the system works.

works for who ?? certainly not for the summer warriors , most feel a complete waste of time sending there pots down ,
complete joke...

fd