OldBlackDog
Well-Known Member
Robert Hauknes: It's a disgrace that foreigners are being given a priority to salmon over Canadians
OPINION: Foreigners are taking precedent over Canadians this year for fishing for salmon and into the foreseeable future
Robert Hauknes
Updated: July 19, 2019
Chinook salmon fisheries will be severely curtailed in 2019. Jamie Lusch / AP
There are many opinions regarding salmon in B.C. on how they’re managed — or not managed. One thing that everyone can agree on, though, is they are a public resource and that Canadians should benefit from that natural resource. Unfortunately, it’s not true.
Foreigners are taking precedent over Canadians this year for fishing for salmon and into the foreseeable future. You may ask how this is possible. It’s quite simple. Foreign nationals pay industrial sport fishing lodges to take them out to harvest chinook salmon. I use the words “industrial” and “harvest” because this isn’t recreation, it’s a business. It’s an industry. The industrial lodges are in the business of making money, just like any other commercial enterprise. It is time that they were treated as such.
Fishing lodges have fleets of boats to take their clients out in — boats with all the modern technology, such as GPS, depth sounders, chart plotters and downriggers. It’s the same equipment that commercial salmon fishermen use yet without the same level of scrutiny that commercial salmon fishermen have.
B.C. commercial salmon fishermen must notify Fisheries and Oceans Canada when they go fishing. Logbooks must be filled out every day that they are fishing, noting how much fish was caught and where. When the fishing trip is over, DFO must be notified and that the boat is heading to shore to unload its catch. At the dock, an independent observer counts the fish as they come off the boat to verify that what was caught matches what was written in the logbook.
The inspectors also take DNA samples so that the caught chinook can be traced back to their rivers of origin. All this information is supplied and submitted to DFO in order to have extremely accurate information in order to manage the salmon fisheries in a sustainable manner.
Yet there is no reporting requirement for fishing lodges. DFO uses estimates to determine what has been caught. How can salmon stocks be sustainably managed when there are no accurate records of what is caught?
This year, the commercial salmon fishermen in northern B.C. are being told that they cannot fish chinooks until at least Aug. 20, or potentially later, until the runs of concern have migrated past. But it’s business as usual for fishing lodges. They even say as much on their websites.
Small coastal communities are taking the brunt of this conservation measure and associated economic loss. The lodges, however, which are self-contained and contribute little to the local economy since their clients are flown in and out of the lodge, continue to operate as if salmon stocks are not at risk. If the stocks of chinook are a concern, why are Canadians being told they cannot go out and make a living but foreigners with money can pay for priority access to the salmon?
B.C. commercial salmon fishermen provide access to a healthy and sustainable source of food for people who don’t have the means to catch it themselves. They take pride in providing high-quality, locally caught seafood. If pay-for-access to salmon continues, the next time someone orders salmon at a restaurant or buys it at a grocery store, chances are it will either be farmed salmon or salmon caught in Alaska or Russia and not caught in B.C.
Frankly, that’s a shame and a disgrace.
Robert Hauknes is a third-generation commercial fisherman born and raised in Prince Rupert.
Letters to the editor should be sent to sunletters@vancouversun.com. The editorial pages editor is Gordon Clark, who can be reached at gclark@postmedia.com.
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.
OPINION: Foreigners are taking precedent over Canadians this year for fishing for salmon and into the foreseeable future
Robert Hauknes
Updated: July 19, 2019
Chinook salmon fisheries will be severely curtailed in 2019. Jamie Lusch / AP
There are many opinions regarding salmon in B.C. on how they’re managed — or not managed. One thing that everyone can agree on, though, is they are a public resource and that Canadians should benefit from that natural resource. Unfortunately, it’s not true.
Foreigners are taking precedent over Canadians this year for fishing for salmon and into the foreseeable future. You may ask how this is possible. It’s quite simple. Foreign nationals pay industrial sport fishing lodges to take them out to harvest chinook salmon. I use the words “industrial” and “harvest” because this isn’t recreation, it’s a business. It’s an industry. The industrial lodges are in the business of making money, just like any other commercial enterprise. It is time that they were treated as such.
Fishing lodges have fleets of boats to take their clients out in — boats with all the modern technology, such as GPS, depth sounders, chart plotters and downriggers. It’s the same equipment that commercial salmon fishermen use yet without the same level of scrutiny that commercial salmon fishermen have.
B.C. commercial salmon fishermen must notify Fisheries and Oceans Canada when they go fishing. Logbooks must be filled out every day that they are fishing, noting how much fish was caught and where. When the fishing trip is over, DFO must be notified and that the boat is heading to shore to unload its catch. At the dock, an independent observer counts the fish as they come off the boat to verify that what was caught matches what was written in the logbook.
The inspectors also take DNA samples so that the caught chinook can be traced back to their rivers of origin. All this information is supplied and submitted to DFO in order to have extremely accurate information in order to manage the salmon fisheries in a sustainable manner.
Yet there is no reporting requirement for fishing lodges. DFO uses estimates to determine what has been caught. How can salmon stocks be sustainably managed when there are no accurate records of what is caught?
This year, the commercial salmon fishermen in northern B.C. are being told that they cannot fish chinooks until at least Aug. 20, or potentially later, until the runs of concern have migrated past. But it’s business as usual for fishing lodges. They even say as much on their websites.
Small coastal communities are taking the brunt of this conservation measure and associated economic loss. The lodges, however, which are self-contained and contribute little to the local economy since their clients are flown in and out of the lodge, continue to operate as if salmon stocks are not at risk. If the stocks of chinook are a concern, why are Canadians being told they cannot go out and make a living but foreigners with money can pay for priority access to the salmon?
B.C. commercial salmon fishermen provide access to a healthy and sustainable source of food for people who don’t have the means to catch it themselves. They take pride in providing high-quality, locally caught seafood. If pay-for-access to salmon continues, the next time someone orders salmon at a restaurant or buys it at a grocery store, chances are it will either be farmed salmon or salmon caught in Alaska or Russia and not caught in B.C.
Frankly, that’s a shame and a disgrace.
Robert Hauknes is a third-generation commercial fisherman born and raised in Prince Rupert.
Letters to the editor should be sent to sunletters@vancouversun.com. The editorial pages editor is Gordon Clark, who can be reached at gclark@postmedia.com.
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.
