DFO Salmon Head Recovery Program

[cohochinook]

I try to turn in all my hatchery salmon heads to the DFO Salmon Sport Head Recovery Program. They provide you with a letter on the Salmon and can pin point it's orgin if it has coded wire tag.

Much to my surprise I had a package in the mail from DFO today with a prize. I won nice Stanley Thermos which is one of the 150 prizes they gave out!

Anyone interested in learning more on the program can check on DFO website http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/tag-etiquette/SHRP-PRTS-eng.htm

 

[tofinofish]

Another "prize" that everyone can win or invest in, however you choose to look at it, is to return your heads to help ensure future fishing opportunities.
Without this data that we can all provide, your "prize" Chinook years down the road might not be yours to catch..

I'm glad you got your fish and a bonus Thermos,,,double header.

 

[Tailspin]

I won a convergence last year and a 2000gt came a week later, pretty cool!
On another note, all of my Head returns were from US rivers and i sent well over 30 in, sure goes to show that we really require some more hatchery enhancement programs here. Hate to even think it, but without those US fish we would have squat on the South Island, especially from Feb-June[xx(] All hatchery fish for us the last time out Saterday, and i am willing to bet they all come back from the Nisqually in Puget Sound.

It really burns my rump to think all our efforts to do what we can appear to smack us in the face with minimal hatchery funding. Where does our Salmon Enchancement Stamp money go?

Without the many Heart~filled soles who volunteer countless hours to the many recovery programs, we would be in the dark. Now a slot limit extension into July is looming for us... I am not sure if we have had a fish under 67 cm from May 10th to July on the South Island. May as well call it a shut down C&R only. If it was in good faith that it will ensure the early Fraser fish get through, sure, so be it.
I for one am not optimistic it is the tip of the problem, more of a bandaid approach to direct some blame perhaps?

www.tailspincharters.com

 

[scott craven]

Justin, i think the slot size will pertain to unclipped fish only ?
at least that's how it is for now...

 

[Tailspin]

Yes I know Scott,

The majority of the US hatchery fish move through Sooke/Vic by mid May and we generally only see larger wild or unclipped Hatchery fish over 67cm from then on, effectivly making it a catch and release show.

www.tailspincharters.com

 

[scott craven]

Last year the majority of our fish were clipped, so we can only hope
the hatcheries were pumping them out 4 or 5 years ago.
To make this restriction even sillier, i still don't see
any restrictions in area 28/29 which is where these "fish of concern"
are apparently heading

 

[chris73]

My observation too is that about 95% of the springs caught until mid May are typically clipped ones (immature) from Puget Sound. Around the beginning of June that ratio changes dramatically and the vast majority of the springs are now unclipped and larger (mature) ones - probably heading for the Fraser. But from what I understand the so called ET Fraser springs are through by then already ....I am speaking of Sooke areas. So DFO must have other arguments than calling it ET Fraser protection. Based on my observations, I agree Tailspin, Sooke area would basically be C&R in June and July if DFO was to follow through. And all the early fishing derbies including JDF could close shop. [xx(]

 

[Charlie]

quote:Originally posted by chris73

My observation too is that about 95% of the springs caught until mid May are typically clipped ones (immature) from Puget Sound.

Yes they are!

quote: round the beginning of June that ratio changes dramatically and the vast majority of the springs are now unclipped and larger (mature) ones - probably heading for the Fraser.

Maybe, they start becoming a "mix"?

quote:
But from what I understand the so called ET Fraser springs are through by then already ....I am speaking of Sooke areas. So DFO must have other arguments than calling it ET Fraser protection. Based on my observations, I agree Tailspin, Sooke area would basically be C&R in June and July if DFO was to follow through. And all the early fishing derbies including JDF could close shop. [xx(]

Yes… if they are “whites” probably “Fraser”! Other-than-that?
DFO’s agenda… PROMOTE SALMON “FARMING”!

 

[profisher]

Tail..the portion of the salmon stamp that goes directly to salmon projects is only $1.00 per stamp. If there are less than 400,000 licenses issued each year and some of those without stamps, we aren't talking a lot of money. It is time that sport fishers demand higher license fees and that all monies stay out of general revenue. I want to see an annual fee for a resident at $100.00 with all of it going to hatchery production!

 

[AlGee]

I spent over a decade (1990's) collecting CWT's from commercial caught salmon all over WCVI, Georgia Strait and some work in the Charlottes during early 2000's. During those years the commercial troll fishery was still buzzing. The WCVI trollers numbered around 1300 "A" licensed boats in the early 90's. Now at any given opening we might see around 50 boats.

OK, so there should be LOTS of chinook and coho swimming around out there now that the pressure of over 1000 commercial trollers no longer exists. Thats good, but the bad side is that we lost access to a valuable database resource. Out of all the CWT's I personally collected (we are taking millions of pounds of salmon) each season we could pinpoint migration and escapments of chinook and coho. At the time hatcheries were tagging and marking only 10-15% of what they were releasing. That was a sufficient sample population to identify hatchery stocks and those numbers could be extrapolated into figuring out what the potential escapment for each area might be. Its unfortunate that now we have to rely on a lousy handful of boats for this data. As it is, i don't see how DFO can make ANY predictions!

The commercial fishery officially began July 1st each year and early tag results during that time proved that most of what was caught was bound for Washington, Oregon and Calif. The bulk of the tags collected were from those green footballs we call Columbia R. springs. So where are OUR fish in the early months of the fishery you ask? Well, the Alaskans officially start their fishing a month earlier than us, basically June 1st. In the spring all of our fish are still in Alaskan waters down to Ketchikan and they get hammered pretty hard every year. We spend all this money to raise hatchery springs, coho and steelhead and a lot of them never make it back home. And the bitter pill to swallow is that we are paying for these fish TWICE after they are cooked into cans and sold back to us.

 

[Charlie]

quote:Originally posted by AlGee

And the bitter pill to swallow is that we are paying for these fish TWICE after they are cooked into cans and sold back to us.

Algee... I agree with you and you had me 100% until that last sentence! Let's see if I can figure this right? "Washington" is giving Canada $5,000,000 a year to help preserve "BC" salmon... and that is help both of "us" to get "our" fish back! DFO's total budget is $1.5 billion, out of that $28 million is for BC salmon (that's less than 18% of their total budget)? So, 18% of DFO's total budget per year is going to "BC" salmon and out of that $28 million, "Washington is giving them $5 million (17.5%)... so if I figured this right, "Washington" is giving DFO about 17% DFO's BC salmon budget? That is a "bitter pill", won't you say?

Now, take in that between 75-80% of salmon currently being caught off WCVI is U.S. fish, due to DFO's cutbacks in 2005/2006/2007... and then add in the "majority" of DFO's budget is going to promote "aquaculture - fish farms"? That becomes a "Very bitter pill"!

 

[chris73]

Agree with Charlie. It is not the US at fault here. It's a purely home made problem. If BC and Canada at large were to invest proportionally as much money into our salmon as the US we would be in awesome shape I think. Could Alaska be more cooperative? I think yes. But given the usual US internal problems negotiating deals between the lower 48 and Alaska when it comes to fishing quota I believe we should not complain too much about any outside impact but rather focus on the much more tangible potential to change things at home. Let's face it, wild salmon and/or salmon enhancement are not very high on DFO's priority list and unless we can change that we will be going downhill. And I can tell you personally where the end of that road will be - I have seen it elsewhere and it ain't pretty and I hate to think of it but we are heading there, believe me.

BTW AlGee, getting some valuable scientific info from the full-force commercial fisheries back when does NOT want me to go back to this unsustainable and irresponsible harvesting regime even at the cost of losing this little information freebee. People and authorities responsible for this sell-out of one of the most precious Canadian resources back then should be prosecuted and sentenced severely. If fishermen and authorities had been a little more modest back then I bet my boat we could still have a decently sized commercial fishery going on today with salmon stocks in way better shape than today. But I guess we had to learn it the hard way - again - not that we ever learn from mistakes made elsewhere before! God forbid!

 

[cohochinook]

quote:Originally posted by Charlie

quote:Originally posted by AlGee

And the bitter pill to swallow is that we are paying for these fish TWICE after they are cooked into cans and sold back to us.

Algee... I agree with you and you had me 100% until that last sentence! Let's see if I can figure this right? "Washington" is giving Canada $5,000,000 a year to help preserve "BC" salmon... and that is help both of "us" to get "our" fish back! DFO's total budget is $1.5 billion, out of that $28 million is for BC salmon (that's less than 18% of their total budget)? So, 18% of DFO's total budget per year is going to "BC" salmon and out of that $28 million, "Washington is giving them $5 million (17.5%)... so if I figured this right, "Washington" is giving DFO about 17% DFO's BC salmon budget? That is a "bitter pill", won't you say?

Now, take in that between 75-80% of salmon currently being caught off WCVI is U.S. fish, due to DFO's cutbacks in 2005/2006/2007... and then add in the "majority" of DFO's budget is going to promote "aquaculture - fish farms"? That becomes a "Very bitter pill"!

Charlie I know you're not Canadian but we do have a large majority of forum members who are. I suggest contacting your local Member of Parliament. I contacted my local MP John Weston on behalf our local Sportfish Advisory Committee. John immediately expressed an interest in local fish issues and suggested we form working group.

We now have Fisheries Community Roundtable meetings with John every 6 to 8 weeks. John admitted to not having come from a Salmon fishing background, but was quick to want to learn about the issues and carry our concerns forward to Ottawa. The group has been an immediate success and we continue to meet regularly.

My recommendation to all Canadians is contact your MP and let them know about your local Salmon concerns. You might be surprised by the level of interest they have and actions that can be accomplished.

You can find your MP in the phone book in the Government blue pages.

Back to the topic.[8D] As Tofinofish says the heads turned in help insure future DFO enhancement programs. Without out solid data that hatchery fish are returning the argument can be made that Hatchery Enhancement is a failure.

We all want more Salmon and it's nice to have a few that you can keep. Keep the heads coming in and you may even get the bonus of a prize!