I have to agree, the underlying problem has nothing to do with current government, and more to do with decisions made by the Conservatives. We also have to bear in mind that up until recent times there wasn't a good understanding around why ocean survival was dropping so dramatically. With the research coming out of organizations like the Salish Sea Project and others, its becoming increasingly clear there are some big causes of smolt mortality (predation, pollution, lack of food). The road back will be long and require some very difficult decisions and serious funding.
That said, the politics driving these particular ineffectual management choices (Area Closures & closing rec fishing), are being driven by a political agenda out of Ottawa. They seem to be looking for politically expedient measures that are more about "fire for effect" than actually solving the underlying root causes.
Picking fights with recreational fishers by closing their fisheries down will not address the root cause, and the problem will continue to spiral out of control. Case in point, look at how the Province managed steelhead into extinction. Their sole management measure largely involved increasingly more restrictive controls on rec fishing, as opposed to actually addressing the root causes. Chinook and ergo SRKW will follow the same path if we stick to the "captain obvious" solutions that were used on Steelhead for example.
If Ottawa wants to see change, make the difficult decisions and financial commitment to actions that would make a difference....like:
1. Habitat Restoration
2. Augmentation using leading edge hatchery practices that pair fish to help promote increasing size at age
3. Pinniped control
4. Dramatic reductions in commercial fisheries for herring, krill, crab - all part of Chinook juvenile diet when they first out-migrate into the ocean - stop ocean mining the food chain!
5. Ocean Chinook net pen projects, such as the one in Sooke to provide immediate prey/food for SRKW
6. Implement a 400m bubble zone to create a mobile spatial exclusion area around whales at all times to address physical and acoustic disturbances
7. Force Victoria to clean up their act - stop dumping raw sewage and toxins into the environment - Similarly Vancouver should be developing enhancements to sewage treatment to improve discharge quality
Sorry for the rant, but unless we start thinking outside the box, Chinook and SRKW are doomed.
