Emergency SFAB Meetings About Proposed SRKW Fishing Closures

[searun]

I think we have all seen some bad things. The key going forward is to educate everyone on doing the right thing. Which to me is:
1) 400M spatial exclusion or bubble zone - give them room to acquire their prey
2) Slowly leave areas where we have whales, turning off your sounder
3) Warn other vessel operators so they too can leave the area
4) Avoid jumping ahead or leap frogging to stay in front of feeding whales - disrupts the prey

Better to do these things, than film bad behaviour. Its all about each of us accepting personal accountability and then sharing best practices.

 

[Tips Up]

Or we could manage our resource better and try to revive the stocks for the future.

All I see here is make it easier for the whales to feed on the last of our salmon stocks. Then the salmon will be gone and the whales will have a new problem.
Not sure how this is a long term solution.

If we were dealing with all the other major issues at the same time so there will be fish in the future, this would be an easier pill to swallow.

I sure hope the closure areas are to fin fishing AND whale watching boats. Then maybe the whale watchers will get on board with restoring salmon stocks.

 

[Stosh]

Since DFO allows a seal hunt on the east coast, I’m wondering when the west coast will be offered the same opportunity. SRKW don’t eat seals, and we are not allowed to harvest them as do our fellow Canadians back east, it’s no wonder we have so many seals here, and fewer Chinook.
Please see the attached info taken directly from the DFO site;

 

[tincan]

@kelly, can you please send me the breakdown of hatchery / wild diet in SRKW? I've heard that the outside WCVI feeding does reply quite heavily in US hatchery fish (up to 50%) but the feeding in the JDF/SOG is primarily the fraser stocks.... harrison and south thompson being by far the most prominent given the size, abundance and run timing of those fish

One fact that I haven't seen discussed is that a massive portion of SRKW diet is hatchery produced Chinook. These fish are meant to provide angling opportunities and are mainly funded by the industry raised funds.

 

[tincan]

I'm sorry but if you are going to throw around numbers like "seals eat 10lbs of salmon a day" please back it up. There is no evidence to support this claim whatsoever according to the many research teams that are the ones conducting seal, sea lion, and orca studies. Please show me otherwise.

As far as seals go, they don't eat many adult salmon at all. They catch some when rec anglers first hook into them and sometime they can catch them in high-concentration estuaries when salmon stack up but they don't target adult salmon. The small percentage of salmon in a seals diet (0-5% of biomass) comes largely from seal consumption of juvenile salmon. Now, even though these juvenile salmon only make up a single digit % of a seals diet, they make up a huge absolute number of individual salmon since these are small smolts they are consuming. This is the consensus finding from the Salish Sea project (PSF) which included years of work with the top researchers in this field.

As rec fishermen this is the sort of hard data / findings that we should be pointing to to show that if we really want to have a significant increase in adult chinook salmon on the south coast of BC we need to ensure better survival rates for those chinook leaving the fraser and other SOG systems. Extrapolated over the entire South coast of BC we are talking about millions of juvenile chinook salmon being eaten by seals. This is a significant number that would have a positive impact and SRKW populations if these juveniles could survive at a higher rate than they are now. As others have mentioned here we rec fishers need to have accurate data to defend our positions so attending these meetings can only help with that.

Why blame and penalize the recreational and commercial fishing sector when they are not the cause of this problem with the starving Orcas? There are an estimated 43K Harbour Seals and thousands of Sea Lions now in the Gulf Of Georgia. It is estimated that the Seals eat about 10 pounds of salmon a day and the Sea Lions 20 pounds of salmon a day. When you do the math, this daily consumption of salmon adds up to an unbelievable number of salmon that are being lost each year to these predators. There used to be a bounty of $5.00 a nose for seals. Maybe that bounty should be reintroduced? One possible solution to this problem would be to reintroduce a massive culling program for the seals and send the seal carcasses to the Arctic to feed the starving Polar Bears.

 

[Aces]

https://www.cheknews.ca/chek-point-...icted-protect-southern-resident-orcas-423943/

 

[OldBlackDog]

Danger, danger.
Wonder why this becomes the question.
Why not commercial fisheries?

https://www.cheknews.ca/chek-point-...icted-protect-southern-resident-orcas-423943/

 

[Jaybones]

In regards to the whale watching boats, why not increase the distance allowed even further 500 meters or more. The technology exists to increase the guest experience while giving the whales the distance they need and deserve. Why not force the whale watching boats to use drones to video the whales from above and live stream the video back to the guests in the boat. On the larger boats, the video could be played on large high definition TV's and on the smaller boats the guests could be given ipads or view it on their phones. The video from above is amazing and usually better than anything you will see from the water.

 

[Mozart]

Hi tincan
I’m able to back up what I said with scientific journals published. You claimed pinniped don’t consumes many adult Chinook except the ones hooked by fishers are you able to back it up?

 

[SpringVelocity]

Just form your own opinion. Last year a month or so after this photo was first article stating to shut down sport fishing to protect whales. Lead by example.

 

[advTHXance]

I must have walked up and down that dock 1000 times last summer.

 

[persistent]

Just form your own opinion. Last year a month or so after this photo was first article stating to shut down sport fishing to protect whales. Lead by example.

View attachment 36817

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&sour...FjAAegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw2xIFydld83dKF-JNZ8MR7M


Suzuki is a hipocrit

 

[The Jackel]

Tincan you say that seals take very few mature salmon, here is a number for you. In Renfrew there are about 1 dozen of us who mooch/cutplug still, just in our small group we fed those seals approximately 380+ springs. Not a huge number but for only 12 boats seems fairly substantial

 

[Stosh]

Just imagine if we were allowed to hunt seals like they do back east, and sell the skins, then donate some or all the money earned to Chinook enhancement programs.
Have a look at the prices of a few Seal skin items;

 

[oldtimer]

The fishermen of area 18 and other areas have been living in harmony with the Whales for decades. Now all of a sudden they are being blamed for the Whales in area 18 not getting enough to eat. I would assume that the Whale's territory is a lot bigger area than just area 18? They must travel into other areas like areas 17, 19 and 20 etc. It seems to me like the folks that are conducting these small local studies are going to have an impossible time trying to pinpoint the reasons why these whales are in trouble? Throw into this confusing mix of variables, the fact that for decades cities and towns from Victoria to Nanaimo have been dumping tons of raw sewage, industrial waste and toxins straight into the chuck 24/7 and you have a mystery of gigantic proportions.

 

[Tips Up]

We need to be fighting back the media with exposing all of the other influences that are causing the problem for whales.
Destroyed habitat and declining food source.
We need to be exposing Commercial fishing in Alaska, lack of herring, over population of seals and sealions, destroyed habitat in rivers, sewage and industrial waste, netting and over fishing in rivers, fish farms, harrassment by whale watching boats.....

The Sports Fishers are being singled out in the media and we are taking it on the chin.

Shutting down the Sportsfishery is not going to solve the problem it is just going to take the attention off all of the bigger problems while they continue until the fish are gone.

Some media on our side would be a huge help.

Tips

 

[SpringVelocity]

We need to be fighting back the media with exposing all of the other influences that are causing the problem for whales.
Destroyed habitat and declining food source.
We need to be exposing Commercial fishing in Alaska, lack of herring, over population of seals and sealions, destroyed habitat in rivers, sewage and industrial waste, netting and over fishing in rivers, fish farms, harrassment by whale watching boats.....

The Sports Fishers are being singled out in the media and we are taking it on the chin.

Shutting down the Sportsfishery is not going to solve the problem it is just going to take the attention off all of the bigger problems while they continue until the fish are gone.

Some media on our side would be a huge help.

Tips

Graham I said stop fishing!

 

[profisher]

At last nights SFAB meeting in Victoria the message was united. The whales need more fish period. Yes we will agree to the one year study to see what quiet zones will do to whale behavior. We also agreed to voluntarily implement the Bubble which means once you are made aware that whales are close you will turn off your sounder, pull your gear and move slowly out of their path. As I'm confident that the results of this study will prove that whales will favour fishing where the fish are regardless of boats in that area...that the results of this study be used to set future policy. In other words quiet zones will be proven to be a waste of time and that the best practice is the "Bubble" It will work and we can live with that. We also agreed to recommend moving the eastern JDF quiet zone back to the west side of Point No Point. It makes sense because the largest traditional area for commercial crab fishing is off the French Beach area. Those waters would not be a quiet zone with those boats in that area daily dropping and recovering pots off noisy aluminum hulled boats with big power. If the boundary stays at Sheringham as proposed and the crab boats fish inside the quiet zone the data would be skewed. The only other option would be forcing those boats out of that area....that would be a disaster. All those pots would end up between Kirby Creek and the mouth of Sooke Harbour....nobody wants that. We also agreed to let the Port Renfew SFAC make recommendations pertaining to the western border of the 20-4 quiet zone.

 

[pescador]

Graham I sad stop fishing!View attachment 36821

Sat next to him on a flight from Chicago to Toronto 10+ years ago. When a guy next to me said “I love your tv show” as we were deplaning, Saint Suzuki ignored the guy and starred at the exit door. He’s either deaf or a prick. I suspect the latter. He’s just another phoney Liberal elitist multi millionaire telling everybody what they have to do based on his science. Either believe him or you’re stupid. He’s engaged in all sorts of business dealing directly or indirectly in this country. Many of which impact the environment. Time to fight this BS.

 

[halimark]

Went to last nights Victoria meeting at Esquimalt Anglers, excellent info passed on, thanks to all who are working their buts off and trying to keep us fishing. Seams to be lots of miss information written on this post. We all should understand that this is mostly driven by political agendas, we sport fishermen are the easiest to attack because we are so complacent. THIS IS OUR FAULT. At Vic meeting having maybe 70 pers attending states TONs. EVERY BC person who buys a tidal license should spend the little extra to join a club. Membership carries weight.

HM