Is this a sign of things to come...

[richmake]

I yanked this from another post.....
Hope this doesn't lead to some huge changes here...

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has decided to lower the limit for guided anglers in South East Alaska to one fish. If guided anglers want a second fish they have have to lease the right from a commercial fishermen.

This is what they plan for the future in South Central as well. Commercials think they own the resource. They blame sport fishermen for not caring about conservation. Meanwhile they are the ones killing 90% of the fish and devestating the near shore resource. Commercials are destroying the future of halibut fishing in Alaska. People should be angry. Many of them are getting rich. When the halibut is gone they wont care because they will be retired in a big house in Hawaii.

This is very serious. Check out these websites:
www.dontbuyhalibut.com
www.npfmc.com
www.charterhalibut.org

Write letters and get involved. Call your congress person and write to Palin. Call state senators. Tell all your friends about the nationwide boycott of commercially caught halibut.

Commercial fishermen are trying to shut down sport fishing. Fight back!

 

[TenMile]

I dunno. I believe we are more enlightened here in BC than the dialogue I read on that DontBuyHalibut.com website. I think there is more mutual respect between the Charter guides, commercial guys and Joe-sixpack weekend warrior (like me).

That said, I think this topic is one that should be moved to the General Discussions Forum as there was an agreement that these doom and gloom posts, and fish farming posts etc... need to be in a different area.

 

[Charter Tofino]

This summer i heard they were gonna do this in bc from a commercial guy i know. He said lodges and sporties were gonna start buying commercial or parts of commercial lisceanses so they could keep running when the limits are reduced or closed.Anyone have any more info on it?

 

[SerengetiGuide]

Also heard that will be taking place from a fellow guide in Port hardy. Hence why its so important to have fellow guides working together.

www.serengetifishingcharters.com

 

[richmake]

quote:Originally posted by SerengetiGuide

Also heard that will be taking place from a fellow guide in Port hardy. Hence why its so important to have fellow guides working together.

www.serengetifishingcharters.com

Well I'm not sure what it has do with working together with other guides except sharing quota if it comes to that.
Where we fish...most guy's don't want others to know where their "secret spots" are and with the lack of respect that occuring on the water in our area these day's....I'm sure that's not going to change for a while.
We can go on and on about who's at fault and who's right or wrong and I'm not going to fall into that argumentative trap on this board again for a while.
Sometimes it works out that you can get another guide outfit or two that is reputable and charges the same as you to work with and sometimes you don't.
Now back to the topic at hand...

what I can say about what happened in some parts of Alaska is this decision will be devestating to their recreational and guide fishery as far as tourism dollars go.
The fish will still get caught, just by the commercial sector so that proves the resource is still healthy.

 

[SerengetiGuide]

Well..that's exactly what I'm saying I heard...quota that you have to purchase. From someone who is on the sportsfishing advisory board as well...apparently a real hard push for quota's on charters...

www.serengetifishingcharters.com

 

[Nerka]

Richmake:"I learned the hard way David and now your turn has come....
I saw more sheep this year than ever and it mostly has to do with guy's like us not keeping our mouths shut....
Next year will be a little different I hope.
And on another note....
The guy's that complain about distance, poor fishing, fuel, etc...do the most obvious thing and rent a guide....and quit complaining....
this my last post as well!"

I thought you were done with this forum richmake?

 

[Whole in the Water]

The latest article in the Vancouver Sun regarding the collapse of the precious BC sockeye fishery says it well..

"Nothing short of an outraged public concerned with the fate of the salmon will get both the government of Canada and the B.C. government to do the right thing by the fish."

I encourage us all to make this an election issue by writing and talking to our politicians. It may take some time but it can be done.

Sharp hooks and full traps!

 

[richmake]

quote:Originally posted by Nerka

Richmake:"I learned the hard way David and now your turn has come....
I saw more sheep this year than ever and it mostly has to do with guy's like us not keeping our mouths shut....
Next year will be a little different I hope.
And on another note....
The guy's that complain about distance, poor fishing, fuel, etc...do the most obvious thing and rent a guide....and quit complaining....
this my last post as well!"

I thought you were done with this forum richmake?

Ya, I said that...I definately won't be putting my input into any Port Hardy sections...that only causes me grief
As far as you trying to bait me into another argument or antagonize me...you know my number...give me a call if you want to ask me any questions.
I bet most wouldn't even dare opening there mouth most of the time and post stupid comments if we knew who they were...
At least some of us on here put some sort of tag/signature on here when we start talking trash...that way we aren't hiding when we open our mouths.
pretty simple logic/I can be a controversial guy at times, I admit that, but at least I put a face to the name when I open my mouth!

 

[SerengetiGuide]

quote:Originally posted by richmake

quote:Originally posted by Nerka

Richmake:"I learned the hard way David and now your turn has come....
I saw more sheep this year than ever and it mostly has to do with guy's like us not keeping our mouths shut....
Next year will be a little different I hope.
And on another note....
The guy's that complain about distance, poor fishing, fuel, etc...do the most obvious thing and rent a guide....and quit complaining....
this my last post as well!"

I thought you were done with this forum richmake?

Ya, I said that...I definately won't be putting my input into any Port Hardy sections...that only causes me grief
As far as you trying to bait me into another argument or antagonize me...you know my number...give me a call if you want to ask me any questions.
I bet most wouldn't even dare opening there mouth most of the time and post stupid comments if we knew who they were...
At least some of us on here put some sort of tag/signature on here when we start talking trash...that way we aren't hiding when we open our mouths.
pretty simple logic/I can be a controversial guy at times, I admit that, but at least I put a face to the name when I open my mouth!

Well said Chad. Hiding behind a login name is no way to go.

www.serengetifishingcharters.com

 

[The Fish Assassin]

One word to help our stocks.. "Closure" for Both user groups. Both sporties and commercial.

Take only what you need.

 

[Nimo]

Nothing is ever done by government without a deeper agenda. Why were the Guides required to register their boats for TC? For safety of course. That will be the day when I pay a commercial guy for the priviledge of salmon fishing.

All that said, a charter license may be very valuable in the future, I think I'll register just to set one aside. Maybe I'll get a buy-out in a few years.

 

[Pablo2079]

I'd be more inclined to support a closure if all three groups were in on it. But, we need something done sooner than later.

 

[Fishinnut]

Here is a post I made down here in the US on a forum.

It gets much worse. Right now the International Pacific Halibut Commission that manages the fishery is working on a possible percentage reduction for us. Our area 2A had 1.22 million pounds last year, down from 1.4 million the year before. This is north CA, OR, and WA. It is split up between tribes, commercials, and recreational/charters. They are also looking at cuts in SE Alaska, All BC and US waters. Our area is only 2% of the entire West Coast of North America. The farther north you go the bigger the quotas. BC went 88% commercial/12% recreational not very long ago. Different than when they used to care about their recreational halibut fishery.

Our WDFW is working hard trying to keep this from happening. But it is the IPHC scientists who will make the decision. From what I understand there are 6 IPHC Scientist. 3 US and 3 BC.

One US Scientist is in St Paul, Alaska. This area is said to have the halibut thriving. They got an increase last year. One other Scientist is from Seattle and is Alaska Commercial background. So both of these are probably going to vote to do a cut on everyone but far Western Alaska.

The areas of SE Alaska, BC, and US are supposed to have migratory fish in which I agree. They are saying the fish in the Bering Sea are not migratory and are flourishing. They are using satellite tags to find this data. So in a nutshell they are saying the migratory halibut are in a downward spiral.

I fish for halibut all over the Washington Coast and in the Straits. My conception is we have a very healthy supply of halibut and do not understand the cut. If they cut us from 2% to 1% we will lose drastically.

I think last year the strait was 59,000 pounds of halibut, down from 65,000 from the year before. Since it is set on a season, we had to give up days. Days equal poundage. In the ocean they are having a hard time managing it as the weather kicks up where people don't get out and go home. In turn we get a single day opener down the line to make up for it. I am not going to go out to the ocean on a one day opener to see if the weather is going to let us out or not. This is a $1000 day to trailer out, set up camp, pay for fuel, and come home. No wonder it was hard to mop up our quota last year.

This is purely a scientific vote. I hope the BC Scientists see it a different way. The commercials are taking a huge chunk of halibut in the northern waters and cutting the sports take. They are bullying their way in. As the dontbuyhalibut.com is saying.

Now it is looking like Washington is going to be next on the hit list. Keep us off of the water and we cannot be a watchdog. Ever since the IFQs came about the halibut fishery became a commodity to buy and sell. Commercials can sell their IFQs and not even fish, making a huge profit. The IFQs were to let the commercials not have to go out in the bad weather conditions. But from what I understand the processor company owners tell them to go anyhow or the price will drop shortly after the opener. So they controlled the industry anyway. Now the IFQs are bought and sold as a commodity.

This cut is tribal, non tribal, and all. When they do tests with set lines, it can be off. If you have high tidal movement or current the fish tend to hunker down and go off of the bite. Also they have timing issues. Swiftsure Bank usually doesn't pick up until July. These fish move around. Normal cycle years the straits fish come in February and leave in April. This is the proposal we wrote to the state to move our halibut fishery season forward. We asked for February opener and got April. What an improvement it made.

We used to blackmouth fish the Straits in Feb and caught more incidental halibut than we did when it opened in June targeting them. Timing is a huge factor. I am going to do more checking when I can, but they will be making the announcement in January 09.

 

[Bushbear]

If you want to ensure sport fishing involvement in the IPHC process, you should look over their website and see how they are structured. Sport fishing is not well represented by either the US or Canada. The 2009 seasons will be set at their annual meeting in Vancouver, BC in January. If you want to recommend proposals for consideration, the deadline for input appears to be October 31, 2008. The following links may be helpful.



http://www.iphc.washington.edu/halcom/newsrel/2008/nr20080808.htm


http://www.iphc.washington.edu/halcom/meetings/workshop2008/baw2008.htm


http://www.iphc.washington.edu/halcom/pubs/annmeet/IPHCAM.htm