Saxe point. If you live in this area you must drive arround with your eyes closed.lol The first nations around here aren't in poverty. They are the richest kids on the block! Do you truly believe that "Thier economic options are so limited that they need to catch a fish to to eat (or else they go hungry)"?? You must live in Ottawa. That's it.
Where I was going with all this is that when the abillity to market fishing to sportsfishermen is gone: The masses arent going to flood to the westcoast and pay good money to go catch and release halibut and salmon year after year. Been there done that. The vallu to the experience is getting your own food and not eating out of a can. Most sportfishermen take the food home and pakage it with love. It's a primal act that should be a right for ALL canadians to enjoy. Why should the taxpaying public be excluded from access to having resonable portion of the marine resources for sustinance? Should I as a fishing guide be put out of businness or broke first before being allowed to fish for what you are calling sustinance? Why not, Because of the economical benefit and low impact on fish stocks, Prioratise sport fishing access to fish. Thats what I would consider intelegent managment for a sustainable fishery and economic future. Perhaps the supreame court doesn't have the consideration or concern for the intrest of the average Joe taxpayer in this country. You must have more faith in the system than me. Those people making all the decisions are personaly set for life with govt jobs and pentions. Why would they care about the guy that has to work and support the country. Just my opinion.
Saxe I do think you are pulling my leg a little here. There is no need for you to reveal your occupation if you are afraid of recognition. I'm guessing you work for dfo. Yup. If you were a regular working taxpayer you would be just as pissed off as the rest of us at all the b.s. in this country. I don't believe for a second that a person that has nothing in anything connected to sportfishing, commercial or subsistence fishing would be hanging out on a sportfishing forum monotoring and reciting supream court case law or constatutional rights that regulate such issues. Do you???LOL
Where to begin?
First, I am amazed at your inability to deal with, let alone refute, the merits of the arguments in support of the simple point I made. Instead of acknowledging the obvious, namely that depending on the circumstances, some people might have a greater moral or ethical claim to a limited resource than others, you insist on perceiving this as some personal slight to you and your belief that sportfishing is fundamentally about the "primal act" of "getting your own food and not eating out of can." There are steelheaders who pay as much as any sportfisherman to catch and release, as do many who pursue billfish in southern areas. These people come back year after year, but they catch and release. Maybe there is more to the sportfishing experience than killing the quarry, at least for some. It's got to be more than just getting your own food and not eating out of a can, or people would pay farmers for the experience of raising and butchering cattle, pigs and chickens. But more to the point, subsistence fishing means you need to fish for food because there are no cans of food to turn to!
Now, let me repeat again, I catch some fish, release some and kill some. But I think it's laughable to say, as suggested by Gunsmith, that someone who catches and releases all their fish is somehow less capable, sporting, manly or whatever he is trying to say. His theory is that in the "knuckledragging" days, the "conservative" was the resourceful and successful hunter, while the "liberal" didn't hunt because of his beliefs, and was too dumb to find wood. Now there's a profound synthesis of human anthropology! Lots could be said about the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, modern medicine etc., to show that the anti-intellectualism inherent in that statement is not responsible for much of the advancement of western civilization. But Gunsmith might want think about what he said; until the arrival of agriculture, all hunting and fishing was subsistence and the concept of doing it for sport just wasn't an option. That helps prove my point.
Second, Fishmyster, why do you insist on attacking me rather than addressing the arguments I make? It's pretty clear that you don't like the way the west coast fisheries are being managed, but you can't understand that I am not defending or criticizing management of the fisheries. As I said in my last post, it's about moral or ethical claims, not even legal ones. And I even said that yours is probably greater than that of many. Legal entitlements are different again and may not necessarily coincide with the moral or ethical.
Instead of addressing the arguments in a rational way, you want to "out" me as someone in Ottawa (nope, BC) or working for DFO (wrong again) or not being a regular working taxpayer (I work and pay taxes!). Because, according to you, none of these people could possibly see things any differently than you and be right, just because of who they are, not what they say. That's just wrong. But it's it's hard work to refute arguments and a lot easier to just assign me a stereotype, like Gunsmith, and say that "those people" don't understand. Instead of explaining why you believe my point was wrong, you proceed to fail to even understand the point and instead see only what you want to see. What's worse, what does my job, or yours, have to do with the discussion? I'll judge your arguments based only on their substance, or lack thereof, not what you do for a living, or where you live, or if you pay or don't pay taxes. But you don't seem to be prepared to so the same, or are you?
Third, let's talk stereotypes again. I always drive with my eyes open, but I'm careful to not draw over-broad conclusions bases on what I see. It's always helpful to look at all the evidence. The non-partisan research institute Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives did just that in their recent study entitled "THE INCOME GAP BETWEEN ABORIGINAL PEOPLES AND THE REST OF CANADA", which was published in 2010. Its findings are based on the median incomes of aboriginal people found in census data going back to 1996. You can read the whole report on the internet, but the relevant points from the Executive Summary are:
"This study breaks new ground by examining data from Canada’s last three censuses — 1996, 2001 and 2006 — to measure the income gap between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canadians.
Not only has the legacy of colonialism left Aboriginal peoples disproportionately ranked among the poorest of Canadians, this study reveals disturbing levels of income
inequality persist as well."...
"While income disparity between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canadians narrowed slightly between 1996 and 2006, at this rate it would take 63 years for the gap to be erased."...
"The study reveals income inequality persists no matter where Aboriginal peoples live in Canada."...
If you want to criticize the study, do it rationally and based on evidence. Saying that it was written by people from a certain part of the country, who work for certain organizations, or that they have gold-plated pensions and don't pay taxes isn't going to persuade anyone.
The fishing rights of First Nations were not part of my original point anyway. Their genesis is rather more complex than mere subsistence. My point, if you look at it carefully, was a lot simpler.
Now, do you want to address the substance of the arguments, or are you just going to take the easy way out and write me off as a DFO staffer who lives in Ottawa and doesn't pay any taxes? Knuckle dragging indeed!!LOL