Fish Assassin
Crew Member
How about all the guys from CR to Powell River that had their areas shut down. But well it is closed the draggers are still out there fishing with a bicatch limit of 200lbs a day I think it is on spot prawns.
Prawn And Shrimp Closures
- Thread starter Fish Assassin
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cohochinook
Well-Known Member
Basically all of Howe Sound is now closed to prawning. I wonder how they plan to enforce this, as I am sure even today there will be traps out off Horseshoe Bay and Lions Bay area. Sure is restrictive!
ziggy
Well-Known Member
Assuming they can put a boat and crew on the water(big assumption) and have a puller it should be easy. Seems to me I read somewhere they do this from time to time to enforce closures. No one wants to risk their investment.
Hookin'up
Well-Known Member
as far as I can tell 28-2, 28-3 and 28-4 are open, unless I'm missing something
Sculpin
Well-Known Member
Let's get back on track people..........
I will echo Jencourt's comments about the Barkley Sound area. They went in there a couple of years ago with double the boats. Last year they started and left early for the East side with their tails between there legs. What gives?
Sculpin
Well-Known Member
My point being, that if the fishery is sustainable commercially in all area's why would there be double the boats in the Barkley Sound
? We should be looking at the other half that came from where? Why did they choose to fish Barkley Sound and not other area's.
I big kicker for me was sitting in at the South Coast Prawn Sectoral meeting and listening to the commercial sector saying that they use this very forum as their gauge for recreational angler effort. I almost fell off my chair laughing............
On a serious note:
If we could get more folks out to the SFAC meetings the better. Apparently we had some money to do our own spawner index's but we have to find our own money now to do so. Please try to get involved.
Cheers,
John
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Ha sorry I deleted my post as I thought it was irrelevant. Anytime a commercial fishery gets a "sustainable" label I think everyone should be worried. We hardly know anything about prawns.....
And yes I agree, using a forum to gauge the rec angler effort is ridiculous. It's unfortunate there isn't some way to know what it is though, because the commercial sector will use that against us obviously.
And yes I agree, using a forum to gauge the rec angler effort is ridiculous. It's unfortunate there isn't some way to know what it is though, because the commercial sector will use that against us obviously.
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Cuba Libre
Well-Known Member
I dont think it can be stated too strongly that it is NOT wise to post on an open board information on catches and locations because the commercial sector DOES use this info against us. Sculpin is right about the comments from the SC prawn sector meetings, but this is just the tip of the iceburg. Found a honeyhole???? Well good for you --but keep quite if you want it to remain productive. When prawn numbers are dropping coastwide, you can expect to see a string of commercial traps or FN on your favorite location if you tell the world .
the fog ducker
Well-Known Member
agree , some things better kept to urself...
bombarded by all users lately lol...done with reports and pics ....
$hitty it came down to this,,,,
fd
John - was that the Dec. 3rd meeting you attended? I travelled up to Nanaimo with 6 other guys from the Sidney Anglers Association and there were probably another 20 or so rec guys there as well - just to create a presence....and there was no attempt by the commercial guys to claim knowledge of what the rec guys were doing - I think they were just bit more polite because of the turnout. All day sitting listening to talk, talk and more talk. DFO running the meeting but not helping to move it in any positive direction. Only decision from a full day meeting with about 20 'official' reps sitting around the table - let's do some more talking. However, considerable agreement by all parties that prawn stocks are declining and some agreement that every sector is going to have to bite the bullet.
But, 2 things I learned: apparently about 90% of returned prawns survive; and - the total take by the commercial fleet in 2012 was over a million Kgs of prawns. Got me wondering how many rec guys it would take to equal that.
It was sure great to see the strong rec turnout.
But, 2 things I learned: apparently about 90% of returned prawns survive; and - the total take by the commercial fleet in 2012 was over a million Kgs of prawns. Got me wondering how many rec guys it would take to equal that.
It was sure great to see the strong rec turnout.
Cuba Libre
Well-Known Member
mrrig-- talk to any of our long terms reps on the prawn sector meetings (Wayne, Paul or Chuck) and they will tell you the commercial reps DO throw back comments about our "excessive" harvests that they have picked up from THIS board. Its part of the usual rant that we have no accountability and should be paying for surveys like them, and of course the complaints that we hear about the infrequent "sport" fisherman who are taking massive amounts of prawns and never get caught because no one is checking. ( and yes-- I did hear comments about how out of control we sporties are-- )
One other item that should be mentioned was the position of the First Nations Reps from both the north and south Island. Remember the guy named Brian from the Nam'gis (Broughtons) as well as the south Island rep telling DFO that they dont recognize DFO authority and they would be going fishing with commercial boats even if the area was closed whenever they wanted. I shook my head at one rep saying that he fished 4 days for prawns in the Broughtons and only caught 150 lbs for the band so everyone else should be removed from the area except them.
Also on being questioned by one of our sport reps, if their stand was just to put pressure on DFO to change how they manage prawns.. the answer was "yes" But how many times did we get reminded pointedly that under the Constitution theirs was a RIGHT to harvest whereas for the rest of us, its only a privilege . And they had won over 100 Court challenges to prove it. With statements like that, and a diminishing resource, I can tell you that I will not be going out and buying a commercial prawn license any time soon!!!!!
Totally agree that the DFO leadership at the meeting was almost non- existent. On the way home I was of the opinion that little had been accomplished However, it was good to see such a turnout even though we were not allowed to speak directly to the floor. The fact that the DFO reps got the message that we were getting increasingly concerned about only getting scraps of the prawn harvest in some high use areas , has got to help us down the road.
But I repeat-- if you have to tell someone about your good fortune when you find a honeyhole, use the PM function or email. To do otherwise is just shooting yourself in the foot.
One other item that should be mentioned was the position of the First Nations Reps from both the north and south Island. Remember the guy named Brian from the Nam'gis (Broughtons) as well as the south Island rep telling DFO that they dont recognize DFO authority and they would be going fishing with commercial boats even if the area was closed whenever they wanted. I shook my head at one rep saying that he fished 4 days for prawns in the Broughtons and only caught 150 lbs for the band so everyone else should be removed from the area except them.
Also on being questioned by one of our sport reps, if their stand was just to put pressure on DFO to change how they manage prawns.. the answer was "yes" But how many times did we get reminded pointedly that under the Constitution theirs was a RIGHT to harvest whereas for the rest of us, its only a privilege . And they had won over 100 Court challenges to prove it. With statements like that, and a diminishing resource, I can tell you that I will not be going out and buying a commercial prawn license any time soon!!!!!
Totally agree that the DFO leadership at the meeting was almost non- existent. On the way home I was of the opinion that little had been accomplished However, it was good to see such a turnout even though we were not allowed to speak directly to the floor. The fact that the DFO reps got the message that we were getting increasingly concerned about only getting scraps of the prawn harvest in some high use areas , has got to help us down the road.
But I repeat-- if you have to tell someone about your good fortune when you find a honeyhole, use the PM function or email. To do otherwise is just shooting yourself in the foot.
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the fog ducker
Well-Known Member
ive been Prawning the Barkley sound for many years now , what the commy's did 2 years ago was unbelievable , it never recovered last year , and sucked this past summer ,
from some of the pics ive posted recently ,I get messages from guys thinkin prawning must be unbelievable out our way , well its not , not even close ta what it was 5 or more years ago ,especially little further out towards bamfield , other than a few honey holes that commy boats didnt hit , guessing tuff areas that can eat gear , the majority of common, easier areas that use ta be good , suck now , go give it a try, !!! ...
its NOT from us sporty's , that I GUARANTEE , the pressure was so low from us all summer ,almost zero in the winter , other than Christmas and maybe Spring break , theres very little pressure,,, ... we all know there all gone for a few months after they pull out...,,,,, little if any , left for ANYONE ,Commy's did da Chits in our area last year ,left early... Dont get there mentality , watching them purposely lay on top of our sports guys last year ,my final straw with them , ridiculous....watchin em cut sportys lines , throwin em back out with a crappy knotted messes ,,, its brutal , reality...
.i tried a few regular spots this last outting as well as a few other sportys , it was terrible , if ya know the commys routine drops, and lay in different areas , , you can do alright ,
the native boat that acts as a commercial boat in our area , does some good damage too , and recently !!!
i towed the goof back ta dock on a breakdown ,put myself in danger ... the loser never even said thanks...
better measures needed ta meet the needs of all users !!
just gettin worse every year...on everything , sad...
fd
from some of the pics ive posted recently ,I get messages from guys thinkin prawning must be unbelievable out our way , well its not , not even close ta what it was 5 or more years ago ,especially little further out towards bamfield , other than a few honey holes that commy boats didnt hit , guessing tuff areas that can eat gear , the majority of common, easier areas that use ta be good , suck now , go give it a try, !!! ...
its NOT from us sporty's , that I GUARANTEE , the pressure was so low from us all summer ,almost zero in the winter , other than Christmas and maybe Spring break , theres very little pressure,,, ... we all know there all gone for a few months after they pull out...,,,,, little if any , left for ANYONE ,Commy's did da Chits in our area last year ,left early... Dont get there mentality , watching them purposely lay on top of our sports guys last year ,my final straw with them , ridiculous....watchin em cut sportys lines , throwin em back out with a crappy knotted messes ,,, its brutal , reality...
.i tried a few regular spots this last outting as well as a few other sportys , it was terrible , if ya know the commys routine drops, and lay in different areas , , you can do alright ,
the native boat that acts as a commercial boat in our area , does some good damage too , and recently !!!
i towed the goof back ta dock on a breakdown ,put myself in danger ... the loser never even said thanks...
better measures needed ta meet the needs of all users !!
just gettin worse every year...on everything , sad...
fd
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