Please join a peaceful protest of DFO’s decision to close recreational fishing to the retention of chinook. Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and DFO have announced large blanket closures which are an ineffective way to manage the recovery of early Fraser River chinook stocks. There is no scientific data to support the effectiveness of these closures. The announcement has serious and substantial socioeconomic impacts on coastal communities. We’re encouraging all concerned individuals, groups and businesses to join us to protest the following and push for a sustainable solution.
The reality is DFO is shutting down one distinct Chinook fishery and user group so they can shut down another user group on completely different stocks of Chinook salmon. This closure to chinook salmon retention will do nothing to protect the chinook stocks that need protecting. The closure has been done for political reasons and is mismanagement of the resource at the highest level! We want to make it very clear to Minister Wilkinson that to shut down the entire south coast so they can attempt to reduce First Nation in river impacts on interior Fraser chinook is not acceptable!
The Recreational Fishery has proven through CWT and DNA submission that there is very little interception of threatened Fraser River Chinook Stocks in the Strait of Georgia. In 2018, DNA shows that less than 1 percent of the total recreational catch was of Fraser Stocks of Concern. To say the DFO did not have sustainable Chinook retention options in the spring and early summer in Areas 13 to 19 is simply not true. The same can be said for the West Coast of Vancouver Island and from Campbell River to Port Hardy. The Recreational sector is committed to conservation, enhancement initiatives and standing up to politically motivated management decisions.
The closures to chinook retention in our local area between Vancouver and Nanaimo include Bowen Island, Howe Sound, Sunshine Coast and Gabriola Island. These areas have been experiencing amazing chinook fishing (for non-interior Fraser stocks) for the last 10 years. This closure is being done for the opportunity to keep First Nations nets out of the Fraser to save interior Fraser stocks. Minister Wilkinson and DFO need to recognize that the chinook salmon that are off Bowen Island and across to Nanaimo are not early Fraser stocks of concern. DFO has confirmed this through CWT (coded wire tag ) data and DNA sampling. The resulting data clearly shows that the fish we catch in those areas are not the Fraser River stocks of concern we need to protect. This is a scientific fact, not speculation. The fish we are catching in the Spring and Early Summer are known are mainly East Coast Vancouver Island, Puget Sound, Fall Run Fraser River Stocks of hatchery origin. A mere 10 percent of Canadian hatchery Chinook salmon are clipped. There is no conservation concern for these stocks and a 1 per day chinook limit or a 1 per day hatchery chinook limit, is certainly sustainable, extremely conservative and acceptable from a scientific fisheries management viewpoint.
We want DFO to take real and meaningful action on a recovery plan for early Fraser chinook that includes chinook predator control, habitat rehabilitation, key hatchery enhancement and adequate funding of fisheries officers and habitat staff. Currently there is no plan with funding in place for these crucial actions to take place and that needs to change now! We are requesting a retention fishery of 1 Chinook per day for all South Coast Areas currently without Chinook retention opportunities due to the 2019 Fraser River Chinook Conservation Measures. We support hatchery only retention where science shows elevated interception of threatened Fraser River Chinook Stocks.
Protest Location and Time: May 1, 2019 from 12 to 1 PM at Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson’s Office102 W 3 Street, North Vancouver.
