Reply to my letter to the Port Alberni Chamber of commerce

[baddogg]

Looks like they are open again.. Islandgirl posted this in the Conservation, Management Section


Carnage continues in Port Alberni..
from Bob Cole July 14

"Nope.
It’s commercial fishing as usual starting one minute after it closes Friday morning.
The natives were able to keep the nigh time gillnetters out to Lone Tree rather than Polly’s.
There is an opening in the Skeena that may attract some more commercial boats away.
"
Somass harvest comimitte July 14 bulletin
SOCKEYE FORECAST: The July 14, 2011 forecast total return of Somass Sockeye to the terminal fishing area remains at 1,400,000. The escapement goal is 513,600. The total allowable catch for combined harvest in the terminal area is 886,400.
ESCAPEMENT: Total Somass sockeye escapement through July 13 is estimated at approximately 695,800 adults. Approximately 333,600 adults have entered Sproat Lake and approximately 365,800 have reached Great Central Lake. River conditions continue positive for sockeye migration with higher than normal flows and moderate temperatures.
BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION: Biological samples are collected from the test-boat and from commercial and First Nations fisheries in Alberni Inlet and Barkley Sound. 1000 sockeye have been sampled in the test-fishery to date.
TEST-FISHING: The test-boat began operations on June 13. The purpose of the test-fishery is to estimate abundance of sockeye in Barkley Sound and in the Alberni Inlet and to collect biological specimens for assessment of age and stock composition and parasite load. The test-fishery uses a combination of acoustic soundings and seine sets to determine the abundance of sockeye. Sockeye abundance from the July 11 to is estimated at 15,000 for outside areas and 10-12,000 for inner Alberni Inlet. The estimated stock composition was 41%:54%:5% and 33%:68% and 0% GCL:Sproat:Henderson Lake sockeye for outside and inside areas, respectively.
For updated weekly test-fishing catch information please visit the following website:
http://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/xn...sh/default.htm

ABORIGINAL FISHING: Somass River First Nations sockeye catch to date is estimated at approximately 60,057 from a combination of two days per week gill-netting and from weekly communal drag-seine fishing at Papermill Dam.
Maa nulth First Nations have harvested an estimated 10,350 sockeye to date in 2011.
COMMERCIAL FISHING: Area D gill net vessels fished 2 p.m., July 8 to 2 p.m., July 15 this week in Barkley Sound and Alberni Inlet. Gill-net catch is estimated at 191,825 to date.
Twenty seine vessels fished from Monday July 11 to noon, Friday July 15. Catch for this fishery was 18,039 sockeye. Catch to date for seine is 162,258 sockeye. Average weight in the most recent seine fishery was 4.36 lbs.
RECREATIONAL FISHING: The Alberni Inlet recreational fishery has caught an estimated 41,312 sockeye to July 13, including 34,012 in ocean and 7,300 in tidal-water river fisheries.
Next Week’s Fishing Plans, as Determined by the Area 23 Harvest Committee:
Aboriginal – Discussions were concluded June 30 with the signing by both First Nations of an economic opportunity agreement. Fishing plans will be developed and implemented over the next week. Plans may include a combination of river and Inlet gill-net fishing and contract seine fishing in Alberni Inlet.
Commercial - Area D gill-net will fish starting at 6am Tuesday July 19 to 2 p.m. Friday July 22 in the same Barkley Sound / Alberni Inlet areas as the July 8 to 15 fishery except to Lonetree Point and not Polly Point, and from 2 p.m. to 4 a.m. daily in Alberni Inlet between Bilton Point and Lonetree Point.
Area B seine opens at 10:01 a.m. Friday, July 15 to 10:00 a.m. Friday, July 22 from Dunsmuir Point to the clock tower in Port Alberni harbour and a portion of area 23-2 southerly of a line from ten mile to Hook Bay.
Recreational – Fishing continues at 4 per day in Alberni Inlet. Tidal portions of Somass River continue at 2 per day with no night fishing.
For more information please contact the DFO office in Port Alberni at 250 720-4440 or go on-line to:
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/recfish...yChinookPN.pdf for the Area 23 Recreational Chinook Fishery Notice or
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/recfish...kleyCohoPN.pdf for the Area 23 Recreational Coho Fishery Notice

SUMMARY:
Pre-season forecast: 600,000
Expected Stock/Age Composition: 48% Great Central, 52% Sproat Sockeye;
25%, 62%, 7% and 6% for age 42, 52, 53 and 63 adults, respectively. Moderate Henderson
sockeye return expected (e.g. 45,000)
Escapement to July 13: ~695,800 (365,200 Great Central, 330,600 Sproat Lake)
Test Fishery: Inlet Estimate 10 to 12K inside; 15K outside
Catch Estimate: ~ 449,500 adults (66,600 Somass First Nation; 4000 MNA First Nation;
196,825 Commercial Gillnet; 147,759 Commercial Seine; 41,400 Recreational; 1000 Test
Fishery (biological samples).
In-season reforecast: (July 6) 1,400,000; Escapement Target: 513,600; TAC: 886,400

 

[River Rat]

And you are totally correct calling BS on that. The commies were crying the same song last year when 30 Million socks came to the Fraser. Now imagine, mother nature used to let over 100 Million socks return to the Fraser year after year before the westcoast was civilized. And obviously those socks survived well over thousands of years despite the "overcrowding". You do NOT need to be a biologist to see what's behind the commies' arguments. Certainly not any truth.

not just the commies saying that, DFO is saying it is well. Mother Nature seemed to be doing a good job, before we arrived on the scene.

 

[River Rat]

my email sent over the weekend. Sent to Port Alberni Chamber of Commerce, Port Alberni Mayor, Port Alberni MP, Dr James Lunney, Keith Ashfield, Fisheries Minister, Bill Shaw and Paul Preston of DFO,

My wife and I were looking forward to our two week vacation in Port Alberni. We had planned our trip to coincide with the sockeye return to the inlet. We would be joining our friend, who had taken other people on her boat, and had taken limits 2 days straight. The day after the Sunday commercial seine opening, her boat got zero fish. We arrived from the Lower Mainland on the Tuesday, set up our campsite and discussed the trip. I was shocked to hear the 20+ seine boats from the Vancouver based fleet, were allowed to net the entire Alberni Inlet, and the gill net fleet was allowed to net the entrance of the inlet, and in.
Wednesday morning, found us on the water early…we fished until 1:00 pm and caught four sockeye. Pretty dismal! We went out Thursday morning and got nothing. We fished hard Saturday and again, got nothing! Listening to the marine radio chatter, we were hearing the same from the other boats. Looking out on the inlet we saw far fewer boats than we had in past years. No wonder…the inlet had been raped, clear and simple. Each day we returned to the Clutsei Haven boat launch we would check out the cleaning tables….and no surprise there…no one cleaning fish! China Creek campground was a ghost town compared to past years.
We checked the DFO site for any future seine openings, and saw, that yes..there were more seine openings. With that information we decided, we may as well do as what others were doing and leave Port Alberni. This meant we took our money with us. Money we were expecting to leave in Port Alberni, money to be spent on food, camping, gas, etc… We know many others, that did the same. How does this affect a community, like Port?
We called DFO, and were told sports fishing was poor, because of river conditions! What! Limits for all, then nothing the day after 20+ seine boats are set loose on the entire inlet? Then we were told by DFO, that they don’t want any more fish in the rivers, because the late fish would dig up the eggs of the earlier spawners. Excuse me? Mother Nature was doing a pretty good job, way before we arrived on this continent. We need more fish to spawn and die. Their carcasses break down and supply nutrients to the emerging salmon fry, and the entire ecosystem, the way it was intended. Does DFO not remember what happened in the 1990s when the seine fleet almost wiped out sockeye runs in the Alberni Inlet? Fishing for sockeye in all sectors were closed to build the runs back up, before they could be fished again. We were also told the sockeye are a commercial fish, and not a sports fish. Who decides that? The sockeye readily go after spoons and hootchies in the salt water, the same as Chinook and coho. We were also told that by allocating the sockeye to the commercial fleet, they were leaving the Chinook to the sports fishermen. We know that is not the truth. The commercial seiners, fish Chinook in the inlet right up to the Port Alberni Salmon Festival Derby, and everyone knows how poor the fishing has been in that derby the past few years. So bad, that many people, haven’t bothered to come over and fish it.
Last year, Port Alberni won the WFN title of, “The Fishing Capital of Canada.” How ironic that one year later, the sports fishing is so poor. I have to wonder how many early Nahmint Chinook, Henderson sockeye and summer steelhead were taken in the nets. These nets do not discriminate, nor are you able to release these endangered species, after tons of sockeye have been layed on top.
It all comes down to the fact, that Port Alberni, needs tourism and the sports fishery to survive. The atrocity I witnessed less that two weeks ago, ensures that the town will never get back on its feet. Port Alberni needs to fight for it’s tourism dollar. I feel the town needs to lobby, the Provincial and Federal government, that enough is enough. The fishing resource is not the sole possession on DFO and the commercial fleet. Tell them the commercial seiners do nothing to inject dollars in the town’s economy, but tourism does.
I wish Port Alberni well, but it will be a long time before I will be returning to spend my hard earned dollars, and judging from the reading I’ve done on various internet forums, I am only one of many

So far one reply


Thank you for your email. I note you have forwarded this to the appropriate federal departments as well. We will also forward to our MLA and Chamber of Commerce.

Regards
Davina Sparrow
City Clerk
City of Port Alberni
Tel. (250) 720-2810
Cell (250) 731-6101
Fax (250) 723-1003
www.portalberni.ca

Time to fight the fight!

 

[wildwest]

The city of Port Alberni should have had everything hammered down BEFORE the season started[are they all sleeping or just plain lazy]..my 2bits

 

[vetteman]

The city of Port Alberni should have had everything hammered down BEFORE the season started[are they all sleeping or just plain lazy]..my 2bits

I don't follow what you're saying here. What should the City of Port Alberni have hammered down?
Dave

 

[drhook]

Yes, unfortunately the City of Port Alberni has no say in the matter and neither do we.
I've talked to these buggers before (DFO) and they simply DO NOT CARE what we think. We are not a factor in their equation to harvest. Their mandate is for the commercials and the native fishery and they just give us lip service to shut us up. That's the cruel hard facts!

 

[Islandgirl]

Yes, unfortunately the City of Port Alberni has no say in the matter and neither do we.
I've talked to these buggers before (DFO) and they simply DO NOT CARE what we think. We are not a factor in their equation to harvest. Their mandate is for the commercials and the native fishery and they just give us lip service to shut us up. That's the cruel hard facts!

Yes you are right. In my conversation with Bill Shaw dfo he said his mandate us to ensure the commies can get their fish and they are entitled to 95% of them AND that sockeye is NOT a sport fish. More lip sync to justify shutting out the rec sector.

 

[vetteman]

...where the hell is Fish4All to comment on this one? eh.....holmes*

No, you don't really want that do you?
Dave