Southeast Alaska is shutting down their chinook fisheries...gulp

[Blackmax]

I believe the proper term is "bust a cap in your butt" lol. Seriously though we can all point fingers at each other ,try and solve the problem together, or just justify our inaction be blaming the "other guys". Greed knows no borders nor is it present in just one segment of fishery.

. Right " bust a cap" lmao

 

[TomicTime]

good point
yes i do greatly enjoy fishing in BC remote uncrowded surfline fishing in 50' of water with a singing Islader, Peetz or a Longstone is my cup of tea. and yes of course I keep coming back.....

a trade war will hurt us both

a fish war will hurt the resource, then us both

on topic - when do you think a decision on changing Chinook retention on WCVI might be made ???

again
Peace

 

[eriks]

And accordingly, when the population of fish in question are in recognized trouble, you, as a sporty who plays with his supper for "fun" (while wounding & releasing many more in the same search of fun), should indeed take the largest hit for conservation purposes. ;-)

Cheers,
Nog

I do sometimes wonder how much I've wounded a fish that I release. Will it make it to its natal river? On land, a wounded animal is done in no time. I grew up in Africa, and every living creature there in the parks is in pristine condition, otherwise they're dinner.
How many fish are released by us sporties?
And ericl, clearly well educated, irregardless is not a word. Regardless is. Sorry, but that's just something that irritates me.

 

[profisher]

Nog, it is really to bad that the concern for conservation of wild stocks didn't start back in the 50's, 60's and 70's when commercial gill net, seines and trollers were all making small fortunes by doing what man does best...assuming it will never end and then wondering what happened when it did. To be fair there were many sporties running a putters license and selling their catch too. Also no sport license back then or an annual limit and then later a license and 4 springs a day. We are where we are today because of the practices of the past and it started a few decades ago....many commercial guys saw the writing on the wall, seen the end coming and took the gov buy outs. I know we all have a part to play in the decline in stocks but no one caught more than the commercial fleet of the past...that is a fact.

 

[swimmingwiththefishes]

I hear the Pinniped sector takes a pretty large allocation of the TAC. Let's get on with it and have something done about that

 

[ziggy]

I hear the Pinniped sector takes a pretty large allocation of the TAC. Let's get on with it and have something done about that

Nothing will happen on that front. Rumour has it they are much cuter than most fishermen and from what I see on the water, I can't dispute that.

 

[Busterbrown]

I also agree it is not about blame, it is about what the future holds, everyone agrees that the resource is in need of conservation, the big question is what is the answer, my opinion is is should start with immediate catch reduction, in both sectors, commercial and recreation. The First Nation catch is another matter. I still believe that the Sport Fishing industry is huge , and a complete closure would devastate the industry. It may have to happen though

 

[Ringo]

I also agree it is not about blame, it is about what the future holds, everyone agrees that the resource is in need of conservation, the big question is what is the answer, my opinion is is should start with immediate catch reduction, in both sectors, commercial and recreation. The First Nation catch is another matter. I still believe that the Sport Fishing industry is huge , and a complete closure would devastate the industry. It may have to happen though

Yes, closures are going to happen more often and will soon become widespread across all sectors. With the shrinking habitat and the increasing population of our planet, future only points to ine direction. That's unfortunate but it's inevitable. Times of raping the resource and burying our heads under the sand are long gone.

 

[aheny]

This is what happens when you have 50 million Sockeye. I think the Doom and Gloom is misguided, the Sockeye just outcompeted the Chinook this cycle. And if they keep running such a massive sockeye program it's probably just going to stay that way

 

[Thunder21]

I personally wouldn't be bothered much if they reduced the amount of chinook I could keep. I'm just a rec fisherman though that fishes about 50 days a year . I think for anything to change it would need to be changes to everyone across the board. You can't tell one sector to reduce while others carry on and rape. Maybe it's just me but I personally can't stand the constant pictures online of guides spreading springs, lings , yellow eye and Hali all over the dock. It doesn't impress me that guys are using their knowledge and a network of other guides in the area to absolutely devastate what is supposed to be a shared resource to pad your pockets and fill some foreigners cooler . Maybe its time we go to one spring a day vs two, maybe it's time we don't allow out of country people to fly in for 3 days and leave with coolers full of fish that take years and years and grow to legal size. I know these people spend money here. But will they continue spending money here when all the fish are gone? I doubt it. So why wait until that happens.

 

[ericl]

Realize that many Chinook grow-up in near-shore waters; this & many other factors make them very different from all other Salmon species. For the most part, the commercial Troll fishery in SE Alaska (SEAK) is open year around, exposing Chinook from rivers south of Alaska to year-around harvest. There are size limits imposed, revival tanks must be used, & only single-point barbless hooks are required. From Oct-May they target "their" fish. When 50K of "treaty fish" (non-Alaska fish) are caught during this period, they get shut-down until the summer season. These 50K treaty fish count as part of their quota established by the "Abundance Index". From what I can tell the SEAK fisheries always overrun their quota while the BC fisheries underrun theirs.
If you took a look at the graph I posted earlier you wold see that only 3% of Chinook caught in SEAK are of Alaska origin. These fish are largely hatchery raised spring run Chinook that are marked by thermally altering a bone in their head.

http://wildfishconservancy.org/abou...d-fishery-chinook-catch-composition-1999-2010

The text is a good read if you are interested in conservation & click on the picture to enlarge it.

IMO the year-around SEAk fishery is a large reason we are seeing smaller Chinook:

They grow-up in this year-around fishery.

The older they are the larger they are (I know duh?)

The older they are they more time they are exposed to harvest.

If there is a genetic component to "large Chinook", then the gene pool is diminished

As far as misguided gloom & doom, we find out when the fish return when it's too late to act. So far dam counts on the Columbia show Spring & Summer Chinook counts to be below the 10 year average, as well as the fish being late.

 

[ericl]

Thunder21; good points. Alaska already had different rules for non-residents.
I am a non BC resident & fully support this.

 

[Thunder21]

Thunder21; good points. Alaska already had different rules for non-residents.
I am a non BC resident & fully support this.

I have way less of a problem with people trailering their own boats up here and fishing . I think guys would overall be less successful catching fish and spend more money in the area doing that. My beef is with the guided fishing. And it's not a personal issue with the guides themselves, I just think 1000 bucks Canadian or 700 American is way to cheap to fly into our province and walk onto a fully rigged boat and be put into the best fishing available at the time.

 

[Franko Manini]

I do sometimes wonder how much I've wounded a fish that I release. Will it make it to its natal river? On land, a wounded animal is done in no time. I grew up in Africa, and every living creature there in the parks is in pristine condition, otherwise they're dinner.
How many fish are released by us sporties?
And ericl, clearly well educated, irregardless is not a word. Regardless is. Sorry, but that's just something that irritates me.

Yeah - that's a pet peeve of mine too. So is misquoting someone. The member that wrote "Irregardless" was IronNoggin. LMAO.

 

[ILHG]

I personally wouldn't be bothered much if they reduced the amount of chinook I could keep. I'm just a rec fisherman though that fishes about 50 days a year . I think for anything to change it would need to be changes to everyone across the board. You can't tell one sector to reduce while others carry on and rape. Maybe it's just me but I personally can't stand the constant pictures online of guides spreading springs, lings , yellow eye and Hali all over the dock. It doesn't impress me that guys are using their knowledge and a network of other guides in the area to absolutely devastate what is supposed to be a shared resource to pad your pockets and fill some foreigners cooler . Maybe its time we go to one spring a day vs two, maybe it's time we don't allow out of country people to fly in for 3 days and leave with coolers full of fish that take years and years and grow to legal size. I know these people spend money here. But will they continue spending money here when all the fish are gone? I doubt it. So why wait until that happens.

You know guys, I got a text yesterday from one of the large Lodges in Haida Gwaii I frequent, and he said he wanted to give me the heads up they were already 65% sold for 2018.

based on what I seen this year with the massive influx of foreigners, (over 80%) I think odds are that's who is flooding the Lodges for 2018.. I have been going up there for over 8 years strait & I never seen it like that before.. It could be an anomaly & just my timing, but regardless it happened.

Now, this has me a little worked up... I have always been one to support & defend Lodges as they have been a means for me to access and fish these great Canadian waters. But I am starting to see things a little differently now. I guess I have had a rude awakening that I just didn't see before.

Trip cost are rising as they are now all selling for top dollar...Now even a year ahead of time.... It's going to start pricing out the average Canadian, because its got me priced out.

 

[wishiniwasfishin1]

You know guys, I got a text yesterday from one of the large Lodges in Haida Gwaii I frequent, and he said he wanted to give me the heads up they were already 65% sold for 2018.

based on what I seen this year with the massive influx of foreigners, (over 80%) I think odds are that's who is flooding the Lodges for 2018.. I have been going up there for over 8 years strait & I never seen it like that before.. It could be an anomaly & just my timing, but regardless it happened.

Now, this has me a little worked up... I have always been one to support & defend Lodges as they have been a means for me to access and fish these great Canadian waters. But I am starting to see things a little differently now. I guess I have had a rude awakening that I just didn't see before.

Trip cost are rising as they are now all selling for top dollar...Now even a year ahead of time.... It's going to start pricing out the average Canadian, because its got me priced out.

And, ONE of those larger lodges could easily catch (keep or release with unknown mortality rates) 25,000 - 40,000 salmon a season. There are a lot of large lodges up and down the coast.

 

[wildmanyeah]

And, ONE of those larger lodges could easily catch (keep or release with unknown mortality rates) 25,000 - 40,000 salmon a season. There are a lot of large lodges up and down the coast.

are thoes the same lodges that get busted for pre fishing for their quests and keeping way more than there possession limits in their freezers so they are always ready to send their guests home with their limit of hali and chinook even if their quests don't catch?

 

[Aces]

are thoes the same lodges that get busted for pre fishing for their quests and keeping way more than there possession limits in their freezers so they are always ready to send their guests home with their limit of hali and chinook even if their quests don't catch?

And, ONE of those larger lodges could easily catch (keep or release with unknown mortality rates) 25,000 - 40,000 salmon a season. There are a lot of large lodges up and down the coast.

Say what? 40,000 salmon???

Let's see your stats cuz i have serious doubts on that number

 

[wildmanyeah]

Say what? 40,000 salmon???

Let's see your stats cuz i have serious doubts on that number

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...gwaii-fined-35k-for-illegal-fishing-1.3949159

It was, still is pretty common practice for these lodges to load up their freezers and if fishing's slow they can still send their guests home with fish.

If fishing is slow one day and the next day is hot. I have been offered from guides that they will put catch against their limits that day. So I can go home with a full possession.

That I deny of course

I can't speak for wishiniwasfishin1 stats

 

[Aces]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...gwaii-fined-35k-for-illegal-fishing-1.3949159

It was, still is pretty common practice for these lodges to load up their freezers and if fishing's slow they can still send their guests home with fish.

I can't speak for wishiniwasfishin1 stats

10,000 possession limits