Public Enemy # 1 to the sports fishery I think is an unfair characterization. As you know, the Skeena was his baliwick for numerous years when he lived in Smithers....I saw him regularly on the Skeena and Bulkley back in the 80’s fishing with his dad so at least he had the street cred of also being a fisherman...
I suspect it’s precisely because of all the work he did on the Skeena systems that he is so vociferous and in management’s face when he sees the glaring evidence of stunning neglect and mismanagement of the wild steelhead resource since he retired
If you had been a fishery manager for FLNRORD in August, 2021, would you have allowed the rec fishery (translation = lodges and guides) to proceed?
I remind you, the Tyee Test Results projected 5,800 returning steelhead. In 1992, the Pacific Stock Assessment Review Committe, based on projections of aggregate steelhead smolt production for the mainstem Skeena and its tributaries and calculations taking into account the available square kilometers of spawning habitat, estimated a wild adult steelhead carrying capacity (potential production) of 80,000 to 120,000 adults. Let’s be conservative and cut that number in half—- 40,000 —-60,000 adult wild steelhead.
Now, all of a sudden the Tyee Test Numbers in 2021 are projecting a 90% decline in returning adult wild steelhead to the Skeena system
Now, as a fishery manager for FLNRORD, you get to chose one of Two Doors:
Door No 1: Public Enemy No. 1.
Door No. 2: Lodge Owner Lapdog
