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#989841 - 05/29/18 05:36 AM DFO proposing heavy cuts to fishing Sooke area
bushbear Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 08/26/02
Posts: 4709
Loc: Sequim
Just rec'd the following email from the BC Sport Fishing Institute. If you fish Canadian waters in the SJDF, you should send your comments on the proposed closure to the appropriate folks in the Canada Dept of Fisheries and Ocean. LInks are provided. Also, please cc Martin Paish and Chris Bos with your comments.

Thanks


PLEASE READ: VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM SFI-BC AND SVIAC

As you are likely already aware, it has come to our attention that DFO is planning on implementing a closure for Southern Resident Killer whales that will extend from East Point to Otter Point. This will be a full finfish closure that will be in effect from May 1st to Sept 31st each year. It is our expectation that this closure would be in effect for many years if implemented. We are deeply concerned about the impact this will have on our fishery, your businesses and the community of Sooke!

The only chance we have to change this is to make sure that DFO, especially the ministers office, is aware of the impact this will have to you and the community at large.

You need to please do this now! The time window is very short – Wednesday will be too late.

What we are asking you to do is to send an email or make a phone call to the minister of fisheries and oceans as well as the Regional Director general for the Pacific region. They can be reached at:

Regional Director General – Rebecca Reid:
Rebecca.Reid@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
(604) 666-6098

Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc:
min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
(613)-992-1020

Following is some background and key points to make when writing in to the RDG and ministers office or when speaking to them on the phone. Please note that its important that these don’t look like form letters but reflect your personal opinion about the proposed management measures. Its really important that DFO hears your story in your words. We need them to understand how this will impact you and your business as well as the community and the fishery in general. The letter can be very sort – just a couple of paragraphs explaining that you feel betrayed by DFO, that the measures as put in place weren’t what we consulted on, and that the measures as currently planned won’t solve the problem for the whales so we’re being set up to have to do even more in the future.

The community of Sooke was provided a proposal to protect SRKW’s in February of 2018. The community responded to that proposal through two meetings, one for the general public and one with the Sooke Charter Assoc. Over 100 people attended those meetings.
That proposal indicated that either a finfish closure or a salmon only closure from East Point to Sherringham Point would meet DFO’s requirements for the recreational fishery to offer a refuge from competition for prey as well as from acoustic and physical disturbance.
The recreational community provided its advice based on some small adjustment to the boundaries as originally proposed and indicated its willingness to accept measures that could be proven to provide benefit to the whales with the clear understanding that all other sectors who produce the potential for physical and acoustic disturbance would be required to adopt similar measures at the same time.
The proposal as it stands now, to implement a full finfish closure from June 1st to Sept 31st from East Point to Otter Point was never part of DFO’s original proposal. Had it been, the public outcry would have been substantially greater.
SRKW’s have been in a depressed state for several decades, therefore measures put in place to rebuild the population will be in place for a long time. It is therefore critical for DFO to fully understand both the benefit to the whales and the soci-economic impact to the community of these measures before implementing such long-term measures.
To our knowledge no socio-economic impact assessment of these measures has been attempted.
The proposal to include the area from Sherringham Pt. to Otter Pt. will produce profound negative social and economic impact to me and to the community. (Each letter writer to provide his or her details here – DFO needs to hear your story)
The original proposal to implement salmon only or finfish closure starting at Sherringham Point, while still producing some negative impact, would be something the community could live with assuming it is set up to provide protection to whales from all acoustic and physical disturbance.
The proposal as indicated will provide little to no positive benefit to the whales in terms of protection from physical and acoustic disturbance since no measures to reduce either commercial fishing other than salmon, or whale watching pressure have been suggested. There hasn’t been a commercial salmon fishery in the area for decades.
There is a large scale commercial crab fishery that takes place in the area, and it is also a popular spot for the whale watching fleet to interact with the whales, often at close range.
There is no scientific, empirical evidence that proves that the presence of recreational fishing vessels in any way impacts the ability for whales to acquire prey.
It is impossible for the community to understand how DFO considers it acceptable to allow business as usual for every stakeholder that impacts the whales ability to acquire prey except the unproven perception of an impact produced by the recreational fishery.
Does DFO really believe this is providing meaningful, measurable benefit to the whales, or is this proposal which will produce significant harm to the community of Sooke just a cynical political attempt to provide the perception of doing something in order to placate the demands of the ENGO community?
The community of Sooke is deeply concerned that the measures as indicated will provide no measurable benefit to the whales, and therefore there is no hope that these closed areas will ever go away, or that the whales will demonstrate any recovery as a result of their implementation which will result in even more measures being demanded by the ENGO community.
Bottom line – The community of Sooke will accept the original proposal from DFO to implement interim measures starting at Sheringham Pt. with the understanding that similar measures will be implemented to other stakeholders who may impact whales. We urge DFO to undertake the necessary research to fully understand what the impacts of recreational fishing, whale watching, commercial fishing activity, and boating traffic have on the whales ability to effectively forage and then implement measurable, science based measures to actually protect the whales rather than placate the ENGO community.

Write your letter NOW! It only takes a few minutes to help make a difference!

If you could please cc us in your emails it’ll help us track and the report on comments.

Thank you!
Martin Paish – SFI – mpaish@sportfishing.bc.ca
Chris Bos – SVIAC – chris@anglerscoalition.com

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#989933 - 05/31/18 09:27 AM Re: DFO proposing heavy cuts to fishing Sooke area [Re: bushbear]
ericl Offline
Alevin

Registered: 04/07/18
Posts: 19
Seeing as the catch in this area largely consists of Puget Sound fish I am inclined to remain silent & let it happen. Besides this action, notice of measures to achieve a 25% - 35% catch reduction in Fraser river stocks is expected.

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#989945 - 05/31/18 02:41 PM Re: DFO proposing heavy cuts to fishing Sooke area [Re: bushbear]
GodLovesUgly Offline
Repeat Spawner

Registered: 04/20/09
Posts: 1269
Loc: WaRshington
In other news, the SRKW population is still fvcked.
_________________________
When I grow up I want to be,
One of the harvesters of the sea.
I think before my days are done,
I want to be a fisherman.

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#989980 - 06/02/18 08:33 AM Re: DFO proposing heavy cuts to fishing Sooke area [Re: bushbear]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7413
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
I wonder how much of this move is actually aimed at Alaska. In the past, much of the Canadian fisheries were in response to AK actions. Since they had no way to hit AK fish, they would hit Lower-48 fish in hopes that the lower 48 would influence the Great North.

Who is gonna (Americans) scream the loudest over this? It will those from the south who go north for fish. I would guess that the hope is screams from down here would get the Feds to seriously look at SRKW issues besides boat noise.

In the short term, the SRKW need fish to eat. Period. Now. They can't wait for habitat to be fixed or more hatchery production to kick in because that will take at least a few more years of starvation before even beginning to turn things around. Which means that the folks who intercept those fish before the whales need to stop it.

As GLU said, they are screwed.

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#989981 - 06/02/18 09:22 AM Re: DFO proposing heavy cuts to fishing Sooke area [Re: bushbear]
ericl Offline
Alevin

Registered: 04/07/18
Posts: 19
It appears that the ESA listing for Puget Sound Chinook will be used to leverage the SEAK fisheries.

BTW who ever thought catching Columbia river Chinook in SEAK just so they could be flown down to markets here was a good idea?

As to the future of the whales, I have read that the scientists think they could go extinct within 100 years. Still time to try & fail some more I suppose.


Edited by ericl (06/02/18 09:24 AM)

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#989982 - 06/02/18 10:09 AM Re: DFO proposing heavy cuts to fishing Sooke area [Re: bushbear]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7413
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
I think that there are a series of issues demographically with the whales. Apparently only two males are doing the (successful) breeding. Due to food scarcity, females breed less often. Then, of course, if they abort the fetus.....

I think females breed over 20-30 years and then become assistants (aunties). So, while they may be alive the older females aren't gonna help produce more babies. With the dearth of young animals, there are few coming up to become breeders. We may get into the situation where we have, say, 50 whales and they are all non-breeders. The real question to be asked is when the population becomes functionally extinct.

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#989985 - 06/02/18 05:49 PM Re: DFO proposing heavy cuts to fishing Sooke area [Re: bushbear]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7413
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
Something other to add into the modeling. If you assume no successful reproduction, know the ages of the females, the age at which they cease breeding, and mortality rates you can figure when things have to change by. Say the youngest female is 10, females stop breeding at 40 then we have 30 years to get things fixed. Not 100, but 30.

Any reasonably good population dynamics person should already have this fissured out for the SRKW as the worst case.

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#989989 - 06/03/18 06:55 AM Re: DFO proposing heavy cuts to fishing Sooke area [Re: bushbear]
Geoduck Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 08/10/02
Posts: 437
I think demographics probably are a big problem for the Orca. The $64,000 question is how much of the decline is food related and how much is the demographic legacy of the the whale roundups for marine parks that happened in the 60s and 70s?

Certainly the easiest thing to do is open the spigot on hatchery production of their favorite flavor of chinook and see what happens in four years. That will cost $$$.

The cheapest thing to do would be to introduce some counter selection against small size in existing hatchery chinook. Taboo subject for WDFW, but I think doubling the chinook biomass is key and the easiest way to do that is make bigger hatchery fish.

The best thing to do long term is fix that Chinook habitat. Now we're talking Mega-$
_________________________
Dig Deep!

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#989990 - 06/03/18 07:46 AM Re: DFO proposing heavy cuts to fishing Sooke area [Re: bushbear]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7413
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
The easiest and fastest way to increase the number of Chinook and increase adult size is to stop the marine mixed stock fisheries. This must be accompanied by reductions in harvests of the Chinook's food chain since size at age in AK is shrinking. This is different from the long term decreases in both age a size due to fishing which the mixed stock fishery on juveniles and immatures would address.

The long term solution is to fix the habitat but that will cost tons and take decades we don't have.

It would be fairly easy to at least model the impact of the SRKW harvest but it was so long ago that the lack of recent reproduction by otherwise fertile females suggests that they probably "overcame" that removal.

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#989991 - 06/03/18 08:37 AM Re: DFO proposing heavy cuts to fishing Sooke area [Re: ericl]
Bay wolf Offline
Repeat Spawner

Registered: 10/26/12
Posts: 1075
Loc: Graham, WA
Originally Posted By: ericl
BTW who ever thought catching Columbia river Chinook in SEAK just so they could be flown down to markets here was a good idea?


Simple economics. If the fish can be caught, shipped and sold, and there is still money to go into the pockets, then IT WILL BE DONE.

Money drives over harvest and it's gonna take money to fix it.

Here's a really stupid but simple solution. Figure out how much money is gonna be used to fix this problem with the various think tanks, committee's and actual application of those solutions, and then take that money and buy out the fishing fleets starting with those that most impact the fish. Of course, trust but verify. Some money would have to be spent to audit books and verify loss of income. We know how people are. Hey, we pay people to sit around on unemployment, and subsidize a lot industries, so why not pay fishermen to not fish?

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#990010 - 06/04/18 12:55 PM Re: DFO proposing heavy cuts to fishing Sooke area [Re: bushbear]
BW Offline
Spawner

Registered: 04/04/00
Posts: 763
Loc: LAKEWOOD,WA,USA
As long as fish farms are both hated, and unsafe nothing will change. I know we all hate them, but most people can't tell the difference between these wish I were a salmon and the real thing.
_________________________
Everyone's superman behind the keyboard

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#990067 - 06/06/18 07:15 AM Re: DFO proposing heavy cuts to fishing Sooke area [Re: bushbear]
chasbo Offline
Spawner

Registered: 10/09/07
Posts: 822
Loc: oly
" it has come to our attention that DFO is planning on implementing a closure for Southern Resident Killer whales that will extend from East Point to Otter Point. "

Damn! I just got some new harpoons.

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