|
Submitter: garret schumacher
Community: squamish
Date Submitted: August 24, 2011
Summary:
The most sustainable way for recovery of the sockeye would be to only allow personal harvest and close commercial harvest until the salmon stocks have recovered.
|
Submission:
I am writting this submission because I believe there are many contributing factors to the decline of all fish species, in particular the sockeye salmon.
The fact that one year there is a total bann on sockeye harvest and the next there is an opening for a commercial harvest demonstrates the fact that the DFO has no clear idea of what is going on. The most sustainable move to recovery of the sockeye run that could be made is to open the sockeye run for personal harvest only and close commerical harvest until the sockeye salmon stocks have recovered.
A sport fisherman will spend on average of $200 to land a salmon on the boat, this supports local busniess, commercial trade and a connection with the land. This connection with the land is something I believe so many people have lost.
These past few years a woman living in the Broughton Archipelago, (North Vancouver Island) has done multiple research studies demonstarting the direct correlation of fish farm lice to the negative health of wild sockeye salmon fish stocks. When information like this is brought to the attention of the DFO it should not be discredited because of someones education or political status. This information should be used to raise alam, and promt further unbiased studies that is pubically available.
I beleive the fisheries respond with "Crisis Mode" because people at higher levels of management in the DFO are too far removed from their own officers daily work in the feild.
My vision for the Fraser sockeye is to have an average return of 30 million fish back to the river, with no comercial harvest until numbers return to this point. I would like to see the sport fishery marketed to people as the main way to get their fish, or a fishing co-op implemented.
The future of the sockeye is in the education of the public. To understand where the fish come from, what impact they have on the water ways (cleaning chemicals) and how people can make choices in there day to day life that will protect the environment.
The idea that commercial harvest of any fisheries is allowed when issues of conservation and extinction are debated is unacceptable. Stop subsidizing the commercial fisheries! |
