RANTS OR THINGS THAT PISS ME OFF SPORT FISHING REG’S

Today’s rant about Sport Fishing is contemporary and is something that has been very close to my heart for the last few short years. This one ranks very high on my list of things that make me cuss and swear. if my nature wasn’t to be a pacifist it would also make me violent. The issue is the continued restricting of Sport Fisherman’s rights and our ability to enjoy a a sport that many of us have had a lifelong love of. I joined the offshore, ocean fishing sport relatively late in life after receiving a boat from Deysi in 2017. I always loved fishing but had never had the opportunity to be in one place long enough to enjoy it since childhood.

At the time I started here, a sport fisherman was allowed to catch and keep 4 salmon each day and to retain 8 in their possession for each trip. In my mind I could live with that, although many of the locals were already steaming at the thought of only being allowed to catch that few. however I made peace with 4 and 8 on a trip. That lasted a little more than one year when the Fisheries for Canada changed the rules to only allow a daily catch of 2 and a trip limit of 4 salmon. Now that got my hackles up! At the same time it was announced that 60,000,000 salmon had passed thru our area on their spawning migration to the Vancouver area and points south that year.

When I thought of this it became obvious, that all of the Sports Fishermen combined in and around Vancouver Island and all of the visitors that might be fishing while they are here, could NOT EVEN CATCH A PART OF 1 PERCENT OF THAT NUMBER IF THEY FISHED DAY AND NIGHT ALL SUMMER! Now I was mad. Additionally this count was made after the main fishing season was over for most people, who already had their fish for the year separate from this count.

I then remembered the thousands of tonnes the commercial fisheries was allowed to take each year. However, they have/had a large government Lobby to keep their rights in place. Again all of the Sport Fishermen combined and all fishing 7/24 throughout the season would only catch a fraction of the fish that the Commercial interest are allowed to take. I am a supporter of the First Nations people to have the right to fish whenever and wherever they want, without limitation, in order to feed their families and maintain tradition. What I am opposed to is the unlimited catch by some of the people in this group, that take their catch and sell it to the public. That was not the purpose of the law. Now what really incenses me further is the reasoning behind this limitation of sports fisherman’s rights.

Saving food for the Orca’s. OMG they seem to survive well without our interference and for that matter after eating their fill, they missed the 60,000,000 salmon that made it south that year. Now I have a particular problem with someone from Ottawa, treating me like I am to dumb to understand what is happening and thinking I am dumb enough to swallow the Save the Orca Story. I also have a problem with west coast offshore fisheries being legislated from the interior of Canada by people that have never worked in the industry or lived on the ocean.

Lastly, if you still think Sport Fishermen can damage the quantity of salmon off the west coast of Canada, then please consider what the hundreds of thousands of seals consume each year. They basically scarf salmon 7/24/365 in unlimited amounts. Of course man can no longer hunt the seal, so their growth in numbers is out of control and their threat to the fisheries is real. Add sea lions, etc. etc. and again it makes the sport fisherman a very small percent of the catch.

The regulations continue to tighten, now by fish type, maximum size, minimum size, weight, location, etc. Soon there will be no place left to enjoy a day of fishing. With today’s fuel prices and catch lints it makes each salmon caught, cost about $50. I am not going to go into the damage these limits have had on tourism, fishing guides and others associated and dependent on sport fishing for a livelihood. I am spent! What say you?