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Fishin’ Corner: Stand up for your fishing rights

“Don’t give in to DFO and their quota bureaucracy that the fish belong to everyone.”
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STEVEN CAHILL PHOTO Writer/Guide/Angler Steven Cahill holds up his catch, a beautiful Tyee salmon.

Well the season has finally come to an end and it certainly has had its ebbs and flows.

We definitely noticed the impact of the sockeye seiners to our rec fishing this year, not to mention all the halibut bycatch in which we won’t notice right away but will in the near future. Nothing like being so self entitled that it’s literally their right to wipe out an entire species and call it a food fishery?

This writer/guide/angler calls BS. I recently spoke to some colleagues in Campbell River and they say they did not get any sockeye at all this year due to the seiners. I ask you how is this possible?

They also say the commercial First Nation fishery wiped out all the halibut which are now just finally returning almost 20 years later.

On top of this, our counterparts in Campbell River have to deal with the one chinook a day nonsense preferred diet.

I wonder what researcher called an Orca on the phone and asked them “Hey man, is that what you like to eat?”

Or followed them around with an enormous pooper scooper bag to prove that’s all they eat? I call shenanigans, and I mean that in the politest way possible.

In any event, I leave you all with this. Stand up for your fishing rights. Don’t give in to DFO and their quota bureaucracy that the fish belong to everyone.

With that being said, the SFAB board is working on putting together a donation policy to your local water shed to help the release of hatchery fish into our sports fishery and help enhance wild stock runs.

There are many theories behind the pros and cons on this issue and I simply don’t have enough space here to write out the debate on the issue.

Only that due to the lack of DFO’s involvement, it is up to all anglers everywhere to do their part here.

So until next time, tight lines and tips up and we’ll see you all out on the water real soon. P.S. Don’t forget to visit Shoprite Marine to get all your prawn fishing gear and bait.

Steven Cahill is a Field Tester for Gibbs Delta Tackle, Oki Tackle and freelance writer as well as Owner of Hook’n Them Up Fishing Charters located in Port McNeill & Port Hardy Toll-Free:1-855-805(FISH)3474 Cell 250-230-0579 www.vanislefishing.com



Tyson Whitney

About the Author: Tyson Whitney

I have been working in the community newspaper business for nearly a decade, all of those years with Black Press Media.
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