Natives Protest Sockeye Fishing Closures

[thefishgeek]

see the article below

[url "http://skinnymoose.com/fishgeek/2007/08/21/are-natives-above-the-law/"]http://skinnymoose.com/fishgeek/2007/08/21/are-natives-above-the-law/[/url]
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[davetclown]

There was so much in your blog that was not being said.


The fact that the fish were over harvested in the ocean on their return trip to the river I am sure had a roll in the "estimated return count" how else could any one be able to guesstimate any kind of figure unless some one was following each school across the ocean...


But lets just say for sake of argument that a huge number of fish were caught tagged and released with electronic collars and some one got in a boat and followed the school and dove down Nemours times to see the fish being eaten or dieing in the ocean, Don’t you think it would make more sense to take a few tribesmen educate them in to scientist and put them on the monitoring team?


This long neglected short-comings of both US and Canadian governments in keeping those who have the greatest interest in the thick of all scientific studies. With out this any thing handed down to sportsmen or tribesmen will appear only to be propaganda and another infringement on their culture and life style..


Yes this would mean putting tribesmen on expeditions, coastal fishing regulatory agencies, and they would have to be an emissary of a tribal fact finding and would report back directly to tribal consul.


Yes it is the responsibility of the governments to get these people involved in all aspects that affect natural harvesting of fish weather by sport commercials or tribal use....
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[thefishgeek]

I agree with you that natives should be getting more involved with population monitoring, and i think (i certainly would hope) that government agencies would be happy to involve them in such projects. However, they need to be making the effort to become involved. Most state and federal fisheries agencies are under a lot of financial pressure and resources allocated towards outreach would likely have to be taken from population monitoring and research.

Despite the lack of involvement by the natives, it is an uncontested fact that the salmon runs were incredibly low this year in this particular river. Regardless of the causes (ocean mortality etc,) the bottom line is that allowable harvest was lower and the natives did not respect the law.

I know few details about the particular issue, aside from what I have read in the newspaper articles, but as far as I can tell, their main contention was the fact that recreational fishermen were allowed to continue fishing (albeit for chinook) while the natives could not fish for sockeye. I can understand their frustration, but breaking the law, in my opinion was not a very smart expression of that frustration, especially since it made it look like fish conservation was the last thing on their minds, and greed was the first.
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[davetclown]

Breaking the law.

There in lays the key words.

Using law to make Indians bend to the will of commercial endeavors is and always has been a cheesy maneuver. The Indians know something is wrong even if they cant put their finger on it. Don’t blame them for pointing their finger at anglers, they don’t know any better, they are not educated or informed as to what is going on with their resource.

Nor should you point your fingers at the Indians and solely blame them for protesting a law that unfairly limits their income. They have families to feed too….

Ya might find this hard to believe, there still exist treaties made by governments and Indian tribes.

Tho’ some one may pass a law, it still may not apply to a particular tribe because of treaties made with the government. This may be the case even if it is the same government that makes the law...

So what may seem as a protest, may be an actual exorcize of a right in accordance with a treaty...

Indians do not want to see their resource dwindled to nothing either. It’s not to their best interest. What may need be done in addition to getting the tribesmen or women included with studies, the government needs to include them in the law making decisions, including those decisions at the ocean front where the river dumps out restricting catch limits, set limits to how close fish traps may be set to the river mouth, set seasons as well,

This will upset big business, but lets face it, if big business dose not comply, the end result will be no fish left for any one....

We have proven that we do not indeed have an unlimited supply of resources this includes fish.

It is imperative that every one gets on the same page.

Pointing the finger and heating up tempers with what some one perceives as to what is right and what is wrong will not help the situation from any ones point of view, it will only serve to delay what must be done inevitably. Any one throwing in opinions and feelings and offering comments as to who is doing what is delaying a much needed program that if not implemented soon will with out a doubt lead to a loose-loose-loose-loose-loose situation that may not be reversible..

If a program of this nature is not implemented every one will loose, anglers, commercial fishermen, Indian tribes, government tax base and the fish as a native species of the river…. Every one needs to get on this boat of conservation, You cant expect any one to take the word of any one else, not in this day in time when we have found that words are not always worth the paper they are written on… Ya better hurry, time is running out and there is no room for errors…

I hope this sheds some light on a sencitive subject, and I hope you will include it in your blog for others to see, I give you my permition to use this as long as you give the name of the auther, "Dave T. Clown"
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[thefishgeek]

Dave,

Thanks for your response. I posted it under the comments section within the original blog entry. You bring up some good points, and while I disagree with some, you do offer a potential solution to the problem, which I respect. Too many people complain about things without offering solutions.



Fish Geek
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