[Reeman]

Well some good news for a change. A great little bit about how a small thing like protecting fish eggs from being killed by creosote can make a difference. This article in the Vancouver Sun says it all. http://www.vancouversun.com/Volunte...ring+spawn+Vancouver+False/9527261/story.html Anyway the entire West Coast of British Columbia is littered with pilings that kill herring spawn and this fact goes down to our stupidity in the past. Here in Victoria we have almost succeeded in completely eliminating those pesky herring in the Gorge. And all up the coast we have had equal success removing the herring threat. We still drive piles on eel grass flats in shallow mud area so we can do things like boom our logs. Before we ship them off for someone else to saw up. We are still in the process of busily removing herring from the environment. Until the herring threat is removed it will not be safe fishing for chinooks in British Columbia. If there were dangerous levels of herring in the Georgia Straight and along our coasts then we would be in real danger of having a world class sport fishery for chinooks that could rival the extremely dangerous chinook fisheries of the Great Lakes. Why is commercial and sport fishing for chinooks dangerous, you may ask. Well the answer is simple it might endanger the fish farming industry in Canada, which is the key to the future of a few Norwegian fish mongers and their cronies in Ottawa! http://www.bcfishingreports.com/forums/images/smilies/wallbash.gif

 

[Rib]

Not sure why this thread of yours was closed Reeman, but I noticed it was, and there is no record here as to why, so I reopened it for you.

 

[Reeman]

Not sure why this thread of yours was closed Reeman, but I noticed it was, and there is no record here as to why, so I reopened it for you.

Ok I closed it because I didn't want to start a flame. As such the post seemed more like a little op ed than rather than a productive topic about the obvious environmental issues regarding the abuses we all contribute to on the west coast. If you notice my posts lately have been concentrated on the obvious precipitous decline in Chinook salmon returns to streams on Vancouver Island and the entire west coast for that matter. Starving surviving populations has always been a very effective and convient method of genocide. These issues go far back in history, a suposition about which I am currently writing a treatise in the form of a novel. So yes feedback is appreciated but please do not take anything I write to be an attack upon any particular group of humans, as unfortunately I am still a member of society.:cheers:

 

[zap brannigan]

i think the chinook daily/yearly quota should be reduced in the salt but what do i know im just a penny-less sporty with no say.

 

[arrgh!]

I don't think it would take much to produce an inexpensive plastic wrap that could cover creosote pilings below the water line. Something similar to the protective wrap for scuba air hoses springs to mind.

 

[Jacob77]

I watched a documentary the other day about the Japan tsunami. A lot of garbage they say a mass the size of Texas collected and than the ocean has beat it into pieces the size of soil- small shards of plastic. And they were showing tuna had been eating it. The showed the inside of ones stomach that was full of the big shards. They said that the herring are eating the small pieces. Just my two cents. ( not sure how to do that emoticon)

 

[Reeman]

I don't think it would take much to produce an inexpensive plastic wrap that could cover creosote pilings below the water line. Something similar to the protective wrap for scuba air hoses springs to mind.

More to the point and again thanks. Yes Yes lets start to examine solutions the problems are obvious. Here is another one, in areas of eel grass where log booming has killed off the flora on the bottom similar experiments in restoration of crucial habit could just as easily be undertaken. For instance in all the bays where tree bark has caused a toxic environment on the bottom where the herring spawn, measures could be undertaken to restore a layer of less toxic sediment.

We need to actively bounce around these ideas, in that way the negativity of the situation can be dealt with.

I keenly remember working as a flunky cooking and cleaning in Coal Harbour (Vancouver Island across from Port Hardy) back in 1970. I caught fresh herring for smoking and snacking right off the docks. The guys working on the road to the mine up the inlet at the time all appreciated having some smoked herring. Later I cooked up a nice steelhead one of them caught in the Quatse. Then proceeded to get my but kicked on my gear until I learned how to not to use bass fishing techniques on larger steelhead with spinning gear which was all I had at the time! LOL.:
The numbers of fish in the area were astonishing. A local crabber who lived next to where the camp was located brought us a swack of live crab which he could not afford sell to the fishmonger because the price was too low. It took my whole day off to cook it and shell it. There must have been over a hundred large dungeness. And he had caught them in less than four hours in three 48 inch traps using herring that I gave him.

The nitrogen cycle of ocean plankton to herring, squid, shrimp, needle fish, anchovies which is then transfered to Chinooks and all salmon that die in rivers and creeks is essential for the health of our coastal environment and if we do nothing to restore what is left of the environment that we have ruined then we do not deserve to call ourselves British Columbians IMO.

 

[bassrock]

Wow a 100 crabs in 4 hours with 3 traps...lots of crabs still left in Coal Harbour ?

 

[scissorbill]

Read it all.
1970.
Port Hardy
Back in the seventies when I was but a wee brat we bought a dozen or two and raked for the rest.
(The herring that is...)
But everything was plentiful
A spoiled era for sure.

 

[Reeman]

Wow a 100 crabs in 4 hours with 3 traps...lots of crabs still left in Coal Harbour ?

The crab at one time followed the herring and ate the dead ones so yes if you knew where and when to set it is like picking cherries. Those days are long gone and the crab populations have also crashed in areas where there is no dead fish to feed on. I did not count the crabs but like I said it took me a whole day and the meat harvest was over 8 lbs of prime cooked crab for making into cakes and the like. Back then you shelled the carapace of the crab before you cooked it and no one cooked them Chinese style (except the Chinese) so you can eat the ofal, or what the gourmets call crab brains....lol Naturally if you consider the pollution levels in the Georgia Straight and around sewage and industrial outfalls, it is not a good idea to eat them whole at least on our coast line.