[newsman]

Here is what I know.

#1: My father was good freinds with the Cheif of the Coq band back in the early 70's. Cheif Coq. as he liked to be called gave many oral histories of the area. The word Coquitlam is an anglosized langauge for Kwayhquitlum (Red Fish Land). In honour of the late Cheif I named the fly fishing club I coordinated at Kwayhquitlum Middle school the Kwayquit Fly Fishers.

#2: I am freinds with Vance Reach who heads the Hatchery on the Coquitlam. Vance told me that the coq. was a dead river until the Hatchery built in the early 80's brought it back. I can verify his claims from my experinces fishing it from child hood until I got my drivers licence. Yes it is true the DFO made the hatchery staff stop producing Steelhead. There was actually a stand off between DFO and Fisheries (Guns Drawn) over releasing the immature Steelhead to their death when the mandate was served. (I am not at liberty to relay any more about the stand off than that.)

#3: The Sockeye run was substancial to the point that they were used as a political tool in passing the dam project. The key snake in the spin doctoring had the gereral public that the Sockeye were polluting the water system and that by eliminating them the river could privide safe drinking water. A few years back documents, letters, and photos were shown to me. The lies, and illegalities that I saw documented in print, pertaining to the building that dam are discussting. I asked for a cop of what I read but permition was not granted.

#4: I also have on trusted sources that the final death blow to the Salmon fishery was the gravel miners. I was told that anybody who lived in the area during the 50's would have seen the steam shovels lined up as far as the eye could see, from the hwy north. As I was told the gravel companies had shovels right in the river and scraped out all the gravel from the hyw to the dam, wiping out the Pink run.

 

[masterbaiter]

I hear that Hydro is now doing a great job of flushing the eggs right out of the reds by diverting a ton of water out of Bunzen Lk. Thanks for spoiling the Hard work of many people.

 

[Coho Cody]

The river will be supposedly running 4ft higher than normal for this time of year, for the next 3 months.

 

[oakey]

Please excue the rant

Every 4 years we get to get rid of the politicians that we do not like and vote to elect the politicians that we will soon learn to not like

However - the best thing about this system is we get to hear all the mud slinging and see all the skeletons in the closet that the press digs up

What amazes me is that the mirrior of our lives is the enviroment around us and yet there seems to be no constant pressure from the press helping to identify these issues and then keep on them and make them a political issue.

Maybe we do not have any real hope until someone takes up the torch and holds it high all the time and for a long time

Maybe the Vanc Sun with it's articles on Simon Fraser will be a start - But we need to be in the face of the all politicians so they cannot escape from view on these topics and they need to be made aware that the enviroment needs to have its day with compensation and settlements just like everyone else seems to.

We are the stewards of our lands - we need to make those in charge remember the history of how we got to this state and make them work diligently to correct the wrongs and make the future right

end of rant - My apologise to all

Oakey

 

[fishortho]

The Vancouver Sun ran a series of articles this summer on the disappearing sockeye and all the various stakeholders in the Fraser River and how they are affected by the salmons' demise. Perhaps if they have some history they may be able to get additional information on the Coq and bring it to the publics attention.
The possibility of linking the sockeye numbers to the management locally would be a good start....Let the spindoctors do their work......It can't hurt a fishery that is currently stumbling along at best......Ortho 8)

 

[oakey]

thanks regrading the salmon in the Fraser series in the sun - I am printing off the series to re-read and keep

Oakey

 

[JetBoat Jim]

The worst thing to happen to that river is the passing of Al Grist, I remember him saying "They'll have to throw me in jail to make me stop putting steelhead in that river."

 

[troutchaser]

Here's an issue that I think we can ALL agree on. So having said that, I hope that people don't burn out their typing fingers by venting their frustrations only on this board. Write your local MP and let them know you feel. They need to be reminded constantly that the people that voted them in have issues that need to be heard. This is definately one. All the venting on BCFR, although therapeutic at times, will ultimately fall on deaf ears.

For decades, Lower Mainland developers have shown that they don't give a crap about those 'pesky' trickles of salmon bearing water that get in the way of building a nice condominium. Let someone in power know how you feel about this, and ask for their opinion on the matter. It may still fall on deaf ears, but I guarantee that a little bit of the load will be taken off our collective chests.

Have a good weekend all. Go catch a chromer, they're still out there!

 

[flyguy]

Don't just stop at writing your MP also write into your local paper. Write a letter to the editor and ask it to be published. This will draw all kinds of attention as every house hold recieves the paper. You would be surprised what kind of reaction you would get.

Over the years I have written many letters to my local paper regarding issues around fishing and have had allkinds of responses. A letter I wrote this year even promted DFO to come and have a look at what goes on on the river and fines where writen. It even changed the thinking of some anglers on how they handle the fish they hooked.