Stamp River Springs

[BigIron]

A Plea of sorts here Folks:

The Stamp Springs are in SERIOUS trouble! At this point, there are less than 1,500 counted into the system. That number is CRITICALLY low! Scary in fact!

And while we all hope beyond hope there will be some miraculous late surge, all indications suggest that ain't likely to happen.

And yes, The Dino has left retention of the few that remain open for the recreational community in the river, this is being done for purely political reasons! They well understand the dire condition the run is in, and are running as hard as they can to cover their asses in this regard. By leaving the bonking of springs open, they can now point directly at us and state that we were very much part of the problem!

Time for us to wake up and realize we are being played! Time for us to recognize that should we kill any more, we are directly contributing to the problem beyond what we already have. Time for us to Man-Up and say: Just Don't Do It! And time for us to spread the word that even if The Dino cannot admit to his grevious mistake, that we can see the error of this foolish opening, and that we care enough to leave them alone! Time for us to honor the fish that we claim to respect and admire so much, and allow the few that do remain to carry their loads to the spawning gravels as they should!

I've been chatting up a LOT of folks on the flow these days. The vast majority have NO idea of just how bad things are regarding the springs, and I have seen many large dead spawners lying on the beach as a consequence. Most I have chatted to express regret over killing the ones they have once they do understand. My plea to you all is to Please leave them be, and to help get the word out to others to do the same!

Nog - Very Worried we are witnessing the demise of this once Great Run!

[BigIron]

Reprinted from another Forum (with permission of course):

Summer Steel's response to the query: Maybe someone can explain how they got an increase indicator for 57000 Chinooks from 47000 and how we only have less than 2000 now?

Easy, it's called PFS, political fish science. At 47,000, there is simply no commercial TAC under this years plan to place more naturally spawning fish on the grounds. Since DFO can't go against their own numbers, they need to find a way to increase the run size, at least on paper, to justify an opening. This is done by taking scale samples from the commercial openings in Nootka Sound. Amazingly, they find that there are significantly more Conuma chinook than first thought, ergo there MUST be more Somass chinook as well. Plus the scale samples from DEAD Somass fish they have just harvested MUST mean the run is bigger than they first said it was. Sounds like solid science to up the return by 10,000 , coincidentely, just enough to allow a 7000 piece commercial harvest. This, together with the FN "food" & economic opportunity fisheries taking at least another 7000 fish, ( most likely more due to some slick counting methods at the processors ), leads to the early part of the return being devastated. Why try so hard to justify a commercial opening?? Follow the money. The fishing industry is comprised of three components, harvest, process, & sale. Any person involved in just one of these components can no longer make a living doing it. Ask IronNoggin how much any of the area G trollers made this year, how many of them need a second job just to make ends meet nowadays. Talk to a seasonal fish plant worker & see how their retirement package is shaping up, or go see a part time grocery clerk & ask them if they worked more than 20 hours this week. Now, find the guy who has his fingers in all three pies. He is getting a cut from every part of the business, so life is good for him.The only thing he needs is for there to be enough fish to justify the openings. Whether those fish exist or not is besides the point, as long as there can be some harvest, there will be money to be made. Now, you can bet your last salmon that these decisions are coming from back east. The lobbyists are in place to remind the Gov. officials of where their campaign funds came from & what is expected in return.Until this entire backroom process is dragged out into the light, perhaps under a Judicial review, nothing is going to change. Lets face it, no reasonable people would make the types of decisions we are seeing now unless there was another agenda in play. Managing a fishery isn't rocket science. You look at the best available science, wait until the fish actually show up, put numbers on the spawning grounds FIRST, & always, always err on the side of the fish. It can't possibly be continuously done so poorly year after year without anyone ever losing their jobs unless there was something else at work.

Now if we do the math, that is roughly 14,000 fish gone, so where are the other 43,000 fish?? ( That is supposing that those 10,000 "extra" fish existed in the first place ) Well, if you listen to our friends at DFO, 31,000 fish have been caught by sport anglers so far this year on the WCVI. While that number may indeed be somewhat accurate, what it fails to mention is, that is the TOTAL chinook catch so far this year, NOT the Somass fish we are talking about here. That number includes ALL the chinook caught from May until present, with most of those being offshore southbound fish ( Thanks Yanks ) The Somass chinook don't start showing up inshore in any numbers in Barclay Sound until August. I highly doubt the sports fishery with its one over one under rule made that much of an impact on these fish. So, that begs the questions: Where are they? Where did they go? Are they still coming? Were they ever there? Only time will give us some of the answers, lets just hope they are the answers we are looking for.

One last note, as others have already expressed here, please try not to harvest any chinooks right now, especially the big ones. I know it is open & it's legal, but please, if you feel you absolutely HAVE to kill one, please consider taking one of the many, many 3-6lb jacks that are everywhere right now. These fish are rather easy to catch with roe & IMHO are much better eating than the big ones anyways.

MOST Excellent synopsis of this year's situation I've seen yet.

Cheers,
Nog

[BigIron]

RECREATIONAL - Salmon,
RECREATIONAL - Fin Fish (Other than Salmon)

Fishery Notice - Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Subject: FN0787-RECREATIONAL - Salmon: Somass Chinook Recreational Closure and increase in Coho daily limit

Chinook escapement to the Somass and Stamp Rivers is substantially below the
2009 goal and management action is required to protect Somass chinook to meet
hatchery brood stock and spawning requirements. In consultation with Area 23
Sport Fishing Advisory Committee advisors and local First Nations, it was
agreed that current fishing pressure on chinook salmon holding in the rivers
should be reduced.

Coho escapement to the Somass River is stronger than pre-season expectations,
providing an opportunity for increased recreational access.

Effective immediately to 23:59 hours October 31, 2009 the following will take
place for chinook salmon:

- Chinook non-retention will be in effect in the non-tidal portion of the
Somass River and in the Stamp River,
- The tidal portion of the Somass River will close to recreational fin fishing
as described below:
That portion of the Somass River from the tidal boundary at Paper Mill Dam
seaward to a line commencing at a boundary sign in upper Alberni Harbour
situated at 49°14.19 north latitude and 124°50.23 west longitude then through
the southern most point of Hoik Island then to the flashing green light at the
mouth of the Somass River then due east to a boundary sign on the opposite
shore.

Effective immediately to 23:59 hours December 31, 2009 the daily limit for coho
salmon in the open areas of the Stamp and Somass Rivers will increase from two
(2) to four (4) per day, either hatchery marked or unmarked.