Canada closing 60% of commercial fishing

[Flaming Antler Outdoors]

Interesting, wondering what impact this will have on U.S commercial industry? The U.S and Canadian governments work together on the west coast salmon conservation and policies.

https://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/ottawa-to-close-60-per-cent-of-commercial-salmon-fisheries-to-conserve-stocks

[greenhead_killer]

Well, that’s one way to raise the price on seafood. Gonna be like lumber, the stock is there, but why not manipulate the market for a bit and get the huge bang for the littlest buck

[Tbar]

Where do you read they are closing 60%? I did read 60% affected but that could and probably does mean different things, Iwould like to see the details.  Hopefully they will discuss intercept impacts in detail. 

[Bullkllr]

"...Close 60%..." was the headline, but the article did lack detail to make that or the "...60 per cent of commercial and First Nations communal fisheries will be affected" exactly clear.

Knowing how these things usually go, the 40% they keep open will target Washington/Oregon stocks.

[trophyhunt]

would closing all salmon seasons commercial and sport even help the salmon recover to glory day status? I'm asking if it was closed for like 4 years?

[Jake Dogfish]

It would, but we would never do it.
Even if we did, we would just wipe them out again.

[Stein]

would closing all salmon seasons commercial and sport even help the salmon recover to glory day status? I'm asking if it was closed for like 4 years?

Depends what glory status means.  It won't bring it back to 300 years ago numbers but it would undoubtedly increase the numbers to some degree in at least in some areas.  For terminal fisheries, that wouldn't have any impact.  I don't think it would have hardly any impact on some of the incredibly close to going away fisheries either, they have problems that go long and far above hooks and nets.

On the other side of the coin, there are plenty of examples of shutting fishing down and it never comes back or even improve to an appreciable degree.

I guess the real question is what fisheries would benefit from increased breeding fish?  It's probably a bunch but not all of them.

The big problem is we don't really know what the big problems are and in the cases where we do we pretend we don't.  WDFW has no problem heavily curtailing or closing recreational fishing down where necessary, so check that one of the list.  They pretty much turned all the land they own into salt marshes after losing that one in court, check that off the list.  They replaced some culverts after losing that in court too, so check that one off.  I'm not sure what else is on the list, but it doesn't seem to be much.

[JimmyHoffa]

would closing all salmon seasons commercial and sport even help the salmon recover to glory day status? I'm asking if it was closed for like 4 years?

I doubt it.  You'd still have seasons for shrimp, squid, sardines, anchovies, herring, etc.  Pressure on them would probably go up, too.  At the same time, wouldn't seals/sea lions start to increase?

[WSU]

"...Close 60%..." was the headline, but the article did lack detail to make that or the "...60 per cent of commercial and First Nations communal fisheries will be affected" exactly clear.

Knowing how these things usually go, the 40% they keep open will target Washington/Oregon stocks.

That looks correct. I looked through the closures and the ocean troll season isn’t on the list. It appears to be mostly local gillnet and seine seasons.

[dilleytech]

would closing all salmon seasons commercial and sport even help the salmon recover to glory day status? I'm asking if it was closed for like 4 years?

Closing to sport in the ocean wouldn’t have much impact. Closing to commercial would greatly increase our runs immediately and we would start seeing big chinook again. But that wouldn’t happen. And not all commercial fishing is bad or over fished.

[Flaming Antler Outdoors]

would closing all salmon seasons commercial and sport even help the salmon recover to glory day status? I'm asking if it was closed for like 4 years?

Closing to sport in the ocean wouldn’t have much impact. Closing to commercial would greatly increase our runs immediately and we would start seeing big chinook again. But that wouldn’t happen. And not all commercial fishing is bad or over fished.

Are big CHINOOK genetics gone? We catch 4 year fish all the time and they seem to be 20-28lbs at best. I wonder

[ASHQUACK]

Are big CHINOOK genetics gone? We catch 4 year fish all the time and they seem to be 20-28lbs at best. I wonder
[/quote]

There's two reasons we don't get as many big Chinook any longer. The 1st is at the hatcheries they bonk the biggest fish before spawning them. And net mesh size kills all the bigger fish and let's  the smaller ones through. If hatcheries would start spawning big fish with big fish we'd get more big fish in the returns.

[Flaming Antler Outdoors]

Are big CHINOOK genetics gone? We catch 4 year fish all the time and they seem to be 20-28lbs at best. I wonder

There's two reasons we don't get as many big Chinook any longer. The 1st is at the hatcheries they bonk the biggest fish before spawning them. And net mesh size kills all the bigger fish and let's  the smaller ones through. If hatcheries would start spawning big fish with big fish we'd get more big fish in the returns.
[/quote]

The real reason is because genetics continue to be watered down.  You say the hatcheries bonk the biggest fish before spawning them? What does that mean? I assume you mean hatcheries don't let the big fish spawn naturally? I agree if that is what you mean. Net mesh size probably says more to commercial fishing impacts than current capability of chinook salmon.  We are currently experiencing the impacts of unknown poor management 10-20- and even 30 years ago. They didnt know the glory days would end, and now we have a "meat fishery" basically how much can we produce and harvest in the fishing industry. Nets in the rivers kill any attempt to save big and any other salmon run.  Think about it? Salmon go to sea after trying to survive *censored* conditions in the rivers, esturaries, bird and seal and sealion populations that are off the chart, then they try to survive 2-4 years in the open oceans and return to 50" of open river mouth only to find a tribal net covering 60% of the river. 

[Stein]

As far as I know, monster chinook stay out an additional year for whatever reason.  I would think that hatcheries don't have nearly as much genetic variation and thus you don't end up with as many that vary from the pack.  I would guess you also need very productive oceans which we obviously don't have when you have a return of 4# coho a couple years in a row.

[dilleytech]

would closing all salmon seasons commercial and sport even help the salmon recover to glory day status? I'm asking if it was closed for like 4 years?

Closing to sport in the ocean wouldn’t have much impact. Closing to commercial would greatly increase our runs immediately and we would start seeing big chinook again. But that wouldn’t happen. And not all commercial fishing is bad or over fished.

Are big CHINOOK genetics gone? We catch 4 year fish all the time and they seem to be 20-28lbs at best. I wonder

No the genetics aren’t gone. Fish just don’t stand a good chance at surviving in the northern ocean for enough years to get big. More years in the ocean the more of a chance you get caught by a commercial boat. However the Columbia “June hogs” genetics are gone. But no one has caught them in a 100 years or so.