Dear Sir
With the recent announcement in regard to DFO being forced to close the fishing season, I have been left to review what I know about families and their food supply.
The northwest is an area where community members and their families depend on fish stock. There are also many community members who make trips from cities such as Vancouver or Victoria in order to can sockeye for the winter season.
I have seen families who go out on their little boats to get a day’s worth of fish. Some families who don’t have a boat even go out to check their net by pulling the net in with just their personal strength.
Although I do understand and feel concern in regard to the low number of fish that have been reported, I feel at a loss at what can be done about the lower return.
I have to wonder, just how and what can we do to regulate the Alaskan fisherman.
Aaron Hill from the Watershed Watch Salmon Society and others from other groups have published letters expressing their concern that the Alaska fishery is causing even greater harm.
Aaron Hill reported that “the Alaskan commercial fisheries are still going right across the border and hammering these fish.”
Commercial fisherman such as these are only thinking about the future in relation to their wallets and giving no heed to the future of our fish stock.
Mary-Ann Speirs,
Hazelton, BC
