And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 17:12:43 -0400
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Lynne Moss-Sharman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: BC: salmon ban Carrier Sekani Tribal Council
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Natives call for Stuart River salmon fishing ban
by GORDON HOEKSTRA,
Prince George BC Citizen July 13, 1999
A north central B.C. First Nations group is calling for no sports or
commercial fishery on the early Stuart River sockeye run.The 12,000-strong
Carrier Sekani Tribal Council made the decision following its three-day
annual general assembly held at Stellaquo -- the main village of the
Stellat'en First Nation -- about 200 kilometres west of Prince George.
While the tribal council said it supports its member nations who want to
fish the early Stuart River sockeye this summer, it has learned the
Department of Fisheries and Oceans has downgraded fish returns from 318,000
to 150,000.
"With those numbers and with this year's high water run-off negatively
impacting this run, the CSTC does not call for a (sports or commercial)
fishery on the early Stuart, either by our members or any other First
Nation," said tribal council chief Mavis Erickson. The tribal council
represents eight First Nation groups west of Prince George. The early
Stuart run spawns around the Stuart Lake system near Fort St. James, 150
kilometres northwest of Prince George. "It is important for the public to
understand the southern Fraser River tribes in B.C. are awaiting our
direction on whether or not there will be a harvest of this run," added
Erickson. "It is encouraging that these southern nations are respecting our
role in making management decisions for this run. We are, after all, the
possessors of this run since they spawn in our members nations's
waterways," she said. Department of Fisheries and Oceans officials in
Vancouver responsible for the early Stuart Run could not be reached for
comment on Monday. The mortality on the previous two years of the early
Stuart run has been high. High water levels hampered the fish along the
Fraser River. The Stuart has four separate sockeye runs that return from
the ocean in four-year cycles.
Native fishery on Fraser to result in federal charges
About 10 members of the Cheam band are expected to face charges, officials
say. David Hogben Vancouver Sun Federal fisheries officers prepared charges
Monday against the balaclava- and battle-fatigue-clad Cheam band Indians
who defiantly fished the Fraser River over the weekend.
Evidence gathered by federal department of fisheries and oceans officers
who patrolled the river in boats and helicopters was presented to justice
department lawyers.
Another salmon season has begun on B.C.'s most productive river, and the
usual confrontation is well under way.
"This is, I would say, a fairly typical start to the summer," DFO regional
operations director Terry Tebb said Monday.
He said the dispute was entirely unnecessary. The Cheam could have been on
the river fishing chinook with the permission of the DFO, if they would use
selective fishing methods as some other bands have done, he said.
"They could use a [small] gill net, they could use beach seines and they
could use fish traps," Tebb said.
About 10 people believed to have participated in the Cheam fishery are
expected to be charged with fishing during a closure and obstruction.
Farther up the river, where the waters of the Fraser are squeezed into the
narrow confines of the canyon, members of the Yale band stood on the banks
of the river Monday and scooped up salmon with long-handled dip nets.
They have been returning to the methods their ancestors used thousands of
years ago, before Europeans introduced supposedly more efficient methods of
harvesting wild salmon.
Yale Chief Robert Hope said the dip-net method allows them to take salmon
as the fish seek shelter from the rushing waters and swim close to the banks.
"If they catch a sockeye, it will be immediately returned to the water in
seconds," Hope said.
Because of this ability to select abundant fish and avoid the endangered
species, the Yale fishery has the DFO's blessing.
It is not known how many chinook or scarce early Stuart sockeye the Cheam
members took.
Federal officials said the early Stuart run is returning in numbers far
less than had been expected. Over the weekend, the DFO lowered the estimate
of the returning early Stuart run from 318,000 to 150,000 fish.
Cheam Chief June Quipp said the band members believe they had a legal right
to fish, "according to the laws and the constitution."
Quipp says the constitutional guarantee that native Indians have the first
right to fish for food and ceremonial purposes, after conservation concerns
are met, justified their activity on the river over the weekend.
She expects the courts will back the band's interpretation, because sports
fishermen are taking early Stuart sockeye even though they are aiming at
other species.
Besides that, the DFO took about 4,000 early Stuart in test fisheries
designed to judge the size of the run returning to spawning grounds about
1,000 kilometres from the mouth of the Fraser.
Quipp said the selective fishing methods used by the Yale band are not
practical for her people. She said the river has widened too much for Cheam
fishermen to use the same dip-net methods and that the river was too high
for other methods.
Tebb rejected Quipp's contention that native Indians' rights to fish
supersede those of the test fishery.
"That is a necessary catch. It allows us to measure the stocks and do
proper conservation planning," he said.
Tebb said the sports fishery is open, but only for chinook.
If sports fishermen on the river or in salt water start catching early
Stuart sockeye, Tebb said those fisheries will be closed.
Tom Bird, executive director of the Sports Fishing Institute of B.C., said
there is little danger of anglers damaging the early Stuart run.
"Our catch of them is virtually zero," he said. The early Stuart rarely
strike a lure once they are in the river, and if they do, they must be
released.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Let Us Consider The Human Brain As
A Very Complex Photographic Plate"
1957 G.H. Estabrooks
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FOR K A R E N #01182
who died fighting 4/23/99
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807-622-5407
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
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