Fishery Notice: More Nass openings

Here is a Fishery notice notifying of 2 more gillnet openings up in the Nass Area 3. As mentioned in the North Coast Update post, here we have DFO sanctioning 2 more gillnet openings while the sockeye run is tracking below average according to Nisga'a Fisheries reports.
The reasons for trying to squeeze in numerous openings up in the Nass are many, including; the Nass is out of sight/out of mind; DFO managers are always under pressure to provide 'opportunity' for commercial fishermen and the remote Nass provides an easy out for them; plus, Managers need the gillnetters to catch their 75% 'allocation' so that the seines can have a shot to get their 25% share also....so the only way to get the gillnet allocation is to pump up the openings and hope some fish show up.
Notice, the 'request' to release any live chinook caught as runs are rebuilding in the area. Well, obviously this isnt working as the catch reports show ZERO chinook released. So, this means either gillnets kill 100% of these fish on arrival at the boat....or gillnetters are just taking advantage of lacklustre regulations and profiting from killing these 'extra' bycatch fish.

And yet again notice the lame '90 mesh regulation' where gillnetters gets 50% more net at the bottom for adding a small weedline (about 36 inches) at the top. When will DFO get rid of this stupid regulation? As if 1200 foot long net needs anymore help killing non-target fish....

 One positive is the announcement of no further Skeena chinook gillnet fishery due to low Tyee chinook numbers. Makes one wonder why they any openings at all? But of course this is more related to fish politcs than actual fish management, so DFO has to open at least one shot for the gillnetters or the Union would whine really badly.

Oh well, hope some Nass sockeye show up to make the escapement before too many gillnet openings are allowed.


Category(s):
COMMERCIAL - Salmon: Gill Net
Fishery Notice - Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Subject: FN0528-COMMERCIAL - Salmon: Gill Net - Area C - Area 3 & 4 - Opening
         
Area 3

Gill nets open for 16 hours from 06:00 hours to 22:00 hours Monday July 4 and Tuesday July 5 in the following areas:
A portion of subarea 3-7 north of a line running from Elliot Point on Somerville Island south to John Point on Hogan Island, and thence southwest along the shore of Hogan Island to Father Point to Maskelyne Point on Maskelyne Island (Emma Pass closure).  And the portion of 3-7 southeast of one nautical mile off the shore of Wales Island and southeast of 0.5 nautical mile off the shore of Pearse Island (this is a ribbon boundary off Wales and Pearse Islands). 

A portion of subarea 3-12 southeast of 0.5 nautical miles of the shore of Pearse Island (this is a ribbon  boundary off Pearse Island).

Max mesh 137 mm. Max depth 60 meshes, Max hang ratio 3:1, Corkline to web distance min 0 cm max 45 cm; or, max depth 90 meshes, max hang ratio 3:1, corkline to web distance min 1.2 m to a max 1.5 m. Variation Order 2011-NCSAL-006 and 2011-NCSAL-007.

The target species in Area 3 is Nass sockeye.

Note new non-possession rules:
All gill net fisheries in Area 3 are being conducted with non-retention, non-possession of chum, coho & steelhead. None of these species may be aboard a vessel that is engaged in fishing unless they are being revived in the revival tank immediately prior to release.

There are a number of weak Chinook stocks in Area 3 that are currently in the rebuilding phase. Fishers are requested to release all live Chinook to the water with the least possible harm. Operating revival tanks are mandatory and may be used to revive fish prior to release.

Area 4

The Chinook index past the Skeena River Tyee Test Fishery continues to track at low level, a second Chinook Gill net fishery in Area 4 is not anticipated for 2011.