Salmon Future Needs Real Action: One Man's Opinion

By Ben Meisner

We may be getting  14 new federal fisheries officers along with a group of habitat specialists.  The extra staff will do little to fix the problem of the Fraser River salmon unless we are prepared to hand over the necessary teeth to do the job.

It is pointless to have a fisheries officer standing on the bank watching the fishery being decimated under the guise that it is for ceremonial purposes, while people line the bank waiting to buy the catch.

We know what the problem of the salmon fishery is on the Fraser, it is in large measure do to the natives who have decided that money comes before conservation and the future of the salmon be dammed. Oh to be sure, the high water temperatures are playing a part in the reduction of the species but if the fish can’t arrive at the spawning beds to fight the water temperatures that reason becomes pointless.

Unless we are able to stop this practice it is only a matter of years before the salmon of the Fraser will be a thing of the past.

We are constantly blaming the conservation officers for the lack of enforcement but the orders run down hill and the person at the bottom, while knowing the extent of the problem, is unable to do anything about it.

Added to this problem has been the muzzling of staff at DFO, if you control the voice eventually you can control the forum. Our dismal record along the Fraser speaks for itself.

I’m Meisner and that is one man’s opinion.

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