DFO’S salmon angling policy is cause for concern
Like many of my fellow anglers, I am gravely concerned with the direction DFO policy on salmon angling is taking. Many are worried that last season’s knee-jerk reaction on the part of DFO, allowing catch and release only in all Newfoundland and Labrador rivers, is the tip of the iceberg with regard to future policy.
At this juncture, I should point out that I am fully in favour of catch and release, done in conjunction with a varied quota of catch and retain for different rivers, so that an avid fisherman can angle all season while taking occasional fish for the pot — a privilege that, in this province, beset on all sides by economic woes and dire predictions of financial disaster, cannot be valued in mere dollars.
The salmon run of 2017, while not as strong as 2016, was not the disaster predicted by DFO and other vested interest groups. In my opinion, an opinion shared by many other experienced anglers, a combination of factors — the unusual amount of pack ice around the eastern shoreline, the subsequent low water and high temperatures in rivers, the late arrival of the caplin on which salmon gorge before entering rivers — caused the salmon to remain in salt water much later than usual.
The veracity of this conclusion can be confirmed by looking at the Northwest River, one of the most closely monitored rivers in N.L. This river, administered by Terra Nova National Park, was re-opened to catch and retain in late August, after, one would assume, salmon returns reached an acceptable level, comparable to other years.
Other factors would cause the thinking angler to question DFO’S decision. It would be logical to believe the fishery scientists in Quebec have access to the same data as N.L. fishery scientists. Why, then, did they not jump to the same conclusion and shut all Quebec rivers? Does it make sense that a N.L. fisherman could not take a fish from the Forteau or Pinware, but just a few kilometres down the road across the Quebec border, the Quebecois fisherman could still take his season limit of seven small fish (small being defined as under eight pounds)?
One can only hope that common sense will prevail. Keep our present system in place and extend the number of rivers with counting devices. Ten rivers being monitored of the 200 or so in N.L. is not a sample large enough on which to base province-wide decisions. Many anglers feel that vested interest groups are making a concerted effort to push the native N.L. angler off the river. While I do not personally ascribe to this conspiracy theory, one thing is certain: if the 2018 season is open only to catch and release, the N.L. angler presence on the river will be minimal, not because we do not believe in catch and release, but that we believe in a judicious balance. Without a large angler presence on the river, poachers will run rampant, the numbers of fish being killed far outnumbering those the legitimate angler would have taken.
Again, I say, let us hope common sense will prevail. But, as so many writers in the past have pointed out, unfortunately, common sense is not all that common.
Jim Feltham Deer Lake