ridler72
08-23-2004, 11:33 PM
Friday, July 16, 2004 Back The Halifax Herald Limited
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River system full of striped bass
If DFO denies problem exists, talking about solutions is useless
By GERALD BLAKE
I would like to respond to some of the statements made in the July 6 edition of The Chronicle Herald by a Department of Fisheries and Oceans official concerning recent issues on bass in the Shubenacadie/Stewiacke river system.
The two spawning populations that were lost in the Bay of Fundy were the Annapolis River and the St. John River. The DFO representative failed to mention why these populations were lost.
Let's start with the Annapolis River. Almost everyone knows about the turbines that were installed there. I heard that when the turbines were started in the summer of 1984, on opening day, the water turned red immediately with the fish blood, disgusting many and foretelling of the slaughter of fish to come. The DFO, in its wisdom, knowing the fish had to go past these turbines to get to their spawning area, gave its blessing to the project. From this point on, the spawning population of striped bass disappeared from this river.
The other lost population in the Bay of Fundy is the St. John River in New Brunswick. It has been known for years, by the DFO and others, that the pulp mills along the riverbanks have polluted the spawning population to the point where the eggs in the spawners were no good.
The Shubenacadie/Stewiacke system, on the other hand, has none of these problems. In fact, the situation here is the opposite; therefore, this river system needs to be handled differently.
The striped bass, which have been protected here since the mid-1990s from commercial fishermen and anglers, have flourished, partly because they were protected and partly due to a couple of great spawning seasons, with huge survival rates. They are now in numbers never before seen in anyone's memory. Now the problem is "too many."
They are eating our stocks (shad, gaspereau, smelts, etc.) at a rate that is liable to decimate them within a two-year period. They are also eating every other species of fish in the river, including the thousands of salmon smolts released regularly in an effort to bring back the salmon population to this river system. Eating other fish is what they do. They are an opportunistic feeder and eat any fish that is available at any given time of year.
Because of some anglers and others misunderstanding our intentions, we are withdrawing our offer to be part of the solution here, and leave the situation up to the DFO and the anglers. When the food supply for these bass is gone, the bass will soon follow. I've asked the DFO, "What will these bass eat when the stocks in this river run out?" and received no reply. My only motivation here is my concern for this river system I am so fond of and know so well.
I and my fellow fishermen see what is going on in the river on a daily basis while we're fishing. We've been discussing this situation with the DFO for over a year now, and not once has anyone been around to assess the situation. We have offered on numerous occasions to take them down river with us to see for themselves the situation, but there have been no takers.
As for this committee that has the power to list striped bass as a species of special concern, threatened or endangered, this is laughable, given that the river is absolutely full of bass from Grand Lake and right through to the Cobequid Bay. The weir fishermen 40 miles below us are getting weirs full of striped bass.
The DFO has complete control of this river system and the general public knows very little about this issue, except what they hear from the DFO and us. The DFO can say anything to the public and they may believe it because they don't know the difference. The fishermen of this river system know we have a big problem, but as long as the DFO denies that there is a problem, talking about solutions is useless.
Gerald Blake is president of the Shubenacadie River Fishermen's Association.
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Back
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Copyright © 2004 The Halifax Herald Limited
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River system full of striped bass
If DFO denies problem exists, talking about solutions is useless
By GERALD BLAKE
I would like to respond to some of the statements made in the July 6 edition of The Chronicle Herald by a Department of Fisheries and Oceans official concerning recent issues on bass in the Shubenacadie/Stewiacke river system.
The two spawning populations that were lost in the Bay of Fundy were the Annapolis River and the St. John River. The DFO representative failed to mention why these populations were lost.
Let's start with the Annapolis River. Almost everyone knows about the turbines that were installed there. I heard that when the turbines were started in the summer of 1984, on opening day, the water turned red immediately with the fish blood, disgusting many and foretelling of the slaughter of fish to come. The DFO, in its wisdom, knowing the fish had to go past these turbines to get to their spawning area, gave its blessing to the project. From this point on, the spawning population of striped bass disappeared from this river.
The other lost population in the Bay of Fundy is the St. John River in New Brunswick. It has been known for years, by the DFO and others, that the pulp mills along the riverbanks have polluted the spawning population to the point where the eggs in the spawners were no good.
The Shubenacadie/Stewiacke system, on the other hand, has none of these problems. In fact, the situation here is the opposite; therefore, this river system needs to be handled differently.
The striped bass, which have been protected here since the mid-1990s from commercial fishermen and anglers, have flourished, partly because they were protected and partly due to a couple of great spawning seasons, with huge survival rates. They are now in numbers never before seen in anyone's memory. Now the problem is "too many."
They are eating our stocks (shad, gaspereau, smelts, etc.) at a rate that is liable to decimate them within a two-year period. They are also eating every other species of fish in the river, including the thousands of salmon smolts released regularly in an effort to bring back the salmon population to this river system. Eating other fish is what they do. They are an opportunistic feeder and eat any fish that is available at any given time of year.
Because of some anglers and others misunderstanding our intentions, we are withdrawing our offer to be part of the solution here, and leave the situation up to the DFO and the anglers. When the food supply for these bass is gone, the bass will soon follow. I've asked the DFO, "What will these bass eat when the stocks in this river run out?" and received no reply. My only motivation here is my concern for this river system I am so fond of and know so well.
I and my fellow fishermen see what is going on in the river on a daily basis while we're fishing. We've been discussing this situation with the DFO for over a year now, and not once has anyone been around to assess the situation. We have offered on numerous occasions to take them down river with us to see for themselves the situation, but there have been no takers.
As for this committee that has the power to list striped bass as a species of special concern, threatened or endangered, this is laughable, given that the river is absolutely full of bass from Grand Lake and right through to the Cobequid Bay. The weir fishermen 40 miles below us are getting weirs full of striped bass.
The DFO has complete control of this river system and the general public knows very little about this issue, except what they hear from the DFO and us. The DFO can say anything to the public and they may believe it because they don't know the difference. The fishermen of this river system know we have a big problem, but as long as the DFO denies that there is a problem, talking about solutions is useless.
Gerald Blake is president of the Shubenacadie River Fishermen's Association.
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Copyright © 2004 The Halifax Herald Limited