I understand and agree that non-resident aliens should be required to pay more for liscensing to supplement and enhance the fisheries due to the fact that residents pick up the tax bill year around. To me this is a no brainer everyone should agree on. However as it stands today, the bill for my non-resident alien liscense and steelhead surcharge stamp is around 160+ dollars and that does not include 22 dollars a day to fish on the classified rivers. When I add my liscensing fees up after 2 weeks of fishing I’m usually a little sticker shocked as the bill for just liscenses is in excess of 468 dollars. Add my wife to the mix every year which I do cause Im a pretty good hubby(or shes just that cool) and we come out to an astonishing 936 dollar investment. This isnt to complain by any means as I think my love for steelhead and the north country far outweigh the cost but I just want to put into perpsective the actual cost just to get started without lodging , food, staples, etc. normally we contribute well into the several thousands every year up there. So my question I guess is should I be paying more as a do-it yourselfer because honestly I don’t think I could afford it and would have to wonder how many others there are out there like me. My question is with complete respect to you as well as other Canadians. Oh one more thing is that I have fished northern BC for a long time and it is without question my favorite place on earth!

I think I’ve done a pretty thorough reading of everything presented so far but I cannot find anywhere an outline of what the original objective(s) were/are that started all this. Just what conditions or problems was the “planning” supposed to fix? Maybe Vic or others who are familiar with the history of this could take us back a bit in time and fill this in.

http://www.wayupstream.com/2008/11/skeena-quality-waters-strategy.html

DFO is so under staffed that we now see a self managment system coming into our area. Instead of mandating regulations backed up by enforcement, they ask the angling community to abide by requests with self enforcement. When that doesn’t happen,area closures are quick to come. Even then DFO admits that their hads are tied when it comes to enforcing closed areas. We have two very good examples of this just in the past year or so with one of our main steelhead rivers and the Fraser river.

Greg, It’s a sad state of affairs but your absolutely correct, engaged minority usually rules the majority. I could list all the committees I sit on but i won’t bore you, I can say this though; if you don’t get involved you got nobody to blame but yourself.
It amazes me how divided we are as anglers yet we all do it for the same reason, the love of the outdoors.

I hope that all the residents of the Skeena drainage system are able to persuade the MOE that they, the residents, will put together their own management plan for their own long term future and I hope the preservation of it’s wildlife and streams. If this citizens management plan requires support from NRA types then we should be ready to pitch in and help when that is requested. I may never have the opportunity fish these streams but if I do I will consider it a privilege, not my right. Best if luck to all you gentlemen.

I’m not convinced this is a US/Can issue but more of a Can/ Non-resident Angler issue. As quality angling opportunities decrease across this country we have to decide which is more important, allowing open access to ALL or open access to resident anglers( after all it is our resource) and some restricted access to non-resident anglers.

The real issue with the Skeena region is that it does not have the population to support economic growth or sustainability without the non-resident angler. Unlike the Fraser sytem where we have 3 million residents within a 1 hours drive. The Skeena region largely depends on non-resident anglers which is why this region has such conflicts.

There is no doubt that the Skeena region offers some of the last remaining quality steelhead fishing in the world. Should it be shared equally amonst all anglers or should non-residents be restricted somewhat?. I’m not convinced it should be shared equally but I also don’t agree with MOE and the way they do business.

As for the guiding issue, I live near the Oregon/California border, and often hear about guides taking paying “friends” on waters they’re not licensed to fish (or don’t have Forest Service permits to fish, etc).

It’s an unpretty act, and I wish enforcement was easier (or even evident), but it’s an act not limited to BC. Can I assume that enforcement in BC is on a par with California, where we have approximately one Fish & Game Warden for every bazillion square miles?

The important part here is not to allow a few loudmouths to drive a wedge between the communities that should obviously be standing together. Fractionalizing communities is a time-tested corporate tactic in small towns, and it’s sadly effective, though let’s hope Internet communications makes it less so.

I agree 100% with you about the Illegal guides on the Fraser. I have also seen the same thing, US Guides on our river with so called “Friends”

The Government needs to nail them. If a US Guide gets caught guiding in our waters, the boat and ALL gear should automatically become property of fisheries, NO EXCEPTIONS. Nail them hard, I bet the Americans would do something like this to Canadian Guides caught fishing on their rivers.
But as you know Vic, this is hard to do, we don’t have enough DFO’s as it is right now to stop other infractions. Maybe the guides here should band together and if they see a US Guide on our river, call DFO and stay with the guide until the DFO arrives.

Now trying to prove that he is guiding may be even more difficult as it is his word against yours. Take TONS of pictures that are date imprinted, that way you can show the DFO that they have been there X number of times with different people every time.

Vic is a VERY respected and well known Guide here in BC, and you don’t see him going down to Washington guiding on the Skagit for the Steelhead or Salmon.
There must be a way of stopping this here in BC, this is one of the reasons that the people of BC are pissed at Americans. There are some practices that are unethical and illegal here and in the US, but it is tough enough for us to stop Canadians from this, but add in Americans, Germans, etc… and it gets very frustrating and almost impossible to stop.

Moe has ignored public outcrys for many years and once they have an agenda, it’s pushed forward with disregard. For example: sturgeon stamps on the Fraser, 1 day non-resident steelhead tags. Like I mentioned above, the only way to defeat this is through politics. get your pens busy and start writing.

The letters from Grimpus and Ian Fobbes reflect profound concerns I had while composing the FR&R article Tom frames quite well. Each writer echoes attitudes I encountered during 40 hours of interviews with Canadians and Americans.

“Raw” is the word that sometimes occurred to me. Raw, and conflicted. Forgive generalizations, but…

People in BC have serious reasons for a generalized anti American animus. Issues stewing for decades boiled over in the last eight years; they ain’t cooled yet. Americans rarely know much about these conflicts—softwood tariffs that crippled economies, salmon allotments, border issues around drugs, guns and security. But Americans will recognize what is a common BC theme:

“Don’t Tread on Me.”

As much as that attitude’s justified… it also leads to offense taken where none was intended.

In turn, American’s threatened by the proposed regulations are outraged—desperate, if they own property—and bewildered. Not only do they revere these rivers, they value relationships often developed over decades. They spent money, sure, and a few act entitled because of that; but far, far more truly believe they’ve been part a great shared tradition. They feel betrayed. Tread upon, if you like.

That’s not what happened. Think. Canadians dependent on steelhead fishers’ business are far more threatened than anybody else involved here. And it’s more than money: a restaurateur who will survive told me “It’s hard to explain, but…we look forward seeing them all year. To people we’ve seen every year…This is a town of 3000–it’s exciting for us… They bring in the outside world, talk, tell jokes…they’re part of our culture. And a lot of them are friends.”

So…what happened?

For one thing, the Skeena folks got locked out of the process. Every one of them—people representing what they insist are a majority…Forbidden seats on the Working Commitees; denied any information on committee deliberations; “Stonewalled” by MoE officials to whom they protested again and again.

Then, adding insult: the MoE represented to the world–still tries–that it was non-residents who objected to the proposed AMP regs. Mainly, by far and away: the AMP document spends so much time offering percentages showing how differently residents feel about new rules —which residents? The Working Committees?—that you might not notice how often they omitted sample size…

Which begs more questions.

Starting with…if there’s an agenda at work here, an orchestrated effort to cripple and alienate, divide and conquer…who benefits? Who benefits enough to make this destruction worthwhile?

Incompetence? Maybe.

But if you follow the money–

You will find billions on the line.

Billions.

A so called group leader of a bunch of potential guests arrive to fish on a guided trip, they fish as many rivers as possible, then the group leader comes back year after year with new groups claiming they are all friends. If you can read German you can find tones of websites advertising vacations in BC fishing our waters on so called unguided fishing trip.

I have been guiding on the Fraser system for 16 years and just in the past 2-4 years we are starting to see this happen hear. Not only Germans/ Europeans but because we are only 10 miles from the US border we are seeing US guides fishing our waters on a daily basis during prime salmon season. The same american jet sled fishing day after day with different so called friends in their boats. Hello, we are not that naive

The old saying “a small few can spoil it for all” could be playing into this idea of restricting access. I know we have issues hear on the Fraser with over crowding during some select salmon seasons and the continued abuse by our US neibours does spur discussions on limiting access to non-resident anglers.