APTN National News
It’s summer time and that means fishing season is open on the West Coast as the sockeye salmon return to the mighty Fraser River.
But this also means another round of hand-wringing and finger-pointing over decisions on who gets to put their nets in the water.
Decades of declining fish stocks have led some to call for the end of commercial fishing.
As APTN National News reporter Rob Smith tells us, the professionals are not ready to park their boats.
Just Google the Pacific Salmon Commission website and go to news releases and announcements, click. Now, scroll down the page and you will find a recent history of fisheries on Fraser River sockeye. You will note that for many of the past 15 years, the commercial fleet has been tied to the docks. The sockeye declines on the Fraser continue apace and are getting worse. This is why I say the commercial fishery is now extinction in some seasons.