Re: 鈥淭ough limits set on catching chinook salmon,鈥� April 17.
Federal Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says he was once a fish guide and his father owned a fish camp. So he must have noticed the decline in chinook salmon, as I have over the 40 years of my recreational fishing.
I have written letters to various federal fisheries ministers about the health of the chinook fishery. I always asked: Where are the new hatcheries? Why aren鈥檛 you working with the province to improve habitat and keep logging out of salmon-bearing streams? Why aren鈥檛 my saltwater licence fees going back into hatcheries or stream rehabilitation?
Why does the commercial sector have such a large yearly catch? Why are you stopping volunteers in some areas from raising chinook?
I never received any suitable answers, and lately I receive no replies at all.
We have a wonderful renewable resource in salmon. Federal Fisheries has the mandate to manage the West Coast salmon fishery.
They had the facts long ago. They did very little to protect salmon over the years.
Brian Masuch
Saanich
