Fishermen squabbling as salmon season opens

Page 3

While B.C. Natives got a head start at catching sockeye salmon last week amid an angry protest from non-Native fishermen, the federal government announced the Aboriginal fishing strategy that allows the Natives first crack at the fish is to be reviewed this fall.

The scene on the Fraser River on the southern fringes of Vancouver was tense as Natives hauled up nets bulging with shiny salmon while they traded angry profanities with about 100 non-Native commercial grillnetters speeding by in boats to try to thwart their catch.

It's the latest storm in a bitter fight over the dwindling stocks in one of the worst years on record because of a disastrous decline in the number of adult salmon returning to spawn in the river.

The Natives argue a constitutional right to catch and sell salmon, while non-Natives say the early Native opening is based on "racial segregation" and is unfair because Native fishermen are getting preferential treatment for a commercial fishery.

Under the 1992 federal strategy, natives are permitted to catch 100,000 sockeye during a 12-hour opening in the Fraser River on Wednesday (Aug. 16) before non-Native commercial grillnetters were given the go-ahead to catch another 100,000 salmon over 24 hours, starting Thursday, Aug. 17, at noon.

The department of fisheries and oceans allowed the opening after the estimated sockeye run was upgraded to 4.5 million from 3.3 million the week before.

But non-Natives followed Natives to their fishing spots, occasionally dropping anchor downstream, to try to interfere with the catch.

"Everywhere we went, they would pull up and leave, so there wasn't much anchoring going on," said protest organizer Phil Eidsuik of the B.C. Fisheries Survival Coalition.

Tempers were flaring.

"There were guys swearing back and forth at each on the radio phone," he said.

Wayne Sparrow of the Musqueam Nation in Vancouver said some Natives have pictures of non-Natives trying to swamp their boats.

"The big boats went after the smaller boats and ran circles around them," he said. "Somebody could have got hurt."

"I don't see why they're out here protesting; they've got an opening twice as long as ours," said Mike Baird of the Tsawwassen Nation.

The Natives argue they're still not getting a fair shot at their original allocation of 500,000 promised under earlier run estimates which have since been revised. They are asking the courts to stop all commercial fishing until they do.

"There won't be any fish left if there are commercial openings," said Ernie Crey of the Slo:lo Nation's Nation Fishery Program, which runs the largest Aboriginal fishery on the river.

"This hit to our economy could only be described as staggering," he said. "If we don't catch our allocation of 500,000 fish, the larders of our families will very nearly empty this coming winter."

Tony Jacobs, of the Tsawwassen Nation on a reserve in Greater Vancouver that borders the water, and his son, Corbin, were pulling up their catch while the protest swirled around him.

"I remember fishing in this river when I was my son's age ? 12 ? with the Elders."

First Nations people argue it's their constitutional right to fill their nets, based on a 1990 Supreme Court of Canada ruling, called the Sparrow decision, that found Aboriginals have the right to catch fish for food, ceremonial and social purposes.

The court ruled First Nations' fishing rights cannot be interfered with except for conservation reasons and that they are to be allocated their fish first, before commercial and sports fishermen. (The priority list for catches is: Aboriginal food fishery, Native commercial fishery, commercial fleet and sports fishermen.)

A year later, Ottawa introduced the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy, which included provisions for Indians to sell fish. In 1992, a pilot project allowed the Sto:lo, Musqueam, and Tsawwassen nations to legally sell their catch.

That right to sell was upheld by the B.C. Court of Appeal, but it ruled it is't a constitutional right and that Aboriginals must be subject to the same rules as other Canadians who seek a livelihood from the resource. That decision, which is under appeal, is set to be heard in November by the Supreme Court.

On the same day of the Native fishery opening, Louis Tousignant, director general of the federal fisheries department's Pacific region, told a news conference the fish-for-sale provisions of the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy needs to be reviewed.

"We will determine over the fall what the future will be for that," he said.

Non-Native fishermen argue that Native commercial fishery should be subject to the same rules as other fisheries.

"We will never accept the racist concept that the commercial fishery should be segregated by race," said Eidsuik. "We just don't think it's fair."

The fight, which includes accusations of poaching against both sides, is exacerbated by the poor sockeye returns.

Before the season opened, Ottawa estimated Canadian fisheries would be able to catch 6.1 million sockeye. But new counts found only one million fish available.

About 94 per cent of all B.C. salmon are caught by the commercial fleet run by non-Natives and three per cent each to Native fishermen and sports anglers. But 30 per cent of the entire commercial fleet is made up of Natives.