ASF has its own agenda
Neville Crabbe’s letter on July 26, “Forget alternative facts, lets stick with the truth,” is a direct attack on Andrew Bouzan of the Newfoundland and Labrador Wildlife Federation because the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) does not want the public to know the true facts regarding the current salmon angling issue.
Misleading the public about salmonid issues they oppose to promote their own agenda is what the ASF does best. And furthermore, one does not become communications director for the ASF without having an uncanny ability to spin alternative facts and propaganda.
Bouzan was being conservative when he stated in his letter of July 20 that there is a 10 per cent mortality associated with the catch and release of salmon in our warm-water rivers. Most of the catch and release studies the ASF likes to reference were conducted under cold water conditions. Few, if any, were conducted at water temperatures above 20 degrees C. When you cherry-pick which studies you are going to review, it is no wonder the ASF came up with a 96 per cent survival for released salmon. The Ponoi river study alone came up with almost 100 per cent survival because the water temperatures in that Russian Arctic river were very cold during the study.
The outfitting industry is the ASF’S No. 1 client. And that is the primary reason why the ASF does not want catch and release angling to shut down for any reason. They, along with their affiliates here in N.L., successfully lobbied DFO a few years ago to have water temperature protocols removed from all N.L. rivers. Now closures only happen under extreme temperature conditions. But nobody with DFO wants to give a temperature value to the word extreme. And to boot, the ASF and friends just this year convinced DFO to double the daily catch and release limit in northern Labrador to eight salmon per day. The only bogus conservation those people want is to get retention anglers off the rivers.
A few of our rivers in N.L. were designated catch and release for a few years in the past. The few non-resident anglers occasionally found on those rivers did nothing to curb poaching. Harry’s river in western N.L. is a prime example. The salmon stocks in that river were almost on the endangered list by the time DFO took local anglers’ advice and opened the river to retention. Thereafter poaching was drastically reduced, the stocks immediately began to increase, and today are at healthy levels.
Andrew Bouzan’s quote of ASF president Bill Taylor from Forbes magazine is totally accurate. Taylor later pulled in his horns regarding the statement and attempted a little damage control.
I say to Crabbe that privatization comes in many forms. If N.L. rivers become catch and release only in support of the outfitting industry, that will be widely perceived here in N.L. as privatization.
ASF member Rick Maddigan said it best in a letter to The Telegram recently when he said, “In Newfoundland, the retention anglers are the true stewards of our rivers and our salmon.” I totally agree.
Jed Sampson Port au Port