INSIDE
Locals hope to achieve sport fisher only zone off Lighthouse Park

by Meg Olson

Frank Lucci is tired of competing with big seine boats for his share of the summer salmon runs that swirl around the Point. “Sports fishing and commercial fishing are not compatible,” the local recreational fisher said. “The sports guys just go away.”

Lucci has proposed the two groups share the rich fishing areas off the Point ­ sport fishers get the west side and the commercial fishery gets the east. While the state department of fish and wildlife (DFW) didn’t immediately embrace the proposal, fish program assistant director Lew Atkins encouraged Lucci to submit his idea to the North of Falcon fishery planning process. “The department has taken reasonable actions to minimize the take of non-target salmon species in the Point Roberts area fisheries, but remains interested in finding better ways to accomplish this,” he wrote.

According to Lucci the southwest corner of the Point is a feeding and resting area for Chinook and Coho salmon, the favorite targets of sport fishers. It’s also a favorite spot for seiners to lay their nets. Hoping to intercept the sockeye run sweeping from the ocean to the mouth of the Fraser river they also scoop up threatened wild coho and Chinook, which treaty fishers are allowed to keep while non-treaty fishers are expected to throw them back.

“The trouble is the fishing starts to get really good and then the seiners come in and line up right at the southwest corner and wipe out all the Coho and Chinook,” he said. He is asking that between July 1 and September 30 only recreational fishing be allowed west of the marina and north of a line parallel to the border and running through the Boundary Bay buoy.

If his proposal is accepted Lucci said it will help protect threatened Coho and Chinook stocks and boost the local economy while preserving good opportunities for the commercial fleets to catch their quota of sockeye and pink salmon. Commercial fishers would still catch sockeye but would reduce the amount of accidental catch of Coho and Chinook if they stayed further offshore and or the east side of the Marina, Lucci said. Recreational fishers would be drawn to the area by good fishing without having to dodge nets. “Think back to when the fishing was good ­ lots of boats, using our facilities, buying gas, eating in our restaurants. It would definitely be good for the economy,” Lucci said.

Working with DFW recreational sport fishery advisor Larry Carpenter Lucci is gathering letters of support to take to the North of Falcon meetings with his proposal in March and April. “Lots of people are writing,” he said. Lighthouse Marine Park manager Ben VanBuskirk said he would support at least a quarter-mile closure along the beach to protect baitfish spawning in kelp beds. “The seine nets come within a few feet of the kelp beds where high concentrations of Coho salmon are feeding on baitfish,” he wrote to Carpenter. Henry Rosenthal on behalf of the food bank and Monica Robins on behalf of the marina also wrote in support of the commercial closure.

Carpenter said supporters of the recreational fishing zone idea should come to the North of Falcon meetings, where he will be presenting the proposal. “There are policies that allow for commercial harvest but the DFW also wants to minimize gear conflicts,” he said. “The intent is to have a quiet relaxing place to fish without curtailing the harvest of sockeye. Ultimately it will be a policy call.”

If the DFW sets such a policy after the round of North of Falcon meetings, which end in April, a commercial closure on the west side of the Point could be in effect this summer, at least for non-treaty fishers. The tribes manage their own fishery and it will be their decision if they choose to go along with any closure.

“If we had an objective we wanted the tribe’s help towards meeting we would ask for their consideration,” said Rich Lincoln, the DFW’s representative on the Fraser Panel of the Pacific Salmon Commission, the international body that sets harvest levels for sockeye and pink salmon. “They would be looking for a considerable burden of proof on a question we have to answer ourselves. Is there really a conflict?”

Lincoln also suggested proponents or opponents of the proposal attend the North of Falcon meetings. The schedule for the meetings is on the DFW website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/northfalcon.

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