scooter
04-28-2008, 12:59 PM
PUBLICATION: Times & Transcript (Moncton)
DATE: 2008.03.11
SECTION: Sports
PAGE: B3
BYLINE: Everett Mosher Outdoor life
WORD COUNT: 830
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Minister hasn't proven me wrong about salmon stocks
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It's my firm belief that the commercial salmon farms in the Bay of Fundy are the main cause of the drastic decline in wild Atlantic salmon populations in the inner Bay of Fundy rivers.
In an article published on Feb. 26 I voiced that point of view.
This apparently upset the upper echelon of the federal Fisheries and Oceans Department in Ottawa to the point that the Hon. Loyola Hearn, minister of that department, wrote a rebuttal that was published on March 5 in a letter to the editor of this newspaper.
It's interesting that he wanted to "correct misinformation" regarding what I wrote.
But, after reading all that the minister had written in response, at no point did he clearly state that the commercial salmon farms were NOT the cause of this decline in wild salmon numbers.
Nor did he specifically say what WAS the cause of this decline in numbers.
Apparently, they are still working on that.
Yet after almost 20 years, and, considering the vast resources the department has, both financial and scientific, it's amazing that they have not already identified the cause.
One cannot help but wonder at this point if that, perhaps they have, and would rather not say, as Fisheries and Oceans under previous governments had given consent, and has now spent great amounts of taxpayer dollars regarding the commercial raising of salmon.
Are they now too deeply committed to back out?
Question: Why is it that the Miramichi and Restigouche Rivers have not suffered such a similar dramatic decline in salmon numbers?
Oh, right, the east coast shoreline of New Brunswick along where the mouth of these rivers are located have a buildup of ice each year that would tear out any salmon farms located there, and make any such effort a waste of time and money.
That may well be the only reason why we still have a viable sport fishery for wild Atlantic salmon in those rivers.
I do indeed have sympathy for Minister Hearn if time proves that he has been called upon to defend the indefensible.
One suggestion: Implement more separation between the Agricultural Fishery branch and the Recreational Fishery branch of Fisheries and Oceans so they can truly act and be independent from one another.
Turning to other matters, the federal government is in the process of extending the amnesty that was enacted to protect eligible individuals from penalties under the Criminal Code for the unlawful possession of a non- restricted firearm.
The first amnesty came into force May 17, 2006, was slated to expire on May 16, 2007 but was extended to May 16, 2008.
Now there is a proposal to extend this amnesty period to May 16, 2009.
This new proposed extension of the current Amnesty Order will come into law 30 days after the March 1 publication in the Canada Gazette unless of course, the Harper government were to fall prior to that.
The problem is that many firearm owners hear the word amnesty and assume certain things that are not necessarily true.
Yet very few will take the time or bother to read the Canada Gazette, the March 1, 2008, volume 142, No. 9 issue and pages 532 to 535 where all details of this amnesty are spelled out.
Many have also heard that the Harper government intends to do away with the non-restricted long gun registry and thus have not, or see no need to obtain a firearm licence or register their firearms, or even renew their licence.
Big mistake. Until Harper holds an election and obtains a majority in Parliament, the current laws will remain in effect.
Thus firearms owners should be very much aware that this amnesty offers only limited protection, its purpose being, and we quote from the Gazette: "only means for individuals to bring themselves into compliance with the Firearms Act without attracting criminal liability during the amnesty period." To spell out the details that may affect a significant number of firearm owners, this new Order amending the Order Declaring an Amnesty Period (2006) has three points of interest.
Number one is that during this amnesty those that renew or upgrade their firearm licence will not have to pay a fee that they previously had to pay prior to the start of the first Amnesty period in May 17, 2006.
Yet note that those that are obtaining a firearm licence for the first time will still have to pay their $60 for a non-restricted licence, or $80 for a restricted licence.
The second section is in regard to those that have a valid firearm licence, yet own non-restricted firearms not yet registered.
Or they may have had a firearms licence but it has expired, yet they still own non-restricted firearms.
While during this amnesty period an individual can still be charged with having an expired and no longer valid firearms licence, or charged with being in possession of unregistered non-restricted firearms and have their firearms seized, this amnesty protects that person from being prosecuted, ie: going to court and face criminal prosecution.
This protection will give that individual time to come into compliance of the firearms act by renewing their licence and/ or registering their previously unregistered non-restricted firearms.
This they can do without penalty during this amnesty period.
This amnesty does not however, apply to those that never had a firearms licence.
Or if a person is charged with other criminal activity such as assault, all bets are off.
The third part states that those that let their Possession Only Licence (POL) expire and that, previous to this new amnesty, had to take or challenge the Canadian Firearm Safety Course and then obtain a Possession and Acquisition Licence, can, during this new amnesty, reapply, and again obtain a POL.
That's good news for a lot of firearms owners.
Apparently about 100,000 currently have an expired POL yet still own firearms.
For confirmation of this, or for additional information, call the Canadian Firearms Centre, phone number 1-800-731-4000.
The CFC has not yet upgraded their website at www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca/ (http://www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca/) with information on this new extended period of amnesty, and will likely not do so until it comes into force.
n Everett Mosher is a Sackville-based writer and avid outdoorsman. His column appears on Tuesday.
DATE: 2008.03.11
SECTION: Sports
PAGE: B3
BYLINE: Everett Mosher Outdoor life
WORD COUNT: 830
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minister hasn't proven me wrong about salmon stocks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's my firm belief that the commercial salmon farms in the Bay of Fundy are the main cause of the drastic decline in wild Atlantic salmon populations in the inner Bay of Fundy rivers.
In an article published on Feb. 26 I voiced that point of view.
This apparently upset the upper echelon of the federal Fisheries and Oceans Department in Ottawa to the point that the Hon. Loyola Hearn, minister of that department, wrote a rebuttal that was published on March 5 in a letter to the editor of this newspaper.
It's interesting that he wanted to "correct misinformation" regarding what I wrote.
But, after reading all that the minister had written in response, at no point did he clearly state that the commercial salmon farms were NOT the cause of this decline in wild salmon numbers.
Nor did he specifically say what WAS the cause of this decline in numbers.
Apparently, they are still working on that.
Yet after almost 20 years, and, considering the vast resources the department has, both financial and scientific, it's amazing that they have not already identified the cause.
One cannot help but wonder at this point if that, perhaps they have, and would rather not say, as Fisheries and Oceans under previous governments had given consent, and has now spent great amounts of taxpayer dollars regarding the commercial raising of salmon.
Are they now too deeply committed to back out?
Question: Why is it that the Miramichi and Restigouche Rivers have not suffered such a similar dramatic decline in salmon numbers?
Oh, right, the east coast shoreline of New Brunswick along where the mouth of these rivers are located have a buildup of ice each year that would tear out any salmon farms located there, and make any such effort a waste of time and money.
That may well be the only reason why we still have a viable sport fishery for wild Atlantic salmon in those rivers.
I do indeed have sympathy for Minister Hearn if time proves that he has been called upon to defend the indefensible.
One suggestion: Implement more separation between the Agricultural Fishery branch and the Recreational Fishery branch of Fisheries and Oceans so they can truly act and be independent from one another.
Turning to other matters, the federal government is in the process of extending the amnesty that was enacted to protect eligible individuals from penalties under the Criminal Code for the unlawful possession of a non- restricted firearm.
The first amnesty came into force May 17, 2006, was slated to expire on May 16, 2007 but was extended to May 16, 2008.
Now there is a proposal to extend this amnesty period to May 16, 2009.
This new proposed extension of the current Amnesty Order will come into law 30 days after the March 1 publication in the Canada Gazette unless of course, the Harper government were to fall prior to that.
The problem is that many firearm owners hear the word amnesty and assume certain things that are not necessarily true.
Yet very few will take the time or bother to read the Canada Gazette, the March 1, 2008, volume 142, No. 9 issue and pages 532 to 535 where all details of this amnesty are spelled out.
Many have also heard that the Harper government intends to do away with the non-restricted long gun registry and thus have not, or see no need to obtain a firearm licence or register their firearms, or even renew their licence.
Big mistake. Until Harper holds an election and obtains a majority in Parliament, the current laws will remain in effect.
Thus firearms owners should be very much aware that this amnesty offers only limited protection, its purpose being, and we quote from the Gazette: "only means for individuals to bring themselves into compliance with the Firearms Act without attracting criminal liability during the amnesty period." To spell out the details that may affect a significant number of firearm owners, this new Order amending the Order Declaring an Amnesty Period (2006) has three points of interest.
Number one is that during this amnesty those that renew or upgrade their firearm licence will not have to pay a fee that they previously had to pay prior to the start of the first Amnesty period in May 17, 2006.
Yet note that those that are obtaining a firearm licence for the first time will still have to pay their $60 for a non-restricted licence, or $80 for a restricted licence.
The second section is in regard to those that have a valid firearm licence, yet own non-restricted firearms not yet registered.
Or they may have had a firearms licence but it has expired, yet they still own non-restricted firearms.
While during this amnesty period an individual can still be charged with having an expired and no longer valid firearms licence, or charged with being in possession of unregistered non-restricted firearms and have their firearms seized, this amnesty protects that person from being prosecuted, ie: going to court and face criminal prosecution.
This protection will give that individual time to come into compliance of the firearms act by renewing their licence and/ or registering their previously unregistered non-restricted firearms.
This they can do without penalty during this amnesty period.
This amnesty does not however, apply to those that never had a firearms licence.
Or if a person is charged with other criminal activity such as assault, all bets are off.
The third part states that those that let their Possession Only Licence (POL) expire and that, previous to this new amnesty, had to take or challenge the Canadian Firearm Safety Course and then obtain a Possession and Acquisition Licence, can, during this new amnesty, reapply, and again obtain a POL.
That's good news for a lot of firearms owners.
Apparently about 100,000 currently have an expired POL yet still own firearms.
For confirmation of this, or for additional information, call the Canadian Firearms Centre, phone number 1-800-731-4000.
The CFC has not yet upgraded their website at www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca/ (http://www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca/) with information on this new extended period of amnesty, and will likely not do so until it comes into force.
n Everett Mosher is a Sackville-based writer and avid outdoorsman. His column appears on Tuesday.