The Citizens Outdoor Rights Alliance has added two more items to the action list the group announced at a public meeting Tuesday night.
At the meeting in Deer Lake, alliance president Gary Gale had presented a list of about a dozen things the group would like to see done to ensure retention angling of Atlantic salmon will be allowed to continue.
Related stories:
CORA and SPAWN come out on opposite sides of salmon management plan
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has limited all angling to hook-and-release fishing only for the rest of this season. Anglers had been permitted to retain one fish earlier in the season, but an in-season review of salmon returns led to the latest decision by DFO.
While the focus of the initial action list was to make sure there is retention fishing in 2019, the two dozen or so members of the Citizens Outdoor Rights Alliance at Tuesday’s meeting later decided to also call for the release of one more retention tag for this season when environmental conditions make it more favourable for retention fishing to resume.
Fishing of any kind is currently closed in many rivers because of high water temperatures.
The reason for asking for another tag is that nearly all 19 of the counting fences in Newfoundland and Labrador are showing an increase of returning salmons at this point in the season, compared to the 2017 numbers.
The second addition to the action list is based on the group’s frustration in dealing with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and with Gudie Hutchings, the Liberal Commons member for Long Range Mountains.
The Citizens Outdoor Rights Alliance says it has invited Hutchings to attend its meetings in the past, but she has not been to any of them. The group said it will hold its next meeting at her Corner Brook office, whether she is there or not.
