the Walnut Diary

Note:  This is one of a series of articles on this topic.  You may find them by clicking “Conservation Issues” in the column on the right.   Rod

UPDATE:

Mike Dobbie ran across Ron Zajac’s outstanding editorial in the Brockville Recorder and Times.

http://recorder.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=992227&auth=Ronald+Zajac

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To my mind Raymond Zee and Bill Thake stood out among the many voices at Saturday’s forum on the issue of illegal fishing in Westport. Towards the end of the meeting a comment from an Asian lady at the back of the hall also stuck in my mind, so I decided to see what I could find about how members of the Toronto Chinese community view the situation in Westport by looking at postings on the website of their fishing association.

Once I got past the lines of Chinese characters and was able to select “English” I found http://www.ocaa.smartanglers.com to be a good-natured site dedicated to sharing the enjoyment of fishing. Many of the pictures were of sunrises, great river and lake scenes, family picnics and committee members, pretty much the same mix any other fishing site would have, though with less emphasis upon pictures of boats and fish and more on smiling family groups.

The crappies have started biting, though the author of that message seems to have neglected to tell us where. In a photo he looked cold but happy, holding the first fish of the year.

Apart from a widely-ignored press release from Barbara Hall’s office tossing compliments around to various near-Toronto ridings, the only political activity on the site was a request to participate in a CITY TV phone-in poll to vote against a Canadian boycott of the Olympic Games. It’s interesting that the note anticipated the reader’s shyness when it stressed that callers would not be required to say anything: merely making the call would count as a vote against the boycott.

Six hours after the meeting in Westport an extensive, well-balanced report by a member named Blinky appeared on the site. 96 viewers had read the posting a day later, and Wasabi added the following comment to the article:

“Well written article. Hope this will put an end to violence against fisherman. The locals at Westport were fed up with illegal fishing activities in fish sanctuaries by a selected group of people. There is still a lot to be done to educate newcomers to Canada about the regulations. The Chinese version of the fishing regulations will certainly help and people will have no excuse for not knowing the regulations because they don’t speak or read English.”

The most revealing article on the site, however, is a three-day-old editorial by Jim Etherington entitled “Let’s All Welcome Our Chinese Anglers.” Members of the association have obviously bought into Etherington’s ideas, because Raymond Zee summarized many of its points when he spoke in Westport on Saturday.

One point from Etherington’s article which Zee did not touch upon took me back to my early days as a hunter when I heard someone say, “The No Trespassing signs in Essex County are printed in Italian.” Etherington commented that the problem of “Indiscriminate hunting … no longer exists as the Italians became “Canadianized”, and successive generations became educated in our schools and our societal customs and beliefs. The same thing will happen with the Chinese anglers and their families, as many of them make their fishing forays a family event.”

Etherington goes on to suggest ways “to bring the Chinese community into our responsible angler fold:

1. Approach them in a friendly manner. Ask them how they are doing and if they are having any luck.
2. Ask them if they have fishing licences. Explain the need for licences and the two types available to them, including the conservation licence.
3. Ask to see their catch. If they have out-of-season fish, point that out to them, and if the fish are still alive encourage them to release them.
4. If garbage is a problem, ask them to take it home with them and dispose of it in a proper manner.
5. If they are noisy and the hour is late, point out they may be intruding on someone else’s privacy, and they should keep the noise down to a minimum.
6. Encourage them to join an organization such as the OCAA and the OFAH.
7. Should you see incidents of harassment, do not ignore them. Approach the perpetrators and if you don’t get cooperation, then notify the local authorities.
8. The most important thing is to be non-confrontational. Be friendly and helpful. These people are Ontario residents, the same as we are, and as such, must be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.

Etherington concludes: “No one wants this problem to continue or get worse. We can do a lot to alleviate the problem through being involved in the educational process. Yes, the problem is theirs, but is also ours if we persist in letting it continue. Both tolerance and understanding of cultural differences is necessary. It’s really up to us to help our new neighbours.”

What’s clear on the website is that leading members of the Chinese angling community are willing to take ownership of the problem of illegal fishing. Raymond Zee’s “bad apples” comment at the meeting reflected this attitude. In his closing remarks he suggested that if the night-time fishing incidents continue, local residents should take photographs and send them to him for publication on the website and within the Chinese community. I’m inclined to take him at his word.

The lady at the back of the hall explained to us on Saturday that in her view the lack of effective law enforcement by the Ministry of Natural Resources led to the crisis of last September; nevertheless, the assaults on Asian fishermen caused Westport to lose face. It’s clear from the website that the Chinese angling community shares this loss.

The Ontario Chinese Anglers Association

550 Hwy 7 E Bldg E Unit 325

(416)930-8287

http://www.ocaa.smartanglers.com