Yes, the issue of selective fisheries on the Fraser is a huge one. What Dr. Walters is saying is completely accurate. Beach seining involves 30%-60% mortality. The way it looks, these fish die afterwards. Pound traps look like the way of the future.
Again, DFO in that case is authorizing a fishery using its own model, which was found to be scientifically invalid, which is killing endangered fish using methods that they call selective and which the research shows are not selective.
In terms of the department, these systemic issues.... We talk about east coast cod, we talk about interior Fraser steelhead, and we talk about interior Fraser coho. The agency is not structurally built to conserve and restore salmon. The agency is built to manage fishing. Those are two entirely distinct outcomes. One involves trying to find fishing opportunities; the other involves taking care of salmon.
Currently, management is carrying the day, and fishing is carrying the day, and the people who are scientists inside DFO are not able to control the outcome on sustainability. There's a systemic, root problem that is fundamental within the agency, which you don't see in other natural resource agencies. What happens is that we end up managing these fish out of existence through fishing.