The Brant are here.
They came early this year.
Mustn’t take your pooch to the beach for apparently it is the Brant’s worst fear.
Although I would argue it is humans they fear more.
The Brant are here because the herring are here.
The Brant are a protected species.
Soon after the Brant arrive dozens of 60-foot seine boats and skiffs with nets of which there is no escape descend into the Brant feeding area and rape the female herring roe for taste buds on the other side of the Pacific.
So much for protecting the protected species and their food supply on route their incredible migration.
Why are we interrupting and not protecting the herring that are a vital part of the food chain that feeds the marine life that feed the human life?
The Georgia Strait is the last of the five major herring fisheries to open due to over-fishing on the Pacific west coast and it too will be decimated this decade and with it go the Brant and the wild salmon stocks, and everything else that depends on them.
You won’t hear a peep from the mayor who participated in this fishery for many years, nor will you here from our federal MP who may not even know where the beach is.
I call on all levels of government to demand a moratorium on the herring fishery.
Brian Jenkins
Qualicum Beach