God's Pocket: Is it really the best cold water diving in the world?

[hideawayjohn]

Browning Pass is now closed to all fishing- from Hussar Pt (South end) to Hunt Rock (2 miles north of north end)... this happened in spring 2008, with Browning Pass being classed as a "Rockfish Conservation Area". We first asked government to protect Browning Pass in 1983 (along with Stubbs Island, Discovery Pass, Gabriola Pass & Porlier Pass)... and again many times since... I'm guessing Department of Fisheries were waiting until most of the "exploitable fish populations" had been "exploited" before they closed it... The GOOD NEWS is the rockfish and other fish populations, although decimated between '83 and '08, were NOT eliminated. Today, after 2 1/2 yrs of "no fishing" you can already see huge increases in juvenile rockfish schools along Browning Wall, 7-Tree Island and at Hunt Rock. So late, but certainly "better late than never!"

 

[coldwaterlloyd]

I concur . Our local waters on Vancouver Island are seeing the results of some hard restrictions on Rockfish and Lingcod fishing .
While other seas are declining ours are improving , it has opened my eyes to the benefits of closing areas , Browning is way better than it was ten years ago .
Thanks for working on Browning John , keep up the good work.