If you watch the early part of the video, the staff(marina) tries to claim the Harbour is a no fishing zone, owned by the town. Not the marina specifically. This has been an issue for many years, although not so much when I was younger growing up here, but certainly more so in the last ten or so years. Town Council has tried to stop fishing in the Harbour in general, in the past.In 2009 they issued an ice fishing ban(to accompany the general harbor ban) for the entire harbour.(there are no boats left in the harbour in the winter,not even the coast guard cutter) These people in the video ,are not the first to condemn, and take a stand over not being allowed to fish the harbour, nor the first to have their objections covered by the media. The harbour no fishing zone has been tackelled (pardon the pun) by various individuals,media and fishing organizations. Nor is this issue unique to Cobourg. City staff in Toronto, recently posted signs, also in zone 20,banning fishing along certain areas of Lake Ontario's shore line, within the city. Due to fishermen voicing their concerns, these signs were promptly removed , and city officials apologized. By law officials(TOWN) in Cobourg, have issued tickets in the past for harbour fishing infractions, relegated by council,unrelated to the actual ,ever expanding ,and soon to expand again , marina.(not giving an opinion , just a little background). The fines that have made it into court, have generally been thrown out, partially because it is part of an MNR fishing zone and not mentioned as an exception.Some of these people have even had MNR officials, speak in their defence of said tickets. The Town now has a separate bylaw ,and signs .... on the marina pier itself, and the north wall, which parallels their slips, which ban shore fishing, they don't have jurisdiction(ownership) on the water, just the land. Other towns and cities have similar, marina specific signage(ie. Peterborough).Cobourg's ban has always(in recent years)been a little bit more comprehensive......If you watch the first part of the video, you will hear him say ,they will likely get in trouble for fishing Cobourg.Almost think the whole video was planned out, to voice his objections, and make a point. Since this video, the town spokeswomen, through the towns lawyer, has stated they have no jurisdiction on the water, just certain areas on land ,which border the marina. This has also been stated in past years...but both marina, and mainly harbour, and town staff have continued their efforts, to stop fishing in the harbour in general. Others with a dog in the fight include Bird Watching(Naturalist)groups,Yayct Club,Dragon Boaters and others. During recent elections, Harbour use is near the top in issues. Sorry to ramble, just a bit of background. Scott, I totally agree with your points. At some spots in the video, they seem to be "possibly" casting directly towards the boats, hense the response(possibly not the greatest) from Marina staff.... and the video would of been edited leaving out who knows what. On a side note, Port Hope Council, recently tried to stop roe bag use on the Ganaraska,(to discourage the illegal slitting of hens,for eggs)The MNR made it clear they set the policies, regarding fishing, and turned down the towns requested ban.(once again ,no opinion, just some local issue background.)
Last edited by littledog on Sun May 24, 2015 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
|