As commercial fishermen filled their nets with Fraser River sockeye salmon Thursday afternoon, some called for more chances to fish, like their First Nations counterparts.
The nets were dropped at noon for a three-hour opening -- the first this year -- but fishermen don't know if or when they'll be allowed back out on the water.
"I'd like to see more openings. We're not going to get those unless the fish are here, and even if the fish are here, they'll give them to the aboriginals first," gillnetter Jeff Doyle told CTV News.
The Supreme Court has ruled that First Nations must get first crack at the salmon run, but only for food, social and ceremonial purposes.
Some of those on the water are skeptical that First Nations-caught salmon is ending up where it's supposed to.
"It's food fish, but it's food fish for white people. You bet [they're selling it]," gillnetter Phil Ogden said.
Investigators from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans estimate that 97-per-cent of sockeye caught in First Nations fisheries is being sold illegally.
As long as that keeps happening, commercial fishermen say that making a living is nearly impossible.
"It is frustrating, but there's nothing we can say or do about it. Fisheries stands back -- they just throw their hands up the in air," gillnetter Bob Gordon said.
"None of the young group wants to get into [fishing] now. The older generation are retiring out of it, and as they retire there's no replacements."
The DFO insists that enforcement officers are keeping an eye on illegal sales by First Nations fishermen.
"All I can say is that if its going on DFO will strictly enforce the regulations," enforcement officer Nicole Gallant said.
"We're doing our best to monitor it. We do need information from the public. If people have that information, they have to forward it to us."
She would not say if any First Nations fishermen have been charged with illegally selling their sockeye.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Shannon Paterson
