Monthly archives: November, 2020

The Benefit of Catch & Release Fisheries

Rod Clapton, President of the B.C. Federation of Drift Fishers has sent us his well thought out consideration of catch and release fisheries as an alternative to DFO’s current practice of complete public fisheries closures to protect wild salmon stock.

The tremendous social and economic loss of Public fisheries demands that consideration of all options for retaining some opportunity must be a priority. We cannot accept total closures when other viable alternatives such as C&R are available. The documented closures of fishery dependent businesses is a sad reality. The Public Fishery generates 1.1 billion dollars a year in revenues & provides 9,000 jobs province wide. The social value is priceless, highlighted this year by the recognition of the safe healthy benefit of fishing in these current Covid-19 restrictions.

The Public Fishery remains committed to Conservation as the #1 priority. We will continue to support all science based efforts to rebuild stocks but demand that total closures be a last resort after all other options such as “Catch & Release” are carefully considered.

Rod Clapton, president BCFDF

Final Session of 2020 SFI Conference Series: Friday, Nov. 27, 9:30 am

In the final session, Parliamentary Secretary to the Fisheries Minister, North Vancouver- Burnaby MP, Terry Beech, Fisheries and Oceans Canada will speak about collaboration and reconciliation, a communities perspective from the BC Chamber of Commerce, and a tourism perspective from the Tourism Industry Association of BC.

Attendance to each sessions is free but you must register. Tomorrow’s session will be approximately 120 minutes long.

Friday, Nov 13th, 9:30 am: 2nd webinar of 2020 SFI Conference Series

The second webinar presented by the SFI takes place Friday, Nov. 13 at 9:30 am. The session will be approximately 90 minutes long, with an audience question and answer period following the speakers. The theme for the series is Charting a Predictable Path for Salmon and BC’s Public Fishery.

In this webinar, the discussion turns to Mark Selective Fishing (MSF) and Mass Marking (MM). To aid both recovery of salmon and provide reliable and predictable opportunity for BC’s public fishery, action must be taken.  A solution that has been successfully implemented, mark selective fishing and mass marking, will be discussed by representatives from Washington State and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Attendance to these sessions is free but you must register. 

Ask Questions
Written questions can be asked following each speaker using a free, simple tool called sli.do or slido.com.  Once the session begins, use a separate browser tab to access another web page, or use your phone, to go to slido.com, and enter the session code in the participant area.

On November 13th the code is: #MARKSELECTIVE. See samples of PC / mobile of the sli.do participant page. The chat function in the Zoom webinar will be disabled, so please ask and vote on questions posed through sli.do. 

ACS Meeting Minutes September 2, 2020

Please read the minutes of the September 2, 2020 meeting of the ACS here.

Friday, Nov 6th, 9:30 am: 1st webinar of 2020 SFI Conference Series

Sports Fishing Institute of BC (SFI) is hosting a series of virtual discussions intended to seek pathways for recovery of salmon stocks and predictable opportunity and reliable access for BC’s public fishery.  Attendance is free but you must register for each session in advance. Each session will be approximately 90 minutes long, with an audience question and answer period following each presentation or speaker, and will cover topics within this year’s theme, Charting a Predictable Path for Salmon and BC’s Public Fishery.

The first of four webinar sessions in the 2020 SFI Conference Series will occur Friday, November 6th, at 9:30 am.

Speakers:

  • 9:30 Rob Alcock, President, SFI: Welcome and intoductions
  • 9:45 Rebecca Reid, Regional Director General, Pacific Region Fisheries and Oceans Canada
  • 10:20 Dr. Carl Walters, Professor Emeritus, UBC: The Role of Marine Mammal Predation in Recent BC Fish Stock Collapses
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