Monthly archives: February, 2021

Spring 2021 SFAC Area 19/20 Meeting

When	Wednesday, March 10 @ 7pm
Where	Microsoft Teams virtual meeting
How to join	Join on your computer or mobile app Click here to join the meeting Or call in (audio only) +1 647-484-5913,,315269984# Canada, Toronto Phone Conference ID: 315 269 984# Find a local number

Local SFAC chair Ryan Chamberland has invited local sport fishers to the spring SFAC meeting for Area 19 and 20.

Please review in advance the draft agenda and the minutes from the local Fall 2020 SFAC meeting.

It’s always possible to construct a motion on a topic under discussion during the meeting. Should you already have prepared a motion to put forward at the meeting, prior notice of such to Ryan by email would be greatly appreciated.

Areas 19 and 20 – Chinook salmon rules for month of March 2021

Sport fishing Area 19 or 20 for chinook in March? Read the fisheries notice on the latest regulations.

Effective 00:01 hours March 1, 2021, until March 31, 2021, the daily limit for Chinook is two (2) per day. These Chinook may be marked or unmarked 45 cm to 67 cm, and hatchery-marked only greater than 67 cm.
These measures apply in the following waters:
Subareas 19-1, 19-3, 19-4 and 20-4 to 20-7 (those waters near Victoria between Cadboro Point and Sombrio Point).
FN0172-Chinook Salmon – Area 19 and 20 – Chinook Management Measures – Effective March 1, 2021

A Knowledge Gap in DFO Science

While DFO cultivates the image of making science based decisions for management and protection of salmon stocks with regard to their Wild Salmon Policy, the reality is their lack of funding has eroded the knowledge base to support these decisions.

The Narwhal has published an insightful article that looks at the decline in the numbers and use of creekwalkers by the DFO.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has been hiring creekwalkers to count salmon returning to natal streams along the Pacific coast since 1940. These creekwalkers provide essential information about populations, which is used to inform fisheries management decisions, including how many salmon can be caught for commercial or recreational purposes.
…
In 1949, there were 150 creekwalkers monitoring the north coast; by the late 1970s there were 40 and now there are just two, according to research by the organization. Pacific Wild has also found that only 215 of 2,500 spawning streams on the central and north coast are being counted. That’s about a 70 per cent decrease since the 1980s, when around 1,500 of those streams were monitored.
excerpt from The Narwhal article

Is there a solution? Of course there is. But it would require funding – turns out even creekwalkers need to eat – and a course change to base fisheries decisions on empirical data and not political expedients.

Open Letter from PFA to the Minister of Fisheries

This open letter to Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan went out Feb. 16th in a wide distribution to media across Canada. It has been written by the Public Fishery Alliance. Please read it and also open the link which contains background information.

The SFAB Chinook proposal, which this letter supports, is a lengthy read. However the four maps on the single page provide a graphic illustration of what has happened to Georgia and Juan de Fuca Straits in terms of the opportunity to retain Chinook between April and September since 2018.

The PFA strongly recommends your department allow anglers to keep Chinook as described. Failure to do so reinforces the common view that science-based fisheries management and your mandate letter from Prime Minister Trudeau are not guiding your actions. Canadians deserve to know how your department operates and where it stands with respect to their interests, especially as a general election seems close at hand.
excerpt from PFA letter to Minister of Fisheries

BC Conservative MPs express support of the Public Fishery

Conservative Members of Parliament Bob Zimmer (MP for Prince George – Peace River – Northern Rockies), Ed Fast (MP for Abbotsford), and Mel Arnold (MP for North Okanagan – Shuswap) have written an op-ed in support of the Public Fishery.

They call Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Bernadette Jordan to task for ignoring the recommendations, arrived at in concert with the Sports Fishery Advisory Board, of DFO staff; instead choosing to repeat, and indeed expand, the prior year’s non-retention of chinook salmon.

In 2019, and then again in 2020, restrictive Chinook regulations were introduced that covered most of the public fishing season.
These are decisions based on politics, not science. Many Chinook salmon stocks in BC rivers are strong or stable.
excerpt from BC Conservatve MPs to Minister of Fisheries and Oceans

2021 Salish Sea Sprng Fishing Derby

The South Vancouver Island Anglers Coalition is holding the 2021 Salish Sea Fishing Derby on March 27, 2021. There will be cash prizes for the largest salmon and the largest halibut. Derby headquarters and weigh scale will be at Cheanuh Marina. Tickets are $60.00 per rod.

This event is a fundraiser for South Vancouver Island Anglers Coalition’s Chinook sea pen enhancement projects. Please read about SVIAC’s conservation efforts here to understand how your participation and/or donations can make a real improvement to the enhancement of chinook numbers in the Juan de Fuca Strait.

SFAB Main Board Meeting Synopsis

Rod Clapton, member of the Sport Fishing Advisory Board main board, as well as president of the BC Federation of Drift Fishers, provided some insight into the recent two days of SFAB main board meetings.

New DFO Pacific Region head Jamie Scrogg provided a comprehensive, province-wide presentation on the non-tidal salmon fishery, north and south. Creel numbers are not yet available, but are an important measure of the in-river recreational fishery’s impact on salmon stock. Further meetings with DFO staff are expected to take place in March and April regarding tributary fisheries.

These Region 2 Fraser & trib special meetings were the result of our joint lobbying to the RDG & supported by people like Dean Allan & Terri Bonnet. Imperative we continue these useful discussions.
Rod Clapton email 20210207: Main Board SFAB

Of the 538 page long Integrated Fisheries Management Plan, Salmon, Southern BC, DFO senior staff member Jeff Grout highlighted the submission for the BCFDF bar fishery. The bar fishery is subject to approval by both the Province of BC and DFO. Provincial approval or denial is imminent. Any DFO approval, given the IFMP, will likely not occur before June.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Canada’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and court decisions upholding the fishing rights of First Nations are pushing DFO to change the way in which they manage the salmon fishery and the interests of those participating in the fishery. The SFAB and the BCFDF believe they will need to lobby on behalf of the public to ensure the voice of the recreational fisher is heard.

SFAB expressed strongly to DFO staff that the proposed Terms of Reference for the Salmon Allocation Review must include the Public Fishery as an equal participant, rather than be cast to the sidelines as an observer.

Recognized that current & developing Round Tables will play an important grass roots role in both Reconciliation & salmon allocation issues. Discussion on requirement of DFO to consult with the Public Fishery the potential impact of selective fishing proposals…
…
Many challenges remaining but a lot of great people contributing.
Rod Clapton email 20210207: Main Board SFAB