DFO has engaged the SFI to collect information regarding the “where and when” of sports fishing activity in BC tidal waters. This information combined with mapping can then be used to inform upcoming meetings regarding Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and the Oceans Protection Plan (OPP).
If you’re willing to contribute your knowledge, the SFI is seeking volunteers for input. You may provide your knowledge and insights online or in-person, at the cost to you of about an hour. Please contact the SFI at mapping@sportfishing.bc.ca or 250.591.0734 to schedule a discussion about the Pacific Fisheries Management Area(s) with which you are familiar.
The tidal waters recreational fishery of British Columbia is both vast and complex in its geographic footprint, species diversity, methods of harvest and rate of participation. Involving close to 300,000 licensed anglers in 2017, and operating over the full calendar year, the fishery is also highly significant in accounting for over 49% of the total GDP of all fisheries combined in BC. In Canada, recreational fishing generates 8.4 billion in revenue annually and provides important social benefits to participants of all ages and backgrounds.
As discussed in April, the SFAB, businesses and individuals identified as knowledgeable about a given area, are needed to provide information to help create a map that marine spatial planning and other departmental analyses can utilize. On behalf of DFO, the SFI is seeking volunteers for input and to contribute their personal and observed knowledge via an online or in-person interview. The objective is to note all fishing activity for finfish, crabs and prawns throughout the year and throughout the coast. It is expected that an interview will take less than an hour and can be done in person or in an online format.
Accurately mapping the activities of this large, important fishery is particularly important and timely. The upcoming MPA and OPP and the potential to inform those processes with well documented and sourced information is critically important as details are gathered and decisions are made. This project is an opportunity to ensure that recreational fishing activity is properly noted in any area of the coast where it occurs by providing a historical and present-day snapshot.
DFO is building on existing yet limited information about the recreational sector. The rise of marine spatial planning has increased the importance of providing socio-economic analysis at the local scale for a variety of ocean sectors including the recreational sector. Current and previously generated data products show un-validated recreational catch and effort by Pacific Fisheries Management Areas (PFMAs). PFMAs are at too large a scale for the existing data to be informative in marine spatial planning discussions.
Currently available recreational fishing data comes from a variety of sources including the Internet Recreation Effort and Catch survey (iRec), Creel surveys and the National Recreational Fishing Survey. Each of these, while helpful and informative, are not at a resolution that is required to properly identify areas and times that are important to the recreational sector.
Please be in touch with the SFI at mapping@sportfishing.bc.ca or
250.591.0734 to schedule a discussion about the PFMA or PFMAs that you are familiar with.