2020-2021 IFMP Process and Deadline for Input

The 2020-2021 IFMP Timeline document from DFO sets out the dates and opportunities for comment regarding the IFMP.  Of particular interest, the deadline for input on the IFMP Planning Priorities is January 13, 2020.

An IFMP is an integrated fisheries management plan that DFO develops for each fishery to describe the fishery and its management issues, and then sets out how that fishery will be managed.  The IFMP priorities and the final plan set the stage for which fisheries regulations or harvest controls will be put in place. It is a critical document that directly impacts every recreational fisherperson.

The current 2019/2020 Salmon IFMPs are quite lengthy documents, and are available at:  

Please contact DFO by email with any feedback as soon as possible. 

You may join a group discussion on January 6th via a webinar hosted by the West Coast Fishing Guide Association (WCFGA). It may provide you a more accessible platform to discuss our fishery issues, learn from others, and develop a consistent message to provide DFO as feedback.

Webinar details: 

ItemDescription
DateMonday, January 6, 2020
Time7 pm - 8:30 pm PST
TitleWCFGA Salmon IFMP Priorities Meeting
Link to join meeting from computer, smartphone or tablet.https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/848334325
Access Code
Access Code: 848-334-325
Audio only phone number+1 (647) 497-9391
Link to download GoToMeeting apphttps://global.gotomeeting.com/install/848334325

Sooke River Escapement Update from DFO

DFO has released their South Coast Salmon Bulletin in which they provide an update on the Sooke River escapement of chinook and chum salmon.

Thank you to the volunteers whose work forms the foundation for this good news. Also many thanks to those that fund these projects through their generous donations.

The goal of these efforts is to increase the abundance of Chinook salmon in fisheries and in spawning escapement. Moreover, this project should benefit Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) prey abundance as well as ecotourism.

Scia’new First Nation closes Becher Bay to Commercial Crabbing

The First Nation in Becher Bay, the Scia’new First Nation, has identified and confirmed an invasive European Green (EG) crab outbreak. There are multiple nesting sites and these EG crabs are extremely harmful to the resident Red Rock and Dungeness crab population.

The Scia’new First Nation understands and supports the public recreational fishery. They wish to protect access for First Nations and public fishery opportunity for Red Rock and Dungeness Crab. The band has invested in the tourism, marine and land based developments and operations within their community, and supports the public recreational fishery as a way to helping their own coastal community thrive.

The EG crab problem has been identified; no remedial action by DFO has been taken. The band in concert with the local Sport Fishing Advisory Board (SFAB) initiated a commercial crab closure in the bay in 2017. This closure was not recognized or enforced by DFO.

The Becher Bay (Scia’new) Band has now initiated a complete Becher Bay commercial crab closure through their lawyers and the treaty process.

This October, at a meeting in Metchosin, the Sports Fishery Advisory Board declared support for the Becher Bay (Scia’new) First Nation’s commercial crab closure in Becher Bay. The closure is that part of Becher Bay within a line from Aldridge Point, then due east to the mark behind Bedford Island situated on Reserve #2 adjacent to Rocky Point ammunition depot in Metchosin.

Port Renfrew’s salmon hatchery enters a new era

The Peninsula News Review website has an article describing changes regarding the salmon hatchery at Port Renfrew. In contrast to the constant bad news regarding the salmon fishery around Vancouver Island, this is an exceptional good news story!

The changes have seen the dissolution of the founding San Juan Salmon Enhancement Society and the establishment of the 4Mile Creek Enhancement Society, which has now taken over the operation.

“Over the past four months, the (old) society was phased out and a new society has taken over,” Shane Bruinsma, the manager of the hatchery, said.

“Morris Tremblay has been running it since 1976, but at 87 years old, he’s decided it’s time to pass the operation on,” Bruinsma said.

“I’m now managing the site along with Lisa Margetish, and we’ve got some exciting things planned. We know that the community’s support is at the heart of our ability to move forward.”

South Coast SFAB meeting Nov. 23-24, 2019 in Nanaimo

The South Coast SFAB meeting will be held this coming weekend, November 23-24, 2019, at the Vancouver Island Conference Center (101 Gordon Street, Nanaimo) in the Dodd Narrows Room.

The draft agenda may be viewed here.

Speakers from the the floor are permitted at the discretion of the meeting chair. Parking is available for $10 per day underneath the Coast Bastion Hotel, which is perhaps a two minute walk to the conference center.

These regional SFAB meetings and the main board meeting in February will chart the course for how DFO manages the west coast fishery in the year ahead. The ACS encourages you to attend, learn and participate.

Proposed handyDART facility in Town of View Royal

ACS member Esquimalt Anglers’ Association wrote this letter to our provincial government with concerns regarding the Proposed handyDART facility in Town of View Royal.

Despite assurances and guarantees to the contrary, degradation of stream habitat and contamination through sedimentation continues to occur during construction of infrastructure projects.  One has only to look at the McKenzie Avenue interchange where several such incidences have occurred.  This past August there were two stop work orders issued for the sewage treatment project pipeline crossing of Colquitz River at Marigold and Interurban.  This was a result of an environmental management plan which failed to avoid excessive sedimentation of the fish bearing waters.

Letter to BC Minister of Transportation & Infrastructure Claire Trevena from Esquimalt Anglers’ Association.

The Minister’s Office recently responded by email, the contents of which are reproduced here:

288863 – Proposed handyDART facility in Town of View Royal
 
Dear Mr. Zaccarelli,
 
Thank you for your email regarding BC Transit’s plan to construct handyDART
facilities in the Town of View Royal.
 
As you likely know, increased ridership and investments in new transit
fleets have made it imperative that BC Transit construct a new handyDART
facility. Without this facility, transit service within the Victoria
Regional Transit System—conventional or handyDART—cannot continue to
expand.
 
Greater Victoria has limited space for new or expanded commercial and
industrial development. After careful, considered analysis, BC Transit
recommended provincially-owned land at the View Royal location as the best
option.
 
BC Transit is committed to engaging with View Royal staff on the handyDART
facility’s design, possible improvements and environmental protections.
Furthermore, BC Transit has committed that the facility’s designer will be
contractually obligated to ensure the project meets all View Royal’s
existing bylaw requirements, as well as other provincial and regulatory
requirements, including streamside protection and enhancement areas.
 
This is a critical project. The new facility will ensure BC Transit can
efficiently maintain and operate fleet to support nearly 400,000 annual
handyDART trips and 26 million annual conventional transit trips across
the region.
 
Thank you for taking the time to write.

Yours sincerely,
Claire Trevena
Minister
 
Copy to:          Premier John Horgan

                  Honourable George Heyman
                  Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
                  MLA, Vancouver-Fairview

                  Mitzi Dean
                  MLA, Esquimalt-Metchosin

We remain hopeful but skeptical that this project can be completed and the handyDART facility operated without any negative impact to the salmonid habitat of Craigflower Creek.

BC Sports Fishing Regulations: Suggest a Change

For the full background on this topic, please read this update.

1—What is needed is for the various Local and Regional Committees to review their fisheries and to identify any gear or equipment that should be considered for change allowing it to be varied in season.
2—We ask that in your review, don’t be too concerned about whether your suggestion might be something that can already be done. If you are unsure, identify it. It is anticipated that some of the suggested changes will:

  • Already be able to be done
  • Will not be able to be processed at this time as they require a regulatory change.

We need the SFAC’s to really think outside the box…

To offer your suggestions and recommendations, please use this form. When complete, give the form to your local SFA Committee Chairperson.

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