DFO has notified stakeholders of the kick off of the process to create the Salmon 2022/2023 Integrated Fisheries Management Plans (IFMPs) for Northern and Southern British Columbia (BC).
This table shows the important dates for the activities expected to develop the salmon IFMPs.
2022-23 Salmon IFMPs Process Timelines
| Activity | Proposed Timelines |
|---|---|
| Release of DFO IFMP Planning Letter and timelines for 2022/23 season | December 3, 2021 |
| Salmon Post Season Review Meetings All First Nations and stakeholders invited to attend. | Northern – December 2-3, 2021 Southern – December 15, 2021 |
| 2022 Salmon Outlook All First Nations and stakeholders invited to attend. | December 16, 2021 |
| Deadline for new CSAF proposals | January 27, 2022 |
| Meetings to review and discuss potential changes to IFMPs and opportunity for focussed discussion on key IFMP issues | Fraser Forum – January 18-20 2022 Northern IHPC – February 2, 2022 Southern IHPC – February 8, 2022 |
| Draft IFMPs released for public review & comment | February 24, 2022 |
| Meetings to review draft IFMP | Fraser Forum – March 1-3, 2022 Northern IHPC – March 9, 2022 Southern IHPC – March 10, 2022 |
| 2022 Revised Salmon Outlook | April 5, 2022 |
| Deadline to submit comments on draft IFMP | April 15, 2022 |
| Final Meetings for discussion on IFMP feedback | Fraser Forum – Apr 12-14, 2022 Full IHPC – May 4-5, 2022 |
| Target for public release of salmon IFMP | June 30, 2022 |
The notice includes a lengthy description of the planning considerations for these IFMPs. The table of contents gives you an idea of what’s to come:
It’s almost a year old, but this review and comment on DFO’s last exercise in consulting FNs and stakeholders – their terms to segregate Canadians – toward developing salmon IFMPs is worth a quick read. If nothing else, you may appreciate that the south coast of Vancouver Island isn’t the only fishery trying to understand the logic of DFO fishery management decisions constrained by court decisions and politics, and sometimes the hard data that suggests they’re managing some salmon and steelhead to extinction.