In materials presented to the sport-fishing community Jan. 12, DFO mapped out important foraging areas for the southern resident killer whales.
…the fishing community rejects the modelling informing the map. Recreational fishers say they almost never see the endangered whales near the shoreline.
“For DFO to say it will shut an area down when southern residents are rarely there makes no sense, and is negligent,” said Wayne Friesen, chair of the B.C. Recreational Fishing Association.
It seems curious that to explain DFO’s thinking on this subject, the CBC turned to Misty McDuffy, a non-DFO biologist with an NGO. Strange that DFO didn’t speak to its own decision making process; possibly waiting for political direction?
Release of Draft 2024/25 BC Salmon IFMPs for Consultation
With FN0120, DFO has released their draft 2024-2025 Integrated Fisheries Management Plans.
The emailed fishery notice subject is wrong and says “2023-2024”; the body has it right as 2024-2025.
Deadline for submission of comments is April 15th, 2024.
The draft IFMPs set out the policy framework that guides decision making, general objectives relating to management of stocks of concern, enhancement and enforcement, as well as decision guidelines for a range of fisheries.
Please refer to the New for 2024/25 for key changes for the IFMP that may be under consideration.
Section 13 of the IFMPs outline the Species Specific Fishing Plans, which describe fisheries plans for each of the salmon species and the management units and major fishery areas for each species. This section includes the relevant information on management approach, decision guidelines and specific management measures, as well as, information related to First Nations, commercial and recreational fishing plans for each fishery.
During March and April, the Department will be meeting with First Nations and recreational, commercial and environmental groups to seek further feedback on the draft IFMPs as part of the IFMP consultation process.
Page 37 of the draft Southern Salmon IFMP has a section that speaks to Mark Selective Fisheries. As per last year, please note that for a significant time period, COVID precautionary measures reduced fin clipping at Canadian salmon hatcheries to near zero; there will be a few years where recreational fishers seeking marked salmon will be dependent upon Washington state origin fish for success.
Mass Marking / Mark-Selective Fisheries
Since 2020 the Department approved a small number of recreational Chinook mark selective fishery (MSF) opportunities, which are planned to continue in 2024/2025, pending the post- season review of the available fisheries information. Details can be found here in Table 13- : Approved MSF Openings – Southern ISBM.
The Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative (PSSI) provides new investments to support potential implementation of Chinook mass marking and mark-selective fisheries as part of an integrated management approach. To advance this work, DFO sought input from First Nations and stakeholders during a series of workshops that began in December 2022, leading to DFOs development of An Implementation Framework for Mark-Selective Fisheries for Southern British Columbia Chinook Salmon (Appendix 12). The purpose of this framework is to outline a risk- based, transparent and collaborative process for the evaluation, decision making, mitigation measures, implementation, review and improvements of MSFs targeting adipose fin-clipped hatchery Chinook Salmon in a manner consistent with the regulatory and policy requirements for Pacific salmon management. Proposals for new MSF opportunities may be submitted by all harvest sectors, or by DFO, and they will evaluated against the key criteria laid out in the framework.
DFO has posted several “consultations” with respect to designating certain salmon populations as species at risk, in which you may have an interest. Any one of these that wanders the Strait of Juan de Fuca or the Salish Sea, once designated as a species at risk, is bound to impact our already curtailed salmon fisheries on Vancouver Island
You are encouraged to review the relevant “Open” Pacific aquatic species consultations and provide any remarks to DFO where allowed. Filter by “salmon” to narrow down the choices. The two open consultations most relevant to the Vancouver Island chinook fishery are listed below:
We are rallying together to challenge the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and demand fair and science-based regulations. For far too long, the DFO has made decisions driven by politics rather than sound scientific principles. Last-minute rule changes have had a devastating impact on small business owners, particularly those running charter businesses in rural and remote areas. Entire small towns and countless families have been affected by these sudden shifts, particularly here on Vancouver Island.
Anglers, guides and businesses in Port Renfrew have a ‘go fund me campaign’ underway to raise money to take the Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) to court over business losses as a consequence of this year’s additional Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) and Chinook restrictions. They have set up a Go-Fund-Me site to raise $100,000.
With fisheries notice FN0664-Salmon published on July 13, DFO has released the BC Salmon Integrated Fisheries Management Plans (IFMPs) for 2023/2024. They are included below for your convenience.
Latest FN re: Chinook and Areas 18, 19, 20; Subareas 29-3 to 29-5, and Subareas 20-1, 20-2, 29-1, and 29-2
Edit 20230629: DFO followed up FN0612 with FN0617 to say, “Oops!” FN0612 is NOT VALID and was released in error.
Until further notice, the daily limit of Chinook Salmon is zero (0) per day, except for the pilot mark-selective fisheries announced in Fishery Notice FN0488; and the Chinook management measures previously announced for East Coast Vancouver Island (Fishery Notice FN0330) and West Coast Vancouver Island (Fishery Notice FN0332).
These openings are located away from primary migratory routes or during times when there is a low prevalence of Fraser River Chinook stocks of concern and increased abundance of other stocks including hatchery-marked Chinook. In addition to creel surveys (dockside interviews and overflight effort counts) and the iREC reporting program that will be conducted, these pilot MSF openings will be subject to enhanced monitoring including biological sampling and independent verification of at-sea releases. These MSFs will also be subject to evaluation of available post-season information and potential adjustments may be made prior to reopening in Spring 2024.
excerpt from DFO fishery notice FN0426-RECREATIONAL
From May 3rd until the end of May 2023, you may fish for and retain one marked chinook per day, subject to the area-specific minimum size and your annual chinook limit in the following areas:
From June 1 until July 14, 2023, you may fish for and retain one marked chinook per day, subject to the area-specific minimum size and your annual chinook limit in the following areas:
Gulf Islands and Saanich Inlet
Subareas 17-6 and 17-9
From June 1 until July 31, 2023, you may fish for and retain one marked chinook per day, subject to the area-specific minimum size and your annual chinook limit in the following areas:
Gulf Islands and Saanich Inlet
Subareas 18-7, 19-7, 19-8, and That portion of Subarea 18-6 west of a line from Isabella Point on Saltspring Island (48 degrees 44.0239′ N, 123 degrees 25.5622’W) to a point on Piers Island (48 degrees 48.4586’N, 123 degrees 25.3965’W) then to a point on the Saanich Peninsula near 48 degrees 41.8550’N, 123 degrees 26.1056’W.
In all of the above cases: Unmarked Chinook cannot be retained.
Thanks to DFO, the SFAB and all the people who’ve worked to pilot these MSFs while minimizing risk to the Fraser chinook stock and ensuring plentiful prey for the SRKW population.
ACS, DFO and SFAB restructuring plans
Early in February this year, the ACS wrote a letter to DFO in which we expressed serious concerns over the restructuring of the SFAB and the reorganization of at least a few local SFA Committees. DFO responded to our concerns; you may read their response here.
Within DFO’s response is the statement, “Reorganization of the local committees is being considered as recreational fisheries on southern Vancouver Island have evolved and grown over recent decades.“
The ACS has replied to DFO’s response to point out
How the SFAB is devolving to primarily represent the secondary (commercial) sector, in contradiction to the founding Terms of Reference.
That despite the changes to the recreational fishery in recent decades, it has in no way “evolved and grown”.
The reallocation of the recreational fishery has been occurring in a largely behind-the-scenes manner, often without public consultation and generally ignoring information collected and agreed between DFO regional members and recreational fishery advocates.
This latest ACS letter may be read in entirely here.
In your reply of March 02, it is noted that “… recreational fisheries on southern Vancouver Island have evolved and grown over recent decades.” The ACS believes that this is not true. Angler effort and catch have plummeted over the past several decades. Statistics prove this out. One only has to check out local boat launch and angler boat moorage facilities to see the precipitous decline in effort around southern Vancouver Island.
The reallocation of our catch to another user group has been accomplished by the plethora of restrictions on our Chinook fishery over many years. These include, but are not limited to, reduced annual limit from 20 to 10 (without consultation), four month retention closure from April through July, reduced daily limits and maximum size restrictions and closed areas under the guise of protecting Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) whose population is stable.