Tag «halibut»

Spring 2026 Greater Victoria SFAC meeting: Feb. 24

Mark Frisson, Fisheries Management, DFO has sent an invitation to the Spring 2026 Greater Victoria Sport Fishing Advisory Committee meeting, which will be held virtually on February 24, 2026.

  • The meeting will be held virtually: Join the meeting now
  • Start time: 7:00 pm
  • Below is the spring 2026 Recreational Fisheries Newsletter for your review.
  • Below are the fall 2025 meeting minutes for review before the meeting.
  • Below is the SFAB motion tracker (with DFO responses) for your review.
  • The agenda is immediately below.
Greater Victoria Spring SFAC Agenda_2026Download

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FINAL – Winter & Spring 2026 – Rec Fish NewsletterDownload
Greater Victoria Area Fall SFAC_ Draft Meeting Minutes_2025Download
Dropbox SFAB Motions Tracker – updated Feb 2026Download

Microsoft Teams Need help?

Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 270 665 053 579 73

Passcode: mz6jD2X9

Dial in by phone

+1 647-484-5913,,691931859# Canada, Toronto

Find a local number

Phone conference ID: 691 931 859#

Last Day for SFAB Survey re: Recreational Halibut Fishery!

Today is your last chance to provide your input to the Recreational Halibut Survey for the SFAB. Please get this done if you haven’t already. If you have taken the survey, thank you!

Halibut fisherpeople: please take the SFAB survey regarding the recreational halibut fishery in BC by Jan.9, 2026.

The Sports Fishery Advisory Board wants to hear what matters most to BC anglers when it comes to recreational halibut fishing in BC. Your priorities, concerns, and ideas will help the SFAB to provide advice to DFO that reflect the values of BC’s recreational fishing community.

Fall 2025 Greater Victoria SFAC meeting: Nov. 4

Mark Frisson, Fisheries Management, DFO has sent an invitation to the Fall 2025 Greater Victoria Sport Fishing Advisory Committee meeting, which will be held virtually on November 4, 2025.

  • The meeting will be held virtually on MS Teams. Click here to join: Join the meeting now
  • Start time: 7:00 pm
  • Please review the draft Spring 2025 meeting minutes, below, before the meeting.
  • Please review the Fall 2025 Recreational Fisheries Newsletter, formally known as the Regional Recreational Updates, below.
  • This fall is an election cycle. An election for Committee Chair will be held during the meeting. Please follow this link to read about the SFAC election process and the SFAC roles and responsibilities.
  • An agenda and other meeting materials will be shown here when they’re available.
Greater Victoria Area Spring SFAC_ Draft Meeting Minutes_2025Download
FINAL – Fall 2025 – Rec Fish NewsletterDownload

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Nov. 4, 2025, 7 pm Virtual Meeting Details

Microsoft Teams Need help?

Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 222 931 803 521 0

Passcode: Ht76fQ7i

Dial in by phone

+1 647-484-5913,,967142833# Canada, Toronto

Find a local number

Phone conference ID: 967 142 833#

Join on a video conferencing device

Tenant key: teams@dfo-mpo.video.canada.ca

Video ID: 113 816 269 7

More info

2025 Halibut TAC (Total Allowable Catch) Announced

Courtesy the South Vancouver Island Anglers Coalition – SVIAC – we learned recently about decisions taken at the recent International Halibut Commission meetings.

You can read the SVIAC newsletter in full here. You can also join the SVIAC and support its efforts on behalf of recreational anglers here.

2025: A New TAC Reduction

After significant discussions, the IPHC Commissioners implemented an aggregate 15.8% TAC reduction for both Canada and the U.S. For 2025, Canada’s total share of the Pacific halibut TAC is set at 4,735,000 lbs. Based on the agreed allocations:

  • 15% Recreational Allocation = 680,250 lbs
  • 30,000 lbs deducted for the 2024 overage

This leaves Canada’s 2025 Recreational TAC at 650,250 lbs, marking a substantial reduction of over 175,000 lbs from 2024.

Next Steps

The Sport Fishing Advisory Board (SFAB) Halibut Working Group will now develop a coast-wide fishing plan for 2025. While the specifics remain to be determined, anglers should prepare for potential adjustments to the season, including a later start, an earlier closure, or tighter size limits.

https://www.anglerscoalition.com/2025/02/

Welcome to the Herring Conservation and Restoration Society

We’ve learned from Jim Shortreed about the establishment of the Herring Conservation and Restoration Society. Please review their press release, below.

Please call at your earliest convenience to arrange an excellent audio visual presentation from the Herring Conservation and Restoration Society. Pacific Herring are well researched but not all the research is readily available. Let the Herring Conservation and Restoration Society present to your group the relevant information from today’s public literature.

HCRS press release
HCRS-press-release-Jan-11-2024_052542Download

Area 19/20 Spring SFAC Meeting March 16: Venue Change to Conference Call!

Due to the COVID-19 related health concerns, this meeting will now take place as a conference call. With no simultaneous online presentation, please ensure you have access to any documents relevant to the agenda, which is:

  • Fraser River Chinook 
  • Big Bar Slide
  • SRKW
  • Halibut hybrid model
  • Prawns
  • Best Practices 

Local chairs Ryan Chamberland and Chris Bos will update the public fishing community on the difficult issues at hand on March 16 at the Area 19 & 20 SFAC spring meeting.

DateMarch 16, 2020
Time7:00 pm
Dial-in InformationPhone: 1-877-413-4782

Select "1" for English.

Meeting ID: 1830175, followed by "#" (the "pound" or number-sign key)

Once connected, please mute your line until such time as the host invites callers to speak.


The DFO Fraser River management letter sent recently solicits feedback.

The Department is seeking feedback from First Nations and established advisory groups on potential adjustments to 2019 management measures or alternative approaches that should be considered for the period June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021.

Your SFAC chairs will want your feedback and to document motions to carry forward to the South Coast Main board meeting, March 28-29 in Nanaimo. 

Ryan has been engaged in SRKW-related talks over the last month and a half, resulting in recommendations for DFO regarding

  • a science based approach to providing more access to fishing areas
  • a perspective regarding mobile avoidance zones/mobile sanctuaries
  • a 1 nautical mile corridor from Sheringham Point to East Point in Port Renfrew

which today gained much support within the technical working group. For reference, see the measures put in place by DFO for 2019.

Subsequent communications are expected to both inform and collect feedback on proposed and/or draft plans.

Oct 15 2019: Halibut Fishing Still Open

The IPHC has released its latest catch assessment for 2019 here. As of this posting, fishing for halibut in BC waters remains open. As ever, subject to change in future, and for sportfishers, always subject to size and limit restrictions as published by DFO per area.

SFAB Meeting

Ryan Chamberland, our Area 19/20 SFAB Chairperson, invites you to attend an SFAB meeting on Monday, March 04 at 7:00 pm at the Juan De Fuca Kinsmen Fieldhouse (Building by Golf Course/Tennis Facility, same room as Made In BC Wild Salmon meeting – see the red shape tagged with a 5, below).

Topics on the agenda are:

  1. 2019 Chinook Salmon Fisheries Management.
  2. New halibut regulations for 2019.
  3. Avid Anglers Update.
  4. Southern Resident Killer Whale Update.
  5. Prawn Reductions. DFO is recommending a 50% reduction in prawn limits. The Chair will be seeking input as what the SFAB should recommend to DFO as acceptable limit changes.  
  6. Update on previous motions from Fall meetings.
  7. Thompson/Chilcotin Steelhead update.

If you would like to receive emails regarding future Area 19/20 SFAB meetings, important notices and letters, please contact Ryan via this email. 

IPHC Decisions on Halibut

The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) issued a news release that describes the detailed outcomes of their recent annual meeting.

As summarized for BC anglers in an email from Kelly Wagner of the South Vancouver Island Anglers Coalition (SVIAC):

Canada’s total allowable catch is set at 6.83 Million lbs (slight decrease of 270,000 lbs from 2018)

Knowing the 2019 Total Allowable Catch for Canada, the SFAB can now turn to designing a fishery.

Once again a strong vote of thanks must be extended to our entire Canadian delegation, especially our Commissioners. We had 36 Canadian voting organizations represented at the Conference Board this year and I can confirm we are very fortunate to have the amount of knowledge, talent and expertise on our side of the table.

Notice of Victoria and Area SFAB Meeting Nov 27, 2018 at 7 pm

This meeting is intended to cover the agenda items remaining from the previous fall 2018 SFAB meeting.

What Victoria, Sidney, and Sooke Area Sports Fishing Advisory Board (SFAB) Committee Meeting. Open to the angling community and the public.
When Tuesday November 27th, 2018 (7:00 p.m.- 9 p.m.)
Where Esquimalt Anglers Association, 1101 Munro St, Victoria BC V9A 5P2
Agenda
  • Halibut 2019 TAC Expectation and Committee Guidance on 2019 Season
    (See attached Chart)
  • DFO Fall 2018 Regional Updates
  • Creel Verification Project – Trailer Counting 2018 + Camera Info + Angler DNA Collection
Notes Please review these documents for Halibut 2019 TAC and Options.

If you cannot attend the meeting and wish to comment on any topic on the agenda, please respond by email to RyanC.SFAB@gmail.com

 

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