Tag «MM»

DFO Opens Limited MSF Pilots for 2023

With fishery notice FN0426-RECREATIONAL – Salmon – Chinook – Portions of Areas 17 to 19 – Management Measures – Effective May 3, 2023, DFO is opening up some of the pilot mark selective fishery opportunities that have been identified in work done in prior years

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:

Victoria	Subareas 19-1, 19-3, 19-4, 19-5 and 19-6.
Gulf Islands and Saanich Inlet:	Subareas 17-6, 17-9, 18-6, 18-7, 18-10, 19-7, 19-8.

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.

Release of Draft 2023/24 BC Salmon IFMPs for Consultation

With FN0199, DFO has released their draft 2023-2024 Integrated Fisheries Management Plans.

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 2023/24 for key changes for the IFMP that may be under consideration.

Section 13 of the IFMPs outline the Species Specific Fishing Plans, …

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.
https://notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&DOC_ID=255685&ID=all

You may read the northern and southern IFMPs via the fishery notice, or the links below:

Page 40 of the draft Southern Salmon IFMP speaks to DFO’s latest considerations of Mark Selective Fisheries. Worth noting is 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
The Department approved a small number of mark selective fishery (MSF) opportunities in 2021 that are proposed to continue in 2023/2024, pending the post-season review of the available fisheries information. Details can be found here in Table 13.1-12.

New and modified MSF opportunities are currently being consulted on for possible implementation in Spring 2023. Those MSF that are approved will be included in the final 2023/24 IFMP and may be considered again in Spring 2024 subject to post-season review of the available data (13.1-13: Proposed MSF Openings – Southern ISBM). Also new for 2024 is a proposed modification to the MSF in portions of the Juan de Fuca Strait and Haro Strait that occurs in March to move to marked-only retention .

Further work on a framework to inform decision making on the expanded use of MM and MSF is underway as part of the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative (PSSI). DFO plans to seek input from First Nations and stakeholders on this work during a series of workshops that began in December 2022 and are anticipated to continue in 2023. Further information will be provided on engagement plans at a later date.
https://acsbc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023-24-Southern-Salmon-IFMP-Draft.pdf

Release of Draft 2022/23 BC Salmon IFMPs for Consultation

With FN0168, DFO has released their draft 2022-2023 Integrated Fisheries Management Plans.

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 2022/23 for key changes for the IFMP that may be under consideration.
Section 13 of the IFMPs outline the Species Specific Fishing Plans, …
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.
https://notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&DOC_ID=255685&ID=all

You may read the northern and southern IFMPs via the fishery notice, or the links below:

With regard to chinook in southern BC and Fraser River waters, p. 33 says “… management measures similar to 2021 are outlined in this IFMP.” There are also words about mark selective fisheries (MSF) and mass marking (MM) of hatchery salmon, but they see any changes to MSFs occurring only in 2023 (p. 34).

Friday, Nov 13th, 9:30 am: 2nd webinar of 2020 SFI Conference Series

The second webinar presented by the SFI takes place Friday, Nov. 13 at 9:30 am. The session will be approximately 90 minutes long, with an audience question and answer period following the speakers. The theme for the series is Charting a Predictable Path for Salmon and BC’s Public Fishery.

In this webinar, the discussion turns to Mark Selective Fishing (MSF) and Mass Marking (MM). To aid both recovery of salmon and provide reliable and predictable opportunity for BC’s public fishery, action must be taken. A solution that has been successfully implemented, mark selective fishing and mass marking, will be discussed by representatives from Washington State and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Attendance to these sessions is free but you must register.

Ask Questions
Written questions can be asked following each speaker using a free, simple tool called sli.do or slido.com. Once the session begins, use a separate browser tab to access another web page, or use your phone, to go to slido.com, and enter the session code in the participant area.

On November 13th the code is: #MARKSELECTIVE. See samples of PC / mobile of the sli.do participant page. The chat function in the Zoom webinar will be disabled, so please ask and vote on questions posed through sli.do.

DFO: no to MM and MSF, yes to wild salmon policy

Near the end of June this year, the Sport Fishery Advisory Board sent a letter to DFO urging that agency to move forward with mass marking (MM) of hatchery chinook to enable mark selective fisheries (MSF) along our BC coast.

DFO’s response is lengthy and includes a full range of issues and topics to discuss, but basically comes down to: no to mass marking – it’s too hard and we can’t afford it, and those hatchery fish may out-compete the wild fish; no to marked selective fishery for areas such as south Vancouver Island – there may be an at risk chinook group that suffers some mortality.

The ACS has concerns regarding DFO’s approach to salmon conservation and its impact on the recreational fishers of BC. The consultations that DFO schedules with recreational groups – generally represented by SFAB – appear to carry little weight with regard to the fishery management measures put in place.