Tag «sfab»

SFAC Meeting Nov 9 2021

The fall Sports Fishery Advisory Committee (SFAC) meeting for southern Vancouver Island will be held November 09 at 7pm, on Microsoft Teams.

Elections for the role of Chair and co-chair will take place at the end of the meeting.

You are strongly encouraged to attend this virtual meeting to voice your support for the candidates of your choosing.

Draft Agenda:

  • SRKW
  • Hatchery Updates
  • Conservation and Protection Report
  • Elections

Please email Ryan Chamberland with any other additions to the agenda.

Details to attend the Microsoft Teams meeting:

Join on your computer or mobile app

Click here to join the meeting

Or call in (audio only)

+1 647-484-5913,,360060599#   Canada, Toronto

Phone Conference ID: 360 060 599#

Find a local number | Reset PIN

Learn More | Meeting options

Tell Minister Jordan about Chinook Retention

That message from Chris Bos of the SVIAC to Minister Jordan regarding chinook retention can use reinforcement from all of us. Minister Jordan has yet to announce her decision. There two ways in which you may support this effort:

  1. The best way is to write a short letter to Minister Jordan directly. Here are the contact details for Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan:
    • By email: min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
    • By telephone: 1 (613) 992-3474
  2. The Public Fishery Alliance has put together an excellent form letter where everything is already laid out for you. You just add your name, email address and postal code then press send and you’re done. This only takes about 30 seconds. Here is the link to the PFA form letter.

Expressing your desire to fish for chinook as proposed isn’t about harming any of the struggling Fraser River Chinook stocks. The fisheries contained in the SFAB proposal sent to DFO are designed specifically to avoid those stocks of concern.

SVIAC to Minister: Selective fisheries, please!

SVIAC President Chris Bos has sent a plea to DFO Minister Bernadette Jordan imploring her to announce selective chinook fishery opportunities for the places and times identified by the collaborative effort of DFO and the SFAB.

Please clearly understand we, as anglers, support conservation and have been seeking a meaningful recovery plan from your department regarding Fraser River Chinook stocks of concern for over fifteen years. However, the SFAB proposal on your desk has been specifically fashioned so there are absolutely minimal encounters of these challenged stocks. The objective is for anglers to harvest abundant stocks and USA origin hatchery Chinook, while stocks of concern are allowed to recover.

letter from SVIAC President Chris Bos to Minister Bernadette Jordan

SFAB Main Board Meeting Synopsis

Rod Clapton, member of the Sport Fishing Advisory Board main board, as well as president of the BC Federation of Drift Fishers, provided some insight into the recent two days of SFAB main board meetings.

  • New DFO Pacific Region head Jamie Scrogg provided a comprehensive, province-wide presentation on the non-tidal salmon fishery, north and south. Creel numbers are not yet available, but are an important measure of the in-river recreational fishery’s impact on salmon stock. Further meetings with DFO staff are expected to take place in March and April regarding tributary fisheries.

These Region 2  Fraser & trib special  meetings were the result of our joint lobbying to the RDG & supported by people like Dean Allan & Terri Bonnet. Imperative we continue these useful discussions.

Rod Clapton email 20210207: Main Board SFAB
  • Of the 538 page long Integrated Fisheries Management Plan, Salmon, Southern BC, DFO senior staff member Jeff Grout highlighted the submission for the BCFDF bar fishery. The bar fishery is subject to approval by both the Province of BC and DFO. Provincial approval or denial is imminent. Any DFO approval, given the IFMP, will likely not occur before June.
  • The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Canada’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and court decisions upholding the fishing rights of First Nations are pushing DFO to change the way in which they manage the salmon fishery and the interests of those participating in the fishery. The SFAB and the BCFDF believe they will need to lobby on behalf of the public to ensure the voice of the recreational fisher is heard.
  • SFAB expressed strongly to DFO staff that the proposed Terms of Reference for the Salmon Allocation Review must include the Public Fishery as an equal participant, rather than be cast to the sidelines as an observer.

Recognized that current & developing Round Tables will play an important grass roots role in both Reconciliation & salmon allocation issues. Discussion on requirement of DFO to consult with the Public Fishery the potential impact of selective fishing proposals…

…

Many challenges remaining but a lot of great people contributing.

Rod Clapton email 20210207: Main Board SFAB

Salmon Allocaton Policy review: Terms of Reference

As directed in April 2018 by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, following the B.C. Supreme Court Ahousaht decision, DFO is soon to undertake a review of the Pacific Salmon Allocation Policy. To guide this process, a draft Terms of Reference (ToR) for the participants has been developed.

Every fisherperson in BC – recreational, First Nation, and/or commercial – should have an interest in getting these ToR correct.

To that end, SFAC members are invited by the SFAB to read and review the ToR, as well as the SFAB’s own notes and comments on the ToR; and then provide, in writing, any additional comments, concerns and most importantly suggestions for improvement you may have to your local chair. All before Dec 31st, 2020!

SFAC Area 19/20 – Meeting to Discuss/Pass Motions Wednesday, Dec 02, 2020

Our local SFAC co-chair Ryan Chamberland has called a virtual meeting for Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 1:30 pm. The purpose is to discuss and then vote on whether two motions under consideration at this meeting should be put forward to the SFAB Chinook/Coho Working Group for their consideration.

If you can attend Wednesday @ 1:30 pm to discuss and vote on the following two motions it would be greatly appreciated by your local chairs Ryan and Chris. To attend, please contact Ryan by email for the Microsoft Teams meeting link or the (audio only) phone conference information.

The motions:

Motion 1 –  Selective marked fishery for Areas 18-19 and 20-1 to 20-6 (April 1st – June 10th)

Whereas the recreational fishery is dependent upon expectation and opportunity and;

Whereas Washington State releases over 70 million marked Chinook per year and;

Whereas for the last 12 years the Sidney anglers derby held in May each year has only shown 2  (two) Fraser Chinook intercepted in that time frame and;

Whereas DFO records indicate that the catch of Fraser Chinook is virtually non-existent in areas 18, 19 and 20-1-to 20-6 until June 10 and;

Whereas it has been shown that the Southern Resident Orcas have changed their foraging areas north of the entrance to Juan de Fuca in 2019 and 2020,

Therefore the regulations for the Juan de Fuca 2021 fishery should be changed to read “Chinook retention shall be limited to two hatchery marked Chinook in areas 18 and 19 and areas 20-1 to 20-6 from April 1 to June 10, 2021”

Motion 2 – Selective marked fishery for Areas 18-19 and 20-1 to 20-6 (June 11th – July 31st)

Whereas Washington state continues to release over 70 million hatchery marked Chinook and has stated that there is enough Chinook for all and;

Whereas these hatchery Chinook are for retention of all fisheries and;

Whereas the Southern Resident Orcas in the past 2 (two) years have been late in returning to BC waters and according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans have changed their foraging areas further north of the entrance to Juan De Fuca Strait,

Therefore there should be a retention of one hatchery marked Chinook in areas 18 and 19 and 20-1 to 20-6 from June 11 to July 31, 2021. Possession limits to remain unchanged.

Local SFAC Meeting: Nov 3, 7 pm

The local SFAC meeting is planned for Nov. 3 at 7 pm. This link will allow you to join the MS Teams virtual meeting at that time. This document may help you join the meeting successfully.

The local SFAC chair was provided much information in advance of this meeting by South Coast SFAC chairs Mike Kelly and Erika Watkins. Some of this information is shared here.

This document is DFO’s “Regional recreational Updates – Fall 2020”. This document provides a lot of information and updates on a variety of species management issues and policy initiatives that DFO currently has underway in a regional context. It is intended as an information document. Note that the first 6 items in the document highlight issues that will be included in SFAB consultation during the upocoming cycle.

This document is the “SFAB Regional Priorities and Requests for Consideration 2020\2021”. This is a list of priority issues that the SFAB species specific working group chairs and the SFAB executive have identified as regional priorities for the upcoming consultation cycle. Please note that these regional priorities may not capture priorities at your local committee level, and it is anticipated  that both motions and action items that offer advice to address both regional and local issues may flow from your local meetings.

The SFAB motions tracking spreadsheet may help you understand the status of SFAB motions that have already been submitted to DFO as advice. This may help you understand how advice provided  by either your committee or the Regional and Main Board has been considered by DFO and what the outcome of that consideration has been. It also will assist in identifying outstanding items that require clarification.

Pat Ahern of the SFI has provided a slide deck to explain the status of the SFAB modernization process.

Under normal circumstances, in 2020/2021, elections would be held to either reconfirm the mandate of existing local, regional and Main Board chairs; or to replace them through a fair, transparent, anonymous and democratic process. Elections are being deferred until such time as they may occur in face to face meetings.

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.

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.

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.

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