Tag «south coast»

DFO Reminder of Chinook Management Measures

DFO has all of their 2019 notices posted here.

With FN1281, they sought to remind us of the measures in place to manage the recreational fishery for chinook:

The following is a reminder of the South Coast Area Chinook management measures currently in effect and continuing January 1, 2020 until further notice.

The daily limit for Chinook is two (2) per day in the following areas:

Areas 11 to 27, 28, 111, 121, 123 to 127; and Subareas 29-1 to 29-5 and 29-8.

Please do remember in addition to check area-specific regulations where you fish for further restrictions.

Also worth noting…

For the recreational fishery, the annual aggregate limit for Chinook salmon is ten (10) coast-wide in all tidal waters. The annual licence period is from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020.

Happy holidays from all at the Amalgamated Conservation Society.

Sooke River Escapement Update from DFO

DFO has released their South Coast Salmon Bulletin in which they provide an update on the Sooke River escapement of chinook and chum salmon.

Thank you to the volunteers whose work forms the foundation for this good news. Also many thanks to those that fund these projects through their generous donations.

The goal of these efforts is to increase the abundance of Chinook salmon in fisheries and in spawning escapement. Moreover, this project should benefit Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) prey abundance as well as ecotourism.

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.

South Coast SFAB Meeting, Nanaimo, March 30-31, 2019

UPDATE: Proposed amendments to the Fisheries Act in Bill C-68 as well as subsequent changes to the BC Sport Fishing Regulations (BCSFRs) are reviewed and discussed here. A worksheet for the SFACs to capture members’ ideas regarding suggested changes to the BCSFRs is provided here.

The spring South Coast Sports Fishing Advisory Board (SFAB) meeting will take place in Nanaimo, at the Vancouver Island Conference Center, Dodd Narrows Room on March 30-31, 2019. 

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Coast Bastion Hotel. This arrangement expires March 11.

We encourage members of the clubs and associations that comprise the ACS to attend on Saturday, March 30. This will help us gain recognition in support of the ACS regaining a seat on the main board of the SFAB.

The draft agenda can be viewed here. The first day’s agenda is shown below.

SFAB Main Board meeting April 14-15, Richmond, BC

The Sport Fishing Advisory Board (SFAB) main board is meeting this coming weekend, April 14-15, 2018 at the Airport Marriot Hotel, 7571 Westminster Highway, Richmond, BC. The public is welcome. Please respect the meeting chairperson with regard to speaking or presenting at this event. Follow this link to learn how to request meeting materials.

At a March 20, 2018 meeting of the Upper Fraser Valley Sport Fishing Advisory Committee, an update on enforcement of fishing regulations raised a number of concerns, among these being the few Fisheries Officers and Conservation Officers available to keep order, and the significant number of illegal net sets these few officers managed to catch. Which begs the question as to how much illegal fishing on the river goes unremarked?

5. Enforcement Update – C&P, F.V. East (FVE) –D. Clift

  • During 2017-18 season C&P staff levels/resources were very low (e.g. down from 11 Fishery Officers(FOs) to 5 F/T FOs and 1 Recruit);
  • Provincial CO Service are short also and are currently hiring more staff;
  • Low C&P resource levels also impacts ability to respond to new & emerging priorities;
  • Mission C&P Office is closed;
  • 2017 season enforcement stats summary: 126 illegal set nets, 90 violation tickets issued, 37 warnings and over 2000 fishers checked;
  • ORR staffing issue (i.e. limited/reduced coverage during 2017 season) impacted FO patrols;
  • Areas of reported high non-compliance in recreational fisheries were the Stave and Vedder Canal at Keith Wilson bridge.

Concern expressed by committee members about observed increase in number of cars seen
on Vedder Canal Dykes and potential impacts of these activities on riparian habitat areas; it
was confirmed that rules (i.e. bylaws) are in place prohibiting motorized vehicles.
General reminder to report fisheries enforcement concerns to Observe, Record, Report
(ORR) line 1-800-465-4336 & Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) 1-877-952-7277.

Victoria and Area SFAB Committee – Regional Issue Update from DFO

You may read this summary document from DFO concerning fish and fisheries issues being considered by and of interest to the Sport Fishing Advisory Board. If you have any questions or would like your local reps to bring something to the table at the upcoming South Coast SFAB meeting this coming weekend, please feel free to contact Tom Cole at (250) 478-1306 or by email, or Chris Bos at (778) 426-4141 or by email before this Saturday.

Mentioned in the document linked above is the Southern Resident Killer Whale fisheries management proposal from DFO. Earlier this year, in Feb and Mar, the Victoria and Area SFAB Committee held three emergency SFAB meetings (Sidney, Victoria and Sooke), where Martin Paish (SFAB Exec and IHPC SRKW Committee) and Chris Bos consulted with the local angling community so that a suitable response could be submitted to DFO from our sector relating to their proposal. The formal SFAB response was submitted before March 15th deadline and included the recommendations coming from the emergency meetings.

Regarding 2018 Chinook fishing coastwide – the department has recently sent out a document indicating they are contemplating additional Chinook management measures for BC this year. The concern DFO anticipates poor returns of number of stocks including but not limited to Skeena and Fraser Rivers. While no final decision on what measures may be taken has been made, further reductions in exploitation are being considered. For Fisheries Management Areas 18, 19 and 20 early timed Fraser stream-type Chinook are expected to be low too. It is not anticipated to have a closure of the Chinook fishery locally, but DFO might seek some additional tightening of the regs. SFAB reps will discuss this topic with DFO prior to the upcoming South Coast meeting.

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