The usual practice when writing an outlook piece like this in mid-winter is to review all the available stock assessment information and, based on past experience, make some informed projections about where and when fishing might be most productive. While that will still be the basis for this look ahead..
One of the great features of salmon fishing on the BC coast is that anglers fish for them 365 days a year, subject to local time and area restrictions. Of course, this opportunity only applies to Chinook salmon, as the other species are either still way out in the open ocean or too small to be legal quarry outside the traditional summer season. Thanks to the multi-year coastal rearing life history of many Chinook stocks, productive fishing for them can be had right through the winter months.
Up until the mid-1990s, coho were the foundation almost every year for productive salmon fishing in the Strait of Georgia recreational fishery. Since then, however, their presence has been much less predictable...
Sockeye from the Fraser River comprise one of the greatest salmon stock aggregates in BC. It’s no exaggeration to describe it as a “foundation stock,” because it is so important to many diverse communities within the province.
After nearly three months of rushed analysis and consultation, on May 30 the DFO released fishery notice #0428. It is likely unprecedented in the history of BC fisheries management in its scope.
The recreational fishery does best in an environment of certainty. Regrettably, in recent years anglers have come to understand that the abundance of fish is anything but certain. However, the policy framework that describes and allows our fishery to proceed has been fairly stable.
There is real damage being done to the future reputation of the recreational fishery in BC. The business infrastructure is paying big time for DFO’s lack of preparedness in providing a meaningful consultation and planning schedule to develop measures that would sustain the fishery.
After several years of relative stability, the management regime for the recreational halibut fishery on Canada’s Pacific coast has undergone some change for the 2018 season.
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