Question Period Note: Access to the Recreational Fishery in BC

Access to the Recreational Fishery in BC

We acknowledge the challenges being faced by all Pacific Salmon fishery participants, including recreational anglers, to protect at-risk Southern British Columbia salmon stocks, including Fraser River Chinook stocks.

Conservation is our highest priority and requires a precautionary approach to managing these stocks given the risk of extinction. However, we continue to manage for sustainable fishery opportunities where possible.

The Department provides fishery opportunities for recreational harvest in areas where Chinook stocks of concern could be avoided and also in areas and at times where other stocks and species of concern would not be impacted.

Mark Selective Fisheries
Consistent with the Harvest Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) will work together with harvesters to modernize how salmon fisheries are managed, and explore sustainable harvesting opportunities through marked selective fisheries (MSF). Further consultations are planned in 2022 to seek input on benefits and challenges of these approaches to inform further decisions.

• Recreational anglers have raised a number of concerns about the management of the Pacific Salmon fishery, particularly Chinook salmon. These concerns include:
• A petition to end recreational fishery closures as a management tool for protecting Pacific salmon stocks of concern.
• Requests to implement mark selective fishery opportunities and mass marking of hatchery origin Chinook to support fishing opportunities that target hatchery origin salmon that have been marked by removal of an adipose fin when they are released from hatchery facilities.
• The need to develop a recovery strategy for Fraser River salmon and a commitment to implementation.
• Requests for an independent review and rebuilding of the Department.
• Management of the Northern BC Chinook fishery and harvest sharing between First Nation, recreational and commercial harvesters.
• Fraser River Chinook are a serious conservation concern. Twelve of the 13 Fraser River Chinook populations assessed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) are at-risk with 7 endangered; 4 threatened; 1 special concern and only 1 is not at risk. These at-risk stocks are experiencing low productivity and further fishery mortalities will contribute to further declines. Given the current low productivity and low numbers of at-risk Chinook, highly precautionary management measures are designed to achieve very low fishery mortalities to limit further declines of these populations and allow most fish to reach spawning areas.
• These populations will be considered for potential listing under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). In the event, that one or more of these population is listed under SARA, there will be formal requirements to develop recovery strategies for listed populations.
• These Chinook populations have been impacted by climate driven changes to habitats and ecosystems (including marine heat waves, record air temperature records, forest fires and drought) and the Big Bar landslide. The road to recovery requires a long-term view and close collaboration with First Nations, the Province, and stakeholders to implement solutions.
• Fishery management measures for Chinook were developed following consultation with Indigenous groups, recreational and commercial fishing organizations; and environmental organizations. These measures are one component of a larger strategy for the sustainability of at risk Pacific salmon populations.
• Fishery management measures in 2019,2020, and 2021 included delaying commercial troll fisheries; closures and Chinook non-retention for recreational fisheries; and restricted opportunities for First Nations Food, Social and Ceremonial fisheries.
• In addition to measures that were developed specifically to protect weak chinook stocks, further measures were required in 2021 in the Fraser River in order to protect sockeye migrating up the river, resulting in constraints on recreational chinook fisheries in the river even when abundant chinook stocks were present. Recreational opportunities for Fraser River sockeye are possible given that 2022 will be a dominant late-run Fraser sockeye return year and moderate to high abundance is expected.
• After conservation, the next priority is harvest opportunities for Indigenous fisheries for food, social and ceremonial (FSC) purposes. This is a legal obligation, consistent with Section 35 of Canada’s Constitution Act, 1982, and case law which followed. DFO is permitting only very limited FSC opportunities to harvest Chinook in the Fraser River during the migration of at-risk Fraser Chinook. This is consistent with our objective to achieve very low fishery mortalities levels for these stocks. In the Fraser River, when at risk Fraser Chinook are migrating through fishing areas, the Department is permitting only very limited FSC fishery opportunities to harvest Chinook consistent with the objective of achieving very low fishery mortalities levels for these stocks.
• Where conservation goals cannot be met, recreational fisheries for all salmon will be closed. Where abundance is sufficient to meet conservation goals but insufficient to address First Nations’ needs, recreational access will be restricted to selective fishing only with non-retention of Chinook and/or Coho salmon as appropriate. Where abundance is greater, directed recreational fisheries will be permitted, however, the recreational limits for these fisheries will be determined by relative abundance.
• Though fisheries management measures are an important tool, they will not be sufficient on their own to restore these important stocks. DFO is also working on projects to support habitat protection and restoration, climate adaptation, improved stock assessment, and enhanced science collaboration.
• Consistent with the Harvest Transformation Pillar of the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative, DFO will work together with harvesters to modernize how salmon fisheries are managed, and work to provide sustainable harvesting opportunities through marked selective fisheries (MSF), where feasible. To help determine where and when the implementation of MSF and/or mass marking (MM) is most appropriate, the Department is working on a discussion paper to support further decision making around MM and MSF. DFO will be seeking input from First Nations and stakeholders in 2022 through this discussion paper and other consultations.
• These issues include:
• Conservation: MSF fisheries will still encounter wild Chinook and release mortalities of stocks of concern need to be accounted for to ensure MSF fisheries do not adversely impact wild unmarked stocks of conservation concern. MSFs are typically considered in areas where there are high proportions of hatchery fish. In many times and areas around Vancouver Island, the proportion of marked fish encounters would likely remain too low to support MSF without incurring substantial release mortality on unmarked wild fish. Although these may be times and areas where the proportion of marked fish encounters is high enough to support MSF. Recreational fisheries particularly in the river) may also encounter other weak stocks of concern (e.g. sockeye in 2019 and 2020); conservation needs of these other species/stocks must also be considered in informing fisheries management decisions pertaining to chinook salmon.
• Ensuring stock assessment information is not compromised: Currently, Canadian hatcheries only mark hatchery Chinook that carry coded-wire tags (CWTs) to support stock assessment of both hatchery and wild fish from the same geographic area (see Conuma pilot project exception below).
• The coast-wide Chinook fishery evaluation and stock assessment program in Canada and the US is based on CWT data collected from adipose fin clipped Chinook. MSFs potentially result in different exploitation rates for adipose fin clipped and unclipped Chinook, and suitable alternative stock assessment techniques are not available. Several have been applied and evaluated, and all of them have limitations which have not been resolved yet. Many of the issues are complex and the Pacific Salmon Commission is examining alternative methods over the next year.
• Additional MSFs and/or additional clipping of hatchery fish that don’t carry CWTs will require Canada to significantly adapt the fishery monitoring and stock assessment programs necessary to maintain information on wild Chinook and to meet Canada’s Pacific Salmon Treaty obligations. This will require additional resources to ensure we meet our commitments under the Pacific Salmon Treaty.
• Cost: Even without increasing current hatchery Chinook production, additional marking/clipping of significant additional numbers of hatchery-origin Chinook would incur substantial costs and, in some areas, may be logistically challenging given the large volumes of hatchery origin Chinook being released within short time frames each year.
• Effects on ecosystems: Consideration for increasing production of hatchery-origin Chinook to support fisheries must be carefully planned in order to manage ecosystem effects (e.g., carrying capacity of natural systems to support salmon rearing); control potential competitive interactions between hatchery and wild salmon; ensure that the genetic diversity of wild origin salmon is maintained.
• The Department is also conducting a pilot project to mark Conuma Hatchery Chinook in conjunction with a project exploring the application of genetic tools (parentage-based tagging (PBT)) of all hatchery-origin Chinook broodstock for the next 3 years. The goal is to determine whether PBT, combined with enhanced catch monitoring and genetic stock identification sampling, will provide the assessment information currently derived from the Coded Wire Tag (CWT) Indicator stock program with equal or greater accuracy and precision, and determine whether this approach mitigates the potential impacts of MSF on the CWT Indicator stock program.
• The Department will continue to work with the Province of BC, First Nations, recreational and commercial harvesters and others to support conservation and rebuilding of this important resource.

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