The federal government has announced tough new restrictions on fishing for Chinook salmon in an effort to protect endangered Fraser River stocks.
Federal Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the measures are necessary to save the fish from extinction, but people involved in the sport fishing industry said they go too far.
“A lack of action today could mean the extinguishment of some of these runs and ultimately of the Fraser Chinook entirely over time,” he said in an interview.
The federal government said Chinook stocks have been in decline for years due to multiple factors such as fishing, habitat destruction and the effects of climate change.
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada determined that 12 of 13 Fraser River Chinook populations are at risk.
Wilkinson said the new measures announced Tuesday establish a recreational catch-and-release fishery until the middle of July in most areas to allow the maximum number of Chinook to return to their spawning grounds. After that, fishers will be able to keep one Chinook per day.
“And that is really a function of the fact that the endangered stocks will have moved through these areas by that time,” he said.
In addition, the federal government is closing the commercial fishery for Chinook until Aug. 20.
“We’re also restricting food and ceremonial access for First Nations until July 15,” Wilkinson said.
He acknowledged that the measures will have a negative impact on many people.
“I certainly understand the perspective the recreational fishing community,” he said. “I used to be a fishing guide and my father used to own a fishing camp. So I do understand that. And what I think we’re striving to do today is to ensure that we’re actually protecting these stocks for the future.”
In a statement released after Wilkinson’s announcement the Sport Fishing Institute of BC said its members were “profoundly disappointed that DFO has made a decision to cause significant social and economic harm to coastal communities in Southern BC.”
The group, which includes the operators of major fishing lodge and charter companies on the coast, also said, “The hope now is that in the long term these measures will be combined with other actions including predator control, mass marking, stock enhancement and habitat rehabilitation. In the near term we all brace for the impacts that will come from this decision.”
The BC Chamber of Commerce said the economic costs will be too high for too little in the way of conservation impact. “Closing fishing and relying on natural production in the wild is not going to achieve the desired recovery rates in the time frame all stakeholders want to see,” said Val Litwin, BC Chamber CEO. “All the science is telling us that climate change is affecting freshwater productivity and the DFO needs to strike a balance between sustaining fisheries and sustaining fish populations, and that means building hatcheries.”
Green MLAs also took the province and the federal government to task for not doing enough to preserve wild stocks. "If governments are going to ask fishing communities and First Nations to sacrifice everything to save salmon, then government needs to do the same,” said Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands. “B.C.’s wild salmon stocks are crashing because of government policies, and now Ottawa is making British Columbians pay for decades of mismanagement.”
The specific measures announced by the government include:
• Catch and release of Chinook in southern B.C. – including Johnstone Strait and Northern Strait of Georgia – until July 14, followed by a daily limit of one Chinook per person until Dec. 31.
• Catch and release of Chinook in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the southern Strait of Georgia until July 31, and then a limit of one per person per day until Dec. 31.
• Catch and release of Chinook in West Coast Vancouver Island offshore areas until July 14, followed by a limit of two per day until Dec. 31.
• A limit of two Chinook per day on West Coast Vancouver Island inshore waters once the at-risk Chinook stocks have passed through.
• The closure of Fraser River recreational salmon fisheries until at least Aug. 23.
• A reduction in the total annual limit from 30 to 10 Chinook per person.
- With files from Sean Eckford
