B.C. sportfishing leaders are urging Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to test out an "in-river bar fishery" in the face of zero recreational fishing openings on the Fraser River.
A July 10 letter was fired off to DFO's Pacific regional director general Susan Chamber, signed by Rod Clapton, president of the BC Federation of Drift Fishers and chair of the Sport Fishing Advisory Board, and co-signed by 16 other sportfishing groups and boards.
"We the undersigned are writing to express our significant concerns regarding lack of communication with Fraser River DFO staff, and failure to address our concerns and acknowledge our offers of support toward working with DFO on issues such as selective fishing which could assist in developing the regulatory tools to support a recreational in-river bar fishery."
It means that DFO would first have to develop the regulatory tools necessary, in the absence of them in the fishing rules, that would allow the gear variation needed for selective fishing opportunities like an "in-river bar fishery" on the Fraser.
Sportfishing leaders have been advocating for a selective pilot project of this type for a decade.
"This fishery in the past has demonstrated virtually zero interception of sockeye. Logic would suggest that had such a regulation been in force in 2023 we could have had opportunity on the very significant returns of 4-1 chinook."
Past meetings of sportfishing advocates with DFO staff "recognized that a carefully controlled and documented short-term, single-location fishery could support much of the anecdotal and documented creel census conducted some years ago," the letter continues.
"This would support our position that bar fishing is extremely selective and can provide opportunities where we have currently zero openings. We understand that regulations must be in place, which is currently a priority with the SFAB Regulation committee."
The Chilliwack Progress sent a request for DFO officials to respond to Clapton's letter on behalf of the Fraser sector asking, and the department responded to the sportfishing leadership's letter with a lengthy response.
The DFO response points out that fisheries regulations including the Fisheries Act have been amended recently to "enable fishing gear and equipment" to be varied in-season.
"DFO and the Province of B.C. are working collaboratively to make amendments to the BC Sport Fishing Regulations (1996) to prescribe the fishing gears and equipment that could be then varied by variation order. This work is underway but regulatory reform can be a lengthy process," the response warned, underlining that a working group of SFAB has been working through the reforms.
The challenge is that DFO does not have the ability under the current rules to limit anglers to only use bar-fishing gear on the Fraser at this point.
"However, DFO is working with the SFAB to explore potential regulatory changes and consider possible experimental approaches to test selective fishing techniques."
The response talks about how bar fishing is contrasted with non-selective techniques like snagging, flossing or bottom-bouncing.
Bar fishing sees the angler using a heavy weight affixed to a short leader with a large spin-n-glow lure.
"A bar fishing rig with a shorter leader line is known to reduce snagging of sockeye because the weighted line sit on the river bottom and is more apt to attract chinook," according to DFO. "This is quite different from other recreational fishing techniques used in the Fraser River (and other rivers), in particular bottom bouncing which uses a lighter weight and the lines drift through the water column, which can result in snagging non-target fish."
The DFO response to Clapton's letter underlines the Fraser River chinook population was deemed "at risk" with extremely low returns of spawners, and high pre-spawn mortalities due to habitat pressure, climate change and bycatch among the factors.
"Lower than average snowpack in southern British Columbia and long-range forecasts for the coming months indicate that adverse conditions for salmon may result from prolonged periods of heat and drought from July through September," DFO continues.
Management takes "the precautionary approach" and for stocks of concern "management actions are designed to support healthy spawning populations."
DFO said it is implementing First Nations, recreational and commercial fishery management measures "to provide protection for a number of stocks of conservation concern, including Fraser River summer-run Chinook populations that are rebuilding and face environmental uncertainty.
"After conservation, priority access to salmon for First Nations food, social and ceremonial (FSC), Treaty and rights-based fisheries are prioritized and management approaches are designed to facilitate harvests – however, many groups have been unable to harvest sufficient numbers of fish in recent years due to low abundance.
"Minimal levels of fishery mortalities are permitted (primarily to account for limited FSC harvest, bycatch and incidental mortality) for Fraser River Spring 42, Spring 52, and Summer 52 Chinook given their poor stock status, poor productivity and expectations for continued spawner abundances below targets.
"Additional fishery mortalities could jeopardize survival and recovery unless productivity improves."
The letter sent to DFO from sportfishing reps was co-signed by the following:
B.C. Federation of Drift Fishers
B.C. Wildlife Federation Main Board
BCWF Region 2
BCWF Region 6
Fraser Valley Salmon Society
Fraser River Guides Association
Fraser River Sportfishing Alliance
Lower Fraser Valley SFAC
Upper Fraser Valley SFAC
Mid Fraser SFAC
Upper Fraser SFAC
Lower Skeena SFAC
Upper Skeena SFAC
Pr. Rupert SFAC
Vancouver Howe Sound Guides Assoc.
Public Fishery Alliance
