Any update on what the new license year will look like?
I know most are probably working on salmon at the moment but am curious if this decision has been made.
The SFAB recommended starting the season with same regulations as last year, but allowing choice of daily possession of 2 under 90 cm, which will be reviewed after we have more in-season catch data (starting July 1). So we start this season with a choice like last season of either 2 under 90 cm, or 1 under 133 cm.
Again, the 2 fish option to be reviewed and possibly rolled back to only 1 under 90 as daily limit/possession 2 ( so that is 2 under 90 as your total multi-day possession "possibly" after July 1, you just have to catch them over 2 days instead of in one single day).
Current modelling and info available suggests given anticipated growth in effort/catch following easing of Covid restrictions in 2022 that we have roughly 10% wiggle room - although there remain significant concerns regarding an early season closure if effort increases more significantly than our work to quantify effort. That was accomplished through a lodge booking survey so we can compare year over year booking as a proxy for effort and potential catch.
There is currently a special meeting of IPHC this Friday to review Canada's request to have an option to allow 3 fish under 90 cm option as an additional condition of license. The purpose is if we find that in-season we are not optimizing our use of TAC, we can use a CoL variation to increase the daily possession and limit to a choice that allows 3 under 90cm in one single day. This is a way we can use the limited regulatory tools to perform what is loosely described as a clean-up fishery that allow us to optimize the TAC utilization.
Wouldn't expect to see the CoL decision on the SFAB recommendation from DFO until immediately following the IPHC special session.
BTW, the season also started on Feb 1 this year as compared to last year where it opened Feb 15.