Is the commercial salmon fishery still viable?

[onefish]

Commercial and FN’s

Negotiations and decision-making regarding future proposed “Shares” percentages would take place at local sub-regional Salmon Allocation Boards controlled by local First Nations – and would not take place on a Coastwide level

Shameful FN's hiding behind the "commercial" guys. The last paragraph clearly shows who is trying to steal your access to salmon. It is not enough that they can fish when they want, how they want, and take as many as they want. Now they want to do it without any competition. My take, if they try and close it, keep fishing, that means everybody, not just a couple of guys. Enough is enough!

 

[salmonkiller01]

This is so messed up. Canada is on its way to its own destruction

 

[Hardy Guy]

It's reconciliation without a plan .....been coming for years. I can't see it happening but it's very worrying.

 

[Derby]

Sooo ladies & Gentlemen this is the 'HIll We Die on" take the time to send your input it to DFO please. On that note you need to be respectful in those responses PLEASE: this allocation battle is not with DFO but with the Commercial & FN that are wanting more of the Allocation.
You also need to reach out to your daughters and son, wives neighbors if they enjoy the recreation of sportfishing have them send a quick note, RESPECTFULLY. Also reach out to the place in which you do business with as them ( Boats motors fishing gear marine parts, boat trailers ect ) to send in a letter and those bussiness also need to be asking their supplier to be doing the same.

 

[searun]

Your input matters! Send your email

DFO is seeking public input - They have created an email link to receive input – January 9 deadline - links available on Salmonforever.ca

Some Tips for personal emails to offer feedback:
1. Keep your email brief and to the point – 3 to 5 major points
2. Keep your email PROFESSIONAL and KIND
3. Remember DFO are the facilitators not the enemy
4. Write email responses in your own words
5. Avoid copied responses
6. Speak from the heart – tell DFO:
• Why you are concerned about what has been proposed to be amened in the new SAP
•What you support
•And especially what you do not support

Business to Business Outreach

We need your help to reach out to every business you use – ask them to send emails of support. Reaching out to engage businesses that rely upon the recreational fishery for their support letters is one of the most powerful ways to help decision-makers really grasp just how critical maintaining Recreational priority for Chinook and Coho allocation access (per the 1999 SAP) really is. For the business community status quo in the SAP represents stability, jobs, GDP and, if their business relies on the Recreational fishery - it is the key to their business future.

This is not an issue they can afford to sit on the sidelines waiting for someone else to do the heavy lifting - all it takes is to write letters.

 

[SpringFever2359]

Done..best I could do while biting my lip and holding back my disgust at the thought of losing access to our shared resources



Rec saltwater fishing should never be taken away from the citizens of Canada.

This historic past time is engraved in our souls, has been past down from generation to generation, it generates priceless memories and creates strong family bonds and builds lifelong friendships.

It also builds a strong sense of community and fosters respect for nature by all the people who partake in this important pastime.

We should be fostering our younger generation and encouraging more to get out into nature, teaching respect of our shared resources, while also harvesting a very healthy food source.

Not forgetting the economic opportunities it creates for many thousands of Canadian citizens and the benefits to our countries bottom line.

Sincerely (a tax paying life long fisher and more importantly a voter in federal and provincial politics.)

 

[searun]

Summarized some of the main SFAB perspectives from the DFO document

1.Support FN’s FSC, Treaty, Court defined rights-based commercial fisheries – BUT protect Recreational via government buyouts from Commercial
2.Maintain Recreational priority for Chinook/Coho over “all citizens” Commercial allocation – STATUS QUO – NO FIXED SHARES – access to Commercial after Recreational per 1999 SAP
3.Supports including principle of using socio-economic data to guide allocation decisions between Recreational and Commercial
4.Does NOT support establishing sub-regional salmon allocation boards - maintain coastwide policy administration
5.Supports Conservation and Common Property Resource Management
6.Modernize catch monitoring for all sectors – ease of reporting key
7. Maintain similar access to Chum, Sockeye, Pink but simplify management to allow Recreational to proceed when there isn't sufficient abundance to run commercial industrial scale fisheries, but is opportunity for small scale sustainable recreational fisheries

 

[chille51]

Email sent. Happy to share what I sent if anyone needs inspiration - just PM me.

After having some time to look over the DFO discussion paper and the SFAB response, I share the extreme concern about this potential re prioritization and putting regional advisory boards in the driver's seat. If it goes ahead, we may as well all sell our boats and take up golfing because the party will be over.

Course, who are we going to sell them to when the rec salmon fishery is dead?

Not sure what others think, but the SAP feedback deadline may warrant its own specific topic. It may be flying under the radar on this thread as the original title doesn't make mention of it.

 

[IronNoggin]

An informed fellow on Gun Nutz had this to say, and I think it is Bang On:

Imagine if the narrative was,

"Remove Personal Subsistence priority over the For Profit Commercial sector".....
"Reallocate the majority of Personal subsistence Chinook and Coho to subsidize For Profit commercial fishery."

 

[Whole in the Water]

Sent my email response in

 

[IronNoggin]

From the Sport Fishing Institute:

SALMONFOREVER.CA - SAP INFORMATION
The SAP review has been a long and complex process, so the SFI has gathered everything needed to provide informed feedback to DFO in one place: Salmonforever.ca. There you’ll find the DFO consultation document, which is concise and includes specific questions to consider, along with background materials, the Sport Fishing Advisory Board's (SFAB) allocation position, and guidance on how you might frame your response in support of the recreational fishery moving forward.

YOUR VOICE MATTERS - SUBMIT FEEDBACK BEFORE JANUARY 9
The key issue is that, to maintain a viable recreational salmon fishery, DFO must uphold the principle of granting the recreational sector priority access to Chinook and Coho—after conservation, Indigenous Food, Social, and Ceremonial (FSC) fisheries, and Indigenous rights‑based commercial fisheries, but before the general commercial fishery. The rationale for this priority, along with other SFAB allocation principles, is explained in detail on Salmonforever.ca.

We strongly encourage anyone who cares about recreational salmon fisheries - and about maintaining sustainable, appropriate access and opportunity to common property resources in BC - to visit the website, review the consultation document and supporting materials, and share your feedback with DFO as soon as possible, and no later than January 9th.

 

[Derby]

Dear Sport Fishing Advisory Board Representatives:



We acknowledge the requests received for an extension to the SAP consultation deadline.

Please be informed that the consultation period has now been extended an additional two weeks to Friday, January 23, 2026 to provide more time for review of the DFO discussion paper as well as to accommodate bilateral meetings.

We would like to remind everyone that the DFO discussion paper is not a draft version of the renewed BC SAP, but a summary of proposed changes and what we have heard to date. Please distribute and update your fishery representatives or those who may be best suited to provide feedback on your behalf.



In addition, bilateral virtual meetings during this period can be requested by reaching out to the DFO SAP Review BC team.



Thank you,

SAP Review BC Secretariat

 

[chille51]

Critter Cove is trying to get the word out. Got this in an email from them:


At the end of this email is an extra little bit of information about sport fishing in BC that I wish I didn’t need to share. Every winter we attend meetings dealing with hatchery production, watershed projects, different fisheries and their fishing regs/allocations. This winter DFO has announced that they are looking at reworking the salmon allocations, and taking away the priority access that is currently given to sport fishermen on Chinook and Coho - after First Nations. This could allow the commercial nets to enter the picture much earlier than they already do, and increase their total allowable catch. This is purely a political decision and nothing to do with conservation. Probably longer, but certainly over the last ten years, I have seen salmon not looked upon as 350,000 yearly license holders making memories with families and friends while getting away to our beautiful coast. Instead, our politicians have been turning salmon into political currency that is being used more and more often to hide their incompetence to govern. This could be the beginning of the end of sports fishing as we know it.

We have until January 9th to convince DFO that they should leave well enough alone. As we have a new Prime Minister, I am hopeful that our side may be heard. Please read the article that is linked below. My hope is that someone reading this has some connection to a federal politician that actually knows what sport fishing is, how important it is to BC, and what it means to so many of us on the West Coast.

https://www.salmonforever.ca/

 

[ship happens]

The math says it all

 

[searun]

Another telling story - Recreational fishing jobs generate decent livable household incomes ($66,167/year), compared to Commercial salmon where the average annual household income is only $8,976 - hardly a living income, more like a lifestyle.

We need to move away from more subsidies to breathe life into a dying commercial salmon industry, instead make a one-time investment in a fair retirement buy-out that respects those who have worked in the industry. Address the reason why the earlier buy-out programs have all failed to attract people to take the DFO offers.

 

[ship happens]

I've been along side commercial salmon fisherman my entire life. Even when the industry was thriving they worked 2 months a year. The rest was on Ei and the government writes them checks every month. They are tax exempt on anything purchased for the numbered company. All boats, maintenence, upgrades, gear etc all PST exempt. The companies were always broke so they paid so little tax it's insane. No income tax really, yet costs the government 25 grand a year per fisherman to subsidize their incomes.

Don't take that the wrong way as I don't have anything against commercial fisheries whatsoever and I am definetly not one sided at all. This is a different Era were living in now and there's alot of changes that need to be adapted into the fisheries department. It's a complete absolute mess.

 

[IronNoggin]

 

[searun]

The Commercial fleet got together in 2020 to consider the future of their fishery. They published a report "The Future of B.C. Commercial Fishing." In the report, they landed on the realization that their fishery was no longer viable unless they could find further and deeper subsidies.

They also documented the need to get the recreational fishery to relinquish access to Chinook and Coho. Don't forget they already have 95% of Sockeye, Chum, Pink, and more than 50% of Chinook and Coho, and still are not viable. That means they need the lions share of the recreational allocation. Leaving only crumbs for the recreational fishery.

Their solution was a severely restricted locals only fishery - very much like Halibut - 85/15 fixed allocation. If that happens your fishery will look and function much like the current recreational halibut fishery - once we hit the cap, fishery closes. And, the recreational fishery will be forced into a situation where, like halibut, we are placed in a position where we sit down each year and manufacture regulations that slow down our catch rate enough to carve out some sort of fishery that hopefully lasts all season. Like Halibut, we would be considering implementing governors on the recreational catch engine like....lower daily/possession limits, size restrictions, area closures, or like Prawn - pulse fishing which is 2 weeks open, 2 weeks closed. And, no non-local resident fishing access. If you aren't a B.C. local resident, you are not welcome. Alarmist? I think some of these may become reality if this government agrees with the proposals currently on the table.

Under this situation, no lodge or guide operations could function and very shortly thereafter most of the service industry, tackle shops etc that are supported by a vibrant recreational fishery would wither away.

IMO no amount of subsidization and re-allocation is going to make any difference in making the commercial fishery viable, and why on earth would government risk the loss of very significant jobs and GDP that the recreational fishery brings to Canada and many small communities, businesses, families supported by those businesses etc.

I think the best solution here is for government to fully fund a fair and reasonable commercial retirement program. Leaving the remaining salmon allocations for FN's FSC, Treaty rights-based commercial fisheries, and Court-defined rights-based commercial fisheries....AND, the recreational fishery. Its clear that the current state of the salmon resource can no longer support an industrial commercial fishery - time to shift to high value, low impact fisheries that do not require industrial levels of salmon abundance to thrive.

If you value your recreational fishery - now is the time to act. Its as simple as taking 15 minutes and sending an e-mail to DFO or writing the Fisheries Minister....or both.

 

[searun]

Pay close attention to this page of the Future of Commercial Fishery report.

 

[SpringVelocity]

How greedy can you get. Mom and Pop that's a laugh.

This will get ugly, but at least now we all know where the commercial group stands. So much for working together.

10 years this crap was going on behind scenes. Shaking my head.