From the SFI Today:
THE SALMON ALLOCATION POLICY REVISION AND BC'S PUBLIC FISHERY
The Salmon Allocation Policy 1999 (SAP) review is nearing completion after five years, but the value and importance of your feedback and letters to the Minister and your local MPs remain high and will continue to matter right up until a final decision is made.
As the review wraps up at the end of March, the recommendations being developed have been shaped by the process to date and by the feedback provided during the brief consultation period. It is essential that letters and feedback continues and is directed to the Minister and MPs to reinforce that, while the 1999 SAP may need some modernization, particularly in light of the Ahousaht decision, the policy has served BC’s salmon fisheries and the salmon resource well and should not undergo major changes. The SAP framework has provided the recreational sector with predictable and reliable access by maintaining priority for Chinook and Coho after First Nations Food, Social, and Ceremonial (FSC) needs and court or treaty defined rights based First Nation commercial fisheries, but before the all‑citizens commercial fishery.
Please take a moment to send a letter or e-mail to the Minister and your MP in support of a SAP that protects and acknowledges the importance of BC’s public fishery. In your message highlight:
- The importance of the recreational fishery to you, your family, your business, and your community.
- That predictable and reliable access and opportunity is critically important to your ability to fish for salmon.
- That the request to DFO is not for increased harvest, but to maintain priority of access for the recreational fishery to Chinook and Coho after conservation, FSC, and rights-based fisheries, but before all citizen commercial fisheries.
- That the common property resource principle should remain in a revised SAP, as it is the most appropriate management approach for a resource that belongs to all Canadians and is managed by the Government of Canada on behalf of the people of Canada.
To have the greatest impact, keep messages respectful, brief, and focused on the core issue: that the Minister and the Government of Canada must maintain a Salmon Allocation Policy that acknowledges the rights of all Canadians, places conservation of the resource as the highest priority, and protects the social, economic, and cultural benefits the recreational fishery provides for current and future generations.
If you’d like to learn more about the issue visit
FishingRights.ca and plan to attend one of the upcoming town hall meetings being held in the next few weeks:
Campbell River on April 11,
Langley on April 18, and
Victoria on April 19.
