Port Alberni Open House - November 20 - 6:30 p.m.

[searun]

Recreational Sport Fishing Open House

We want to hear from you!


Topics will include issues that effect you and sport fishing opportunities in Port Alberni and the West Coast. Talk will be about Chinook, halibut, catch monitoring, certified guides and more!


In an effort to gather more input from anglers, sport fishing operators and service providers in the Port Alberni area, a number of organizations including West Coast Aquatic, West Coast Fishing Guide Association, Area 23 SFAC, and the Sport Fishing Institute of BC are getting together to host an open house.


The intent is to provide an overview of activities, provide relevant information, access to Fisheries information and gain feedback from you. This is an informal session open to anyone interested.


FREE to attend! All Welcome!


Tuesday, November 20, 2012 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Best Western Plus Barclay Hotel
4277 Stamp Avenue, Port Alberni, BC V9Y 7X8

 

[lorneparker1]

THis is great Pat. Kudos to you guys.

Lorne

 

[pwport]

Note - the AV Times headlines read, Recreational Fishers meet Monday (which they apologized for & said it should have read Tuesday).
I am planning to be there. Ready to learn.

Recreational Sport Fishing Open House

We want to hear from you!


Topics will include issues that effect you and sport fishing opportunities in Port Alberni and the West Coast. Talk will be about Chinook, halibut, catch monitoring, certified guides and more!


In an effort to gather more input from anglers, sport fishing operators and service providers in the Port Alberni area, a number of organizations including West Coast Aquatic, West Coast Fishing Guide Association, Area 23 SFAC, and the Sport Fishing Institute of BC are getting together to host an open house.


The intent is to provide an overview of activities, provide relevant information, access to Fisheries information and gain feedback from you. This is an informal session open to anyone interested.


FREE to attend! All Welcome!


Tuesday, November 20, 2012 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Best Western Plus Barclay Hotel
4277 Stamp Avenue, Port Alberni, BC V9Y 7X8

 

[the fog ducker]

So ??

how did it go ??

?? anything new on the horizon vrs last season...

cheers


fd

 

[searun]

Turn out was over 80. I stopped counting at 70. Attendees were recreational fishers, FN, Commercial Fishermen from as far away as Ucluelet, guides and DFO.

It was an open format. Participants wrote down their questions and issues before we opened up a panel discussion. The facilitator then asked the panelists questions collected from the attendees. Following the panel session, we went to an open mike to answer any additional questions people in attendance had. We had members of SFI, SFAC, Harvest Round Table, FN Biologist, DFO Stock Assessment and WCFGA to answer questions.

There was a lot of discussion about Chinook, and in particular what took place in the FN fishery. Great info on in-season catch and escapement. Bottom line is hatchery got all the fish they need and majority of river production comes from the hatchery meaning we do not get much of anything from wild in-river production. It was a good 2 way discussion on all issues.

I think best discussion was the FN commercial fishery, and what a lot of people did not know was much of the FN fishery is actually Area D Gill Net commercial quota purchased to allow the FN fishery. A lot of direct questions around accountability for staying within catch quota, and also some light shed on the 2 hour opening and many FN boats sitting waiting for a long time to off load their catch well beyond the fishery closure making it impossible to count and control the fish catch because the fish were already in the net and boats making it impossible to change the outcome until it was too late. The other thing that happened creating a perfect storm was BC Hydro did a big water release just before the fishery, so what happened was the fish entered the river at the wrong time...no one planning the fishery anticipated this. BC Hydro will now be part of the planning for future years. A lot of good suggestions on how this could be avoided next season and great information on how the Harvest Round Table works. We also had members of local FN in crowd who asked and answered questions. Again, the big thing going forward was general support for working at the Harvest Round Table to sort out these issues and develop a better plan.

The Harvest Round Table process is a very unique ground breaking process. It was well worth attending just to hear the details of this...the Fisheries Minister did just that a few weeks ago.

Also discussed was how we can leverage some of the catch to fund enhancement programs. I'm not properly describing this concept but basically additional fish (sockeye) were caught and then sold with funds going into an account which will be managed by local Harvest Round Table to help with enhancement. Also good commitment from FN to work on enhancement projects. We did discuss one project that made sense was to investigate net pens in Clutesi Haven Marina for Chinook. This will be reviewed at Harvest Round Table. As one can appreciate the discussions at the Round Table are pretty forceful and direct, so not a lot of words held back pressing points, so there will be frank accountability discussions with hope we can all find ways to get to common ground and work together to do something positive.

There was some discussion on coho, and questions around why we can't consider wild coho retention off shore. Answer is basically decision was made by the Minister of Fisheries some 12 years ago to protect Thompson and Fraser coho and there has been no variance from this. About the only way it will change is with further proposals and lobbying from rec sector. Good early indications of stronger ocean survival for 2013 return - that was positive.

Not much new on Hali. Simply went over the TAC and how it works. Big decisions need to be made in coming months as to various options to have a fishery. Essentially will come down to how long people want the season to be using various regulations options to arrive at desired outcome for season. It is hard to know exactly because all the catch data from 2012 isn't yet available. We also do not know what the TAC will be, other than the assumption is similar to 2012. The local SFAC's are all being asked to have their choices for regulations ready for the Dec 1 & 2 S Coast SFAB meetings. These will be boiled down to one recommendation that will go forward at the Main Board. Ultimately we are up against April 1 when regs must be out, meaning realistically it is early March the final decision has to be made to ensure the regulations and licenses can be printed. Frankly I'm not sure how we will be able to make informed decisions around regulations choices without knowing the catch data from 2012.

Also some discussion regarding predator control in our rivers from birds, some info on work being done to train the hatchery smolts to avoid bird predators. Good discussion regarding seals...request for FN to consider helping with that both in river and ocean. There were a lot of concerns expressed about mackerel. Basically nothing that can be done - even trying commercial fishing - no nets in common use that would be correct mesh size to do the job.

In summary, the meeting was a productive and informative session. Attendees were asked if we should do this again next year, and there was good support for this. There was a lot more discussed that I simply do not have time to post, sorry.

 

[the fog ducker]

Not much new on Hali. Simply went over the TAC and how it works. Big decisions need to be made in coming months as to various options to have a fishery. Essentially will come down to how long people want the season to be using various regulations options to arrive at desired outcome for season. It is hard to know exactly because all the catch data from 2012 isn't yet available. We also do not know what the TAC will be, other than the assumption is similar to 2012. The local SFAC's are all being asked to have their choices for regulations ready for the Dec 1 & 2 S Coast SFAB meetings. These will be boiled down to one recommendation that will go forward at the Main Board. Ultimately we are up against April 1 when regs must be out, meaning realistically it is early March the final decision has to be made to ensure the regulations and licenses can be printed. Frankly I'm not sure how we will be able to make informed decisions around regulations choices without knowing the catch data from 2012.

.

thx for the breakdown , Frankly , I agree ,as well as %90 of us Sporty`s , the catch data is a joke,, as i stated earlier , i would personally sacrifice another year of a slot size for 2013 ,
ONLY , if the season would be guaranteed from March till September , better yet October , AND , most importantly , Halibut Catch Recording on all Sports Fishers Licenses , all to be returned by Dec 1 st of every season , OR , no renewals the following season , PERIOD !! anything other than this is a waste of time , If the Stamp or tag can be put in place so that atleast %50 of proceeds goes towards Allocation Correction `, Lawyers , Admin , whatever ....let that happen soon !!!

i truly believe any Data that they use this year , will be laughed at once again , NOT , taken seriously

I had a poll i was gonna put out there that showed previous years numbers by area , South Isaland , North Island , North Coast , etc.. was very interesting to see the average weights and total poundage spread out through-out the coast , I decided not to , i just have ZERO faith in Speculated Counting , I figured we`d leave that outta the equation . lets get some solid data to work with , get rid of the pissing matches between us sportys , and move on..

M10B

later

fd

 

[pwport]

Well, I went to the meeting, and as SeaRun reported, there was a great turnout. Unfortunately I had to leave at 8pm and missed much of the in depth discussion & Q&A; however, as SeaRun stated - I found it really helpful to hear from Andy Wilson (the Tseshat Fishery rep.) of how the FN fishery was from the quota from the commercial quota.

I also appreciated the encouraging reports of the "Roundtable meetings" that happen every Thursday in the fishing season (thinking from June-September). These meetings, as shared, allow for people to speak TO each other rather than ABOUT each other, and remove the posturing. The focus is then to discuss what fish are being caught and how to help each group meet their targets & still manage/ steward this resource well.
I really appreciate the work of those who sit on all the different boards & take the time to meet for the continued health, stocking, and management of the salmon, halibut and other species of fish & shellfish that are found on the West Coast.
Certainly as a recreational fisherman I really don't understand the countless hours and energy that is put into making this fishery viable, but am starting to be more and more thankful for the fish that are out in the Alberni Inlet & the Barkley Sound. There are many different groups who get to utilize this amazing fishery each year, so it is a huge & complex task to manage it. Thankful...on American thanksgiving!

 

[searun]

Thanks guys for feedback, we will certainly look to try something like this again next year. It's just expensive to organize. One thing that you may have missed pwport is the Harvest Round Table meetings are open to the public, so you can attend but you cannot sit at the table or provide any input - simply observe. The guys who sit at the table on behalf of the recreational fleet are doing a tremendous but also thankless job. There is a very fine line between success or failure.

Hey FD, I agree with you that these are difficult decisions when it comes to Halibut. This is especially tough because we do not have all the catch data from 2012. Apparently some of data was lost by courier company. I would like to see all the data before arriving at a recommendation for 2013 regulations. It looks like we won't have that before the local SFAC's will be asked to take a position on the Hali Options paper. I think in the end for me personally it will come down to making a decision based on what option will give us the longest season. I want the opportunity to catch a hali when the weather cooperates and when I'm not tied up chasing salmon.

Forgot, should also add if you want some interesting reading go and read the Memorandum of Fact and Law submitted to the Federal Court in the Halibut Court Case, and in particular pay close attention to the issue of Estoppel - The Fisheries Minister made a promise in 2003 when deciding the halibut issue that there would be no recreational halibut in-season closure. They have closed our fishery, therefore the Minister has estopped himself on this point. If we win on this element of the case, there will be no closure of the recreational halibut fishery.

Here is link:

http://www.sportfishing.bc.ca/docs/memorandum_of_fact_and_law_-_halibut_allocation_hearings.pdf