B.C. Open for Sport Fishing in Summer '98

B.C. Open for Sport Fishing in Summer �98

Last month, in preparation for this summer's fishing, I reviewed saltwater sportfishing in British Columbia and suggested a strategy for tourists and residents to maximize fishing enjoyment in a year when coho conservation measures were expected. As that column made clear, regardless of the coho situation, there are four other species of salmon in healthy numbers, 37 species of groundfish and a dramatic resurgence of halibut biomass in British Columbia waters. (Please recheck the May column for details).

Since last month's column, the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, the Honourable David Anderson, has made his decision for 1998: no coho salmon will be retained by either the sport or commercial fleet. Anderson's move is prompted by concern for weak runs in a number of specific rivers, particularly the Skeena in the north and the Thompson in the south (a tributary of Vancouver's Fraser River ). Sport fishers will continue to be allowed the sport of angling for coho salmon on the understanding that they carefully release all fish to resume their migration to spawning beds.

There will be other coho measures. In addition to the province-wide retention ban, certain "red zones" in approach waters to the Fraser and Skeena are designated no fishing zones. To ameliorate the impact of these secondary measures, the Sport Fish Advisory Board, a commission comprised of industry representatives, recently made recommendations to the Minister regarding rivers and approaches. As coho generally migrate in tidelines many miles off shore, the Board has suggested a one mile ribbon boundary along the shore from Barkley Sound to Victoria . If Anderson agrees, this measure, when instituted, would result in almost 100% coho conservation while ensuring that fishing areas remain open for all other species. Right now, for instance, summer's biggest chinook are lumbering by a stone's through from shore - the Columbians - and they reach 60 pounds!

In 1997 a healthy 515,000 salmon (preliminary figures) were caught by sport fishers: 122,000 chinook ; 122,000 sockeye; 147,000 coho; 3,700 chum ; and, 121,000 pink . The big news this year, despite the conservation measures, is that the number of salmon fishers can expect to catch should be higher than last year. Although they will be released, the same numbers of coho will be available for angling sport throughout the province. And the other species - chinook, sockeye, chum and pink - should be caught in greater numbers.

The reason for increased sport catches is the conservation measures themselves; there will be no commercial catch of coho, either as "by catch" or from a directed fishery. As most fishers know, salmon intermingle as they migrate toward spawning rivers. Coho swim with sockeye, pink, chinook and chum and are caught incidentally - by catch - during commercial openings for the other types of salmon. Because the aim is zero commercially caught coho (last year, when there was also a commercial coho closure, the by catch was 50,000 coho) this will result in more salmon of all five species being available for sport anglers than ever before. In previous years the commercial sockeye fishery scooped the sockeye - and all by catch species - at the north end of Vancouver Island . Moving the fishery south to selective positions nearer river estuaries (to avoid coho by catch) will result in 4-7,000,000 sockeye being available for tourists in the Georgia Strait for the first time ever. In other words, this will be a bonanza summer for the species prized in 5 star restaurants as the best-eating salmon in the world.

Solving the by catch problem will improve sport fishing all along the coast. Campbell River , the salmon capital of the world, will have bumper crops of chinook, sockeye and chum. (For the uninitiated, the newly-developed, autumn chum fishery autumn has proved a real winner with aficionados; these 20 lb fish have a reputation as being the hardest fighting and wildest of the five salmon). As of June 15, sockeye fishing in Port Alberni has turned hot - some two weeks earlier than usual! And for those fishing the Victoria to Port Renfrew waters, the best sockeye fishing in years should pick up within the next few weeks.

In addition to the positive results expected from coho conservation, chinook and sockeye numbers are healthy. Conservation measures of previous years resulted in solid chinook fishing last summer. And this year, the fish are already on the fishing grounds, with chinook to 45 pounds being recorded along Vancouver Island's Pacific shores.

The sport fishing industry has been doing its part, too, in recent years. Many lodges raise salmon in net pens and release them in the spring. As well, the industry is continuing to grow and change to better serve its clients. The Skeena River supports over 200 guides - and the coho measures should substantially increase steelhead returns to this basin - who have lead clients into the sophisticated realm of fly fishing for fish exceeding 20 pounds. Float planes and helicopters make daily landings at the finely-appointed wilderness resorts of the Queen Charlotte Islands . Many west coast lodges on Vancouver Island have invested heavily in developing fly fishing programs for salmon in the past two years.

Salmon On Line wants to let everyone know that the best salmon fisheries in the world are open for business in 1998. The facilities, the guides and most importantly the fishing will continue to surpass your expectations.