FYI from the Ministry  

NOTE:  The content on this page been provided by the Ministry of Environment which is the regulatory government body that manages BC's freshwater lakes and rivers. 

The Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC provides an opportunity to share their information with you only.  Questions or concerns regarding these topics should be brought to the attention of the appropriate MoE fish and wildlife office.

Current Topics

• Mabel Lake Tagging Rewards

• Proposed Simplified Fishing Regulation Changes

• Steelhead Updates

• Fisheries Management Tools in the Thompson Nicola (Region 3)

• Lake Access Issues on Vancouver Island ( Region 1)

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Fishing Regulation Simplification Proposal 

Background

Recommendations

Why Is this Review Needed?

How did regional biologists decide which Regulatory Suite to recommend for each lake?

Read the Proposals

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Background on Provincial Review of Regulation Changes - Small lakes  Fishing regulations serve 2 primary purposes: to ensure the conservation of wild stocks and their habitats and to optimize recreational fishing opportunities based on the fishery resource The Ministry of Environment recently completed an internal provincial review of small lakes fishing regulations throughout the province. Many fishing regulations have been in place for a long time, and a provincial review of the regulations to ensure they are still meeting management objectives was needed. Public consultation of the recommended changes from the review will occur through the spring and summer of 2008. Small lakes were chosen as a priority focus for a provincial review because they constitute the largest portion of the Water-Specific Regulations in the current freshwater fishing synopsis (531 lakes). The review of regulations on large lakes and rivers will occur in subsequent years. The 3 primary goals of the review were to: 1. Harmonize (as much as possible) default regulations across regions (e.g. aggregate daily catch quotas, species specific catch quotas). 2. Develop and apply small lakes regulatory categories with provincially consistent management objectives for lakes appearing in the Water-Specific Tables (i.e. those lakes where additional regulations are necessary to provide a variety of fishing opportunities). 3. Minimize the number of small lakes appearing in the Regional Water-Specific Tables in the Freshwater Fishing Regulations Synopsis by going to default regional regulations where possible.  Recommendations  Implement provincially harmonized aggregate and species specific daily catch quotas. Changes are only recommended if regional conservation objectives will be met. Regional regulations should be applied to the majority of provincial lakes. Where Water-specific regulations are needed, one of the following 4 regulatory suites should be used:  Regulatory Suite 1 Objective: Decreased mortality while allowing for harvest fishery Restrictions:  daily trout/char quota = 2   Regulatory Suite 2 Objective: More limited mortality while allowing for harvest fishery Restrictions:  daily trout/char quota = 2,  bait ban,  single barbless hook,  seasonal closures* (regionally determined, but consistent across region) Regulatory Suite 3 Objective: Low level of mortality allowing for minimal harvest fishery Restrictions:  daily trout/char quota = 1,  bait ban,  single barbless hook,  seasonal closures* (regionally determined, but consistent across region),  size restrictions* (regionally determined, but consistent across region) Regulatory Suite 4 Objective: Minimal level of mortality while allowing non-retention fishery Restrictions:  daily trout/char quota = 0 (catch and release),  bait ban,  single barbless hook,  seasonal closures* (regionally determined, but consistent across region)  *optional regulations that are regionally determined (region may choose whether or not to implement), but consistent across the region  Aggregate trout/char daily catch quotas remain at 4 in Regions 1 and 2, and remain the same or will be adjusted to 5 in all other regions.  The daily quota for kokanee (where present) be set at 5 in all regions  The daily quota for burbot (where present) be set at 2 in all regions Only under unique circumstances, where it is determined that management objectives can not be met using one of the 4 suites (eg. wild stock conservation) will lakes show up in the Water-Specific Regulations tables with regulations in addition to one of the 4 suites. The least restrictive regulation will always be used to meet the management objective of the lake. Artificial fly only regulations may be maintained on select lakes in some regions. However, fly angling has evolved to the point that fly fishers often out-fish other anglers, making fly fishing a less effective conservation tool than it was in the past.   1. Provincial freshwater licence sales have declined by 30% since the early 1990’s. A larger initiative to recruit and maintain recreational anglers in British Columbia is occurring in attempt to reverse this trend. While complicated regulations are only occasionally seen as a barrier to fishing, a provincial survey found that lapsed anglers (anglers who last fished 2 to 10 years ago) identified regulations as a deterrent to fishing more often. 2. Research has shown that, excluding frequent anglers, familiarity with the Synopsis is low and anglers who find the Synopsis too complicated simply ignore it. Upon review, some regional biologists discovered they had (often inherited) upwards of 35 different combinations of Water-Specific Regulations. By reducing the Water-Specific regulations to 4 effective and cohesive suites, some of the complication will be reduced. 3. The 4 regulatory suites will provide clarity for the angling public about management objectives for lakes across the province. 4. Consistent provincial regulations will assist Conservation Officers in their enforcement duties.  How did regional biologists decide which Regulatory Suite to recommend for each lake? The use of regulations is one of the primary tools available to managers to provide a diversity of angling opportunities for different skill levels. Regulations suites for stocked lakes are selected to maximize recreational angling opportunities. Regulatory suites for lakes with wild stocks are selected to meet conservation objectives. Changing the regulation on many lakes all at once should moderate the effect on any one lake.  Read the Proposals! Kamloops Region Proposal Cariboo Region Proposal  (link to Ministry website) Skeena Region Proposal (link to Ministry website) Lower Mainland Proposal   Kootenay Region Proposal (link to Ministry website)   Please check back soon for more regional information as it becomes available.

Thompson Nicola Region Changes 

Questions and feedback regarding this topic should be directed to the Ministry of Environment by email.

Your feedback is needed by the Ministry of Environment!  Region 3 (Kamloops area) is proposing to simply the regs by reducing approximately 37 different regs on nearly 180 waterbodies to only 4 regulations on 103 waters.  Exceptions to these changes are the result of wild fish conservation concerns and the creation of age restricted (kids) fisheries. 

These regulations are restricted to approximately 10% of the lakes within the regional, which contains approximately 1000 fish bearing lakes. Over 800 lakes in the region will remain managed under the General regulations classification.

Provincial trout/char quota has been proposed to be set at 5 fish per day (interior), a drop from the current 6 fish per day. The coastal regions (1 & 2) would be set at 4 trout/char per day due to less productive habitats. Kokanee would be provincially set at 5 fish per day and burbot at 2 fish per day, both of which are the current harvest rates for Region #3.

See attached display sheet for a listing of the proposed changes. R3_ProposedRegsSimpification2008.xls

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Lower Mainland Region Changes  Region 2 Lower Mainland_reg changes for public consultation Como Lake Reg Change Supplement	Kootenay Region Changes            Please visit the following link for Proposed Changes in the Kootenay Region
Cariboo Region Changes Please visit the following link for Proposed Changes in the Cariboo Region	Skeena Region Changes  Please visit the following link to the website for this Region

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Fisheries Updates Proposal for Coquihalla River regulation change Thompson Steelhead Fishery Updates   Icon   Resource Name Description Size Status1.pdf 77.1 Kb Status2.pdf 78.24 Kb Status3.pdf 75.97 Kb

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Fisheries Management Tools  

 

Rotenone - Last Resort for Invasive Species Control

As B.C. fisheries managers explore options for dealing with invasive species issues,  questions about the use of rotenone to manage fish communities have been raised. 

Q.  Has rotenone been adequately tested to assure our safety and protect the environment?  The answer is Yes. 

Other Rotenone Questions and Answers on general info, public health concerns, environmental effects, fish and wildlife issues and other information can be found here.

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Lake Access Issues  

Region 1 - Vancouver Island

A number of lakes on southern Vancouver Island are located on land owned by private forest companies who have now adopted a NO PUBLIC ACCESS policy.  These lakes will NOT BE STOCKED in future. 

Timber West

• The following are located on TimberWest private land and are no longer accessible to the public and will NOT BE STOCKED in future;

Lake  Mainline  Anderson  Anderson  Barsby  Nanaimo Lakes  Boneyard  Boneyard  Boulder  Butler  Coronation  Haslam  Dixie  Nanaimo Lakes  Fourth Nanaimo  Nanaimo Lakes  Gooseneck  Coal Main  Heather  Nanaimo Lakes  Holland  Holland

Lake  Mainline  Holyoak  Holland  Jarvis  Boneyard  Little Echo  Elk River  Lomas  Cottonwood  MacDonald  Boneyard  Mirror  Elk River  Radu  Nanaimo Lakes  Rowbotham  Winchester  Shelton  Nanaimo Lakes  Tugwell  Butler

  Enquires should be directed to the land owners:

• TimberWest, Manager Public Affairs and Government Relations 250-729-3700

Island Timberlands (formerly Weyerhaeuser)

• Lakes located on Island Timberlands private land are accessible to the public. 

• For temporary closure information due to active logging and fire control please contact Island Timberlands (formerly Weyerhaeuser), 250-755-3500  

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Wanted: A Few Good Anglers

View Mabel Lake in a larger map

A fish tagging program on Mabel Lake is expected to produce valuable new information on rainbow trout biology and recreational fishing effort, but the Freshwater Fisheries Society needs a few good anglers to make it work. Actually we need lots of lots of anglers!   Fisheries biologists have tagged rainbow trout with a different coloured tags and are offering cash rewards to anglers who return recovered tags. “Most anglers are happy to help collect information that will help us better manage sport fishing” said FFSBC Vice President Brian Chan, “We hope that this tagging program will both produce quality information and be a whole lot of fun.” he added.   Anglers who recover green tags with white print can contact the number on the tag for information about how to return the tag and catch data for a reward of $100 per tag (rewards cannot be guaranteed beyond 2009). While there is no reward offered for yellow and orange tags, they still provide useful information and anglers are encouraged to record the catch information and return it to us.