Fisheries Committee on May 5th, 2015

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Very interesting.

I was a little late getting here, and perhaps the question was asked, but could you summarize what the economic impact is now from the recreational fishery, and basically where do you see it going?

[Darrell Crabbe]

In Saskatchewan it's estimated that over $400 million is generated every year by angling itself. We made a comment about Alberta. We get a lot of Alberta visitors who spend a lot of time fishing in Saskatchewan throughout the summer, and even in the winter. A lot of Americans come up to Saskatchewan. We still have what's classified as pristine waters in the north of Saskatchewan. Economic activity is going to just increase, and then the pressures that are on our fisheries will obviously increase also.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I suspect you have a lot of advertising. Also, do you spend much money on educational programs, such as dealing with the mortality rate and how fish should be handled, so that on the catch and release program the mortality rate is kept down? Do you have much in the line of educational programs to help you do your best to keep the mortality rate low? Would you have any examples?

[Darrell Crabbe]

Yes, absolutely. It's an educational process, so we do everything from television PSAs, radio announcements. We have signs at the vast majority of our lakes. For anybody who comes to fish in Saskatchewan, we make sure they're well aware of our requests for methods for release, especially for people from outside Saskatchewan, because on average they practise catch and release more than Saskatchewan residents do. We want to make sure that everyone's playing whatever role they can in making sure that mortality is kept to a minimum.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Has your educational program been a long-running program? Also, when boats are put in the water or shifted from one water to the other, sometimes we have invasive species that can be taken from one area to another or can harm the waters the boat is put into. What protection do you have, or what measures are taken to make sure that if I put my boat in the water in a certain area and it came from another area, it does not bring in something it shouldn't or could cause harm in your water?

[Darrell Crabbe]

Given some of the invasive mussel species that are being experienced now in Manitoba, we've really ramped up our educational component about it in Saskatchewan. Actually, on Thursday, the Minister of Environment in Saskatchewan and the SWF are unveiling some, and I would hesitate to call them high-pressure wash systems because they get quite insulted if you do that, portable units that we'll be taking around the province to various fishing events. Of course, on the access issue from Alberta or from Saskatchewan, highways, etc., are very, very numerous, so it's very difficult to try to police all of those. Our only opportunity is perhaps to police them at the U.S. border crossings. I don't think those border guards have the training or special equipment necessary to determine those types of things, so we're relying on the larger community, and any individuals who are coming to our province to make sure they're taking the right steps to ensure those invasive species opportunities are very, very limited, if any.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Basically what you're saying is it's an educational program that is voluntary, really. There's no way you can actually say that you're monitoring the situation. You probably are monitoring it as well as you can, but it's an issue that's pretty nearly impossible to monitor. Is that correct?

[Darrell Crabbe]

I would say it's pretty nearly impossible to police. We're just unfolding a provincial program where we're going to be providing monitoring at all of the major lakes, rivers, access points, with testing equipment to see if mussels are present. Once you find them, you've probably let the genie out of the bottle already, but at least we have some form of recognition that the problem exists.

There's some good news with another good Saskatchewan product: potash seems to control mussels quite well.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Thank you very much. Good luck with what you're at, for sure.

[Darrell Crabbe]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you, Mr. MacAulay.

Ms. Davidson.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Crabbe, thanks very much for being with us today.

Certainly, we've heard a lot of interesting information from you. It's interesting to hear that yours is the largest wildlife federation in the world, if I heard you correctly. I think that's quite impressive.

Certainly, we've also heard about the economic contribution of recreational fisheries in Saskatchewan. I think the $400 million from angling alone speaks volumes. The fact that you talked a bit about retail expansion and the value to community is also something we have to keep in mind when we're talking about recreational fisheries. I think these all play a huge part.

Part of our mandate in this committee is to figure out who's participating in recreational fisheries. You talked a bit about some of your educational programs in trying to get young people involved. Is there a specific demographic that is more prevalent than others when it comes to recreational fisheries or is it spread across the spectrum? Whatever your answer may be, is this a long-standing historical trend or are you seeing something different emerging?

[Darrell Crabbe]

No.

I might mention that our claim to be the largest in the world is on a per capita basis. With Saskatchewan having a population of only 1.1 million, the people from the OFAH might take it personally if we said we were the largest.

We recently started a new electronic data platform for angling and hunting licences in Saskatchewan. It's only three years old, so we only have true data based on that. Of course, any children in Saskatchewan under the age of 16 don't require a licence and never have, so our information is based only on our own research.

I have a three-year-old grandson who caught his first fish at two years old. It's probably one of the few activities in the world that is somewhat accessible from two or three years old right through to 80 or 90 years old. It's a lifetime opportunity that I think people who fish understand. For people who don't fish, I would imagine it's difficult to describe it to them.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

I would agree with that. My two-year-old grand-daughter loved it last summer and I hope she continues to love it. It's a great opportunity for all ages as far I'm concerned.

[Darrell Crabbe]

Absolutely.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

You talked about walleye, pike, and perch being the main species for recreational fisheries. Has that been the long-standing case or has the species list changed?

[Darrell Crabbe]

No, that's been the case pretty much since they started keeping records. Our federation started tracking fish records back in the fifties and it seems the primary focus of all angling was those three species.

The introduction of different trout species has certainly given opportunities to other anglers to look at those other species in a lot of areas that normally may not have experienced anything outside of those three main species.

Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass have been introduced in Saskatchewan in the last 15 years, and there are a couple of other fisheries that are doing very well.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Has your organization has been involved in the introduction of different species?

[Darrell Crabbe]

Absolutely, yes. We operate three hatcheries of our own and now we manage the provincial hatchery.

Of course, as with most other governments there's been cost-cutting, especially of conservation officers, over the last decade I would say. We kind of jumped into the role of providing things like transportation of fry or fingerlings to lakes throughout the province and we assume that role at all levels now with fisheries.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

I think one of the things we've heard from several people who have been before this committee is the fact that there is really no good way to obtain accurate data when it comes to recreational fishing. I think you've referred to that in some of your comments here this morning, saying you're doing the best you can to obtain it through those who do purchase licences, and then estimating for others.

Are there any plans to change that so that we can get a better handle on numbers and how many fish are being caught in Saskatchewan?

[Darrell Crabbe]

Yes, as I mentioned, we have the new electronic licensing system, which provides a really terrific opportunity for them to do surveys, to actually engage anglers at the onset when they buy their licence to perhaps keep a log of the number of fish they caught or released, whatever it was, and how many times they were fishing.

One of our stumbling blocks right now, of course, is that licensing is controlled by the Province of Saskatchewan. Being politicians, I'm sure you'll understand that with the provincial government going into an election year, they don't require seniors to have licences in Saskatchewan, which is something we vehemently disapprove of. We think they can have a free licence, but they should have a licence. But as I said, being politicians, I'm sure you recognize that the provincial government doesn't really want to do something like imposing that on seniors in Saskatchewan just before an election. We're hoping that right after the election they'll let the boom fall, but we'll see how that goes.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Here in Ontario seniors don't have to have a licence either, so maybe that'll change as well.

What about the numbers of fish that are harvested? Other than people just reporting the numbers allowed under their licence, is there any other way that you can keep track of how many fish are actually harvested?

[Darrell Crabbe]

Yes, we use different systems within the lakes we have concerns about. As an example, on Lac La Ronge, which is a heavily fished lake with trophy-sized lake trout in it, people have to have a log there. We do that in several lakes where, if there's an issue with a population or we think there is, we would introduce the requirement to have a log and you would have to track each fish you catch, if you keep it, what size it was, when you caught it, so we're able to get somewhat of a picture of, if nothing else, the class structure of those fish and, certainly, how many are being kept.

In a lot of cases we have what we call CR lakes, which have restrictions that are placed based on where we see the population going. So you might be able to keep 10 perch in one lake, 15 in another, 25 in the third one. It's very population-based on how many fish you can keep. Some, of course, we have completely closed off. You can fish in them, but you can't retain any fish.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

What would you say the top issues of concern are for recreational fishers in your province?

[Darrell Crabbe]

I think, like most other locations across Canada, it's about fish habitat. In Saskatchewan we're experiencing some economic boom, which is terrific to see, but with that also come cumulative effects that occur when we're starting to develop areas around lakes and rivers. Much is done through the rural municipalities in Saskatchewan, which determine what the environmental impact might be on their portion of the lake or river, when in fact there might be five RMs that share that same watershed. That's one of the issues we're dealing with right now. Again, there's the issue of fish access as we work through the process of rebuilding a lot of those grid roads and highways that have been built around lakes and streams in Saskatchewan.