Evidence of meeting #52 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was terms.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:20 a.m.
Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association
Yes, it's the cold waters and there just isn't a great abundance of other foods within the lake for them.
11:20 a.m.
NDP
Ryan Cleary NDP St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
If I lived in the Yukon and I wanted to go fishing—and I would dearly love to catch one of those eight-pound lake trout—would I go to a stocked lake or would I go to one of your natural lakes?
11:20 a.m.
Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association
It would all depend on the given day and the time period of the year. My guess is that if you fished extensively up here, you would be doing both.
11:20 a.m.
NDP
Ryan Cleary NDP St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
You don't need a licence? I'm sorry, you may have answered that. Do you need a licence?
11:20 a.m.
Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association
Yes, you need a licence for all fishing in the Yukon.
11:20 a.m.
NDP
11:20 a.m.
Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association
It's $15 a year for a resident and it's $25 a year for a non-resident, so it's pretty cheap.
11:20 a.m.
Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association
No, you don't need a guide.
11:20 a.m.
NDP
11:20 a.m.
Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association
No, there are various catch limits. Depending on the lakes there are slot limits in terms of the various sizes you are allowed to keep or not keep. There are lakes that are single hook only, barbless hooks. There are quite a variety of different methods being used to try to keep what I'll call a non-stocked lake as viable as possible.
11:20 a.m.
NDP
Ryan Cleary NDP St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
Again, what is the value of the recreational fishery? Would you call it a recreational fishery? Would you call it a food fishery? I guess there would be a little bit of both, wouldn't there?
11:20 a.m.
Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association
No, it's not a food fishery. It is for the people who do participate, but to me, the value in terms of the equipment that is purchased to participate in accessing these various lakes.... There are people who fly in to lakes. I don't know how to equate or how to put a figure on these numbers, but it's extremely valuable. I believe we should be putting more effort into what is of value and what is the net value of all of this to Canada.
There is a recreational fishery evaluation that's done every five years, but to me it's pretty limited in terms of what we get out of it. That's just my opinion.
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ryan Leef Conservative Yukon, YT
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, Gord. It's Ryan here.
First, thank you very much for getting up so early to join us. I know what the time zones are like. Everybody on the west coast who appears before this committee has to get up early, but as they say, “The early bird gets the worm.” Hopefully we've set your path right for the day, so when you're out of here you can go fishing.
Would it surprise you to know that in 2010 there was a report from Environment Yukon, “Status of Yukon Fisheries 2010: An overview of the state of Yukon fisheries and the health of fish stocks, with special reference to fisheries management programs”, which puts the recreational fisheries industry in the Yukon at a $23 million a year benefit and contributor to Yukon's tourism?
11:25 a.m.
Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association
Not at all. I know it contributes a lot.
I probably should have had my facts together before I came here, but I didn't.
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ryan Leef Conservative Yukon, YT
I imagine it would be up now because I think there's been some growth in the fisheries between 2010 and 2014.
You say, and I agree with you, that we need to do a bit more to maximize that recreational fisheries opportunity.
Do you have any ideas or suggestions where the federal government in particular could play a role in exposing the value of recreational fisheries, not just in Canada but particularly in the Yukon, to see a bit of that $23 million economic boost actually grow?
11:25 a.m.
Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association
To me, I don't know whether you'd call it the easiest.... I just see it as a very functional way to get people involved, be it kids or be it adults.
I sign up as a host to take out some young kid who maybe has no other opportunity to get out—you know, parents who don't participate—or an adult who has never grown up participating in the fishery and they maybe need a little help in terms of how in the heck you go about this industry. All I'm saying is that we need a kind of sponsor or a host to take these people out. I think that applies right across Canada, not just within the Yukon.
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ryan Leef Conservative Yukon, YT
More national engagement in recreational fishing opportunities, trying to get Canadians more engaged....
11:25 a.m.
Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association
That's right. I believe that's a good option.
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ryan Leef Conservative Yukon, YT
I appreciate that.
We went through the budgets not too long ago, and the federal government has a role to play in supporting the Yukon Salmon Sub-Committee. I know we've increased the financial resources to them.
We don't enjoy a tremendous recreational fishery opportunity because of the state of Yukon River salmon right now. That's obviously a particular concern to all Yukoners. Would you share with the committee the role that the Yukon Fish and Game Association plays in terms of its stocking program, both from a numbers point of view—how many salmon you release in Wolf Creek and other tributaries—and what the Yukon Fish and Game Association does in terms of engaging Yukon people and youth in that release program, to the benefit of Yukon River salmon?
Are there any other challenges or issues you might want to highlight that would be good for the committee to know about our Yukon River salmon, and recreational fishing opportunities for them?
11:25 a.m.
Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association
Twice a year we have two days when we invite parents to bring their children out. One place is Wolf Creek and the other is one of the stocked lakes. We provide all the equipment for parents who may have a little child who is interested in either putting the fish into a stocked lake, or in the case of Wolf Creek, putting salmon back into the creek. We put in anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 salmon fry each year. We put about the same number of rainbow fry into the stocked lakes.
In addition to that, we help out the department of the environment, for example, by taking their various rainbow trout into Scout Lake or whichever lake where they don't have enough people to get all the fish out at the same time, so there's less stress on it. Our participation there varies from year to year.
I'd say our main emphasis for people and their participation would be the two events: putting salmon fry into Wolf Creek and putting rainbow trout in the stocked lakes. Like all places, Wolf Creek can have 300 people on a given weekend, and anywhere between 50 and 100 people are out with their kids and what have you to put these rainbow trout into the stocked lakes.
11:30 a.m.
Conservative
Ryan Leef Conservative Yukon, YT
You mentioned a little bit earlier, in your opening remarks, non-native species. I know we don't allow live bait fishing in the Yukon. Is there a concern right now about aquatic invasive species? There's been some growth of that with changes in weather and the distribution of people. Is the Yukon facing any particular challenge of aquatic invasive species coming in?
11:30 a.m.
Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association
I would say, yes, there's always that potential. Goldfish are the classic example of fish that can get into a system. They're so hardy that we could have a problem. We don't believe we have one just yet, but that doesn't mean to say we're aware of everything that goes on up here.
