Evidence of meeting #31 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was decisions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Executive Director, B.C. Wildlife Federation
They haven't, that I'm aware of. I don't have the full history, though. There are decades, so there's probably some place.
Generally speaking, we always flag conservation first, and we tend to limit ourselves on the conservation side.
The Fraser sockeye issue, though, was very different last year. There were fish identified in TAC, I believe, on August 8. We had solutions in places where we would have minimal to no impact on the lates, and there was no opening until the 22nd.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies, BC
To your knowledge, no fish stocks have been put at risk through a public fishery.
Executive Director, B.C. Wildlife Federation
Not that I'm aware of, but I'm not the historical subject matter expert.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies, BC
Okay, but you've been at it for a while.
Going back to the season openings last year, what organizations had input into the season openings, the potential expansion of the opportunity or the delays in the expansion?
Executive Director, B.C. Wildlife Federation
It was the SFAB, first nations and DFO. The Fraser River panel is the overarching, external-facing...as it relates to engaging through the Pacific Salmon Commission. Those are the governance pieces.
As I said, I think there are two pieces that really hitched the opening for the public fishery last year. The first one was that TAC was identified. We identified places where our fishery.... Our fishery can move. The mouth of the Fraser had a lot of mixed fish between late and summer runs. If we opened the fishery there, at the mouth of the Fraser—and this gets back to Mr. Kelly's point around caps and shares—we would have used up all of the layer for late-run sockeye. Instead, we said there were places in the Fraser River right then where we could open a fishery because we could move our fishery to where there would be very little to no impact on late-run fish. This was just on summer fish, so it's essentially free fish.
This is the missing piece in the flexibility. There are times and places at which we can have fisheries with little to no impact, other users can't have fisheries and we can generate tremendous benefit.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies, BC
Mr. Brown, I believe it was you who said that there were concerns from the Pacific Salmon Commission last year regarding the sockeye fishery. Was it you who mentioned this?
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies, BC
Was that Mr. Zeman?
Can you elaborate on this? What were those concerns from the Pacific Salmon Commission?
Executive Director, B.C. Wildlife Federation
Certainly.
It would probably be in the committee's interest to bring in Mr. Griswold. He was a panel member for 40 years, but he resigned. It was on CBC. He issued a letter and said that this wasn't working for him. He would be a good person to bring to committee.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies, BC
Mr. Brown, you talked about stock assessments, how important they are and the delays or the lateness of them.
Can you elaborate a little more on that? We've heard that some of these stock assessments are going to be eliminated through cuts.
Public Fishery Alliance
Yes, that's one thing we are seeing. I'll speak to the local level, on the Squamish River.
There are years when we see an abundance of pink and chum salmon. There could be opportunities to open for river anglers. Those opportunities are severely reduced. We've heard DFO say that basically the whole region 2, which would include the Squamish River system, where I live, is closed until open. We've been lobbying for a long time. We've seen abundant returns, particularly of pink salmon and in some years chum salmon, and fishing opportunities aren't occurring.
We were told by DFO that they simply couldn't do stock assessment. They made decisions about five or so years ago in which they closed the whole region to angling opportunities. There's no in-season adjustment. Our area is really impacted by this, because we're not part of the integrated fisheries management plan. There is rarely an opportunity to adjust when we see an abundant return.
To give you an idea, the Squamish has probably become the second-most-used watershed for the Vancouver area, after the Chilliwack/Vedder River, so you're talking about a significant opportunity for angling. Guides can't plan. Locals can't plan for opportunities to get out and fish. It's a very popular fishery, especially for the pink salmon. This is a great opportunity for young people to learn. They're easy fish to catch. They're enjoyed, but there are no opportunities happening.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies, BC
It sounds as though the government is cutting off the cash flow that could be coming in from the public fisheries—the cash flow they need to do the stock assessments. They've cut the stock assessment, so you can't fish.
Public Fishery Alliance
Yes, the stock assessment is not adequate. It's being used as an excuse not to open a fishery. If we're not in the pre-season planning, the IFMP, the opportunity is pretty much not happening. We're losing the economic benefits, the social benefits and the mental health benefits for people to get out and enjoy it. For everyday Canadians to put food on the table, it's significant.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Patrick Weiler
We're well over time, so I'm going to have to jump in.
We're going to Mr. Klassen for six minutes.
Liberal
Ernie Klassen Liberal South Surrey—White Rock, BC
Thank you so much.
Thanks to the witnesses.
There is a lot of information coming our way from the three of you. It's been really educational to hear all of this.
Mr. Brown, I think you mentioned this, as did Mr. Bird: We're looking at a $1.3-billion to $1.4-billion industry. You also stated that the fish industry is becoming less viable and that we need a more balanced approach to making the decisions, ensuring that the industry survives. I think all of us would agree that we want to make sure the industry survives.
Can you talk about what kind of a more balanced approach you would like to see?
Public Fishery Alliance
Yes. It's a good question.
We're seeing the kind of management in which broad areas of the coast are being closed when there are opportunities to harvest sustainably. We have very good data from a number of years and even more recent data.
We're seeing chinook returns, for example, to the B.C. coast, and certain stocks are some of the best we've seen in years. Over the last 10 years, they've been improving every year. This is the most popular salmon for sport fishing. Despite this, we're seeing continued constraint and reductions in opportunities that aren't justified by the data. We have very good information, from over a long time, on the chinook salmon migration routes and timing: where they migrate, where they're present, where they're not present and where there could be angling opportunities.
I'll use Howe Sound as an example. We've been lobbying, talking to DFO and working through the Sport Fishing Advisory Board to try to get a mark-selective fishery. There's incredible data. DFO's own science says it's a very sustainable, supported fishery that would target hatchery fish, where the mark rate is high enough and where the salmon are present. Despite this, in 2026, having worked on this since 2019, we are without a fishery such as this.
We're hopeful, with the minister's most recent announcement on marking more fish, that it will also lead to opportunities for the Vancouver area, which desperately needs it. I've been told by DFO staff that this is the best candidate, even above those that are currently open, to be a mark-selective fishery for the Vancouver area.
Those are some of the examples I can give you.
Liberal
Ernie Klassen Liberal South Surrey—White Rock, BC
Mr. Zeman, you talked about the late opening of the salmon run. What do you think the consequences of the late opening would be to the stock, last year especially?
Executive Director, B.C. Wildlife Federation
You have to move quickly on those fisheries because the late run was the run that was constrained. On August 8, there were 1 million fish identified for the summer run and TAC. There were a lot of fish available for harvest, which was good news, but there were places in which they were mixed in with the late fish.
Mentally, you have to go, “Okay, where in time or place can we focus on harvesting summer-run fish?” At that point, most of those opportunities were in the Fraser River already. Moving quickly, we could have had a fishery that opened literally on August 8 or right after that, and this would have had very little to no impact on those late fish. This is where we got into a kind of chess game, in which people were interpreting the salmon allocation policy in an inconsistent way. It dragged on and on.
It was good news. No one thought we would have that many fish. We were definitely unprepared to be talking about a fishery, but on the same side, with the mixed stock fishery being one of the things that constrain us, we have to think, okay, if we have mixed stocks, where are the places and times we can avoid having a high exploitation rate on weak stocks? This is one of those examples.
Liberal
Ernie Klassen Liberal South Surrey—White Rock, BC
Thank you.
Mr. Kelly, you talked about how there have been some seasons closed prematurely. I'm wondering if you can talk a bit about how often that has happened. What are the consequences of it?
Member, Sport Fishing Advisory Board
It is a very good question.
A prime example would be our recreational halibut fishery. We're managed to 15%. This would be a cap on a total allowable catch for the public fishery. When the department feels that we're getting close to the number, then they would shut it down to keep us from going over the TAC. This is problematic, because that would typically happen in September, say, or October. Instead of having a full season, we would be shut down short.
This does not bode well for late-season tourism in terms of people who want to plan to come on a fishing trip or take their family and their boat up to a small coastal community, because in the fall there's a possibility that the particular fishery could be closed down. I think that would be the best example I could give. It's really one of the main ones managed through the cap idea.
Liberal
Ernie Klassen Liberal South Surrey—White Rock, BC
Thank you.
To go back to Mr. Brown, how do we ensure public access to fisheries while still prioritizing conservation for declining stocks?
Public Fishery Alliance
There have been a lot of adjustments made in the last 10 years to avoid stocks of concern. This has been adjusted, and we have really good information about that. We are also making adjustments with selective fishing technologies and are fishing in ways whereby you can avoid these stocks.
We are seeing a lot more angler education, gaff releases and releasing the salmon in the water without taking them out of the water if they're stock you don't want to harvest. The increased mass marking will certainly help as long as we see the minister open mark-selective fisheries that currently aren't in place, especially towards our largest fishing base, the Vancouver area.
The other thing I would say is to make sure that when there are abundant opportunities, and we know there aren't stock concerns, to open these fisheries. Get them confirmed earlier.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Patrick Weiler
I know that Mr. Brown will have a lot more to add, but we're at time. I appreciate that.
Thank you, Mr. Klassen.