Just got this last night. Thought I post it as some on here were asking what SVIAC is doing these days. Holy cow, no wonder these guys were too busy to give updates earlier! I think I am getting a full return on my $40 investment if they keep on track! Thanks you guys for all your hard and unpaid work!
President’s Report
August 2013
Summertime provides many of us anglers the opportunity to get out and enjoy the great weather and the calm seas. We all need to get away from the hustle-and-bustle to recharge our batteries and do a spot of fishing now and then. With July and August being the peak months for Chinook and this year being a pink year too, reports verify that in the waters off Sidney, Victoria, Sooke and Port Renfrew there has been some reasonably good fishing this year. For the Board of Directors of SVIAC this need to commune with nature is no different; and after a very busy winter, spring and early summer, these amazing volunteers have earned a break from the constant grind. As president, I must pass on my sincere appreciation to our Board of Directors and Committee members for all the time, effort, expertise and materials they have given to our cause. These are truly selfless and generous people, who want to help build a new powerful, effective angling advocacy group to restore and protect your fisheries now and in the future.
Some people have asked how SVIAC is doing and what has the president, our Board of Directors and Committees been involved with recently. So here is an update in summary form of some of the important work we have been involved with in our first eight months since going public:
Participation in Fisheries Issues:
Hosted and facilitated South Island anglers participating in the SFAB process:-After DFO senior fisheries management staff rejected both funding meeting room rental costs and also no longer agreeing to large (100 – 200 angler) meetings for the Victoria and Area SFAB Committee, SVIAC provided a consultation opportunity for the wider south island angling community at the end of 2012 prior to the South Coast SFAB meeting in Nanaimo. The meeting event was shared with the society’s official launch.
The International Pacific Halibut Commission annual meeting was held last January in Victoria – SVIAC requested and was accepted as a Canadian member/delegate of the IPHC Conference Board, enabling our society to share its opinions at the IPHC table and cast votes. 2013 was a landmark year as the Conference Board was able to build an almost unanimous negotiating position between the USA and Canada regarding the recommendation for North Pacific halibut catch. Canada was also successful this year in garnering a much higher TAC for our country than was originally anticipated from IPHC Staff recommendations.
Early Spring 2013 SVIAC’s president, who is also chair of the Victoria and area SFAB committee, in addition to several influential local anglers, worked diligently behind the scenes with DFO in attempt to address this June’s and July’s draconian unwarranted Chinook fishing restrictions we had to endure. As Chair of the Victoria SFAB Committee I secured agreement from DFO to accept a proposal in early February. Our initial request to DFO was for the opportunity to tweak the proposed Zone 3 regulations to improve fishing in our area while at the same time maintaining conservation objectives. Some department staff assisted us by providing catch data and a computer-based catch impact modelling program, which allowed us to craft improved fishing opportunities for Areas 19 and 20 from mid-June until end of July while avoiding increasing impact on Fraser Stream-Type stocks. On behalf of our local committee, Martin Paish, who is also a SVIAC member, and I prepared a very thorough and compelling proposal to have DFO alter the fishing restrictions. We firmly believed our proposal was very defensible as we used DFO’s own data, in addition to demonstrating a 70% or greater impact reduction across the board. For your information, we were seeking a one wild Chinook any size per day as an option commencing mid-June for adoption as opposed to the extended slot size. SVIAC strongly believes these fishing opportunities should have been agreed to by DFO. Our proposal was submitted through the SFAB, even getting the unanimous support of the SFAB executive committee. Unfortunately and perhaps predictably, the result was a terse refusal from DFO to even entertain any change to 2013 Chinook regulations and a counter-claim that we had been provided incorrect data when crafting our proposals impact model. This is another indication that our fishing challenges on SVI and around BC for that matter, will not be solved at an advisory process, but in the political influence realm.
In spring 2013 (and this work is ongoing), a small group of respected local anglers, who are both SVIAC members (some on the BoD) and involved in the SFAB locally, began working as a small sub-committee with DFO stock assessment in a pilot project to improve the creel survey results in Area 19 and 20. There has been a lot of concern about the creel survey data since 2006 and the apparent over¬estimation of catch harms our Chinook and halibut fisheries in Haro and Juan de Fuca Straits. Due to three months of peculiarly high creel survey catch and effort numbers in the spring of 2012 as well as March 2013 halibut catch and apparent on-going idiosyncrasies in the data, we’re working to improve creel accuracy and gain greater credibility and acceptance of the whole system. DFO has conceded the “activity profile” of catch calculation may require improvement, which by itself is a positive. It also seems we have convinced DFO to start incorporating wind and tidal current data in some form to improve fishing effort data outcomes. We know that when it’s blowing a major gale in Juan de Fuca no one’s fishing, the creel system currently doesn’t make any specific recognition of that but counts on averaging that the few overflights will occur on low effort bad weather days. This is an important step forward. Further DFO has indicated there is money available to contract out some key work required to a professional in order to move the pilot program along. If successful, this pilot will improve our position when advising or lobbying for our Chinook and halibut fisheries. And our findings may also eventually have a positive influence on the creel survey coast-wide. Several SVIAC members have and continue to put a lot of volunteer time and effort into this initiative this year.
National Marine Conservation Area feasibility study – recently Parks Canada has started again to push for the completion of the feasibility study about the NMCA in the Southern Strait of Georgia. Interestingly, the proposed boundaries have been reduced with an aim of “phasing in” the NMCA over time; plus the reduced boundary has less First Nations cross-over, which was slowing earlier feasibility study progress. Now there is an economic impact study being undertaken by a New Brunswick Company (Gardner Pinfold). Naturally, SVIAC are active in monitoring these recent developments because the potential impact, if the NMCA is ever established, would be significant to the sport fishery around Sidney and the lower Gulf Islands. SVIAC is also extremely interested in the findings of the economic study being conducted by Gardner Pinfold.
President’s Report
August 2013
Summertime provides many of us anglers the opportunity to get out and enjoy the great weather and the calm seas. We all need to get away from the hustle-and-bustle to recharge our batteries and do a spot of fishing now and then. With July and August being the peak months for Chinook and this year being a pink year too, reports verify that in the waters off Sidney, Victoria, Sooke and Port Renfrew there has been some reasonably good fishing this year. For the Board of Directors of SVIAC this need to commune with nature is no different; and after a very busy winter, spring and early summer, these amazing volunteers have earned a break from the constant grind. As president, I must pass on my sincere appreciation to our Board of Directors and Committee members for all the time, effort, expertise and materials they have given to our cause. These are truly selfless and generous people, who want to help build a new powerful, effective angling advocacy group to restore and protect your fisheries now and in the future.
Some people have asked how SVIAC is doing and what has the president, our Board of Directors and Committees been involved with recently. So here is an update in summary form of some of the important work we have been involved with in our first eight months since going public:
Participation in Fisheries Issues:
Hosted and facilitated South Island anglers participating in the SFAB process:-After DFO senior fisheries management staff rejected both funding meeting room rental costs and also no longer agreeing to large (100 – 200 angler) meetings for the Victoria and Area SFAB Committee, SVIAC provided a consultation opportunity for the wider south island angling community at the end of 2012 prior to the South Coast SFAB meeting in Nanaimo. The meeting event was shared with the society’s official launch.
The International Pacific Halibut Commission annual meeting was held last January in Victoria – SVIAC requested and was accepted as a Canadian member/delegate of the IPHC Conference Board, enabling our society to share its opinions at the IPHC table and cast votes. 2013 was a landmark year as the Conference Board was able to build an almost unanimous negotiating position between the USA and Canada regarding the recommendation for North Pacific halibut catch. Canada was also successful this year in garnering a much higher TAC for our country than was originally anticipated from IPHC Staff recommendations.
Early Spring 2013 SVIAC’s president, who is also chair of the Victoria and area SFAB committee, in addition to several influential local anglers, worked diligently behind the scenes with DFO in attempt to address this June’s and July’s draconian unwarranted Chinook fishing restrictions we had to endure. As Chair of the Victoria SFAB Committee I secured agreement from DFO to accept a proposal in early February. Our initial request to DFO was for the opportunity to tweak the proposed Zone 3 regulations to improve fishing in our area while at the same time maintaining conservation objectives. Some department staff assisted us by providing catch data and a computer-based catch impact modelling program, which allowed us to craft improved fishing opportunities for Areas 19 and 20 from mid-June until end of July while avoiding increasing impact on Fraser Stream-Type stocks. On behalf of our local committee, Martin Paish, who is also a SVIAC member, and I prepared a very thorough and compelling proposal to have DFO alter the fishing restrictions. We firmly believed our proposal was very defensible as we used DFO’s own data, in addition to demonstrating a 70% or greater impact reduction across the board. For your information, we were seeking a one wild Chinook any size per day as an option commencing mid-June for adoption as opposed to the extended slot size. SVIAC strongly believes these fishing opportunities should have been agreed to by DFO. Our proposal was submitted through the SFAB, even getting the unanimous support of the SFAB executive committee. Unfortunately and perhaps predictably, the result was a terse refusal from DFO to even entertain any change to 2013 Chinook regulations and a counter-claim that we had been provided incorrect data when crafting our proposals impact model. This is another indication that our fishing challenges on SVI and around BC for that matter, will not be solved at an advisory process, but in the political influence realm.
In spring 2013 (and this work is ongoing), a small group of respected local anglers, who are both SVIAC members (some on the BoD) and involved in the SFAB locally, began working as a small sub-committee with DFO stock assessment in a pilot project to improve the creel survey results in Area 19 and 20. There has been a lot of concern about the creel survey data since 2006 and the apparent over¬estimation of catch harms our Chinook and halibut fisheries in Haro and Juan de Fuca Straits. Due to three months of peculiarly high creel survey catch and effort numbers in the spring of 2012 as well as March 2013 halibut catch and apparent on-going idiosyncrasies in the data, we’re working to improve creel accuracy and gain greater credibility and acceptance of the whole system. DFO has conceded the “activity profile” of catch calculation may require improvement, which by itself is a positive. It also seems we have convinced DFO to start incorporating wind and tidal current data in some form to improve fishing effort data outcomes. We know that when it’s blowing a major gale in Juan de Fuca no one’s fishing, the creel system currently doesn’t make any specific recognition of that but counts on averaging that the few overflights will occur on low effort bad weather days. This is an important step forward. Further DFO has indicated there is money available to contract out some key work required to a professional in order to move the pilot program along. If successful, this pilot will improve our position when advising or lobbying for our Chinook and halibut fisheries. And our findings may also eventually have a positive influence on the creel survey coast-wide. Several SVIAC members have and continue to put a lot of volunteer time and effort into this initiative this year.
National Marine Conservation Area feasibility study – recently Parks Canada has started again to push for the completion of the feasibility study about the NMCA in the Southern Strait of Georgia. Interestingly, the proposed boundaries have been reduced with an aim of “phasing in” the NMCA over time; plus the reduced boundary has less First Nations cross-over, which was slowing earlier feasibility study progress. Now there is an economic impact study being undertaken by a New Brunswick Company (Gardner Pinfold). Naturally, SVIAC are active in monitoring these recent developments because the potential impact, if the NMCA is ever established, would be significant to the sport fishery around Sidney and the lower Gulf Islands. SVIAC is also extremely interested in the findings of the economic study being conducted by Gardner Pinfold.
