B.C. Halibut Fishing Announcement for Recreational Fishing in 2009
Clayoquot Ventures - Tofino Fishing will be offering Halibut - Chinook Salmon combo Charters starting March 1st. Contact us for our early season rates and availability for great springtime action for Salmon and Halibut Fishing out of Tofino B.C.
Fishery Notice - Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Subject: FN0101-Halibut: Further to FN0037 & Amendment to FN0100 - Coastwide Opening and Limits
The department will implement a coastwide opening of the recreational halibut fishery:
Coastwide:
---------
Effective 00:01 hours March 1, 2009 fishing for halibut will be opened
coastwide. The daily limit at the start of the season is one (1) per day with a
possession limit of two (2).
The exception to this opening is: Areas 121, 23 and 123:
---------------------
Effective 00:01 hours March 1, 2009 to 23:59 hours December 31, 2009:
- No person shall fish for or retain halibut, rockfish and lingcod in Area 121
outside the 12 nautical mile limit seaward of a line that begins at 48 degrees
34.000 minutes North latitude and 125 degrees 17.386 minutes West longitude and
continues south easterly at a bearing of 116 degrees True to a point at 48
degrees 28.327 minutes North latitude and 125 degrees 01.687 minutes West
longitude.
- Electronic licence conditions will be continued as follows:
"no person who is not a Canadian resident may fish for or retain halibut under
this licence in management Areas 121, 23 and 123."
In an effort to open the recreational fishery while some key issues with
respect to the 2009 management plan remain unresolved, the initial halibut
retention limit will be one per day, two in total possession. The department
expects to complete its consultations with the recreational sector on the
halibut management plan for 2009 before the end of February, including
examining the feasibility of increasing the daily limits. The plan will include
measures for monitoring and evaluating the catch in-season. Any changes in the
management plan following these consultations will be announced in a subsequent
Fishery Notice.
Variation Order No. 2009-67
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Bill Shaw 604-666-3271 and Gary Logan 604-666-9033.
Background information regarding B.C. Recreational Halibut Fishing opportunities administered by Fisheries and Oceans Canada
The recreational fishing sector was forced into a joint agreement with the commercial sector that proposed the Federal Government would advance $35 million to buy out 8%
of the commercial Halibut TAC and transfer this to the recreational sector. The recreational sector would repay the Federal Government over the ensuing years through the imposition of a Halibut stamp on the recreational fishing licence. We then moved into the management of the 2008 fishery. In order to keep within our quota it was necessary for us to lease Halibut quota from the commercial sector. For various legal reasons the approximately $2 million dollars was and is being held in trust by the Pacific Halibut Management Association, (PHMA), the commercial sector. The SFAB gave out instructions throughout the season to release the money required to lease the needed
quota to keep our fishery within their allocation. The PHMA released an initial amount but adamantly refused to release any further money causing us to exceed our quota. DFO, who was supposed to be coordinating these transactions, took the unprecedented action of closing the recreational fishery. This closure was put in place in spite of the written commitment from the Minister that there would be no "in-season" closures of the recreational fishery. This action was also taken in spite of the fact that Canada left more Halibut in the water unharvested at the end of the 2008 season than the total overage of the recreational sector.
Simply put, there was no conservation concern, Canada did not harvest its' Total Allowable Catch for Halibut, DFO simply decided that those fish were the property of the commercial sector and shut us down.
So we have ourselves entering into an agreement with the commercial sector as the Minister and DFO demanded of us. We then have the commercial sector, acting in breach of trust and negating that agreement and one year later on February 12th of 2009. we finally received a letter from the current Minister of Fisheries and Oceans rejecting our proposals out of hand.
The recent Fisheries Notice outlined above, is what DFO has responded with to date.
Welcome to the updated look of TofinoFishing.com February 12th, 2009
With over 300,000 page views since our last facelift to this website, we thought we should spend some time polishing up on the current content that keeps people coming back. Our new Fishing Photo Gallery will allow us to not only keep our fishing images fresh, but store as many photos on the site as we want. Many of our guests that have been returning year after year will have a chance to renew some happy memories of fishing trips in the past, as we will gradually try and add many of these past images as well.
We have added a couple areas, such as the Shared Fishing Charter section, where visiting anglers who are on their own, can sign up with the on-line form, for stronger potential of sharing a vessel with others during their stay in the Tofino area.
Our popular Guided Fishing Excursions are now more front and center, with updated info to help potential guests to understand the great fishing options available in the Tofino B.C. area offered by Clayoquot Ventures.
This section of TofinoFishing.com will continue to be the updated resource for Tofino and Ucluelet B.C. Sport Fishing, with news, fishing reports and current information that we feel is worth sharing.
Until the next report on this page, don't get too down on the economic situation by listening to the doom and gloom of most media outlets....Get out on the water and enjoy a day of fishing and you'll feel much better.
If you can't get out on the water right now, we can help you with plans for the spring and summer of 2009. We have good space available to host you for a memorable fishing experience in the Tofino area this year.
<
|
Clayoquot Ventures