The local Sports Fishery Advisory Committee (SFAC) meeting was held Monday morning, March 19 at the Department of Fisheries office in Comox. Megs Kohlmeyer-Hurd was in the chair. This column will cover a portion of the meeting with the balance of the report, especially halibut fishery update, next week. There were 10 members of the board plus six interested anglers present for most of the meeting.
Little River Enhancement Society Report This is an amazing little operation on a small system. They had 158 coho above their fence and 45 of them were clipped. They also had 704 chum salmon above the fence and 300 below the fence. This is the first year they have had a fence in operation.
They have fin clipped 18,500 coho smolts thanks to help from Comox Valley Fly Fishers. They have over 40,000 eggs from this year’s take. They made renovations to their facility thanks to the RBC Blue Water funds. The recent windstorm did some damage to their water supply that will require remediation.
Oyster River Enhancement Society reported the following returns: pink salmon 36,000 to 38,000; chinook 600; coho 13,000; chum 3,500. Their egg take was as follows: Pinks 502,500 having released 352,000 pink fry to date. They have 49,500 in incubation. Chum 200,000 from the Puntledge system. They have 180,000 coho eggs and fry and will hold 4,000 to 4,500 to smolt stage.
Puntledge River hatchery I will give an update on this major hatchery later in the spring, but it is interesting to note that there is an increase in steelhead and cutthroat trout numbers in this system as well as throughout much of the coast.
Big Qualicum Hatchery reported that returns were up pretty well across the board in both systems.
Nile Creek reported good returns, but they do not count fish. Fanny Bay has 125,000 coho eggs in incubation. The Tsolum River lost its pink salmon eggs due to silt in the hatchery.
There is evidence that coho stocks are improving in many of the river systems in local waters and there is a strong move to allow retention of one marked and one unmarked coho for the coming season.
The problems of chinook salmon fisheries in the lower Strait of Georgia and Juan de Fuca Strait will no doubt spill over into our fishery in the near future. Will have more to report next week. There is some evidence of good returns of Cowichan chinook this past season so possibly some of the spot closures are making a difference.
Comox Harbour will be a non-commercial area for crab fishing starting this season. There is a move to create a colour system on floats to differentiate between recreational, commercial and aboriginal fisheries, which were supported by the local committee.
The season for lingcod and rockfish will be the same as last year. There is a major assessment of Strait of Georgia lingcod stocks being carried out this year.
The roe herring fishery is largely over with good spawn reports in local waters. We have had good spawn from Nanaimo north to above Cape Lazo.
Shellfish Closure I am aware this notice has been well publicized but nevertheless it is chilling. The closure reads: “Chemical Contamination Emergency Closure -Effective March 13, 2012 until further notice: Due to a PCB spill from a broken electrical transformer near Little River, north of Courtenay BC all harvest of bivalve shellfish is prohibited for any purpose in the following area within Pacific Fishery Management Subarea 14-13. For more information contact our local DFO office or Elysha Gordon at 250-756-7192.”
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The Fly Fishing Film Tour Canada takes place at the Stan Hagen Theatre in the Komoux Building at North Island College tonight (March 23) starting at 6:30 p.m. The tour is produced by 16 fly-fishing related industries and support services from across Canada and the United States. They support conservation groups throughout their viewing areas and in this case the Steelhead Society of BC will be one of the beneficiaries. Advance tickets are available at $15 from Tyee Marine, Blue Toque Sports, Valhalla Pure and A-lure Barber Shop or $20 at the door.
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Take note – your freshwater and saltwater fishing licenses expire on March 31. You can renew at local sporting goods stores, other outlets or online.
Ralph Shaw is a master fly fisherman who was awarded the Order of Canada in 1984 for his conservation efforts. In 20 years of writing a column in the Comox Valley Record it has won several awards.
