Getting hard up to sell licences so they hope the 310,000 will increase the 1.2 billion. After alll the closures will have this year my bet is not many people will chip out 60+ bucks to fish Lafarge lake when you can go to a trout farm for less
B.C. sports fishery gears up for new season
By Bruce Constantineau
Vancouver Sun
Monday, April 14, 2008
CREDIT: Stuart Davis/Vancouver Sun
George Cuthbert, Industry and Community Relations for West Coast Resorts, has a look around the 'Lodge at Englefield Bay', currently moored in the Fraser River in Delta. It will soon be towed to its summer home on the west side of the Queen Charlotte Islands for another season of fishing.
VANCOUVER -- B.C. sport fishing officials have launched a $310,000 marketing campaign - featuring a new user-friendly website - to boost participation in the province's $1.2-billion recreational fishing sector.
It's the industry's second year of using a more pro-active marketing approach to fight a global decline in sport fishing interest.
Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C. president Don Peterson said the number of B.C. freshwater licences sold in 2007-2008 likely declined by about three or four per cent from the 267,000 sold a year earlier.
The decline followed a six-per-cent increase in 2006-2007, and Peterson cited several factors - including poor spring weather,
a limited Fraser sockeye salmon fishery, a strong Canadian dollar, and high fuel prices.
But he feels the longer-term trend can be more positive as the industry and government work to attract more young people to a sport, where the average participant's age is close to 50.
"It's definitely a challenge to get more young people into the sport," Peterson said in an interview. "With urbanization and the electronic age and the popularity of videogames, young people are just not getting exposed to these outdoor experiences any more."
The new six-month marketing campaign includes print and radio advertising, promotional contests and a new website -
www.discoverfishingbc.ca - where experienced or newbie anglers alike can get the information they need to prepare for a fishing trip anywhere in B.C.
The website offers online fishing licence purchases, along with information like fishing basics, where to fish, where to learn, and what you need to get started.
Experienced fishers can use the site to stay abreast of fish stocking reports, hot spots, fishing clubs, special events, and provincials statistics and regulations.
Peterson said a learn-to-fish program, which teaches fishing basics to children and their parents throughout B.C., attracted 7,000 people in 2006, 11,000 last year, and he expects another 12,000 will attend this year.
George Cuthbert, industry and community relations manager for West Coast Resorts, expects a strong season for coastal fishing lodges this year, despite a drop in U.S. traffic in recent years. He said American guests used to account for about 60 per cent of visits to his company's six lodges, but that figure has declined to about 30 per cent.
"Canadians in general are realizing the high value of what they have in their own backyard, and many are now coming to the coast to go fishing," Cuthbert said.
About one quarter of the approximately 600,000 freshwater and saltwater fishing licenses sold annually in B.C. go to out-of-province anglers, including many from Alberta, Ontario, Washington and California.
Tourism BC representative Jacqueline Simpson said sport fishing represents one of the tourism marketing agency's "big five" activities that draw international visitors to B.C. - along with skiing, golf, wine and food, and outdoor adventure.
She noted while out-of-province anglers are just one-quarter of the total for the province, they account for about one-third of total industry revenues.
Sport Fishing Institute of B.C. executive director Marilyn Murphy, who represents the saltwater industry, said the biggest challenge this year will likely be another limited Fraser River sockeye fishery.
"But there are some great opportunities for the rest of B.C., with normal limits for chinook and coho salmon," she said.
Murphy said early-season fishing lodge bookings appear to be similar to last year, with more Europeans expected because a recent rule change allows them to take their catches back home.
She said the recent ban on commercial and sport salmon fishing in California and much of Oregon is a double-edged sword, with good news and bad news for B.C. operators.
"From a marketplace perspective, it might be good news in driving some more people to B.C.," Murphy said. "But from a Mother Nature perspective, it's not a good trend. Southern stocks are not doing well, and that problem seems to be migrating north year by year."
Peterson said the new sport fishing marketing campaign is more than just a simple economic initiative.
"There's also a very strong aspect of connecting people to the environment," he said. "It can start people thinking about what's needed to support healthy fish populations and a healthy ecology."
bconstantineau@png.canwest.com© Vancouver Sun
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