British Columbia’s recreational fishery is worth as much to the provincial economy as commercial fishing, aquaculture and fish processing combined, according to a new report from BC Stats.
The report, the first major economic review of the sector since 2007, estimates overall B.C. fisheries and aquaculture sector revenue at $2.2 billion for 2011 including $936 million contribution from recreational angling.
That boils down to a $325 million contribution to gross domestic product from the recreational sub-sector — not including spending on angling gear, boats and other vehicles — compared to $340 million in combined GDP from the commercial, aquaculture and fish processing sub-sectors including commercial boats and gear.
Within the recreational fishery, saltwater activity accounts for just over half of GDP with the remainder going to angling in lakes and streams.
Employment across the entire sector reached 13,900, 8,400 of whom worked in recreational fishing.
The B.C. Wildlife Federation, which speaks for a provincewide aggregation of sport fishing organizations, trumpeted the data as evidence that both the provincial and federal governments need to give more weight to the interests of recreational anglers and species such as salmon, halibut and trout when they’re making decisions about fisheries resource management.
For example in 2007, memos from a Fisheries and Oceans Canada manager based in Prince Rupert revealed that federal politicians “caved under pressure” from commercial fishermen and kept the Skeena River open to sockeye gillnetters during peak migration of steelhead — a sport-only salmon species prized by anglers around the world.
More recently, a conflict has emerged among recreational and commercial fishermen about harvesting halibut, with commercial halibut fishermen taking the Harper government to court over a decision to shift a small portion of their catch over to sport anglers.
“This report has established a clear need for both the provincial and federal governments to wake up to the economic importance of investing in building and maintaining sustainable recreational fisheries across British Columbia,” BCWF president Bill Bosch said in a news release.
“The best example of limited (recreational) access at the moment is the halibut fishery, where 400 commercial quota holders control 85 per cent of the total allowable catch while thousands of recreational public anglers face reduced opportunities and catch limits as they try to stay within their 15 per cent assignment,” the BCWF said.Al Martin, director of strategic initiatives for the federation, said that in light of the sector’s value to the provincial economy there is “a whole range of issues” that should be getting more attention from both levels of government.
“First is greater funding for the management and protection of fisheries resources — particularly by channelling more of the revenue generated through licenses and fees levied upon sport anglers away from general revenue,” Martin said.
“But I think the fundamental issue right at the moment is the amount of resources put into fisheries and fish habitat management. There have been some changes with Bill C-38 and (amendments to) the Fisheries Act. There are major layoffs and major reorganization going on in the federal department of fisheries and oceans which has things in transition so to speak.”
Gerry Kristianson, communications director for the Sport Fishing Institute of British Columbia, noted that most of the federal fisheries budget is dedicated to the commercial fishery in contrast with its relative value to Canada as a whole.
“If you look at the budget of the department, they spend something in the order of 90 per cent of the budget on commercial fisheries and a tiny proportion on recreational fisheries.”
Smithers Mayor Taylor Bachrach, whose northwest B.C. community considers sport fishing an essential part of the local economy, noted that the municipal council recently wrote a letter to the fisheries department calling for more balanced management decisions that will protect steelhead and other salmon species targeted by anglers including chinook and coho.
“It was great to see the report. I think it validates what we’ve known up here for a long time, which is that this is a critical sector of our economy. It definitely highlights the need to focus on habitat protection and supporting the sport fishing industry in terms of resources. I don’t think that aspect of the industry has received nearly enough resources in the past,” Bachrach said.
He noted cutbacks in the B.C. conservation officer service, for example, which leaves only two officers to serve a “hug
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Topic: BC Recreational fishery dominates revenue generation, employment figures (Read 2130 times)