Fewer and fewer throwing out a line

While Tourism Prince Rupert does its best to lure the sport fisherman to the North Coast, a troubling statistic is haunting the provincial government. Sport fishing has dropped in popularity by 20% in the last ten years, giving the Government cause to wonder why less and less people wish to drop a line and spend their dollars on an angling licence.

Reasons ranging from confusing regulations (and trying to go through one of those thick fishing in BC guides or the website for that matter is a challenge!), to cumbersome licensing requirements and just less free time for families all factored into the anecdotal evidence gathered by the various fishing societies of B. C.

In order to get to the bottom of the situation the government has just allocated 90,000 dollars into for a study to find out why many of us just don’t want to go fish.

Perhaps they should list the best spots and provide the best bait, that might help get the numbers up in quick order!

The Daily News provided details of the Government concerns in a story from Monday’s newspaper.

PROVINCE ASKS WHY SO FEW HOOKED ON FISHING
By Sarah Fox
The Daily News
Monday, August 21, 2006.
Page Three

The province is spending $90,000 to find out why sport fishermen are no longer going fishing.

The $90,000 grant to the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B. C. will go toward planning a market research study to find out why the number of B. C. residents buying freshwater angling licences has dropped by almost 20 per cent during the past 10 years, from 320,000 in 1995 to 260,000 last year.

“We don’t want to see the number of anglers decline,” said David Ranson of the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B. C.

“Much of the revenues derived from licence sales goes back into our conservation programs, our stocking programs as well as fish habitat restoration and the economic impact of angling are tremendous throughout the province.

“We don’t want to see that decline because that means the tourism benefits from the sport fishing industry will decline for the province and rural communities and we want to make sure that we continue to have healthy and vibrant fisheries.”

B.C. Tourism Minister Olga Ilich said angling generates about $1.2 billion annually in related spending – mostly in rural areas.

According to a 2002 B. C. government report, the tidal recreational fishery alone in B. C. generated an estimated $550 million in sales, $120 million of that going to lodges, $30 million to charter operators and $400 million to boat and equipment dealers.

“The $90,000 grant is a drop in the bucket compared to the millions of dollars generated by the sport,” said Frank Kwak, president of the Fraser Valley Salmon Society.

Brian Chan, Freshwater Fisheries Society vice-president, said the decline the number of B. C, anglers could be attributed to reports about on-going disputes over fisheries, the uncertainty over recreational fishing times, and to the hectic pace of modern living that prevents families from enjoying a day of fishing.

“Anecdotally we’ve heard from a number of anglers and they’d like to be able to buy licences electronically,” said Ranson.

“Electronic sales of licences would help; it would make things a little quicker, more efficient, instead of the paper transaction.

“The other thing we hear anecdotally is that many people find the freshwater and the tidal fishing regulations too complicated.

“They’re lengthy and difficult to read and so I think one of the outcomes that you could probably recollect from this market study is that they need to simplify those.”

As part of the market research study a survey will be conducted asking anglers about the changes they would like to see in the licencing and regulations to make the sport more attractive. A report of the survey results, plus recommendations and implementation plan, is expected by the spring of 2007.