New Management Measures for the Recreational Harvest of Shrimps and Prawns
New Management Measures for the Recreational Harvest of Shrimps and Prawns
Implementing New Management Measures for the Recreational Harvest of Shrimps and Prawns Combined in BC Tidal Waters
Issue
The recreational daily limit for all Shrimps, including Prawn has not changed since 1996. A series of precautionary measures have been implemented by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in the prawn and shrimp by trap fishery for all sectors in support of conservation and sustainable management. The effort in harvesting Prawns by the recreational sector has increased significantly over the last 20 years.
To support the overall sustainability of the prawn fishery, DFO is implementing a reduced daily limit and possession limit for all Shrimp species, including Prawn, which will be in effect April 1, 2020.
Background
DFO recognizes the importance of the fishery resource to all who depend on it for their sustenance, livelihood and recreation. The Department’s role is to manage the fishery resource with a cautious approach to ensure the sustainability of Canada’s fisheries into the future.
The Department regularly reviews the management measures it has in place for fisheries to ensure they are relevant to current conditions and objectives. In recent years, DFO Fisheries Management has been making adjustments to how the prawn fishery is managed under a conservation framework guided by the Prawn and Shrimp by trap Integrated Fisheries Management Plan for all sectors in support of conservation and sustainable management. While interest and participation in recreational fishing has increased significantly in recent years, numerous features of the recreational management regime for recreational prawn fisheries have not changed in decades. The new recreational limits for these fisheries are intended to respond to changes in fishing effort as part of the precautionary approach DFO takes to ensure sustainability of the fishery.
Over the last several decades, Prawn harvest has become an increasingly valuable and important part of BC’s fisheries, placing increased pressure on the resource. The commercial Prawn harvest is one of the most valuable fisheries in BC and First Nations are harvesting Prawn in increasing numbers for Food-Social-Ceremonial (FSC) purposes, often using commercial gear. The recreational harvest of Prawns has grown, with increasing effort, increasing interest and advances in fishing gear and equipment (e.g. fish finders, chart plotters, power trap haulers). The daily limit has been in place since 1996 and has been viewed as unreasonably high, as it was an arbitrary number when adopted. Concerns about the recreational daily limit have been raised by First Nations, commercial harvesters and DFO through annual consultations. This has made efforts to manage First Nations harvest of prawn for FSC purposes challenging.
In recent years, DFO Fisheries Management has been making justments to how the Prawn fishery is managed, for all sectors, to respond to changes in prawn fisheries. All sectors involved in fishing (First Nations Food-Social-Ceremonial (FSC), Recreational, Commercial) share a responsibility to manage fisheries resources. This includes adopting sustainable fishing practices and the implementation of new management measures. Some recent examples of new management measures in the Prawn fishery include: - The requirement, starting in 2014, for all commercial Prawn vessels to have a DFO-approved Vessel Monitoring System and a system to notify DFO and the service provider every time gear is set or hauled. - The requirement, starting in 2014, for all commercial Prawn vessels to release any egg bearing female Prawn, immediately, with the least harm possible. - The requirement, starting in 2016, for a supplemental licence when using commercial gear and vessels to fish for Prawns for FSC purposes. - The requirement, starting in 2017, for all commercial Prawn vessels to remove their fishing gear within 3 days of notification of the closure of the fishery (from 7 days), reducing commercial fishing effort by 4 days in a 35-40 day fishery. - The requirement, starting in 2018, for all recreational harvesters to release any egg bearing female Prawn, immediately, with the least harm possible. - (Complete list in Appendix 1)
DFO recognizes the efforts of the Sport Fishing Advisory Board (SFAB) to support some of the existing management measures such as the release of all Prawns carrying eggs by the recreational fishing sector and seasonal area closures in key South Coast areas. The Department has consulted with the SFAB on the issue of daily limits for the past four years and more extensively in the past year to develop proposals. The SFAB recommended a smaller reduction to 170 per day in South Coast waters and no change in North Coast waters and has suggested that a reduction in the daily limit amounts to a reallocation to other sectors. While the daily limit does not restrict the total catch of the whole fishery, it can help in limiting effort in recreational fisheries that consist of numerous and often dispersed operations that might otherwise be difficult to limit. The reduction in the daily limit for recreationally caught prawn is considered a longer-term sustainable management measure that can be applied coast wide.
Management Changes
Starting April 1, 2020, the daily recreational limit for all Shrimps, including Prawn, will be reduced to 125 (aggregate limit). This applies coast wide.
The combined possession limit for all Shrimps including Prawn, will remain at 2 times the daily limit, which is 250 (aggregate limit).
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Despite DFO's assertions to the contrary, the SFAB was not properly consulted, nor do they support this change. The only way they would do so has been noted under the condition that ALL sectors took the same amount of cuts (percentage). That is not occurring.
It is the opinion of many involved (including myself) this is simply a reallocation of the resource to FN's in the name of "reconciliation".
Stay tuned for much more of the same...
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