i»»: im sK)Ri nsMfRV 



those opp«.irtunmes ofler. Therefore, recogni/mg the fac- 

 tofN thai atVcct the quahty ot the exp^-ncnce is crucial m 

 designing sporttishing p«.)hcy. The opfK)rtiinity to catch 

 fish IS central, but many other factors arc involved. 



... if the salmon is the key or the axle of the 

 wheel, perhaps the other factors (fraternity, 

 the desire to become a b>etter fisherman, the 

 competitive aspect and the opportunity to get 

 away from job pressures, family commit- 

 ments and scKial obligations) are the spokes 

 and nm of the wheel which turns the motiva- 

 tional crank — giving us a more complete 

 picture of what sportfishing is and what it 

 means to the people that participate in it.'' 



Many of these factors are beyond the scope of fisheries 

 managers, who obviously have little influence on such 

 things as the weather, scenery and comradship. But 

 fishenes authorities have in their hands the essential key 

 to an exciting recreational experience: they regulate the 

 opportunity to catch fish. And by regulating access to the 

 fish, fixing bag limits, imposing gear restrictions, and 

 making other rules, they control whether a sport fisher- 

 man can, with a little luck, a little skill, and some dedi- 

 cated efibrt, lake a satisfying catch. 



The essential motives in sport fishing are 

 hope and the gamble. The hope is that a day 

 on the water will produce a few nice fish. 

 Time and money are spent for this gamble. 

 The sure way to kill the urge to go sport 

 fishing is to remove these two motives .... A 

 fisherman will go out day after day and not 

 catch a single fish. If he is told he can only go 

 out and catch one fish, and can't even use his 

 favourite tackle, then the hope and fun of the 

 gamble is removed and he ceases to want to 

 go fishing. '* 



To enhance the value of sportfishing, therefore, regula- 

 tory authorities should strive to preserve and develop the 

 opportunity to catch "a few nice fish," and policies 

 should be considered in terms of whether they will 

 increase or dimmish this opportunity within the con- 

 straints imposed by the limited available catch and other 

 users. 



Basic choices The basic choice is between spreading 

 the available catch among more fishermen, which enables 

 a greater number to participate but reduces the quality of 

 the experience for each, and controlling the numbers, 

 which enables a smaller number to enjoy a more valuable 

 fishing opportunity. Historically, regulation has favoured 

 the former: sportfishing has been freely accessible to 

 everyone, with the catch being controlled by progres- 

 sively reducing the numbers of fish that each may retain, 

 and by gear restrictions and closures. These controls have 



been adviKated because they do not limit the number ol 

 hshcrmen who may participate. But as long as the num- 

 ber ot potential sport lishermen continues to grow, and 

 the available catch does not keep pace, this policy implies 

 that individual catches will progressively deteriorate, as 

 will the value of the sportfishing opportunities. Judging 

 from reactions, this point may have been reached with 

 the propt)sal last year to reduce the bag limit for chinook 

 salmon to one fish. Obviously, any further reduction 

 would virtually eliminate that sportfishing opportunity. 



The alternative approach is to control the total pres- 

 sure on the stocks by regulating access and reducing the 

 expansion in numbers of fishermen, thereby preserving 

 their opportunity to take a satisfying catch. With the con- 

 tinuing growth in sportfishing demand, the bleak pros- 

 pects for significantly increasing the catch available to 

 the sport fishery in the near term, and the modest bag 

 limits that now exist, sportfishing policy should be 

 directed toward this latter alternative for the time being. 



I therefore recommend this change in policy direction: 



2. Sportfishing policy should aim at preserving the qual- 

 ity of sportfishing opportunities, wtiich implies damp- 

 ening the rate of growth of sportfishing effort and 

 maintaining average catches until the available harvest 

 can be increased. 



In Chapter 4 I discuss the opportunities for increasing 

 the available stocks through improved escapement, and 

 in Chapter 5 I explain that enhancement efforts may 

 increase chinook and coho stocks in the Strait of 

 Georgia. But whether or not these measures are effective, 

 management of the sport fishery requires regulating 

 sportfishing privileges and improving information on the 

 impacts of sportfishing. These are the issues I turn to in 

 the remainder of this chapter. 



REGULATORY ENDS AND MEANS 



The basic instrument for regulating access to 

 sportfishing is the hcence, now finally in place. The privi- 

 leges and obligations embodied in these licences oflTer 

 fairly flexible means of achieving sportfishing objectives. 

 I propose that the tidal water (saltwater) sportfishing 

 licence system be retained, simplified in certain respects, 

 and modified to better serve policy goals. 



Licences 



First, I propose that the federal saltwater sportfishing 

 licence and the Province of British Columbia's freshwater 

 sportfishing licence be integrated into a single document. 

 Many sportsmen participate in both saltwater and fresh- 

 water fishing, and the proliferation of fish and wildhfe 

 authorizations from both governments with their separate 

 networks of issuing agents has become a considerable 



