BC Recreational Fishing Rules Update

Summary#

These are proposed amendments to the British Columbia Sport Fishing Regulations, 1996 published by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). If made final, they would turn several long-standing licence rules and safety measures into formal regulation (and allow fines to be added later), and add new gear and marking rules for recreational trap fishing.

What it does#

• Proposes to make it an offence to possess female Dungeness, red rock or king crab (this has been a licence condition for years).
• Proposes to ban fishing with a barbed hook in the tidal portion of the Fraser River (barbless hooks would be required).
• Proposes to require biodegradable “rot cord” in all recreational traps that have netting (currently required for recreational crab traps, but not for shrimp or octopus traps).
• Proposes to require buoy lines for recreational traps to sink or be weighted so they stay below the water surface.
• Proposes to require an operator’s name and telephone number on tags, floats or buoys attached to recreational traps.
• Says DFO will seek to make these ticketable offences under the Contraventions Regulations with proposed fines such as $200.00 plus $50 per crab over the limit (example), $500.00 for barbed hooks or rot-cord violations, and $250.00 for buoy-line or marking breaches.

Who's affected#

• Recreational fishers who hold a Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence, especially those who use traps (crab, shrimp, octopus).
• Guides, lodges and tackle shops that serve recreational fishers.
• Boaters and swimmers may be indirectly affected because of changes intended to reduce hazards from floating lines.
• The notice says Indigenous harvesters fishing under communal or other treaty rights (e.g., under the Aboriginal Communal Fishing Licences Regulations) are not affected by these changes.
• If it’s unclear who is affected in a particular case, the regulations themselves would define the exact scope once finalized.

Why it matters#

• Conservation: Making the female-crab release rule and the barbless-hook rule formal regulations aims to better protect crab breeding populations and reduce post-release deaths of White Sturgeon in the tidal Fraser River.
• Safety: Sinking buoy lines and clearer trap ID are meant to reduce entanglement risks for swimmers and boats and make it easier to return lost gear.
• Ghost fishing: Requiring rot cord should reduce lost traps continuing to catch animals for years.
• Enforcement: Moving rules from licence conditions into regulation would let authorities use tickets instead of court prosecutions, which the government says is faster and cheaper.
• Costs: DFO estimates one-time gear change costs (for retrofitting traps and adding weights) totaling about $2.64 million in present value over 10 years ($0.38 million annualized), with component estimates such as $2.36 million for rot-cord changes and $0.28 million for sinking buoy lines. Individual retrofit costs are estimated at about $35 to add rot cord, $100 to replace an unmodifiable trap, or $20 to add a weight to a buoy line.