British Columbia’s Angler Management Program by Lev Wood With darkness of the late August evening closing in on us, we scrambled up the dirt pathway from the Elk River to our car and found an uninvited guest - a British Columbia Conservation Officer.  Pucker time! The young CO, actually a River Guardian, was a thoughtful and dedicated public servant.  After checking our licenses, he surveyed us on our angling experience, number of fish caught and number of hours we had fished. This is the new reality for anglers fishing British Columbia's Classified Waters.   The Man is watching.  And if you fish in BC, you MUST get proper licenses and river permits or pay a stiff fine!  Background and the Elk River Experience There are 42 Classified Waters in British Columbia.   From the Dean River on the Pacific coast to the Kootenay region in the southeast angling pressure has become a fisheries management problem.    To illustrate Province-wide angling pressure, take the Elk River as an example.  The Elk River watershed, in southeast British Columbia, is world-famous for its population of bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout.  But by the year 2002, local anglers were fed up.   Non-resident fishing pressure on the Elk River was estimated to exceed 8500 angler days.  Licensed commercial guides registered to fish on the Elk River increased from nine in 1995 to 52 in 2002.  Guided days increased from 149 to over 1500 during the same period.  Fistfights in access parking lots were reported.  Vehicles were reportedly vandalized.  Illegal guides were stealing business from legitimate fly shops.  A chief complaint in 2002 was that the prized population of beefy westslope cutthroats was in decline.   Anglers blamed overcrowding and excessive angling pressure.   They pleaded “Do something!” to the Ministry of Environment.  What resulted was the 2004 “fee-to-fish” Angler Management Plan (AMP).  According to Provincial documents, the goal of an AMP is to “regulate angler use to levels which maintain the quality of the angling experience.  The AMP is not intended as a conservation tool, and as such does not have within its scope the prescription of conservation-based regulatory measures.”  The idea is to manage fishing pressure and overcrowding by making it more expensive for anglers to fish.   An expectation is that anglers who have a choice will “vote with their feet” to escape the fees and fish waters in Montana or Alberta.  Since the AMP was implemented, estimated non-resident angler days on the Elk River have decreased by 20%, to 6675 in 2005.  On the St. Mary's River, the reduction has been 43% - from a high of 1641 non-resident angler days in 2003 to 941 in 2005.  Something is keeping anglers off southeastern BC classified waters. Jeff Burrows is Senior Fisheries Biologist, Ministry of Environment, Kootenay Region located in Nelson.  “In 5-10 years the expectation is a capped number of legal guided and unguided angler days.  Also improvements in regulation compliance and perceptions of fishing quality,” he said.   “Conservation is a secondary goal” (increased numbers and size of westslope cutthroats and bull trout in the Elk River).  According to Burrows, in 2005, “we've estimated Classified Water license revenues at $245,000.  In 2006 and in future years angling guides will be paying an additional $62,000 per year.”  That money goes to the Ministry for fisheries management, the provincial fish hatchery system, and to the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund which benefits several fish and wildlife conservation projects. “In 2006 we used increased Trust funds to hire three River Guardians (a kind of "junior" Conservation Officer).  They conduct creel surveys and monitor compliance.  In future years we intend to hire additional River Guardians in the Region.  At the end of the 2006 season, we will be able to understand how we are performing towards angling quality objectives and make necessary changes over time,” said Burrows. Cost to Anglers For a non-resident alien angler an eight-day basic license costs $53.  A daily license to fish one of the Kootenay Region’s seven Classified Waters costs $21.  Anglers may purchase as many Classified Waters licenses as they wish though each license may not exceed 8 consecutive days. Conservation Officers issue warnings and tickets at their discretion - typically warning an angler on the first offense.  Beware!  The fines for non-compliance are steep: No classified waters license = $230 No regular license = $115 Barbed hook = $150 Closed season or location = $250 Guide for fish without guide license = $575 Impacts on Fly Shops “Some individual guides have been affected,” says Burrows, “because certain rivers are now off-limits to guides.  So guides who planned to specialize or grow their business in those rivers have been hurt.”  But the overall guide business has been less affected.  There’s a certainty of rod-days now for the guides.  Guides are able to trade rod-days.  Gordon Silverthorne is the owner of Kootenay Fly Shop and Tight Lines Lodge in Fernie.  He says the regulations have had "both positive and negative impacts on my business."  "First," he says, "the regulations have got rid of illegal outfitting.  That's been a positive.  (The regs) have knocked out the illegal guides."  The number of anglers has been reduced "for sure", he says.  "Also, the regulations have improved the quality of fishing.  Definitely.  Without a doubt".   He believes fewer anglers makes for a healthier trout habitat. "I've adjusted to the new regulations with a change in my business plan", he said.  He has teamed up with other Fernie-based guides.  He has also focused more on guide services.  He has reduced the number of half-day guided trips out of his fly shop. Asked if he’d like to see the Province dump the new regulations, Silverthorne said he would rather not go back to the crowded days of 2002 but would like to "keep the regulations in place.  But make some improvements". Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow Several years ago, anglers and biologists saw an impending over-use problem on many Classified Waters in British Columbia – the Elk River experience in 2002 being just one example.  Today's “pay-to-fish” Angler Management Plan in the Kootenay Region is the result of several years of study and debate and input from anglers, guides and regulators.   Have the numbers of anglers and guides been reduced since 2002?  In the Kootenay Region, the answer apparently is yes.  But “it's a bit early to draw quantitative conclusions (size and numbers)” regarding the fishery, says biologist Burrows.  Anglers will have to wait to see if the 2004 AMP results in both less crowed rivers and an improvement in an already awesome trout fishery. Click Here for Angler Management Program Map Lev Wood lives in Michigan and is the host of the on-line fly fishing journal, http://www.mydailyfishinglog.com/.     Hatches Magazine Subscription Price: $6.95 for each issue The Premiere issue is ready for shipping & the Fall 2008 issue will be available September 1st. Hatches Magazine Subscription Price: $6.95 for each issue The Premiere issue is ready for shipping & the Fall 2008 issue will be available September 1st.