B. Steinmetz
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Directorate of Fisheries, P.O. Box 20401, Bezuidenhoutseweg 73, 2500 EK The Hague, The Netherlands
ABSTRACT
Beside planning of sport fishing facilities described by other authors, planning of the management of fish stocks is necessary. In the Netherlands the responsibility for this management of the mainly coarse fish stocks in inland waters is, for a large part, in the hands of organizations of sport fishermen. In the paper the need for management planning is discussed in relation to the fishery policy of governmental agencies and form the point of view of the organization of sport fishermen. Finally, the results of a number of pilot studies, focused on the applicability of criteria like percentage of sport fishermen with catch of a certain fish species, catch per hour of this group, etc., by members of the organizations of sport fishermen for management purposes (planning and evaluation) are presented.
RÉSUMÉ
Outre la planification des installations de pêche sportive, thème traité par d'autres auteurs, celle de l'aménagement des stocks de poisson est également nécessaire. Aux Pays-Bas l'aménagement des stocks de poisson des eaux intérieures, constitués principalement d'espèces secondaires, incombe aux organisations de pêcheurs sportifs. Ce document étudie la nécessité de planifier l'aménagement en fonction de la politique halieutique des services gouvernementaux et dans l'optique des organisations de pêcheurs sportifs. L'auteur présente enfin les résultats de plusieurs études pilotes axées sur les possibilités d'application à des fins d'aménagement (planification et évaluation), de critères tels que le pourcentage de pêcheurs sportifs ayant capturé une certaine espèce de poisson ou les captures par heure de ce groupe par des membres des organisations de pêcheurs sportifs.
INTRODUCTION
Since 1970 one of the aims of the Dutch government policy with regard to sport fishing in inland waters is a division of the fishing rights in such a way that the responsibility for the management of all fish except eel and sometimes tench comes into the hands of the organizations of (amateur) sport fishermen.
The management of the eel (and tench) stock should be done by professional fishermen.
To coordinate the management of the total fish stock the formation of fishery management commissions with representatives of sport and professional fishermen to advise the responsible organizations is encouraged. In leasing agreements of state, provincial and municipal waters such commissions sometimes are obligatory.
At the moment there are about 25 regional federations of clubs of sport fishermen leasing waters of more than local importance and 900 to 1 000 clubs responsible for the management of the fish stock in smaller water bodies of local importance. The total surface of the 2 000 water bodies, which can be considered as fishery units, is roughly 100 000 ha.
The fish stock normally consists of coarse fish; the main species are eel, bream, roach, perch, pike and pike-perch. There is a growing need for attention to the development of the management of fish stocks because:
In the last 10 years of the number of licensed sport fishermen doubled to over 1 million. Moreover another 650 000 youth (under 15 years; no license needed for fishing with one “common” rod) have to be considered, as well as 300 000-400 000 illegal anglers. The growth in the numbers of licensed sport fishermen means an increasing fishing pressure especially for certain species like pike.
In a number of waters unbalanced fish populations have developed because of fishing conditions, but also because of changes in the ecosystem.
There is a growing awareness by responsible managers of organized sport fishermen that the management of fish stocks needs priority in their attention.
Planning is necessary as the starting point in the management of fish stocks. There are a number of reasons to stimulate this planning process:
Planning is normal and an on-going process in most parts of the Dutch society. Sport fishing should also be considered in the planning process because of the biological impacts (and recreational aspects) of the fishery.
In the Netherlands all agreements granting fishing rights, by lease or permit, need the approval of the Chamber for Inland Fisheries. The Chamber's main task as specified in the Fishery Law is to control the agreements so they are effective as related to the whole fishery of a specific water body. Management plans should contribute to the efficiency of the work of this Chamber.
Management plans help to identify fishery problems such as research priorities as well as the need for stocking material or regulation of the fishing effort.
Other planning aspects of sport fishing could be considered, but this is done by other contributors to this symposium. In this paper the attention will focus on management of fish stocks in Dutch circumstances.
Fig.1. Curves of summer visits (June-Oct.) are for five fishing waters, indicating what % of the total summer visits is brought on the nth crowded day of that season. Polder Achttienhoven: a common coarse fishery in a polder in the countryside. Emst: a trout put-and-take fishery—on a fish farm—of which there exist only 3 in the Netherlands. Broekhuizenvorst: a newly created pond which can be characterized as a water “in between” country and town (2,2 ha). Wellerlooi: a pond of the same character as Broekhuizenvorst (1 ha). Hoensbroek: a specific town pond (4 ha).
Fig. 2. Cumulative distance pattern for visitors at 4 of the 5 fishing waters indicated in Fig. 1. (National Angling Survey.)
Fig. 3. Cumulative times of arrival and departure for bank fishermen. 1—National Angling Survey. 2 and 3—Sport fishing ponds in town areas (2—Hoensbroek; 3—Philips H.S.V.). 4 and 5—Fishing waters in country areas (4—Polder Achttienhoven; 5—Lake I Jssel).
SOME DEVELOPMENTS IN FISHERY MANAGEMENT
In the past years management by sport fishermen of fish stocks mainly was restricted to stocking on a trial and error basis. The normal complaints were bad catches despite stocking large numbers of fish.
Fig. 4. Cumulative times of arrival and departure for boat fishermen. 1—Lake IJssel. 2—Biesbosch (local to regional importance).
The extension service of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries conducted, as far as possible, one day appraisals of the water conditions and fish stocks in various water bodies. This information was used to advise club managers and responsible organizations about what management program might be appropriate. The follow up, however, was weak. Only larger water bodies, often state owned, are subject to more intensive sampling of fish stocks over several years.
In the early seventies studies were started which focused more on the user-fishing side. Such data are relatively easy to gather and be understood by persons not biologically trained.
Data from counts and fishermen inquiries related to catch and behavior help characterize the following aspects of the resource utilization:
the number of visits by sport fishermen and accompaning persons;
the importance of the concerned water in the whole fishing pattern of the visiting group;
the fishing pressure (catches and consumption) and
the use pattern, time of arrival and departure, relative importance of the days of the week and months.
This information will give assistance for further management of the fish stock, for example, catches may be evaluated in relation to stocking, growth of fish species may be related to other biological conditions.
Fig. 5. Carp catches by weeks (X-axis) after opening of the season at the Philips ponds.
It is clear however that the smaller the number of visiting sport fishermen in relation to the surface and productivity of a water, the earlier the management of the fish stock has to be based on data concerning the fish stock and the water.
In the first studies in 1972 and 1974 counts were combined with rater large inquiries that were handed over in the field. Responses were promising: 65 to over 90% (Steinmetz 1978; Steinmetz and Bakker 1975). After the first experience was gained the applied inquiries were restricted mainly to questions related to catch and management of fish stocks. The aim was and still is to develop a short questionnaire that can be applied in most of the Dutch inland water situations, with a short standardized processing time. Results of these and some other studies are given in the next paragraphs.
COUNTS OF SPORTS FISHERMEN AND INQUIRIES
Counts
Even counts of sport fishermen are not without problems. Questions like “how many times per season?” and “at what time of the day?” should be answered. The first question is crucial. For a complete insight into the number of visits, a daily continuous registration of the coming and going of sport fishermen should be available. This is the case in a number of places, where these data are sampled for the Directorate of Fisheries.
The available data studied by van Alderwegen and presented in his paper to this symposium. From this paper Figs. 1 and 2 were taken. Fig. 1 gives curves of visits exceeded on the first to nth crowded day for the summer period (June-Oct.) for 5 fishing places, whereas Fig. 2 concerns the available information about distances travelled by the visiting sport fishermen.
Fig. 6. Roach catches by weeks (X-axis) after opening of the season at the Philips ponds and the Biesbosch.
These curves are steeper when the water is used by sport fishermen living “at distance.” This means that the flatter the course of the curve the smaller the chance that large errors are introduced in an estimate of the total summer visits, which is based on a restricted number of counts. In other words for a typical town "pond" in Hoensbroek (Muyres 1977) the percentage of the total visits in the summer period for the 20th to 75th crowded day lies between 0,7 and 1% (0,8 ± 0,15%). For the polder Achttienhoven situated in the country the data are about 0,45 and 1,2% of the total summer visits.
From this it should be clear that some kind of a characterization of a water with simple criteria should be of great help for a first quick and sufficiently reliable estimate of the number of visits. Especially in circumstances where no research has been done until now. For “town ponds” the problems will be easier to solve than for fishing waters in the countryside with steeper curves of exceedens. Especially in the latter case relations between weather conditions and visits should be studied.
As was indicated before information about travel distances seems to be the times of arrival and departure. In Fig. 3 these are given for bank fishermen visiting two town ponds and two waters in the countryside, which underlines the difference already described. Unfortunately this type of information for boat fishermen seems to be of less value (Fig. 4). It is clear that persons involved in the management of a certain water are of great importance for the future planning, both in the early stages and later on.
Fig. 7. Grass carp catches on the Achttienhoven by weeks after opening of the season. The lines A and B respectively C and D are rough maxima and minima with respect to time.
When a decision is taken to inventory fishermen, it is important that during the first counts information is gathered also about dwelling place and time of arrival and planned time of departure. Such information will indicate who uses the fishery resources and indicates to some degree the intensity of fishing pressure on the stock.
Inquiries
A questionnaire, which is used on a limited scale at the moment, is a simple form standardized for a quick processing with the aim of a general applicability by clubs and federations. The questions focus on:
dwelling place;
time of arrival and departure;
fishing frequency in the previous month on the water in study and totally;
catch per species differentiated to legal size and below legal size;
“satisfaction” of the fishing (very simple);
wishes for the management.
The questionnaire is handed over to the visiting sport fishermen sometimes with an addressed stamped return envelope or the possibility for returning the inquiry directly at the end of the day is also provided. Overall 60–90% of the questionnaires are returned.
Results of such an inquiry reveal the importance of a water body related to fishing and the total fishing pattern of the visiting group. From the point of view of the management of the fish stock the catch data from the questionnaires are of importance for estimating the total catch by species and partitioning this catch between removal and catch-release effort; and the development of criteria for the management of the fish stock.
An estimate of the total catch and mortality by species in relation to data concerning stocking of fish and natural production is of major importance to the responsible manager. These aspects however will not be considered here. Some attention will be paid to the development of simple criteria for estimating catches and the evaluation of the management. These are the percentage of sport fishermen with catch of a certain species; and the catch per hour of that species by successful fishermen. It is obvious that catch results are partly dependent on biological events such as natural productivity of the water, stocking, open connections with other waters; hook avoidance; and fishing pressure (sport and professional).
In the following paragraphs available information with regard to the criteria already mentioned will be discussed for carp, grass carp, rainbow trout and roach.
TWO CRITERIA FOR MANAGEMENT
Before discussing the available information with regard to the two criteria mentioned above some limitations in the presented material have to be indicated. In the beginning average catches per hour were calculated for all sport fishermen. Due to the work of Rupp (1961), later studies calculated average catch per hour based on catches of successful fishermen, that is to say, those people were used who caught the species considered. In the most recent study the average catch per hour was calculated for successful fishermen fishing for that species. Moreover average catch per hour has to be based on a certain number of participating fishermen. Twenty on a statistical basis is considered as a minimum.
Normally about 50% of the sport fishermen are with catch so 40 persons per day need to be approached to obtain an adequate sample. However, on weekdays especially, there frequently are not that many total fishermen on a body of water. In these situations average catch per hour by species was calculated over several days with the result that daily fluctuations in the catch are less clear.
Another problem with regard to the available material is that there is a need for indications about the maximum average catch per hour per species. That is to say the catch rate in extremely attractive fishing circumstances. Such information probably can be gathered in productive waters with a good growing fish stock, a relatively unimportant sport fishery and a rather intensive professional fishing. In such situations hook avoidance as a disturbing factor is of no importance. Also catches made during research of vulnerability of fishing of a species may be of value. Only three examples were available.
Carp and Roach
In Fig. 5 available information for successful carp fishermen visiting the two Philips ponds are given (unpublished data). Moreover average carp catches for carp fishermen participating in a hook-avoidance research, with carp not fished on before, are included (Beukema 1969, 1970); these averages however are based on all participating carp fishermen.
The Philips ponds are 4 and 8 ha with about 10 000 visits on each pond per season. Stocking over the years mostly has been 2–3 year old carp—250 to 500 kg per season per pond—and roach. Most of the fish are turned loose back into the ponds after catching. Pond 1 is considered as “the carp pond,” pond 2 recently is “destinated for roach.”
In Fig. 6 data for roach from both ponds as well as data from the Biesbosch, a large water (in the southwest of the Netherlands) with open connections with rivers and rather intensive professional fishing, are given. The following observations can be made:
Carp and roach provide stable average catch per hour for successful carp and roach fishermen whereas the percentage of successful fishermen of both groups diminishes or stays at the same level. In other words a declining group of carp or roach fishermen maintains a certain catch per hour, instead of a sharp decline in all catches;
As a criterium for management of a fish stock the percentage of successful fishermen fishing on a certain species seems to be of at least of the same importance as the average catch per hour of this group.
For management purposes, such as estimating the total catch per species, the two criteria are complementary. Moreover the now available data for carp and roach form a starting point for standards over the season. The average catch in the Biesbosch by successful roach fishermen support a standard of 1 to 2 roach per hour by this group. Higher catches are possible as was demonstrated by van Ginkel (1979) for the lake IJssel; up to about 7 per hour.
Over a period of years both criteria are of value for the evaluation of the management of a certain water.
Further studies are needed with a larger data base to validate these survey results.
The phenomenon of stable average catch per hour by a declining group of successful fishermen probably can be explained by a growing hook avoidance and/or a small part of the fish stock that stays catchable and/or a group of sport fishermen that introduces new or other techniques over the season.
Grass carp
In Fig. 7 information on grass carp catches in a part of the polder Achttienhoven is given. It concerned 3 ha of water, stocked in 1976 with 750 kg grass carp, which was enlarged in the spring of 1978 by another 1 ha. A supplementary stocking of totally 350 kg of about 2-year-old grass carp then was given. The data are united for periods of a week in connection with the needed number of inquiries for further calculation. The results indicate that:
The average catch per hour of successful grass carp fishermen did not differ much for 1978 and 1979. The deviating values for 1977 probably were caused by increasing interest and better fishing methods. In general the catches decline after the beginning of the new season, even in 1978 in spite of the supplemental stocking that spring.
The percentage successful sport fishermen follows the same pattern in 1978 and 1979 as the catches. Over the season the percentage declines from 70 to about 40, or in general 50% of the visiting sport fishermen will not catch a grass carp; a fact also known for other fish species.
The information presented is more in agreement with the expectations about catches. A guideline for average catch per hour by successful grass carp fishermen and the complementary percentage of success over the season is available for management of such a fish stock.
 |  |
| Fig. 8. Trout catches from Lake Veere. | |
Rainbow Trout
The 2 000-ha brackish-water Lake Veere begin to be stocked with rainbow trout and smaller quantities of brown trout in 1968. In 1979 a total of 4 000 kg of rainbow trout was stocked in the western part of this lake. At the same time counts and a questionnaire survey of sport fishermen were made (Steinmetz 1968; Steinmetz and van Ginkel 1978).
In Fig. 8 the catch per hour by successful trout fishermen as well as the percentage of the trout fishermen with success are given indicating extreme variation in both results. Still the data are useful for further trout management in this lake.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am much indebted to Mr. C. J. van Ginkel for his help in preparing the material and for the discussions about the problems regarding this subject. I also thank Mr. H. de Klein for drawing the graphs.
LITERATURE CITED
Beukema, J. J. 1969 Angling experiment with carp. 1. Differences between wild, domesticated and hybrid strains. Neth. J. Zool., 19(4): 596–609.
Beukema, J. J. 1970 Angling experiments with carp. 2. Decreasing catchability through one-trial learning. Neth. J. Zool., 20(1): 81–92.
Feith, A. F., AND B. Steinmetz. 1979 Waarnemingen ten behoeve van het visstandsbeheer in de Pettelaarse Plas en de Vaartgraaf. (Observations for the benefit of the fisheries management of the Pettelaarse Plas and the Vaartgraaf). Upperke 6.1, Den Bosch 1979.
Kerstens, A. P. C. 1982 Capacity-planning and sportfishery in the Netherlands. (This Symposium.)
Muyres, W. J. M. 1977 Het gebruik van voor de sportvisserij aangelegde viswateren in Limburg. (The use of waters in Limburg, especially made for sport fishing.) Documentation Report No. 20. Department of Sport Fisheries and Professional Inland Fisheries, 's-Gravenhage 1977.
Rupp, R. S. 1961 Measurement of potential fishing quality. Trans Am. Fish Soc., 90:165–169.
Steinmetz, B. 1976 De in de visseizoenen 1973/74 en 1974/75 per gemeente uitgereikte publie-krechtelijke visdocumenten. (The fishing licences issued per municipality in 1973/74 and 1974/75.) Documentation report No. 19. Department of Sport Fisheries and Professional Inland Fisheries, 's-Gravenhage 1976.
Steinmetz, B. 1978 Enkele resultaten van de foreluitzettingen in het Veerse Meer in 1976 en 1977. (Some results of the trout-stocking in Lake Veere in 1976 and 1977.) Visserij, 31(2):156–169.
Steinmetz, B. 1979 De in de visseizoenen 75/76, 76/77 en 77/78 per gemeente uitgereikte publie-krechtelijke visdocumenten. (The fishing licences issued per municipality in 1975/76, 76/77 and 77/78.) Documentation report No. 22. Department of Sport Fisheries and Professional Inland Fisheries, 's-Gravenhage 1979.
Steinmetz, B. and J. G. Bakker. 1976 De betekenis van de Biesbosch voor de sportvisserij. (The value of the Biesbosch for sport fishermen.) Documentation report No. 18. Department of Sport Fisheries and Professional Inland Fisheries, 's-Gravenhage 1976.
Steinmetz, B. and D. Slothouwer. 1979 De betekenis van de Grevelingen voor de sporvisserij. (The value of Lake Grevelingen for sport fishermen.) Documentation report No. 21. Department of Sport Fisheries and Professional Inland Fisheries, 's-Gravenhage 1979.
Steinmetz, B. and C. J. van Ginkel. 1978 Foreluitzettingen in het Veerse Meer najaar 1977. (Trout-stockings at Lake Veere autumm 1977.) Visserij, 31(3):219–226.
Steinmetz, B., a. o. 1978 Enige resultaten van de enquête onder sportvissers die in 1976 en 1977 het graskarper object in de polder Achttienhoven bezochten. (Some results of the survey among sport fishermen, who visited the grass carp project polder Achttienhoven in 1976 and 1977.) Visserij, 31(5):332–343.
van Alderwegen, H. A. 1982 Application of results of sport fishing attendance research in a regional supply demand analysis. (This Symposium.)
van Alderwegen, H.A. et al. 1978 Rekenschema ter bepaling van de huidige vraag naar visplaatsen in een regio. (Method to estimate the present demand for angling in an area.) “Recreatievoorzieningen” No. 2:60–63 1978 A.N.W.B. 's-Gravenhage 1978.
van Ginkel, C.J. 1979 Resultaten sportvisserstellingen en enqutês op het IJsselmeer (Results of count of and surveys among sport fishermen at Lake IJssel.) Visserij, 32(6):441–450.
van Haasteren, L.M. and A.T. de Groot. 1982 Summary of the provincial analyses of the demand for and the supply of facilities for sport fishing. (This Symposium.)
B. Steinmetz
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Directorate of Fisheries, P.O. Box 20401, Bezuidenhoutseweg 73, 2500 EK, The Hague, The Netherlands
D. Slothouwer
Institute for Land and Water Management Research, P.O. Box 35, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
ABSTRACT
The results of this study reveal the potential value of this lake for sport fishing when the difficulties in the management are overcome. The salt lake Grevelingen (11 000 ha) was finally created in September 1971 by damming the estuary of the same name. At the time of closure a strong year-class (1971) of flatfish was enclosed. In the years following 1971 a heavy fishing by sport fishermen developed—in 1973 and 1974 about 250 000 rod days/year. Especially in the winter period catches were high; for boat fishermen averages of 80 flatfish per day were normal in 1974. Thereafter the sport fishery gradually lost its importance as there was little new recruitment to the stock. In 1979 a second sluice gate including a fish sluice became available for water and fishery management, but at the moment the experience with these tools in the management is not yet available.
RÉSUMÉ
Cette étude révèle la potentialité de ce lac en ce qui concerne la pêche sportive une fois surmontées les difficultés de gestion. Le lac salé de Grevelingen (11 000 ha) a finalement été créé en septembre 1971 par la construction d'un barrage sur l'estuaire du même nom. Étant donné l'époque à laquelle il a été fermé, une importante classe d'âge (1971) de poissons plats y a été enfermée. Dans les années suivantes, le nombre de pêcheurs à la ligne s'est considérablement accru et, en 1973 et 1974, quelque 250 000 journées de pêche à la ligne/an ont été enregistrées. Les captures ont été particulièrement importantes en hiver; en 1974, il était “normal” qu'un pêcheur sur barque capture en moyenne 80 poissons plats par jour. Étant donné que la propagation des poissons plats était presque inexistante, de même que la migration à travers l'unique écluse du lac, la pêche sportive a peu à peu perdu de son importance. En 1979 une deuxième écluse, avec une passe à poissons, a été construite an vue de l'aménagement des eaux et des pêches, mais les résultats de cette expérience ne sont pas encore disponsibles.
INTRODUCTION
The 11 000-ha of the Grevelingen was closed by the Grevelingen dam (1963) and the Brouwers dam (Sept. 1971). Due to this fact large quantities of flatfish of the year class 1971 as well as smaller numbers of the year classes 1970 and 1969, and other species like whiting, grew up in this salt lake. In the years between 1972 and 1978 a heavy fishery by sport fishermen developed on the enclosed fish stocks. For policy purposes as well as to advise the organization of sport fishermen responsible for the management of the fish stock, the Directorate of Fisheries started counts and creel censuses of sport fishermen and also sampled the fish stock to follow the developments. The result of these activities, which are brought together with the aid of the Institute for Land and Water Management Research in a documentation report of the Directorate of Fisheries, are summarized in this paper.
THE CLOSURE AND THE FISH STOCK
Fish stocks in an open estuary are characteristically dependent on the sea. Flatfish, for example, normally propagate in the North Sea and their offspring return with the tides. Other species like the garfish propagate in the estuary and their fry return to the sea. Only a small number of species like the cobies, sand-melt, and eelpout are capable of staying their whole life in the estuary. With the closure this vital connection with the sea was broken. In the years thereafter no indications of reproduction by flatfish were found except perhaps for sole, brill and turbot.
In the beginning the salinity was about 16 500 mg Cl-/l but this decreased slowly to about 13 000 mg Cl-/l in 1977. Moreover, the water temperatures during winter in the Grevelingen decline to lower levels than in the adjacent open estuary of the Oosterschelde. This fact limits the survival possibilities for some species. Results from the sampling of the fish stock over the years indicate a decreasing stock of the main species of plaice, flounder and whiting. This is quite understandable when looking through the results of the counts and catch inquiries.
COUNTS OF SPORT-FISHERMEN
Due to limitations in the available personnel counts were done one time a month, in principle, mainly on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Boat fishing as well as fishing from the banks was considered. In the summer, counts of all participants in outdoor recreation on and along the lake were organised (Boekee 1977), so that in this period more information was available. Based on the first counts of sport fishermen (Steinmetz 1972) the counts could be restricted to the western part of the lake. The same holds true for the catch inquires. Moreover based on a general survey on sport fishing in this lake it was known that counts should be held between 11 and 2 pm because of the fact that in that period 60–70% of the total daily visiting sport fishermen on the banks are present (Fig. 1). The same holds true for boat fishermen, however with this restriction that instead of 60–70% about 90% are fishing at that time (Steinmetz et al. 1973). Also other results of research with regard to sport fishing out of boats and from banks show these differences (Steinmetz and Bakker 1976). Therefore the results of the counts of sport fishermen should be multiplied by the following factors to find the total daily visits: for fishermen on banks—1,5; in small boats—1,1; on charter boats—1,0.
The lack of data on weekends in winter made it necessary to discriminate between working days and weekends. The results of the adjusted counts on working days are presented in Fig. 2. This figure indicates the following:
The largest numbers of bank fishermen, visiting lake Grevelingen on working days, were found in summer and in January, February, March and some of April. For boat fishermen June, July and August were the most important. Later on the differences between summer and winter visits became less pronounced.
The participation from bank as well as boat fishermen decreased after 1974.
The peak in the visits during the winter period can be explained by the normal breeding migration of flatfish to the North Sea, which is stopped by the Brouwersdam. These fish concentrate in deep water in this area, where the boat fishermen have better opportunities than the bank fishermen. During the summer the fish disperse over the whole lake.
The increase in visits in summer is related to holidays and second homes in the direct neighborhood of the lake (van de Zwan 1976). The decrease in the number of visits over time is for a large part due to the decreasing catches as will be shown later on. Also during the weekends in summer (see Table 1) there has been over the years a decreasing interest from bank and boat fishermen for this lake. Unfortunately insufficient information was available about the catches in adjacent waters to develop models for possible relations between catch and distance.
Fig. 1. Time of arrival and departure of sport-fishermen visiting Lake Grevelingen.
Fig. 2. Average number of sport-fishermen on a working day per month over the years 1973–1977.
In Table 2 an estimate of the total visits in the period 1972 until 1978 is given. About 400 000 bank and 500 000 boat fishermen visited lake Grevelingen in this period. It is clear that such numbers of sport fishermen can be an important factor for the management of the fish stock. When sport catches are high the fish stocks can be depleted quickly.
Before paying attention to catches based on the inquiries one item of these inquiries will be considered especially in relation to the visits. It concerns the data with regard to the dwelling places of visitors.
Table 1. Average number of bank fishermen and boat fishermen on weekend days in the period 1972–1977 Lake Grevelingen.a
| Fishermen and year | Month | |||||
| May | June | July | Aug. | Sept. | ||
| Bank fishermen | ||||||
| 1972 | 667 | 606 | - | |||
| 1973 | 563 | 575 | 676 | 676 | 565 | |
| 1974 | - | 888 | 617 | 660 | 102 | |
| 1975 | 527 | - | 354 | 236 | - | |
| 1976 | - | 307 | 162 | 102 | - | |
| 1977 | - | 65 | 96 | - | - | |
| Boat fishermen | ||||||
| 1972 | - | - | 421 | 426 | - | |
| 1973 | 556 | 360 | 606 | 699 | 967 | |
| 1974 | - | 801 | 712 | 686 | 377 | |
| 1975 | 651 | - | 364 | 396 | - | |
| 1976 | - | 479 | 183 | 120 | - | |
| 1977 | - | 105 | - | 195 | - | |
a — = no information available.
Table 2. Total visits of bank and boat fishermen for the years 1972 through 1977.
| Year | Number of bank fishermen | Number of boat fishermen |
| 1972 | 105 000 | 56 000 |
| 1973 | 115 000 | 119 000 |
| 1974 | 116 000 | 122 000 |
| 1975 | 54 000 | 80 000 |
| 1976 | 26 000 | 52 000 |
| 1977 | 13 000 | 46 000 |
| Total | 429 000 | 475 000 |
INQUIRIES, PLACES OF ORIGIN, CATCHES, ETC.
Just as with the counts, the aim was to hold one inquiry based on a questionnaire survey per month, if possible on the same days of the counts. The inquiries were held between 11 and 2 pm. The main information asked for was (1) dwelling place; (2) hour of arrival; (3) catch per species till the moment of the inquiry. The total numbers of days that the inquiries along the banks and on the lake were held, were 1 in 1972 to 12 in 1976. As will be clear the available information is, due to the restricted frequency, only of indicative value.
Origin
As shown in the previous section, about 900, 000 sport fishermen visited the Grevelingen in the years 1972 until 1978. Where did they come from?
Normally distances of 10 to 15 km are travelled, as indicated by a national angling survey (Prinssen and Kropman 1975). The data reveal that in this case in general the fishermen travelled longer distances. Twenty-four percent of the bank fishermen and 5% of the boat fishermen came from Rotterdam and suburbs. Also the province of North Brabant was important with 23% of the bank and 42% of the boat fishermen; this means travel distance of 55 km or more.
Attention was paid to the question if there was a relation between the number of sport fishermen (per 100 inhabitants of a certain place) and the distance to Lake Grevelingen. Based on 10 distance zones and a regional supply of fishing possibilities in 4 areas, the dwelling places were regrouped in 27 regions of origin (Fig. 3). For each of these regions the population was assessed before the percentages of sport fishermen in the inquiry per region were fixed.
Within the limitations of restricted data, attention was paid to the supposed relation between the distance and the fraction of sport fishermen in the population in each region over the whole period; an approach per year was not possible. For each region the relation was checked with
V = b·Da;
| a and | b = | constant factors, which differ per region; |
| D = | distance of Lake Grevelingen to the gravity point of each zone of origin, in km (real travel distance); | |
| V = | number of visits over the period concerned per 100 inhabitants in the zone of origin. |
In Fig. 4 the only valid relationships found between numbers of bank fishermen and the distance in the 4 areas, are presented, with participation percentages. The position of the curves for the Zeeland and the islands of South Holland and the region North Brabant and Limburg demonstrates that there are big differences in the period 1973–1977 in the number of sport fishermen per 100 inhabitants for those areas. Probably the explanation is that the alternatives for fishing in Zeeland are numerous, whereas in North Brabant and Limburg they are very limited. Moreover these figures clearly illustrate that lake Grevelingen has been of more than regional importance in the years 1973–1977.
Catches
With the results of the inquiries the average total catch per hour and the catches per hour of plaice and flounder seperately were calculated for the years 1973 until 1978.
In Fig. 5 a survey of the total is given, which reveals the following:
The catch per hour of the boat fishermen is significantly higher than that of the bank fishermen.
The catch per of both groups diminished over the years 1974 to 1977, after an increase in the first years.
The largest catches were made in the winter and early spring period, whereas the catches in summer and early fall were small.
Plaice and flounder proved to be the main types of fish caught by sport fishermen (Table 4). Furthermore smaller numbers of dab, stocked rainbow trout, eel, eelpout, whiting and herring were observed in the catches. From Table 3 it is clear that:
The catch per hour of bank fishermen in the winter period (1974–1977) as well as in the summer period (1974–1976) diminished about 70%; for boat fishermen these percentages are about 60 and 70%.
The relative importance of the main species plaice in the catch changed, especially for the bank fishermen. Also the samplings of the fish stock reveals that tendency.
Relatively, the flounder catches in the period 1974–1977 became of more importance, however in absolute terms they stayed stable. Flounder became the main species for the bank fishermen over time; also, the importance of fish other than plaice and flounder increased, especially that of dab.
Fig. 3. Location of Lake Grevelingen and the four distinguished regions with distance zones.
Fig. 4. Average number of Grevelingen bank-fishermen per 100 inhabitants for four regions.
The total catch per species, in this case plaice and flounder, and the overall catch can be calculated now from the catch per hour, the average fishing time per day and the number of visits by bank and boat fishermen; factors already described.
In Table 4 the results of these calculations are presented for plaice and flounder. For dab, whiting and other species no estimates were made. The estimates for the catch of plaice and flounder demonstrate the heavy pressure on the fish stock. Moreover it will be clear that from the fishery management point of view it is a big problem to stock the lake with plaice and flounder to continue this fishery, in a situation with no natural propagation nor immigration. In the period between December 1975 and February 1978 about 160 000 plaice, 350 000 flounder and 1 million dab of legal size were transplanted from the adjacent open estuary to the Lake Grevelingen. For the long run this way of restocking is too difficult and much too uncertain.
Fig. 5. Average total catch per hour of sport-fishermen per month over the years 1973–1977.
Table 3. Average catch per hour by bank and boat fishermen 1974–1977.
| Period | Bank fishermen | Boat fishermen | ||||||
| Total catch per hour | of which (in %) | Total catch per hour | of which (in %) | |||||
| Plaice | Flounder | Rest | Plaice | Flounder | Rest | |||
| Wintera | ||||||||
| 1974 | 3,6 | 75 | 23 | 2 | 6,1 | 84 | 14 | 2 |
| 1975 | 1,9 | 38 | 62 | 0 | 4,6 | 80 | 14 | 6 |
| 1976 | 0,9 | 38 | 46 | 16 | 3,1 | 73 | 22 | 6 |
| 1977 | 1,0 | 35 | 40 | 25 | 2,2 | 65 | 21 | 14 |
| Summerb | ||||||||
| 1974 | 1,1 | 92 | 6 | 2 | 1,9 | 87 | 2 | 11 |
| 1975 | 0,5 | 74 | 22 | 4 | 0,8 | 94 | 3 | 3 |
| 1976 | 0,3 | 27 | 65 | 8 | 0,6 | 44 | 5 | 51 |
a November to April
b May to October. (In 1977 the data were insufficient.)
A comparison of the catches and the stocking indicates that the depletation of the stock of plaice and flounder was only stopped partly. The dab, which was not caught anymore, increased.
Table 4. Estimate of the catches of plaice and flounder (numbers) in Lake Grevelingen.
| Year | Plaice | Flounder |
| 1972 | 1 300 000 | 300 000 |
| 1973 | 1 700 000 | 300 000 |
| 1974 | 3 100 000 | 400 000 |
| 1975 | 800 000 | 300 000 |
| 1976 | 400 000 | 100 000 |
| 1977 | 200 000 | 100 000 |
| Total | 7 500 000 | 1 500 000 |
As was described earlier the interest in this lake fishery by sport fishermen further decreased. Due to the fact that a sluice in the Brouwersdam became operational at the end of 1978, through which migration of fish is possible, stocking was stopped.
Results of samplings of the fish stock in the coming years will indicate in what direction the management of the fish stock has to be focused in this unique but difficult to manage situation. Perhaps introduction of pink salmon would be feasible. The value of this study is that the potential importance of Lake Grevelingen for sport fishing is demonstrated.
LITERATURE CITED
Boekee J. 1977 Recreatie-onderzoek Grevelingenbekken 1976. Verslag Land en Oeverrecreatie op de Buitendijkse Gronden. RIJP-Lelystad.
Prinssen, J.C.C., and J. A. Kropman De Nederlandse sportvisser. 1975 (The Dutch angler. Survey on characteristics, behaviour and wishes of sports fishermen.) Institute for Applied Sociology, Nijmegen.
Steinmetz, B. 1973 Een oriënterend onderzoek naar de mogelijkheden voor de sportvisserij in het Grevelingen bekken. (An orientation to the sportfishing possibilities in the Grevelingen Lake.) Visserij, 26:461–514.
Steinmetz, B. 1973 Sportvisserstellingen op de Grevelingen 1972. (Counts of sportfishermen at Lake Grevelingen 1972.) Recreatievoorzieningen No. 5 A.N.W.B., 's-Gravenhage.
Steinmetz B., and J. G. Bakker De betekenis van de Biesbosch voor de sportvisserij. 1976 (The value of the Biesbosch for sport fishermen.) Documentation report No. 18. Department of Sportfisheries and Professional Inland Fisheries, 's-Gravenhage.
Steinmetz, B. and D. Slothouwer. 1979 De betekenis van de Grevelingen voor de sportvisserij. (The value of Lake Grevelingen for sport fishermen.) Documentation report No. 21. Department of Sportfisheries and Professional Inland Fisheries, 's-Gravenhage 1979.
van der Zwan, L.M. 1976 Sportvissers langs de Grevelingen (Sport fishermen along Lake Grevelingen coast.) Visserij, 29:34–44.
Lee Straight
Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Pacific Region, Vancouver, V6E 2P1 Canada
ABSTRACT
The harvest and allocation of the world's greatest stock of salmonids, those of the north Pacific, are persistently practised with methods based mainly on tradition, exaggerated socio-political concerns, and surprising reluctance even to experiment with more progressive and equitable sharing. Because suggestions about altering the status quo, anywhere to do with salmonid allocation, appear to political representatives to be hazardous, the attitude has seemed to be “hands off.” That is despite the fact that senior people in biology and stock management, when asked directly about such matters as offshore netting and the substitution of specialized weirs (traps), are compelled to admit that current and long-time methods are wasteful and haphazard. As one scientist described the present, closely regulated, offshore netting and trolling of salmon and trout, “it is controlled inefficiency.” The technology and sites are available to experiment with sophisticated trapping and sorting methods, permitting the allocation of precise numbers of fish to the various uses such as spawning escapement, commercial processing, freshwater angling and, where still deemed necessary, native welfare food supply. Ideally, the only fishing at sea would be trawling for the various bottom species and some longlining and, particularly, the popular and lucrative recreational angling by both tourist and resident. Western Canada is starting its fourth year of a long-term multimillion-dollar Salmonid Enhancement Program. The SEP already has produced several stocks of greatly enhanced runs of salmon, homing to their natal rivers, in such quantities that there now are sales of surplus stocks from the hatchery or spawning channel “racks.”. These appear excellent starting points for a system of weirs in, or at varying distances from, the mouths of the rivers.
RÉSUMÉ
L'exploitation et la répartition du plus grand stock mondial de salmonidés, celui du Pacifique nord, demeurent soumises à la tradition, à de délicats problèmes socio-politiques, et à une répugnance plutôt surprenante à mettre à l'épreuve des méthodes de captures plus modernes et un mode de partage équitable des coûts et des bénéfices. Toute proposition de modifier le status quo concernant la répartition des salmonidés paraît dangereuse, et les représentants politiques ont choisi jusqu'à présent de ne rien faire. Cela, bien que les experts en biologie, en économie et en aménagement des stocks, si on leur demande ce qu'ils pensent de la pose au large de filets pour le saumon, de la pêche à la traîne et de leur remplacement par des bordigues (pièces), soient contraints d'admettre que les méthodes habituelles et traditionnelles de capture sont aléatoires et provoquent le gaspillage. Selon un spécialiste, la pose de filets au large et la pêche du saumon et de la truite à la traîne, qui sont désormais étroitement réglementées, sont un example d'“inefficacité contrôlée”. On dispose de la technologie et des sites nécessaires à l'expérimentation et à l'amélioration d'un piégeage moderne et de méthodes de tri qui permettent la répartition d'un nombre précis de poissons entre les diverses utilisations, telles que le frai, le traitement industriel, la pêche à la ligne en eau douce et, lorsque cela semble encore nécessaire, l'alimentation des populations autochtones. Théoriquement, la pêche en mer devrait se limiter au chalutage ou à la palangre pour les espèces de fond (démersales), au chalutage pélagique, et surtout à la pêche à la ligne récréative accessible aux touristes et aux populations locales et qui rapporte beaucoup. Le Canada occidental en est presque à la quatrième année d'un programme à long terme de mise en valeur des salmonidés dont le budget atteint plusieurs millions de dollars. Ce programme a déjà permis d'intensifier les montaisons des saumons migrateurs qui retournent toujours dans les cours d'eau d'origine. On peut maintenant vendre des stocks excédentaires provenant des écloseries ou des chenaux de ponte. Ces méthodes semblent constituer d'excellents points de départ pour un système de barrages placés à des distance variables de l'embouchure des cours d'eau.
INTRODUCTION
This is a summary of a proposal presented at the International Symposium on Fishery Resources Allocation, Vichy, France, April 20–24, 1980, under sponsorship of the European Inland Fisheries Commission, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
As outlined in the symposium prospectus, the author of this paper presents his views as a fulltime outdoors writer for 35 years, rather than as a representative of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada. The author's attendance at the symposium, while encouraged as part of a contract to act as a sport fisherman-consultant to the Department of Fisheries, is for purposes of comparing sport fish management techniques and policies. The opinions in this paper, on the other hand, are strictly my own and I take full responsibility for errors in detail.
Since the author has no particular status as a scientist, economist or fishery manager, there has been no attempt at a detailed, in-depth description or history of all aspects of Pacific salmonid fishing. The objective of this paper is to seize the opportunity to improve the lot of the sport fisherman along the shores of the north-eastern Pacific and its tributaries by pressing for a much more practical and fairer harvest and allocation of the salmonid stocks; that is, to bring sport fishing much nearer its potential as the single most efficient and lucrative use of the salmonid resources.
I make no apology for the paper's comparative brevity and what may at first seem a lack of notes on sources and bibliography. The comments needed to reinforce the argument for a sweeping revision of the salmonid harvesting method are merely alluded to. To the industry and agencies involved, they are all too obvious.
The aim, simply and colloquially, is to at least start something, to get the ball rolling, to remind one and all about the world's most impractical use of a natural resource.
The harvest and allocation of the world's greatest stock of salmonids, those of the north Pacific, are persistently practiced with methods based mainly on tradition, on sensitive socio-political concerns, and on rather surprising reluctance even to experiment with a shift to more progressive capture methods and equitable sharing of costs and profits from the resource.
Because suggestions about altering the status quo in any respect to do with salmonid allocation appear hazardous to political representatives, the attitude has unswervingly been ‘hands off.’ That is despite the fact that senior people in biology, economics and stock management, when asked directly about such matters as offshore salmon netting and trolling and, instead, the substitution of specialized weirs (traps), are compelled to admit that current and long-time methods have been wasteful and haphazard. As one scientist described the present closely regulated, offshore netting and trolling of salmon and trout, “it is controlled inefficiency.”
The technology and sites are available to experiment with, and perfect, sophisticated trapping and sorting methods, permitting the allocation of precise numbers of fish to the various uses such as spawning escapement, commercial processing, freshwater angling and, where still deemed necessary, native welfare food supply.
Ideally, the only fishing at sea would be trawling or longlining for the various bottom (demersal) species, a little mid-depth trawling, and, particularly, the popular and lucrative recreational angling by both tourist and resident.
Western Canada is approaching its fourth year of a long-term multi-million-dollar Salmonid Enhancement Program (SEP). The SEP already has greatly increased several runs of salmon, always “homing” to their natal rivers. There now are sales of surplus stocks from the hatchery or spawning channel “racks.”
These establishments appear excellent starting points for systems of stock-sorting weirs in, or at varying proximity to, the mouths of the rivers.
THE FISHERIES
The subjects of this critical examination are the anadromous salmon and trout fisheries of the North Pacific Ocean but could just as appropriately include fishing for the salmonidae of the North Atlantic. The Pacific varieties under scrutiny are 5 species of Oncorhynchus along with the sea-run rainbow trout, all of which spawn in the rivers of Alaska, British Columbia and the northwestern U.S. These are O. tshawytscha, O. kisutch, O. gorbuscha, O. nerka and O. keta, colloquially known as salmon; and Salmo gairdneri colloquially known as steelhead trout, or just steelhead. All six varieties are harvested and marketed a number of ways. O. tshawytscha (“chinook salmon”) and O. kisutch (“coho salmon”) are the two main varieties of Pacific salmon sought by sport fishermen at sea or in rivers. The steelhead is the prime sporting quarry in rivers, where all characteristics of the steelhead and its fishery duplicate those of the Atlantic salmon, its close relative.
With the exception of a very few individual strays, all varieties of these Salmonidae migrate to the sea from their rivers of birth, mature to varying degrees in the sea, then return to their home rivers to spawn. The Oncorhynchus members, without exception, die after spawning. The steelhead, being a true salmon (or true trout), survives spawning and may spawn two or more times, after succeeding short, usually annual journeys to sea.
THE USERS
The landed value of the British Columbia, Canada, salmon fishery, including incidental steelhead trout, was about $139 000 000 Canadian in 1978; the wholesale value of the products, $267 000 000. The consumers of those resources are both Canadian and offshore people, eating the products as fresh, frozen or canned food. The salmon fishery represents about 57% of the total wholesale fish production of Canada.
That information is quoted from an in-house memorandum of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans' economics branch. The memorandum goes on to show that, based on a 1975 survey (the latest figures available) B.C. recreational sea-angling attracted about 250 000 resident participants. Up to 1979, there was no personal sport fishing license required, though one was planned by 1980. Quoting directly: “At an imputed value of $15 per day per person, sea angling (in 1975) was worth about $26 000 000. This benefit was provided ‘free’ to 250 000 Canadian saltwater anglers.” These figures no doubt have inflated 50% by 1980. The same memo states there were 17 500 commercial fishermen and 6 000 shoreworkers in the B.C. fishing industry, plus another 10 000 full-time Canadian jobs (half of them outside British Columbia) dependent upon the B.C. fishing industry.
Figures given for “total saltwater sport fishing-related employment in British Columbia” in 1975 are 2 000 full-time equivalent man-years, and 3 500 Canada-wide man-years merely related to sport fishing.
Summarizing the above, the commercial salmon fishery's wholesale value in 1978 was $267 000 000, about eight times the revenue (in 1975) from sport sea-fishing, of $34 000 000, including the value of the approximately 1 000 000 salmon the sportsmen caught and ate. The number of people concerned directly with commercial salmon fishing in 1978 was 33 500; the number of people concerned in any way with sport fishing in the sea in 1975 was 255 500 about 7,6 times as many. It is difficult to compare the contrasting total interest, and the value of same. It is extensive on the industrial side because it involves the livelihood of 33 500 people, while only 2 000 people were fully employed in catering to sport fishing; but there were well over 250 000 “customers” of sea-angling.
A minor but keen segment of the British Columbia sport fishery dependent upon anadromous Salmonidae is the 25 000 to 50 000 river anglers. The Provincial Fish and Wildlife Branch estimates 25 000 steelheaders, alone.1 The number of river anglers likely will swell an unprecedented extent when rivers again teem with steelhead and the two more sporting varieties of the Pacific salmon.
THE METHODS
In a few words, the general methods employed commercially to harvest Pacific salmon are inefficient. The attitude of most of the participants who cleave to the free-roving, competitive and haphazard method of sharing the catch can only be described as defiant. Every authority deplores the inefficiency but the industry shrugs it off. The efficient, less wasteful, fairer method promises to be the use of weirs (traps) at gauntlet waterways or along shorelines near or in the estuaries of the rivers which permit the sorting of the stocks. Present commercial salmon fishing methods include trolling of multiple lines with lures; seine-netting and gillnetting. Since most of the fish are taken well away from their natal streams, those salmon are generally in slightly better condition, particularly for consumption as the fresh product. Salmon deteriorate as to firmness and fat content as they approach spawning. But, with rare exceptions, all are still in market-bright condition until well after their entry into their home streams. It is a key consideration in harvesting salmon.
Lamenting the current inefficient method of salmon harvesting is not new. Several senior economists and biologists have advanced the criticism over the years, some in despair or illdisguised exasperation.
The first such critic encountered by this author is economist Dr. James Crutchfield of Seattle, Washington, who has been reminding us of the harvesting inefficiency at least since the early 1950's,2 when I first heard him speak on the subject to an annual convention of fish and wildlife clubs in British Columbia. While Dr. Crutchfield has not been aggressive in advancing his views, he is regularly quoted in that regard.
In a form of textbook on economics, recently used in classes in Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Dr. Parzival Copes states that, “In several instances the lowest cost of harvesting the annual catch would probably be achieved by replacing vessels (fishboats and ships) by a small number of strategically located traps. This measure would reduce manpower needs in the salmon fishery to a very low level.”3 Dr. Copes then quickly acknowledges, as almost everyone seems bound to, that “A rapid introduction of a trap fishery would raise the severe political problem of placating the industry and the social problem of reintegrating large numbers of displaced fishermen in alternative employment …”
This paper proposes not just a few traps but many; not a rapid, but a gradual, change; and no ordinary indiscriminate traps but a type that permits selective harvesting-releasing stocks needed upstream.
Dr. Derek V. Ellis, a research biologist and professor at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, edited in 1976–1977 a 320-page book, “Pacific Salmon Management for People,”4 in the Western Geographical Series, Vol. 13, in which the cardinal message is, to me, the now usual, passive exasperation over the persistently archaic systems of salmon harvesting.
A scattering of articles in periodicals regularly but just as passively remind us from time to time of this difficult commercial fishing institution. And the best single phrase they employ to describe it is “controlled inefficiency.”5 They allude blandly to the fact that, haphazard though the current fish-catching methods are, they still are regulated only by restrictions on time of fishing and the type of tackle permitted.
Generally speaking otherwise, the fishery is surprisingly well managed, by closely monitoring the catches, by test fisheries of schools of salmon migrating toward their home streams, then by seasons permitted to extend long enough to take just the desired catch and allow the needed escapement to the rivers for spawning and reproduction of the species. The recreational fishery has been very loosely regulated by daily kill limits, possession limits and minimum fish-size limits.
But generally speaking salmon fishing is, in the words of some economists, overcapitalized. Huge fleets of expensive ships carry expensive detection and navigational equipment, all to seek and capture salmon that eventually must return to their home rivers.
5 Fishing in B.C., Vancouver Sun, Feb. 4, 1978, page C6. van der Kamp, Jake.
THE CONFLICTS
There is considerable competition among the various angling shareholders within this common-property resource. The gill-netters press for restrictions on the seine-netters and both, on occasion, protest the volume of the catch by the trollers; and vice-versa. Commercial fishermen are viewed generally by sport fishermen's pressure groups as unfairly favored. The sport fisherman correctly points out that the commercial fishery takes 96% of the total volume of the salmon catch. Many sport fishermen, because their numbers are great and the bulk of them are clustered in the sheltered waters inside 560-km long Vancouver Island, propose that commercial trollers, whose main quarry are chinook and coho salmon, should be barred from those inside waters. There also is a sizeable catch of coho, chinook and steelhead taken by the net fleet incidental to their massive sockeye, pink and chum fishery. Since there is no way to avoid it, under the present system of harvesting, the sportsman has had to concede those precious fish to the commercial net fishery in its harvest of those millions of sockeye, pink and chum. So there is steady and nagging pressure for larger shares for each “client-group” of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which works so diligently to manage and, now, to enhance the salmon catch. The other underlying concerns to date continue to be social and/or political, hence this persisting loose efficiency in the salmon harvest.
INCIDENTAL PROS AND CONS
Some of the concern of the managers of Canada's Pacific salmon fishery has related to any possible effect of the resource, and its harvesting and processing segments, upon other resources, but those aspects have proved unimportant. On the other hand, the exploitation of other primary resources such as timber, agriculture, grazing, mining and all the other valley-bottom development, have been persistent competitiors for the water supply. Watershed alteration and pollution have been omnipresent threats, aggravated by the fact that 90% of mountainous British Columbia is above 1 000 m elevation and less than 10% is arable land. Virtually all development has been in the precious valley bottoms and on the lower slopes. British Columbia has plenty of water but very tight passages in which to circulate it. Everyone, and every resource, wishes to use those same passageways, even for roads and communities. Conflicts have almost inevitably resulted in losses of fish-producing habitat, and the greatest loser has been the river sport fishermen. The commercial salmon fishery was exploited to current maximums by the end of the 19th Century when sport fishermen still were few and had little leisure time. The angler could wander out to a river pool or a bay or point in the sea and encounter little competition for the salmon or trout that had had plenty of time to accumulate there. Such fishing made British Columbia internationally famous, a fame that, despite what our tourist folders say, is no longer quite justified, least of all by our depleted river-angling. Today we have a quarter-million salmon sea anglers, likely 50 000 of them in the “keen” category. Most of the anglers direct their attention to fishing at sea. Aside from steelhead trout anglers, only a few hundred, however, fish the rivers in the classical manner for chinook and coho salmon because the salmon stocks are so greatly reduced by the time they arrive at the rivers. The three main “commercial” species-sockeye, pink and chum, while prone to great fluctuations in number, generally throng densely on their spawning runs into the rivers. The chinook and coho, being less specialized and more trout-like in their biology and their peregrinations, occur in sparser quantities, schooling to a lesser degree, breaking their own biological rules more frequently. They are generally fewer, wilder and in a more precardious state. It is those latter two varieties that the angler wishes to see spared for his use-generally at sea and specifically in any river whose physical characteristics allow riverbank angling.
On line and in its third year in British Columbia is a multimillion-dollar program aimed at restoring the stocks of Salmonidae (“salmonids”) to their historic numbers. It is headed for certain success. Early results on such short coastal rivers as the Capilano, right in Vancouver City on the lower mainland, and on the Stamp, Qualicum and Quinsam rivers on Vancouver Island, are spectacular. They've enhanced the stocks of chinook and coho taken nearby at sea by the commercial fleets and by sport fishermen, and at the estuaries by sport and Indian food fishermen, and been sold as surplus stock from the hatchery racks to the salmon canning industries. A few figures obtained just last November from the Salmonid Enhancement management follow.
After providing still uncalculated thousands of coho salmon for the commercial troll and the sport fisheries, the Capilano still had a surplus sale revenue of $130 000; the Quinsam, $50 000, and the Robertson Creek project on the Stamp River system, $450 000, for a final “anticipated total” revenue from those three projects of $750 000.6 In addition, there was an Indian food fish supply from the Qualicum amounting to 20 000 adult cohos, 3 299 “jack” (precocious male) cohos; 452 adult chinooks, 1 019 jack chinooks and 300 chums; total 26 048 salmon, worth approximately $200 000 in food welfare for the various Indian tribes of Vancouver Island.6
Anglers had a fair enough share at sea from the hatchery- and channel-reared stocks but, so far, there has been a perplexing side-effect of enhancement of the commercial stocks—the sockeye, pinks and chums. The chinooks, cohos and trout tend to be blotted up by the nets. Until the chinooks, cohos and steelheads are proportionately enhanced, the remnants of these latter stocks are destined to be swallowed up in the sweeping, wholesale harvesting of the masses of sockeye, pinks and chums.
There is consideration in the Salmonid Enhancement Program for building stocks that don't overlap in their harvesting, and also to enhance the “lesser” varieties. Those lesser varieties cost far more to enhance, however, and it takes much longer to establish programs to do so. The result is that, again, the sport fisherman is slower to see his species of salmon and trout restored to historic numbers. He stands to see his favored stocks particularly depleted, as incidental to the commercial fishery. “Q.E.D.,” as the disciples of Euclid would conclude, there must be a better way to allocate or select the salmon stocks, to sort them out and free certain groups to continue up the rivers.
6 Unpublished in-house memos, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada, Pacific region.
THE SOLUTION
All Pacific salmon and steelhead trout almost inevitably return to the rivers of their birth-in rare instances wandering to nearby rivers. Most people, when accurately apprised of that, while being told about our salmon harvesting, are not long in wondering why our fishermen go chasing the salmon when the salmon obviously must come to the coastline and their home streams. Such people, including myself, have never ceased to marvel at our haphazard way of catching the salmon.
It wasn't always thus. At the turn of the centry, traps of various sorts were employed in the lower reaches of large rivers like the Columbia and Fraser, or on seashore routes. Some traps were permanent catch-alls or mazes, not unlike those still used for other varieties of fish off eastern North American shores or for Atlantic salmon in a few estuaries in Europe. Some traps were portable. One of our most popular and effective trap designs was the waterwheel, in which the river current rotated the giant wheel so that it scooped up the swarms of upstream-migrating salmon, carried them round and over the top of the wheel and dumped them, squirming and flapping, into chutes that delivered them straight into bins, boats or wagons. All those types of trap now are abandoned, closed down, ruled illegal. The last of them was closed in 1959, a seashore trap of piles and netting at the southern tip of Vancouver Island.
The old traps still are clearly recalled in the fishing industry. Less well known is just why they were universally banned on the west coast of Canada and the U.S. They apparently were banned for two reasons. They were deemed to be too efficient and were generally in the hands of large companies, considered unfair competition for the independent small boat owner, roaming at large. Because the roaming netsman or troller of lines was more independent, even when contracted to canneries, and because his system of fishing was more labor-intensive, leading eventually to labor organization and more public voting power, the boat-related salmon fishing industry prevailed over the fish-trappers. The winners had more convincing arguments than just enjoying their work, or even being more labor-intensive, though the last argument is used today. Their cinching argument was that traps are indiscriminate and insatiable. They mop up vast quantities of salmon and threaten the very existence of entire, discrete fish runs. The traps and water-wheels were not only non-selective; the volume of their catch is difficult to regulate.
Regulation has seemed easier with the troll and net fleets, whose very numbers now are limited with care and deliberation, as are their gear, methods, seasons and hours. The system we have today, with few exceptions, works, but those very exceptions are serious enough to condemn the at-large system of salmon harvesting with net and troll. The exceptions to good harvesting are as follows:
The present methods are not discriminatory among species. While the salmon are roaming at sea, they mingle between species and between ages. The seine-netter scooping up sockeye, pink or chum salmon in hundreds or thousands also scoops up the much scarcer chinook, coho and steelhead. A large seiner or a “wall” of gill nets can wipe out an entire chinook or coho run from a small stream. In a year of general plenty, the industry may be turned loose to take an expected heavy crop of one species while, among the swarms, there may be the production of one stream which is very low, for any of several reasons. Such a specific stock can be extinguished.
Last autumn, for example, the badly depleted run of steelhead trout to two major tributaries of the Fraser River, the Thompson and Chilcotin rivers, surprisingly supplied the busiest angling in many years. The reason was soon obvious. Because of weak runs of chinook and chum salmon, those stocks were not opened to netting in the Fraser estuary. Ordinarily these runs travel together with those specific runs of steel-head trout. Prospects for those two varieties of salmon continue poor in the Fraser for the next few years, much to the glee, ironically, of the keen and very specialized steelhead anglers of the Thompson and Chilcotin rivers, who now anticipate a “window” for their precious trout to slip through the commercial fishery.
This demonstrates the overall problem of the Indian food fisherman and the sport fisherman. The last-minute discoveries of the depletion of some runs hitherto have forced emergency river closures to permit the remnants to survive and try to rebuild the endangered runs. In such management by harvesting at sea there results a desperation, a groping for the preservation of the rivers for spawning, by restricting the Indian food fisheries and sport fisheries in rivers.
Even at sea there are growing conflicts. While the sport fisherman rarely has proved efficient enough, under current sport fishing laws, to overtax the resource, we currently have conflicts between sport boat and commercial troller. In congested areas, commercial fishing of any kind has had to be banned, just to leave room to sport fish. Since the industry takes 96% of the salmon tonnage, it so far has tolerated those few restrictions on territory.
We have the added problem of insufficient spawning escapement of “wild” non-hatchery, non-shielded stocks of salmon, those that biologists feel we must preserve to maintain vigor and durability in our cultured races and species of salmon.
Ever more frequent will be the problem of applying a vigorous commercial fishery to harvest boosted stocks of hatchery and spawning-channel-raised fish, while always wishing to spare a good proportion of the “natural” fish. This cannot be managed with net fisheries nearly so well as with traps and pens that permit sorting of stocks.
It is generally conceded that fixed, terminal salmon fisheries would be far more efficient; that they would permit sorting—the key word—and allocation to almost the last fish needed for spawning; that this would make it easier to maintain a river sport fishery; that we could allocate precisely between the salmon industry and the shares for Indians in need of the welfare (and of fish for ceremonial purposes). It is admitted that, from Alaska to Northern California, the current system of free-roving harvesting is deeply established in our industrial, commercial and social systems. As with all other change, there would be resistance to new methods, new allocation and what likely would be a reduction of the work force. The latter threat is not so great as it appears, however. Since the fishing fleet is large and expensive and some of the boats ill-suited to other uses, the fleet could be reduced by attrition, quotas set and licences allowed to, or made to, lapse one by one. Since the proposed terminal fisheries would be more or less permanent, the entire character of the fishery would eventually shift from that of fleets of boats to small shore establishments. To augment and further improve the efficiency of the resource, the processing of the salmon could be done at or near the terminal fishery plants. The produce from the smaller terminals can be transported to strategic centers. The entire aspect of the industry or resource would shift to something like lumber or agricultural centers. While it appears likely that fewer people would be needed to man the selective weirs than presently are needed to roam the sea with net and line to capture the salmon, that sorting aspect of the weirs suggests considerable extra help. The inclusion of the ensuing processing stages promises longer work seasons of combined catching and processing than presently is enjoyed by many commercial fishermen on the one hand and shore-workers on the other.
At the current values of salmon products, the surplus revenue—profits—loom much larger. Indeed, under the system of terminal fisheries, those surplus revenues should finance the expensive conservation and propagation programs now supported by the public purse. Citizens who now suffer the allocation of their tax monies to support a fishery resource that is of little interest to them would be relieved of their unfair share of the cost.
Finally, we arrive at my main interest in the resource, both as a recreational fishery consultant and as a lifelong angler, not to mention my concern for efficient management of any natural resource. The eradication of the salmon fleets would permit the sport fishery the first try for the salmon. The resource can easily bear that. The sport fishermen take appreciable numbers of only two species of salmon. They seek “battles” with fish which, with restricted tackle, they must “fool” or “lure,” and they value unhampered freedom of the sea. Removal of competition from the commercial fleet would also remove the picturesque sights of the keen, energetic commercial fishermen at work, but it's a welcome trade for the first crack at the swarms of salmon.
If, eventually, the unhampered sea sport fishery drew so large a following of residents and free-spending tourists that it threatened the fishery, a reassessment would be in order, to see which way is more valuable to harvest those coho and chinook salmon—as mere protein for the table at the weirs, or as tourist attractions and protein for the table.
The advantages of a weir fishery are all too obvious—so obvious that, as stated earlier, it is almost incredible that anyone could deny them, never mind fail to appreciate their potential. The change to them would be slow and, in certain situations, difficult, but they are just too practical to sidestep. They require “selling” to the populace.
A common and valid reservation about the terminal fishery plan is that many stocks of salmon are in reduced condition by the time they arrive at their home rivers. This deterioration is slight in stocks that nature has equipped to journey much further inland, after they reach their home rivers. But varieties like chum and pink and individuals of the other species which usually spawn very low, in short rivers, do arrive there in more nearly spent conditions, their hides darkening, their flesh paler and drier. With experimentation, these rapidly fading stocks could be intercepted some distance up the coastline from their home streams, while still prime. In any event, in exchange for the vastly stepped-up general efficiency, some reduced overall quality of the product seems acceptable.
There is a further aspect of a terminal weir fishery. It dovetails with the growing interest in what is now known as ocean ranching. It is called “ocean” rather than “sea” ranching because while the fish are hatched and reared at shoreline or in lower rivers, they are allowed to emigrate to the open ocean, to roam and feed and thrive, just as ranchers turn their beef cattle out on the open range. Indians and non-Indians alike are into ocean ranching. The Indian always was an ocean rancher. He wasn't required to practice salmon enhancement, his population being so sparse and his harvest so light, compared with present days, but the Indian maintains his ancestors were conservationists. He continues to maintain that most are conservationists despite a questionable image created by a few, along with non-Indians, being convicted of conspiring and trafficking in illegal salmon, a persistent thorn in the side of our fishery managers.
To maintain the present inefficient and intemperate salmon industry, to maintain it as the only common-property resource used as a sort of welfare system, is difficult to justify in these days of burgeoning populations and threatened food shortages. With restored, swollen runs of salmon homing to the new hatcheries, and spawning channels, and to repaired rivers, the opportunities for trying selective terminal fisheries are staring us right in the face. We already are compelled to sell the first few surplus stocks to high bidders. It is but a few steps from there to fully terminal, fully selective gathering and processing.
