FACT SHEETS ON SPORT FISHING IN THE PRAIRIE PROVINCES OF CANADA

NOTES D'INFORMATION SUR LA PECHE SPORTIVE DANS LES PROVINCES DES PRAIRIES CANADIENNES

by

Environment Canada

Abstract

This paper summarizes current information and data on the status of sport fishery and commercial fishery in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The Fisheries Development Programme in Northern Saskatchewan is particularly mentioned. The goals of this programme are to:

1. rationally allocate the fishery resources in a manner responsive to the needs, skills and aspirations of the northern communities;

2. promote the realization of a reasonable return on time and investment to those who earn their income principally from fishery-related employment;

3. develop expanded employment opportunities in the fishery and related industries; and

4. monitor the effects of exploitation on the fishery resources and develop a framework for appropriate regulations on the basis of such monitoring.

The development of recreational fishery has a central place in this programme.

Résumé

Informations et données actuelles sur la situation de la pêche sportive et commerciale en Alberta, au Manitoba, et au Saskatchewan. Il est notamment fait état du développement halieutique du Saskatchewan septentrional. Les objectifs de ce programme sont les suivants:

1. répartir les ressources de la pêche de manière rationnelle, pour répondre aux besoins, compétences et aspirations des communautés du Nord;

2. permettre à ceux qui tirent leurs principales ressources d'un emploi dans le secteur des pêches de tirer un bénéfice en rapport avec les inputs de temps et financiers;

3. développer les possibilités d'emploi dans la pêche et les industries connexes; et

4. assurer la surveillance continue des effets de l'exploitation des ressources halieutiques et sur la base de ce contrôle, élaborer un cadre réglementaire approprié.

Ce programme occupe une place de choix au développenent de la pêche récréative.

1. ALBERTA

1.1 The Sport Fishery

An economic study carried out in 1968–69 and 1969–70 resulted in data which were extrapolated to provide estimates for 1973–74 and 1974–75 as follows:

^a Includes licence sales, expenses incurred by anglers and a consideration of what the anglers would have spent extra for the privilege of fishing

1.2 The Commercial Fishery

^a 75 percent whitefish, 25 percent pike, tullibee and walleye

2. MANITOBA

The total cost of fisheries programmes conducted by the Province of Manitoba is Can.$ 1 572 000 with a staffing plan of 122.5 staff man years. Activities conducted by Environment Canada, Fisheries and Marine Service which are directly related to Manitoba fisheries programmes account for a total expenditure of Can.$ 1 632 700 with a staffing plan of 51.9 staff man years.

Summary of funds expended and staff man years (SMY) allotted to major categories of the Fisheries Programme by the Province of Manitoba:

Summary of funds expended and staff man years allotted to components of activities of Environment Canada, Fisheries and Marine Service in Manitoba.

Value of boats, nets and miscellaneous gear used in commercial fishing operations in Manitoba waters, 1973–74 - Can.$ 4 871 900. Production in pounds and value in dollars of fish taken by commercial fishing in Manitoba waters - annual 1973–74.

Number of sport fishing licence sales and average amount spent per fisherman in 1974–75.

3. SASKATCHEWAN

3.1 General

Background

The water areas of the province are inequitably distributed in relation to the population. Most of the estimated 30 000 mi² of water is concentrated in the northern sector of Saskatchewan, while about 95 percent of the entire population (about one million) reside in the southernhalf of the province. This places a greater strain on fish resources in southern waters, decreasing as distance (and inaccessibility) increases to the north.

The Sport Fishery

^a ‘Resident’ means resident of Canada, 16 years of age or older. In 1972–73 about 91 percent of these were Saskatchewan residents

^b Almost entirely United States residents

^c Does not include Senior Citizen (age 65 and over) Lifetime Licence Program initiated in 1974

No estimate has been made of the sport fishery importance to the total provincial economy.

The Commercial Fishery

^a Does not include domestic fishing harvest nor a small brine shrimp and bait fish production

Aquaculture (Fish Farming)

Fish culture station

One fish hatchery only which in 1974–75 distributed the following:

The Provincial Departments concerned with fisheries administration in Saskatchewan operate on the following approximate annual budget:

Tourism and Renewable Resources - Can.$ 600 000
Northern Saskatchewan                       Can.$ 800 000

3.2 Fisheries Development Programme of Northern Saskatchewan

The Department of Northem Saskatchewan was established in 1972 in an attempt to introduce new and integrated approaches to the social and economic problems peculiar to the northern half of the province. The region administered by this new Department is sparsely populated with only about 25 000 residents, mostly of native ancestry. However the area is geographically immense, covering some 300 000 km².

In view of the relative economic importance of the fisheries to this area, the tremendous potential for further development embodied in the fisheries resource, and the easy compatibility of the fishery-based industries with the skills and life styles of northern people, a major new fisheries programming initiative was undertaken by the Department. This initiative, known as the Fisheries Development Programme, administers a current (1975–76) budget (exclusive of grants, loans and subsidies) of some Can.$ 800 000.

The Fisheries Development Programme accommodates three working principles:

1. To enable the Department to continually assess all fishery uses and all factors affecting those uses, to facilitate the planning of fisheries developmental initiatives.

2. To promote community participation in fishery resource allocation, and in local problem resolution.

3. To ensure protection of the fishery resources.

The goals of the Programme are to:

1. Rationally allocate the fishery resources in a manner responsive to the needs, skills and aspirations of northern communities.

2. Promote the realization of a reasonable return on time and investment to those who choose to derive their income principally from fishery-related employment.

3. Develop, to the maximum extent possible, expanded employment opportunities in the fishery and related industries.

4. Monitor the effects of exploitation on the fishery resources and develop a framework for appropriate regulation on the basis of such monitoring

An incidental goal is to employ, to the maximum extent possible, unemployed northern people in programme development and delivery.

As noted above, the geographical area with which the Fisheries Development Programme is concerned is large and the fisheries form an important economic component in it. Commercial fishermen in northern Saskatchewan land about 11 million pounds of fish annually, with a landed value of nearly Can.$ 2 million, from some 170 lakes. This accounts for over half of the income earned by northern fishermen. In addition, sport fishing is a major tourist attraction in the area. There are approximately 160 tourist lodges in operation; their gross revenue exceeds Can.$ 5 million. Not all anglers utilize tourist lodge facilities; many utilize the provincial parks, public campgrounds, etc. The volume of angling participation is already extensive, but the relative potential for growth of the sport fishery probably exceeds that of the commercial fishery.

The Fisheries Development Programme comprises several interrelated activities, namely, extension, allocation, income improvement, stock appraisal, data processing and operations management. The aims of the extension phase are to facilitate liaison among the various activity managers within the Programme, as well as to establish and maintain liaison with other departmental programmes, with the various levels of local government, and with the marketing agencies. In addition, this aspect provides avenues for representation by the commercial and sport fishing industries. Two Fisheries Development Committees (representing sport and commercial fishing interests respectively) have been established to provide a formal link between the Department and the fishery resource users in the global sense. These committees have been active in suggesting developmental initiatives and associated policy requirements, in discussing the technical aspects of developmental alternatives, and in providing endorsement for new fisheries programming initiatives. Committee members have developed a sufficient sense of achievement and responsibility that their continued participation in the shaping of the Programme is assured.

The fisheries resource allocation projects are intended to foster rational allocation processes in northern communities. Participation is voluntary. A major objective is to ensure that plans developed are in direct response to the actual needs and aspirations of local residents. In 1974, two northern communities participated in pilot allocation projects of this nature. There was considerable initial indifference within these communities to these projects because many believed there was little possibility of deliberations resulting in decisions reflecting local concerns. But through a series of carefully designed and executed meetings, plans were evolved to deal with these problems. These plans were deemed by the Department to represent realistic compromises of the divergent opinions held by the residents, and were accordingly accepted and implemented.

The aims of the income improvement part of the Programme are particularly to provide all commercial fishermen with opportunities to realize satisfactory returns on their efforts and investments while engaged in commercial fishing and to maximize opportunities for participation in viable commercial fishing enterprises. These objectives are met in part by instructing and assisting commercial fishermen in basic bookkeeping, and by training field workers in northern communities in cost accounting practices. Field workers in turn assist fishermen to interpret their financial records.

The aims of the stock appraisal phase of the Programme are to provide and assess information on the catches, along with the associated gear and effort, of the major fisheries (both sport and commercial) in the area. Data are obtained on the size, age, sex and maturity of the fish taken. A major challenge confronting the Programme is to obtain current assessments of the status of the resource as well as the effects of exploitation on the various individual stocks. There is also the challenge of predicting the potential yields of species in relation to changing conditions of environment, fishing pressure, markets, etc.

An important and novel feature of the fish stock appraisal activity is the establishment of a facility in a remote northern community for ageing fish. This aspect of the Programme is concerned with teaching the techniques of preparing and reading scales, fin rays, and otoliths to native northerners who may be physically handicapped, etc., i.e., persons who typically have difficulty obtaining employment. If successful, this venture will enable these persons to become independent entrepreneurs, and in so doing provide an important and much needed service of mutual benefit.

The fisheries data centre provides processing of information obtained from the marketing phase of the commercial fishery as well as data obtained through the stock appraisal activities. It is also integral to the building and analysis of files pertaining to fishermen's socio-economic profiles, comparative fishing mode costs and performances, etc.

Day-to-day management aspects of the Programme are the responsibility of the operations management phase. This deals with such matters as improving the quality of fishery products produced; and reducing wastage by encouraging fishermen to become more efficient in handling their gear and fish, and by constructing and improving fish-chilling and lakeside packing and holding facilities. In addition, this aspect of the Programme attempts to increase benefits derived by encouraging fishermen to utilize lakes where production potential is not being fully realized.

The Programme is in recognition of a need to move from the historic fisheries planning and decision-making process (which has tended to be piecemeal and reactive), to a process which is more comprehensive and objective. To this end the new Programme is more fully integrated than any in the past. At the core of the Programme is the allocation system with its emphasis on localized control, and with allocation taking place in conjunction with an “information system” involving a continual cataloguing and updating of factors affecting the fisheries along with a continual monitoring of the effects of exploitation on the resource. As appropriate time-series of quantitative data are developed with respect to the fish stocks and the economics of their exploitation, management should become more rational and objective, with fishery managers progressively better able to evaluate the risks involved in their decisions as well as the potential returns that may accrue.