3. Manage wild steelhead as catch-and-release fisheries
Societal and economic benefits generally increase with the abundance of adult steelhead returns, which anglers detect through changes in personal catch success or by learning of the success of others. In theory, abundance should be near maximum levels in unfished populations which are close to what would be achieved in a catch-and-release fishery (assuming post-release mortality rates remain low). The demand response to a real or apparent increase in abundance is to attract lapsed and new anglers into the fishery. For existing anglers, the response to increased abundance should take the form of improved catch success, which may also result in an increase in total hours fished per day or more days fished per season and a general increase in the overall level of angler satisfaction. Catch and release improves the likelihood of encountering fish, and therefore increases the socio-economic benefits both in the current season and the season when the offspring of spawners return. As many returning adults pass through more than one sport fishery, they become proportionally more valuable when they are able to complete their life cycle. Catch and release can provide a low-risk alternative to closures where abundance levels are low.
In contrast to catch-and-release fisheries,
harvest fisheries result in abundance decreasing to levels below the unfished equilibrium, roughly in proportion to the severity of the harvest. Consequently, not only do harvest fisheries reduce the number of fish available for the angler in any given return year but
harvesting also reduces returns for subsequent years as well. Furthermore,
if stocks are recovering after periods of low returns, the harvesting of spawners can delay the return of the population to acceptable levels by several years (sometimes decades). These pressures are particularly apparent where interception fisheries already create a significant harvest that managers must address. The fact that many winter-run stocks have not increased in number after more than two decades of ‘no harvest’ in some cases clearly indicates that ocean and stock productivity is very low and in some cases below replacement. Northern summer stocks may not be subject to the same survival factors and winter runs, but persistent by-catch pressure undoubtedly absorbs some of the ‘surplus’ that might or might not exist prior to marine fisheries.
Under conditions where steelhead are highly vulnerable to capture (i.e. the majority of the stock is accessible to anglers) the reported catch can even exceed estimated returns. This observation underscores the ongoing intensity of data collection and enforcement required to sustain an annual harvest in an open access fishery for wild fish. The potential for excessive harvest and possible extirpation is elevated where stock assessment estimates are imprecise, stocks are unproductive (or only moderately so) or environmental conditions are uncertain. Many of the stocks currently considered relatively ‘healthy’ based on catch success and other indices are unproductive northern stocks (i.e. those where ‘surplus’ might be identified would be limited at best). The abrupt, large and persistent shifts we have seen in steelhead productivity in some populations recently only re-enforce the need for a precautionary approach in management policies to ensure we are not placing populations at higher levels of risk, or impacting their ability to provide societal benefits in the future.
Widespread freshwater
harvesting opportunities for other species exist throughout the province and include wild and hatchery trout species (including those stocked in >1000 lakes) and several species of salmon and stocked steelhead in a number of rivers that are available to anglers at the same time as wild steelhead. Since wild steelhead provide exceptional quality of angling experience, they are managed with the intention of maximizing the number of such freshwater opportunities. Having said this, hatchery programs for steelhead have been maintained for a limited number of water bodies to provide the opportunity to harvest a steelhead from a relatively abundant, hatchery-augmented population. These programs generally provide experiences that are different from those associated with wild populations and purposefully target a different demographic.
For all the reasons above, the Province will continue to administer catch-and-release fisheries for wild steelhead as described in the Steelhead Stream Classification Policy (Appendix V). Wild stocks considered to be in ‘routine management’ have been managed as catch and release for over a decade and will continued to be administered as such unless new information is available to support a change. Diversity of opportunity is considered within the broader context of all freshwater fishing opportunities in the province. This may preclude harvest opportunities for certain species and/or in certain geographic regions to ensure the long-term maintenance of the wild fish resource take precedence over the provision of other socio-economic benefits.
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Originally Posted by Eastbranch
