B.C.’s recreational and sportfishing community is up in arms over a potential change to how the province allocates Pacific salmon stock, which proposes eliminating the principle that salmon are a public resource.
British Columbia’s salmon allocation policy (SAP) was created in 1999 to guide the allocation and priority of allowable Pacific salmon harvest among First Nations, as well as commercial and recreational harvest groups.
However, in 2018, the B.C. Supreme Court determined that SAP violated the constitutional rights of the five Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations concerning a limited, multi-species commercial fishery. This ruling highlighted that the existing policy prioritized recreational fishing over the First Nations’ right to sell chinook and coho salmon.
In response, the government began a process to reform SAP and accommodate these rights.
Since 2023, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has been conducting consultations across the province with First Nations and commercial and recreational fishing stakeholders on what these changes to the SAP would entail.
Among several proposed changes, the DFO has suggested removing the public’s priority access to chinook and coho, which are the most important salmon species for recreational fishing in B.C., according to the recreational fishing industry.
Under the proposed changes, recreational fisheries would lose priority to not only recognized First Nations fisheries but also to all commercial fisheries, notes the website FishingRights.ca, created by the BC Wildlife Federation and Sport Fishing Institute of BC to raise awareness about the potential changes to SAP.
“This proposal would apply regardless of stock abundance or the economic benefits generated by recreational fishing, resulting in fewer opportunities for B.C.’s families, tourists, and coastal residents to benefit from essential, reliable access to a common property resource,” states the website.
Owen Bird, executive director with the Sport Fishing Institute of BC, told the Mirror the issue isn’t with including court-defined rights and treaty-based commercial fisheries for the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations, but rather the unpredictability that will come with removing the sector’s priority access to chinook and coho.
The recreational fishery, which includes the individuals, communities, and businesses that rely on it, depends on certainty, stability and predictable access to chinook and coho salmon that the existing SAP provides, Bird said.
“You don’t want to be in a position where you say, ‘You can catch this many fish, in this particular area, and then close the fishery once that number is reached.’”
It would become difficult, for example, for tourists to plan a fishing trip because by the time the trip comes around, the fishery could be closed to recreational fishing, he said.
Bird noted that commercial fisheries, which, under the proposed changes, would be given priority access, export a substantial portion of their catch outside of British Columbia. In contrast, the recreational fishery contributes nearly $1.3 billion in economic activity to the province, supports 9,100 direct jobs and adds $624 million to B.C.’s GDP.
Surveys and research show that the opportunity to fish for chinook and coho drives roughly 75 per cent of all recreational fishing activity and is the driver of economic benefits and jobs that come from the sector.
“The recreational community is saying, ‘Look, the 1999 policy was working, go ahead and add the court-defined treaty-based First Nations commercial fisheries, and let’s carry on.’”
In Winter Harbour, a settlement about 41 kilometres from Vancouver Island’s most northwest tip, Greg Vance has owned and operated The Outpost at the local general store and marine fuel facility for 23 years.
“Make no mistake, our operation would be at serious risk in terms of outright viability if chinook and coho rules were changed,” Vance said. “We have already seen the effects of the virtual closure of the commercial troll fishery as well as the very punitive effects of rockfish closures and restrictive halibut retention limits.”
The economy in Winter Harbour is now almost completely dependent on recreational fishing, and salmon is at the core of all of that, he said.
Winter Harbour has only 35 full-time residents, but thousands of anglers from all over the world flock to the community annually for the fishing opportunities and the exceptional natural beauty.
“The proposed change would be a mistake of epic proportions and would have massive repercussions to not only for Winter Harbour but also for the entire North Island and southwest coast,” he said.
DFO is accepting public feedback until the extended deadline of Jan. 23, 2026, with the process concluding by March 31, 2026.