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[Rodney]

There are some proposed changes to the steelhead fishing regulations on the Chilliwack/Vedder River system. One is to close all fishing upstream of Tamihi Bridge from April 1st to June 30th instead of May 1st to June 30th. The other is to change the daily quota of one hatchery steelhead back to the regional daily quota which is two per day. The same increase is being proposed for the Chehalis River.

https://apps.nrs.gov.bc.ca/ahte/content/chilliwackvedder-rivers

The proposed closure is supported by my colleagues and me. This is welcoming as snorkel survey in the last couple of years has shown that most wild spawning steelhead are in fact staging between the upper no fishing boundary and Tamihi, while very few fish are utilizing the river upstream from the boundary surprisingly. This closure would avoid repeat captures of wild steelhead during their spawning stage, giving the population a better recruitment success which may mean more fish in the future.

Changing the daily quota of one fish to two fish would in my opinion reduce the overall angling quality. This is the most heavily used watershed by recreational fishermen in the province. We are already doing a very good job on harvesting hatchery steelhead and eliminating interbreeding between hatchery and wild adult steelhead. I also like the current arrangement where anglers need to stop fishing after retaining one hatchery steelhead, giving others a chance to have a go. By increasing the daily quota to two, we may see anglers choosing to retain one fish then catch and release for the rest of the day. Not only does this translate to more anglers on the river, it also puts more pressure on wild fish as repeat captures would become more frequent.

I would love to hear your opinions and reasonings behind them in case I am not seeing the full picture, so please feel free to leave them in the comments.

Each year, the province has a list of proposed regulation changes and public can provide feedbacks on them. You can see the current list at:

https://apps.nrs.gov.bc.ca/ahte/angling

[Dave]

This is great to see!  The closure above Tamihi is something we have been pushing for years and will certainly help future generations of steelhead, and consequently, a continued source of fish for hatchery stock. A big shout out to Regional Biologist Mike Willcox for bringing our concern forward.

Although I no longer fish, I share Rodney's opinion that 1 fish is enough, if you choose to kill a hatchery fish, you are done for the day.

So, these are proposals now, it is important you contact the link supplied to express your opinions or comments.

[psd1179]

When the daily quote raised to 2, I would like to see how to enforce the annual quote of 10 steelhead. I heard many local guys catch more than 100 fish in a season. It won't take many days for them to scoop everything

[RalphH]

The Tamihi bridge closure has been suggested for some time and is a great idea. I think the entire region should be standardized to a daily quote of 1 hatchery steelhead per person. I've never understood why the very few other streams a small hatchery component have remained at 2. They should have been reduced to 1 long ago. For my money the fly only opening could be until May 15th as the river is usually high and coloured by the last half of May. Not many anglers fish it after April 30th in any event.

I'll pass those suggestions on via the feedback link.

[Shinny]

The last thing Chehalis needs is more fish being taken. It should stay at 1 steelhead for that system. That hatchery is no where near producing the same amount as Chilliwack river hatchery from what I can tell.

[wildmanyeah]

The last thing Chehalis needs is more fish being taken. It should stay at 1 steelhead for that system. That hatchery is no where near producing the same amount as Chilliwack river hatchery from what I can tell.

The province is dead set against hatchery fish spawning with wild fish. Hatchery fish are abominations to them that need to be killed.

[JustPuttsin]

I say keep the limit at one steelhead per day. As for the closure I don't think it would matter a lot one way or the other.

[Dave]

As for the closure I don't think it would matter a lot one way or the other.

I don't agree.
About 50 years ago when I first started looking, steelhead staged (or held) in a place called the box canyon above the closed to fishing boundary, often hundreds at a time.   Now, virtually no fish hold in this pool and for whatever reason are holding further downstream including the area above Tamihi Creek. This is documented through snorkel surveys and visual observations.  Staging fish are subject to continuous fishing pressure and are likely hooked many times. Spawning success is compromised when fish are stressed and that is important if we want a steady supply of unclipped steelhead for hatchery broodstock.

[avid angler]

I would love to see the ministry put a bunch of spaghetti tags in fish above the boundary prior to the float count similar to what they do on the coquihalla. I think this woukd help get a better idea of the effectiveness of the float counts and to see what percentage of fish are actually being observed.

[RalphH]

The province is dead set against hatchery fish spawning with wild fish. Hatchery fish are abominations to them that need to be killed.

That's what they are for.  The V/C at least isn't such a beggar for spawning adults it needs hatchery fish to survive and spawn.

they could increase the annual limit to 15 or 20 top help crop them off. Keeping a one hatchery adult per day limit may avoid additional crowding on a stream already overcrowded.

[Paulo]

How or where do you go to comment directly to the ministry?
 I am in agreement with most. The Tamahi and above closure sounds good but going back to a 2 /day is going to be brutal for fish, mostly wilds, and fisherman.
Thanks in advance.

[Rodney]

https://apps.nrs.gov.bc.ca/ahte/content/contact-us

Make sure you include the regulation number in your email.

[Roderick]

The April 1 closure above Tamahi should have been implemented years ago.

I would say keep the daily limit at 1, but don't force people off the river after retaining a fish. 

My $0.25

[mikeyman]

I support these changes. Let the wilds spawn untouched above tamahi. They don't want hatchery fish spawning so many anglers release Hatchery fish to continue fishing. Set the rules so this issue is eliminated. If going back to 2 a day pump up hatchery production a bit. Why not.

[RalphH]

the information that the large majority of fish are spawning below the hatchery means that it is more likely wild and hatchery fish will spawn together and that is best avoided.  There is growing evidence that hatchery fish degrades the genetics of wild fish making them less adaptive and that hatchery fish have significantly lower survival rates than wild fish.

I don't know if it increasing the daily bag limit matters much as I hear that rivers gets pounded so much very few hatchery fish make it into the section above Tamihi. The long term enhancement objective has been to produce about as many returning hatchery fish as wild fish so increasing the that doesn't make a lot of sense. I also wonder if there is capacity at the hatchery to increase the number significantly.