FYI from the Ministry  

NOTE:  The content on this page been provided by the Ministry of Environment which is the regulatory government body that manages BC's freshwater lakes and rivers. 

 The Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC provides an opportunity to share their information with you only.  Questions or concerns regarding these topics should be brought to the attention of the appropriate MoE fish and wildlife office.

Current Topics

• Proposed Simplified Regulation Changes in the Thompson Nicola (Region 3)

• Fisheries Management Tools in the Thompson Nicola (Region 3)

• Lake Access Issues on Vancouver Island ( Region 1)

• Fishery Status Updates

Fishing Regulation Simplification Proposal 

Your feedback is needed by the Ministry of Environment!  Region 3 (Kamloops area) is proposing to simply the regs by reducing approximately 37 different regs on nearly 180 waterbodies to only 4 regulations on 103 waters.  Exceptions to these changes are the result of wild fish conservation concerns and the creation of age restricted (kids) fisheries. 

These regulations are restricted to approximately 10% of the lakes within the regional, which contains approximately 1000 fish bearing lakes. Over 800 lakes in the region will remain managed under the General regulations classification.

Provincial trout/char quota has been proposed to be set at 5 fish per day (interior), a drop from the current 6 fish per day. The coastal regions (1 & 2) would be set at 4 trout/char per day due to less productive habitats. Kokanee would be provincially set at 5 fish per day and burbot at 2 fish per day, both of which are the current harvest rates for Region #3.

See attached display sheet for a listing of the proposed changes. R3_ProposedRegsSimpification2008.xls

Questions and feedback regarding this topic should be directed to the Ministry of Environment by email.

---

Fisheries Updates

	Document Name Description	Size
	KootenayLake_SportFishing_Update_March 2008.pdf	154.64 Kb
	R3_ProposedRegsSimpification2008.xls	55.5 Kb

Fisheries Management Tools

Rotenone - Last Resort for Invasive Species Control

As B.C. fisheries managers explore options for dealing with invasive species issues,  questions about the use of rotenone to manage fish communities have been raised. 

Q.  Has rotenone been adequately tested to assure our safety and protect the environment?  The answer is Yes. 

Other Rotenone Questions and Answers on general info, public health concerns, environmental effects, fish and wildlife issues and other information can be found here.

---

Lake Access Issues  

Region 1 - Vancouver Island

A number of lakes on southern Vancouver Island are located on land owned by private forest companies who have now adopted a NO PUBLIC ACCESS policy.  These lakes will NOT BE STOCKED in future. 

Timber West

• The following are located on TimberWest private land and are no longer accessible to the public and will NOT BE STOCKED in future;

Lake  Mainline  Anderson  Anderson  Barsby  Nanaimo Lakes  Boneyard  Boneyard  Boulder  Butler  Coronation  Haslam  Dixie  Nanaimo Lakes  Fourth Nanaimo  Nanaimo Lakes  Gooseneck  Coal Main  Heather  Nanaimo Lakes  Holland  Holland

Lake  Mainline  Holyoak  Holland  Jarvis  Boneyard  Little Echo  Elk River  Lomas  Cottonwood  MacDonald  Boneyard  Mirror  Elk River  Radu  Nanaimo Lakes  Rowbotham  Winchester  Shelton  Nanaimo Lakes  Tugwell  Butler

  Enquires should be directed to the land owners:

• TimberWest, Manager Public Affairs and Government Relations 250-729-3700

Island Timberlands (formerly Weyerhaeuser)

• Lakes located on Island Timberlands private land are accessible to the public. 

  • For temporary closure information due to active logging and fire control please contact Island Timberlands (formerly Weyerhaeuser), 250-755-3500