By Othmar Vohringer
As the spring hunting season nears its end my attention is turned to a summer of fishing fun. The preparations for the fishing season go much further than just putting new line on the reels, checking all the lures, rods and doing maintenance work on the reels. Getting ready for the fishing season also means that I pay special attention to the boat and trailer, which have been parked all winter behind the house under a tarp.
A few years ago I saw a horrific accident on the highway involving a utility trailer that had become disconnected from the towing vehicle and had turned into an uncontrolled projectile shooting at considerable speed across a two-lane highway. In it’s course the trailer hit a car that in turn veered off and hit another car. Two people died in that accident and one person was seriously injured.
The main problem with pulling a trailer is user complacency. There is much more to ensure that your boat trailer is safe than just checking if it hooks up properly to the towing vehicle. When was the last time you checked the tires? Electrical connections? The straps that tie the boat to the trailer? The trailer brakes and other essentials that should be checked every time you hook the boat trailer up?
Of course the same attention to detail needs to be paid to the boat. Check the boat for leaks and loose rivets, bolt and screws. If your boat is furnished with pedestal seats check the mounting plates and the seats themselves to make sure it is all in safe working condition. The engine is the heart of the boat. If you didn't change the oil at the end of last season, do so now. After running your boat all summer, it's likely that water, acids and other by-products have built up. It's important to change the oil to prevent corrosion and excessive wear, which can lead to loss of power, poor fuel economy or engine failure. At the same time you change the oil, be sure to change the oil filter too. Finally, replace the batteries if necessary and have them fully charged and then perform a test run on the engine and trolling motor before taking the boat on the water.
Once you have the boat on the lake and the motor quits on you or wont start it is usually to late to wonder why. I still remember a particular fishing trip with a friend. We had been about a half hour on the lake when I noticed a puddle of water around my feet. “Where the heck is this water coming from?” I wondered aloud. We soon found the culprit. It was a small leak at the boat floor. The hole used to be home to a rivet that must have popped sometime during the winter storage. Had my friend have taken the necessary care and diligence to check the boat from bow to stern we would have been fishing instead of cussing and hurrying back to shore.
Do yourself and other road users a favour and check your trailer and boat before you head out to your favourite fishing spot. With due diligence and proper maintenance of boat and trailer you can save yourself and others a lot of problems, even lives. I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable fishing season.
Showing posts with label Editorials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Editorials. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Recreational Fishing In BC Is Big Business For The Government
© By Othmar Vohringer
According to a report released by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC recreational fishing in British Columbia is big business with huge financial profits for the government. The report states that anglers contribute the staggering sum of half a billion dollars. Yes you read that right $500 Million. While the overall economy has declined and just now starts to pick slowly up again the fishing economy never slowed down. It fact it is growing and growing.
The study, which was conducted by noted fisheries economist Gordon Gislason, measured freshwater fishing across a variety of social and economic indicators and produced some impressive conclusions about this often overlooked sector.
Here is a basic breakdown of the financial contributions anglers make annually to our economy.
From that the provincial government gets 58.2 million dollars and the federal government gets 95.5 million. The tidal fishery provides 9,975 jobs on a provincial and federal level. This in turn generates 285 million dollars in revenue. Are you impressed now? You should be and next time you head out to your favorite fishing location hold your head a little bit higher in the knowledge that you are a major contributor to our economy.
This blog post has been brought to you by Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Tags: BC Sport Fishing Economy, British Columbia, Fishing Economy Report
According to a report released by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC recreational fishing in British Columbia is big business with huge financial profits for the government. The report states that anglers contribute the staggering sum of half a billion dollars. Yes you read that right $500 Million. While the overall economy has declined and just now starts to pick slowly up again the fishing economy never slowed down. It fact it is growing and growing.
The study, which was conducted by noted fisheries economist Gordon Gislason, measured freshwater fishing across a variety of social and economic indicators and produced some impressive conclusions about this often overlooked sector.
Here is a basic breakdown of the financial contributions anglers make annually to our economy.
- 270,000 freshwater anglers spend $480 million annually on equipment, travel, accommodation and hospitality services.
- The 1,000 businesses that outfit freshwater anglers contribute $210 million in GDP, employ 3,900 full-time workers, pay $120 million in wages and benefits.
- Anglers contribute $125 million in provincial and federal taxes.
- BC anglers generate13 million dollars in fishing license revenue that in turn is reinvested in the fishing resource each year.
- Every $1 spent on stocking freshwater lakes and streams by the FFSBC produces $21 in spending by anglers.
From that the provincial government gets 58.2 million dollars and the federal government gets 95.5 million. The tidal fishery provides 9,975 jobs on a provincial and federal level. This in turn generates 285 million dollars in revenue. Are you impressed now? You should be and next time you head out to your favorite fishing location hold your head a little bit higher in the knowledge that you are a major contributor to our economy.
This blog post has been brought to you by Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Tags: BC Sport Fishing Economy, British Columbia, Fishing Economy Report
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Keep or Release: that is the Question
© By Othmar Vohringer
I have been following a discussion on one of the popular web based fishing forums about retaining fish or releasing them again. What I thought at first was to be a meaningful discussion quickly turned into a heated shouting match.
It all started innocently enough with a novice fisher asking the forum members how many fish he could keep and take home. He obviously didn’t look it up in the fishing regulations were he could have found the retaining quota of each fish species. The first reply to that question should have been, “Look it up in the fishing regulations.” Instead, the first reply was a lengthy rant about the ethics of fishing, that true sport fishers release all fish, that only slob fishers who do not care about the fisheries, environment, and fish conservation would take fish home. “We have a moral obligation in this age and times to release every single fish we catch. Before you come here and ask unethical questions may I suggest that you get an education about ethical fishing.” I found this to be rather strong language directed toward a novice asking a simple question.
From there on it went downhill with the discussion: sport fishers throwing punches back and forth at each other. Rather than getting involved in a discussion that, given the heated emotions, was destined to lead nowhere I decided to make it a topic here at the BC Fishing Blog.
Looking through the forum threads to view all the opinions for and against retaining fish I realized, with some feeling of shock, that the most outspoken (not to mention verbally insulting) opposition to keeping fish came from fly fishers. I have nothing against fly fishers. In fact I admire the skill and patience they put forward to become proficient with their choice of tackle. What I wonder though is what makes some fly fishers think that they are more ethical fishers than others? What makes them think that they have the right to use language that borders uncomfortably close to verbal assault against anyone that decides to retain fish they’ve caught?
I won’t repeat all the cussing, slander, and defamations that have been uttered on that forum. However, what I am going to say is this: In a time were sport fishing is attacked by animal rights and through lobbing of laws, such as currently proposed in Ottawa, that would make fishing a criminal act of cruelty to animals would it not be wiser to be a little bit more open-minded and respectful of other anglers that do not share the same opinion on the topic? As it stands what happens is that we deliver the ammunition the animal rights groups are looking for to further their agenda.
If the keeping of fish is unethical, as the majority of the catch and release advocates suggested we must then also assume that the fishery agency is unethical to. After all, it is that very agency that establishes catch and retain quotas of the various fish species and localities within the province using data obtained from biologists. Retention quotas are established to make sure the fishery does not get over fished nor a given species becomes endangered. It’s called establishing a sustainable balance of fish species that a given habitat can carry.
While I respect catch and release fishing, I will be darned if I let every fish go on its merry way. I have no hesitation in keeping as many fish as my family and I are inclined to eat. Having said that I have never yet limited out on any given quota. I also release more fish than I keep. Releasing a fish is not a question of ethics for me. Ethics has nothing to do with catch and release and releasing every single fish does not make a fisher more ethical than the one who keeps what he can eat.
Some fishers, and I know a few of them, like to fish for the sport of it but if asked they will tell you that they do not like to eat fish. On the other hand there are folks that fish because they like to eat fish. Still others fish in the hope to win the jackpot on a fishing tournament. And then there are the ones that simply fish to have fun and relax.
Whatever the reason for fishing is, the fishing community can accommodate them all. Fishing is, as many other things in life, an individual’s choice and we should respect that. Looking down our noses at the ones that do not share our opinion does absolutely nothing positive for fishing. I will tell you what it does though. Newcomers to the sport, especially the young, will be put right off even considering fishing as a recreational activity. Honestly, who wants to be around some stuffy guys that think they have written the book on morals and ethics. Squabbling about an issue that really isn’t one also creates division in the fishing community and that, my friends, is exactly what the anti fishers are hoping for. Divide and conquer is a tactic that has been used by legendary generals as far back as Julius Cesar and it still works today.
If you want to keep fish and take them home you’re certainly entitled to do so. You earned that fish by paying for your licence and spending time and money to buy tackle and learn how to fish. To find out how many fish you can keep on a given body of water and area consult the BC Fishing Regulations.
If you only fish for the fun of it and to pit your skills against the fish, then have fun and enjoy what makes you happy.
Tight lines…and don’t forget to have fun!
BC Fishing, Catch and Release Fishing, Fishing Ethics, BC Fishing Regulations
I have been following a discussion on one of the popular web based fishing forums about retaining fish or releasing them again. What I thought at first was to be a meaningful discussion quickly turned into a heated shouting match.
It all started innocently enough with a novice fisher asking the forum members how many fish he could keep and take home. He obviously didn’t look it up in the fishing regulations were he could have found the retaining quota of each fish species. The first reply to that question should have been, “Look it up in the fishing regulations.” Instead, the first reply was a lengthy rant about the ethics of fishing, that true sport fishers release all fish, that only slob fishers who do not care about the fisheries, environment, and fish conservation would take fish home. “We have a moral obligation in this age and times to release every single fish we catch. Before you come here and ask unethical questions may I suggest that you get an education about ethical fishing.” I found this to be rather strong language directed toward a novice asking a simple question.
From there on it went downhill with the discussion: sport fishers throwing punches back and forth at each other. Rather than getting involved in a discussion that, given the heated emotions, was destined to lead nowhere I decided to make it a topic here at the BC Fishing Blog.
Looking through the forum threads to view all the opinions for and against retaining fish I realized, with some feeling of shock, that the most outspoken (not to mention verbally insulting) opposition to keeping fish came from fly fishers. I have nothing against fly fishers. In fact I admire the skill and patience they put forward to become proficient with their choice of tackle. What I wonder though is what makes some fly fishers think that they are more ethical fishers than others? What makes them think that they have the right to use language that borders uncomfortably close to verbal assault against anyone that decides to retain fish they’ve caught?
I won’t repeat all the cussing, slander, and defamations that have been uttered on that forum. However, what I am going to say is this: In a time were sport fishing is attacked by animal rights and through lobbing of laws, such as currently proposed in Ottawa, that would make fishing a criminal act of cruelty to animals would it not be wiser to be a little bit more open-minded and respectful of other anglers that do not share the same opinion on the topic? As it stands what happens is that we deliver the ammunition the animal rights groups are looking for to further their agenda.
If the keeping of fish is unethical, as the majority of the catch and release advocates suggested we must then also assume that the fishery agency is unethical to. After all, it is that very agency that establishes catch and retain quotas of the various fish species and localities within the province using data obtained from biologists. Retention quotas are established to make sure the fishery does not get over fished nor a given species becomes endangered. It’s called establishing a sustainable balance of fish species that a given habitat can carry.
While I respect catch and release fishing, I will be darned if I let every fish go on its merry way. I have no hesitation in keeping as many fish as my family and I are inclined to eat. Having said that I have never yet limited out on any given quota. I also release more fish than I keep. Releasing a fish is not a question of ethics for me. Ethics has nothing to do with catch and release and releasing every single fish does not make a fisher more ethical than the one who keeps what he can eat.
Some fishers, and I know a few of them, like to fish for the sport of it but if asked they will tell you that they do not like to eat fish. On the other hand there are folks that fish because they like to eat fish. Still others fish in the hope to win the jackpot on a fishing tournament. And then there are the ones that simply fish to have fun and relax.
Whatever the reason for fishing is, the fishing community can accommodate them all. Fishing is, as many other things in life, an individual’s choice and we should respect that. Looking down our noses at the ones that do not share our opinion does absolutely nothing positive for fishing. I will tell you what it does though. Newcomers to the sport, especially the young, will be put right off even considering fishing as a recreational activity. Honestly, who wants to be around some stuffy guys that think they have written the book on morals and ethics. Squabbling about an issue that really isn’t one also creates division in the fishing community and that, my friends, is exactly what the anti fishers are hoping for. Divide and conquer is a tactic that has been used by legendary generals as far back as Julius Cesar and it still works today.
If you want to keep fish and take them home you’re certainly entitled to do so. You earned that fish by paying for your licence and spending time and money to buy tackle and learn how to fish. To find out how many fish you can keep on a given body of water and area consult the BC Fishing Regulations.
If you only fish for the fun of it and to pit your skills against the fish, then have fun and enjoy what makes you happy.
Tight lines…and don’t forget to have fun!
BC Fishing, Catch and Release Fishing, Fishing Ethics, BC Fishing Regulations
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