Clear skies. Light North to North-East winds most of the day. Moderate Westerly this evening. Environment Canada beat out NOAA for the correct weather forecast today.

2 tour boats

For the past few days there have been a few recreational fisherman anchored just outside of the reserve boundaries fishing for halibut. You can tell they are fishing for halibut because they are anchored, usually with a scotsman buoy on the chain just off the bow; If they were after salmon they would be trolling. These fisherman are capitalizing on an effect called “spillover” where the high fish populations from a reserve act as a source to seed nearby areas. This effect is recognized as one of the many, valuable benefits protected areas in the marine environment.  The recreational halibut fishery opened on February 1st and will remain open until further notice from DFO. The rules this year are as follows:

• Maximum length is 126 cm.
• The daily limit is 1.
• The possession limit is 2, only one of which may be greater than 83cm in length.
• The annual limit is 6 halibut per licence holder.
• For each halibut retained by the licence holder, the date of capture, the Fisheries Management Area from which it was caught and its length shall be immediately recorded in ink on the 2013-2014 Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence.

• Area 121 aka Swiftsure Bank is a Closed Area to all finfish capture

This season (2014) has new trial management measures for the British Columbia halibut fishery. There was consultation on the 2014 halibut management options last Fall through the Sport Fishing Advisory Board (SFAB). After consultation, DFO concluded that the new measures (restrictions on weight, size, and number) will be in place for 2014 and assessed at the end of year. According to DFO, the overall objectives for the recreational fishery are: to stay within the allocation (TAC); to effectively manage, enforce and assess the fishery; to follow the guiding principles of the “Vision for the Recreational Fishery in BC” such as providing stable and predictable opportunities and to share responsibility for catch monitoring and reporting. DFO has released information related to releasing fish safely and in the least harmful manner as well as the proper packaging and transport of large fish.

Off station from 1330 to 1800 to go sailing with students at the college.

-Back-flushed desalinator media filter
-Changed desalinator cartridge filters
-Mopped desal bunker floor
-Cleaned solar panels