Strapped for salmon

Mainland fisherman says delay in nonresident licences curtailing travel plans

Jim Semple is getting nervous about his annual fishing trip to Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Oakville, Ont., man said he’s been coming to the province for 23 years to go salmon fishing in Portland Creek on the Great Northern Peninsula.

This year, though, when he called around as usual for a retailer to set aside non-resident licences for him and his two sons, there weren’t any available.

Semple said he called the provincial Department of Fisheries and didn’t get any indication when they would be available.

“The peak run is the last week of June, early July. That’s a week or two away with no resident licences,” he said. “Nobody has any timeframe.” Semple said he most enjoys the catch and release aspect of the fishing, so the retention limit doesn’t bother him.

He said anyone coming in from out of province would want to plan their trip, and this has an impact on various businesses that rely on the fishing tourists.

A retailer in Deer Lake told The Telegram that vendors received an email a couple of days ago from inland fisheries saying only resident individual and family licences are available so far.

Some retailers said it is unusual they aren’t available yet, but they have ordered them.

The province was racing last month to print salmon licences due to a problem with the federal government, which sets management decisions of the Atlantic salmon season.