e-3093 (Fisheries)

Petition to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

• The Salmon Watchers Assistance Group is very concerned about reproduction and damage to the wild Atlantic salmon because of catch and release;
• Parks Canada have banned catch and release in their national parks because it has proved not to be a conservation tool;
• Catch and release has been banned in 3 other countries and the union of BC Indigenous people have called for a ban since 2019;
• Catch and release fishing is cruelty disguised as sport;
• Studies show that fish that are caught and then returned to the water suffer such physiological stress and often die of shock, that hooked fish struggle out of fear and physical pain desperate to breathe;
• Catch and release is nothing more than a recreation pleasure for humans only;
• In 2003, efforts by a group called The Bay St. George Stewardship Group led to the reestablishment of retention angling;
• Salmon populations began to increase and continued to do so, with numbers that had not been seen since the early 50's; and
• Fish is a food industry not a pleasure industry.