Fish on! A quick reminder to everyone across the land that National Fishing Week kicks off this Saturday, running through to July 11. Coinciding with this great Canada-wide celebration of angling are family fishing weekends in every province and territory, complete with special events and other incentives to encourage folks to try their hand at wetting a line.

In Ontario, for example, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters has more than 120 locations across the province for anglers to borrow rods, reels and lure through its TackleShare program. Several provinces are also offering licence-free fishing days.

If you know of people interested in taking up the sport, National Fishing Week is the time to get them out on the water-especially if they’re youngsters. The event is coordinated by the Canadian Sportfishing Industry Association.

Award winner: Hunting editor Ken Bailey earned first and third place finishes for his hunting features

Outdoor Canada magazine rounded out the annual journalism awards season on June 17 with even more trophies for the mantle: four National Communications Awards from the Outdoor Writers of Canada. These latest honours follow the four honourable mentions and one Gold National Magazine Award the publication received back on June 4, making it the country’s top fishing and hunting magazine in terms of award-winning content.

Announced during the Outdoor Writers of Canada conference in Whitehorse, the winning Outdoor Canada articles and writers include:

• Magazine Feature Hunting
  First Place: Hunting Editor Ken Bailey, “Buck fever” (October 2009)
  Third Place: Hunting Editor Ken Bailey, “The odd couple” (Hunting 2009)
• Magazine Feature Fishing
  First Place: Editor Patrick Walsh (that’s me!), “The Tree” (March 2009)
• Magazine Column
  Second Place: Fishing Editor Gord Pyzer, “Man overboard” (October 2009)

Gord Pyzer, incidentally, also earned two awards for his work with In Fisherman magazine: second place for Magazine Feature Fishing, and second place for Magazine Feature Other.

The people have spoken. Well, 802 Atlantic salmon anglers have, at least. And the word is this: catch-and-release works. According to the results of the Atlantic Salmon Federation’s recent live-release survey, an overwhelming 94.6 per cent of respondents said live release is important to Atlantic salmon conservation. Not only that, 94 per cent also said they believe they’re able to safely release fish to ensure their chances of survival.

Included in the survey, conducted this past April, was an opportunity for respondents to add their comments about catch-and-release. Here is one of the more poignant replies, a sentiment shared by many of the respondents:

“Anglers cast their flies out into the river anticipating a strike. The adrenaline rush is the strike and the sound of your reel singing in the wind, while the salmon leaps out of the water. Why kill something that gave you so much joy? This same fish just may be the salmon that gives another angler this same rush, and that angler just may be your child or grandchild.”

For the complete survey results and additional comments, go to the ASF Web site.

This is one of those times when I’m truly proud to be a Canadian, like when Crosby and the lads clinched men’s hockey gold at the recent Vancouver Olympics. Responding to a recent survey conducted for the Fur Institute of Canada, 63% of us of Canucks revealed we’re cool with the commercial seal hunt.

Why does this make me proud? The majority of Canadians clearly understand and support the rationale for the hunt, despite the aggressive tactics of the anti-hunting lobby. And this at a time when the European Community has all but isolated Canada on the issue. The survey results also suggest to me that most Canadians are comfortable with hunting itself.

Conducted by TNS Canadian Facts, the Seals and Sealing Network Study found that two out of three Canadians accept commercial sealing as long as it’s humane and the species is not endangered. And almost 85% of Canadians agree that seals should be hunted as a wildlife management tool. The survey included more than 1,000 adults.

“We are pleased to see that, despite the hype by animal-rights groups about national opposition to seal hunting, only a small fraction of Canadians oppose the activity outright,” says Rob Cahill, Executive Director of the Fur Institute.

In fact, the survey found that more Canadians—some 30 per cent—consider seal hunters and fishermen to be the most credible sources of information concerning the hunt; only 20 per cent said they trusted animal activists more, while 21 per cent preferred to believe government officials.

Interestingly, this acceptance of the hunt comes despite the fact most Canadians are apparently unaware that the harp seal population has exploded from under 3 million in the early 1980s to almost 7 million today. Indeed, the survey revealed that 75 per cent of Canadians think the seal population is much lower than it actually is.

All in all, it was an illuminating survey, but I would have like to have seen the responses to one more question: Would you eat seal meat?

I, for one, am game.

If the Harper government finally succeeds in scrapping the long-gun registry, what should Ottawa do with the millions of dollars that will be saved each year? Spend it on fish and wildlife conservation and habitat restoration across Canada. So urges the Outdoor Caucus Association of Canada, an advisory group to parliament’s all-party Outdoors Caucus.

The call to divert spending to fish and game comes as private member’s Bill C-391, designed to do away with the registry, continues to wend its way through parliament. Introduced by Conservative MP Candace Hoeppner, the bill has passed second reading and must now go through the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security before returning to the House for third and final reading.

According to OCAC chair Phil Morlock, since the reviled registry only impacts sportsmen and women, it stands to reason that any money saved by shutting it down should go to wildlife conservation.

“The federal government does not even promote fishing or hunting tourism in spite of the thousands of jobs which are supported by these outdoor heritage activities coast to coast to coast,” says Morlock. “Evidently, federal financial resources are a problem for fish and wildlife related initiatives and we believe we have found a comprehensive solution.”

Makes sense, but then again, we are talking about Ottawa here. At any rate, it’s an idea well worth considering.

Will this finally put the ridiculous, so-called debate over climate change to rest, at least within the outdoors community? In a new report released this week, several major fishing, hunting and conservation groups state unequivocally that human activity is causing the current global climate change crisis. Not only that, they argue that climate change is now the single biggest threat to fish and game populations-and that significant action must be taken now to protect our wildlife and wild places.

Entitled Beyond Seasons’ End, the report charts out comprehensive conservation strategies for protecting waterfowl, upland birds, big game and cold-, warm- and saltwater fish from the effects of climate change. Spearheaded by the U.S.-based Wildlife Management Institute and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the report counts an impressive array of sportsmen’s organizations among its signatories:

• Ducks Unlimited
• Trout Unlimited
• BASS/ESPN Outdoors
• Izaak Walton League of America
• Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
• Coastal Conservation Association
• American Sportfishing Association
• Pheasants Forever
• Boone and Crockett Club

Ostensibly, the report is directed toward mitigating the effects of climate change in the U.S., but the overall message certainly applies to Canada and other countries. Heralding the dawn of a new era of conservation, the report states:

“Taking swift action can significantly limit future damage and loss from a changing climate. Doing so will preserve a legacy of wildlife and wilderness to pass along to our children and grandchildren…

While taking account of the enormous value of the natural environment to human health and prosperity, there is no dollar amount that can be assigned to the ethical duty to act and uphold our responsibility to pass a healthy planet on to the world’s future generations.”

Along with an aggressive regimen of conservation initiatives and the requisite funding, the report also calls for a national program to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and sequester carbon from the atmosphere. “Concentrations of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere are at their highest levels in at least 800,000 years,” the report acknowledges. “During the 20th century, average global temperatures rose by more than one degree Fahrenheit (F), and scientists project that without explicit climate protection policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, temperatures will rise another two to 11 degrees F by 2100.”

Not that the authors view the prospect of overcoming the current dilemma through rose-coloured glasses. “Even if greenhouse gas emissions were stabilized immediately,” they write, “the long lifetime of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the vast heat storage capacity of the oceans would fuel climate change beyond 2100. Earth cannot escape experiencing the consequences of climate change, some of which are already alarmingly evident.”

You can read Beyond Seasons’ End online by visiting http://beyondseasonsend.org/.

Do you fish for Atlantic salmon? If so, the Atlantic Salmon Federation wants to learn your thoughts on catch-and-release angling for wild Atlantics. The ASF is currently conducting a survey on the practice for anglers in Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I.

The survey, which can be completed or downloaded from a special ASF Web site, includes questions such as:

• Do you think the practice of live release angling is an important contribution by anglers towards conservation of wild Atlantic salmon?
• Do you voluntarily release salmon and grilse that the law allows you to retain?
• Are you confident that you are able to release angled fish safely to maximize their survival?
• Would you be more inclined to purchase a live release license if it were to be offered at a lower cost than a regular license?
• Barbless hooks are easier to remove from angled fish and they do less damage to young salmon (parr and smolt) that might inadvertently be caught. Should they be required in all provinces?
• Should non-resident (out of province and out of country) anglers be restricted to live release fishing?

Responses can be anonymous, but if a name and address is included, the respondent will be placed in a draw for a $375 limited-editon print—”Restigouche Evening”—by renowned New Brunswick artist although Bruno Bobak. The survey must be completed by April 15 to qualify for the draw.

Honoured: Bob Izumi is the public face of Izumi Outdoors

The folks at Izumi Outdoors Inc., along with Normark Canada’s retired head honcho, Roger Cannon, were honoured this morning at the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show during the annual general meeting of the Canadian Sportfishing Industry Association.

Bob and Wayne Izumi and their crew at Izumi Outdoors, along with Cannon, were this year’s recipients of the CSIA’s Chairman’s Awards for their contributions to the Canadian angling scene. Cannon, who spent 33 years putting Rapalas into the nation’s tackleboxes, is a champion of sportfishing in Canada and continues to serve on the CSIA board.

Izumi Outdoors, meanwhile, produces TV’s Real Fishing Show starring angling icon Bob Izumi, as well as Real Fishing magazine. The company is also the driving force behind the Fish For Ever Foundation, which raises funds for fisheries conservation projects in Ontario, and the popular Kids, Cops & Canadian Tire Fishing Days, a grassroots program designed to get children interested in fishing. Congratulations, folks! Well deserved.

Also during this morning’s AGM, Shimano Canada executive Phil Morlock brought CSIA members up to speed on the controversial plans in the U.S. to potentially ban  sportfishing in so-called Marine Protected Areas—giant swathes of ocean and inland waters—under the guise of conservation. Morlock wrote about the issue in the Fishing 2010 edition of Outdoor Canada; he was also interviewed about it on ESPN (click here for that story).

Finally at this morning’s meeting, the slate of directors for the next year was formally approved. Set to serve one more year in their current two-year terms are:

• Kim Rhodes (President), Lucky Strike Baitworks, Manufacturer
• Tom Brooke (Chair), Shimano Canada, Manufacturer
• Steve Dorey (Vice-President), Maurice Sporting Goods, Distributor
• Ray Sriubiskis (Sect/Treasurer), Cnd National Sportsmen’s Shows, Media
• Roger Cannon, Normark Inc Manufacturer
• Cam Thomson, Pure Fishing Canada Ltd., Manufacturer
• Shawn Glowka, KTL Canada Ltd Distributor
• Nelson Murakami, Natural Sports, Retailer
• Jim Estabrooks, Fishing World, Retailer
• Mark Harrison, Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd., Retailer
• David Johnson, The Fishin’ Hole, Retailer
• Jim Gourlay, Eastern Woods & Waters, Media
• Mark Stiffel, Brecks International Inc., Manufacturer
• Brent McCallum, Redl Sports, Distributor
• Salim Sachedina, Canadian-Sportfishing, Media
• Steve Sherman, Shimano Canada, Manufacturer

Now that’s the Christmas spirit. The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters is reminding successful hunters to think of the less fortunate this festive season by donating some of their fall harvest of deer and moose to food banks.

Says OFAH’s executive director, Mike Reader:

“In many cases, people have been hit hard by the recent economic downturn, and families may be struggling to put food on the table. Hunters are fortunate to have a chance to harvest their own meat, and many are in a position to share this with others less fortunate.”

Indeed, the Ontario Association of Food Banks cites a 19 per cent jump in food bank users this year, with an estimated 370,000 Ontario residents relying on the service. As an OFAH press release explains:

“By donating just a portion of the wild game harvested, hunters can make a significant contribution to families in reduced circumstances, who might otherwise have to go without meat in their diets, an expensive item that is not often available to local food banks.”

What do you say, guys? And if you don’t happen to have any spare venison, keep in mind that local food banks are also always in need of vegetables, dairy products and canned goods. Let’s join OFAH in spreading the Christmas cheer.

End game: Rob Pye, dog Molly and some of the results of our day afield

I probably should have had my nose to the grindstone yesterday at the office, what with deadlines looming for our upcoming Winter issue (which is really getting me psyched for the hardwater season). But when Rob Pye invited me out to his spread east of Peterborough, Ontario, to hunt small game, how could I refuse? And, as I like to say, will it matter 20 years from now?

Rob’s the manager of membership marketing and corporate messaging for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, and we hadn’t headed afield together since May. That’s when Rob, his dad, Clarence, and I went for a successful turkey hunt up Orillia way. This time, we had Rob’s sizeable 30-acres of mixed hardwoods to scour for grouse, timberdoodles and bunnies, as well as a 5,000-acre chunk of adjacent county forest.

Rob’s English setters, Bert and Bella, put up a few birds for us, and I took a nice snowshoe that Rob had spooked my way, so we both had something for the pot—a real bonus considering it was a treat all on its own just to be walking the woods and working the dogs. (Bert and Bella are the lively brother-and-sister offspring of Rob’s first setter, Molly.)

We also had the chance to catch each other up on our respective work pursuits. For me, it was about the sale of the magazine and all the great plans in store for Outdoor Canada. As for OFAH, Rob’s pumped about all the current and upcoming programs planned for the organization’s members. He’s also excited about the impending arrival of a new baby brother for his two-year-old son, Charlie.

Thanks again, Rob, for a great day.