License

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada offers an online application for the tidal license required for all ages. For certain areas listed under the Pacific Fishery Management Area regulations, non-residents of Canada seeking to fish halibut must purchase a paper license. Purchasing an annual salmon conservation stamp allows anglers to keep any Pacific salmon species.
  
  

Guide

• Crab fishing by ring netsround crab nets image by Christopher Nolan from Fotolia.com
  
  The British Columbia Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Guide provides regulatory information for salmon, finfish and shellfish.
  
  

Fishery Notices

• Fishery notices from Fisheries and Oceans Canada advise of any closures to fishing. For example, the agency announces red tide alerts for paralytic shellfish poisoning and can close specific harvesting areas.
  
  

Gear

• Hooking injuries to the organs and gills can eventually cause death for catch-and-release fish. By law, use barbless hooks for salmon, cutthroat trout and steelhead. A circle hook may prove a valued conservation tool. Penalties for violations range from voluntary ticket payments up to $1,000, seizure of gear and catch, and fines up to $100,000.
  
  

Status of Fish

• The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada designated the coho salmon and sockeye salmon as endangered; while the Chinook salmon is listed as threatened. The Species at Risk Act designates the Pacific sardine that feeds off Vancouver Island as a special concern.