Angling Guide Data Summary for the 1990/1991 to 2007/2008 licence years in the Skeena River Watershed

Executive Summary

The Angling Guide Management System (AGMS) database for the Ministry of Environment Skeena Region has been updated to contain the angling guide activity and catch information submitted for the Skeena watershed from its initiation in 1990/91 until the 2007/08 licence year. This data summary report provides a review of where and how guided angling activities in the Skeena watershed may have changed over these licence years and where it may be useful for fisheries management organizations to focus future efforts toward investigating potential trends or non-compliances identified based on the data that angling guides are required to submit for their annual guiding permits. A number of data summary queries and crosstab queries have been created and saved in the AGMS database to provide easy replication and the ability to specialize the results for more specific questions or interests that may arise from future reviews or other related sources. Some of the trends and permit compliance issues are noted and discussed in the various sections regarding angling guide report submissions, angling guide activities, and species reported at the various guide locations in the Skeena watershed. A more detailed summary of the guided angling success for steelhead in the Skeena watershed is also presented and appears to provide a reasonable measure of inter-annual and spatial variations in steelhead abundance when compared to the Steelhead Abundance Index for the Skeena watershed that is calculated annually by Fisheries and Oceans Canada based on the Tyee Test Fishery results. Interestingly, the guided angling success for steelhead at all classified waters combined correlate well with the Tyee Steelhead Abundance Index. However, guided angling success for individual classified waters does not correlate well with the Tyee Steelhead Abundance Index and may require further investigation. Overall, the methods derived for summarizing the AGMS data appear to provide a useful tool to annually monitor guided angling activities and success, as well as present a start to a more accurate assessment of the spatial distribution of fish abundances than just the overall Skeena watershed abundances estimates that are acquired from the Tyee Steelhead Abundance Index.

Note: in addition to salmon and steelhead, this report also contains data on bull trout, cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden trout, lake trout, rainbow trout, and whitefish.