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Results of the Pacific tidal waters recreational fishing survey

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Pacific tidal recreational fishing 2000 to 2025, fast facts

Pacific tidal recreational fishing 2000 to 2025, fast facts
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Key metrics for the pacific tidal recreational fishing industry. All values reflect the average from 2000 to 2025. Dollar amounts are in 2025 dollars.

There is considerable economic spin-off value generated by the tidal water recreational fishing sector in BC, with annual expenditures averaging $773M over the past 25 years. Of these expenditures, $428M was value added by BC’s fishing industry to provincial gross domestic product (GDP).

Recreational fishing generates economic value in the communities where purchases are made. On average, these purchases support 4,350 jobs per year and provide $287M in household income to families across BC.

Salmon: On average, 82% of tidal water licence holders in BC purchase salmon stamps. Salmon are the primary target in BC tidal waters, with Chinook being the most targeted species in 2025.

Recreational fishers spent 8 days per year fishing, on average. By residency, the average number of fishing days and active fishers are:

Notes

*Excludes juvenile and family fishing weekend licence holders.

**Average based on 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025.

Pacific tidal recreational fishing spatial and temporal patterns, 2025

Pacific tidal recreational fishing spatial and temporal patterns, 2025
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Fishing expenditures and activity are concentrated both spatially and temporally.

Fishing activity peaks in the summer months with 81% of fishing occurring from June to September in 2025.

While only moderate fishing activity took place in northern Haida Gwaii, this area accounted for more than 13% of total fishing expenditures in 2025.

In 2025, 87% of fishing days and 71% of expenditures took place in the Strait of Georgia, Barkley Sound, Johnstone Strait, and the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

Fishing days and expenditures by month are presented from April to March, the fishing year.

2022-23 fishing days

2023-24 fishing days

2025-26 fishing days

2022-23 expenditures (2025$)

2023-24 expenditures (2025$)

2025-26 expenditures (2025$)

Notes

*Dots refer to spending within the entire PFMA in which they reside.

Pacific tidal fishing regional patterns in 2025

Pacific tidal fishing regional patterns in 2025
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Key metrics for each of the seven pacific tidal recreational fishing regions.

Values reflect the 2025-26 fishing year and dollar amounts are in 2025 dollars.

North Coast

Haida Gwaii

Central Coast

Johnstone Strait

Strait of Georgia

West Coast Vancouver Island

Barkley Sound

Chinook were the primary target species in all regions other than the North Coast.

Fishing expenditures and days by region

Fishing expenditures

Fishing days

48% of fishing days and 30% of fishing expenditures took place in the strait of Georgia in 2025.

While only 4% of fishing days occurred in Haida Gwaii in 2025, 13% of fishing expenditures occurred in this region.

Notes

*Dollar values in 2025$.

**The “Other” group includes all species other than the top 5 fished in the region. This category varies in each region and includes species listed in the legend as well as species not listed.

Pacific tidal fishing 2025, pacific salmon

Pacific tidal fishing 2025, pacific salmon
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Salmon are the most targeted recreational species group in BC tidal waters, with Chinook being the primary target in 2025.

Days and expenditures by species

Fishing expenditures by species (2025$):

Fishing days by species group:

Recreational fishers rarely target only a single species

130K recreational fishers targeted chinook in 2025, of these:

Pacific tidal recreational fishing 2010 to 2025, trends

Pacific tidal recreational fishing 2010 to 2025, trends
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Both the total number of fishing days and spending on recreational fishing increased in 2025 compared with 2023. The following are trends since 2010. Dollar amounts are in 2025 dollars.

Expenditures

Active fishers

Fishing days by residency

BC residents

Other Canadians

International

Notes

*Values exclude juvenile and family fishing weekend licence holders.

Pacific tidal fishing expenditures, 2025

Pacific tidal fishing expenditures, 2025
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Expenditures by trip type

Shore-based

Private boat no guide

Private boat with guide

Hired boat with guide/charter

Charter trips had the highest direct daily expenditures in 2025.

Expenditures by trip type and species

Shore-based

Private boat no guide

Private boat with guide

Hired boat with guide/charter

Salmon are the primary target across all trip types.

Groundfish and other finfish are targeted more frequently on guided trips.

Shellfish are targeted more on self-guided trips.

Notes

*For definitions of direct expenditures, package expenditures, and major purchases, refer to the Notes and Methodology.

Pacific tidal fishing package deals, 2025

Pacific tidal fishing package deals, 2025
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Average cost per package (2025$)

Package expenditures by package type and region

Northern Coast

Haida Gwaii

Central Coast

Johnstone Strait

Strait of Georgia

West Coast of Vancouver Island

Barkley Sound

Package types vary by price and region

Notes and methodology

Concepts, terms and definitions

Active fisher
An individual who fished in the corresponding fishing season.
Fishing day
A day or part of a day on which an individual fished for recreation.
Direct expenditures
Expenditures on goods and services (food, camping, accommodation, transportation, supplies, etc.) incurred during fishing trips or excursions.
Major purchases
The purchase of durable goods and investments in support of recreational fishing activities. These include boats, motors, special vehicles, camping gear and other durable goods, as well as land and building purchases. Respondents reported the total purchase price as well as the percentage which the respondent felt was directly attributable to recreational fishing. In this report, only purchases attributable to recreational fishing are presented.
Package expenditures
Monies paid to a lodge or outfitter for a complete range of services such as lodging, food, transportation, use of fishing equipment, etc. Four types of packages were defined for the purposes of this survey:
  • Charter boat package: a package which includes fishing in a boat and may include other goods or services such as a guide, food, or fishing supplies, but excludes accommodation and airfare.
  • Lodge package: a package which includes accommodation and may include other goods or services such as a guided charter, food, or fishing supplies, but excludes airfare.
  • Fly-in package: a package which includes airfare and may include other goods or services such as accommodations, a guided charter, food, or fishing supplies.
  • Other: a package which does not include fishing in a boat, accommodations, or airfare, but may include other goods or services such as a guide, food, or fishing supplies.
Percent change
Calculated as 𝑟 = ((𝑝𝑛 − 𝑝0) / 𝑝0) ∗ 100 where 𝑟 is average annual percent change, 𝑝𝑛 and 𝑝0 are the final and initial observations in the period, respectively.
Recreational fishing
Refers to non-commercial fishing; recreational angling and sport fishing are covered in the definition used by the survey. Note that food, social and ceremonial fishing is not covered by the survey and is therefore, not included in any of the estimates presented in this report.
Residency
The place in which the license holder permanently resided within the survey year.
  • BC resident: an individual who lived within British Columbia during the survey year.
  • Other Canadian: an individual who lived within Canada, but outside British Columbia during the survey year.
  • International fisher: an individual who lived outside of Canada during the survey year.
  • Visitor: an individual whose primary residence is outside of BC (includes Other Canadian and International fishers).
Trip type
Respondents distributed their days fished across four types of fishing days. This considers all fishing days and is separate from package types which are specific to package expenditures.

Data description

The primary data source used for this report was the Internet Socioeconomic Analysis (iSEA) Survey of Tidal Water Recreational Fishing in British Columbia, 2025. This survey was administered by DFO Pacific and collected socioeconomic information on tidal water recreational fishing activity in British Columbia (BC) throughout the 2025 fishing season (from April 2025-March 2026). The survey questions were organized into two sections – fishing effort (days), and fishing expenditures. A random sample of 15,000 individuals, who purchased a tidal water fishing licence in the 2025 season, were selected to complete the survey. In total, 8,710 individuals completed the survey in full, resulting in an effective sample rate of 3%.

This survey was similarly administered in the 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 fishing seasons. The data from these previous iterations were also used in generating some of the statistics presented in this report. While the focus was consistent throughout the four iterations, the 2019 survey did not include questions related to expenditures. The 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 surveys achieved effective sample rates of 1.5%, 2.7%, 2.1%, 3.9% and 3.8%.

In addition to the iSEA surveys, the figures presented in this report were supplemented using data from the Survey of Recreational Fishing in Canada. This survey was historically run by DFO every 5-years up until 2015, and collected socioeconomic information on all fishing activity (tidal and freshwater) across Canada. In contrast to iSEA, this survey was run based on the calendar year rather than the fishing season. Information from the 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 iterations were used for generating reported recreational fishing statistics for BC prior to 2019. More information on this survey is available from DFO’s national website.

Note that survey results presented in this report have been weighted in order to scale results to the licence population level. Additionally, many survey results presented in this report are transformed data. Fields such as fishing days and expenditures were calculated by distributing reported values across species, spatial and trip categories.

Additional notes on methodology

Unless otherwise specified, all dollar metrics presented in this report are in 2025$.

Throughout this report, Fishing Expenditures refers to the sum of Direct Expenditures, Major Purchases, and Package Expenditures reported in the corresponding survey year.

On page 1 of this report GDP, Household Income, and Jobs statistics were calculated using multipliers from British Columbia’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector Report, developed by BC Stats. This report is available from the government of British Columbia’s website.

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