From declining interest to dropping stocks,P.E.I. winter smelt fishery facing challenges

It used to be a traditional winter sight on Prince Edward Island: wooden smelt shacks popping up on the ice in frozen harbours and bays around the Island, then disappearing at the start of spring.

But there aren't as many of the traditional shacks around these days, and there seem to be a couple of explanations as to where they have gone.

Josh Lea, 49, grew up on the Island and has been fishing smelts since he was a teen.These days, he sets up a pop-up tent on the Hillsborough Rivernear Mount Stewart.

"It's just a pastime, to be honest with you. It's just a lot of fun. The kids enjoy getting out and doing it and love to have a feed every now and then," Lea said."Nowadays I'm giving them to older people that can't get out.Once the ice comes, they're looking forward to that feed of smelts.

"They're so much better through the ice than in the spring, to be honest with you. They're a different taste of a fish altogether."

Lea said this year's fishinghas been his best in 20 years, and he credits the pop-up tent-style shack he bought four years ago.

They're a different taste of a fish altogether. Josh Lea, smelt fisher

He said many fishers are making the switch to tents because the spots where they can put the wooden shacks up aren't necessarily where the smelts are.

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The winter smelt fishery is a time-honoured tradition on P.E.I. But like everything else, it's changing with the times.

"It's a great little rig. They're handy, and real easy to set up," hesaid.

"There wasn't many smelts in most of the places where you could put your wooden shacks out the river further You could put your wooden shack out there, and it was, most years, a waste of time because we were just looking through the ice and not getting smelts."

Some places heavily fished

The spot where Lea now fishes is about a 15-minute walk across the ice from where he lives, so it does take a bit of work to get there with his dog Manoah and their sled of supplies.

"I'm in an area that nobody's fished them in all my time," he said."Nobody can get access to any of the tributaries where they go to spawn in the spring."

Lea said he's seeing other sections of the Hillsborough River watershed where the smelts run in spring, including Clarks Creek, being heavily fished becauseaccess is so easy.Fishers can use dip nets from April 1 to June 15, in both tidal and inland waters a method that is not used in the winter fishery.

"They're high-traffic zones. It gets a lot of action," Lea said."It's just a continuous flow of people coming in and dip netting, stirring the bottom of the river up. And so they're not getting the numbers of spawn to hatch."

Lea said the cormorants and seals are also taking a toll on the numbers, but he thinks it's the dip netting of the spawning fish that's impacting the stock the most.

For him, being cold is worth it.

"I don't mind [fishing] through the ice. I'd love to see a whole crowd of people up here all winter long, and we're never, ever gonna hurt the numbers through the ice by spearing them or just pulling them up by a hook."

In a statement to CBC News,a spokesperson from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) says the use of dip nets being used to fish for smelts was raised at a recent meeting of a P.E.I. recreational fisheries advisory committee.

"Science advice, along with advice from the advisory committee, will be taken into consideration to inform a decision for the 2024 management measures for recreational fisheries on P.E.I.," the DFO statement.

Those measures will be announced in the spring.

Traditional fishery

Matthew MacEwen grew up fishing for smelts. He's now aCharlottetown-based conservation protection supervisor for DFO, and deals with both commercial and recreational smelt harvesters.

"For some commercial guys, they're using gill nets or box nets. For recreational, you can use a spear in the winter time through the ice, also angling," he said.

MacEwen said he is seeing fewer of the traditional wooden smelt shacks around the Island.

"Every year, it seems to be declining a little bit. It's kind of a generational thing. Like when my grandfather was out fishing with me, it seemed to be a lot more people. It just seems the number of harvesters is declining."

More fishers are switching to the pop-up shacks, he agreed.

"We are noticing a lot more tents that are popping up just for the day," he said."They're fishing in Summerside, they're in Rustico or they could be out on the East River in Charlottetown. It seems like there's some areas that are better for fishing than others."

Looking to the future, Josh Lea said he hopes more Island parents will put an effort into passing on traditions like smelt fishing.

"No outdoor stuff is really being passed on, which I understand. It's harder for parents because it's a busy world out there," Lea said.

"This is my fun and I pass it on to the kids. And they enjoy it, yeah."