Check your licences
Fisheries officers warn anglers after finding invalid sport fishing licences
Daniel Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Friday, May 9, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A number of invalid sport fishing licences have been popping up around Yellowknife and fisheries officers are warning anglers to make sure they review theirs with vendors before walking out the door.
Gerald Fillatre, detachment supervisor for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, explains sport fishing regulations in the NWT to Nelson Muchekeni during a patrol on Great Slave Lake.
- NNSL file photo |
Gerald Fillatre, detachment supervisor with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in Yellowknife, said he's come across some hand-written licences in the field that were incorrectly issued by vendors.
He couldn't go into specifics because the department doesn't discuss individual investigations.
"What I can say is any time we've come across one, we do follow up with the vendor to confirm the licences are valid," said Fillatre.
A member of Yellowknifer's editorial staff was recently stopped by DFO officers and questioned about his licence. The vendor, the downtown Reddi Mart, had issued a licence with last year's expiry date on it, which was scratched out and the correct year - 2015 - was written over it and initialled by a clerk at the store.
Officers endorsed the licence after the situation was explained.
Qui Pham, the owner of the downtown Reddi Mart, said licences are supplied to the store monthly by the territorial Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR). The expiry date is left blank so it is up to the vendor to properly fill in the year the licence expires.
Pham acknowledged the licence was accidentally marked as expiring in 2014, which was subsequently scratched out and initialled with the correct date. She said fisheries officers visited Tuesday and told her licences filled in incorrectly must be voided and re-written.
Fillatre said it's up to individual anglers to make sure the licence they buy is valid.
"The big thing is, I would guess, because they are hand-written, review the licence when they are issued to make sure the data on there is correct," said Fillatre. "Deal with it then versus in the field with an officer."
Yellowknifers can buy licences at Reddi Mart, Canadian Tire, the Northern Frontier Visitors' Centre, the Old Town Emporium, Polar Tech Recreation, the Laing Building or directly from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources office, according to the department's website.
A department spokesperson said it is working on a system to make the licences available online so anglers can print them out themselves, which should be up and running this summer.
Judy McLinton, spokesperson for ENR, said no complaints about how sport fishing licences are issued have been received. She added vendors are regularly inspected and informed on proper procedures for issuing licences.
