Yukon Territory Fishery Regulations (C.R.C., c. 854)

Licences and Conservation Cards — General

• 4 (1) Subject to subsection (3), section 4.1 and subsection 5.1(1), no person shall fish, engage in fish farming or hold a derby except under the authority of a licence issued under these Regulations, the Fishery (General) Regulations or the Aboriginal Communal Fishing Licences Regulations.

• (2) Subject to subsection 6(14.1), on receipt of an application for a licence and, where applicable, a Salmon Conservation Catch Card as set out in column I of an item of Schedule III, together with the applicable fee set out in column II of that item, the Minister may issue the licence or the Salmon Conservation Catch Card.

• (3) A person under 16 years of age may engage in angling without a licence if the person

  • (a) is a Yukon resident; or

  • (b) is accompanied by a person who is the holder of an angling licence or a sport fishing licence issued under these Regulations.

• (4) All fish caught by a person under 16 years of age shall be counted as part of the catch of the licence holder referred to in paragraph 3(b).

• (5) The person under 16 years of age referred to in subsection (3) shall, at the request of a fishery officer or fishery guardian, produce proof of age.

National Fishing Week

• 4.1 (1) A Yukon resident may engage in angling without a licence

  • (a) during the period that begins on the last Friday in June and ends at midnight on the Monday immediately following that Friday, if July 1 falls within that period; or

  • (b) during the period that begins on the first Friday in July and ends at midnight on the Monday immediately following that Friday, if July 1 does not fall within the period referred to in paragraph (a).

• (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to angling by a participant in a derby.

• (3) A person engaged in angling without a licence during a period referred to in subsection (1) shall, at the request of a fishery officer or fishery guardian, produce proof that the person is a Yukon resident.

5 [Repealed, SOR/93-339, s. 3]

Inuvialuit Subsistence Fishery

• 5.1 (1) Notwithstanding subsection 4(1), a beneficiary may fish for subsistence usage within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region without a licence.

• (2) Notwithstanding subsection 9(4) and subject to section 12 of the Agreement, a beneficiary may sell to or trade or barter with

  • (a) another beneficiary, fish or any part thereof taken for subsistence usage from the Inuvialuit Settlement Region; or

  • (b) any other person, the nonedible by-products of fish taken from the Inuvialuit Settlement Region by the beneficiary for personal use.

• (3) No person, other than a beneficiary, shall possess any edible portions of fish taken for subsistence usage from the Inuvialuit Settlement Region.

• (4) In the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, subsection 9(1) does not apply to a beneficiary.

Commercial and Domestic Fishery

• 6 (1) and (2) [Repealed, SOR/93-60, s. 5]

• (3) [Repealed, SOR/94-269, s. 3]

• (4) and (5) [Repealed, SOR/82-875, s. 5]

• (6) [Repealed, SOR/93-60, s. 5]

• (7) Except as otherwise provided as a condition of a licence issued under these Regulations, each gang of nets shall be marked at each end during open water fishing by a buoy, and during winter fishing by a stake the top of which shall be at least 1.2 m above the surface of the ice.

• (7.1) The Minister may specify a licence condition referred to in subsection (7) only if the purpose of the condition is to mitigate marine mammal entanglement.

• (8) No person shall,

  • (a) when fishing for any species of fish, set or operate gill nets that have a mesh size of less than 100 mm;

  • (b) [Repealed, SOR/87-439, s. 4]

  • (c) when fishing under the authority of a domestic fishing licence, set or operate

    • (i) more than one gill net, or

    • (ii) a gill net that exceeds 90 m in length.

• (9) Except with the permission of a fishery officer, no person shall leave a gill net in the water

  • (a) between May 1st and November 30th, for more than 30 consecutive hours, and

  • (b) between December 1st and April 30th, for more than 72 consecutive hours,

  without withdrawing it from the water and removing any fish caught therein.

• (10) No person shall engage in fishing for salmon by means of fish wheels except in the Yukon River downstream from a fishing boundary sign located 800 m downstream from the confluence of Tatchun Creek and the Yukon River.

• (11) and (12) [Repealed, SOR/94-269, s. 3]

• (13) No person shall fish for salmon for commercial purposes in the Yukon River and its tributaries unless that person holds

  • (a) a commercial fishing licence; and

  • (b) a Yukon River salmon licence.

• (13.1) [Repealed, SOR/87-439, s. 4]

• (14) No person shall fish for salmon for domestic purposes in the Yukon River and its tributaries unless that person holds

  • (a) a domestic fishing licence; and

  • (b) a Yukon River salmon licence.

• (14.1) The Minister may issue a Yukon River salmon licence to a person who holds a commercial fishing licence or domestic fishing licence and who, on or before March 31 in the year for which the Yukon River salmon licence is to be valid, applies in writing to the District Supervisor of the Department for the Yukon Territory and, with the application, encloses the fee for the Yukon River salmon licence that is set out in Schedule III.

• (15) No person shall engage in commercial fishing or domestic fishing

  • (a) in the Yukon River

    • (i) upstream from a fishing boundary sign located approximately 800 m downstream from the confluence of Tatchun Creek and the Yukon River; or

    • (ii) between the fishing boundary signs located approximately 800 m upstream from the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers and approximately 1.6 km downstream from that confluence;

  • (b) in the Pelly River watershed upstream from the confluence of the Pelly and MacMillan Rivers;

  • (c) in the Porcupine River watershed upstream from a fishing boundary sign located approximately 8 km upstream from the village of Old Crow; or

  • (d) in the Stewart River watershed

    • (i) upstream from the confluence of the Stewart and McQueston Rivers, or

    • (ii) downstream from the confluence of the Stewart and McQueston Rivers from September 30 to July 7.

• (16) No person shall engage in commercial fishing for salmon in the waters of the Yukon River and its tributaries during the close time beginning on October 30 in one year and ending on June 15 in the next year.

• (16.1) No person shall engage in domestic fishing for salmon for domestic purposes in the waters of the Yukon River and its tributaries during the close time beginning on October 30 in one year and ending on June 15 in the next year.

• (17) No person shall engage in commercial fishing in the Yukon River with

  • (a) more than three fish wheels;

  • (b) more than

    • (i) two fish wheels, and

    • (ii) 45 m of gill net consisting of a maximum of two nets;

  • (c) more than

    • (i) one fish wheel, and

    • (ii) 65 m of gill net consisting of a maximum of three nets; or

  • (d) more than 90 m of gill net consisting of a maximum of four nets.

Sport Fishing

• 7 (1) No person shall engage in sport fishing in Tatlmain or Wellesley Lake unless the person holds

  • (a) a sport fishing licence set out in any of paragraphs 5(a) to (i) of Schedule III; and

  • (b) a sport fishing licence set out in paragraph 5(l) or (m), as the case may be, of that Schedule.

• (2) No person shall, by angling, catch and retain, in any one day, more fish of a species set out in Column I of an item of Schedule IV, from the waters set out in Column II of that item than the daily catch limit set out for that species of fish in Column III of that item.

• (2.1) Despite subsection (2), no person shall, in any one day, continue angling on Tatlmain Lake after they have caught and retained or caught and released five fish regardless of species.

• (3) No person shall possess, in respect of fish caught by angling, more fish of a species set out in column I of an item of Schedule IV from the waters set out in column II of that item than the possession limit set out in column IV of that item.

• (3.1) and (3.2) [Repealed, SOR/99-98, s. 4]

• (4) No person shall, by angling, catch and retain, or have in his possession a fish of a species set out in Column I of an item of Schedule IV that is less than the minimum length set out in Column V of that item.

• (5) Where a fish has been filletted, two fillets shall be deemed to be one fish, and unless the body of the fish is shown, every fillet shall be deemed to be from a game fish.

• (6) No person shall, while angling,

  • (a) use more than one line except when angling through the ice, in which case two lines may be used; or

  • (b) use on a line any gear that is designed to catch more than one fish at a time except while fly fishing where two artificial flies may be used; or

  • (c) [Repealed, SOR/94-269, s. 5]

• (6.1) A person who holds a sport fishing licence may use a dip net to catch lake whitefish or suckers (Catastomous spp.) in accordance with the terms of that licence.

• (7) No person shall, while angling, leave fishing gear unattended in the water.

• (8) A person who holds a sport fishing licence may use a set line to catch burbot in accordance with the terms of that licence.

• (9) A person who holds a sport fishing licence may snag cisco from Tagish Bridge over the Tagish River (60°15′N, 134°17′W) and from Carcross Bridge over the Nares River (60°09′N, 134°37′W) in accordance with the terms of that licence.

• (10) Where a person is authorized under a sport fishing licence to use a set line, that person may leave that set line unattended for a period not exceeding 30 consecutive hours.

• (11) [Repealed, SOR/93-60, s. 6]

• (12) No person shall angle from June 1 until November 30, except with a single-pointed barbless hook with a distance between the point and the shank of no more than 20 mm, in any of the following waters:

  • (a) Klukshu River;

  • (b) Tatshenshini River;

  • (c) Blanchard River;

  • (d) Village Creek; or

  • (e) Takhanne River.

• (13) No person shall angle from July 1 until October 15, except with a single-pointed barbless hook with a distance between the point and the shank of no more than 20 mm, in any of the following waters:

  • (a) Klondike River;

  • (b) Takhini River;

  • (c) Yukon River;

  • (d) Morley River;

  • (e) Smart River;

  • (f) Lapie River;

  • (g) Teslin River;

  • (h) Firth River; or

  • (i) Blind Creek.

• (14) No person shall angle in the waters set out in

  • (a) Part I of Schedule VI, except with a barbless hook; or

  • (b) Part II of Schedule VI, except with a single-pointed barbless hook.

• (15) No person shall, while angling, be in possession of a landing gaff.

• (16) Subject to subsection (17), no licence holder shall angle for salmon or possess salmon caught by angling without a Salmon Conservation Catch Card issued under subsection 4(2).

• (17) Subsection (16) does not apply to Kokanee salmon and salmon caught from salmon stocked lakes.

• (18) Every holder of a Salmon Conservation Catch Card shall

  • (a) in relation to every salmon caught by the holder, whether it is retained or released, immediately record in the appropriate section of the Card

    • (i) the date and location the salmon is caught,

    • (ii) the species and sex of the salmon,

    • (iii) the presence or absence of tags and an adipose fin, and

    • (iv) the gear type with which the salmon was caught;

  • (b) produce it to a fishery officer or fishery guardian on request; and

  • (c) submit the Card to the Department no later than November 30 of the year of issue.

• (19) A person may engage in sport fishing in the following waters without a licence issued under these Regulations if the person is authorized to engage in angling in the province of British Columbia pursuant to the Province’s Wildlife Act:

  • (a) Atlin Lake;

  • (b) Bennet Lake;

  • (c) Laidlaw Lake;

  • (d) Liard River;

  • (e) Morley Lake;

  • (f) Rancheria River;

  • (g) Swift River;

  • (h) Tagish Lake; and

  • (i) Teslin Lake.

• (20) No person shall, while sport fishing in the waters set out in subsection (19), catch in one day more fish than the daily catch limit or the daily quota authorized:

  • (a) under section 7 of these Regulations; or

  • (b) under section 56 of the British Columbia Sport Fishing Regulations, 1996.