Skunked
that reg just says i can not buy or sell eels just like i can not sell salmon, as for disrupting fish habitat a hay bail placed in a ditch not a creek those ditches are cleaned with an escavator and are mud bottom . as for hook line and speer what about crabs, shrimp and the steelheaders favorite ghost shrimp. all my eels are from tidal ditches where dose that lie? my point is like most regs if not in black and white , no retention for western lampryay, the regs have no power to enforce themselves because enterpritation will always open a grey area in the court. next spring i am going to hunt bear with a bow on wistler mountain just because it says no discharge of firearms not no hunting ! i can't wait to have that argument with the co!! question all regs your sport depends on it
The regs clearly (no grey area here) state that
...the use of fin fish (dead or alive) or parts of fin fish other roe is prohibited throughout the province, with the following exception: You may use the head of fin fish or the headless body of fin fish as bait,
only:
(a) when sport fishing for sturgeon in Fraser River (Regions 2 and 7 only), or
(b)when setting lines in lakes of Region 6 or in lakes of Zone A of region 7.
Lampray are fin fish. Crab, shrimp, ghost shrimp, and crayfish are not fin fish and are therefore considered bait if they are dead, but are illegal to use live.
The regs also define a stream as:
There is no distinction as to what the bed of the waterway is in order to see if the regulations apply. All that tidal waters designation affects is the license you need to fish in them. Provincial regulation applies to all streams in the province. Those that are deemed tidal wters (and the regulations lay out clearly which ones they are) are still under provincial regulation.
Before attempting to circumvent the regulations because you feel
the regs have no power to enforce themselves because enterpritation will always open a grey area in the court
you might wish to talk to a lawyer. When you lose, because there is no room for interpretation, you can lose very large.... gear, car, fines, etc.