Fishing rules shifting as season opens in Saskatchewan

Fishing season has opened in southern Saskatchewan and the provincial government is reeling in the line saying that boats should be limited only to people who live together.

Premier Scott Moe and Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said the catch is to limit those fishing buddies to the same three expanded households on your visiting list.

Basically, if you are seeing your parents or siblings or one or two close family friends, then it makes sense to be allowed to fish or boat within the same group.

“In areas without an outbreak we are allowing the ability to make virtual households. For example, two or three friends can get together or two or three households can get together so that meant some changes to how guidelines can be interpreted if you’re fishing or on a boat where you don’t necessarily have to be from the same household for example,” Shahab said during Friday’s provincial news conference.

Shahab said the province is working with public health to make some adjustments to these guidelines to allow for some outdoor recreational activities in a safe manner where physical distancing can be maintained and you don’t pass things like food or drink back and forth.

Moe described the original reopen plan as a framework which can be shifted based on common sense requests or questions from businesses and the public about how to minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19.

He referenced specific plans from golf courses and driving ranges about how to sanitize equipment between uses and maintain a safe physical distance as a reasonable suggestion on how to allow these activities to continue safely.

“A suggestion that came from many that when you are fishing it may not be necessary to have someone only from your household on the boat, understanding that you can practise sufficient physical distancing when you’re on a boat so you should be able to expand to that broader household dynamic that we have been speaking about for a number of days now when you’re out fishing,” Moe explained.

According to a communications person with the Ministry of Environment, conservation officers in the province have not fined anyone in boats under the previous public health order restricting them to one household.

Conservation officers are enforcing public health orders and are able to issue fines up to $2,000 plus an $800 victim surcharge if they find someone in breach of a public health order. One fine has been issued in relation to a northern checkstop, but nothing related to fishing or boating.

Provincial parks and boat launches did open on May 4 as part of the first phase of the reopen plan. Filleting shacks and tables are off limits and fishing off public docks, marinas, dams or jetties is prohibited. Anglers on shore must maintain a two-metre or six-foot distance.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an amended version of the story, correcting an editing error in the first paragraph.