ABM: Abundance  Based  Management:  as  stocks  become  less  abundant, more stringent fishery management actions will be implemented. As stocks become more abundant, increased fishing opportunities will be considered.

AAROM: Aboriginal Aquatic Resource and Oceans Management: an initiative that provides eligible First Nation groups with the funding to better integrate planning and implementation activities with other First Nations and the Department.

AFS: Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy: Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s comprehensive program for co-operative management of First Nations harvesting in federally managed fisheries.

AIP: Agreement in Principle: is the second stage in the negotiation process. AIP negotiations are often the longest stage in the negotiation process, as parties address and attempt to resolve the broad range of subject matters set out in the Framework Agreement.

ASP: Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning: a toxic plankton bloom (biotoxin).

ATP: Allocation Transfer Program: in keeping with DFOs overall objective of resource conservation, the ATP facilitates the voluntary retirement of commercial licences and the re-issuance of the equivalent commercial fishing capacity as communal licences to eligible First Nation groups.

CC: Central Coast 

C&P: Conservation and Protection: the section of Fisheries and Oceans Canada primarily involved in enforcement.

CFIA: Canadian Food Inspection Agency: delivers all federal inspection services related to food; animal health; and plant protection.

COSEWIC: Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada: a committee of experts that assesses and designates which wild species are in some danger of disappearing from Canada.

CPUE: Catch per unit effort: the number of fish caught by an amount of effort. Typically, effort is a combination of gear type, gear size, and length of time gear is used. Catch per unit of effort is often used s a measurement of relative abundance for a particular fish.

CSSP: Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program: a program aimed to ensure that all bivalve molluscan shellfish growing areas meet approved federal water quality criteria, that pollution sources to these areas are identified and that all shellfish sold commercially are harvested, transported and processed in an approved manner.

CWT: Coded wire tag: a small metal tag inserted into the nose of a juvenile salmon (usually hatchery stock) prior to release or migration to the ocean. The tag has encoded information that indicates the origin and year of release of the fish.

CU: Conservation Unit: Landscape scale units determined by species under the Wild Salmon Policy (WSP). These units can be as small as a single lake delineated for sockeye to many watersheds for the other species. The concept is based on the ability of salmon to re-colonize by straying if a subsection of the unit is lost.

DFO: Fisheries and Oceans Canada: governmental department responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada’s scientific, ecological, social and economic interests in oceans and fresh waters.

DMP: Dockside Monitoring Program: a program designed to validate landed fish from commercial vessels by a company that has been designated by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

EC:  Environment Canada: environmental policies and programs for the federal government.

ECVI: East Coast Vancouver Island

EEZ: Exclusive Economic Zone: an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea that shall not extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.

EPMP: Environmental Protection Modernization Process: Designed to increase enforcement staff efficiency by concentrating effort on activities that have more potential to actually harm habitat and reduce time spent on activities not likely to harm habitat. A RISK MATRIX has been developed and activities falling under the low risk potion of the matrix do not require approvals or notifications but are handled by National Operating Statements. These statements are booklet guidelines that instruct proponents how to properly complete low risk activities. As activities move up the matrix into higher risk categories DFO’s involvement increases.

ESSR: Excess Salmon to Spawning Requirements: a fishery that occurs when salmon stocks return to a system after passing through the various fisheries and are at a level in excess of the capacity of the spawning grounds or enhancement facility, usually a hatchery, to receive them. 

FN: First Nations: all aboriginal groups and organizations within Canada. 

FRP: Fraser River Panel: a group of representatives that provide technical and regulatory advice to the Pacific Salmon Commission.

FSC: Food, social and ceremonial fisheries for First Nations.

FTE: Full Time Equivalent: An economic term referring to staff allocations. Portions of FTE’s are apportioned to part-time staff.

HEB: Habitat and Enhancement Branch: HEB includes the Habitat Management and Salmonid Enhancement Programs, and is headquartered in Vancouver, with area offices and staff throughout the Pacific region. HEB also operates a large number of facilities, such as fishways, hatcheries and channels across BC and the Yukon.

IFMP: Integrated Fishery Management Plan: a document that describes the management plan for First Nations, commercial and recreational fishing sectors in British Columbia.

IPP: Independent Power Production: small scale electrical power generating projects that are independently financed, built and operated for profit or internal power requirements.

IQ: Individual quota: a program management regime in which members of a fleet in a specific fishery are given an exclusive share of the quota allocated to that fleet. IQs are catch limits that are imposed on single vessels fishing competitively within a fleet (see also ITQ and IVQ).

ISBM: Individual Stock Based Management: a harvest rate for any individual stock.  Under ISBM, fisheries are regulated to limit impacts on individual stock groups.

ITQ: Individual Transferable Quota: an allocation of the total allowable catch under each fishing licence and are “transferable” to other vessels and/or individual licences.

IVQ: Individual Vessel Quota: an allocation of the total allowable catch under each fishing licence.

JPA: Joint Project Agreement: are arrangements whereby the parties involved agree to participate jointly in the actual carrying out of a project. This would involve the sharing of resources, the purchase of goods or services, the hiring of personnel, and so on.

MAL: Ministry of Agriculture and Lands: Formerly British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (MAFF) provincial government responsible for the management of commercial harvesting activities in British Columbia including aquaculture.

MOE: British Columbia Ministry of the Environment: Formerly Ministry  of Water, Land and Air Protection (MWLAP): environmental protection of water, land and air quality including climate change and environmental emergencies; Environmental stewardship of biodiversity, including wildlife, fish and protected areas; Park and wildlife recreation management, including hunting, angling, park recreation, and wildlife viewing.

PFLU: Pacific Fishery Licence Unit: public access for purchasing recreational, commercial and First Nations fishing licences.

PFMA: Pacific Fishery Management Area: describe the surfline and divide the Canadian fisheries waters of the Pacific Ocean into Areas and Subareas. The Areas and Subareas are often referenced when describing fishery openings and closures.

PFRCC: Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council: an independent organization to advise the governments of Canada and British Columbia, as well as the Canadian public, on the conservation and environmental sustainability of Pacific salmon stocks and their freshwater and ocean habitat.

PR: Prince Rupert

PSARC: Pacific Scientific Advice Review Committee: the Pacific Regional body responsible for review and evaluation of all scientific information on the status of living aquatic resources, their ecosystems, and on biological aspects of stock management.

PSC:  Pacific Salmon Commission: is the body formed by the governments of Canada and the United States to implement the Pacific Salmon Treaty.

PSP: Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning: a toxic plankton that is ingested and concentrated by bivalave mollascs, commonly known as “red tide”.

PST: Pacific Salmon Treaty: a treaty between Canada and the United States concerning the conservation, management, restoration and enhancement of pacific salmon resources.

QCI: Queen Charlotte Islands

RCA: Rockfish Conservation Area: an area that is closed for the protection of various inshore rockfish species to fishing activities that negatively impact rockfish.

RMF: Risk Management Framework: See EPMP 

SARA: Species at Risk Act: strategy for the protection of wildlife species at risk. In addition, it complements existing laws and agreements to provide for the legal protection of wildlife species and conservation of biological diversity. The Act aims to prevent wildlife species from becoming extinct, and to secure the necessary actions for their recovery.

SEP: Salmonid Enhancement Program: the hatchery and spawning channel program within DFO.

SFAB: Sport Fishing Advisory Board: an advisory body to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) on recreational issues.

SEHAB: Salmon Enhancement and Habitat Advisory Board: an advisory body to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) on the needs and concerns of some 20,000 volunteers currently undertaking enhancement, assessment, restoration and community education activities throughout the province.

SOG: Strait of Georgia

SMA: Species  Management  Areas: a term used  to  describe a management unit used in specific fisheries.

TAC: Total allowable catch: the amount of catch that may be taken from a stock determined using analytical procedures and acceptable scientific methodology, to achieve management objectives.

USFWS: United States Fish and Wildlife Service: working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

WCVI: West Coast of Vancouver Island

WSP: Wild Salmon Policy: “Canada’s Policy For Conservation Of Wild Pacific Salmon”. This policy describes how DFO will meet its responsibilities for the conservation of wild Pacific salmon. It stipulates an overall policy goal for wild salmon, identifies basic principles to guide resource management decision-making and sets out objectives and strategies to achieve the goal (Page 7 WSP Manual).

The successful implementation of this policy will provide Canadians with:

  • Healthy, diverse and abundant wild salmon populations for future generations;
  • Sustainable fisheries to meet the needs of First Nations and contribute to the current and future prosperity of all Canadians, and
  • Improved accounting for ecosystem values in salmon and salmon habitat management