Pictured above (from left):
Dr. Courtney Mason (Canada Research Chair); Campbell Bryk (fish tourism operator and graduate from TRU tourism); Brennan Lund (Natural Resource Science undergrad student); Dr. Brian Heise (Associate Professor, Natural Resource Science); Kindra Maricle (Natural Resource Science undergrad student); Carmen Massey (Masters student in Environmental Sciences).
On November 8th and 9th 2017, a Fresh Water Fishing Tourism Symposium was held in Kamloops, BC. TRU had number of attendees who contributed to the productive dialogue. A series of interesting panels and presentations filled the busy schedule over the two days. Courtney Mason was part of a stimulating panel entitled: Managing Our Landbase for Recreational and Tourism Values. Participants shared their perspectives of working in land-based tourism operations over many decades in the province. While some frustration was evident with the province’s decisions that have been in favour of resource extraction industries and the impacts on local waterways and fish tourism operations, there was a clear desire to move beyond land use plans and create productive legislation to protect small tourism businesses and water ecosystems throughout the province.