Strategy. Approximately 70 per cent of those funds are
being spent in British Columbia.

What are the goals of the AFS?
1. Protection of fishing rights

The AFS supports the right of aboriginal people with
Indian status to fish for food, ceremonial, and societal

purposes.

2. Self-government in the fishing industry
The AFS program is designed to give aboriginal
communities in Canada a greater role in fisheries
conservation and management, and to provide
economic development and employment
opportunities.

Under the AFS program, bands and tribal councils
are participating in the development of regulations
for their own fisheries. (These regulations are in
addition to the basic AFS regulations, and the AFS
agreements some bands have with the DFO.)

For example, individual food fishing permits are no
longer issued by the Department of Fisheries and
Oceans. Instead, the management and distribution of
a band member’s catch is administered by the
appropriate band.

Also, the legal number of fish (by species) that can be
caught by aboriginal people is now governed by

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