Privacy at Desert Salmon Charters

Last updated: 11 November 2026

Who we are

Desert Salmon Charters is a fishing charter business in Kelowna, British Columbia, owned and run by Nelson Jatel as a sole proprietor. Nelson is the person responsible for how we handle personal information. This page explains what we collect, why we collect it, who helps us handle it and the choices you have. We follow British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).

Questions or requests about your information: email info@desertsalmon.ca.

What we collect and why

We collect only what we need to answer you, run your trip and keep the records the law asks of us.

Inquiries. When you use the form on our website or email us, we keep your name, email address, phone number if you give it, your message, and the dates, trip and party size you ask about. We use these to reply to you, check availability and hold a date for you. If you ask to go on a waitlist for a date, we keep your name, contact details and notes so we can offer you the date if it opens.

Bookings. For a booking we keep your name, email address, phone number, trip date and type, party size, number of children, the price, payment status and notes about your trip. We use these to send you emails about your hold, payment, confirmation and trip details (with a calendar file), and a thank-you note after the trip.

Your guest page. Each booking has its own private web page, reached by a link that only you receive. On it you can give each person's name, BC fishing licence number (for anyone 16 or over), residency (BC resident, other Canadian, or visitor from outside Canada) and whether they are under 16, plus anything we should know, such as allergies, medical needs, mobility or seasickness. We use this to run a safe trip, to make sure everyone who fishes has a licence, and for the guide records the Province of BC requires. Health details are optional: share only what helps us look after you. If we ask guests to sign a release on this page, we record each signer's name, which version of the text they agreed to and when.

Reports to the Province. As a licensed angling guide, we report to the Province of BC each year how many anglers fished on each trip, grouped by residency, and how many fish of each kind were kept and released. These reports contain counts, not names.

Payments. You pay on Stripe's secure payment pages. Stripe handles your card details: we never see or store your card number. We keep the payer's name and email address, the amount, the date and a Stripe reference so we can match your payment to your booking. For gift cards we also keep the buyer's and recipient's names, and for tips and merchandise the payer's name and email address.

Texts and WhatsApp. We always email you about your booking. If you give us a mobile number, we may also send trip messages by text, or by WhatsApp if you have chosen WhatsApp or messaged us there. We keep a record of these messages. Texts you send to our business number are forwarded to Nelson's mobile phone so he can reply to you. To stop WhatsApp messages, reply STOP on WhatsApp and we will use email and text instead.

Photos. If you send photos to our WhatsApp number, the images are saved automatically to private storage that is not public. We put a photo in the gallery on our website only after you tell us you are happy for us to share it. Gallery photos are shown without your name or phone number. Ask us at any time and we will take a photo down. After a trip we may also email you a link to your trip photos.

Who we share it with

We do not sell or rent your personal information. We use the service providers below to run the business, and each one receives only what it needs for its job.

  • Squarespace hosts our website and receives what you type into our website forms.
  • Google provides our email (Google Workspace), our booking app, database and photo storage (Google Cloud), and website visitor statistics (Google Analytics).
  • Stripe processes payments, gift cards and tips.
  • Twilio sends and receives our text and WhatsApp messages. WhatsApp itself is run by Meta.
  • MailerLite holds our email newsletter list (see below).
  • Anthropic provides the Claude AI service. When you email us directly about a trip, the text of your email, including your name and email address, is sent to Claude, which suggests booking details such as the date and party size. Nelson checks every suggestion, and nothing is booked automatically from it. Emails that do not look like trip inquiries are not sent.
  • GitHub runs a scheduled task that keeps our newsletter list in MailerLite up to date.
  • Meta receives website visit information through the Meta Pixel (see Website analytics and cookies).
  • The Province of BC receives the yearly guide reports described above, which contain counts, not names.

We may also share information when the law requires it.

Where your information is stored

Our booking database is stored in Google Cloud's Montréal region, in Canada. The booking app and the scheduled tasks that work with that database run in Google Cloud's us-east1 region, in the United States, and photos you send us by WhatsApp are stored there too. Our other service providers may store and process information outside Canada, including in the United States, where it may be subject to the laws of that country.

Email newsletter

We send an occasional newsletter through MailerLite. When you ask about a trip or book one, Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) lets us email you for a limited time: six months after an inquiry and two years after a purchase. We record how and when that permission began, and we email you only while it lasts, unless you tell us you would like to stay on the list.

Every newsletter has an unsubscribe link. You can also email info@desertsalmon.ca to be taken off the list. Unsubscribing takes effect within 10 business days at most, and it does not stop emails about a trip you have booked.

Website analytics and cookies

Our website uses cookies and similar tools:

  • Squarespace, our website host, uses cookies and browser storage that the site needs to work.
  • Google Analytics counts visits and shows us how people use the site, such as pages viewed, approximate location, device and browser.
  • Meta Pixel lets Meta (Facebook and Instagram) record visits to our pages, which can be used to measure and show ads on Meta's apps.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Google offers a browser add-on that opts you out of Google Analytics, and you can manage how Meta uses your activity in your Facebook or Instagram settings.

How long we keep it

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purposes on this page and for our tax and business records, and then we delete it or remove anything that identifies you. If we use your information to make a decision about you, we keep it for at least one year afterwards, as BC law requires. Backups of our booking database are replaced on a rolling basis about every seven days. Photos stay in our website gallery until you ask us to remove them.

How we protect it

We use reasonable safeguards. Our booking system is password protected, each guest page uses a long random link, and payment card details never reach us.

Your rights

Under PIPA you can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, how it has been used and who it has been shared with, and you can ask us to correct it. You can also withdraw your consent at any time, although we may then be unable to take or keep a booking. Email info@desertsalmon.ca and we will reply within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia at www.oipc.bc.ca.

Contact

Desert Salmon Charters, Kelowna, British Columbia. Email: info@desertsalmon.ca.

We will update this page when the way we handle information changes. The date at the top shows when it last changed.