How much room...?

[Boasun]

If he is trolling then he is considered a power-driven vessel and not a fishing vessel. Thus he shouldn't be flying the 'hour-glass' day signal. And if he was dragging nets he would be fishing. But in a narrow channel the fishing vessel cannot impede any other vessels transiting that channel/fairway.
So maybe he was having a bad day and was taking it out on you.
One reason I could see for him to wave you away is that he had a diver down clearing his running gear. But you said that he was underway and that squashes that reason. He is trying to make a living from the sea and with the price of fuel skyrocketing and a small catch...Well?? A bad day.

[FrankLanger]

Thanks for your replies. For sure he didn't have a diver down, as he was moving forward under power with enough of a bow wave and enough speed that a diver would have been left far behind. There was also no diver's flag.

My best guess is that he had nets down, even though I could not spot any indication of that on his boat.

I am ok with the idea that maybe he was having a bad day or was being over-cautious. The general consensus seems to be that I did nothing wrong, was not too close and did the right thing by turning further away from the boat in response to the fisherman's concern.

Mainly I wanted to ensure that I was not inadvertently doing something that violates regulations or boating protocols, so I know for future. Thanks again for all your replies.

Frank.

[HoffaLives]

With two poles out it was a troller. In fact, except for the Fraser river, I've never seen seiners or gillnetters out in the sw BC coast. Maybe because they are biological vacuums and the season they work is so short. I've seen them off Point Roberts and getting out of that marina without pissing someone off was impossible.

Sounds like he was being too cautious/protective of his gear, but then there's usually a good reason why people have learned to be overly twitchy when they see another boat approach.