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CREDIT: J. Prinselaar
Members of the BC Sports FishingCoalition arranged an
informationmeeting Thursday evening for thoseinterested in the
DFO's policy oncommercial and recreational halibutfishing. Seated
from left are Martin Paish,Ted Brookman with Brian Clarkson
standing.
Saturday January
8 2011
Fishermen caught up in DFO halibut allocation
Julia Prinselaar
Westerly News
Friday, January 07, 2011
They came in divided on the issue but
walked away better informed. Roughly
70 people representing the region's
commercial and recreational halibut
fishing industry came together yesterday
evening at Ucluelet's Seaplane Base Rec
Hall to voice their concerns over the
Department of Fisheries and Oceans'
current policy on the allocation ofCanadian halibut stocks.
Fear of an early closure of the fishing
season is something the government
said wouldn't happen, according to Jay
Mohl, owner and operator of the
Tofino-based sport fishing business Jay's
Clayoquot Ventures.
Mohl highlights issues with the DFO
dating back to 2003, when DFO allocated
88 per cent of Canadian halibut stocks tocommercial licensees.
With just 12 per
cent left to recreational fishermen, once the sport fishing
sector has reached
its allocation they'll have to shut down.
Mohl and other recreational anglers may see the halibut season
close early
for the third time since the policy was created. In terms of the
commercial
fishing industry, the evening's concerns were primarily
"directed to those
individuals who hold [halibut] quota but choose not to fish, but
rather lease
[their quota] out," said Martin Paish, member of the BC Sports
Fishing
Coalition.
He was part of the panel directed by Brian Clarkson, general
manager ofCanadian Princess fishing resort and Ted Brookman,
regional president of the
BC Wildlife Foundation. Paish is referring to the 435 commercial
fishermen
who, back in 1991, were gifted a share of Canada's total
allowable catch
(TAC) of Canadian halibut by the Department of Fisheries and
Oceans at no
cost. Over time these quotas increased in value, says the
coalition, which
eventually resulted in the 2003 Thibault Allocation Policy
implemented by the
DFO.
The policy, which is still in effect, allocates 88 per cent of
Canada's TAC to the
435 gifted quota holders in the commercial fishing industry. The
remaining 12
per cent of the share is left to the recreational sector and
includes sport
fishermen and charter businesses that generate local revenue
through
seasonal tourism.
"The allocation is unfair," said Paish. "88 to 12 is not working
for the
recreational fishing industry.... We need change." The
recreational sector
would like to see that 88/12 ratio a little more leveled out,
ideally closer to
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80 per cent commercial and 20 per cent recreational, said
Clarkson.
The reason being is that when the allocations were created and
portioned out
seven years ago, the methods used to compare what each sector
needed
weren't as accurate as they have become, said Ted Brookman of
the BC
Wildlife Foundation.
In actuality, he said the 12 per cent TAC allocation of halibut
isn't realistic.
"We thought we were catching 'x' number of fish, but we found
out we were
catching 'x plus 1,'" he added, noting the actual portion is
closer to 18 or 19per cent.
According to the BC Coalition, in 2008, 78 per cent of the
commercial quota
was leased out, leaving 140 active fishermen of the 435 original
commercial
quota holders. The BC Coalition said this leaves 195 quota
holders, dubbed
"slipper skippers," who aren't actively fishing out on the
water, but who still
play in the halibut market by leasing their quotas. Given out in
1991 by the
DFO, it's called an Individual Transferable Quota, but "while it
may be
something that works for the commercial fishery, they simply
don't work for a
public fishery," said Paish, citing that this quota is permitted
to be inherited,
sold or leased, as it has been to other fishermen.
"[The DFO are] the ones who created it, but that's our biggest
challenge right
now is the bureaucratic process," said Jay Mohl, when asked why
the DFO
isn't revoking the quota originally gifted to those who aren't
actively fishing
on the water.
"Really the concept of treating a resource that's uncaught as a
commodity, we
don't want to support that, we don't want to go down that road,"
he affirmed.
"The government has turned [halibut] fish into a commodity and
it seems
very apparent tonight that it's only working for those that are
sitting back
somewhere warm leasing their quota out."
Dan Edwards, owner of a halibut fishing boat in Ucluelet, added
his
perspective. "People should learn to live within their means,"
he said. "The
problem is that [the recreational fishermen] haven't got that
mechanism [to
transfer quota from one industry to the other], he explained.
"So what they
want to do is simply re-allocate without compensation. They want
to go from
88/12 to whatever it takes."
"It's wrong," said Edwards. "These guys have a history. I have a
history in the
fishery. I have an allocation. If you want to take some fish and
use it for your
business, find a way to pay us for it."
While Paish said the discrepancy is with DFO's policy makers
rather than with
those working in the field, the coalition is hoping for change
in the sector
allocation and TAC. In the meantime, they say that because of
theuncertainty of this year's season, clients may look to places
like Alaska to
catch their halibut instead.
"We are very cognizant of the fact that recreational fishing
during the peak
season is of great economic importance," said Tamee Mawani,
regional
resource manager - groundfish, of the DFO, who said the
management
measures for the 2011 recreational halibut fishing season should
be
announced in the next few weeks.
In a recent letter to Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and
Oceans, EcoTrust
Canada supports the DFO's current commercial fishery management
system,
but sees need for change within the recreational sector. "The
recreationalfishery does not yet operate within the framework of a
similiarly
comprehensive monitoring system, a change in management we
encourage,"
read the letter.
"Our work suggests that a reallocation from one sector to
another is not
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