'Ultra-capitalization'
Processing barge adds still more capacity
Commissioning at North Vancouver this week of a 204-foot floating processing plant has again turned a spotlight on the problem of runaway capitalization and Japanese investment in the fishing industry.
It also is bound to heighten concern among industry workers, particularly tendermen and shoreworkers, about the impact developments of this kind may have on jobs and working conditions.
Commissioned at Vancouver Shipyards March 1, the Ultra Processor 1 is described as a self-supporting freezing and processing plant capable of freezing 120 tons of fish a day.
Total capacity is about 1,000 tons. The barge is equipped with accommodation for about 50 workers. It will be towed to and from the fishing grounds by tug.
Nominal owner of the barge is Glenn Voakes of North Vancouver, formerly associated with Norpac Fisheries which, according to a company spokesman, intends operating the barge in the upcoming for herring roe fishery "if it's ready in time."
Voakes also is connected with Norlympia Seafoods in North Vancouver. The floating plant, which   cost   an   estimated $6
million, is reported to have been financed by Japanese interests and is intended for operation primarily in the herring and salmon fisheries.
Voakes said the plant will give fishermen better returns for their catches because it will save them the time and expense involved in travelling between the grounds and shore plants.
A spokesman for the federal fisheries department's inspection branch told The Fisherman this week that several licensing applications for other floating plants
with big freezing and processing capacities are under review at the present time.
He conceded that the applications give rise for concern, not only because the industry already has 'ample processing facilities' but also because some of the applications involve foreign-built vessels.
"If these facilities are to be introduced at all," he said, "we'd naturally prefer that they be constructed in this country."
Although the department can
exercise some discretionary power in the issuing of licences "we're in a free enterprise system and there's little that can be done to prevent (owners and companies) adding to existing plant capacity by building or importing new facilities," he contended.
"All we can do is alert them to the existing situation and ask them to consider if we need any more processing plants of this kind."
The applications now before
the department involve barges or freezer-ships for use in the herring or salmon fisheries, he said.
The department "doesn't have reason to believe that Japanese money is behind the five or six current proposals (to introduce new floating processing facilities)," he said, and in at least one case — an application by a firm which intends operating in the food herring export market — "absolutely no Japanese capital is involved."
Cod fishermen reject new closure
The remnants of B.C.'s once-healthy ling cod fishing fleet face an extra month-long closure this year because of drastically declining stocks.
A delegation of 10 Vancouver Island and Sunshine Coast fishermen including UFAWU island organizer Frank Cox met with fisheries officials Feb. 21 in Nanaimo to protest the closure.
The department finally issued an order Feb. 23 confirming its intention to prohibit ling cod fishing in Areas 12 to 20 inclusive until the end of April.
In the past, the closure has ended in February with some extensions to the end of March. About 30 commercial vessels fish cod in the Strait of Georgia.
The fishermen told the biologists. Cox said last week, that most of the decline in stocks could be attributed to sport fishing, particularly by scuba divers.
The group later approved a statement, he said, rejecting the closure extension and condemning its implementation without prior consultation. The
fishermen had only a few days notice that their fishery would end.
Biologist Bruce Leaman said the closure was necessitated by the discovery during research in 1978 that ling cod males guard nests much longer than was originally believed.
During this time, the males are extremely susceptible to overfishing, particularly by scuba divers.
Leaman said the annual catch of cod has declined in the Strait of
Georgia from 1,600 metric tons in 1957 to 400 ton in 1977.
The closure may be extended to the end of May in 1979, he warned, in an effort to rebuild stocks.
Fishermen have been forced out of the fishery, Cox noted, by declining catches, but the reduced commercial effort seems to have been matched by increased sport fishing.
Leaman conceded that the problem went untouched for more than 10 years because of lack of research funding.
Chinese workers form new association
More than 150 members of the Chinese Canadian Fisheries Workers' Association celebrated the founding of the new organization at a special banquet at Ming's Restaurant in Chinatown in Vancouver Feb. 25.
The association, which already has set up headquarters near the Vancouver waterfront, extended thanks to UFAWU president Jack Nichol, union secretary-treasurer George Hewison and shoreworker organizer Helen O'Shaughnessy for their support. All three were guests at the banquet.
The association's executive says its objectives are "to promote friendship and improve communication among members, to assist members with language problems in their work environment and to participate in community affairs in the best interest of the community."
Chinese industry workers may find out more about the association at its office, 230 E. Georgia Street, Vancouver, phone 688-4058.
UFAWU members in the association have translated this article into Chinese for publication in The Fisherman (right).
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