THE FISHERMAN, AUGUST 19, 1996
Is DFO pushing quotas in ZN fishery?
I just finished filling out the Groundfish Hook and Line Long Term Management Strategy. I thought the survey was on the right track, although I felt pushed towards the Individual Vessel Quota (IVQ) strategy. Our present system is working except that there are perhaps too many licences. At the inception of ZN limited entry, DFO was advised by the Hook and Line Advisory Board that they were allowing twice as many licences as they should, but went ahead anyway. Now they want to put the financial burden of straightening out the whole mess on us fishermen.
At the last meeting, I recommended some licensing changes. An industry-funded buyback would help as well, in conjunction with a DFO buyback.
We are also being prodded into recommending some form of limited entry for ling cod and dogfish. No one from the A licence fleet has been to our orga-
nizations to speak on their behalf. Not very democratic.
We were told that we were following the Australian model of fish management, but the Australians are no further ahead than we are. They, too, are up against sector allocation.
A lot of people and organizations are very concerned about habitat destruction of the sea bottom as well as discards of juveniles and unwanted species by the fleet. One possible solution to the trawl and ZN problems is to allow combination fishing by the trawl fleet. DFO could allow a ZN and T combination to hook and line species and drag midwater and mud. That system is being used in other parts of the world. Traps are being used in Finland for perch.
There has been added pressure to our ZN fishing this year as a result of the DFO-facilitated corporate takeover of the salmon industry.
Hook & Line
Ray Bewza
The B fishing option is just about done. The A option will probably last until some time this month, with 20 tons left for the Central Coast in November. The C option is still going but could be shot down because of vellow-
eye being caught. It's too bad, because there are reports of too much yelloweye in all areas. Since 1991, the ZN fleet has voluntarily reduced yelloweye catch by 100 tons per year. But the halibut fleet has increased its bvcatch of yelloweye by the same amount yearly. As yelloweye targeting is taking place by the halibut fleet, we recommended a five per cent yelloweye bycatch, with a 15 per cent cap on other rockfish species. The American bycatch allowance is 10 per cent for all species.
The biologist-observer I took out earlier this year recommended monthly averaging of yelloweye. He also reported that the ZN-A category was the cleanest fishery he had ever seen. We should have more observer trips.
Another round of meetings coming up this year that will keep me off the fishing grounds has to do with Marine Protected Areas (Marine Parks). A number of
miles of coast have been earmarked for federal and provincial parks. Both governments as well as DFO, Native groups, the Canadian Wildlife Service and others will be participating in the talks. I guess we commercial fishermen fit into the "other" category.
Protected areas in the right places would be good for us all but so far, the charts that I have seen look suspiciously sports-fishing oriented. I think that if there are to be protected areas, then no one should be allowed to fish in them.
It's time to elect advisors again, this time for a three-year period. Most of the advisors are multi-licence holders. Myself, I am not. I have a C-ZN licence, and I'd like to spread the market out over 8-9 months. My style of fishing may not fit your fishing plan. I can be consulted, advised or just plain bitched at bv calling 949-8680.
Good luck and good fishing.
Getting out but backing those still fishing
Shortly after World War II, we were sailing off the Atlantic Coast aboard the Robinson. One morning, we heard two or three large detonations. Three hours later, we encountered a large military vessel which was deploying many small boats to collect come of the miles and miles of herring that had been killed by the blasts. I wonder who among rear-admiral Fred Mifflin's predecessors was responsible for this wasteful action. I don't believe they were too concerned about conservation at that time.
More than 35 years ago, I went with a delegation to Ottawa. Angus McLean was the minister of fisheries and a Liberal government was in office then. Homer Stevens, Jack Nichol, George Carpenter, T. "Buck" Suzuki, George North and Harry Allison were a few of the people to make the trip. We explained to the fisheries minister about the foreign fleets in mid-Pacific and we argued in favour of the 200-mile limit. Fisheries bureaucrats can be terribly slow to learn and after all, we were just ignorant
Letters
fishermen who didn't know what we were speaking about. But I don't think the toll taken by the foreign fleet in mid-Pacific has ever been emphasized enough.
Today, it seems we have at least three commercial fisheries: those who hold regular commercial licences, aboriginal commercial fisheries and the commercial sport fishery which, a few years ago, realized the money that was to be made in volume sports tours. My grandson, a deckhand, wanted to know why it is that if you belong to a certain group you are
allowed to continue catching as much of a threatened species— such as the chinook—as you like, while other groups are not. Conservation doesn't seem to matter much if there's any money to be made.
At 65 years, I can no longer afford to continue at my livelihood. But I now have more time to fight for the rights of fishermen brave enough to continue.
HUGH MACLEAN,
Vancouver
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