Shipping rules perturb fishermen
gRITISH Columbia fishermen may have a fight on their hands to ensure they are not placed at a disadvantage by new shipping regulations the federal transport ministry is planning.
UFAWU Fraser Valley organizer Bill Procopation was at a three-day meeting of the Maritime Safety Advisory Council in Ottawa last month at which the regulations were discussed.
He says the Fisheries Association of B.C., also represented at the session, agrees with the union's contention that there must be a lot more industry-wide discussions before the measures are put into effect even on a voluntary basis.
Yet he got the impression that the transport ministry intends to go ahead with scant regard for suggested changes.
The UFAWU navigational aids committee has made continued representation to federal authorities, insisting that fishermen must be allowed to continue to fish in any east-west shipping lanes that might be established in Juan de Fuca Strait.
Now, according to Procopation, it looks very much as if fishing vessels will be "trespassers" in the shipping lanes and be deemed the "burdened vessels" in the event of collision.
The proposed lanes, he says, have been drawn too close to
shore in two sections within Canadian waters — from the international boundary north to the Fraser River, and from the river north to Point Grey.
The lanes should be placed farther out in Georgia Strait, he contends. "At some points the lane is less than a mile off the Delta flats where there is regularly a concentration of gill-netters. The same thing is true from the Fraser River to Point Grey, where the inbound lane crowds the beach."
The UFAWU has also protested the proposed placement of a buoy separating the Juan de Fuca shipping lanes close to the fishing boundary which runs from
Bonilla to Tatoosh, maintaining that the buoy should be placed at least a couple of miles to the west.
Within Juan de Fuca Strait, the inbound lane, one mile wide, would run parallel to the international boundary but starting one mile south of the line. The outbound lane, also a mile wide, would run north of the international boundary adjacent to it.
"There definitely has to be more discussion throughout the industry before these lanes are finalized," Procopation declares.
In the meantime, fishermen in virtually all southern waters east of the Jordan River whose vessels are equipped with VHF
sets can inquire about shipping in Juan de Fuca Strait from Vancouver Control Centre on channels 11 and 16.
Possible new regulations governing the operation of small fishing vessels were also discussed at the Ottawa meeting, which was attended by representatives of the federal environment department, steamship and towboat owners, fishing vessel owners from the Atlantic coast, the Canadian Merchant Service Guild and the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway, Transport and General Workers.
Until now only fishing vessels 100 feet or more in length have See SHIPPING — page 6
THE FISHERMAN — JULY 12, 1974/5