Davis Admits Company Control Ignored in Limitation Scheme
TtieTiTherman
Vol. XXXI, No. 37
Vancouver, B.C.,
2 November 22, 1968
I : ■■
31
MEN HQ
we
—Barker photo
• Pictured here on the steps of Vancouver City Hall are the six aldermanic candidates being sponsored by COPE — The Committee of Progressive Electors — in the December 11 Vancouver civic election. They are (left to right) Dr. Joe Blumes, Dr. Harry Winrob, Aid. Harry Rankin, Mrs. Alice MacKenzie, Ron Gomez and Bruce Yorke. See story on page 7.
Shaker Survey to Come Before Trollers' Parley
'Hot Line' Debate Proves Ownership Figures False
Preliminary results of a fisheries department study of the coho and spring salmon "shaker" problem on the west coast will be discussed by a UFAWU trollers' conference to be held in Vancouver November 29, the Union reported this week.
The department's study, released this week, indicates that flash-er-hootchie lures take three to five times more immature coho than plugs. It also estimates that some 250,000 pre-season coho and 50,000 sub-legal sized springs were shaken off in the west coast troll fishery between April 15 and June 15 this year.
The study was instituted following inconclusive discussion at the Union's convention last January of high mortality among immature coho and spring salmon
Recall Tuna Fleet
Unconfirmed reports received by The Fisherman this week said that all five vessels of Atlantic Sugar Refineries' deep sea tuna fleet, heavily subsidized by the federal government, have been recalled to St. Andrew's, New Brunswick, site of the company's $2.5 million plant.
which must be shaken off and returned to the water when they are caught by trollers, as they are in large numbers during the early part of the season in Vancouver Island west coast Areas 21, 23 and 24.
Delegates to the Union's convention referred the problem to their newly elected standing committee on fishery regulations, instructing it to make a further study of the various proposals advanced in the discussion.
Subsequently, the committee met with Pacific area regional
fisheries director W. R. Hourston and suggested that his department undertake the study.
In a speech to the annual meeting of the Pacific Trollers Association on March 7, Hourston advanced proposals which he conveyed to the Union in a letter stating:
"Several proposals have been suggested for alleviating the problem: the closure of areas, 'spot'
See "SHAKER" — Page 12
'Protect Rights' Says Campbell River Meet
Opposition to any licence limitation scheme in the salmon fishery that "fails to protect the rights of bonafide commercial fishermen" was voiced by a meeting of between 55 and 60 UFAWU, Native Brotherhood and Pacific Trollers Association fishermen held at Campbell River on November 21 to discuss the federal
fisheries department's plan to limit entry to the salmon fishery by licensing vessels rather than fishermen.
With Norman Lysne, secretary of Campbell River and District UFAWU Local in the chair, the meeting heard from UFAWU
Federal fisheries minister Jack Davies' licensing scheme for the Pacific coast salmon industry was formulated without any serious consideration being given to the in-evitable strengthening of company control which will follow its implementation.
This much, at least, was confirmed this week in the course of an exchange between Davis and UFAWU secretary Homer Stevens on radio station CKNW commentator Jack Webster's open line program.
Stevens questioned figures presented by the minister recently before the House of Commons fisheries committee on the number of fishing vessels owned by companies and by individuals. Of a total of 8,524 registered boats, the minister told the committee, "the number owned by individuals as distinct from companies or mortgages with companies is 6,966."
This week, however, Davis conceded that "the heading I should have used was 'agreement of sale'" — not mortgages.
Stevens said the apparent confusion confirms the licensing program is being introduced without Davis knowing the extent of com-
pany control through mortgages and "various other agreements."
Earlier, the Union charged that the minister's statements before the. committee suggests that Davis is "either ignorant of the facts altogether or very careless with the presentation he makes in defence of what is, in our opinion, a rotten scheme."
During this week's exchange of views Stevens also asked the minister whether, as he had implied on the program a few minutes earlier, he would be prepared to amend the Fisheries Improvement Loans Act so that fishermen could "get clear of the clutches of the companies" in financing their boats.
Changes in the act have been "introduced by press release," Stevens said, and are being "amended from time to time by pres release." Is there a definite commitment on the minister's part to make the specific changes necessary, he asked.
Davis replied: "Yes, as minister responsible for introducing that legislation I'll do my utmost to make sure that type of change is in there ... I have to have this vetted by other ministers in respect to the financial aspects, but I would hope this would go through. It seems like a reasonable amendment."
Information Lacking
See PROTEST — Page 12
Some of the exchange between Stevens and the minister, much of it centering on the issue of company control and vertical integration in the fishing industry, went as follows:
Stevens: "Were you aware that our Union had stressed the . . . heavy degree of company control in terms of financing, mortgages and so on, before you introduced this act?
Davis: "Yes, certainly. I think this has been one of the main themes in your company's (sic) submissions over the years . . .
Stevens: "When you say you don't know about the (number of) mortgages, you're quite correct, you couldn't possibly know because no one in your department knows. And the Union doesn't know exactly, although we have a pretty good general idea. But, was there anybody in the top ranks of your department, in the bureau of statistics, who warned you that, unless you . . . separated companies from the financing of boats, any licence limitation program would work out to the companies' benefit and not to the benefit of the ordinary fisherman? Was there anybody who warned you of this?
Webster: "Stevens' point is that the new limitation will put the majority of boats under the hand
of the companies. Is that right?
Stevens: "That's right. And they've already got a much heavier degree of financial control than the minister is even aware of.
Davis: "I'll ask Blake Campbell. He knows a great deal more about our records here in Vancouver than I do.
Campbell: "Vessels under agreement of sale, that is, vessels in the name of the companies but being sold to fishermen, (amount to) approximately 10 percent of all vessels, in addition to the ones that are company owned. We do not have a record at the present time of the number of boats individually owned by fishermen and mortgaged to the companies.
Stevens: "And you have no way at present of getting that information?
Campbell: "Not on the basis of this year's operation, although we could get this information if we required it at the time of licence application being made.
Stevens: "Was there anyone in the department who warned the minister of the dangers of vertical integration . . .
Webster: "Put it another way. Did you look at, or do you consider there is a danger of vertical integration, finishing up with a majority of the fleet in the hands of the companies?
No Dep't Warning
Davis: "There's a possibility of it, certainly. It's possible for the companies to buy up more boats. Indeed, theoretically, they could buy up all the boats. We're instituting several schemes, and certainly improving the Loans Act so that individuals can finance boats more readily thn even the companies. Now, perhaps, vertical integration in some areas is a good thing. It's certainly a good thing in some of our East coast fisheries . . .
Stevens: "To get back to the question. Was there any leading person in the department who has been on its staff for years, who warned the present minister that, unless there was this complete separation (to keep the companies) out of the ownership and financing, there would be vertical integration, and that the plan would work mainly to the benefit of the companies and not to the benefit of the fisherman?
Davis: "No one in the federal service put it just the way you've put it, that is, that this would re-
sult in total ownership, or substantially higher ownership, by the companies of the industry, or certainly of all the boats in the industry.
Stevens: "I'm very sorry to hear that . . .
Davis: "But, as you know, a good many people outside the industry, and certainly your Union on many occasions, and on two occasions before we introduced the new regulations in September, told me that this could happen. Indeed, I believe your Union has always said it was very likely to happen, and I had to take that into account.
Stevens: "I'm sorry to learn that no one (in the department) did, because one of your top people, I don't want to place his name on the record over the air, told us of this when we met with him. He came out to the coast here at the time the Sinclair plan was proposed to the government, and he made that very plain to us. Although we already
See BOAT — Page 8
