Company Fishing Cutbacks 'Threat to Natives' Future'
HieTi/herman
Vol. XXXIV, No. 3
Vancouver, B.C.
February 12, 1971
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CONTENDER
PROTESTS THESE HIGH COSTS
SCRAP THE DAVIS PLAN
Hal Griffin photos
• This was the sign carried by UFAWU general executive board member John Person, Coquitlam halibut and salmon fisherman and owner of the Contender, on the picket line outside the federal fisheries department's regional offices in Vancouver on January 29. For more pictures and story see pages 3 and 12.
Part of Environment Portfolio
Industry Fears Fisheries Downgraded by Changes
Fear that creation of a new department of the environment will lead to downgrading of federal responsibilities in the fishing industry has been expressed by members of opposition parties.
The new department will incorporate the existing fisheries department as well as a number of additional services now the responsibility of other branches of government.
Fisheries minister Jack Davis will head the new department with the title of environment minister.
The government-sponsored omnibus bill paving the way for the departmental shuffle came in' for strong criticism during House of Commons debate on second reading last week.
Some of the widespread misgivings were expressed by New
License People, Not Boats, Says Warden
B.C. Wildlife Federation has joined the United Fishermen and Allied • Workers Union in opposing the principle of licensing the boat rather than the fisherman followed by federal fisheries minister Jack Davis.
On January 29 Davis announced new regulations for sports fishermen under which non-residents will pay a licence fee ranging from $15 to $75 for privately owned vessels according to length.
Charter and rental boats catering to non-resident sports fishermen will be classed as commercial vessels and required to pay the same $100 to $400 licence fees now paid by commercial fishermen.
The new fee structure will go into effect next year and the proceeds, estimated at $400,000 for the first year, will be earmarked for coho and spring salmon hatchery construction.
Canadian charter or rental boats under 30 feet in length, however, will be exempted from paying a licence fee as a concession to marina operators renting small boats by the hour or day.
"We will be asking the minister why his department decided to license boats and not people, as was proposed originally," B.C. Wildlife Federation executive director Geoff Warden said last week. This is the question commercial fishermen have been asking Davis repeatedly since his salmon licence control plan went into effect two years ago.
Voicing the opinion that the sports licence plan would be hard to enforce, Warden pointed out that the same vessel could enter entire Canadian waters any number of times during a season with different fishermen aboard each time.
Democrat Tom Barnett (Comox-Alberni). Barnett said:
"A department of the environment is something many of us would like to see and would support. But I have some reservations about putting these responsibilities in the hands of the fisheries minister because I represent an area where commercial fisheries are very important . . .
"There is the latent fear in the minds of many of us that the minister will become so interested in making airy-fairy speeches about the environment and underwater marine parks in the Strait of Georgia that he will no longer accept as a major responsibility the enhancement and development of the commercial fisheries . . ."
Earlier, Davis had been asked whether he would appoint two deputy ministers, one solely See DOWNGRADING—Page 12
Traditional Livelihood Now Denied, Says Kaien Group
Withdrawal of company boats from this year's salmon fishery heralds a crisis threatening the livelihood and the entire future of Indians in the B.C. fishing industry.
This warning is contained in a statement issued recently by the Prince Rupert based Kaien Native Indians for Fquality.
The statement is reported to have won endorsation of the North Coast District Council of Indians, which has received a number of statements and briefs from north coast communities in the wake of recently announced plant closures and cutbacks in company fleets.
The council says it intends compiling a composite brief for submission to federal fisheries minister Jack Davis and Indian affairs minister Jean Chretien.
Dual pressure exerted by monopoly control and Davis' salmon boat licensing scheme are cited in the Kaien group's statement, text of which follows:
"Along with all Indian people on the north coast of B.C., the members of Kaien Native Indians for Equality recognize that present trends in the fishing industry threaten not only our standards of living, but also our dignity and the whole future of our people. PROFITS FIRST
"From time immemorial our people have depended on fishing for their living; they took the wealth of the sea but did not destroy it. Today, barely 100 years after the coming of large numbers of white men to our area, we see our rivers, streams and tidal waters polluted and destroyed so that fish are no longer able to spawn.
"We see the wealth of the sea being taken away from us and put in the hands of large companies that do not care about people but only about profits.
"We have had restrictions placed upon our traditional fishing for food. Now we see that many of us are going to be forced right out of the commercial fishing industry.
"When the Davis (licensing) plan was first introduced, Indian people were led to believe they would not be adversely affected.
"We now have word of two developments which show we were once again misled.
"This coming season, a large number of Indian operated com-
pany boats will be withdrawn from the fishing fleet.
"And, the companies are planning restrictive credit measures which will make it impossible for many Indian fishermen who have
See NATIVE — Page 11
Gosnell's Charges
Divisive
By HOMER STEVENS
Driving a wedge between "southern" and "northern" fishermen at a time when maximum unity is essential in the fight against the worst features of the Davis licensing plan and the ruthless elimination of both Indian and non-Indian fishermen from the industry only plays into the hands of the companies.
But this is exactly what James Gosnell, chief councillor of New Aiyansh, tried to do in his speech last week to the annual convention of the Nishga Tribal Council.
Gosnell was quoted in the daily press as calling for the splitting of B.C. fishing waters into northern and southern portions with Cape Caution as the dividing line. He said vessels should be licensed to fish in only one area and accused "southern" fishermen of overfishing north coast waters.
Gosnell's remarks, not unexpectedly, were quickly endorsed by N. K. (Sonny) Nelson, spokesman for B.C. Packers, who took the proposals a step further and suggested five or six divisions between fishermen.
In view of the fact that the Weston-B.C. Packers complex is
See GOSNELL — Page 8
Protest Meeting
Vancouver's Aid. Harry Rankin and UFAWU President Homer Stevens will speak at a labor sponsored meeting to protest U.S. extension of the war in Indochina at 8 p.m. Thursday, February 18, in Iron Workers' Hall, Columbia at 8th Avenue, in Vancouver.
Substitute Charges Laid in Wharf Case
GIBSONS—The village council here has taken a new tack in its prosecution of two commercial fishermen in a dispute over wharfage fees.
As reported in the last issue of The Fisherman, the council orgi-nally charged the men under Section 372 of the Criminal Code which provides for up to 14 years' imprisonment on conviction.
Paramount, Milbanke Closed This Season
Official disclosure that Nelson Brothers will not operate its big Paramount Cannery at Steveston raises to an estimated 600 the total of jobs, calculated at season's peak, wiped out this year by plant closures.
B.C. Packers announced earlier that it would not operate its cannery at Namu although cold storage and other facilities will be opened.
Milbanke Industries also has announced that its entire operation at Shearwater will be closed this season.
While predicted poor salmon runs are blamed for the cutbacks, they are also seen as part of the rationalization program being put into effect by the big fishing monopolies.
The charges were laid against Ray Keelan, secretary of Gibsons Local of the UFAWU, and Alec Davidson, both of whom are trollers. Charges were also laid against four other boat owners.
Section 372 deals with any action in which a person wilfully "obstructs, interrupts or interferes with the lawful use or operation of property."
Keelan and Davidson appeared in court at Gibsons on January 26 to face the charge. Council lawyer Bruce Emerson, however, told the court that the criminal charges were being dropped and new ones laid under Section 31 of the federal Harbors and Piers Act which states that "no person shall contravene an order of the wharfinger . . ." HEARING MARCH 2
Keelan says that a new summons issued January 26 charges him with contravening a wharfinger's order in December to move his troller Carrie K, which was allegedly behind in wharfage payments.
Keelan and Davidson are scheduled to appear in court to face the new charge on March 2. The pertinent section of the act calls for a fine not exceeding
See WHARF CASE — Page 11
UFAWU
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Meeting Notices on Page 12