Dear editor,
Over the past few weeks there have been numerous articles and letters written and published that have painted a picture of a dispute between sport fishers and commercial halibut fisherman.
I have no vested interest in any business that profits from fishing. I am just a lifelong sport fisherman that has very real concerns about how our fish have been privatized for the purpose of profit. I am also concerned that the wrong message is being put forward to the public.
The “dispute” as it has been portrayed so far, is not an attempt to harm the hard-working commercial fishers that actively fish for a living.
The sport fishers are not asking to have the total allowable catch raised. Nor are we disputing or complaining about the cutbacks to the total allowable catch (TAC). A shortened sport season is only just a symptom of a much greater problem.
I write this in an attempt to both provide some facts and help the public understand why we must do something about the 88-per-cent privatization of a Canadian public resource. I share the hope with many others that we can put more of the public resource back in the hands of all Canadians and not leave 88 per cent in the hands of the very few who have been given the right to treat it as private property.
Here are some facts that I hope will shed some light on what I feel this is really about and how it affects Canadians and the fish.
• Pacific halibut are managed by the International Pacific Halibut Commission. Part of their job is to determine each year a safe number of pounds of halibut (for the sustainability of the fish) that can be harvested — commercially and recreationally combined between Canada and the U.S. This is the TAC.
They have done a very good job of this. Pacific halibut are regarded world wide as one of the best-managed fish to date. The Canadian share of the TAC is then in the hands of the Department of Fisheries And Oceans (DFO) to distribute between commercial and recreational fishers. Eighty-eight percent has been allocated to 436 commercial quota holders and 12 per cent is left for the rest of Canada.
• Of the 436 quota holders, approximately 136 actively fished last year. The rest lease their quotas for profit. Many of the people actively fishing are forced to lease quota from those who do not fish. This means they fish for far less than landed market value.
• An estimated 100,000 people fish recreationally for halibut.
• 65 to 75 per cent of the commercially caught halibut is exported. Only 25 to 35 per cent of the halibut removed commercially is used by Canadians.
• Sport fishers are not asking to have the safe number of harvestable fish increased.
• Because the safe amount of harvestable fish has already been decided by the IPHC, changing who catches what portion of that safe amount will have no more impact on the fish than already deemed safe by those who look after it.
• Sport fishing puts more direct dollars and jobs (per fish caught) into more local Canadian businesses than commercially caught fish.
• Sport and commercial halibut fishing are both important to the future of West Coast communities as well as all Canadians who enjoy having the right to fish for or purchase halibut for consumption.
• If commercial quota was reallocated from those who have not been and are not actively fishing for it, to those commercial fishers who are, and the sport fishers, it would ensure that the right to access is preserved for all Canadians. It would also provide those active commercial fishermen with the benefit of fishing for more of the TAC at full landed market price.
In essence, this action would provide growth to those who deserve it without having any additional affect on halibut stocks.
In closing, I would ask you these questions.
Do you think that second to the conservation of the fish, it is important that a Canadian public resource such as our halibut is not left 88 per cent privatized? Do we need 88 per cent of the TAC to be dedicated to commercial harvesting if the majority of those quota holders are not fishing and the majority of the harvest is being exported for profit?
Would it not be better use by Canadians for Canadians, if DFO reallocated some of the TAC to ensure the access is there for all?
Ray Haines,
Comox
