Dear editor,
I am writing this letter to express my deep concerns about the B.C. Sports Fishing Businesses’ lobbying of the federal government to reallocate halibut quota from both the commercial and native halibut fisheries.
Increased access to halibut by the sports fishing sector should not even be considered until they have achieved a level of management and accountability comparable to that of the commercial halibut fleet.
Furthermore, any shift of halibut quota from the commercial to the sports sector without compensation would make a mockery of native land claims and the enormous investment that commercial fishermen have made by purchasing halibut quota.
The well-established, historically based division of the annually determined total allowable catch (TAC) of halibut has 88 per cent going to the commercial fleet quota purchased by them, and to the native fisheries.
The remaining 12 per cent was granted to B.C.’s sports fishing sectors, of which 31 per cent is caught by recreational fishers, while 69 per cent, the lion’s share, is harvested by sports fishing businesses.
The commercial halibut fishery is one of the best-managed fisheries in the world. It is 100 per cent accountable with at-sea monitoring by cameras and a validation process where, upon delivery, all halibut are counted and weighed. Much of the cost of this process has been borne by the commercial halibut fleet to create what promises to be a sustainable and healthy future.
This effort has been rewarded by the granting of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification to all commercially caught halibut in B.C.
Sports fishing businesses are not fully monitored and submission of their catch data is voluntary. The resulting deficiency of catch data has led to a lack of accountability, as collectively, the sports fishing sector has continued to exceed its quota.
Future sustainability is being sacrificed for short-term gain.
As their ability to access halibut is free, the devil-may-care, harvest-while-you-can attitude prevails.
They appear to view their access to this valuable resource as being boundless, an approach that jeopardizes any attempt to carefully manage the resource for future generations.
Rewarding this cavalier attitude by increasing their share of the halibut resource flies in the face of reason.
I urge Prime Minister Harper to insist that the B.C. Sports Fishing Sector become as accountable and committed to the sustainable management of the halibut resource as is the commercial halibut fleet.
Mary Graves,
Courtenay
