Halibut....The Future.....

richmake

Well-Known Member
I wanted to start a section that was sort of open to more recommendations and discussion on what we do next...
Most of you know that I have been relatively low key on the halibut issue but not at all none existent.
I've been in discussions with various DFO contacts and other organizations and have also been quietly putting together some proposals and ideas to put through to 2010.
It is important to know that all of the below info is just my personal opinion and by no means do I feel that my input is "godly".
I just think that after a winter of research and a lifetime of commercial/recreational fishing...I might have a few ideas.

I think that over the past few years, the recreational halibut fishery has become a little more mainstream than most of us realize.
The fact is that we as a whole, we are targeting halibut more and more to make up for the lack of other opportunities.
The current 88/12 split of TAC just simply isn't working for our current circumstances and we need to access more for the Recreational sector.
Now, I believe, whether right or wrong, that we are not just simply going to change the system. The Quota management system for Halibut on our coast has won praise from many as a great system and to change it just simply isn't going to happen.
The more hate mail and letter's we send to the “powers” is not going to change the policy in place.
I'm not saying I like it but I'm ready to move on.
The only way we are going to access more fish in the future is to get some of the TAC back from the Commercial sector and now it's time to put our heads together and find out how.
The current 2009 daily/possession limits are also not going to work long term and not having a closure date is a huge issue coast wide.

Here are a few of my suggestions and once again it's important to remember that my thoughts are only suggestions and I don't for a second think that they are not without controversy.

1. The simple truth is that we need to access more funds from a source that we put in place, to purchase more TAC from the commercial sector.
If we were to add a halibut tag system to the current license system, it would be a way to generate funds and also keep a more accurate count of what amount of fish is possibly taken out of the water.
The tag system could be a simple as something like a Chinook tag or even a per fish tag which is probably a better system. Trust me...DFO would go with this as it is a simple way to get a per fish number and is a lot like a commercial system.
If a tag costs $2 per fish and you had an annual limit of 10 fish...$20 to fish Halibut all season is better than we have right now.
If the tag's cost a certain amount each fish...the money should be easily accounted for and the revenue generated is to go in a fund to buy back commercial quota.
Now I realize this system comes with a lot of variables but it's a start. I also realize that the money generated from this type of system won't buy back much in the beginning but listen....
If we as a whole can somehow manage to make 12% work in 2009, could you imagine what we could do with 20% in five years or so.
The goal here is to be able to keep accessing the Halibut without sudden closures and to have the daily/possession limits to a point that individuals feel like they can fish for halibut at a reasonable cost...10+ months of the year.

2. To make a system like this work we need a guardianship type of plan as well...sort of a management party/watchdog.
The ability to see the right funds going into the right area is key and from what I've noticed in the past is that General Revenue is not a good spot for this type of program...the funds would disappear quickly!
Right now, I think we can all agree that DFO only get’s approximate number’s of recreational halibut landings. They will always error on the site of caution if we don’t give them something better….a tag system is better…not perfect but a start.
As to move on to the current daily/possession limits. This one really gets me.
Currently we are Opening March 1/2009 with a one a day/ two possession limit. Do we really think this was our best option?
With a delayed opening or a one a day/ one possession limit for starter’s we probably could of avoided a midsummer closure. Now we are left with the possibility of a group landing at a lodge in August and not being able to keep a halibut….not so good for future tourism.
I’m not saying it is going to close…I’m just saying we left DFO the option and they will error on the side of caution.
I think I’ve said enough and I’m waiting to hear the responses on the above issue as well as recommendations.
I hope we can continue on a pro active path with this topic and that most will respect others with ideas…
Let’s hear them…


www.coastwidesportsfishing.com
 
I think the tag idea is a good one........ Why did the spring tags stop?
 
The tag idea to provide money for quota purchase is a good one. You will get told however, by the diehards that no way in hell should the people of Canada have to purchase what is already thiers.

But at the last Region BCWF meeting, a straw vote was taken to see if there was agreement that it was preferable to use a tag system, if it meant that halibut anglers could stay on the water. The answer was a 100% "yes</u>"

Intruder2-2.jpg


20ft Alumaweld Intruder
 
Richmake, You are SO on the right track here. Everyone working together commercial and sports and we WILL get what we both want BELIEVE ME.

"Who would have ever thought it would be this much fun catching them one at a time"
 
Good on you for putting time & thought into this Rich.

Since I'm on my way out the door to hopefully catch my first Hali, my opinion only goes so far.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

-Any system implemented to keep better tabs on harvest is a good one for fisheries managers.

-The whole idea that halibut should be administered differently than any other food/recreational fishery is skewed and needs to be fixed.
It's like the Government runs the salmon business and the Mafia runs the halibut end of stuff. That, in my view, is unconstitutional and should be challenged (and rectified) in a court of Law.

Instead of putting our money into buying something that is already 'Ours', put it all in a kitty to fix this ****-eyed apportionment-issue.
 
Well I really dont think a tag system would work just like the salmon system it was too expensive to administer, dont get me wrong its a good idea but the cost factor to produce,distribute etc would be way more than 2 bucks for instance the LEH(limited entry hunting) "they" say it costs about anywhere from 50 to 80 bucks for each of them to put in place because it just not the price of the tag its paying a government people to enter data and create the system which one person entry level gov is about 45,000 grand a year and thats only one person!!!!! now times that by about 10 people because you know how government works!!!!!

What we have to do is have more enforcement out there enforcing the rules I for one would LOVE to see an annual limit and a spot on your liscence to mark your halibut down just like a salmon or a lingcod.


If we had an annual limit then there wouldnt be sooooo many fish taken out its simple math say a guide out of anyplace from renny to the tip of vancouver island IS giving there fish to a client beacause as of now its wide open right(last year)???
So he goes out with clients 4 of them and him self so thats 5 people on board and they catch 10 -12 lb halibut. thats 120 lbs of fish so times that at 100 trips a year wow and your wondering where the quotas going that 12,000 lbs by just one boat.

Now if there is an annual limit then that person isnt going to give his fish away he will want to keep it for himself right???

Now dont go and start bashing guides because we are all in this together there is about 25 full time guides out of renny but about 300 to ????? sport people that go out there so trust me it more than balances out with the amount of fish taken by sportfishermen there are a few that i personally know that catch close to that and they only buy one liscence a year when the quides up there, that take people out they are puting money into the economy with liscences,lodging,travel etc beacuse those people are coming and going every day to every 3 days.

It is huge money being pumped into the all the communities up and down the whole coast not just here but you have to think of the whole province just not out little piece of the world!!!!

Now the money well if we had ENFORCEMENT and in a perfect world we would have an annual limit i dont think we would really reach the quota because there no way you could obtain it IF people were following the rules and law.there just isnt enough people to catch that much.
Now if someone broke the law then make it not a $1000 fine make it $10,000. it wouldnt matter if it we had a tag system or a limit system or any other type of system if there is no enforcement than people will cheat plain and simple.

Had to laugh on the front page of yesterday paper where it says the herring fishing is on and right there on black and white the guy trades herring for halibut and salmon steaks which is against the law yes we all do it I know we like to give a piece of fish to people its human nature.

Good luck Wolf

Blue Wolf Charters
www.bluewolfcharters.com
 
I still think the 88/12 split was illegal and the government should be taken to court over this. At least then we would solve the problem at its root and not try to patch a shoddy foundation...
 
Jeezus Wolf, those big fingers must have typed all morning on that last post!

One of the largest hurdles seems to be the lack of real implied knowledge around the TAC 88/12 division of the fishery, many still firmly believe it is a consevation issue entirly. With the increased presure on the 12% the last 3 years, and more to come. With poor Chinook & Coho fishing, our seasons will only get shorter until the TAC goes back up in a few years as regulated by IPHC.

The annual limit sounds great, but there are way to many who abuse even the annual Chinook system in place.

My understanding is that Halibut prices are sort off in the gutter and many boats are just selling off Quota rather than fishing it. At least a good percentage of each Quota should have to be activly fished by the license holders to prevent armchair fishing from Cabo.

Until that 12% goes up with presure inflation were going to see short choppy seasons. There is also the large bycatch Quota for Draggers that DFO has allotted in the TAC that has no resale value, it's a just in case clause put in place. 90% of those fish stay in the water.



www.tailspincharters.com
 
I think Wolf has some great points, well stated. I agree the gifting of halibut or springs to clients so in effect the clients have extra fish to take home is a joke. Maybe you would see clients rebook sooner if they ran out of fish. Is the gifting just a way to secure bookings? It is obvious there are enforcement issues out there and all along the coast. The guides, myself included should set the example and be squeaky clean when it comes to daily limits, closures, barbed hooks. Hard to get public sympathy when you see guides names in the media busted for breaking DFO rules.
 
quote:Originally posted by richmake

It's good to see my comments never generated to much nasty comments.

Richmake:

Thoughtfull comments and ideas should never generate nasty comments here.

I thought your ideas were a good start at a conversation as to how to fix our broken Halibut fishery. Will all your ideas work? Hell if I know, but it gets things moving to have the discussion.

Good job!

Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
 
quote:There is also the large bycatch Quota for Draggers that DFO has allotted in the TAC that has no resale value, it's a just in case clause put in place. 90% of those fish stay in the water.

Excellent thread. It is time for change and this is the first thread that seems to lead in a good direction.

couple of comments.

1) what the draggers do not catch is added to next years TAC for all of Canada. just a point of clarification.

2) I would imagine a court case would take a few years to get done and by then the damage to the charter fleet will have been done.

3) I would fully support a change to the license to have a yealy limit.

4) wolf is right a $2 stamp for a $180(chicken) is out of wack.

5) it may be cost prohibitive to buy quota. Would we be better to lease fish until the TAC goes up? Just a suggestion. Or we could buy it and lease it back to the commercials if we are not catching it all.
 
quote:There is also the large bycatch Quota for Draggers that DFO has allotted in the TAC that has no resale value, it's a just in case clause put in place. 90% of those fish stay in the water.

Excellent thread. It is time for change and this is the first thread that seems to lead in a good direction.

couple of comments.

1) what the draggers do not catch is added to next years TAC for all of Canada. just a point of clarification.

2) I would imagine a court case would take a few years to get done and by then the damage to the charter fleet will have been done.

3) I would fully support a change to the license to have a yealy limit.

4) wolf is right a $2 stamp for a $180(chicken) is out of wack.

5) it may be cost prohibitive to buy quota. Would we be better to lease fish until the TAC goes up? Just a suggestion. Or we could buy it and lease it back to the commercials if we are not catching it all.
 
I knew if I steered in the right direction...

This is exactly what I was talking about in previous posts..
I'm glad someone picked up the ball. $2.00 a fish probably wouldn't cover the costs to administer it, how about $5.00 a fish? The guides might worry about the costs, but if their doing there job well enough they would make more than $10-$20 a day on tips anyways! One less case of beer every week couldn't hurt too bad:) Why stop at Halibut? We could also fund Salmon enhancement the same way.

You guys remember not so long ago when DFO was given money by the USA to buyback Halibut Quota. I'm not sure that what the USA expects to gain out of this, would it be more Quota in Alaska? If that is the case than the USA is going to compete with us for that Halibut quota that gets bought back by DFO. I guess this whole Halibut mess has to be looked at by trying to decipher what DFO's ulterior motives are. If they already have this plan in their heads for buying back the commercial Halibut Quota with USA's dollars then returning the Quota to them without actually telling anyone what is going on, then all the correspondence to the powers that be are all in vein anyways. (They already have the cash in hand) The only way to deal with them at that point would be to go public with our ideas that were not waiting for DFO to go ahead and misappropriate our Halibut resource. That we are gathering funds in the sport fishing community to preserve as well as expand the fishing opportunities that sport fishermen are given. I really don't think we should wait for DFO to move on this one IMHO.


Take only what you need.
 
I knew if I steered in the right direction...

This is exactly what I was talking about in previous posts..
I'm glad someone picked up the ball. $2.00 a fish probably wouldn't cover the costs to administer it, how about $5.00 a fish? The guides might worry about the costs, but if their doing there job well enough they would make more than $10-$20 a day on tips anyways! One less case of beer every week couldn't hurt too bad:) Why stop at Halibut? We could also fund Salmon enhancement the same way.

You guys remember not so long ago when DFO was given money by the USA to buyback Halibut Quota. I'm not sure that what the USA expects to gain out of this, would it be more Quota in Alaska? If that is the case than the USA is going to compete with us for that Halibut quota that gets bought back by DFO. I guess this whole Halibut mess has to be looked at by trying to decipher what DFO's ulterior motives are. If they already have this plan in their heads for buying back the commercial Halibut Quota with USA's dollars then returning the Quota to them without actually telling anyone what is going on, then all the correspondence to the powers that be are all in vein anyways. (They already have the cash in hand) The only way to deal with them at that point would be to go public with our ideas that were not waiting for DFO to go ahead and misappropriate our Halibut resource. That we are gathering funds in the sport fishing community to preserve as well as expand the fishing opportunities that sport fishermen are given. I really don't think we should wait for DFO to move on this one IMHO.


Take only what you need.
 
I can see only one problem with this is that the government always finds a way to drop this money into general revenue. Seeing how much money this will generate it will definitely wind up there. Look at how much money already generated by sports fishing disappears into the government toilet.Only a pittance of what is generated goes back to preserve the sport.:(

IMG_1445.jpg
 
I can see only one problem with this is that the government always finds a way to drop this money into general revenue. Seeing how much money this will generate it will definitely wind up there. Look at how much money already generated by sports fishing disappears into the government toilet.Only a pittance of what is generated goes back to preserve the sport.:(

IMG_1445.jpg
 
That's why I'm saying.. take it out of their hands!! Tell the public we are funding our own acquisitions of halibut quota. Raise awarenss as to what DFO's plans are with the Halibut Quota that the USA paid for already!

Take only what you need.
 
That's why I'm saying.. take it out of their hands!! Tell the public we are funding our own acquisitions of halibut quota. Raise awarenss as to what DFO's plans are with the Halibut Quota that the USA paid for already!

Take only what you need.
 
Back
Top