Cuba Libre
Well-Known Member
We also need letters to Duncan and the North Island newspapers.
20ft Alumaweld Intruder
quote:A response to the January 29, 2009 statement by John Duncan, MP Vancouver Island North, on the issue of Halibut Allocation.
To Mr. Duncan,
As someone who was not present at the January 16, 2009 meeting between yourself and Graeme Bull I cannot comment on what was said during that discussion, but as a recreational fisherman and a constituent in your riding I would like to comment on your January 29 statement in response to Mr. Bull’s, both of which were forwarded to me.
You assert there is a “large black market of halibut on the BC coast” without providing any additional details by whom or within what sector(s) this illegal activity is purportedly taking place. On January 30, in an open forum I asked a senior groundfish manager for DFO about this assertion and whether in his view there was any black market activity for halibut associated with the recreational fishery. His answer was prompt and unambiguous, that insofar as he was aware this was not an issue associated with the recreational fishery to any measurable degree.
Your understanding of the catch monitoring standards and support for the commercial integrated groundfish management program is commendable. However, throughout the eight years of discussion surrounding the commercial/recreational inter-sectoral halibut allocation issue, at no time has it been suggested that adoption or change of this policy would lead to a destabilizing of the integrated groundfish management program for the commercial sector.
The Sport Fishing Advisory Board and its participating organizations have always taken the view that management of commercial fisheries is not the business of the recreational sector, except in those instances where such management has negative implications for the recreational fishery. The SFAB has not expressed concern about the commercial integrated groundfish management program as a whole and is aware of the benefits to this valuable fisheries resource of this comprehensive management approach.
You state “I know how difficult and emotional the issue of the Halibut Allocation Policy can be” but that “confrontational and entrenched positions do not help any of us”, inferring without identifying them that some interests in this discussion hold such positions. You then comment that “by working together with a spirit of openness” the commercial groundfish sector overcame the “many major hurdles and objections within their diversified industry” in development of the integrated management program and “encourage all sectors of the groundfishery to work in the same spirit to arrive at a solution that will serve everyone”, presumably regarding the halibut allocation issue.
Mr. Duncan you should know that the recreational fishery via the SFAB has endeavored to do just that. When it became clear in 2007 that the recreational fishery was in all likelihood in the next few seasons going to exceed its 12% allocation if the customary halibut season and bag/possession limits were maintained, then Deputy-minister Larry Murray directed all sectoral interests to meet under the independent facilitation of Mr. Hugh Gordon to arrive at a workable compromise.
In addition to the SFAB the Pacific Halibut Market-Based Adjustment Mechanism Committee, as this group became known, had representation from the Pacific Halibut Management Association (commercial), the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, the BC provincial government and DFO. It met numerous times and in February 2008 signed-
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off on a series of recommendations that were forwarded to the Pacific Region Director-General Paul Sprout.
Unfortunately the committee’s work was rejected by Assistant-Deputy Minister David Bevan before the Minister even got to see it. For your information I attach a May, 2008 letter to then Minister Hearn from the SFAB expressing the Board’s concern at this turn of events, and nearly one year later the department has not yet determined how to proceed with the Gordon Report recommendations.
Meanwhile the 2008 recreational halibut season was opened one month later than usual, a varying and complex mix of lowered bag and possession limits were introduced and some halibut quota was leased from the commercial sector in attempt to meet the requirements of the Thibault allocation policy. Despite these constraints on the recreational fishery at a time when no conservation issue exists for these fish, when it became apparent that the recreational halibut harvest would exceed the 12% cap by some 300,000 pounds, DFO closed the fishery two months early. Although attempts made in-season to lease additional quota by agents acting on behalf of the recreational fishery were unsuccessful, in contrast, and for reasons of their own, commercial quota holders left 500,000 pounds of halibut in the water uncaught at the end of their season.
Despite strenuously disagreeing philosophically with the Halibut Allocation Policy, in an effort to be pragmatic the SFAB has tried its utmost to live within the requirements of it. Based on the results of the 2008 experience the policy would appear to be a failure, continuance of which will only lead to increasing social and economic loss along the BC coast in general and in the Vancouver Island North riding in particular. I have also attached for your information the most recent letter (January 26, 2008) from the SFAB to Minister Shea on the current situation and the critical need for change to this policy to give the recreational fishery infrastructure the best possible chance of weathering the economic conditions of the coming year.
As a constituent of yours I am mystified by your continued support for a policy that has been shown to work against the best interests of Canada as a whole and urge you to reconsider your position on this issue in the very near future.
Please contact me at any time to discuss this issue further, yours sincerely,
Jeremy Maynard.
c.c. Vancouver Island North recreational fishermen.
Gerry Kristianson, SFAB chairman.
20ft Alumaweld Intruder
